Laney AOR Pro Tube Lead Head

50 watts head with 4x12ax7 pre and 2xEL34 powertubes.
Very basic features: EQ for bass, mids, treble and presence.
Has a preamp volume and master. One line out jack at the back side.
Low gain and high gain inputs.
Maybe I am in the wrong category for this amp, as there seem to be numerous different versions of AOR Laney amps with varying technical features. Mine appears to be the simplest of all.
The EQ pots can be pulled for a "boost" function - in fact it seems more that the pots rather diminish their frequency ranges when they are not pulled. In other words: You won't really hear what the amp can do unless you pull them all (at least bass and mids).
The downside of the pull function is that once the pots are pulled they do not longer serve as tone-controls: They only do their boost function as if all controls are turned up to the maximum and nothing about the tone can be adjusted any more.

As some other people have mentioned, the AOR PTL is basically a clone of the old Marshall 87 50 watts plexi head, one of the best-sounding amps ever built (in my opinion). Its tone is quite near to the original. It even looks quite a bit like late-70ies Marshalls.
The low input produces brilliant clean tones, the high one gives a harmonic and creamy distortion sound. Quite mellow, nothing like the aggressive scratching of JCM 900 or the bite of a JCM 800.
Take a strat with the the neck PU switched on, turn the gain all the way up, and it will sound like Malmsteen. In my ears, it doesn't quite sound like a Heavy Metal 80ies amp - although it was meant to be one - but rather like a vintage 60ies head with some more gain. The PTL is a bit noisy on higher gain settings, but that is bearable with the preamp not set to more than 12 o'clock.
It responds dynamically to the pick attack and the volume pot of the guitar, so that even in the high gain "channel" you can get different tones merely from input alterations.
There is but one problem: Once the EQ pots are pulled (and you have to do that), the EQ is set fixed to that tone. If you want to do anything about the tone then, you need an additional EQ as a stomp box. I use a Marshall Shredmaster distortion, for it has quite effective tone controls and can even reduce amp gain if desired.
The combination of the two is perfect for my sound (7oies hardrock / bluesrock / psychedelic) .

All covered up in very solid black plastic-leather and its edges are coated with black rubber. It isn't a beauty, but definetely made for to be taken on the road. No cooling slots above the tubes, only at the back, so fluids are unlikely to get in (good feature !)
The circuitry inside is on PC boards (unlike the 1987 Marshall) and all inner components seem to be well made and fixed. It never failed in years.

I never had to deal with the company.

Simply a good and versatile amp. Some even call it a tone monster. I recommend it.

year: ? about the first half of the '80s

Feats:

- 4x12AX7
- 2xEL34 (50W) head
- LOUD, especially for a 50-watter

- lo & hi inputs
- FX loop
- one channel with footswitchable gain (in the practice it works like clean/dirty)

controls:

- presence
- lo, mid, high EQ (all 3 with boost, w push/pull pots)
- master volume
- preamp gain 1
- preamp gain 2 (boost with push/pull pot)

It's a one-channel very British sounding tube head, primarily for rock (HI input) . Through the LO input the amp sounds clean and neutral enough to accept external preamps. If you fiddle with the active (pull for BOOST) EQ controls you can dial clean tones with character and spice. The clean channel is brilliant for stompboxes. Don't suspect Fender Twin-like shine. It's just clean and nice with plenty of headroom.

If you like RAW '80s EL34 Marshall tone (think JCM800 with mod as other users have stated before) you may love its sound. If you use the HI input, with a footswitch you can get a pretty usable very dirty / slightly dirty (NOT clean but most of the time does the job pretty well) option for live applications. Don't be fooled it's NOT a true channel switching option: you play the same discrete channel with switching full or less juice.

It has more options than most of the one-channel amps. It's not in the same league with a Mesa Road King for example but compared to other purist's amps in its class it is pretty versatile.

There is a healthy amount of dirt there for any styles from classic rock to nu-metal (with the footnote that an AOR doesn't go THAT deep than a Recto) and it's always pretty defined. Basically (consider it's a hi-mid pusher EL34 amp) it is a bright sounding head so always keep your presence and high pots under confident control. I use it for modern metal (think Helmet, Prong, Pantera) and it does the job pretty well. With suitable stompboxes and preamps through the LO input someone can use it for pop or jazz. Well, I'm not that someone.


Compared to my most -favourite JCM900 SL-X, the AOR covers a thinner sonical spectrum. The SL-X sounds wider and thicker, it fills more sonical territory in the mix. In the studio the ProTube Lead may sound a littlebit thin because it doesn't have such strong punch in the low-mid/low frequency as the SL-X has. But onstage it shines: with its defined and clear tone the AOR delivers every note you play to the audience, without crossing other components in the mix (bass, vox, etc). Well, it is not an amp for the wishy-washy guitarist. You should play clear and defined through this one.

9 out of 10 because in the same league the SL-X sounds 10% better.

Extremely reliable, multiple times. My most reliable unit by far, it proved itself even more reliable than my old Jim Dunlop Hendrix Special wah. The AOR was approx. 20 years old when I bought and since that date it's on the road. Think: over a thousand gigful of bumping around in Europe and still no signs of problems. Considering building quality and carftmanship it is far more superior than my beloved Marshall SL-X that had to be checked all over and re-soldered to make it as reliable as it's now.

Them Laney guys always answered all my questions quickly and properly concerning AOR and numerous other older stuff, and gave good and useful tips. I consider them to be a pretty supportive company.

After 15 years on the road and several amps (different kinds of old Marshalls and Laneys) stompboxes (BOSS, Rocktron, Jim Dunlop) and guitars (different brands of Les Pauls, Fender, Squier, Ibanez, Warmoth) I have my exact needs and what I need onstage is confidence in the first place and this little Laney never turns me down. The AOR is proven to be an extremely good touring amp for me. I give a fat ten because it has the best price/value ratio among the amps I've ever played, owned, looked at, heard or burned out. It's a modded Marshall for the sound, Engl for the building quality and reliability, Dodge Charger for the looks and cheepo solid state practice amp for the price. Buying this Laney is among the best 5 ideas I've every had.

About being stolen? Someone tried that once three years ago in a festival mess but I noticed him and he changed his mind after all. I'm still amazed how a JH1S Cry Baby wah pedal can impress everyone and change people's minds. I believe in a mere week he could walk acceptable again.

Well, always keep a Cry Baby at hand. Or a Dallas Arbiter for better flight control.

I am a little bit confused about the actual categorization of this amp, as there are some other divisions here on this site dealing with "Laney AOR" or "Laney Pro Tube" or "Pro Tube Lead" combos and heads. I have already placed a description of my amp a couple of years ago, maybe in a wrong department ...
Mine is a single-channel 50-watts head amp, with preamp and master volume. Has a low and a high input and presence, highs, lows and mids adjustable with boost function (pull/push knobs) .
Apart from a line in it has no features other than voltage and impedance selectors.
It has 4x12AX7-type preamp tubes and two EL-34 in the poweramp.

Wonderful if you like it.
Just as most of the other users/owners state here, it is capable of creating hardly more than one sound. Old-fashioned "vintage"-type tube sound for rock players who like to control most of the amp`s range by means of the volume control of the guitar.
The low input is definitely for clean playing, only with both preamp and master volume at max it gets a little dirty/crunchy.
By comparison the high input "channel" offers a tremedous amount of more gain and volume (I figure about 25 dB more), so that even at lowest preamp settings you`ll already hear some distortion.
Then, the amp is getting insanely loud very quickly and the boost really "kicks ass". There is one peculiarity about the boost function: Once it is activated, the controls themselves do no longer work: Turning them back and forth obviously doesn`t change anything, so you simply either have to love the massively punching bass and mids response or push them back in again.
As far as I`m concerned, I pull them all, run the master at about half, the preamp a little lower, get a fairly clean sound by turning the guitar`s volume pot halfway back and a beautifully singing lead overdrive with a simple gain/treble-booster pedal in front of the amp.
The overall character of sound has more to share with old non-master-volume Marshalls and Laneys than with the more aggressive JCM800-type of sound. Although it stems from the 80ies, it sounds entirely like early 70ies Hardrock (maybe Blackmore, Deep Purple "Made in Japan").

