Laney GC80

A review of the Laney GC-80 HH loaded, solid state, 80 watt combo.
Made in the early 1990's;
2-channels: clean and overdrive;
Reverb send amount for both channels + master reverb on/off switch.
Two inputs: high and low impedance;
1-12" Laney HH driver @ 4 Ohm load;
Can disconnect speaker to connect an external cab;
Open backed;
Direct Out;
Headphone Out;
Effects loop;
Can switch channels and reverb with a foot switch.

This is a great amp. A majority of the reviews don't give enough credence to the overdrive channel. If you're playing a solid state amp, expect solid state distortion- not tube! The overdrive channel is great. If you've played other solid state amps of its time, like the Fender M-80, you get the idea. Using a BOSS EQ pedal in the effects loop, I get some serious scooped mid tone for metal and the like. I have no problem getting tones to play Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, any type of thrash, punk, straight-out rock, and the like. What I like about solid state distortion is its consistency, if you can understand what I mean. I use tube amps as well [Boogie Tri-Axis, Fender Twin] and have played guitar for twenty years. I've played enough to know that solid state and tube distortion aren't better than the other, they're simply different. I would say that solid state amps should offer more versatile equalisation, like parametric eq's, and even possibly a phase option between speakers [I do not mean a phaser effect]. That would be an awesome 21 century solid state amp.

Continuing on, this amp has relatively low noise, not any more than any other amp. The clean channel is excellent. It will distort at full gain, starting perhaps at 7.5 or 8 up to ten. However, this is not distortion of a crappy circuit; it starts to overdrive [lightly] like an overdrive pedal. If you're using the clean channel though, you may not even care to bring the gain to 10 anyway, as the amp is quite LOUD. I can play the clean channel with its gain at 4 and can be heard fine over drums and bass. The clean channel handles pedals just fine. I've used BOSS's Metal Zone, Metal Core, Super Overdrive; Vox's Tonelab SE pedal board and a Line 6 Pod Pro through it with great results.
As far as my clean tone, I use a Telecaster with a maple fretboard, a Strat with a rosewood fretboard, and an Epiphone Sheraton. This amp produces well the varied characters of these guitars, each having a unique clean tone that I use for recording.
With the overdrive channel, I also play the Tele and the Sheraton, along with a Les Paul, and a Jackson Soloist, among others. The Tele's pickups are Fender Custom Shop hum canceling Tele pickups. The Soloist has Seymour Duncan's, LP has PAF's.

The music I write, play and record [I work as a freelance producer and engineer] is a mixture/hybrid of hard electronic music, black metal, folk, ambient, etc; music that can be simple or complex in texture, "dark" or obscure in nature, but what I feel requires beautiful tone, be it nasty and noisy, or warm and precise, and anything in between.
As a producer I also work with music of a more pop, or accessible, nature. This amp is an instrument I do consider often in the studio, and have recorded with fine results.

Interestingly enough, lately I've been playing a Fender Jazz bass through it. I play it with the overdrive channel, gain at 0.5 or 1, level control raised up to compensate for the low gain. The EQ: bass at 10, mids at 5, treble at 5. Boss EQ in the effects loop in a "very" subtle "V" formation, to add more low end and enhance the bit of pick/fret buzz. The amp doesnt distort the bass at such low gain, but gives it a very cool sound and texture. Growly but precise with no mud.

An EQ in the effects loop is pretty much standard for me, as it allows further shaping of the drive channel, though without it, it is still good, like I said, if you were to jam on some classic metal, punk, rock, and the like. Not necessarily an amp for "nu-metal" or derivatives of that stuff.

This amp is quite solid. I dont know its weight, but its not so heavy for a 1 12" combo. Its cabinet is slightly larger than others of the same type. Its got about four to five inches on either side of the driver. The covering is textured, some kind of poly material. It has a metal grille. A handle on the top. Easy to gig with, and wouldn't need a backup for fear of failure on its part.

Laney has great customer service.

Ive been playing music for twenty years, and am a "multi-instrumentalist". ;) This amp stands up well with my other amps, a Fender Twin, Boogie Tri-Axis, some Vox, and other combos. This amp is a nice complement to my Vox Tonelab SE, and the Line 6 Pod Pro. In fact, I prefer using outboard gear with it, reproducing the various models well, rather than the other amps.
The one thing I wish it would have is a parametric EQ. That lack is not unique to this amp, of course.

