Laney GH50L Head

I got this about 2 or 3 years ago, mainly because I just wanted a really simple, relatively cheap valve head for gigging. I bought it with the intention of just using it as a basic sound to build on (I use a lot of effects pedals), however I found the extra gain switch quite useful for solos and the like. I like the single channel thing - it's all I really need. 50 watts is great - plenty of headroom for gigs. You can have it cooking without having to have it too loud. I put 5 because while I am happy with it, it's a really basic amp. If you want channels, reverb, effects or other features you'll want to look at something else.

I'm using it with a Marshall 1936 2x12 cab, a Gibson SG, and a variety of effects pedals. It sounds great! It's not perfect - the gain boost adds a significant volume boost (fine for solos, but not always what you want). The sound is quite 'clear' (i.e. not the Marshall sound), but it can be tailored to suit different guitars and sounds (within reason). It seems to respond well to effects pedals - some of the amps I've used really aren't keen on certain distortions and modulation effects (Vox AC-30s don't seem to like my E-H Small Clone or my Boss DS-1). The overdrive/distortion is great. I often use an overdrive or compression pedal to push it, but it sounds great on its own.

I've never had any trouble with it. It's been thrown around a van for 2 years and it's never missed a beat. Good strong construction.

Never had to deal with them.

I would definitely get another one if it was lost or stolen. I feel I can trust the sound of the amp - it's a great blank canvas, but with a reasonable amount of character and charm. It's pretty cheap but it's a shame that so few shops stock it (unlike Marshall for instance).

Not too many features. But has a foot switchable drive channel. Good effects loop, I don't really use it too much though, try an eq to have some earth-shattering lows. Back off the volume on your rhythm pickup, and you can get clean easy. Just wish it had two channels, but no biggy for me. Speaker outputs are very versatile. BUT, listen up. 2x8 ohm. That means two 16ohm cabs!!!! It won't hurt to use 8 ohms though. Tube amps can run for a while on the wrong ohmage, but you don't want to do that. The tone controls are good, resonance switch is cool. But fool around with the tone controls first before you rule this amp out if you didn't like the first sound you heard outta it.

This amp has plenty of distortion. I don't know who said it didn't. Maybe you need new tubes or something.(yes preamp tubes need to be replaced too!!!) But it has a lotta head room imo. You can turn the gain down, and turn master all the way up and be pretty clean, click the drive channel and your pretty chunky. But with gain and drive all the way up is where this shines. The distortion is just so thick and raw. I'm using it with a 70s Laney Cabinet(straight) with Celestion GT75s. Lotta highs and earth-shattering lows. Using two guitars, a Gibson Gothic Les Paul(stock), and a new Epiphone SG thats a cheapy. Believe it or not, less feedback with the SG. But the Gothic Les Paul has very very hot pickups. I play in Dropped C. With D'addario Jazz 12s. Amp is a bit noisy.

Flew across our van and still sounded amazing. This is the real tank of amps.

Never needed.

I love it, and if I can, I'd like to buy the GH100L so i can get a full stack. I could have probably had a mesa/boogie, but I'm not the biggest fan of conforming. Amp sounds great, and is a good price.

Well i'm not gonna go into to much detail cos i'm sure its all been said.But i will say that despite being a single channel head it is actually quite versatile , and there is a whole raft of sounds in there from clean through to heavy crunch and drive.The speaker ohm switch really does make a difference when changing between 8 to 16 ohms with a suitable cab.I also find that when using fx loop the different options on the switch(ie insert or side chain)make a noticeable difference , i am still not sure what setting i should ue but it works better for me in insert mode.And the resonance switch gives a nice fat sound when engaged.

