Laney AOR Pro Tube 100

I play mostly '60s-'80s blues rock/metal, '70s-'80s progressive, and '80s-'90s alternative, but I do a little of everything in the spectrum from blues to rock to jazz, with the exception of country. The Laney AOR Pro Tube Lead 100W is simply the best amp (factoring value in the equation) that I have found for the styles that I play.

Single channel with two footswitchable preamp stages and two inputs, plus pull-pot tone boosts for bass, mids, and treble...presence, master volume, decent effects loop, standby switch. All of the features are very useful. When I bought it I wished it had an onboard reverb, but I added a Line 6 Verbzilla to the effects loop which sounds phenomenal.

I use the amp for everything from practice to gigging. Too little power is never a problem. I just started running it through an Avatar G212H with two Celestion Vintage 30s. This may be a perfect match.

I give this amp a "9" rating in this category because it does what is designed to do extremely well, though it isn't the most versatile amp.

This amp really does the classic Marshall sounds beautifully, plus it gets fairly brutal for an '80s vintage amp. I sometimes put an SD-1 pedal in front of it if the onboard overdrive isn't enough (it usually is). The AOR preamp stage and the tone boosts add a great deal of gain and richness... a BIG sound. It has so much headroom that it is pretty easy to keep it clean too - just limit the preamp and input levels - as long as you don't need massive clean volume. It's not quite a Fender Twin, but it will do a lovely and useable clean tone.

I've done a fair amount of fiddling with selection and placement order of the preamp tubes which has taken a sound that started out really good, and has made it exactly the sound I want. I've ended up with Electro-Harmonix 12AX7 in valve 1 (extra AOR stage) and valve 2 (normal first stage) and Tung-Sol 12AX7 in V3 and V4. I also changed out the power tubes from the Mesa EL34s (Svetlanas) that it came with to Groove Tubes (checked to see if rebiasing was necessary and it wasn't). However, I just switched back to the original Svetlanas which sound better to me with the preamp tube mix I'm using, and I think I have settled on a great tube set up.

I'm playing a Guild S-100 (Duncan JB and '59), Epiphone Elite Les Paul Standard (Gibson 498 and 490), and Fender Eric Clapton Strat (with active mid boost) into it, and they all sound soooo good!

In front of the amp I put a Fender tuner, Boss compression/sustainer, Boss SD-1, and Crybaby Classic. In the effects loop I run a Boss noise gate, a Boss Super Chorus, Boss Flanger, and Boss DD-3, and a Line 6 Verbzilla (a really nice pedal).

The amp is pretty much noise-free in low gain settings, but high gain adds some low level background noise (this got a bit better with the EH preamp tubes in place). The noise gate in the effects loop cleans this up nicely, at the expense of a little bit of volume, though turning up the master gets the volume back without a noticable of tonal quality.

On it's own it's get's a nine. With some tweeking of tubes and signal processing, it sounds like a 10.

It is a tank. No problems.

I've contacted Laney in the UK for schematics and some advice and they have been very responsive and helpful. Considering that it is out of warranty and I'm not the original owner, that's pretty good.

I've been playing for twenty years, and I have never been happier with an amp. Granted, it has taken some experimentation to get it dialed in, but the final result is phenomenal. If you want a classic Marshall sound that gets a bigger sound and is more versatile than a JCM800, and you only want to pay $400 (as opposed to $2,000) get a used Laney AOR.

Late 80s AOR Pro Tube 100, I just bought it last night.

I mostly play metal and rock stuffs, but I wanted to simplify. Since I didn't have enough money to get another Mesa after mine was stolen (Mark Series, I don't believe in that Recto $%^&) I thought I'd see what my local guitar monger had for used gear. he had this single channel laney and was willing to let me have it for $175 out the door with a matching cab if i submitted my ibanez sz. I thought that sounded like a great deal...blah blah blah, I'm rambling, sorry...

100w Tube Power
One Channel
Two Gain Stages (2 preamp, like an Orange Crush series, but not tiny...or orange...or solid state)
3 band EQ with push/pull boosts
Master Volume and Presence
Built Like a tank

Even with just the few hours I've had with it, I've gotten an ungodly range of sounds!