The Laney GC80 is both reliable and powerful. The 80w fills any hall and remains clear and undistorted all the way to full chat. The overdrive chanel does not have the distortion needed for heavy metal but is more than adequate for the 70's stuff that I play, having said that I use a dsp pedal in the loop and benifit from being able to step through different settings as we follow the play list.
The spring reverb has just the right response and never suffers from the marshall "boing" every time someone farts!

The equalisers work well and the clean chanel is excelent, any reservations that You may have about the OD chanel are easily solved with your favourite pedal.
I use the amp with both a fender strat and a gibson les paul, the amp handles both equaly well although I have to make minor adjustments when switching guitars. I tend to use the dsp pedal to cope with these changes and let the amp get on with what it does best...cranking up my sounds!

Here is this amps ace in the hole, reliability is its first middle and last name...I have never even heard of one letting anyone down (and I repair amps for a living). the response is always the same, this amp has never even so much as hiccupped in all the time I have had it.

Brilliant, when some low life decided that the knobs where of more use to him (or her) than they where to me Laney ensured that I had like for like replacements in less than 48 hrs, what is more they where for free and gratias

I would not want to be without this amp and if it where stolen I would beat f!"?? out of the low life that I cuaght with it. I have had it now for around 10 years and I bought it second hand.
The only thing I really do not like is carrying it into gigs and rehersals. I love the clean tone and the utter reliability.
I have the opertunity to compare it with almost every guitar amp ever made (I repair them) and I purchased this one becuase I have never had one come in for repair.
The final question is
Anything else you'd like to share?
Girls....I am really good in bed!

I bought this amp about a year ago for ?100 GBP second hand. It was bought to replace a Peavey 65 twin corous studio which lasted all of 5 mins. The amp has limited features but thats not a bad thing really ,you get 2 channels ... clean and overdrive with bass , middle , treble and reverb on both.
The overdrive is Ok for dirtying up your sound a bit but to be honest your better off getting yourself a decend pedal as it is a little thin sounding. the bass,middle and treble are very responsive and there is plenty of range to be used.
The reverb is also pretty good. So all the basic features are there, if you want more features then you'll have to spend more cash on something like a LINE 6 or a Fender.
There are more features to be found round the back of the amp like headphones , pre-amp FX loop and DI.

I use a USA 52 Fender tele ash , a Fender USA standard Strat and an Epiphone Les Paul standard and the amp handles them all very well.
The clean channel is perfectly clean with no distortion at all upto about 5 on the master volume an maybe 3 on the channel volume past that I am in unknown teritory as thats as loud as I need it for band practice and belive me its loud enough to cut through bass , drums and another guitar. and thats using the single coiled fenders. with the LP it has to be turned down a bit. I play mainly Blues guitar both clean and dirty the clean channel is ultra clean and crisp. Ive heard fender clean and belive me this is just as good. It also has a gain dial which is great for just giving that slight GGGGRRRR!!! to the blues.
To be honest I don't really use the overdrive channel much as I use a Marshall Bluesbreaker 2 pedal for the overdriven sound and it is just right. although if you want that kind of classic Clash / SLF bite its pretty cool. the spring loaded reverb unit is solid enough not to make that awful rattle you get from some amps when you move them (Peavey studio chorus). but it gives a good sound when it neads to. All in all its a cracking sound from a solid amp.

It's never let me down so far and it been used just about every day since I bought it and carted back and forth to the practice room loads of times.

Never used them.

This is a great amp with a wide range of sounds and is good for all kind of music I would say thay it's a middle of the road amp as it doesnt lend itself to any genre it's got enough bottom end to play hard/classic rock or metal (with a decent pedal), and enough top end sparkle to play country, texas blues or jazz and just about anything in between. they dont make these amps any more so it'll have to be a second hand one, and at about 100 to 130 quid its a winner.

80 Watt amp with a clean channel and an overdriven one. It's a transistor amp, and has a 12'speaker. No effects. It has an effects loop wich sucks totally since it has no mix knob, no way to control the mix, except with the volume of the pedals (or processor).

