Laney GH50L Head

I bought this amp brand new in July 2002. I fully understood its limitations regarding being only one channel. That is the main reason I bought it. I wanted a good valve head with simple features and plent of tone. I certainly got it!The Laney has excellent clean sounds - I use a Zoom GFX8 Processor and my clean sounds are sweet! I use the amp in the two bands that I play in. One is a blues band and the other is a modern rock. The amp delivers great for both styles. My processor works great with this amp and my 4X12 marsahll cab. I have excellnt control over my sound and I am happy as a pig in mud! My bass player is plays through a mesa 400w valve head with a 4 X 10 mesa cab and he has no problems hearing me!

I play two strats - one is an 88 jap rebuilt with new pickups, graph tec saddle, the other has fender lace sensor pickups with a red series humbucker. I also play a charvel (92)model with active emgs and a real Floyd Rose, Alvarez Tele copy with a JB Junior Seymour Duncan Humbucker and my favourite is a De Armond M75T with Bigsby tremelo and single coil pick ups. All these guitars work extremely well with the Laney and my processor.My main band Liquid Alibi plays mostly modern rock with influences such as Grinspoon, Blink 182, Blur, The Cult, ACDC, Sabbath - plus a heap of chick band songs such as Pat Benatar, Alanis Morriset, Hole, Veruka Salt.
My amp occasionally has a feedback type of wail if I leave a high gain setting on and the guitar is facing the amp (hey what amp wouldn't?)
I have no problem in achieving the covered bands' sounds.

Haven't had it long enough - so far so good

See above comment

I have been playing live since 1980. My rig consists of Laney GH50L head, Marshall 4 x 12 cab with celestions, Zoom GFX 8 Processor, Morley Wah Wah Pedal. My back up amp is a Marshall JCM600 combo valve job.
I would definitely buy another Laney head.
I tried out many different amps such as Mesa Single Rectifier, Mesa Maverick, Rectoverb, Marshall Tsl 2000 and DSL and a Fender Deville 2 x12 combo. The boogies had thin bottom end as a combo (and too bloody expensive), Marshalls are ..well they're just Marshalla ..pretty good but narrow dimension. The fender was unreal except it didn't deliver the real modern drive I was seeking. Tip!!! If you need more bottom end with your rig - but a BBE Sonic Maximiser - they're excellent. Having said that I don't need one with the Laney but was advised to buy one for a boogie! From the Boogie distributor of Australia.
One feature that I would like to see high gain amps is the the solo boost feature that the boogies have.

I purchased this unit used but to the best of my knowledge it was manufactured in 1996. OK..here is the deal: I am supposed to be critical, and so shall I be. However, keep in mind that the purchase of this amp. was the completion/colimination of a year long search for a specific sounding amp. For that purpose, and other reasons I shall list, This amp is the "HOLY GRAIL"... But I digress, Ok, here gos: This is a very simple designed, one channel class a valve amp. It does not have any effects such as reverb or vibe. It does have an effects loop of which I have only used a handfull of times so I will not comment on it. It is quite "slave" friendly and will drive just about any combination of speekers you will want to try. The controls are: power; standby; resonance; presence; bass; middle; treble; main volume; gain; and, drive. It has a high and low input jacks. I have played in bands that have covered every thing from classic rock, to metal, to alternitive, to surf, and even country. To be honest this amp probably the best amp for all the types of music that I play. Not that I couldn't use it to be sure, however, other amps (such as say Fenders) offer brighter, more colorfull tone. But no amp can be everything, right? An amp is like a tool. If you are really serious about tone, you buy for the job. When I went looking for this amp I was looking for something to cover 60s and early 70s clasic (and primairly British) rock. I wanted Jimmy Page's grinding riffs, Hendrix fuzz, Santana's/Gary Moore's viola blues leads, and, a little SRV strut thrown in. I played many a Marshall, Vox, Mesa and others and was mostly dissapointed. Not that the vintage JTM45s and bluesbreakers and etc. didn't have it, they did. I, on the otherhand did not have $3000 to spend on an amp. All the newer stuff just didn't cut it. BUT! when I played through this amp I knew in three seconds it was IT. This is what tube dreams are made of! For the simple design, you can get an extreemly wide range of tones. Starting clean = warm and resonance. Add some gain and get a full spectrum of crunch from grind to brutal. Add drive and you get unlimited fuzz and sustain. You can use the drive switch like a 2nd channel for leads if you want. The really fantastic feature about this amp is that you can get any of the sounds at any volume level. This alone makes it unbeatable in my opinion. While it does have a very wide spectrum of sounds. They do all fall on the warm brownish side. And, OK, yes a built in analog reverb or vibe would be very nice (they do offer reverb now). What can I say about power..Hummm..One thing. I have a Fender "twin" (I think most people know how loud they can be) this amp can drive it into the ground. You might not be able to play a coliseum, but I think it would do for most indoor venues. Due to the spectrum and level of sounds I give this category an 8.