This guitar is odd, I wish the mid frequency was a bit lower on the spectrum, but it could just be that I haven't gotten to crank it yet. Not very noisy at all, medium gain beast. I've only played it at the store and in my living room, but so far it sounds fantastic, I swear i'll write another review when i get out of the honeymoon phase...

but with simple twists of the knobs and changing the pickup selections on my standard Flying V, i've gotten NWOBHM sounds like early priest, saxon and adrian smith's live tone, pulled a Hives/Early Stones low gain grit, a great deep bluesey Ritchie Blackmore "Highway Star" solo sound, Angus and Malcolm Crunch, and proto punk stooges/MC5 mayhem!

I need to buy a battery so I can do the whole clean boost thing with my tube screamer, i'm anxious to see what else I can do with it!

The cab is very dry sounding and really pushes the mids and handles the lows well

Don't know yet, but it's well over 40 lbs, so it'll either shatter into a thousand pieces or fall through the earth til it hits australia

You can get discontinued manuals in pdf format!! who the hell else does that??

They sent me back an email within a day when I asked about the model...very helpful.

This is my 3rd half stack and it's well on the way to beating out my Mark IV as the favorite. I'm playing a Gibson V and a Mexican Tele through it right now and they both sound great. I'd like to see how it does for metal, but even if it doesn't, the clean is so good I can just get a really nice pedal for those scenarios. This really was a sweet buy for dirt ass cheap. The only thing I don't like so far is that I haven't figured out the whole footswitch dealy, switches preamps? Converts one to master volume? i dunno, whatever. My fault, not the amp's.

If it were stolen I'd simply walk up to the chode doing it and beat their ass, I doubt they'd get far considering the thing weighs a metric ton anyway...

by far, the best bang for the buck I've ever got.

Oh, and about the SZ, it was a kickass beautiful guitar, but it just wasn't for me, but I'd reccommend it to anyone, very very versatile. The feel was just too odd for me.

PLEASE SOMEONE SEND ME SOME SUGGUESTED SETTINGS AND APPLICATIONS!!!

<b>Laney AOR Pro Tube 100 Head (1980's)</b>
<UL>
<LI> 100w all Tube circuitry (EL34/12AX7)
<LI> Presence, Low, Mid, High EQ controls
<LI> Boosts on Low, Mid, High EQ controls (via push-pull pots)
<LI> 2 Foot-switchable channels
<LI> FX Loop
<LI> Adjustable resistance dial on back for 4/8/16 Ohms
<LI> Dual speaker output
</UL>
<p>
<b>Comments:</b>
The amp is very versatile, thanks in part to the push/pull boosts on all the EQ's. It essentially doubles the tonal range you can achieve with this amp. I have 4x Groove-Tube E34LS (Hardness 4) tubes in power section and 4x Electro-Harmonix 12AX7 tubes in preamp. The 100 watts of power are enough to power everything I do from practice to gigging.
<p>
The preamp section is controlled by three knobs: Preamp 1 Level, Preamp 1 Volume, and Preamp 2 Volume. These three controls help you create a variety of different tones and overdrives <b>but however</b> they are not very intuitive to use and can cause you to have to sit and tweak for a while to find the tone you want.
<p>
I wish it had reverb, but that is very minor.
<p>
I built my own footswitch from a guitar-cable, a breakout box, and an electrical lamp switch. However, you can you any normal on/off footswitch (such as the Boss FS-1).

<b>Equipment</b>
<UL>
<LI>Gibson SG Special
<LI>Boss SD-1 Super Overdrive
</UL>
<p>
I play alot of technical-metal/hardcore and pop-punk so I have a vast amount of different tones I like to use. I need a thick overdrive with a good amount of chunk to it for heavy palm muting, but I also need the right amount of crunch (in the mids, mostly) to be able to cut through the band and play alot of riff/lead stuff. This amp can achieve both, but it needs a little help at times.
<p>
The overdrive on this amp isn't too shabby by itself. The breakup in the power section is nice and the preamp tubes provide a decent amount of distortion to warrant good tone. Blues, Rock, Folk, and even some Punk players will be happy with it by itself. However, it doesn't have the right amount of thickness for my heavy palm-muting and such. That is why I use the Boss SD-1 Super Overdrive to push the amp's overdrive even further.
<p>
I use the Boss SD-1 Super Overdrive as a "clean boost", which is a very popular trick to get tube amps to really scream. The trick is to turn the Volume on the pedal all the way UP and turn down the Drive/Distortion almost all the way DOWN. This helps push the power tubes a bit more and brings out the great distortion and compression that can only be found in overdriven power tubes. This helps acheive the needed chunk for heavy palm muting. No matter what people say, the best distortion comes from overdriven power tubes. (This kind of trick is popular with the Boss SD-1 Super Overdrive and the variants of the Ibanez TubeScreamer.)
<p>
The amp has a very decent clean as well. I use Groove-Tube E34LS Power Tubes with a hardness of 4. This quality and hardness of tube stays clean and clear even when cranked. So I can get a nice, clear clean sound when needed. I sometimes use a Boss CS-3 Compression/Sustainer to help my clean sounds have some more punch, but it is not necessary.