I use a Ibanez RG guitar, not a very good one I might add, but nevertheless, i get by with it. I play hard-rock meets nu metal meets calm music, so this amp should be able to cut it. It wasn't a noisy amp, but I found it irritating that by turning the clean gain to 1 and a half it didn't sound clean to me. I also had some trouble with knobs making hiss sound, but that's probably due to the amp being a little bit old.

Now for the sound quality... the amp gets real loud... It's an 80W amp that can make the pictures on your walls fall... but talking tone and definition, it totally sucks. The clean chanell gets distorted really soon, the drive isn't very good! Final conclusion, I was going to buy it, tried it for 2 or 3 months, and after I bought my Marshall MG100DFX, I feel like this Laney is a piece of trash... for real!
I'll give it a 4 because all the metal junkies might like it, since it can wield a lot of distortion with pedals, but even then, I don't think they'll like the fact that noone will understand what they're playing :D

It is reliable...such an old amp and still kicking :D respect here

Never dealt with them, so No Opinion on this one

I've been playing around for 2 years and a half, almost 3 :) I play with my Ibanez since the begining, and so I know what limitations it has, what are the amps faults, what are the guitar faults, what are the processors faults (I use a Zoom-GFX5).

I DIDN'T BUY THE AMP AND I WOULDN'T ADVISE ANYONE TO BUY IT

I hate the fact that it hasn't any definition. It wasn't the guitar's fault and neither the processor's.

I compared it with a Marshall Valvestate 8080 (preaty beat up from the use, but it still beat the Laney by miles) and the amp i ended up buying, a Marshall MG100DFX. Any of them could/should be your choice instead of this Laney.I had a Roland Cube 15, and though it had no power (at least not enough to play with my band), it's sound quality was better than this Laney.

I DO NOT ADVISE ANYONE TO BUY THIS AMP. Anyone can be fooled by its volume, but the sound quality just isn't there!

I bought this as slightly bigger practise amp to replace my Fender 15watt, however I have also been able to use it for quite large gigs as it has a lot of bite to it, especially if using with a foot pedal. The fact that the amp has an acoustic channel with a substantial pre-amp on is an added feature as i also like to play electro-acoustic as well as electric. The only yhting that could really be improved is the sound of the overdrive, but this is only because it isnt the sound I require for the music I play. As well as having overdrive, it also has reverb, both of whihc can be controlled with the foot switch.

The amp has a great sound at all volumes and with both humbuckers and single coils. It can go very loud, and when it does the clean channel is just as clear as on low volumes. It is good for most styles of music, such as rock, acoustic and punk, although the sound is very good, there isnt a huge variety of different sounds. Despite this, the sound level and quality is good enough for practise, gigging or recording.

My amp was made in 1994, and I got it in 2003, there hasnt been a sngle thing wrong with it since Ive had it, and the place I got it from said that it had never had any problems with it since they got. It is a very durable amp and will take plenty of wear and tear. I have complete faith in this amp and would gig with it without having a back up ready.

Well as it is so reliable I have never had to contact Laney about it. The only thing I was interested in was trying to find a user manual for it, which I did in a matter of clicks on the Laney site, without having to contact them.

The amp overall is great and even though it isnt in production any more, if it ever broke beyond repair, I would search for another one. I normally use a guitar with humbuckers, such as my Epiphone G400, whihc just further complements the amp. AS the overdrive isnt the best feature I also use a Wasabi distortion pedal. I would recommend this amp to anyone looking for an electric amp of an acoustic amp. If gigging with it, beware of the weight, its a beast.

I'm mostly playing Stones covers and other rock numbers from the 60s and 70s at present. The "clean" channel provides a good sound for the 60s numbers like Route 66 and for playing rhythmn, while the overdrive provides a boost for solos and 70s numbers like Brown Sugar. But you need to get the footswitch, so that you can turn the overdrive on and off easily.

The "clean" channel is great. It can be totally clean if you keep the gain down, but put on a bit of gain and you get a nice bluesy sound. The overdrive channel is not very subtle, but OK as long as you keep the drive down. One slightly annoying feature is that you can't stand to close to the amp or you get loads of feedback. But this is probably due in part to my using a semi-acoustic guitar.

I bought the amp second-hand, and it seems to date from the late 70s, but I have never had any trouble with it.