Looks ugly, to be honest. All covered in black carved rubber which is but very resistant. Appears to be very solid and has never let me down on a performance so far.
Mine is about 20 years old (bought it used) and still looks like brandnew inside, no rust nor other signs of age on the transformers or elswhere. It gets very hot very quickly, but has no opening on top like lots of other amps have but only at the back. In my view, this is quite good to keep fluids (drinks !?) from getting inside.
Anyway, ever since an old Marshall 100 watts SLP blew its caps and tubes be hind me one night due to an extreme overload of current (thunderstorm with flashes and lightings outside) running into it, I never go anywhere without a backup.

Haven`t yet contacted them ...

Tons of tone ! This was made mostly for "classic" type of rock guitar playing and it is really good at that.
When you are looking or a completly brilliant, sparkling clean sound, get yourself a Fender amp. If you want an ultra high-gain saturated distortion, buy a Boogie. If you like to hear maybe Hendrix`s rhythm playing and Blackmore`s leads and you don`t bother to still have a little "brown" sort of clean tone, this is it !

As far as features go, it's kind of a one trick poney. You don't get switchable channels, switchable effects loops, built in FX or even a reverb tank. It has 2 inputs, high and low and the standard EQ. The one "trick" that it has is the ability to add a boost in any range of the EQ via the push-pull knobs on the front. It's 50 managable watts until you pull the knobs which turns it into a monster.

First and foremost, I want to state VERY clearly that this amp is geared for only a couple tones. It will not sound like a Fender in the low input "clean" channel and it will not sound like a Mesa in the higher gain input either. What this amp is made for is delivering vintage Marshall-esque tones from a great Plexi Superlead all the way up to JCM800 series. With that in mind, and if you enjoy that sound, I believe it to be one of the best sounding distorted amps you can buy. I have played a million Marshalls and I am very confident to say that when you close you eyes it sounds just like a sweet sounding Plexi. The tone is very heavy, but not in a metal sort of way. The best way I can describe it is like a big violin or cello. The trick is to drive it with an overdrive type pedal with the volume maxed and gain to a minimum for a super thick and heavy, yet sweet, lead tone.

The thing is probably older than I am, and it works perfectly. It's ugly as hell, torn to pieces, but I feel like it'll last forever. I wish I could give it a 10 but I'm sure it'll need some more tubes or something pretty soon due to it's age but I doubt that I'll ever encounter a "oh my God it just caught on fire" moment with it.

Please people, this amp is great at one thing and that is to play loud rocking stuff so don't expect to play a country or jazz gig. They build amps for that so just quit bitching about all the shortcomings of each brand of amplifier. Fender typically shines in the clean department, while Marshall rules the roost for everything else. This amp is built to sound and function like an older Marshall + FX loop + more gain. All in all it does exactly what I want it to do, which is give me a great dirty rhythm and lead tone. Not to mention you save about $1500 over a JCM800 or JCM2000.

Features?

Well, everybody wants something different. Some people like one channel, one sound simplicity, others prefer complex 3 channel high gain monsters, and want to be in delicate control of the sound.

You have to decide which kind of guitarist you are. If your the latter one, who likes lots of shiny knobs, channels, colorful LEDs, and enough preamp gain to drown out mistakes, look elsewhere.

If you are the kind of guitarist that wants a simple amp, but with all the features you need and none you dont, you may have just stumbled on the best amp for you.

This was made in the 1980's for sure. People were modding their marshalls like crazy back then to give them more gain, effects loops, ect to fit the changing styles. This amp, was like a modded marshall right out of the box, and priced well below the price of a Marshall + Modding charges. Laney was really on top of it, they knew what the people wanted, unfortunately, they never could put a "Marshall" tag on the front of it, so they were ignored or overlooked for the most part. Still are, thats why they are so cheap now. Not because they suck, but because only 1 out of 10 guitarists has ever seen a Laney.

This is basically a 1 channel amp that pretends its a 2 channel amp. Its got the standard HARD rockin EL34 crunch, and then you can activate the AOR channel, which activates another preamp tube into the cascading (where the signal is boosted by a preamp tube, into another preamp tube, where its boosted into another, ect, and there will be several in the chain) preamp, for a BIG boost in drippy gain. This "channel" can be dialed in louder than the standard channel so it makes a perfect boost for solos.

This is getting kinda lengthy, so I'll just list the other features:
[]ALL TUBE circuit, NO clipping diodes! takes four EL34's and four 12AX7's
[]Unlike most vintage marshalls, there IS an EFFECTS LOOP!
[]100w of EL34 punch and crunch
[]Footswitch takes a standard 1/4" stereo jack, not some obscure, hard to find, or factory-order only bullshit connector, so you can make a footswitch pretty easy, or use another amp's footswitch for it. (I actually use my old Peavey Classic 30's footswitch, works perfect)
[]very versitle gain and volume knobs. Confusing at first, but once you got it. . .hehe. . .you'll like it.
[]Active EQ, quite controllable, the boosts are CRAZY!!!
[]High and Low impedence imputs.
[]2 Parallel speaker out jacks, with switchable 4-8-16 ohms handling.
[]Mains Voltage selector switch (130,220,120,240,110,230)
[]Fixed Bias, Just toss some hot matched quad of Winged C's or JJs and you're in buisness! Dont fret about all that bias bullshit, thats for weenie amps that have to be tweaked for tone! To get a great tone out of this, you just switch the power "on". Im not kidding, im using some worn out Sovteks (2 are microphonic) and the preamp tubes are mystery tubes, but that didnt stop it from having the best tone Ive ever heard the other night when I played live.

The Bass, Mid, and Treble knobs are push pull knobs, when you pull them out you get a BIG HUGE boost in that frequency. Totally bitchin, especially the "bass" one. . . . .if you havent tried it yet. . .hehe. . .I think you'll be impressed.

There is another push pull knob on the board, which is the Preamp 1 Volume knob, that activates the AOR channel, the gain boost. Also switchable by the footswitch, but if you dont have one, you just yank on that knob and there you go!

I give it a 10 here, because its got everything you need and nothing you dont. If you need to sound like Paul Gilbert, just play like him, and it will come out. Steve Vai, you can milk it out of here. Van Halen? sure, if you got chops. ACDC? does that the best, just make sure your hittin chords and youve got ACDC.

This is primarily a hard rock amp. By hard rock, I mean classic rock all the way up to 80's rock (these were used by Warren DeMartini of Ratt during the live concerts, as well as Vinnie Moore. George Lynch used them for a while too.)

Its tone, when cranked, its extremely Marshally, with a bit of a Vox AC30 texture. I really love it. Marshalls seem a little rough to me, the Laney seems to have that same overdriven EL34 crunch but without the ripping high end. Its got a very controlled, musical, and twangy high end. All in all, it sounds like a Laney, which have a pretty distinct tone, but most people dont know what that is.

It can be a bit noisy, but thats probably because its 20 years old and the Caps are original and havent been changed. It would probably sound alot better with new caps, thats on my to-do list: Get Laney Re-capped and Re-tubed.

It sounds great cranked up, even with worn out caps and cheap mystery crap Sovtek tubes.

If you want a tight, Brutal metal overdrive, look elsewhere. This is for the hard rocker that wants to bang out some chords and have a good time, because its rather loose sounding, which is nice for laid back, good times hard rocking. Music is about feelin good and not worrying about your tone and having your amp properly biased and having the EQ set just so, trying amp after amp untill you go mad because you dont know what amp to get and theyre all so stupidly expensive.

Thats why I like this amp. Its always ready to go, I just plug in and ROCK, I dont worry about my tone too much, because it has 1 general sound, which is a GREAT one. I like it alot more than my JSX, which is too complicated and just doesnt have the good vibes that this one does.

One thing I must mention about the sound, its THE most clear souding amp ive ever tried. Everything you do WILL be picked up and WILL be amplified LOUD! This is an EXCELLENT feature because it forces you to be a better player. Too many players hide behind their amp switching and patches and delay pedals. This thing wont allow mistakes, and after playing and practicing on it, you will make less and less mistakes, your picking will become more accurate and paced.

This thing is totally reliable. Its 20 years old and it hasn't died yet, hasnt even tried.

This thing wont break down. I ran it at the store without a cabinet plugged into it at the store for about 20 seconds until I realized the cab wasnt plugged in. Doing that on most JCM 2000s would have toasted the output transformer, and within seconds killed have the circuitboard. Not the Laney, it took it like a soldier, kept on working perfectly.

I wouldnt hesitate to gig with this without a backup (and I have!) I have no doubt in my mind that it will fire up when I hit the switch.