This amp is very reliable in my opinion. I take care of this amp and it takes care of me. I changed the power tubes once when I started noticing my sound degrading and also change the preamp tubes just for the sake of replacing all tubes at once. However, this is normal wear-and-tear for a tube amp.
<p>
I use it for practice and shows and have never had any problems with it.

Laney's customer support is decent, but their website isn't complete.
<p>
The AOR manual they have posted on the website <b>is not the complete manual for this amp</b>. I e-mailed tech support asking if they had any more documentation on the amp and the support person got back to me within a day with a different AOR manual that included suggested settings and a small schematic of the amp. This manual was very helpful in understanding this amp's preamp section and finding the exact tone I wanted. If you buy, or already own this amp, I suggest you e-mail support and get a hold of this manual for it could truly help you improve your sound three-fold.

I have been playing for 8 years and have owned this amp for 2 years. It is the first and only tube amp head I have ever owned and I am happy with it. It takes some time to dial in and find the tone or overdrive you want, but once you get there it is great.
<p>
If it was every lost or stolen, I would probably step up and purchase a Marshall JCM900 or Peavey 5150.
<p>
I would recommend this amp for the person who is on a budget and/or is just buying their first guitar amp head. I bought this used for only about $200 and am able to dial in and create tones on par with the more expensive tube amps such as the JCM800 and JCM900 series which can cost up to $1000 (you can't beat that).
<p>
Don't spend $400+ on a new solid-state amp. Spend $200 on one of these and maybe $50 on a Boss SD-1 and you'll have a sound that is 10-times better than a solid-state amp for only half the price.
<p>
Versatile Tone + Decent Overdrive + Reliable Construction + Super-cheap Price = <b>8/10</b> Overall

Well, not too many. But, after years of using tons of rack stuff, I've moved backed to basics.

Playing a '76 Les Paul Standard (stock pick-ups)and a custom built Gordon Smith SG with EMGs. I play blues rock and metal type stuff mainly. As I said I stopped using all the Mesa and rack stuff (JMP-1/V-amp pro/Mesa 50-50/Alesis Quad thousands of other essentially un-necessary shit)and moved back to a monstrously cranked amp. I use a Boss Metal Master and an MXR Zakk wylde pedal both with the gain off, ie: just as a clean boost. This way I can alter the tone slightly if needed (mid response) and kick the overdrive into Orbit.

Blown it up about 4 times in nearly 10 years. And every time it was my fault not the amps.

Lots of people seem to be under the impression that Laney don't respond/don't have a Customer Support e-mail address. Bollocks. I have e-mailed them loads of times with lots of very stupid questions and they've always come back within the day. Manual is still on their site too. What more do you want?

I love everything about it. With this amp I come closer to getting a sound thats "me" rather than using generic equipment that only does that standard over-saturated nu-metal sound, which I think is shite. This amp does Kill 'em all, Slayer and Zakk Wylde with a boost and AC/DC/Free/Classic rock on the non- AOR Channel. With the AOR channel on and the bass boost on the sound is un mistakeably Tony Iommi on Master of Reality. Not suprising really as he is Laney's most famous endorsee. Using one of the pedals gives a boost and more focus for great tones. Touch sensitive and incredibly responsive to harmonics. If you want to rock - big time - stop looking for "versatility" and find the gear that makes your sound and play it loud.

