Laney GH100L

Pretty versatile amp. For being a one channel amp it's very versatile. You can't expect to get the best cleans out of a amp like this but you really get good cleans by turning up the Master Volume and have the Gain down, better than I expected. It doesn't matter for me since I bought this amp for it's distortion not for it's "cleans". Only thing I miss is reverb, that would be good to have for some variation in the sound, get rid of the edginess, sure I like it but not all the time.

I use this amp mostly home but in a smaller "club" sometimes it has more power than I need. Master volume at 2 is enough in a very big livingroom. 3-4 is enough in a club (very large room). I see some people here claims that it doesn't increase volume anymore after 5 and I seriously do believe that claim I have played it on 4.5 and it was incredibly LOUD!!! Thats was when I had my earmuffs on!!! I "only" have an 2x12 cabinet at 60 + 60 watts.

The amp as I said earlier is fairly versatile. It really do make a huge difference when you turn the knobs, they are there for a reason and they work by any inch. The distortion is one of the best I've heard it's really incredible, very tight an punchy, tight low end and you can get ALOT of distortion and it's still tight.

It suites my style perfectly I play rock, metal and instrumental music (shred type stuff). I use a Ibanez RG2570 with Dimarzio Pickups, Super Distortion, Air Norton and Tone Zone S. You can go into total scream-mode with the Super Distortion, just put the drive at max and add a overdrive pedal if you like and you're in shred heaven hehe. You get really great tones only from the amp but with right pickups and with a OD pedal you will sound much better.

This amp is very noisy unfortunately but it's quite understandable since it's a hi gain amp, you'll definitely need a noise supressor. I use the BOSS NS-2. It works great but at really high volume it's still a bit noisy.

I wouldn't use any tube amp without a backup amp.

It haven't broken down on me yet so I have no complaints.

I've e-mailed Laney and they replied within 20 minutes.

I've played for 8 years mostly on very poor stuff since I don't have much money. This is possibly the most worth of money amplifier you can find in the world, I'm absolutely not kidding it's ridiculous price for a great amp, it could cost the double or the Marshalls could cost half their price.

I've played alot of amplifiers, like Marshall, Peavey, ENGL and this amp is up there with them but it's not up there with them in price... Thats a good thing for sure.

As I said earlier the only thing I miss is a built in reverb but thats nothing you can't solve with a pedal.

I would like to add that I'm extremely hard on the rating, it's almost impossible, as close as you can get to impossible to get a 10 from me.

man there are some retards... its a single channel with a boost, use it as two channels? lol no
single channle with gain boost
resonance
bass mid treb EQ
presence
6 - but its all i need it for so for me its a 10. you just cant compare this to a diezel or a road king in this criteria

AWESOME
cleans are sparkling, glassy, warm, anyhting u want seriously! could do with a nice spring reverb like the little LC15Rs have.

dirty - this just shines. i use it for metal/tech metal/prog that kinda thing. I can do some basic shred stuff but when i let the lead guy in m band use this it sounds amazing. this thing has all the gain you could ever need and more. i use about 3 on the gain dial and about 8 on the extra drive, and this gets me to about where i need. If u want real tone, u gotta use a good hard pick and hammer the notes out, im not tlaking hitting ur gutiar hard as u can, but playing with some conviction in the notes u play!

also, it is LOUD AS F"CK. u just dont get it until u turn this thing up to recording volume (way past what i use live like seriously 3-4 times as loud) at this point u wind off the gain as the power tube gain is really present. at this point the bass rattles everything in the room - i mean seriosly, any objects on the side rattle about haha.
ive used this with 6l6s and el34s both have there charms, but for live i use the el34s everytime, as they cut great for the riffs we use.

the crunch is great for some held chords kinda stuff, i love winding off the vol and letting some stuff ring out, sounds great.


overall its pretty versatile! a great amp, but use this thing for rock and metal like it should be :)

built solid, taken a ding and its made of some cheapish wood but meh, it feels so solid and it has taken a lil bashing

amazing amp for rock and metal, and the cleans are sparkling and great too, oo to hear a clip of it recorded check out myspace.com/darkertheday
first song gothernburg (DL it if u want) was recoreded with this by the lead guitarist in my band. its a friends band playing though. this was the first project he undertook and was a demo recorded with basic equipment. compared to my mesa single rectifier (which i sold to purchase this) and an ashdown fallen angel 60 this kills them all

This head may be a single channel but it can pull off anything, even mimic other amps fine , I would give it a ten if it's control scheme made it easier to dial in sounds, just look at a knob funny and your tone changes dramaticaly . It's a good thing you can get such a wide variety of tone , just maybe too sensitive. This amp is LOUD. Smashes anything I ran it against. probably the toroidal transformer that gives it the kick. I do wish it had another preamp tube for reasons I feel too superficial to account for.

I play power/melodic/tech/death metal and it does great. different guitars from C standard to E standard.Most with emg's in it some h4's some 60a's/81's. It does well with them all, but it's kinda noisy with passive pickups .It does have variety 'O plenty. This amp really lets the player express and thats a great thing, very dynamic tone and with a re-tube will hang with anything for brutal.It's more agressive than stock Marshalls, and with some tweaking hangs with the baddest of the big boys. People always say this amp sounds bright. I disagree however it can be glassy sometimes . The biggest problem is even though it sounds good at <2 on the master volume it's only >2 that it starts to have some real bad boy bite. Thats REALLY #$@#ing loud with the gain & drive dialed up some. Absolutely insane at 3 and above.

Hasn't died yet and I have had it for a while. I switched tubes a few times cause I wanted to try out tones but nothing burned out. The wooden chassis is some cheap ply wood but it's sorta sturdy, a bigger and less obnoxious looking vent on the top of the head would be nice. I like that it will handle any ohms from 4-16 so it's easy to gig with. I won't gig without a backup if I can help it but I think it'd be ok if you left your other amp home one day.

You got to be kidding,10 EASY! All my questions sent to Laney have been answerd quickly and I had a few. I even got help Biasing my AMP. Especially since there are a few new forums for Laney amps theres alot of support and growing.

I been playing 15 years, a good chunk of my 25 years of life. I love my amp I just wish people could try 'em.I wansn't happy taking the risk of it sounding bad but thats why I love these reviews . Pretty accurate I would say.It's a huge problem in this country because of the lack of Laney dealers. This is the only reason I didn't give it a really high score the lack of a trial ability is completly crappy.However I would like to get another one. It can compare to amps priced simularly and up to $1800 or so. It's not without it's charm and can drown out ANYTHING!Your bandmates will hate the way this sucker cuts threw.