I haven't contacted them, but I've heard theyre quite helpful and respond quickly to emails

I'll be 18 next month, and ive been playing 3 years. Most people would regard that as novice or beginner, but I soak up guitar gear info like a sponge, I like to try anything and everything, and get a good grasp of whats good out there, and what isnt, whats a true workhorse, and whats just overmarketed crap, ect. Ive got a very good knowledge base of amps and how to get certain tones.

Im a weirdo and new rock and all this emo/alternative horseshit doesnt interest me. Im a 100% hard rock fan, I like all the 70's and 80's stuff, and thats the stuff I play on guitar. I like strats, Charvels, and Ibanez RG's with floyd roses, HSH dimarzio configs, and brightly colored and impressive paint jobs. Im pretty fond of Les Pauls and Teles too, but. . .I like those in the more traditional sense, not so 80's. Im a big Paul Gilbert and Steve Vai fan, I like to play alot of that style of music as well. Van Halen, Ted Nugent, Led Zeppelin, T-Rex, Whitesnake, Dokken, Dio, Ozzy, Alice Cooper, David Lee Roth solo stuff(really cool) Emerson Lake and Palmer, Jethro Tull, those are just a few of my favorites.

Personally, I think this amp is my soul mate. Ive been though about 5 tube amps in my 3 year guitar carrer (Gibson GA-5T, Peavey Classic 30, Modded Marshall Plexi, Peavey JSX, and this, the Laney AOR Pro Tube Lead 100w.) I actually traded the Classic 30 for this amp at Guitar Center, which had a price on it for $350. I traded straight up, no cash exchange, I just walked out with the better amp!

I have the JSX still (sold the Marshall for it)and I got the JSX in March, thinking it was the coolest thing Ive heard. But June came along, and I found this, and I was blown away. It sounded great, and I was in denial for a while, I didnt want to belive that this cheap thing beat my JSX, since I just dropped a fortune on my JSX, but . . .truth will provail, and I love my Laney, and I like my JSX less and less. I think I will sell my JSX (which is a killer amp, I just prefer the rugged simplicity of the laney) soon and get something 6L6 powered so I can have some 6L6 tones to go with my EL34 tones.

Im totally happy with it, and the sonofabitch only costs $300 off ebay! If it got stolen, I would be heartbroken, but. . .its only a $300 loss, I can get another. . .*snap* like that. I write down all my serial numbers of all my gear, as well as when I got it (and when I sold it, if applicable) so I could file a police report if it needed to. . but . . bah nevermind its not gonna happen, I watch my stuff like a hawk, I try not to let it out of my sight. But. . .this is a crazy world and crazy stuff happens. . .so who knows.

If you have the means, try it. I think it could easily be the ugliest amp ive ever seen, but the tones. . . man. . .its the inner beauty that counts.

This head was made in 1984 according to a label on the chasis marked inspected by : etc .
This is the 100 watt Master Volume version with 4x EC83,4X EL-34 Tubes.
Controls are Presence, Bass,Mid,Treble (all pull-for boost)Master Volume,Preamp Volume with high and low sensitivity inputs.
This version is not as High-Gain as the ones with 2 preamp stages,but is more than brutal enough for most hard-rock/classic rock.(see below)
This is by FAR the MOST VERSATILE amp I have tried ever (see below).
It has an effects loop,and impedance selector as well as a voltage selector should I travel overseas with it.

Right off the bat, I must dispell a few myths about these amps. Ive seen several reviews posted, here and elsewhere,about this not being an amp for clean tones. Rubbish.If you plug into the low sensitivity input and keep the preamp gain at low levels,these is easily as clean or cleaner than,any Bassman,Hi-Watt or Vox amp out there. Perfect example-for giggles I today plugged in an acoustic with a Fishman Piezo pickup arrangement. SIMPLY WONDERFUL. With the e.q.'s wide range of controls and pull-boosts,you can tweak a nice,airy,acoustic tone-one that seems to attenuate that brittle,biting piezo sound a great deal. This is now my prefered method for recording acoustic guitar-that's right-an '80's,high-gain metal amp for ACOUSTIC guitars lmao! With an electric -in my case a Mike Kelly Patriot with P.A.F. type pups,you can get an incredibly warm,rich clean sound for those times when you just want to play mellow.
Switch over to the high-sensitivity input,spin the preamp volume knob over to around 8-10,and you've nailed the classic tones of Jimmy Page,Tonni Iommi,Slash,Randy Rhodes-all of em DEAD ON! Classic Plexi tones to searing death-metal,it;s yours depending on how you set your e.q. and the type of guitar/pickups u use.Need volume-it's there in spades.Few things (other than my Brooklyn-born wife's screams of TURN THAT DOWN DAMNIT!) will EVER be able to drown this out. Got a drummer that thinks hes John Bonham re-incarnate?No Prolemo.
And those pull-boosts on the e.q.? Especially the bass knob? Pull that one at your own risk when at high-gain settings.
Got neighbors of the "hip=hop/jungle music/rap"-playing variety that have to bass-thump the crap out of everything at high volume? Problem solved.You will not hear a peep out of them again. EVER.This beast shuts them down like the hammer of the GODS. Fire this thing up at O dark-thirty,when they are sleeping off the malt-liquor.
End of discussion.

100% reliable,as long as you maintain it and replace the tubes once a year or so.The head enclosure is built like a tank.This head has 2 times been ENTIRELY SUBMERGED in water when my home was flooded after hurricanes. Dried it out,plugged it in,fired it up.No problem-pissed off neighbors as far as the eye can see. Name me one-ONE manufacturer that can make that claim.
The only thing Im thinking about altering is to perhaps make a different front panel for the head that has an open front with a grill,this to allow better cooling air flow since this thing puts out enough heat to no longer need a fireplace.

Never needed it.But they did provide me with a Manual for it when I asked for one out of curiousity.

Been playing for over 20 years. This has been my only tube head for about the last 18 years or so,I dont plan to ever replace it. If it gets destroyed or stolen,you will be seeing me on CNN-in police custody and shackles.
Never a good practice to go without a backup. Since these are so hard to locate in decent condition,I am holding out for Alan Busch's Plexi clones from Arlin Music as a backup.
This amp does every single thing I need it to ,tone-wise.
I use it with a Madison 4x12" cabinet loaded with Madison Symphony speakers.
If you can find one of these,grab it and hold onto it (or donate it to me:)~!) Learn to experiment with ALL of it;s features and settings and it will reward you with tones you have never known you could achieve from a single amp.

This is an AOR Pro-Tube Lead 50W amp made in 1986 in England. 2 EL34 and 4 ECC83 tubes. Has effects loop. Very straightforward 1 channel amp. Hi and Lo inputs. 3 band EQ via knobs with pull boost on each (more about this later), presence, master volume and preamp volume. Some of these have 3 preamp knobs and some have one like mine. Power level is very good, way more than a 100W non-tube amp. Has everything I need but a good spring reverb would be nice..a 7 because of the missing reverb

Here's where the rubber meets the road. Tubes tubes tubes..you have to have excellent tubes in any valve amp, and excellent guitars. When I got this it had a decent but slightly weak sound with some sort of deformation on each note..especially on high strings..almost like string buzz. Sign of bad preamp tubes. Took them all out..two were good Sovteks..2 had no name at all, one was wrong application number (ECC88) and 1 had no printing at all but looked like the improper one internally. Pulled the 2 out and replaced them with some JJs I had on hand..BINGO. I should mention that the 2 EL34s are Mesa and appear to be excellent+.

Once that was done I tried numerous settings until I landed on the one that worked best with my 77' LP Custom, 59' Melody Maker and modified Godin with Fralin P90s. This is what works for me: Presence just above 8..Bass at 10 with boost pulled..Mid at 5 with boost pulled..Treble at just above 6 with boost pulled..Volume at 10 and I control it with guitar volume knob..Preamp boost at 10.

With this setup I can get a sound that is very elusive, all pickup selections on both guitars sound incredible. With the volume knobs on the guitars I can get anything from great clean blues through any step of driven blues(with exceptional sustain) to all out hard rock with forever sustain and easy to control feedback. At any time ALL notes are very articulate, no muddiness at all. Outstanding natural compression. This amp is the REAL DEAL. You have to be able to PLAY the guitar to use this amp to it's fullest..it won't cover for you. I plug straight into it with no effects (might get a reverb pedal later).

Low end to beat them all(your pant legs move with the pressure), leads that soar..sound that meets them all and beyond most of them. The best "secret" amp out there bar none. No wonder Tony Iommi used and uses these exclusively. But it's in no way limited to his signature sound.