There are plenty of sounds in here but you've got to work at it.I'll be honest ,straight out of the box i was a bit dissapointed it sounds a little bit dead & at the same time a bit bright (if that makes sense)the lack of reverb does'nt help .I would suggest shutting yourself in a room for at lest 8 hours and see what works for you.There is a good variety of sounds ,and yes it can do a reasonable clean sound .i'm using mainly les pauls a gibson classic and an old tokai love rock.The distortion is as good as anything i've heard including the boogie i owned & the peavey xxx efx 40 that i still own ,so how did i make it sound so good ? well to be fair it sounds awsome with the drive engaged regardless , its just without it on it sounds a bit wanting. My remedy a cheap eq pedal and a little delay (left on )and it sounds the business i gigged with it for the first time recently and it sounded monster ,power -definition-clarity & as someone else previously remarked it sounded so different out of the house and turned up in a gig situation , i did however have one little gripe and that was that we play quite heavy rock covers and i'd set up a great crunch tone with the eq pedal(behringer)but when i stood on the drive button for the solo yeah it sounded awsome and beautifully saturated with singing sustain (i can definately here some boogie in there)but it didnt quite cut through the mix loud enough, so i put a 17quid preamp booster through the fx loop ( a behringer again) and it sounds, well everthing i've wanted it now leaps out ,with no change to the sound (except for volume boost)and it does sound amazing, so basically you just need to experiment a little and i would recommend an eq pedal and i guess laney does have a sound all of its own as i said i can hear boogielike tones but it also has its own sound. I have not found this amp to be noisy , and i have changed the tubes to 6L6 which i prefer the sound of.I will give it 9 out of ten cos i had to mess around and experiment for the perfect tone but i got it and i love it.By the way its deafeningly loud.

so far cant fault it the amp seems superbly made.

sorry guys but i,ve emailed a couple of times for some info and i've not heard a reply so thats a bit poor ,but it does'nt affect the aound right.

Have been playing 20 years had a boogie ,various peaveys ,and a marhall jubilee to name a few.I am very pleased with this amp and would definately get another ,it is a marshall slayer and i hope to keep this set up now.I do wish it had reverb (why has'nt it?)but a little delay (or a holy grail) cures this , i love its simplicity and its versatility and there is nothing i hate about it.

I play in a power pop band and we do extensive touring and it works perfect for our style of music. I standardly use the first gain stage. The second gain is a little too much for my taste, but it is still very usable for those it applies to, probablly more metal type style...if it had a master volume, I'd probablly use it. I like the FX loop although I never use it, it's still nice to know it's there. It is a very loud amp as well...I typically run the master vol somewhere between 4-6 with the volume on 8!

I've owned several amps including a Marshall JCM 800 2203 100w. I guess i can say I enjoy this amp more than my Marshall. I'm still kinda on the fence about it. The distortion on this amp can go from light crunch to metal by the twist of a knob. Not too noisy at all. I play a fender esquire, '69 thinline tele, gibson LP, gibson flying V. Each guitar has it's own sound thru the amp. it also has a very good clean sound too! I wouldn't go as far as to say it sounds like a twin or anything, but it's still very good!

It's been a very reliable amp...i've had no problems at all with it. the only thing...you better buy a road case...the tolex will come off easy!!! but hey...that's character...right?

never dealt with them

give it a solid 8. I've been playing 13 years...been playing full time/ professional for a year. If it were stolen...i'd try to find another for a reasonable price, but I doubt I'd just look to buy another one...if i got another good deal on it...heck yea...i only paid $600 for the head and 4/12 cab. I'll be honest tho..i took the name plates off of it b/c it wasn't getting any respect that way, but now, after a show ppl want to know what kind of amp it is...haha. losers!

