Labsystems Cage 30A Head

I have one of the first Cage 30s made (008 or 9 I think). I read about them in a Guitar mag and was immediately interested because of the hand built nature, point to point wiring etc. I guess I was thinking Matchless without necessarily the Matchless price tag.
It has a clean channel which breaks up quite early especially when playing with humbuckers but slight corrections on my volume control allows me to clean it up quite easily.
It has two gain controls which took me a bit of getting used to as I didn't really know how I should use them and the information booklet doesn't really give any guidance. Using my ears and tweaking them in different situations eventually got me sorted.
I play in small venues and never have a problem with not enough volume. It has tons!

I use a US Standard strat with Texas Specials a Les paul Deluxe with Mini buckers and an Eric Johnson strat and get all the versatility I need (for covers and blues rock styles). It absolutely howls with my Les Paul.
Its a bit noisy with the single coils when not out of phase (others in the band have asked if its ok).
I use it through the two 12 cabinet but have also used it through a closed back quad box and it sounds really fat although I went back to my 2x 12 as I felt I was losing to much mid range especially when soloing.

I have used this quitar without any sort of backup for the last 5 or so years and it has never let me down. I have had preamp values and output valves go and have replaced them all. It gives plenty of warning through the sound coming back at you. I generally get 18 months to 2 years out of them. Its a bit of a hassle and cost to replace the valves but that's what you get with class A power and tone!

I have contacted Lab Systems a few times with queries and they have been very helpful. Tim (the inventor and engineer of the amp) has responded to me directly, which I really appreciate. Service like that is very rare.

I've been playing for 25 years and have used Fender and Marshall combos in the past. Nothing compares to my Cage. If I lost it I would be gutted. It is an intrinsic part of my sound.
I love the look and size and portability of it (although the pinky purple colour of the head took a bit of getting used to in the start). I have directly compared it with a VOX AC30 as I thought it might be similar but it is much more versatile.
I also own a Fender Super Reverb which I also love and does get more warm Fender tones than my Cage but this also has something to do with its 4 x 10 cabinet. This amp I use rarely compared to my Cage.

Picked up up a bargain for it s/h mint condition for $1400AUS. Not sure what year but it is serial no. 006 so one of the first ones made.
It is a two channel amp seperate eq for each.Has dual gain controls on the 2nd channel (pre & post gain??). It has pull pots that boost bass & treble on each channel and a Smooth pull switch on the 2nd channel. Has global presence knob, effects loop with level knob and two speaker outputs with 8/16 ohm switch.
Great looking head with see thru "cage" to see the glowing valves and has 'magic eye', this valve with a green beam in it that moves as you play - very very cool!

No reverb but I'm sure this was done for good reason.

Using with a lefty custom tele with dimarzio chopper T in bridge & Harmonic Design Vintage plus in neck and & G&L legacy special with stock pickups.

The clean channel is voiced with pushed clean tone that starts to breakup even at lowest volume. Mine is the earlier model so it doesn't have the additional gain control. Beautiful tone, clarity & transparency and amazing dynamics, wind back the volume on the guitar or play lightly and it cleans up, play hard and it begins to breakup - awesome.
2nd channel is one of the most versatile channels I ever used. The dual gain controls allows you to define what type of overdrive/distorion you want. Wind up gain 1 & gain2 and you get big over the top distortion, windup up gain1 and pull back gain2 for more marshally type crunch (my fave). The smooth switch does smooth out the tone, seems to subtly smooth out any tonal peaks, really nice. I must say that no matter what gain level you have the amp at, you never lose any clarity,never mushy & muddy, always great note definition and the tone seems to "breathe", and you can really hear the tone of your guitar coming thru.

The eq does it's well well, this amp is not bottom endy like a boogie etc but that is to be expected being a class A amp. But it would be interesting to try it with different speaker cabinets.

Has matched 4 Sovtek EL84s output tubes. Alot of amp manufacturers use Sovteks because they are solid & reliable enough to carry it thru the warranty period despite the fact that Sovteks tubes has some tonal compromise and lower output & gain (hence lower noise)than other tubes which can hide some amp tonal flaws. But I can say here, there are no flaws with this amp.

In terms of tone, it has its own sound. But the tone is so good!! You tweak it and think for a second, yes the tone is heading in a Marshall direction, but when you listen to it you think, well no, it's got it's own tone. This amp has vox, fender, marshall directions without actually sounding like them.

My only very minor gripe is that there is no leds on the head to tell you what channel you are using ( although I suppose you can hear it!). You can tell though on the footswitch.

Looks very solidly built, all metal powder coated chassis that is made to last a lifetime. So far extremely reliable and looks like amp that would never break down. No backup needed.
My only concern is that with the open cage, you wouldn't want to use it outdoors with potential rain brewing or any drinks to go near the amp! But at least it has great ventilation which can't be said for a number of Marshall amps!