I'm all over the place on equipment. I play a USA Strat, A MIJ Strat w/ vintage noiseless pus, A 70s Tele, A MIM Tele w p90s and a 57 RI Les Paul. I'm driving 4x12" celestron greenbacks in a closed back cab at 16 ohms. The As4x12it (Laney) cab also sounds great ,but, maybe a little browner. I normally play through an additional distortion pedal, mild compression, and/or reverb/chorus/phaser. For what I wanted the amp for (see above) this is TONE HEAVEN! This is the perfact amp for classic rock and blues, and, at a great price too.
You can get a warm resonance clean blues vibe reminisant of Hendrix & SRV. You can get Smooooth..creamy..violin sounding Santana like leads. You can get grainy screeming Beck like driving rhythms, even shreading VH power chords. The versitility is almost endless, and, as I previously mentioned, you can get all these sounds at all volume levels. There is some noise at hi gain and drive seetings (as you might expect) but it could be less in my opinion. This could just be a maintance issue.

If I can trust the previous owner (I think I can) there has never been any problems. IT IS A VERY WELL BUILT UNIT.

n/a

I have been playing for around 30 years. I have had had a good portion of better equipment at one time or another. This is one of the better pieces I have ever had. I would definitly replace it with the same or eq mod. it if were lost somehow. I love the tone, the ability to play hyper tones at low volumes, the sturdy and well built, simple design. And the value. I wish it was a little less noisey at hi drive levels.And finaly, a built in reverb and/or vibe would be a nice addition. For the price there is no comparison with anything else I looked at.

Not sure of what year the amp was made in. It's probably 2-3 years old, it was purchased by a friend of mine several years ago. The amp is versatile enough for me, in fact the easier the better! I like the one channel setup. It keeps things simple. There is a resonance switch that adds a significant "thereness" to the sound. I like it.

I sing lead and use this amp to play ryhthym. By the way - it roars! Turn it to 2 and it will blow your ears! It's 50 watts, but I've played off of a solid state 120 watt for a long time, and this amp has to be 3 times as powerfull. I paid $400.00 for this and a laney 4x10 cab (I bought it from a guy in my band).

I'm using a 2001 Epiphone Dot. This amp suits my music style (rock), and could really suit any style with a effects. It is a bit noisy when the drive switch is on with my setup - but the gain is way up there also. I am playing on a semi-hollow too. I guess any amp would do the same. This amp provides great tone and sound with the one channel that it provides. It is adjustable from no drive to roaring, and I like the transition. The drive seems to "add" to the previous sound that the amp was projecting. I've noticed that when you switch many amps from one channel to the next they change completely - the transition doesn't flow. Not so with this! The transition is beautiful.

I've had it a total of one week, so I really cannot comment to much in this area. The previous owner hasn't had any problems that I'm aware of.

Havn't had to deal with them.

The previous owner had a hard time getting rid of this amp because no one wanted a one channel head. The first time I tried this amp out at a rehearsal I was hooked! I was originally looking at a Peavey 50 classic 4x10, but I like this sound better. The clean channel sounds great, and the distortion suits me. The peavey lacks bottom end.

New 2002 Model, extremely versatile. I like all kinds of tones ranging from country, jazz, metal, classic rock...etc It fits the bill 100%!

Has reverb, a seperate "Resonance" switch, effects loop, tube biasing switch, bass, mid, treb, gain, AND Distortion! Has everything you could ask for!