I had laney linebacker for years and I liked the tone but it just didn't cut through when playing with more than one guitarist, so I got the gl50 and all is good! When I first got it I turned all the eq's up the way I would if I were playing through any other amp.. this thing has a ton of tone control. I had to back them all down and sweep around to find the sound I liked. you can really get any tone you want, but you have to look for it. It may take a while to get used to it. It has an extra gain stage that I haven't used much.. it does get a little noisy if you use it all, but it really is not needed. one feature I really like is the speaker output. It has seperate outputs for cabinet impedance. I guess it could be a little confusing to someone unfamiliar with it, but it is a really nice feature. I have an old Laney 16ohm cabinet and it sounds awesome! I realy like the simplicity of the single channel design, it makes it very simple to use and it has a lot more versitily than most. If you don't like dealing with a ton of knobs and seperate channels and eq sliders and a bunch of bells and whistles that don't really seem to make much difference, this is the amp for you. There is nothing here that doesn't serve a purpose. I play in bars and small venues in a 4 piece "rock" band and this thing is perfect. 50 watts of tube power provides just the right balance of drive and volume.

This amp really does sound amazing! get one - put new strings on your guitar - plug it in - crank it up.. it'll put a lump in your throat and a tear in your eye!!! I play an asat and a strat through it and it does anything I want it to. with the volume on the guitar I can go from almost perfectly clean to monster overdrive without being too quiet on the clean side. It does tend to get a little too bright when I really hammer away on fender style guitars, but this is easily fixed by using the tone control on the guitar. There is NO NOISE coming from this thing, unless you use the extra stage of gain.. I can stand right in front of it with my guitar and amp cranked and hear nothing until I hit a note. (I have been playing in bands for 20 years and my hearing isn't the best, but I hear nothing!!) I did not like the way it handled the Gibsons I plugged into it though. It gets pretty noisy with the PAFs and the gain gets a little unruly. It will feedback between every stroke with both gains up. I don't think you can get any more distortion than that.. turn the gains down a little and everything will be ok. but just ok. BUT i never have played the Gibson style guitars so I really don't know how to handle them... I would recommend using a distortion pedal for the really all out stuff.. I use a boss overdrive/distortion pedal and it works great. Maybe if I had the footswitch for the extra drive stage I wouldn't need it, but I like the pedal.

haven't had any problems yet.. been gigging it for almost a year.

I contacted Laney about a concern I had with my cabinet when I first got the gl50 head, and they were prompt and very helpful.

I've been playing for over 20 years.. I had a laney linebacker solid state for more than 15 of those years and never had a problem with it.. that's why I bought this to replace it. I would be very pissed if it got stolen, not an easy thing to come by, and I would definitely replace it with the same!! a friend has the GL100 but it's a little too much.. I would get the 50 again. I compared this to a lot of different amps, and for the money... you get a lot more than you will with other amps.. It smokes a $1000 Marshall for a little more than half.

Manufactured in 2006.
Extremely versatile head. Works well for blues and rock and with the addition of a good distortion pedal, perfect for metal.
This is a single channel amp with an extra gain stage through the drive switch and level. Kind of acts like a second channel, though the drive is on the noisy side.
The only feature it lacked is reverb, a Holy Grail fixed that.
I use this primarily at home now but will be using it live in the next few months. This amp is more than loud enough for medium to large venues, especially through my 4x12 cabinet.

This head is basically a Marshall on steroids. Same basic sound, same responsiveness and same level of raw power but at a price tag mear mortals can afford.
Clean channel/dirty channel are one in the same. Alter your guitars volume and tone controls and your pick attack and you can get everything from rockabilly spank to Zakk Wylde squeals.
I use 3 guitars with this amp. #1, Les Paul Classic with dual humbuckers, #2, Fender Fat Strat with a bridge humbucker and dual single coils and #3, a DeArmond M72 with EMG81 and EMG85 active humbuckers.
The head is noisy. With no signal, there is a very noticible hiss at anything above 2 on the master and gain settings. Turn on the drive and that hiss increases with each step up. Prescense also adds to the hiss. Once you start to play though, the hiss vanishes.

I've never gigged with this amp so it's hard to say. So far, it seems to be reliable but until it's been on the road with me for a while I won't know for sure. I would never gig without a backup, no matter what the amp or who made it.