Think this is early mid eighties. Not stunning to look at but built like a brick Sh*thouse..
Has 2 inputs. I use an American standard Strat and it has to go into the righthand input, the other input misses out one of the pre amp valves and doesn't give enough amplification from there with the strats rather weedy pickups.
Has an effects loop. clean channel, AOR (?) channel (Overdrive?) both have master volume.
To be honest the clean channel is best, set pre amp drive to around 3, LOVELY!!!!! then use an effects overdrive pedal in front. I don't like the AOR channel that much it's a bit fizzy. But that's because it doesn't suit my style and music. Has 3 Eq, /bass, mid and treble. Also you can pull the pots knobs to deepen the bass etc and this is VERY effective. LOUD amp..
I love this amp.

The clean sound is crisp almost Fenderish with the strat plugged in. Seriously loud.shed them with some switch cleaner. Be careful as it removes the painted logo's around the switches...
Now it's a lot quieter but cranked, of course its a bit noisy, it's an 80's valve amp......nothing to bad though.
Put a drive pedal in front and Jeez, you will love this amp. Rock never sounded more heavy. Will go from light blues to Paranoid with no problem.
ThAOL channel is not my cup of tea and I prefer the clean with some form of overdrive etc.
There is a footswitch connector on the rear, you apparently need Laney FS1 switch, but I'll never use it...you might want to try?
This is the best sounding amp I've played, nuff said
It will drown any heavy drummer out if required.......

Had no real problems apart from the dodgy connector from the jack socket at the back, no sound. Soon rectified with a cleanout.
Relaced one 12ax7 preamp valave as it seemed to "Honk" now and again and I traced it to that. Sounds fine now. Pots needed cleaning. No cooling fan, but it is built like a tank and I think it's good for another 20 years. Inside it's crude but simple and effective. Valves easy to get at.

Only emailed them about the footswitch and got same day reply. British company which deserves more attention I think. Seem to ake some nice new amps/combo's...

Been playing on and off for 20 odd years. Use a strat and Squier Tele. Both sound awesome thru it but use the righthand input for single coils. I would track donw another one if it got stolen cos it's such good value. check ebay for them. I love the sound and it's build, although not quality, it will never break. Bloody heavy though.
I have it plugged into a closed back 4X12 Cab and that is a quite scary combination.
Total cost for the amphead and cab was 300 quid, that is a REAL bargain.

Had mine new from 1985. Paid #400ish for it from Allbang & Strummit (great name, great staff, no longer in business :-(.Basically a two channel amp, on high input the gain is switchable from mild crunch to fairly hard driven lead with the gains on the two preamp controls about halfway.Wind 'em up higher and you go from filthy rhythm to steaming overdrive.Has an effects loop with levels that are a bit too high.Never had it modified as I tend to use pedals anyhow.Mostly used to play metal, only complaint I have with it is that at high gain on the rhythm channel there isnt much of a volume jump between channels but I've lived with that cos i love the sound.Cleans up quite nicely if you back the volume off a'la Tony Iommi. One of the reasons I went for it was the tone controls.Bass middle and treble have VERY effective pull boosts. The other was that no Marshalls I tried at the time had anything like the amount of gain without O/D pedals.It's plenty loud enough so long as I have a good set of valves in it. It runs 4 El34s and 4 Ecc83s.

My guitar is an Aria Urchin 100 which has built in preamps and active sounds fed by two coil tapped humbuckers.Very versatile guitar. Very good for metal, with preamps off very good for anything from blues to funk.The clean sound available via the low input jack is quite warm, not at all fendery. only used it a handful of times though. Via the high input jack you can go from mild crunch to quite nice edgy overdrive via the lead channel.With the gains wound up it and the boosts pulled it sounds HUGE. Not a huge volume difference between the channels when you bring in the extra preamp, but the gain difference is quite large.I run through a self built 4x10 with celestion G10s.Not as tight as something like a dual rec but very fat and solid. Used to use it while teaching, and three of my pupils went out and bought one shortly after they had lessons, so they must have liked it also.Did use the clean channel once at very high volume (7 on the master) never really distorted just got quite warm without breaking up. I love the distortion characteristics of this amp. If you're into Black Sabbath you'd love it too.Did try a pair of 'em once (nicked a pupil's head for a couple of gigs) in stereo.HUGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Conked out after two weeks.One of the power amp valves went in a big blue flash (at home not on a gig).The manager of Allbang and Strummit came to my house, picked it up and returned it to Laney for me.Came back biased correctly and with new set of output valves free of charge. Fitted medical equipment grade fan in one end of chassis to keep 'em cool. Never had any problems with it apart from when valves get old and a dodgy batch of fuses I bought once.pack of 10 all popped within 10 mins of powerup. Apart from that nothing major.Pots getting slightly noisy but after nearly 18 years of thrashing I can accept that.Never gigged with a backup Only let me down once this year due to shagged preamp valve (lack of money).