I was able to track down a supplier of the missing footswitch in Brussels quickly and easily thanks to the Laney website. I was also able to download the manual, which was handy. I had a problem with the effects loop and so sent a query to Laney by e-mail
(support@laney.co.uk). I got a reply giving me the answer to the problem
(replacement of an oxidised jack socket) within just over an hour.

If I had had bags of time and money, I would have got a old valve amp. However, since I have limited quantities of both, this is an ideal amp for me. It is more than powerful enough for jams and gigs while remaining reasonable easy to transport and sounds good without having cost me an arm and a leg.

2 channel solid state amp made sometime in 90s. Remote foot switch socket for clean/overdrive channels and reverb. Send/return effects loop, headphone socket and DI/line-out socket. 75/80 watts output. HH 12" speaker. Spring reverb.

The clean channel is outstanding and using some reverb you get a very sweet almost tube like tone. The overdrive channel is not so good and I would use an overdrive fx pedal into the front of the amp rather than this channel. If you are looking for a reasonably priced solid state amp with a really good clean sound (better than the lower priced Fender amps) then this does the business. Unlike some Fender solid stateamps it stays sweet when you crank up the volume. It is also very rugged with little or no rattles/vibration at higher volume levels.

I play blues/jazz style using a guitar with humbucker pickups through the clean channel only and am very happy with the sound.

I have only had mine for a few weeks but so far has performed perfectly at both rehearsals and on live gigs.

Had no problems with this amp yet. Laney do have a very good after sales service though.

I bought this amp used in part exchange for a Fender Princeton 65 amp. I`m glad I did the swap!! This amp far exceeds the Fender in all departments.

.. Although several of the rear mounted sockets have come loose.

I have two words for you - PARKER FLY.

I don't know if I would have bought this amp if I didn't have a Parker, but it is the perfect match because the Parker has a stereo output - one side acoustic, one side electric.

I've found the amp very flexible. I have on occasions used direct feed into it on both channels and found every sound I want - even the built in tranny overdrive is flexible. What I like though is that the electric channel can be setup to just give a good clean amplification of what it receives, and that allows me to use the Mesa Boogie V-Twin pedal ( with built in valves ) to create the creamy noises I like.

Bottom line is, if you have a Parker fly, then you need one of these things.

My laney GC80A was manufactured in 1994 and I got it from a friend. It had a pile driver speaker in it but I don't know if that is the original speaker. It's sound was brilliant and really has lots of modeling characteristics to file down your sound to where you want it. Here is the kicker......I found an old Electro-Voice SRO 12" and put it in there in place of the pile driver. These are considered one of the best guitar speakers ever made and this amp really makes that baby shine without any fear of blowing the speaker. The SRO is rated at 150w so, even all the way up it won't hurt it. It has two channels,"Electro" and "Acoustic". The acoustic channel has an eq that lets you inject some real mighty bass not expected from this little guy. It has another "feedback filter" eq that lets you dial out the irritating resonance-feedback that happens with amplified acoustic guitars (on certain notes a cranked acoustic will feedback like a bass and drive you slowly mad)There is also a real warm reverb on this channel. The other "Electro" channel is typical style with gain, level, mid, bass, treble, master, and another nice reverb. The foot switch lets you use either channel seperately, or both at once. The sound you get with the "electro" channel dirty and the "acoustic" channel clean is reminiscent of a white hot fender twin! Run 'em seperately and you get the features of two amps in one! I like to use an Ernie Ball stereo volume/pan pedal and keep both the channels on at all times. The pan pedal allows me to sweep really clean into the other channel without that "pop" you get when you shift channels on the fly with the regular footswitch that it comes with. You can also have two seperate effects chains on each channel, set where you want and slither in to them as fast or as slow as you want, according to your foot on the volume/pan pedal. I recommend that pedal to anyone for the obvious multitude of reasons. Here is the coolest feature of this amp in my opinion...........it has a HIGH FREQUENCY DUAL HORN DRIVER.....Add the SRO 12" and this thing really gets some awesome 3 dimensional sound. There is also a switch to shut off the driver so you can see what it is like without it.......I don't know why else Laney would put that switch there, because anyone would agree the sound is much more dimensional with the HF driver switched on. I also have a real nice Laney AOR 100 SeriesII.......and it collects dust while I haul my nice little GC80 combo to the gigs instead! I simply can't get the 4X12" cabinet to sound anywhere as cool as the combo because the head doesn't give you nearly as much modeling as the GC80 combo, and the 4X12" is a very directional sound.......stand in front of it and it's o.k., but anywhere else and it is hard to hear the same tone.....very "2 dimensional sound" ( I know, I am a freak) The AOR100 is cool for pure, warm class A tube power, but no reverb, etc....not enough room to file down that sound. It's like a muscle car......very powerful, but not exactly nimble if you know what I mean. I think this amp was the best $200 I have spent on an amp yet, and it has now completly coverted me to solid state. I got the SRO speaker for $150, so for a total of $350 I've got a great sounding amp that won't need a forklift to move around to gigs!!!!