Don't know yet but appears to built like bomb shelter. Others say it is unbreakable. I see no reason not to depend on it.

Never had contact

I started playing when the rocks were still soft and you had to step around the dinosaur crap. Doesn't mean I can't rock, I play all the way, use the drive on the amp to it's fullest and I don't hold back. Loud and low with screaming lead, make the crowd feel it on their chest. I love this amp. Took a chance buying it off of Ebay and won, won big. If you play anything from blues to the hardest 60s-70s rock (Cactus?) maybe even modern hard rock although you "might" need some..ugh..distortion, this is the baby. I've played almost every kind of amp you can imagine and owned a lot of them. None of them had anything on this amp. Marshall 800, 900, 2000..why spend the money. I bought this for 280 f*&%ing dollars!

Just remember..TUBES..use excellent TUBES and excellent guitars. This amp wants to scream and a Samick Strat copy just won't do it..know what I mean? If you need "distortion" buy a Marshall Valvestate or something.

If it was stolen I'd recover it after the funeral.

not much.50 watts.one channel.pull boost on the 3band eq.presence.very simple amp onces you understand the concept of the preamp knobs.

ok i dont know how much to emphasize this amp on others.i tried a jcm 900 for 3 times the price at guitar center.to be honest the laney sounded better with a tiny bit more gain.its very marshallesque.sounds awesome cranked.

no problems but iv only had it for 3 days.

no reason for it yet.

great amp if you are looking for a old school metallica type amp(the offspring-self esteem,metallica-killem all like).dont expect this amp to give you a variety of sounds its very straight foward.its one of those hit or miss type amps but i love it,cause its my style.and i only paid 300 shipped for a tube amp.

One Channel. THIS AMP RULES. If you like a ONE channel Amp - Pick up one of these. No JCM 800 ever sounded like this, Modded or not. The best sounding 100 watt amp I've ever heard (I've heard most). EL34's all the way TONE, TONE, TONE. Loud with great tube break-up

Tele's & Strat's w/Super Distortion pickups. I play Hard Rock/Punk Rock. The best sounding true gain you'll ever find. Not very clean. Buy a Fender if you want clean.

Built like a TANK!

Laney's tough to get a hold of in the states.

If you can find one of these - (BUY IT). The push/pull knobs are killer, I thought I'd hate them (well I was wrong). I would track one of these down in a second. I may even look for the 50 watt version.
Marshall has been lucky over the years that Laney hasn't kicked their ass all over the place with this series amp. The AOR series isn't the best looking Amp out there, but get over it & listen. I will most likely never own another Marshall again. When I can find these for a third of the price why would I? My Amp tech raves about his LAney's from the 70's. The AOR series is also Killer. The best deal in Tube Amplification, hands down.
enough.

Bought used on ebay. Was looking for the Marshall sound and guy's description sold me. I was not dissapointed. Amp was made in 1984. Initialled and dated by the builder at the time on chassis. It was definitely designed as a hair metal band amp. The AOR stands for "Advanced Overdrive Response" and they were not kidding (see sound section.) Features 4 12ax7 preamp tubes and 4 EL34 output tubes at 100 watts. Good solid tube retainers. Knobs are: Presence, Bass, Mid, Treble (eqs are all pull boost via pre tube #3)Master Vol, Preamp 1 Vol, Preamp 1 Gain, preamp 2 gain (pull for AOR boost, also footswitchable). Has effects loop, switchable 4/8/16 ohm speaker outs and switchable power in (good for a world tour.) The controls are not intuitive, hence the low rating, however the thing is increadibly versatile sound wise (ie clean to scream) and once you figure it out you will enter sonic heaven. It is not a 2 channel amp as some reviews have suggested, but has "high sensitivity" and "low sensitivity" inputs. The low sensitivity input bypasses a gain stage and lowers your input signal strength so is mainly only useful for clean sounds or slight OD. It is rediculously loud. I've yanked two of the power tubes out so it runs at 50 watts and it's still stupid loud!

I won't bore you with a list of my gear. I mainly use a two humbucker guitar and I can get any sound I can think of out of it. I've had this amp for about six months now. The clean is really good. It got much better (more headroom, more shimmer) when I retubed it with EH tubes. Most of the time I try to ride that tone somewhere between clean and overdrive so that playing dynamics influence the sound. Very responsive. My reverend OD box works great with the amp set clean. Even at Sabbath levels of overdrive every note in the chord is clear. I recently got a tube reverb unit and it sounds even better! I didn't think that was possible. The pull boost overdrive is more like a fuzz box (think hendrix) than a true boost. I find it usefull with pre amp 2 gain way down and it's volume knob cranked. Note: This boost sounds like crap (buzzy, thin- very 80's)in the idiot setting (all maxxed out). Note 2: you really don't need the boost! Also the mids/highs can actually be painfull if they are pulled out. I feel like I'm gushing so I'll stop. Can't give it a ten because somewhere there is a boutique amp maker with a better sound, but I havn't found him yet.

It looks like it was built for war. Really clean inside. Survived shipping by UPS from the midwest USA to northern ontario (if you've ever delt with UPS you know that means something). I've gigged with it once and use it almost daily for practice at high volume with no surprises or problems. I retubed it more for curiosity than need. Pretty sure the power tubes and 3 out of 4 pre amp tubes were original 20 years ago. The covers for the knobs are long gone. I would never gig without a backup but feel confident it would never let me down. The 1 non-origional tube had gone microphonic (pre amp 1 tube)not the amps fault.

Laney's web site is much better now. I downloaded the manual in PDF format, no problem. At this point it's out of their hands, so kudos just for having the manual available!

I try to be objective and critical but once in a while you stumble onto something great and this is it. Buy one used on ebay or from a pawn shop for peanuts and make Bogner owners cry.

100 watt guitar amp with a lot of gain and sonic flexibility.
Pre-amp section: four 12x7 tubes.
Power tubes: four el34.
EQ controls: presence, bass(w/boost), mid(w/boost), treble(w/boost)
2 preamp and 1 master volumes (one of preamps w/boost).
Inputs: hi and low impendance.
Effect loop.
Two outs for speakers.
Variable, 4,8,16 Ohm, output resistance.
Variable voltage power supply (120, 220Volts).
Well shielded.
Power and standby switches.

Very heavy (1 tonn).
User interface is not intuitive. I don't know what level of toxication a man should have to design such mess; or it might as well be a woman (no offence, please, I love women because they percieve things differt). But he/she got the sound right... Suggestion: to get it faster, drink more before starting. Reduce the doze after some progress starts.
On stage, it would be difficult, if possible, to switch between sounds and think of music at the same time. But would be great if just used for single sound. Power is enough for any occasion.

Currently I play from ROCK to HARD ROCK, 90% instrumental stuff in small HOME PROJECT STUDIO. The cab is Legacy 2X12 with Vintage 30, Open back is better for my taste, but closed back is good too. DiMarziio pickups that I use: Breed (neck, bridge), Evolution(neck, bridge), HS-2, C-2). Effects: TC Electronic M300.

CLEAN SOUND is awesome
DIRTY SOUNDS from light overdrive to heavy distortion without any stomp boxes
EFFECTS LOOP does not adds noise

So the sound is all this amp has. I own this amp for about a year and found myself satisfied with the sound palette. Have nothing else to say. So this section is 10 to me. Please consider that I tried only a few amps before, Carvin Legacy (used to be my dream, played in stores), Marshall JCM2000 (very Marshall sound, played in stores), Carvin BelAir combo (own it for years), Mesa Boogie combo with el84 tubes (played a few times at friends house).

One of pull/push switches needs to be replaced. Vinyl cover has no cosmetic value anymore. Otherwise, it works. It is too old to speak of reliability.

E-mailed them asking for a manual. No manual exists anylonger in their archieves, but the tech was very helpfull and provided me with very detailed info for each control and function of the amp. He responded withing 24 hours for each of my 4 inquiries.

Overall, it is a perfect solution for a married guitar player with limited (if any) budget such I am. I used to dream of Legacy Head before, and my wife was ready for at least $700 expence. You won't believe how she likes this amp...
This amp will never be stolen, it weights 1 tonn.
The heat it produces is enough to keep you warm in winter garage.
It is ugly, scratches and dents are all around.
It does not attract children to mess with it; my two sons probably think it is another toolbox.
Combination of Great Sounds and Low Price is the only reason I keep it.
I think I'll keep it as long as I(it) live(s), then one of us will hunt for a substitution. In case I stay longer, I will look for the same or similar.