This amp was believed to have been made after 2005. So its pretty brand new. Though i'm its second owner. Bought it at True Tone in Santa Monica CA in Sept.
It has ONE channel. People get confused because it has an overdrive switch, but its all one channel. I play anything from blues to hard rock and this thing has everything I need. I like fact that it doesn't have a reverb switch because I feel reverb on an amp hides it's tone potential. I've gigged in NYC and LA with this, and have brought into Studio's to rehearse with.

I play out of Gibson Custom Nighthawk and a Fender Telecaster with a nice Seymor Duncan hotrail in the back. They both kick ass out of the amp.
The TONE IS NUTS. It's a simple design for the player who wants to rock their socks off. You cant beat the distortion. Sorry Marshall fans. This thing's distortion is bulletproof.
Anyway, back to the tone - great variety - the presence switch enables another tube for some great tight, crispyness if thats what your in the mood for. Also, you can adjust the crispyness with a knob. Or just turn it off if your feeling for a deeper sound.
Again, just one channel, so if you dont mind going back to the amp once youve hit the foot pedal to adjust the tones for clean or distortion your all good. I certainly dont mind. The tiny walk to the amp is well worth the quality you get out of it. But if you like a ton of bells and whistles on your machine then maybe up grade to something different.
The overdrive switch is a little buzzy but no big deal. Nothing to get your panties in a bunch about.

I've heard these heads can be a little on the fragile side, but I've never experienced a problem.

Again, I've heard customer support is tough to find in the states, but I've never had to. Knock on wood.

Ive heard if you plug the head into a different cabinet (Mesa or Diezel or anything) the sound change is remarkable. Also a nice perk.
If this were lost or stolen I'd have to get another just the same. The only amp I'd want besides this a Dual Rectifier I think.
When I bought it, I did lots of research and shopped around. For the price, its unbeatable. To get something equel to or better you'd have to spend at least twice as much. AT LEAST. For a one channel half stack (thats not discontinued), it might be the best hidden secret out there.

SINGLE CHANNEL AMP, WITH FOOTSWITCHABLE GAIN. PRETTY SIMPLE STUFF HERE...I THINK ITS ONE OF THE OLDER MODELS BECAUSE IT WAS STOCKED WITH THE 6L6 TUBES

LOOOOOUD AMP...REALLY LOUD...OVERPOWERS MY MARSHALL DSL100...IT KINDA LOSES TONE VARIETY THE LOUDER YOU GET...BUT REGARDLESS, I USED AS A BACKUP FOR MY MARSHALL..AND IT WAS BULLETPROOF...WORTH THE MONEY

NO PROBLEMS WHATSOEVER...built like a tank

FOR A BACKUP AMP....AWESOME! DEFINITLY RECOMENDED

Fairly versatile. Nice power to it. It's a duel channel amp, but the footswitch isn't included. The clean channel has a gain pot, so if you are playing rock, you could set up a nice dirty rhythm and a overdriven lead sound. There is a switch on the head for each channel. However, you can't really get the full metal sound in one channel, and clean in another.

The amp is fairly quiet (although, I didn't get a chance to fire it up in a live situation). It doesn't have a reverb setting. It just doesn't quite cut it for real heavy metal in my opinion. A good all rounder for rock, I guess.

Seemed okay, although I only had it on loan from a guitar store.

N/A

For the price, it seemed like it'd be a decent amp, however for the extra money, I think you're better off getting the VH100R.

I own two GH100L's, the date on one of them is " Tested 8/6/94" (in the U.K. that means June 8th '94), the other has no date on it but they both have Black faces, the same tolex and large, black plastic corners and sound nearly identical so I imagine that #2 is from the mid '90's as well. These heads are WAY more versatile than you might think and you can get a Laney footswitch now that will dis/engage the drive channel for $30 if you REALLY NEED a clean tone beyong just potting down the Vol. on your guitar while playing at Volume, which works beautifully. But you don't buy a Laney GH100L to play Clean, do you.

I do not use effects in my main band but when I've employed the Loop it worked Very Well. The efx loop volume pot really lets you dial in your levels perfectly. The Slave / Side Chain jacks are a great feature (if you own 2 or more of these heads). This is actually the first model of the "Iommi" head. Check out this Great interview from May of 1994, He talks about gear toward the end and mentions his working with Laney on "me new heads". This is from '94.....years before the new model GH100TI amps - http://www.black-sabbath.com/interviews/tonygeez_0594.html

Yeah. reverb and tremolo would be nice for some but personally I'd use it so little that it's totally unimportant. Espescially in an amp like this, after all it's not a Twin Reverb, is it? No, it's a 100 watt British Valve Amplifier and it's finest feature is it's ability to punish.

These heads crunch like mad and are very loud. I plug my Gibson SG (Celebrity Series - '91) with standard Gibson pick-up's directly into the Hi input. I have two matched A and B Laney cabs loaded with H/H Invaders. I play in a very slow, downtuned (b,e,a,d,f#,b w/ Gibson 12 through 56 Nickel Wound strings), heavy-handed, chord by chord riff Doom band. I get a clean tone by simply potting down my guitar volume and at Volume my tone knob is very sensitve and gives me some dynamics in tone. My amp settings are Prescence - 8, Bass - 9, Middle - just above 2, Treble - just above 3, Master Vol. - never above 4, Gain and Drive - 7 and the Resonance and Drive switches On. I get amazing sustain which soars into beautiful, contollable feedback. You can also turn the Drive Off, crank the Master and Gain to 10 and you've got an Extremely LOUD classic British Valve Amp tone. WARNING! : If you try this, Stand Back! You WILL Damage your hearing! The tone will be a bit harsher and the feedback a bit less controllable so you have to stand back and use a bit more technique to get your feedback right. In Drive mode there is a bit of noise but it is acceptable and you can easily mush your tone out if you use too much Gain and/or Drive. I used to have a Marshall JCM800 full stack and as I began to ditch my effects one by one, I became less and less impressed with it, especially when it got down to just the guitar and the amp alone. From the moment I played my 1st GH100L I could hear that the frequencies it produced were exactly what I was looking for.

I bought my first one used for $400.00 in '96. It was my only amp at that time and it worked perfectly for years amidst a steady schedule of rehearsals, recordings, gigs and tours (some up to 8 weeks long) before ever giving me any grief. It was re-tubed and serviced duing that time. It currently has an intermittant problem where it will power up, come on and then fade out. For a while I'd hit it with my fist on the top of the chassis and it would come back on and work fine 'till the next time I'd plug it in. Then I saw an identical head on ebay and got it for $350.00!!! It too worked perfectly (and still does). I have to say that I'm pretty damn impressed with the reliability of my heads. This rating applies Only to My gear.