First of all distortion is awesome! If you love that classic Eddie Van Halen "brown sound"??? This is THE amp for you. Crank up the distortion, add some extra reverb, a nice MXR Phase-90 Pedal, and you got instant EVH Sound!

Tubes sound incredible! Extremely warm, glassy tones are capable with this amp. Everything from Country, Jazz, Metal, VERY heavy metal, and anything else in between.

Not a noisy amp, very quiet.

Currently using Fender American Deluxe guitars, old Kramer guitars, Ovation acoustic, Japanese Strat...etc Single coil pickups, humbuckers...etc All sound great!

The clean channel sounds excellent, however, you're GOING TO GET some distortion at high volume from the clean channel. Being a TUBE HEAD, you can't really get around that. But, the clean tones available from this head, are really awesome!

Well, it's brand new, only had it for a month, but it seems to be built very well, but really can not comment right now. Looks awesome, performs awesome, but can't give an honest answer based on looks & performance. :)

Haven't dealt with them yet.

Overall rating is a perfect 10! It does all I ask of it, has GREAT TONE, and is really a sweet amp. IF it were lost, I'd buy another one right away! If it were stolen, I'd hunt the person down, and well, let's just say, did you see the movie "The Hitchhiker"? ;)

Just wish it had true "Spring Reverb". BUT, I own the Electro-Harmonix HOLY GRAIL reverb pedal, and it performs 100%!

Amp head has just about every stinkin' option you could dream of in an amp for this price!

I compared this amp to MANY different models...Marshall, Mesa...etc Kicked all their asses in Price, TONE & Options! Wonderful buy!

This amp was made in 1998, i got it last week on ebay. The first time i played it, i miss a second channel. It has no onboard effects but this don't matters because of a FX-loop. This amp has link jacket! thats cool, - you can switch more heads together.

I play a Marschall VS8200 (BiChorus -200W), And i thougt that my thiny 50W Laney sounds like an hairdryer against my Marshall - bullshit!!! I was surprised about the warm, creamy sound - i love it.
I'm play NuMetal - Hardcore, and if you make the right settings you will kill every Marshall. Yesterday i jamed with other metal musicans. Between a Trace Elliot (150W - Bass) and a Hughes & Kettner Attax 100, and this amp makes it really good!!! I use a Laney GS412LA cabine with 320W (usually designed to play the GH100TI). I like it!

i got it last week, It still works *lol*

i hope i don't need it!

I am playing guitar for about 6 years. My first amp was an old Cheri (15W), now i'm playing Marshall and Laney heads!!! And i can tell you, save your money an buy this amp, im sure you will be happy. May be not for life! but surely for the next years!

Ah, time to submit a more detailed and literate review of this amplifier. My GH50L seems to have been manufactured in 1998 in the UK. The amp is certainly versatile for me in playing of funk, reggae, classic rock, punkabilly, blues, and modern rock - my only complaints are that 50 watts doesn't always give enough clean headroom when playing live w/o a miked cab and that it lacks reverb. The amp is a single channel with high/low inputs and footswitchable drive. It includes effects loop with a potentiometer to control FX level, slave in/outs, speaker outs for 2x8 ohms, 1x8 ohms, 2x16 ohms, 1x16 ohms, and 1x4 ohms. It also has a bias switch allowing a switch from 6L6s to EL34s without rebiasing. It's driven by a duet of 6L6s (mine is at least right now, I can change to EL34s whenever), and preamp is controlled by a quartet of 12AX7s. I currently use Sovteks. Features include a Resonance switch and a Drive switch, and potentiometers for Presence, Low, Mid, High, Master, Gain, and Drive. I only wish it included reverb and a tube rectifier (I'm considering modifying it to have a 5U4 recto valve.)