Customer support is slow, very slow. I emailed them about the hissing and they emailed back 3 days later asking if I had bought the head new? Duh! My local guitar shop, where I bought it, looked it over for free and no questions asked. They found nothing wrong so I guess this head is just hissy... Finding authorized anything is difficult as this amp is made in England and their website only lists distributors.
The warranty is for 1 year but they extend it to 3 if you mail in the warranty card within the first 90 days.

I've been playing for nearly 30 years, own Fender and Marshall amps both solid state, tube and tube/solid hybrids.
If this head were stolen, I'd probably go to jail for what I'd do to the thief. I would definitely replace it but would likely go with the GH100L next time.
I love the simplicity of the head, the overall sound and the build quality most. My main dislike is the hiss.
Honestly, this head sounds better to my ears than the Marshall JCM800 or the Super Lead.
I wish it had reverb built in, don't use it often but it's nice to have. Still, I bought a Holy Grail so that's not really a problem.

This amp is fitted with all important features i like. One chanel with boost-option (foot-switchable), resonance switch (nice sounding), effect loop (serial/parallel, but I don't need it), 50 watts power amp with EL-34 tubes, bias-switch on the rearside enables the amp to use either 6L6 or EL-34 tubes!!! That's all - but perfect for me.

Dieser Amp hat fur mich personlich alle wichtigen Features vereint: einkanalig mit Boost-Funktion (Fu?schaltbar), Resonance-Schalter ("luftigere", direktere Basswiedergabe), schaltbarer Einschleifweg (seriell/parallel), 50 Watt Endstufenleistung aus EL-34 Rohren, Bias-Schalter auf der Ruckseite zum einfachen Rohrenwechsel auf 6L6!!! Das ist schon alles - fur mich die perfekte Ausstattung.

I'm playing bluesrock / "roots"-rock.
The gear i'm using is a signature Strat (Robert Cray), an American Vintage 1962 Strat and a Classic Tex-Mex-Tele (all with original pickups). The signal goes through the follwoing pedals: Xotic RC-Booster, Onerr Fat Boy 2 Wah-Wah, Barber Direct Drive, Marshall Chorus SV-1, Marshall Delay EH-1, Korg DT-10 Pedal-tuner (all in front of the amp, all pedals are true bypass!!!). There's only one pedal in the effect-loop: a "Seagate" Solo swith for more switchable solo-volume (also true-bypass).

This amp sounds really amazing. Nice crunch and distortion tones, very transparent, great punch! The clean sound is also very usable, but not so good as a great Fender clean-tone. With a boost-pedal between your guitar and the amp, you have a fantastic volume/overdrive-control with your guitar volume-knob, from clean to crunch to distortion. On higher drive settings the amp makes a little noise - but not more as each other amp! Also the resonance-switch is a nice sound option! AND: the GH50L can be very loud!!!

Ich bin im Bluesrock u.a. Richtungen zuhause. Als "Fender"-Player kommen bei mir eine Signature-Strat (Robert Cray), eine American Vintage 1962-Strat und eine Tex-Mex-Tele Classic '60 zum Einsatz. Das Gitarrensignal durchlauft -vor den Amp geschaltet- folgende Pedale: Xotic RC-Booster, Onerr Fat Boy 2 Wah-Wah, Marshall Chorus SV-1, Marshall Delay EH-1, Korg DT-10 Pedal-Tuner. Alle Pedale sind "true bypass" - Pedale, so dass ich keinen Signalverlust durch die Bodentreter erleiden mu?. Im Einschleifweg befindet sich lediglich ein "Seagate" Solo-Switch zur (regelbaren) Anhebung der Lautstarke (ebenfalls "true bypass".