I recently sent Laney an email with some questions for the Tech (there's a link to email Tech questions on their website), and I've had no reply. That was about 3 weeks ago. This is my first attempt to contact them so we'll see.......

I'm currently trying to find someone to repair my Head #1. The one guy I took it to recently said "there's nothing wrong with it". Well there is something wrong with it. There are no "Authorized" Laney tech's in the U.S. so I just have to find a qualified Valve Amp guy who can handle it.

I've been playing 100 Watt stacks for about 15 years and I've plugged directly into several different Marshall's, Mesa both double and triple rec's and short of a Marshall "Super Lead" Plexi, I wouldn't have ANY of them. If my GH100L's were lost or stolen I'd just go with the new Laney Iommi gear although I have yet to play the TI amps and cabs. Unlike many people on line, I absolutely LOVE my H/H Invader loaded cabs. In short, there is NOTHING about these heads and cabs that I'd change, they are matched Perfectly. Note: The new model, silver/grey faced GH100L's have some different components in them than the earlier ones and Do Not Sound The Same and the Celestions that they're loading in their new model cabs are GARBAGE (Hot100's) yet the price keeps going up for some reason. Again, this rating applies only to My Gear. Caveat Emptor!

The amp was made in 1994, I bought the amp new the same year. It's your basic 100 watt tube Master Volume-style head, with an added switchable stage of gain. In the front there is: Hi input (for single coil/low power humbuckers), Lo input (for higher power humbuckers), extra switchable drive stage, gain, master volume, treble, middle, bass, presence, resonance switch, and standby and power switches.

The back has a variety of inputs to connect to any speaker cab you might use, a bias switch to choose from 6L6 or EL34 tubes (mine came with 6L6...I think new ones today come with EL34s), an effects loop that I never use, slave in/out jacks which I never use, and a footswitch jack which I also don't use.

For this style of amp it has all the needed features. At times I wish this amp had reverb, but it is what it is. If you want a two or three channel amp with a seperate EQ for each then look at the Laney TT line or VH100.

I usually use my '93 Gibson SG Standard or '96 Ibanez Talman TC620. I have other guitars including a rebuilt early 70s SG Deluxe and a Burns Marquee, but I usually play the '93 SG or Talman.

I got the amp with the matching GS412A cab loaded with 4 HH Invader speakers (remember this was in 1994). The first few years I had the amp I would crank up the master volume, lower the gain and use the amp for a clean sound. I used an Ibanez PUE5 multieffects pedal for distortion and other effects. It was the best setup I had, but I always thought the sound of the amp was only average.

Five or so years ago I got a new Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier Trem-o-verb with the matching huge and heavy 4x12 Rectifier cab (size-wise it makes the Laney 4x12 look like toy). One day I decided to experiment and plugged the Laney into the Mesa cab. Wow, what a difference! All those years it wasn't the Laney GH100L that was "average", it was that the Laney cab wasn't doing the amp justice! Just a note: I haven't tried current Laney cabs which I believe now use Celestion speakers.

I now prefer the Laney head over my Trem-o-verb. I use the Mesa cab, not the Laney cab. I also use the amp's gain/drive rather than rely on pedals and now I just roll down the guitar volume knob when a clean sound is needed. The only pedal I use now is a Crybaby wah-wah, which I plug into from the guitar before the amp. No matter what guitar I use I always plug into the Lo input jack (always have for some reason). I have found that I like the amp better with the Resonance switch off.

With my SG I can get a huge metal distorted sound...much more distortion than I'll ever want/need. It really matters on the guitar/pickups. The SG breaks up much earlier than the Talman, but then again the Gibson 498T bridge humbucker is hotter than the Sky H100 pickup in the Talman (Sky made by Kent Armstrong...H100 is basically a stacked P-90 to eliminate the hum of regular P-90s). Those that say this amp isn't capable of huge metal tones don't have the correct pickups for the job. Likewise, those that say this amp has zero headroom are probably using a guitar with higher output pickups. This amp does have some headroom for a clean sound. It's not a Fender Twin clean, but when I used it, it worked fine. Like I said earlier, the first few years I had the amp I only used the clean sound and relied on pedals for everything else.

Noise-wise the amp isn't bad at all. Like all other amps the more the gain is cranked, the more noise, but it's never bad enough to be annoying. Currently there are two different settings I like. One is setting the Gain to 7 with the switchable Drive off. The other is slightly more distorted/fluid with the Gain set at 3 and the switchable Drive also at 3. With the pickup in the SG that's all the drive I need. Anything higher gets too metal sounding. I use the same two settings with the Talman, which results in a slightly cleaner and brighter sound.

With the right guitar/pickups you can get almost any sound you want out of the amp. The only downfall is that if you want a different sound you can't simply switch to a different channel; you have to stop, re-adjust the knobs, and then go. If you need to change sounds quickly and don't want to rely on your guitar volume knob, then look elsewhere.

I fully trust this amp. I have had it since 1994 and have never had a problem. The first few years I was hauling it around to band practices and gigs quite often and I never had a problem with it. These days I don't haul it around as much, but I wouldn't be nervous if I did.

I have only changed the tubes once, and that was only because I wanted to try something slightly different. I put in Groove Tubes 6L6 power tubes and Groove Tubes preamp tubes. It still sounds good and is still going strong.

Laney's website continues to get better and better. They just recently added PDF files of their current manuals for all their products. When submitting a question on the support page I always get a reply within a day from Roger Hickman. Thanks Roger! I never have any tech/service questions about my amp because I've never had a problem with my amp, but I'm looking into getting a Laney combo, so I ask about those. According to Mr. Hickman's email signature he works for Laney tech support and Headstock Distribution, Laney's U.K. distributor.

This brings me to the topic of U.S. distribution. Laney has had trouble with good U.S. distribution in the past. Hohner USA, HSS, recently took over Laney's U.S. distribution. While they are still fairly new to Laney distribution I can only hope it improves because it's currently not up to the level that Laney deserves. I really want a TT100c, and I finally found a Laney dealer that can order it from the distributor. But, once I order it then it's mine no matter what...no returns (OK, so that's the shop's policy...but I can't find any other shops within 300 or so miles of me). I'd at least like to see the amp in real life first, maybe with the bonus of playtesting it, before committing to paying nearly 2 grand for it. But I still haven't found one single dealer that actually stocks the TT100 combo!

Musiciansfriend.com at one time carried Laney, but they no longer do. Music123.com/WWBW.com stock Laney, but now all their Laney products are in the outlet section. I was told via email they won't be carrying the brand in the future.