I guess bet.85 and 87. I play a 67 Hagstrom 12 string through it, and it sounds lovely, and when I hit my distortion pedal, it's blistering. I mean it. It has 2 chanels, a Low and High. It has a headphone jack. It also has dials on the back that let you dial in the z to meet your speakers needs, same thing with the wall jack incase your touring in Europe. the way the channels are configured, you can dial in a good number of sounds. It's a pro amp in my book. The push pull pots on the eq section are nice, when you pull out the trebble pot with a 12 string, look out. Roger McQuinn would blush. Nice.

Like I said a hagstrom 12, and like I didn't yet say, a fender strat. 62 reissue. They both rip through this head. My style is indi rock. It suits me just fine. It's a heavy head, for real, it weighs like 90lbs or something, so it's a bitch for gigs.

when I first purchased it, the "high" channel was broken, $50 and it was fixed. I can depend on it now. I use it for gigs without a back up.

I love this amp. For an indi rocker, it's not the first thing you think of to be sure, it's a hair metal amp. but when I was looking at prices, and remembered how loud this amp was, I figured it was right for me. the sounds are great. the distortion, and the clean. People say that they don't like the clean, and while it's not like a twin or an ac30 clean wise, it's still pretty nice. but for the price...?

This review is gonna be pretty slim seeing as how I only owned it for a month. I ended up selling it to pay for a Laney VC50, but anyway...

This is the 50 watt version, 2 EL34s, 4 12ax7s, no reverb. It only has one channel with a footswitchable boost, so this amp can switch from clean to classic rock distortion or from classic rock distortion to metal/punk distortion. Thats about it, don't expect this to be an amp used as a clean amp because its not. This is a straight up "balls to the wall" distortion amp designed for the hair metal and punk bands of the mid 80s. From what i understand, this amp is the predecesor of Laney's GH series amps. I'll give it a "7" for features due to the price.

I don't really know what kind of condition the pre-amp tubes where in but the power tubes where brand new. This could account for the clean not being very good. The distortion is excellent, bass out the ass and can get very bright if you want. Laney's are known for their brights, if you want something dark go with Peavey or Marshall.

I checked the inside, all the soldering joints are nice and tight. Very well made amp. This is a very reliable amp and sounds great to boot.

Does not apply.

Been playing for about 6 years. I wouldn't suggest this amp to anyone that demands versatility. But if what you're after is something cheap and simple to bang out power chords in a punk, death or hair band, this might be your amp.

AOR Lead Tube head has 2 footswitchable channels; this one is a 100 W beast, made in about the mid-late 80's.Suits my style of classic rock and big hair metal well. There is an effects loop, several speaker jacks,4 EL 34 tubes, and 4 ecc 83 pre tubes. No reverb, though,wish it had it.

I use a Les Paul Deluxe, Fender Strat, both with stock pickups, and an Epiphone Explorer with a Dimarzio Tone Zone, and an Air Norton, so I have a range of outputs to play.This amp doesn't clean up well with the Explorer, but with the lower output Les Paul and Strat it sounds great for clean channel stuff. The Explorer just pushes the gain that much more, making the amp really sing with the distorted stuff.

Seems very reliable. Amp came from a guy in Hawaii to Ohio,via ebay; has held up well for the last 15-20 years. Does not look anywhere near that old.I would not hesitate to play out with this thing at all. It's a typical head used by Ratt and Ace Frehley, I think, so my small scale stuff doesn't scare me at all with it.

Laney customer support was quick and friendly; I used e-mail to communicate w/them. Roger there is great, very helpful. I had the amp thoroughly checked, and retubed. Service guy said it was in A1 condition.

Been playing 25 years, finally made the jump from solid state (shaky state is more like it!!) to tube amp, will never go back. I coupled this amp to a 4-12 Celestion cab I built myself, and am blown away! Every bit as hot as Marshall, nowhere near the $$$ Would definitely recommend, and would buy again. Just wish it had reverb.

Made in England in 1985. One channel with a switchable lead boost, has added gain and volume for it. I don't think it really added all that much personally, but it was enough. Had 2 EL34 Power Tubes and 4 12AX7 Preamp tubes. Has the normal treble, mid, bass, master, and preamp sections). Pretty much a no-nonsense tube amplifier designed for rock. There are pull boosts for the 3 EQ's but they are not footswitchable, although they do add to the sound considerably when used.

I played many guitars out of it, a Fender Stratocaster with hotrails pickup, an Epiphone Les Paul Standard, and a Gibson Les Paul Standard. Obiously the higher quality guitar you use the better the sound, be careful when you read reviews and they play their gear out of a squire or a gibson, it makes a difference trust me. This particular head was always played out of the matching cab that came with it. After 20 years it had lost some bass response, but was still a solid cab. The sound was very much one-sided, but it is very good at what it does. It has a ton of distortion for rock, and it is very good. It can be tuned down for just rock, or turned up with a gain setting of 20 (including the boost) for the diehard metal and distortion fans. The Eq is responsive, but not a ton, don't rely on it to give you drastic changes in tone. Don't buy this amp if you want a clean sound, it doens't have a real good one. However, for the price, you cannot find a better dirty sound, period. That is a fact. Sounds just like, and maybe even better, then a marshall JCM800 and 900 dirty channel, for half the cost on ebay these days.

Has lasted 20 yeas, although I didn't own it the whole time, and obviously is still around. It took quite a beating while I owned it, and it always fired up for me.

Never dealt with laney

Been playing for a few years. This was the first half stack I purchased, 400 for the head and cab when I wanted to join a band, and it was the best bang for the buck that I ever got. When I sold it I bought a Mesa DC-5 head (Another excellent head), and a marshall 1960 lead cab. I still own those, as well as two epiphone les paul standards, a modified cort stratocaster, and a Fender Tom Delonge Stratocaster. I play melodic rock with emo/punk/hardcore influences, and the only thing that made me sell it was I needed a two channel amplifier. If you only desire a one channel amp for an amazing dirty sound and are on a budget though, look here. For the price, it cannot be beat.

This is a mid or early eighties Laney AOR Pro Tub Leab amp. 50 Watts all tube. Serial no. 1070. All tolex head, looks a lot like a Marshall JCM head but wider. Two channels, but not switchable, no reverb. Looks very verstaile. Two speaker outputs and an adjustable speaker output load 4-8 or 16 Ohm, which I think is a very good feature when you use different cabs like I do. I wish it had reverb, though.

I used it with a Jazzmaster so far equiped with SD antuiqitys. Sounded good on the clean side. just good flat clean. I added some reverb from my Electro Harmonics holy grail and instantly fell for it. Now we are talkin reverb on this head....
I have it now coupled on a late 60ties Marshall 4x10 cab and it sounds so sweet....
But it looks like it has a brutal distortion as well, simelar to the Marshall JCM series. But I like the cleaness of this amp, it suprised me.

Can't speak about reliability, but given the serial of this amp, it must be at least 15 years old and still sounding nice. The head looks very beaten and could use a cleanup, but hey...it works and delivers....

I got it on loan, so it's not my concern at the moment.

I have been playing for about 12 years now, had many amps. I used to have a Laney linebacker 60 combo once, which I totally disliked, but this head seams very different, I like the way it sounds...I'm a vintage Fender amp guy now, but this 80ties Brit head has my likings.
Well I will be using it for rehearsal now until my Fender is fixed, it will serve it's purpose. If the price is right, I might perhaps buy it as backup.

It was made around the mid-eighties i think. 50 watts all tube. No channel switching. (sorry, no way to get around this one kids.) Footswitchable preamp boost, push/pull eq controls for mid, treble, bass, and preamp level 1. Has controls for preamp 1 volume and preamp 2 level, and presence (high frequency.). Ohm selector, voltage selector, and dual speaker jacks.

I like to run my les paul fitted with quad rail pickups straight into the amp. the clean sounds are good and usable but nothing shocking here. the drive is where this amp scores points. Very high gain, nice bottom end, shrieking highs, pushy mids. If you like to play mid-driven hardcore, this is the amp for you. I play in a punk band and could not ask for more. The only thing i wish it had really is a good reverb device. I normally use it just to full in the sound but the drive is so full it is not very necessary. The push/pull eq was a fantastic idea. if you pull the bass watch out if you are inside. Definetly will knock pictures off the wall. Im personally not a mid kind of guy so i dont use the mid boost. The power you get from the amp is phenominal. I dont see the need for a 100 watt head because the 50 has got everything covered until amps start getting miked. The lack of channel switching is kind of a bummer, but it works with alien drive boxes really well, better than some amps.(my favorite box is the ds-1.) The amp has sustain for days, and doesnt tend to feed so for me it is the perfect stage amp.