Der Amp kingt wirklich unglaublich gut - und das zu dem Preis! Wunderschone Crunch- und Zerrsounds, sehr transparent und harmonisch - nie nervig sagend. Der Cleansound ist auch vollkommen ok, obwohl das ein Fender-Amp m.E. besser kann. Aber ich denke, das ist auch nicht das Tatigkeitsfeld des Laney. Er produziert wunderschone Blues- und Rocksounds die sich in der Band sehr gut durchsetzen. Mit dem vorgeschalteten Booster lasst sich der Verzerrungsgrad wunderbar mit dem Volumenpoti der Gitarre regeln! Bei zu viel Gain fangt der Laney schon ein bisschen an zu rauschen, aber es ist noch im grunen Bereich und vor allem nicht mehr als bei vergleichbaren Amps. Interessant ist auch der Resonance-Schalter - klingt gut. UND: der GH50L ist verdammt laut, macht machtig Druck. Und den braucht er auch um richtig atmen zu konnen - wobei er auch leiser gespielt schon recht gut klingt!

No problems in the short time (4 weeks) i owned this amp.

Set dem Kauf vor 4 Wochen gab es keinerlei Probleme! Ich hoffe, es bleibt so!

Nice amp - nice price - nice sounding! When i have to compare - I think the Laney sounds much better than Marshalls - because of the transparent and harmonic distortion sounds. But the GH50L (i think all the Laney's) has it's own note in sounding.
Try it and buy it!!!

Klasse Amp - klasse Preis - klasse Sound! Wenn ich vergleichen musste - der Laney klingt m.E. besser als Marshall, weil seine Zerrsounds harmonischer und transparenter klingen. Obwohl man auch sagen mu?, dass der GH50L (wie alle Laney's) schon ihren eigenen Klang haben - und der ist sehr gut!
Also: antesten und kaufen!!!

2005 head. Features:not much, which is refreshing. I know this is a single channel amp but the volume jump when hitting the drive switch is not OK on stage so it could definately use a 2nd master volume. There is a workaround that I use. I use a small midi-switched rack in the loop. I simply knock off some volume by switching to my effexts processor to a program with lower patch output volume. The drive is switched on/off by midi as well, so 1 button does it all, and also can switch in a a couple of pedals in front of the amp.

I use Ibanez and Carvin guitars with hummers, but they both can do split coils or parallel single coils to cop the sounds of a strat.
Although my usual fare is heavy Prog Rock/Metal, I bought this amp as a departure from my 20-sp rack rig and my Diezel Vh4 and H&K Triamp heads. I'm playing just for fun in a band doing classic rock including a bunch of Zeppelin tunes. I finally found time to spend the afternoon running all these heads against each other into one of 2 2x12's. One is a Bogner with V30's, the other is a Mojotone with a Hellatone 60 and Celestion H30. As is often the case the cab makes all the difference in the world and for Zeppelin the Mojotone cab has the...well, Mojo. I can say without any hesitation here that Diezel is not the amp for classic crunch tones. The Triamp can them on channel 2A. The GH50L though absolutely NAILS it! It also seems to cut through the mix (lod drummer) much better than the Triamp does. And it is a loud mutherfugger, it can hurt you! Now, the problem with any single channel head, unless you are doing a Grateful Dead jam for a bunch of 50-something stoners, is when you want to go clean you need to get the gain below 4 and jack up the master, without missing a beat or 2. I've got enough to worry about on stage, so I use a Fender combo for cleans, but this means hauling more gear.... It never ends. So I though, if the GH50L is this good, I should try the TT50H (2 chan). Well I'm here to tell you that it has nowhere near the same beautiful organic crunchiness.
Now, can it do the higher gain scooped mids crunch. Yes, not bad at all though I definately switch to the Bogner cab with V30's for that. Of course I am spoiled by the other 2 heads mentioned above, which just SPANK the GH50L for metal, but then they cost 3-5x as much too. Can you boost the mids and do nice singing leads with the Laney? Not so much. Certainly can make do in clubs playing David Gilmour leads, but there are better amps for that. There is a certain brittleness I find when the gain is up past 6. And I would never put the drive past 3-4. Beyond that it adds a buzz that just blurs your technique and makes you sound like a 14 y/o dickhead.

I think it's got little to worry over. No channel switching, no midi, 2 tubes, I mean, c'mon. I've used it for 6 mos now without a hitch.