The other problem Laney is facing in the U.S. is the price increase. In 1994 I got my GH100L new for $540. Now the cheapest I can find a new GH100L for is $944. The only changes to the amp over the years have been different corner protectors (mine has black plastic, new ones have shiny metal) and I believe they now ship with EL34 tubes (mine came with 6L6). I'm told the price increase is due to the dollars to English pounds currency difference. Laney used to be dubbed as the "cheap equivalent to Marshall", but now that the price is climbing I'm afraid buyers will just look towards the more familiar Marshall name and Laney's effort to gain marketplace in the U.S. will die out again.

Laneys are wonderful amps, but they are a pain to find. It's nearly impossible if you actually want to test the amp before handing over the cash. These are the times I wish I was a famous guitar player like Bjorn Agren of Razorlight so I could just call up Laney and try out what I want without going through shops and distributors (even though I'm still willing to pay for the amp).

Anyways, that's the end of my distribution rant. This is supposed to be about customer support. As far as emailing Laney to ask questions and getting replies from Roger Hickman, support is a perfect 10! But working with U.S. dealers and distribution to get a chance to try out an amp before buying (or even have the option of returning it if it's not everything you hoped/thought it would be) is a complete nightmare, which lowers the score.

I've been playing since the early '90s and have a nice collection of gear now. The Laney GH100L is still one of my favorite pieces that I own. If I needed to replace this amp I wouldn't buy another for a few reasons. First, I still have my Mesa Trem-o-verb which is also quite nice (I just happen to prefer the Laney sound). Second, the GH100L price has nearly doubled since I bought mine. Finally, I'm interested in buying a combo now. I'm tired of lugging around big 4x12 cabs and heads everywhere I go.

Laney has made some great amps over the years, but the company isn't really well known in the U.S. The GH100L has proven to be a wonderful amp. It's capable of many sounds, and just the fact that it's been in production since at least 1994 and continues to still be one of Laney's top amps proves that there's some magic in there. If you can find one I suggest giving it a try. But like all equipment I suggest trying it out first, or at least buy with a return policy or something because sometimes that piece of gear that looks great in the catalog or in a review just isn't what you had hoped it'd be.

Features as others have said. Pretty simple stuff. The EQ is great, it is passive but seems a lot more interactive than the ones on Marshalls and Fenders. It has one channel with footswitchable extra drive. This one has been revalved with a full set of the ever-excellent JJ Electronics.

I tend to use this with a Fender Jaguar, ES-335 clone and Gibson SG. All of them produce excellent and quite different tones. It sounds pretty insane, but I've used this from jazz to hard rock and metal. I must have pissed off a few purists, using a "surf" guitar with a rock amplifier for jazz, but with the neck pickup and the preamp gain set low with the master cranked, this did have a very sweet if not completely conventional jazz tone. Sounded great when comping chords.

It was made for blues and upwards. I usually set this up for a sort of AC/DC crunch, clean when you play soft and a little gainy bite when you dig in or windmill through the chords. Then add effects and other gain to taste. Generally I use a Boss GT-8 for everything; I have found them excellent units whether using them like a huge collection of single stomps or DI'ing through a good PA. Works excellently with this going through the front input.

I don't know what it is, but this is kind of like Marshall meets Fender. Seems to offer the best of both worlds, without ever sounding like either. It has a really natural high gain sound - you can pile it on in heaps and it still retains a sense of dynamic, unlike the DSL/TSL amps where it can sound alright but often comes off as buzzy and over-compressed. And unlike a Marshall, the bass control works all the way up to 10, it doesn't stop at 6 :)

It's about the only amp I've found that adds some balls to the Jaguar when going straight in without loads of EQ too. Very rare as it's notorious for being tinny.

This got lent out and came back with a blown OT - no idea how those idiots did that, must have run it without plugging it into a cab, or mismatching impedance. They were a bunch of novices; if it was my amp I wouldn't have lent it out, but they did pay for the damage.

This used to be incredibly noisy with the motley collection of valves that were in there. A swap with some well matched JJs and the problem disappeared right away. Now it's been bumped up and down London in a van and various taxis and still works flawlessly.

No idea.

I've been playing for ten years. Long enough that I feel I should be a better player than what I am! I've owned loads of gear in my crazy quest for the grail. Fender Twin, Vox AC30, two Marshall JMPs, the following Gibsons: '01 SG Standard, '77 LP Standard, '66 SG Junior '94 LP Special Doublecut (the best!), various solid state amps, popular EHX stuff (Big Muff Pi, Small Stone, Small Clone), loads of Boss stuff (OD-1, OD-2, OD-3, MT-2, DS-1, PH-2, CH-1, ) some Danelectro stuff (Daddy-O, Cool Cat my 2nd favourite chorus after Dimension D, Fish'n'Chips EQ), Digitech PDS20/20 (such an awesome delay), a Watkins Copicat... so much junk some of it good.

This, along with the VC50 combo also by Laney, tops it all for me. Real outstanding amplifiers, I hope one day to get some kind of endorsement from them. I don't think I'll be using any other kinds of amps after this, I've chopped and changed more than enough. Especially combined with the fact they're cheaper than most other valve products. Tony Iommi was on to something alright!

This amp has what you need, two chanel switching and great sound. I use it while touring, for practise, and my band used this the whole time while recording our latest record.

I'm play with a Duesenberg V-caster with p-90 mic, but a Gibson sound great on it too. I play punkrock, indie, hard rock, and some folk. And I think it's great all over.
It's a bit noisy but thats mostly while using extern distortion.
The amp has great cleensound, and Toni lommy used this amp in black sabbath, so it can ROCK.:!

My amp has broken down twice, so I wouldn't dare go on a big tour without a backup. First time the tubes broke wich is fair enough, but for a half year back the transformer that sends the sound to the cab broke. And what a mess that has been. It took for ages to find not out what was wrong, and actually I'm not sure if they have found the source of all the problems yet. I have been waiting for a part that should be sendt from England to Norway for about five months now.

I have sendt mails, I have called the local importer and everything, and noone has been helpfull. It has gone so far that i couldn't wait any longer (over a half year) so i had to buy another amp, so i could play concerts again while i was waithing for my parts.
Whwn it comes to support LANEY SUCKS..!
It's sad that such a nice amp is being managed by these people.

I have been playing guitar for about five years, and has resently bought a "Gallien & Krueger"-transistorhead, too keep me safe when my Laney brakes down the next time.
If it was stolen or lost I don't think i would buy it again, not because of the sound, because it's great, but because I'm afraid it will stop working again. It TOO expencive to fix all the time. I have had the amp for three years and that its stopped working completely twice is not OK..!
I really like that is so easy to use, not 15 knobs that you never use.