The thing is solid, and very heavy, weighs more than my 4x12. i think you could use it to break rocks.

i have never delt with them but they are all the way off in the UK so it is probably terrible.

Awesome amp. Does everything i need it too. it makes my friends jealous, and they have some mean equipment. What more can i say. If you like mid-driven hardcore rather than laser-ish metal distortion go for this amp. Theyre cheap and sound good, where could you go wrong?

All tube, 100W, two non-switchable channels. Pull boost on bass, mid, treble, and pre-amp gain. Voltage and ohm selectors. Two speaker outs and effects loop. No reverb.

I play a Gibson SG and a Martin Barre signature model Washburn Falcon. Both guitars sound great through this amp. I play lead guitar in a classic/hard rock band (Zep, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Foghat, etc), and this amp is perfectly well suited for it, it's the real deal.

I've not had a problem with amp noise, my unit is nice and quiet, unlike my old Randall RG-80, which sounds like a 747 at take-off.

This Laney amp has all the tone one expects from a tube amp, and more. As someone has already stated, some other well known tube amps sound solid state by comparison.

Each note is well defined and clear. After playing about an hour the amp hits a groove and really starts to sing (God this amp sounds good). Laney did well in putting the word "LEAD" on the front panel, it has tons of sustain.

No real channel switching but I've been able to go from molten distortion to reletively clean simply by using the controls ON MY GUITAR. I turn my bridge pick up all the way up, set my neck pick up at about 3 or 4, then simply use my toggle switch to go from dirty to almost clean ... works great!

No reverb is a drawback. I'm not really into a lot of reverb but a little trailing "chaah" at the end would be nice ... and just a tad to enhance the solos. But after you and the amp get warm you really don't care much anymore, the amp just sounds so good.

I haven't tried plugging a reverb unit into the FX loop, don't know if I want too, I really don't want to plug anything into this amp that may take away from the monster tone it produces.

It survived a 2,000 mile ride with UPS, seems well built.

Never delt with.

Yes, at these prices, I'd certainly buy another if it were lost or swiped.

made sometime in the mid to late 80's, this amp only really has two missing features that you can complain about for something 15 years old. there's no channel switching and there's no reverb. other than that, it has just about everything else. push/pull boost feature on three bands of eq, footswitchable preamp for gain boost, high and low inputs, voltage selector, impedance selector (4,8,16), effects loop, and two speaker-outs. 4 12ax7 7205's in the preamp, two el34's in the power section for 50 extremely loud watts. I don't care about the lack of reverb, but two channels would be nice.

my main guitar is an ash-bodied fender deluxe super strat with a seymour duncan pearly gates humbucker in the bridge position and "super fat super strat" single coils in the middle and neck positions. the head is plugged into an ampeg v412 speaker cab. 80% of this amp works really well only with the humbucker, which is to be expected, it is after all a high-gain, rock/metal intended creature. it does work very well with the humbucker too, the distortion sounds beautiful, anything from AC/DC style classic rock to 'maiden to near-mesa levels of gain. Since i play mainly rock/punk/emo with this amp, it has worked out quite well for me. marshall distortion and beyond for a fraction of the cost.
beyond distorted sounds though, this amp leaves a little to be desired, the clean sounds are unimpressive, and overdrive, rather than distortion for blues is difficult to find. I did finally find a setting that gave me a pretty good british (go figure) blues sound though, and happily played along with clapton for two hours straight upon that discovery.
to sum it up: great for distortion, punk, rock, metal, all sound great through this amp. buy this long before you drop huge amounts on a marshall or maybe even a boogie. find something else for blues, or clean sounds. since it goes without saying that high-gain heads are not really intended for the latter sounds, i'm going to rate the sound based on the former sounds.

when i bought this head, i got it for half the original asking price because it was not functioning when i bought it. some idiot in the store didn't wait long enough for the tubes to warm up and couldn't figure out why the amp wasn't making noise... ready for this?.... so he pulls out one of the fuses while the thing is still on, blowing half the preamp tubes instantly and frying a bunch of other stuff at the same time. genious. but, the salesman tells me if i buy it now, for $130 , they'll send to the repair center as an in-stock repair, so i don't have to pay for the work, and then if i still don't like it when it comes back, i have 14 days to return it for a full refund. so needless to say, this is what i did, and it worked and sounded great when it came back. had one little issue with the preamp 1 switch not working right after that, but other than that, it's been golden. so except for the occasional complete idiot attack, this amp's pretty reliable. daddy's junky music hooked me up on this one.

I've been playing for about 5 years now, i'm 22. I don't own much other gear because i'm in college and i'm pretty broke- cheap acoustic, cheap epiphone les paul with stickers all over it, fender champion 30 amp. If this were stolen (i can't imagine losing something this big) i'd be upset because i wouldn't be able to sell it for cash towards my next toy. don't get me wrong, i like this amp a good deal, but i'm mellowing a little and looking into purchasing an all tube combo. I'm not in a serious band anymore, and i'm moving back to playing blues, which is what got me into guitar in the first place. for anybody in a rock-minded band, you couldn't ask for a better amp for the money. really a great deal, marshall with out the price tag. i'm giving a 9 because it really is a one trick pony, but dammit, it's good at what it does.

UPDATE FROM MY PREVIOUS POST:

I have spent some time now with the Laney and absolutely love it. The single channel doesn't even bother me now, I just use a distortion pedal to toggle clean/dirty and both tones are fantastic. It sounds really crushing or pretty, depending on how you set it. The push/pull EQ's give this amp a TON of versatility, way more than other amps that come to mind or I have tried.

My setup is this: Brian Moore i2 > Boss OC-2 Octave > MXR Phase 90 > Boss DS-1 > EH Small Clone > MXR 6 Band EQ > Laney Pro-Tube > Marshall 1960B 4x12 w/ 65 watt Celestions.

I've been able to quickly dial up a late 80's thrash tone, blues tones, Beatles tones, 70's arena rock, Sabbath, Nirvana, Nu-metal (yuck) and so on using just the above setup. The trick is the amp sounds good no matter what you do. Mainly I pull the bass and mids and cut some of the bass on the EQ to avoid that woofing sound--it is great for the indie noise rock that I fancy.

I've already convinced one person to hang up their dreams of the Peavey XXX by one listen of this amp--they now own one of these and couldn't be happier. Amazing deal. I got my entire half stack for 400 dollars total.

Single channel amp. Sort of a bummer. You can't effectively load two signals via an A/B box to the high/low impedence to try to sneak a clean/dirty signal that way. I was mucking with it for hours and couldn't strike a good balance of levels or tone that way.

So I switched to using my DS-1 for clean/gain sounds. Works nicely actually although it's a bit of a compromise for how I usually like to sound.

100 watts, switches from almost every power voltage known to man, can send 4/8/16 ohms... very professional features all around.

Whips the crap out of a JCM 800... if you can believe that. The push/pull tone knobs on the front plate are no joke--if you pull the bass one look out! It will crumble the walls.

Gets a great sound almost no matter what. Very british.

Runs pretty warm, not surprising for a tube amp. Haven't had it long enough to adequetely judge however.

If it were dual channel it would be a 10; however, it just sounds too good to be ignored at its price. Classive value amp that, in most ways, outshines the name brands.

I guess from other reviews my head was made in 85-87. The amp does not switch back and forth from clean to dirty smoothly cause you have to mess with the gains to get a truly clean sound but what it does it does very well. I wish the gain and volume knobs were labeled so it showed what they actually did, it took a while to get used to them. I bought this amp used from a friend of mine in 1992 for $300. It has an effects loop which I never use. VERY LOUD 50 watts sounds louder than some 100 watt amps out there.