As I said, for that classic British rock tone, without resorting to new Marshalls (crap quality and reliability -- and I'm speaking from experience), or old Marshalls (see problem with new Marshalls), the Laney GH's are killer. The tone is definately there. If you can work around a single channel amp, it's a great value. If you are short of budget, and wondering if the amp will cover SRV to Hatebreed, well, no. But the clean tone is sweet, the amp loves pedals (lots of possibilities there), and with the right cab you can do Metallica covers too.

Hallo!
Mine got the Serial - Number 1558.Brand New By Thomann 625,- Euro.
I'am a Jazz and Rock - player. I am playing still and forever Strat's and Les Paul - Clones. Piss on names!!!

One Channel Monster.

As i said before: Clone types.
Not noisy at low volumes - bedroom!
But!!! With Drive at around " 7 " and Gain " 6 ",
( you have to switch the drive channel on )it's
also perfect ).
Monster Tone when you use the MASTER up ... and away!!!
Hard Rock; Jazz; not like the clean Fender - tone.

Yes, this is my third Amp from Laney.
1'st Amp - Laney TF 200. Second - My " Giftzwerg " - a
Laney LC-15R. Finally the GH 50 L.
No problems with tubes or broken downs.

No problems with my dealer.
If I have a problem with my Laney Amps,
i call my body at my music - station.
So far no problems with my Laney's.
I am not directly involved, yet.

30 years of playing the guitar. Gibson and Fender 1980-84.
Vox, Peavey, Mar...
Compare to other products this it is.
As i said: don't look for names.

Ordered this on 9th November, arrived this morning which was a surprise as I was told it'd be out of stock until the end of the month, not complaining though! I was very surprised when I powered this beast up as to it's versatility. I usually play straight up metal so this amp is perfect for that but occsaionally like to stray into blues and clean territory and it also does this perfectly, heavenly clean sound. I've found that having the one channel isn't much of a problem as the boost switch does effectively give it two channels and is a very usuable function. I've got it running with EL34 tubes at the moment and it sounds very nice indeed, although I'm planning to try 6L6's in the near future. For the money I paid for it, I think it is a complete bargain and it has more than enough power for gigs. The only downside is the lack of reverb and only the one channel but I don't find this to be a problem at all.

My main guitar at the moment is a ESP Ltd H-100 (old series, the better quality ones) and I mostly play metal (Arch Enemy, Metallica, Pantera etc etc) and this amp suits this style perfectly. It has more than enough gain and isn't at all noisy even at the highest gain settings you can dial in. The sounds on this amp range from jazzy clean right through to Nile-style balls to the wall mayhem. Absolutely perfect for me. This amp also works very well with single coils. The only downside is i'd say it was a little too bassy.

Only just got it, can't really comment as of yet. Built like a tank though!

Not been in touch with them yet.

I've been playing for 4 and a half years and this is my first tube amp and the nicest bit of kit I own. If it were stolen, I'd buy another straight away and hunt down the person that stole it!!! The thing I love about it is the simplicity to dial in stunning tones in a matter of seconds! Before I bought this, I tried an Ashdown Fallen Angel, Hiwatt Maxwatt and a Marshall DSL50 and this was by far the best amp of the lot!

Purchased new in Oct, 05. Two EL34 pwr tubes, single channel, master volume w/switchable gain boost. It has every feature I need, simple straight forward. Perfect for a player whom gets his tonal varieties from his volume knowb and a pedal or two. I use this amp in a band rehearsal warehouse, put volume on about 4 and it rips with plenty of power to be heard above bass and drums. It is so hard to find a simple, straight forward amp with one channel. Kudos to them for making one. Everyone else if jumping on the three channel or more bandwagon....too much signal dilution for me...