This was made in about '94-'95 and part of what attracted me was the simplicity of the design. One channel, no fiddlesome EQ, just a Master Volume, switchable Gain, Bass and Treble, plus Presence and Resonance controls. There is an FX loop with a level control, though I've never needed to use it.
I suppose something like tremelo or reverb would be handy, but I don't miss not having them. I can't fault this amp for features!
It weighs a ton (as I discovered when first taking it home via public transport!) and is phenomenonally LOUD- I've had soundmen ask me to turn down when it's been set to '1'!! I've practically never needed to use it above '4'. For bedroom or rehearsals '1' or '2' is ample, but really this is an amp for gigs and BIG gigs at that.
It has more headroom than I am likely to ever need and has a good warm valve tone that is more than flexible enough for whatever I choose to play.

I use and have used this guitar with quite a variety of instruments including Rickenbacker, Burns and Fender (single coils), Shergold 6 & 12 strings, Ibanez (Artist w/Humbuckers) and even a Fender Bass VI! When I bought it, I deliberately asked to try it with the cheapest guitar in the shop, just to make sure my opinion wasn't unduly influenced!

I know these amps are associated with metal, but I've found it can turn its hand to everything from blues and jazz to clean country to FX-laden post rock. As said, it has a good clean tone and versatile distortion, so though you might need to vary your choice of guitar or FX, you've got an ideal bedrock on which to build your sonic sculptures!!

I use it with a Marshall JCM900 4X12.

My only criticism is that the amp is quite bright- I frequently have the treble on '0'! It's a sound I like, but it might not suit everyone. This may have something to do with the valves. I've had the amp since 2000 and I've never changed them, despite regular use. I don't think I need to just yet, but I doubt it will be long as the amp must be 10 years old by now (that said I have a 40 year old WEM still going strong with Mullards, so who knows?!).

As other reviewers have said, I think you'd have to pay a lot more to get something better (e.g. Cornford or Orange). I've found Laney to be better than anything else for similar money (Peavey, Marshall, Fender etc, good as they can be).

Never given me the slightest trouble! I've never had a back-up and have never felt the need!

My only gripe is that when the knobs work loose, they are hard to re-attach and tighten properly, because you can't get a screw driver into the space available- I think they must have been put on to the chassis before it was mounted in the cabinet.

I've never needed to contact Laney, but I did request a manual as a precaution, which they e-mailed by return.

I've been at it over twenty years. My other amps are a couple of old WEM's that I use for recording and small gigs.

I chose Laney on the basis of unfussy controls and practical design, strong sounds and bargain second hand price- it was listed at #299, which I just afford, but by the time I got to the shop (Coda, Stevenage), they dropped it to #199 and thrown in a Marshall footswitch!).
I would definitely buy another and always recommend Laney to other players, unless they can afford Cornford!

This is a one channel amp, so it doesn't have alot of features. But it does give you a gain boost which is great if you want an extra kick in your amp.

I really love the sound, i've played alot of amps and somehow found something wrong with all of them. This distortion i love,i play Metal and the distotion with the boost on is all i need. Its really heavy, but clear. Without the boost it loses a lot of gain, but its still playable, still good. Oh, i almost forgot...this amp is LOUD. REALLY F--KING LOUD. I played it like at 2 and it was already "gig high" volume. THIS IS NOT A PRACTICE AMP. Bring your band, play with your drummer, and get ready to lose your hearing. Ah?

Here's where it gets tricky, i got it used and when i first tried it, it blew a fuse. Now, the fuse was not the one is was supposed to have (it was a 1 amp fuse, and the amp requires a 2 amp fuse). I replaced it with a slow blow fuse and have not had anymore problems. But this is not the first Laney that did this to me. I used to have a borrowed Toni Iommi that did the exact same thing. But after the fuse and tube change it was perfectly fine.

I've been playing for 8 to 9 years now and have heard a lot of equipment. Personally this is only my 4th amp (R.I.P. Marshall MG), but gigging around i've heard the mesas, the marshalls, the line 6s, everything. This amp will not replace your $3000 rig, but for someone on a budget its perfect to begin in the tube amp era. Because honestly once you hear a tube amp, all the solid state amps are crap and weak.

Pretty much what everyone else has said.. It is single channel which isn't really a problem as you can roll back the volume knobs on your guitar and it cleans up nicely. Doesn't have built-in reverb, wish it did. It's got plenty of gain, haven't used the effects loop yet but I've heard very good things. I use this amp in a band setting, it can be played at bedroom levels, but this thing is just built to be played LOUD.

I play through this with an Epiphone Les Paul with a Seymour Duncan '59 in the neck and SD-6 in the bridge. The cab I'm using is a Mesa Boogie Rectifier oversize cab 4x12 with vintage 30's. I'm a metalhead at heart (it certainly satisfies that) but rocking back on the gain gives a pretty nice bluesy tone. I have noticed the head is quite noisy, I'm not sure if it's just mine or not. I'm looking into getting a Boss NS-2 in hopes that will quiet it down some. The distortion is some of the best you'll hear.

No issues this far, owned it for about a month. I wouldn't worry about gigging with it, it seems very reliable.

Never dealt with them, never had to.

I've been playing for about 2 years now, and this is my first tube amp. Overall, I'm extremely satisfied with it and would definitely purchase another. Other than the reverb I have no complaints whatsoever about it, it's an amazing amp that I believe stacks up to those selling for a whole lot more. If I could give it a 9.5/10 I would.

It's low on the bells and whistles, but the features it has are quality, i'm sort of a plug and play metal fellow so it definitely suits my needs, i would like to give it a 10, but I could use a little clean channel love once in a while

What it lacks in features it makes up for with some smooth-flowing distorted tone. Like I said before i'm sort of a plug and play metal guy, I mainly use an epiphone lp-100 with a duncan distortion at the bridge, and the head is run through a marshall 4x12. When I first fired up this amp I was immediately rewarded with the guitar equivalent of standing next to niagara falls, the sound was liquid and crashing roar. That's how I think of the distortion on this amp it has a very liquid quality, the sound pours out. Mine came loaded with EL34 tubes instead of the 6L6, which suprised me cause I thought the 6L6's were standard, but i'm more fond of EL34's anyways so no problem. It didn't take me long to find the settings I liked, gotta be careful with the presence though, it has quite a dramatic effect on the character of the amp. I'm pretty much happy setting this thing for one sound and leaving it that way, and I bought this amp with that in mind. When I do get a craving for less brutal tones, I roll back volumes and bluesy runs just jump out of my fingers. One of the things I really love and can't get enough of is the sound at the point of pick attack that comes off the unwound strings, it's this throaty "chunk" sound and when i'm playing slower david gilmour style leads it makes my face do funny things and puts this lump in my throat.

I've had this head for about 5 months now and have had no problems.