I use a '77 Gibson RD Custom (Kalamazoo made) with a stock Moog humbucker in the neck and a DiMarzio Super Distortion in the bridge as my main guitar. I also use a '64 Harmony USA H-14 (?) Silloughette (sp? sorry it's late) with original DeArmond GoldenTone pickups and a Carlo Robelli Japanese ES-335 copy (not sure of year) that uses humbuckers, and occasionally I use a Strat Deluxe (Mexican made, a couple years old, Ash) with three single coils (obvoiusly), the middle one being reverse wound and with an on/off switch for the bridge. The amp suits my reggae, funk, and rock 'n' roll wonderfully except in cases when I need a bit more clean headroom. Distortion sounds absolutely beautiful whether I use the drive switch or just gain or straight overdrive of the clean section. It always is very bassy, it can get a wonderful mid scooped modern tone that I find preferable to most Mesa Rectifiers. If I boost the mids and cut back on the treble and bass, I get wonderful classic late 60s/early 70s tone (especially when I use my Gibson). Clean it can sound very bright, yet with a full spectrum of lows and mids as well - quite responsive, works well for my funky wah-heavy playing or for fast jazz. The clean will crack up if you play it hard with the master past about 7-ish, but that can very with the tubes you're using, so I really shouldn't make that an objective fact. The amp is only extremely noisy around radio stations where it decides to pick up their signals (this seems to be a problem on many high-gain amps that I've played...)

I've never had any problems... Obvious retubing, but I've had no real repairs. I depend on it and use it gigging without backup seeing as how it's my only amp really big enough to gig with (I have a little Peavey combo--I'm considering picking up a Marshall or Boogie mid-wattage combo for home and backup.

Never tried.

I've been playing for about 5 years now. I own a Peavey Rage, a Sheffield speaker equipped Peavey 112SX cab, two Peavey 115H PA cabs, a Dunlop GHB-95 Crybaby, a Dano distortion box, a DOD processor (digital shite), and usually I have a Digitech Whammy 4 around. If it were stolen or lost I would go out and look for a JTM/JCM/Plexi head, but I love this to death. For the money I paid it's essentially unbeatable. A quality British tube head for $300 seems pretty incredible to me - I would compare the tone to a JCM800 50 watt I suppose. When purchasing it, my only other real consideration was a Vox Cambridge Twin 30, but this one is an actual valve amp (not hybrid shit) and more powerful. I wish it had reverb, a recto valve, and maybe another channel. All around a wonderful amp, I must say.

This head was built in 2000 as ear as I cn tell. I use a digitech RP14 pedal so I di not want alot of effects use in the head. I was looking for a full sounding head without a bunch of extras.

I use an Epiphone Sheraton and a telecaster. Classic Rock is the main music my current band plays. THis head gives more sund than any bar Ihave been in is able to handle. I play through a Randall cabiet, 4x12, equipped with 60w jaguars. The amp stays clean at high volume unless I kick my processor to give me something different.

I have only been uing it for a year but I have not had a sngle problem and we play every weekend. I hav done nothing special to maintain it.

Haven't had to use it.

I paid more than most of you butfeel itwas woth every penny.

This amp has got one channel with an additional footswitchable gain. This makes it a little limited if u are playing a lot of different styles, like i do. However i think ive come up with the ultimate solution (If you dont want to link a bunch of heads together). I've purchased a good ol' roland gp-8. Why, you migth think. The answer is:Effects loop and the possibility to switch external units. The way of coupling these units together is a bit complex, but here goes: The guitar goes into the gp-8 and the send of the gp-8 goes into the input of the head (in my case the low gain). Further, the send of the head goes into the return of the gp-8. Now we have introduced the preamp as an external effect in the gp-8 and further, the effects of the gp-8 which are supposed to be in front of the preamp are in front of the preamp. Now we connect the output of the gp-8 to the return jack of the head, which means that the effects which are supposed to be inbetween the preamp and the poweramp will be there. At last the external control jack of the gp-8 goes into the footswitch jack of the head. Now, for clean sounds turn the gain control to 3 and use the "external control" off. For cruch sounds: "external control" off, gain at 3 and add a tiny bit of distortion from the gp-8. For Rock rythm, use the "external effects" on to add the drive of the head to the sound. I've found that about 6 at the drive does the trick. And for blizzard lead add a bit of distorsion from the gp-8. Be sure to use an earthed jack for power supply to the head, otherwise there is a risk that you will burn the gp-8 from the footswitch jack. Now you will have four different sounds to work with. I use 6 sounds since i have a clear sound with chourus for "more than a feeling" songs and i also use the dynamic filter on the lead sound. The cons of this solution is that there is no reverb on the gp-8, but i've found that a short delay -about 80 ms-does the trick for the rythm sounds, and for the lead sounds a delay is commonly preffered to reverb anyway. Another beauty of this solution is that you have complete control over the master volumes of the differend sounds. I've used this solution for a year and i've not encountered a situation yet i didn't master. Good luck!!