I have played for 22 years and had this amp for 10 years. I will never get rid of it. I sold it and got it back after a year. I have used this amp with strats, a Gibson explorer, a Jackson randy rhoads V, a Les Paul and a Yamaha Pacifica. It has made every guitar shine. I play all kinds of music but I am a head banger at heart. Very dynamic amp with perfect amount of comression and crunch the distortion is very brutal. killer low end. The el-34's are very sensitive to subtle changes in playing. The amp does need a little boost Like a rat or tube screamer to really fill in the crunch and drive the tubes a little harder. I use a rat barely turned up. I don't like the clean and dirty channel switch cause the volume on the clean is alot louder. this amp would have been better if the extra stage of gain on pre-amp 1 were not switchable and the clean was a totally separate channel. as it is when you switch back to clean you have to back off of the gain or the guitar volume. it takes some getting used to. Other than than that it is a very sweet amp. It is brutal but at the same time musical and more so the louder it gets!

I am very leary. I have seen from other reviews that other people have had no problems. I say to those people get ready and save some money cause you will. The good side of the fact that these amps are getting old is that the componants are aging and smoothing out the tone. The bad side is tube sockets. I've replaced all but one of mine and have had to resolder several cold solders. Areas where the tubes tie into the circuit board are especially bad also the grounds to the huge caps go bad. one of the volume pots was grounding to the chasis about five years ago. The input jackalso needed a resolder. Ive had it in the shop for about six months. It is fixed now but if it goes bad again I will hav it completely overhauled at laney. If they do that sort of thing. I will say that it hasn't given me any problems since ive got it back and it did'nt give me any problems before all the repair work. During all the repair work I went thru about ten amps trying to regain my sound and none did compare. although the Peavey clasic 50 head with a Marshall Jackhammer did sound ok but not enough thump.

There web site suks and there are no local dealers. I wish there web site was as good as Marshalls

This is the only amp for me it is totally unlike anything out there. If it were lost or stolen I would immediately look for another one or another Laney product. I compared all other amps Ive tried in the last year to this one and I just couldn't get my sound. The distortion on this thing is very smooth but very agressive at the same time.

This amp was manufactured in 1987. I bought it on E-bay about a month ago for $212.00 + $50.00 shipping. Man, what a deal! This thing rips!
The distortion on this thing screams! It is a 50 watt head with 4-AX7's in the pre-amp and 2-6L6's in the power amp section. It probably had a footswitch with it when it was new. It has a high gain(Which is what I use) and a low gain input. It has a presence knob, bass, mid, and treble with pull boost knobs, a master volume, a pre-amp-1 and a pre-amp-2 knob with a pre-amp-1 volume knob. You start cranking this thing and it's only a matter of time before the cops show up. If you're home alone they may have to turn their siren up full blast to get your attention because there is no way you're going to hear them. When you finally turn it down and agree not to play it so loud then ask the cops what they thought of your playing and if they like Ozzy they may reply: "I'm not at liberty to comment on that sir." Oh, about the amp...It does have the Ozzy feature combined with the Police Feature. It suits my needs...No reverb but I don't care.

I play an Ibanez RG-570 with EMG's(81/85) no single coil in the slot.
This amp will literally tear cow hide and break windows. You're talking "Body Buzz" while you're playing. I've played cheap shit guitars on it and it still screams. Don't drink coffee or take amnphetemines while operating this equipment. Don't light a cigarette because it will burn down to the filter because you're so engrossed in playing that you forget you've lit it. You can get any sound you want by tweaking the knobs. If you can't get off on this gain machine you should take up the violin. I can't say enough about this metal monster. It kicks total ass!!!!!!!

Since this amp is 15 yrs. old I'd say it is very well made. I always gig with back-up. I have a Peavey Butcher for that. This amp has a unique sound that leaves the Butcher behind.

Their web site totally sucks and since they're in England I guess I'm on my own. I did e-mail them to tell them their web site sucked.

I play metal and this amp was made for metal. Hey I'm happy!

To the best of my knowledge this amp was made in the mid to late eightes in England. This amp is one of the most versatile amps i have ever played, i play punk rock and other types of rock/blues. The features are as follows: Presence, Treble(push pull boost), Mid( push pull boost), and bass(push pull boost), Master volume, pre-amp volume 1, pre-amp volume 2, and then a second Pre-amp volume 1 (push pull boost.) The amp has two channels a high gain and a low cain(dirty and clean.) The amp which i bought used, came with 2 seimens EL-34 power output tubes and 4 12AX7 pre-amp tubes, three electronics made by GE and one Groove Tube GT 7025. The amp has two different speaker outputs. The only thing that i wish this amp had reverb so when you run the clean channel you would be able to thicken up the tone just a bit. I also which i could find the 100 watt version of this amp. I use this amp mainly in my basement for pratice and will use it when we hit the road too. The amp has 50 watts, which is enough power for smaller venues.

I use two different guitars, A 1999 Gibson SG Standard with a 490 humbucker in the neck position and a 498T in the bridge postition. I also use a PINK ( cuz im so damn manily) Kramer FX-10 with an EMG slanted humbucker in the bridge position. The amp seems to do better with My SG on the bridge pickup, while my kramer is very tinny sounding and very feedback prone. The 498T humbucker in my SG sounds very good with the amp, full tone, good tight bright tones deep clean bass tones and well balanced middle tones. While on the kramer the pickup is much more powerful than the 498T and is much noisier. The amp itself is as i said very versitile, if you pull out the pre-amp 1 knob the distortion screams. when you use the pull out pre-amp 1 switch the other pre-amp 1 knob acts as a second master volume. Then the pre-amp 2 knob acts as a bass gain boost, and the pull out pre-amp 1 knob acts as a treble gain boost, this means that you can easily balance the bass and trebel gain settings, i use this to my advantage and use different steeings for different songs.The clean tones from the amp are pretty much the same clean and bright but when you crank up the volume it becomes slighly distorted. THe clean channel is slightly louder than the distorted channel. The distortion is by far some of the best that i have heard, i dont use any pedals (other than a tuner) so i just have my amp a cord and my guitar. I honestly believe that the tubes have a major role in the distortion of this amp, i have never heard a distortion quite like it. The amp truly has a tone of its own, un like any mesa's, fender's or marshalls, that i have played. if you need a amp with a lot of power and a unique distortion and you have NO money this amp is a great amp. The other guitarist in my band uses a mesa boogie 50 caliber + and a 1980's Marshall JCM 800, and he often compliments me on the unique sound, he just bought a Hughes & Kettner Tube factor pedal to blend better with my amp. Bothe of those amps with the pedal are valued at over $1200 dollars, i payed $150 dollars for my one amp and i truly love it.

The amp is very relaible and i totally trust it, the only problem i have had with it is the tubes, i bought it used and one of the 12AX7's needs to be replaced and one of the EL-34 also needs replacing. Other than the tubes i have never had a problem with it. I have never had it serviced but i am going to soon. For the condition of the amp when i bought it, it has help up great, i have no complains.

I have never dealed with them but their web site seems to be helpful if i were to ever need help.

I have been Playing for almost a year and have never had another amp. It was my first amp and i made do with what i had, and i got really lucky, this amp is just what i was looking for, and at the price of $150 how could you go wrong? If it were stolen (god forbid) i would have to get another, hopefully one with seimens EL-34's. I pretty much love this amp, if only it had reverb. I bought this amp for the sole facts that it was an all tube amp and was only $150. Word to the wise: IF YOU SEE ONE OF THESE AND HAVE THE MONEY BUY IT YOU'LL BE HAPPY, IF NOT SELL IT TO ME

I have no idea what year Im guessing from the style mid to late 80's I play punk rock and it is awesome I have to back way off the gain and I get a real good jcm 800 sound but this amp has the balls to play hard and extremley heavy! This is the 2/12 combo version 100 watt pro tube lead with reverb unlike the head only models did not have reverb other than that it hass all the same push pull features with two channles and two gain stages. It has more power than I could ever use with 4 el34s in the power section and 4 12xa7 in the preamp section. This 2/12 combo is built like a tank and weighs 102lbs. The only bad thing I can say is it is a bit noisy when the gain is turned all the way up and just a little to hissy sometimes but a small price to pay for a great sound and great tone and for $300.00 it was a win win situation. I highly recomend this amp !!! beter than my old peavy 5150 and my marshall jcm 900 dual reverb at a fraction of the price!!!

I use this amp for punk rock and hardcore and it a dream.
I use my start with single coils and my gibson es 335 with humbuckers and it works great with both.
Like I said before it can be noisy at times.
I havent used the clean channel much I dont have much use for a clean channel.
The distoriton on this thing is unreal!!!

I have only had this thing for a few months but as I can see it has been around the block it has no known history of problems and it works great for me

Never dealt with them but there web site sucks!