Never dealt with laney

I've been playing for about 9 years now, I own a marshall valvestate 100 watt head and a RedBear MK 120 watt head. I like all of my amps, the RedBear was probably the greatest deal I ever got, it cost 170 bucks and sounds in-between a Marshall JCM 800 and 900. The valvestate amp is pretty decent for what it is and is underrated in my opinion. One of my best friends had a Mesa triple recto and I had the chance to play that quite a bit, I didn't think it sounded all that amazing until he put EL34's into it, and then it sounded OK. I bought the laney cause the guys from Opeth use laney and they have some very quality tone. The price is a definite plus especially considering the sound.

It's 2003, bought in Poland,100watt amp, one channel that can be nicely boosted and switchable drive; effects loop at back
The only thing I wish it had, is a reverb; All 4 power 5881 tubes give smooth power and may be replaced by el34.

I play a '92 LP, which matches gh100l perfectly- mostly art and hard rock.Overdriven sound this amp delivers is well known; little crunch to brutal distortion, but what surprised me at first, it's easy to get really nice clean with gain at 0-1. Meets old style rock sound for rhythm and soloing easily.

So far so good- very solid

I've been playing for about 15 years, and I'm sure for this money it's an EXTREME BARGAIN. If you want a better sounding amp, prepare to spend at least 3 times more. Once I wondered of JCMs, thanks God I forgot it.

Build in 1994, I initially bought it 'cause I was a hardcore Paul Gilbert fan at the time. Now I'm sooo happy with it, because it absolutely suits my needs. However, two separate channels would be perfect.
The FX loop sounds great, I use it in the side chain mode, actually just with a Boss DD-5, but I like how the delay just has the right volume in both clean and overdrive mode. You can achieve a rich clean sound and a distorted sound where you still hear what you're playing.
I haven't yet figured out the resonance switch, but I feel my amp sounds tighter in the bottom end with it being switched on, just as the manual says. There are some rave reviews in here about the resonance control which I cannot quite share.
I play rock music and am now a die hard Nuno Bettencourt fan. It doesn't sound like Nuno, but neither do I. But it's a beautiful sounding amp and I'm proud of my own sound- which comes out of the Laney.

I'm using a Fender Highway-1 Strat with a Seymour Duncan Jeff Beck Jr. pu in the bridge. I play .011-.049 D'Addario strings. My setup is: guitar->tuner->Crybaby wah->Ollmann Capt. Hook (treble booster)->Maxon OD-808->MXR phase 90->amp. Boss DD-5 in the fx loop. I use a Marshall 1936 2x12" Cabinet, which may be the weakest part of my equipment, besides my guitar.
As said, I play rock music, like Extreme, Van Halen, Faith No More, Mr. Big etc. I'm a fiddler.
But I'm playing in a cover band,too, so I have to be versatile. And there is no problem with that.
This amp sounds so expensive, it is a real bargain. The clean sound is outstanding, a pearly, ringing sound. If you crank up the gain knob, you hear a crunch sound that you'll love. It's so dynamic it will reveal any weakness in playing technique, so this amp kinda helps me to keep practising. The distortion can do heavy metal to hardrock, just everything, and in top notch quality. It is a little noisy, but the 5150s I heard were worse. The amp is very pickup-depending, and I think I need a better guitar to keep up with the sound quality.
My settings: resonance on, presence 3, Bass 9, middle 4, treble 4, gain 4, drive 8, I use the Hi input.
This thing is frickin' loud! You'll blow your whole band away. I'm at 2-3 in volume, but 3 is already hard to stand.

I bought it ten years ago, played for 4 years and just picked up one year ago, having used a H&K Tubeman into several different combos at the meantime, was just easier to handle for a guy with a small car and bizeps. But now my bizeps has grown and I would even carry it to a gig...
Whatever: after such a long time, the tubes where down and I changed them (I used to have the stock 5881s replaced with EL-34s, but now I'm back to 5881s). I shouldn't have done it by myself, as the tubes overheated after a short time and had to be replaced again. Expensive shit. Something was wrong with the anode voltage or so, I'm not able to explain this in English.
Since then and before it worked well and never failed me, and I know tube amps are a little more sensitive than transistor ones, so I see it as a normal thing.
I don't have a backup, and don't have a bad feeling having only this one with me at a gig.

Never dealt with them.

I've been playing for 14 years now and didn't own many amps, but played lots of different gear in lots of different bands. I'm a semi-professional musician ready for the fulltime job and consider myself of being capable to judge the quality of equipment. But it is still a matter of taste (luckily). I'm working in a studio where I get to hear many different things, the only thing getting close to it was the Triamp, but I'm not that much of a Rectifier fan, so... It is not my dream amp in the matter of features, I'd like to have a H&K Triamp for that, but soundwise, it's one of the best amps I've had under my hands. It is solid as a rock, full of energy and sounds just cool. And I have the feeling that it will be the last amp I'll ever own. But who knows. Anyway, I love it: a clear 10.

100 watt, single channel amp. No reverb or onboard effects at all, though if it had them I probably wouldn't use them anyway. Since its single channel, when I've got the gain cranked as high as I need it, there's really no way to get a clean tone. This is okay for me, since the only guitar I play with which I'd want clean (EBMM Petrucci 7-string) has a piezo output that I run through my band's PA. Thats what I use for a clean sound. Works for me, but someone with a guitar that doesnt have that feature may have problems if they want to get a good clean tone.

This amp gives the best heavy-as-hell distortion I've ever heard. The gain is smooth, and the low end is incredibly tight and punchy. This is really perfect for anyone who tunes their guitars really low: it never gets muddy. With the drive boost off, this amp will also give a really nice half-distorted/crunch tone. If you adjust the settings, you can also get a very nice, crisp clean tone out of it, but as I mentioned above, doing so is impractical for my purposes. Also, this amp is LOUD. I can fill any audotorium in my town with the Master Volume at 4 or 5.

I use the following settings on this amp:
Resonance Switch: On
Presence: 6
Bass: 9
Middle:7
Treble: 7
Gain: 6
Drive Boost: 10

I run this amp into a Marshall 4x12 cab. I primarily play two guitars through this amp. The first is a Dean Evo 7-string (with a Seymour Duncan JB humbucker in the bridge) tuned to standard B, and the second is my EB Music Man Petrucci signature 7-string tuned to A flat. I also occationally play a PRS singlecut tuned to D flat through it, too. They all sound amazing through this amp, especially the 7-strings. I'm really impressed with how well this amp handles really low tunings like B, A, or A flat.

My band has been gigging with this amp (without a backup) for three years and it has never once had any problems. The tubes have blown once, right after I got the amp, but that was my own damn fault and I wont get into it. This amp has never caused any problems and I alsolutely trust it.