My first amp was a Crate CR-112...I loved it until I got together with a drummer-time to go shopping. I decided on a Linebacker 65R combo, if Laney was good enough for the Space Ace, who was I to complain. I also own a GC50 12" combo, but the best sound is the GH50L. I see alot of reviews ripping on the fact that it does not have reverb, but in my opinion, the only good-sounding on-board reverbs belong to Fender...you're much better off with a processor for fx. I use a couple Alesis Nanoverbs (1 for reverb, 1 for delay, along with a NanoCompressor. The FX knob is a beautiful thing!
As far as power, I've jammed with 100 watt Marshalls, Boogies, HiWatts, and Carvins-never had a problem. Originally, I was running through a Marshall VS8412, but traded it in for a Laney GS412IS, a perfect mate.

The drive sound is KILLER!!! The gain may be higher on some Marshalls or Boogies, but the tone quality cannot be surpassed. It is not flat or thin, but fat and clear. I play heavy rock/metal, and some classic rock, and this amp rocks. It also did a fine job for my brief stint in a punk rock band. A clean channel would be nice, though. I use primarily an '89 Charvel Fusion Custom, but also a '94 Jackson Dinky Reverse w/ Duncan Jazz/Custom Distortion pickups, and a '96 Gibson Les Paul Studio. As far as tube amps go, noise is not too bad (I use a Rocktron hush to keep noise down).D C

Shortly after I bout it, I was having cut-out problems...being a solid state guy, what did I know. It was a '95, which I purchased in '98. I took it in, and he replaced the tubes...piece of cake!!!
No problems since.

I haven't had to deal with Laney on this amp, but Dave & Kelly were VERY helpful back in '89 when I started my search-noone around at the time stocked them. Actually, that is probably the worst about Laney, having switched from Hoshino (Ibanez) to whoever they're with now, distribution sucks!

I've been playing for 12 years, and Laney has been with me for 11. I would not hesitate to cross the state line if I had to replace this. I've been looking at Boogies (they are more versatile, but 4-5 times the price), but as I read in a magazine years ago, it is better to have one Killer tone than two or more so-so tones...I can't give it up, call me an addict!

This fucking monster has 2 channels i baught it today.I play hXc (hardcore) from bands like Arkangel,Wise up,XReprisalX,Undying, and shit loads of more and this litlle fucker suits my style. i'm playing bearly 4 years now and i played with 2 bands and we do concerts i just baught it today.FUCK I'M HAPPY .I'll give the features a 9 cuz it's eazy to use and u get what u see ,

This fucker does it all it's only 50 Watts (100 in reality if u calculate) but with a little noise surpressor at concerts will help u get your sound clean and undamaged .OH i was looking for a MESA SINGLE RECT. but then i Tried this and i was impressed. I just came from my room AND U HAVE TO LISTEN TO THIS BICH WHEN IT'S WARMED UP..........................................
I'll give it a fucking 10. For hardcore u need to kill the mids and turn up the bass and put presence at full and treb. at full AND THE GAIN OF COURSE AT FULL TOO.....i baught it with a 4*10 cabine and it's some good shit.

only got it today 5 hours agoooooooooooooooooooo

didn't need it yet but oh the guy from the shop didn't find my fucking footswitch so they're gonna send it to me so no opinion

It's just fantastic another concert may be comming soon and i can't wait to bust this fucker up at half of volume cuz 1 on disto. is more than enaugh for my room .................................. and 1 thing before u get a mesa try this one before or an crate you'll find it maybe just as suiting for you as think and look at the price .....fucking hell u can buy a 4*10 and a new brandspacking Ibanez guitar with some cool seymor or EMG pickups and voila your Mesa (with a little les power and gain but still)............