I use an old Ibanez musician with no mods. I use a Mu-tron on the acoustic channel with a boss oc-2 octaver. On the electro channel I use a voodoo labs proctavia (I know, the name sucks!) a thomas organ cry-baby, and an rolls/rfx twin spin chorus. This chorus has two speeds so you can kinda simulate a leslie starting up and slowing down. I use the Ernie Ball stereo volume/pan pedal to sweep between the channels ant the two seperate effects chains. I love the the sounds I am getting out of this thing and I would recommend this amp to anyone interested in a nice combo amp that isn't too reeeediculously priced for what you get (are you listening Fender???)Oh, and one more thing.....it's VERY QUIET even at high volumes, and doesn't distort at all cranked up on the clean channel unless of course you want it to, and it does have that eq for EXTRA meaty ass end.

I bought this amp from a riend who got it from some alkie chick who beat on it pretty good. It smelled like wine ans I had to get all of the pots cleaned because they were pretty scratchy, but if you knew her you would think it was a miracle this amp is still alive. I wouldn't worry about a backup amp because it is solid state and has already proven itself battle-worthy as far as I am concerned. Get a good speaker and there is no reason it wouldn't give you years of smoking pleasure.

The warranty ran out a long time ago, and I had "Toneman" do the pots. I cleaned up the spilled wine and put the SRO speaker in myself. Laney is helpful as I have dealt with them before and was pleased with the results. I never had to contact them regarding this particular amp, though.

I have been playing in bands and giggin' for 17 years and this is the best amp for it's size and weight that I have ever used. I like fender twins, but they cost too much and weigh a lot. This thing gives me that kind of sound for about $1000 cheaper than a twin. If I was rich.......well I would get the twin and hire someone else to cart it to the gigs, but I am not so I think this does more than just fine for the job. I also use a 1993 Peavey special 150 combo amp with one Electro-voice SRO 12" as well. Sound super-sweet too but doesn't have as much modeling as the Laney. It is 150 watts of nasty though and with the SRO speaker it is great for pointing at your enemies!!! Friggin' thing weighs a ton though......I call it "stack-in-a-box" because it is so heavy. I like the Laney more 'cause it is lighter, and has that groovy HF driver for some nice highs and more dimension to it.

An amp of this size is good enough for small-medium gigs. Any larger and the amp is usually miked up to the house PA. It has an effects loop and DI which I never use. Clean and overdrive channels. The overdrive section hasn't got enough gain for my needs so I use a f/x board instead. There is a separate reverb pot for each channel.

The sound is absolutely fantastic. The amount of bass you can dial up before it farts is incredible. ( It's been used as a bass amp in a few gigs). I only use the clean channel with distortion coming from my ZOOM 3030 and it can take a metal type distortion with bags of Bass and treble. I use a strat type model with single pickups and I find that the tone is too trebly at times. This maybe due to my guitar though. The only letdown is the OD channel which is too tame for me.But I'll still give it maximum marks for the clean channel though.

It's never broken down on me and being soild state, I wouldn't bother with a backup. I have spilt beer all over the front of it in a gig and it still worked (sort of). The result of that accident is that the speaker cone doesn't sound exactly like it did before it got wet with beer but it's still useable though.

No contact with Laney.

I absolutly adore this amp. I would definitely buy it again or the model up GC120 with twin speakers if the amp broke or got stolen, etc. The amp is brilliant using the multi-effects I have. The only let down is the OD channel, although I wouldn't use it even if was better because I'm so used to pre-programmed patches.