I had to deal with Laney once, and they were pleasant and had my problem fixed very quickly.

I've been playing with this amp for three years, and Im yet to find any amp with tone that compares to this one at all. There are certainly amps with more features, this amp has very few, but the hardcore tone is all I really care about. I also own a Mesa Boogie Triple Rectifier, and while it sounds very good, the low end is very muddy, and overall it just does not sound as good as the Laney. People who need to switch between clean and saturated distortion on the same amp should look elsewhere (Id recommend the dual channel Laney VH100R) but to anyone just looking for some damn good distortion tone, I suggest this amp and this amp only.

'94, 100 watts, all tube, single channel w/gain boost, no reverb - I'll take a point off for that, even though I knew that before I bought it! It is was it is, and a LOUD mother fucker. It has a nice bluesy tone at lower gain, but I'll have to add a reverb pedal to really utilize. Nice effects loop set-up with level contol, and you can hook up any cabinet, with 5 (I believe) speaker jack options.

I use an '04 Gibson Les Paul Classic, and play mostly heavier stuff from 80's thrash, to Dream Theater, to Napalm Death. It's ALL in your gain settings, and tunings. This amp does it all, and very well. Tune to 440, you've got 80's Priest, Testament, Metallica, drop-D you've got more grind, and lower yet, just brutal. This amp IS the shit. I tried 5150, Triple X, Boogie F50, Nomad, Line6 and Marshall. This amp sold me on tone alone. The price & quality were just huge bonuses. Make no mistake about it, Laney is slowly becoming a premier company, and you better take advantage, the price is slowly going up. As far as noise, it's no noisier than ANY other tube amp. Tone is to die for - the tone I want! I'm extremely pleased with the tone of this amp!

Tubes are new, built like a tank. No opinions as of yet.

I've sent several questions to Laney. A Mr. Roger Hickman was extremely responsive, timely and helpful. I only wish there were more dealers. They all say that they didn't sell their products, and I believe Laney had a reliabilty issue in the 80's. I'm confident this is in the past, and based on these reviews, am confident I bought a trusting piece of gear.

I've been playing 22 years, and have owned 4 Marshalls, Peaveys, Line6, and others. It's been a journey to find the tone I've been searching for. This amp has it, and I'm very satisfied. You can find these well under $700 new, and I will get one brand new, if this one ever has problems. Mine's used, and I wouldn't hold it against Laney. I'd buy another in a heartbeat.
I wish it had reverb, but I've got a Boss reverb/delay pedal on the way. If it were a 2-channel, reverb head, it would be a solid 10 in every catagory. If it had all this, it would be $1200. But then, Laney had the right idea: A stripped down amp with the bearest essential, TONE!!!

this amp only have one channel, but there's a switch to get the drive on. if I set the drive for full distortion, I can't have a nice clean sound when I switch the drive off.
one good things about the feature is that this amp have an effect loops that can be switched to fifty-fifty option.So i still get the original sound with the effects behind it. I take an advantage of this, because this amp still kickin' and punchin' without cutting off gain by the effect processor I used.

I used fender floyd rose classic, and using zoom 91950 effect processor to the effect loops. I set the loop in fifty-fifty, so i still have the original sound, there's no gain cuting off.
I like the characteristic of this amp. Sounds rock! instead of marshall JCM 900 I prefer this amp. Because with this amp I can have a good sustain for soloing, which marshall JCM 900 can't do that.
This amp just suite to my kind of musics. My band in Indonesia called "Pendulum" plays progressive metal fusion music.

The amp never broken down.

I bought this amp in 1999 but it was built in 1996 so it's almost 10 years old. It's a single channel all-tube (4 EC833 preamp, and 4 5881 power) lead amp with a gain boost that gives it a bit of umph when needed. Simple layout; presence, low, mid, and high eq, two gain knobs and a master volume. The most interesting being the resonance knob that gives you a fuller low end. Other than that, the rest is pretty standard: Tube coupled switchable effects loop, slave in and out, and footswitch in. I wouldn't add any more features to this amp as it's all I need or want.

I'm using a Gibson SG special with dual Gibson 490 pickups with no effects; just straight from guitar to amp through a Monster cable Jazz cable. The head is connected to the cab (a 1969 Laney lead 100 cabinet with Goodmans 25 watt power series speakers- the same model Toni Iommi used to use in the good ol' days) via a Monster Cable speaker cable as well. I play most styles through it and I have to say the amp performs wonderfully in all aplications. The amp is relatively quiet except for when you kick in the gain boost and then it becomes quite noisy but that doesn't really matter when you're full volume. It can do most anything from glassy clean to full out kill-your-face distortion. It can get quite brutal but I don't usually use it to it's full distortion potential. What I like about it is it's high end is really smooth and chimey. It never gets obnoxious and piercing. The amp has a natural tendancy to be really bright and mid-rangey so I set my settings as follows: Bass: 9 Mid: 4 High: 4 Presence: 7. I use the presence knob to give it a really high end sparkle, but cut the treble as it gives it a little bit of mid high piercyness if turned up. Cutting the mid and high really brings out the low end the way I like it and helps smooth out a bit of the midrange honk. The end result is an even toned amp that has chimey high end, smooth mids and TOIGHT lows. It sounds good at most volumes and sounds even better when roaring loud as hell. I LOVE THIS AMP!

I've toured the whole united states back and forth with this amp and had not one instance of trouble with it. It's a tank!

Never had trouble with it so I don't know.

This amp is the dark horse underdog of valve amps and I would recomend it over a Marshall, or any other british amp, besides maybe a Laney Supergroup 100 Plexi or maybe an original Orange. But it's by far the best lead amp you can buy for the money and sounds even better as the years go by. I've changed the tubes in mine though and have to say that it sounds best with 5881's (I left the standard sovteks in) in the power section as they are warmer sounding, have a chimier high end and break up quicker than EL34's. I replaced the EC833 originals (they come standard with Sovteks) with vintage General Electric and Silvertone NOS american tubes and it really smoothed out the sound quite a bit. I RECOMEND THIS AMP TO ANYONE AND EVERYONE!!

im using a jackson js30 daul humbucker guitar,and these two togetr with my effects pedal sound so amazing provided you run the pedal through the effects loop on the back. otherwise just guitar - pedal - amp setup proved unsuccessful as at high volumes the sound would break up and crackle,but notheing of the sort happens through the effects loop.and wow is this thing loud and cant get its past 5 before every part of my body vibrates and goes numb(ok not really , but its much louder than plenty marshalls ive heard)

as of now (about 6 months) not one problem with it

the best cusstomer support ive ever seen on the website laney.co.uk they actully had schematics for this and many others (not many companys will do that)so it made putting in a new transformer rather easy

in the end i say its great and one of the best sounding amps ive heard. ide suggest this for anyone playing blues-death metal

Bought this amp new around 94-96, with matching Laney 4X12 cabinet. Price was very low for an all tube half-stack, around $1000. As you've read, it's a basic amp head. It has a resonance switch, Presence knob, Bass, Mid, and High Tone knobs, and 2 gain knobs (for overall grittiness and volume). I like this style of setup, but I wish it had a reverb knob. The head is heavy, and awkward, but aren't all guitar amps less than perfect?! I have yet to carry a comfortable amplifier to a gig! There is a nice set of tubes in this head, although some folks tend to switch their out for a custom sound. Don't let the score fool you- I would give a ten because it really is a nice amplifier! Lack of reverb, my own personal disapproval, may not be needed for other people.