Labsystems have one of the best customer support I've encountered. You can talk to the designer Tim Evans, friendly, helpful, will answer any questions no matter how stupid they are.

I tried marshalls, laneys, etc but this one always came up on top for tone, clarity & transparency.

Overall it tonally so versatile, and no matter how you tweak this thing - it sounds amazing.You simply can't compare this boutique amp to other mass manufactured amps. It is up there with Diaz, Bogner, Diezel etc,
If you are looking for an amazing sounding amp look here, don't get caught in the marketing hype and name brand conscious of Fender, marshall etc. spend you money on a hand built, no pcb, highest quality amp you can buy!

two channel amp with eq for each channel. class A 30watts (ie. similar in volume to a 100watt class AB amp) Input, presence, dual gain controls on channel two, your usual stuff, but no reverb.

Test drove it with a custom warmoth tele. Found the bass eq controls didn't change the bass frequencies much.
The clean channel is not super clean like the fender twin I have - it does not have any clean headroom rather it starts off with that pushed clean sound that is starting to break up even at lowest volumes - sound great if that is what you are after.
The second channel is quite versatile, the dual gain controls allow you to vary the type of gain produced from bluesy breakup to high gain, with slight top end fuzziness. This is not Mesa rectifier kinda gain, it's kinda got it's own sound, unique in that it doesn't sound like anything out there. Tonally it is quite complex but found it lost note definition with the gains fully cranked.

Looks solidly built to withstand a beating, however maybe not the most practical amp for sweaty pubs as a spilt beer into the see thru grill cage would probably fry the amp.

Very friendly & helpful guys at the company, you don't get customer service like this anymore.

Quite an expensive amp, but it is handmade with quality components, this is not an amp you want to buy to sound like a Marshall, fender etc 'cause it doesn't sound like anything on the market but more if you wanted to find your own sound.

The Cage 30A was hand-built in Melbourne, Australia in 2001. I've been gigging with various cover and original bands for about 8 years and I've played everything from country to modern metal. It's a pity this amp wasn't around when I started because it can pretty much cover every tone with its sweet, pure-valve character.

The 'Cage' has two channels: clean and dirty. Each channel has its own EQ network. The amp also has a side-chain effects loop, so effects can be blended in with the straight sound.

The amp runs at 30 watts of class "A" power using four EL34 output valves. There are five 12AX7 pre-amp valves and a 5U4 rectifier valve.

So, with two channels, an effects loop and an all-valve circuitry, I pretty much have everything I need.

My only issue would have to be the lack of gain control on the clean channel. The new Cage series amps already have this option. However, in case of the first run of the Cage 30A, master builder Tim Evans went with a non-master volume design to allow for a natural valve break-up. This may be suitable for some players since it allows them to control the dynamics with the pick, fingers and/or by using the volume control on the guitar. For others it may pose a few obstacles, particularly when in need of going from stark-clean on 'Channel One' to dirty on 'Channel Two'.

Nevertheless, at the end of the day, this amp undoubtedly rules with impressive versatility and no compromise when it comes to pure valve tone.

Guitar-wise, I use a Gibson Les Paul Standard, an American Standard Fender Stratocaster and a Maton Mastersound Deluxe. The great advantage that the Cage 30A has over most amps is the fact that it allows each individual guitar to produce its own natural characteristic, depending on the type of pick-ups, pick-up configurations, type of wood and electronics.

It's hard to describe what the amp sounds like. I dunno, it's sweet, dynamic, vibrant, powerful, toneful, ballsy... It's warm and you can change the sounds so easily with the EQ. Put it this way, it absolutely floors everything else out there apart from a very small handful of amps like Bogner, Diezel, Top Hat and Budda, OK?

Now, I play mostly in small, club-sized venues. The 'Cage' is only 30 watts, and this means that I can crank it up, drive the amp hard and still not be ridiculously loud. The sound guys absolutely love me for it and I constantly get compliments on how f***ing awesome the amp sounds through the PA.

This amp is the only amp I have. I haven't had diddly squat happen to this amp; it's amazing. If something did happen, I would be f***ed! Well, I guess I would have to borrow someone else's amp, but hey, where am I gonna find something that sounds this good? I don't even wanna go near another amp.

The guys at Lab Systems are legends! I'm always keeping in contact with Tim and Derek - it's like talking to my next-door neighbours. They are very helpful and very professional; they know what they're best at and they stick to it. I would kill them if they changed or sold out. Keep it up, guys!

I've been playing guitar now for about 20 years. I've been through quite a few well-known valve amps and it took me ages to learn about getting THE great guitar tone. This amp has opened up a whole new doorway for me and now that I finally found it, it's hard to go back to the common apple tree.

Cheers

Slav
sydney, Australia