I have been playing for 13 years and I use it with my fender usa standard stratocaster and my gibson es335
If it was stolen or lost I would defenitley buy another!
I love the tone Hate the noise "but its really not that bad"
It sound like a beefed up hot rodded Marshall jcm 800
I wish I could find a foot switch for it!!! and im missing a knob!
This is a great amp go get one!!!!

This amp was made I think in the mid 80's. I play metal an classic rock. The distortion is awesome one of the best head distortion i've seen. The equalization is great too especially the midrange boost. Presence is on almost all Laney amps i think it's dumb never really use it. I also wish it had reverb but thats nothing to cry about.

Sound on this amp is fucking incredible i have to say this amp sold me on Laney. I play a Gibson SG Gothic and it takes it to another level. It fits my Classic Rock Heavy Metal tastes perfectly. It is great on clean and distortion. It is loud as hell as a matter of fact cracked my window playing the intro to hells bells.

This amp is about 15 years old and no problems that speaks for itself.

never dealt with the cause i never had to

If it were stolen or lost i would not buy another one just because i would probably want to try something different but i think it was probably one of the best purchases i ever made. Soud is awesome dependable as hell could use a bit more features. But all around this is the best amp i ever owned and possibly will ever own.

I think this amp was made in 1987. Basically a hot-rodded Marshall. I play mainly hard rock ala Rush, ACDC, Vinnie Moore, and this amp has all the gain and distortion you will ever need. It comes with two channels, a lo and hi gain input, non-switchable, a minus for me, no reverb, another minus for me, and it does have an effects loop, a plus for me. The panel is very much like a Marshall with a presence control, a bass, middle, and treble tone controls with pull boost on each one. Pull the bass boost and listen to your windows rattle! A master volume and gain control also. I use this amp mainly for playing with my friends in our power trio with a 4x12 slant face bottom and have no trouble keeping up with the drummer. An all tube power amp with two 12AX7 pre-amp tubes per channel and four EL34 power tubes. Nothing like an all tube amp for the best tone and distortion.

I play mainly Gibson guitars with dual humbuckers. I have a Les Paul Custom Shop that just screams with this amp. I also have two Gibson SGs that seem to be made for this amp. For straight ahead rock n roll this is THE amp. The head is a little noisy on high gain settings, as is the case with most tube amps, but not enough to be annoying. The clean channel sounds great also, but since this is a one channel amp, the tone settings need to be changed quite a bit for the best sound, the only drawback to this amp. But talk about distortion, this amp has it all and then some. Crank it up and hit some power chords and you think you went to guitar heaven. Great sustain on the leads too, each note is clearly defined with no stray harmonics to muck it up.

I have only had this amp for a few months, had an amp tech check it out, and he said everything was fine. Not bad for a 15 year old amp. I played out for a number of years with only one tube amp, so for me that's not a concern. This thing is built like brick s@#thouse though.

I haven't tried to contact Laney so I have no idea. My amp tech friend told me that it is very close to a Marshall. Tubes are easy to get, as is any repair parts needed.

I have been playing for over 20 years and have played many guitars and amps. I also have a Music Man RD100 amp that I have owned for a long time. I also have a Crate GX130-C head that I bought used a couple of years ago, but neither comes close to my Laney for sound. If it were stolen or lost I would sure try to replace it. I tried one out a number of years ago and loved it but never had the cash to buy one new. When this used one came along I had to buy it. I only wish it had reverb, because I don't really like using effects for that, and the channel switching. But for pure tone and distortion, this amp can't be beat.

as others have stated. single channel amp with 2 pre-amp stages (preamp volume 2 is switchable). no reverb or effects loop. bass, middle and treble controls have pull boost functions. 100 watts and freakin' loud. very good bang for the buck.

very Marshall JCM800 but add a bunch more gain. where the marshall is expensive and for rock n' roll, this Laney is affordable and for metal! very good chunky metal tones. the only way to get crunch tones AND somewhat clean is to back off your volume a bunch or mess with the dials while your playing so I'll discount this rating accordingly.

no problems with it. it's a tank.

never used them. their website sucks.

very good amp for the dough. it's a one trick pony but is quite usable for rock and metal. for a fraction of the cost of a marshall.

I think this amp was made in the '85 - '87 timeframe. I bought it in 1997 so it was used when I got it. 2 Channels, I never use the fx loop so I don't know how it works. Borders on too much power even in a punk band.

I use an modified SG with a duncan pickup and a Les Paul Studio through this and it sounds absolutely killer. The crunch is just insane...nothing bad to say here beside the fact that it gets kind of noisy (hiss) when the gain is all the way up and you're not playing.

I've been using this amp for 5 years straight. I fried the master output transformer on it once but that was my fault, playing at the wrong impedance setting. This thing weighs a ton, but its solid.

I've never dealt with Laney. One time I contacted them to see if they had any documentation for the head...but they don't keep doc. on the old models.

I play this through a matching Laney 4x12" cabinet. Lots of low end. Lots of crunch. Hook up a les paul or an sg to the head and you'll be in crunch-heaven. I've tried playing single-coils through it and those sound weird...maybe its just the settings.

This is a tube head built between 85 and 87.Very strong wordhorse of an amp.I,ve been playing 37 years now so theres all kinds of styles played on this amp from Christian,blues,country,rock,jazz backgrounds. When used with a rackmount unit with input,output this amp makes a great studio rig for teaching and recording.

I use Strats for recording cilents.One with singles,one with humbuckers.Tones are only limited to your mind set.She is a little noisey with single coils but nothing that can,t be handled easily. from clean to prue crunch she works and faithfully since 1987.

This amp was on the road for 10 years of her life and other than tubes there have been no troubles.Lets face it some things out after a while but it never let me down.She paid her dues and now rest in a studio inviriment waiting to show teeth from time to time with students.

Once my 50 watt shorted its tubes.This was due to a badly mismatched speaker array,and no fault of the amp itself.But I had the 100 watt standind by and in 4 days was shipped,repaired and returned to service.This was the only time I had any trouble.Not much to complain about right?

I,ve been picking 37 years come this October and if this amp were stolen I would try to replace it if they still make this model.The amp is a players dream as fer as tones go,she is a heavy amp,but as long as I can move it I,ll play it.

i think this amp was made around 87 but not positive.it's preety versitile i play mainly hard rock/punk/metel and it has a great sound for that also has a great clean channel.and they are switchable too. effects loop i have never used so i dont know much about it great all tube sound. four power tubes four pre amp tubes and very loud i play in a band and i normal dont play louder then volume 3!! very very loud

i play with single coil pickups and it sounds great the only problem is when you use a lot of pedels it schreechs a lot.it gets kinda noisy with the gain on ten.if you want a black sabbath sound here it is!!!the distortion is great and is loud

i have not had this amp long and have any problems thoughbut i have droped it about 3 and 1/2 feet on concrete and took it home and it played fine!!

never delt with them!

i have been playing for four years and have many different heads this is one of the best and it louder then marshalls but it's too damn loud!!

I believe this amp was made between 85 and 88. I play heavy agressive guitar one of my guitars being a schecter 7 string and this amp just sounds unholy. Its got channel switching and push pull knobs .It is a very loud one hundred watts.

This amp has got that classic Criss Oliva tone from the Savatage album "Streets". It is very warm and can be very hard to control.It really has more gain than you need.The amp can be noisy when you have the gain on 10.My Schechter 7 string Avenger has Duncan pickups in it and they match the amp very well.

I actually dropped this amp off of the trunk of my car. I went home plugged it in to find no problems. It os a beast.

I have owned it just over a year and have had not one problem.

The only other amp with gain this great is a Mesa triple rectifier. I think that pretty much sums that up.

Channel switching all tube amp with plenty of power. Very versatile amplifier. Can get the sound of a Fender twin (without the reverb)and a turbocharged Marshall. Effect send and receive. Great for all types of music. Best lookng head Laney ever made.

Sounds killer with single coils or humbuckers. I use it with a Marshall single 12" box (with an EV12L speaker) and it fills any club with great tone. More lead tone than you will ever expect to get. I have a Sunn, Marshall, a Music Man and have had lots of Fenders. This thing makes them sound solid state to me.

Never had one problem so I can say it's super reliable. Contrary to my Marshalls! I looked inside and it's quality made compared to my other amps.

Never had a problem so I don't know about their customer support.

If your thinking about a British amp and like tons of gain... this amp can't be beat. Listen to Tony from Black Sabbath.... he's played them for 30 years.