I've used this amp with my stock Fender Stratocaster, and it's pretty mean. Single coil pickups, I believe, don't fair well in high gain levels, with noise and such. I was shocked, though, how clear chords could be heard through such gain. Great for distinct rhythm chords! The bass knob on the amp can help bring low-end into the picture, but on some guitars it's not terribly noticable. I've played my friend's Telecaster through this head on clean (operation) and it still has some punch to it! When using effects on the Caster, I found the amp to be very clear. I had a Godin Artisan IV (I believe) some time ago. This was setup with 2 stacked single coil pickups and a humbucker. It sounded really good! Great guitar/amp combo for under $2000! Unfortunately, I traded it for a huge drumset (about to sell half of it). Overall, this amp head is really about hard-hard rock. I'm sure you can get some sweet blues tunes out this, and country pickin', but it really SHREDS, so to speak!!!!

On a way to a gig at a large venue (about 1,500) I drove a pickup truck with the cabinet in the bed. I can't really remember what happened to create this, but the cabinet toppled end over end in the bed of the truck. You know what I mumbled in the truck! Regardless, with very small (very!) cosmetic scratches, it still rocked well! It didn't get phased! The amp head was involved in another bang, and it too was not scarred or broken! I maintain regular maintenance on all my equipment, at different intervals according to the piece.

I haven't dealt with them yet! Got a local authorized dealer!

If it were gone, I'd look around at other tube models, decide what's right for me, look at my bank account, and decide to buy another Laney tube head! Maybe with less power- I've broken things in my house!

no reverb no switch channel but it's a master volume and it's ok for me good rear panel...fx loop with control ecc ecc

using with ibanez s 540 with evolution into bad horsie wah,electro harmonix hot tubes old (not reissue), tube screamer,jackhammer, bossce2 and old me5 boss in the effect loop for reverb and delay.....amazing sound i have tested some head(jcm 800,900,2000...i was a marshall fan since the first jcm 2204)but this one blow away every amp that i have tested....ok i never try peavey 5150 and mesa boogie dual rectifier...now it's the best sound for me .clean ok...distortion...faboulos....

for the price is the best.

One and a half channel amp. Basically one channel but there's switchable drive there. Once you set it up right (gain about 5 or so) you can use it like a slightly restricted 2 channel amp.

I use this for when I need a British sound - like when I'm playing Rush. I have the gain at about 5 and the drive around there too. This allows me a slightly dirty clean without the drive on and a nice crunch when the drive is on. I am picking up a Marshall BB-2 pedal for a lead boost to thicken it up a touch. I play this with a Parker Fly classic through a Marshall 1936 2x12 with no effects and it sounds very good. Very powerful and pure. Like a Marshall but with more balls.

I don't recommend the Laney cabs. If you're on a budget just pick up a Marshall cab and mod it if you have to (new speaker cable, padding inside etc.) but the Laney ones (with the HH speakers) blow. The newer TT series cabs are a lot better (due to V30's) but they didn't do a stereo 2x12 so I went for the Marshall.

Seems solidly built to me. Had it for a good 4 or 5 years and it's been fine.

At first I had some problems with it and Laney actually just sent me a brand new one.

However, I needed to contact them about their cabs but could not find any contact details from the site or anything. I had to ask on the Internet and someone who had a catalogue managed to give me a phone number. I think that is shocking.

I play progressive rock and progressive metal. When I need Dream Theater / Metallica tones I use my Mesa Quad and Mesa 20/20 but when I need a Rush tone I use this amp.

Very good value for it's price (in England especially).

I think this was made in '94. It's loud but not exactly versatile. I play mostly hard rock/metal and this amp suits me just fine. It' sa single channel amp with passive EQ and effects loop, tons of ohms selections, slave outs for other heads FX bypass levels, bias switch (6l6/el34), 100watts of pure british tone! I give it a 9 because although I knew I was going for a single channel amp, at least make the pre-gain stage a bit cleaner?

My current setup: JACKSON RR5 WITH EMG60/81, GIBSON LES PAUL STANDARD WITH DUNCAN JAZZ/JB. Like I stated earlier, I play mostly hard rock and metal this amp suits me fine. It's noisy, but all 100 watt tube amps are! My main settings i use are resonance off, presence 0, bass10, mid8, treble7 gain6, drive 7. I've discovered that this amp is pretty "trebly" to my ears so that's why the presence and resonance are disabled. For clean I use a different amp but for fun I sometimes turn off the drive and lower the volume on my neck pup and play some nice clean. The clean's really nice btw. If I were to play a full clean song or part i would probably turn the gain and drive all the way to 0 and just use the master volume. Now to the DISTORTION!
This is what made the amp so famous. I've been told it's like a souped up JCM800, however I don't believe it to be. It has somewhat of it's own different british tone, it's punchy and has nice bottom end (probably cuz of my genz benz gflex 2x12 cab i'm using it with). With this combination it's amazing. If you were to mic it up, it would have the british tone and have the bass end of a dual recto, I'm not shitting you people. THe tone is good, however it's only one tone, it's not versatile at all. if you're buying this amp you better be prepared for only one specific british tone and not versatility. I'm going to give it a 10 because so far it's been the closest to the tone that I've been longing for.

I always gig without a backup (because i don't have extra amp) and so far it hasn't let me down. Although I did blow a fuse once, and I'm not sure how that might have happened. But other than that it's fine.

This is the worst part, their site has no connection to THEM and if it did they probably wouldn't respond. I can't even find a damn manual for my model! Crappiest customer support EVER!

I've had this for about 6 months now and I think it's safe to say it's a good amp. Better than most tube amps you'd expect. I don't use it for clean, i use a roland jc-120 for that. If this ever got stolen I would buy it again (if i could find another deal). I really like it, it suits my needs. It's good a good amp for the money.