Excellent. Spoke to Laney's staff at various guitar shows in the '80s.Friendly, informed and very interested in my opinion of the amp, and I was no-one special.As mentioned they changed the power valves for me free of charge including shipping and sent a letter of apology as well

Been playing 31 years on and off. I own a Boss rocker wah and a Boss rocker volume pedal, Ibanez dcl digital stereo chorus pedal,Ibanez dfl digital flanger. Dunno If I could find another one now.They were very consistent in sound so I wouldnt worry about it not sounding the same if I had to replace it. At the time of purchase I tried pretty much everything available in the UK.For me nothing came close for tone, clarity and sheer filth.Will go for a (pair?) VH100r('s) as soon as I can afford it, though if I was gonna be silly and self indulgent I'd go for the GH100TI.Big fan!!

efx loop...two stage pre-map, low and high inputs....standby switch, 4,8,& 16 ohm switch....multiple voltages......sturdy old bird. Has what ya need....decent range of tones...but I dont stray to far away from its cleaner side. This one is covered with blonde tolex....marshall-like piping....LANEY name plate is on there, too.

Sounds like any good El-34 Marshall tube soak beast to me. I prefer to play it as clean as possible.....through a pair of Celestion
V-30's, set at 16ohms....nice....glassy tone.....pretty responsive to a players mood.....

built simple...and like a tank...has survived ten+ years of pretty heavy use and I think its good for another 10......just put new tubes in.....and off we go....

N/A If it breaks it on its own.....I'll put decent new tubes in it...but not a dime more.

been playing since 1968.....had a wide range of amps....fender to Marshall, and back.....this one is a decent workhorse....but nothing spectacular...good stand-in for an old marshall.

made in early 90's i think, it does say on the inside but i cant be bothered to open it up. it is the series II version, with the standby switch. has two channels sharing one eq with the oh so cool push-pull knobs, take your house down if you arent careful with 'em. also shared is the prescence knob. seperated are the two sets of volume and pre amp volume (gain) knobs, known as the clean channl and the aor channel. this thing has two inputs, high and low sensitivity, i stick to high whatever i'm playing. on the back it has a socket for a footswitch which is an extra, but are very simple to make. i made mine out of an old baccy tin and rugged switch, it looks really cool :-) also on the back is the effects loop, i dont use this as i'm rather simple, a line out and 5 speaker outs which will cope with all types of cab, but will only go up to two of em. if you want more you're compensating for something.i do wish it had a headphone jack although with a little thought this would be daft, it's meant to be heard and it would destroy headphones :-) i use this amp at home and practise/gigs, so pretty much everywhere. one thing about it is a home if you want a nice sound you will have to turn it up to the point of people shouting at you, and you not hearing them. that's the only way, baby!but when it sounds good, it sounds very, very good.

i play it with my home made strat o like, a squier strat, and a hofner galaxie. sometimes run it thru a rocktek distortion pedal(#1!) and a morley wah, but most of the time i cant be bothered. i'm a purist. it sounds brilliant with all of them, as long as you've got the housemates for it, as mentioned above. i play a variety of music, from simon and garfunkel to operation ivy, to black sab, and it copes with all of them no problem! the clean sound is absolutely fantastic, and stays like that pretty much all the way up! the overdrive (overdrive, not distortion, they're different) is huge if ya want it, and you will not be dissapointed if you want something dirtyer than the next door neighbours wife. it can be noisy, but when you turn it up it is so insignificant to be not worth writing about.and then i have never really bothered shelling out for expensive pickups.overall it is a brilliant all rounder, like a marshall but better ;-)

its only ever not worked because of my own stupididty, and then it was just things like fuses not screwed in properly etc. i would gig this witout a backup, maintly because i dont have a backup, but i dont believe it would let me down on purpose!