I use a PRS custom 24, which brings out a great heavy tone for heavy riffing, and cleans up pretty good after cutting the volume know to 5. It is not noisy at all for me, even after applying tons of clean boost before going into the front of amp. The clean channel distorted for me at higher volumes, but I think my pickups tend to make it do that too, could probably get nice clean tones with the right pickups in guitar. The distortion was the best part of this amp. There are tons of gain possibilites with the switchable gain boost. I think it had a little bit better, more usable gain than my Marshall JCM 2000. But the leads didn't sound as nice and tonal and 'tubey' as they do on the jcm 2000.

Seems to be constructed well enough, but wouldn't gig without a backup. Thier distributers are hard to contact, so I hope it never has any issues.

The music store I bought it from was great, but it seems that contact with the distributor or manufacturer may be a little more difficult. I look forward to them proving me wrong if that is not the case....

Been playing 20 years, own marshall, prs, parker, schecter. I would certainly replace this if it broke. It is a GREAT deal, costs half as much as my JMC 2000 and still holds its own. The best value out there for a player that loves tube tone and doesn't need tons of bells and whistles......

One eq for the cruch and distortion channel it's not enough for me, very
good fx loop and 4,8,16 ohm mode for cabinet. Solid chassis. Best feature: the switch for bias 6l6 or el34.

My own has the 6l6 tubes on power section, nice sound but too modern for my, i swap with 2 el34 tesla, now the sound it's amazing!! I owned many expensives amps like mesa rectifier, jcm 900, 800, 2000 tsl, peavy 5150,
and NO OTHER AMP SOUND LIKE THIS ONE!!!! Very loud, crisp, definite with
a real british tone. You can play from blues to metal, i play rock blues and this amp is the holy grail! Nothing to say anymore.

Never a problem in 2 years.

As said before the sound is incredible, it lacks another eq and master volume on distortion channel because the jump from crunch to dist channel has a gap of volume, but i think the amp must have a good sound, the features are secondary and this cheap amp have the best sound i've heared by now.

early 90's model
versatile enough for metal and hardcore
one channel...more like two with the gain boost...like a crunch and ultra setting.
50 tube watts is plenty...can really get the power tubes workng at gigging levels...perfect.
i use it in a hardcore band...2 guitars, bass,vocals, and drums...cuts through just fine.


switchable bias...effing sweet...resonance switch...even sweeter...

using it with a les paul with stock pickups and a jackson with a distortion trembucker...this amp was made for heavy music!!!....it can nail the As I Lay Dying sound perfectly...the most BRUTAL distortion i've heard from a "no-name" amp...sure laney's well known...but man...this is one heck of an amp.

had it for 2 months...no problems thus far and it's over 12 years old...

this i smy first true tube amp...i owned a marshall avt150 before this...but man...the distortion is everything i could ever ask for and more...and the versatility with tube swaps...i love this amp...if i lost it i'd get another(hard though...not many u.s. laney dealers left)


if you see one of these puppys pick it up!!

Der Laney Vollroehrenverstaerker GH50L (=50 Watt-aber sehr laut) Head besitzt die standardm??igen Regler: Presence,Bass,Middle,Treble,Gain und ein Mastervolume. Dazu gibts noch einen Resonance-Schalter. Das Topteil besitzt lediglich einen Kanal der allerdings noch durch einen Drive-Regler und Schalter zus?tzlich geboosted werden.

Leider ist der Amp kein Stereo-Top, was ich sehr schade finde, besonderst im Bezug auf meine Box

Ich benutze eine Ibanez Rg 2620 Prestige und das Top geht in eine selten gewordene Syrincs 4x12 "Guitar Made" Stereobox.

Das Top liefert wirklich einen qualitativ hochwertigen Cleansound. Das sollte ein Einkanaler f?r ?ber 600 Euro auch leisten. Der Overdrive Sound ist durchaus warm, satt in der Verzerrung und dabei klar definiert.

Allerdings geht nur eines von beiden. Entweder man moechte den Amp clean nutzen oder man dreht den Gainregler hoch und hat einen Crunchsound, der ?ber den Fussschalter gepushed werden kann, so dass man eine h?rtere Verzerrung erh?lt. Mit "clean" ist es dann aber aus.