never dealt with them on this amp, but i had another laney which i contacted them about, and they were really cool. the website sucks majorly, but it is very pretty and has some manuals including the one for this on it. if you do manage to get hold of them, for example email, phone etc, they cant help enough (patriotic pride) also ive heard if u take your broken amp to the factory, they'll fix it for ya, giver u a tour etc. cant say nicer than that! unless they have biscuits lol. give it a 7 cos of the website(grrr, goddamn microchip)

i havent been playing long, say 3 years or so, but ive been playing a lot and ive been through some amps in my short time. this is honestly the biggest, loudest, most versitile (exc. modelling amps) and most fun amp ive tried. i use it with 2 laney 2x12s and the head it just too big for it, it it bloody ugly, but its the best ampo ive tried s far and for tat i will gv it a nine, thank you very much.

This amp is about 15 yrs old i think.It has two inputs(high and low)
an effects loop,2 channels (clean and "AOR" distorted). It also has push/pull knobs on the bass and mid-range and you can pull out the volume knob for brightness. The only feature thats missing is a reverb knob, which kinda annoyyed me.

This amp has balls. big ones. I play alot of heavy stuff and this amp cuts the mustard.The on board distortion is great, but not that great.
But with a bit of assistance from a distortion pedal this amp will kick you in the teeth.The clean channel is good too, and stays clear at high volumes.I've played quite a few crap guitars through this amp and it still sounds awesome.

i think this amp is pretty solid. I bought it second hand and its about 15 years old, but i expect it to last for a long time still.

havent dealt with them.

Ive been playing for 7 years and i think this amp sounds just as good as any marshall ive played.it has killer tone at an affordable price.
I really love this amp and i would probably buy another if it was stolen.

This is a late 80's amp. The AOR-100 was apparantely produced in at least (2) series. The only way I've been able to tell them apart is that the earlier series (not sure what years produced - most of them appear to be mid-80's) have a chrome toggle switch for power and no standby switch. The 2nd series (the one I have) has a lighted rocker switch for power, and a black rocker switch for standby.

(2) channels - unfortunately, they are not controlled by a foot controller. There is a high input (excellent distortion) and a low input (crystal clean). If you switch at all from distortion to clean, you'll definitely want to build your own foot switch to use with this amp. I built a very cheap very basic foot switch for about $20 using radio shack parts and a broken no name metal foot switch. It works great!! (email me if you want schematics - eyebooger@houston.rr.com) Has an effects loop that is, well, what you would expect from a product mass produced in the 80's. I absolutely love the pull-out pots on this thing. Low, mid and high can all be 'boosted' and sound great. Switchable input voltages (for when you get famous and play in different countries I guess??) Ohms selectable between 4 and 16. (4) EL34's for power, (4) 12AX7's for the pre.

I've had this amp for many years (my father purchased it new sometime in the 80's) and there has been used in over 200 different setups (it attended NAMM 6 years in a row and played numerous live gigs between then and now). I'm not sure what he paid for it new. I have, however, seen them go for CHEAP on ebay.

As I stated, this thing has been played with a barrage of different guitars and cabinets. It absolutely rocks.

in the 15 years it's been in my possession, I've only replaced the tubes 3 times in it. The original set of tubes burned out due to the amp being almost dropped (I think an element broke on an EL34, but I replaced the whole set). Set #2 went when I blew a speaker cabinet on tour, and had to use borrow a cabinet. Gotta watch that resistance. For some reason that 16OHM cabinet didn't work well with my amp set at 8OHMs. Had to do the fuse on that one too, Oops ;). But in this amp's defense, it was totally my fault because I didn't pay attention, and it held together WELL considering. The only thing I lost were the tubes and the fuses. Peanuts in my opinion. Set #3 was a crappy unmatched set that I slapped in because I had them laying around. What can I say, I needed tubes. The amp didn't like them, got 2 shows out of them, and one burned out. Never will I do that again.

Who cares about the customer support on a 20+ year old amp. I'm sure it's out of warranty anyway.

I'm not going to go into an 'I have this' paragraph. This amp is bad ass. If you seen one, pick it up for next to nothing. You won't be dissapointed. :)