Auf der Laney Page wird gesagt, dass der Amp auch im Metalbereich gut abschneidet und bei erh?ter Lautst?rke an Zerrung zunimmt. Meiner Meinung nach, ist dass nicht ganz der Fall. So laut, dass mir der Amp genug abrockt, konnte ich ihn nie aufdrehen. Daf?r ist er aber auch wirklich nicht konzipiert, auch wenn es der Hersteller behauptet.

Ac/Dc, Black Sabbath und Nirvana Fans, d?rften ihre wahre Freude haben. Hier brilliert der Amp

ABER!!!

Der Amp hat meiner Meinung nach seine wahre Bestimmung an ganz anderer Stelle.

Jeder besitzer eines Vox Tonelab, eines Boss GT-5/6/8 oder eines Pod XT Live hat hier ein Topteil, das genau auf diese Geraete zugeschnitten ist. KEIN MENSCH haengt so einen Apparat vor einen Mesa Boogie oder Matchless Amp.
Die wissen schon wie man Rockt. Aber der brilliante Clean Kanal ist genau das womit so ein Multieffektgeraet arbeitet kann. Somit wird der einseitige Verst?rker zu einem genialen Partner in jeder Livesituation, der die Vielseitigkeit der besseren (300Euro+) Effektger?te entsprechend nutzen und wiedergeben kann.

Ich hab allerdings gelesen, dass einige Bodentreter unbedingt mit der Return Buchse verbunden werden m?ssen, "otherwise your Sound kills you" wie so oft nachzulesen war.

Mein Gitarrenlehrer hat mir erzaehlt, dass ihm mal das Topteil w?rend eines Gigs, von der Box kippte und auf den Boden krachte und das w?rend das Teil lief. Einige Roehrenverst?rker rauchen schon ab, wenn mann sie ,w?rend die Roehren gluehen, schuettelt.
Der Verst?rker lief danach ohne Ver?nderung weiter.

Mit meinem hab ich das zwar noch nicht gemacht, aber er hat mir noch nie Probleme gemacht in all den Jahren

Abschlie?end ist also zu sagen, dass der Amp alles andere als vielseitig ist, aber die Sound die er bietet sind ausgezeichnet. Wenn man einen vern?nftgen Bodentreter davor h?ngt, ist er eine gute Wahl f?r den Proberaum und die B?hne.

Ich habe mich eine ganze Weile nach einem passenden Topteil f?r mich umgesehen. Ich spiele in die Richung Punk, Alternative, Emo... irgendwas in die Richtung eben... ;) Fest stand f?r mich: es muss ein R?hrentopteil sein - der Sound ist einfach um einiges fetter als bei Transe, au?erdem musste der Preis stimmen. So bin ich schlie?lich auf den Laney gekommen und bin inzwischen sehr zufrieden damit!
Das gute St?ck hat mit seinen 50 Watt nen ganz sch?nen Bumms und kommt ganz gut gegen das Marshall JCM-2000 DSL (100W) von meinem Mit-Gitarristen an, wenngleich sich die Sounds nat?rlich wesentlich unterscheiden (was viel Einstellungsarbeit erfordert um die beiden "kompatibel" zu machen).
Das GH50L hat nur einen Kanal, daf?r aber einen zuschaltbaren Distortion-'Kanal' - so wird das Teil quasi zum 1 1/2 - Kanaler. F?r schnelle Rockmusik ist das eigentlich perfekt: nicht zuviel Schnick-Schnack und ein klarer bis kratziger (Gain) Clean und ein wunderbar dreckiger Distortion! ?ber einen Effekt Loop verf?gt das GH50L nat?rlich auf (mit Regler an der R?ckseite), diesen habe ich jedoch noch nicht gebraucht!

Ich spiele das Laney ?ber eine Marshall Silver Jubilee 25/50 4x12er Box (16 Ohm) und habe einen wundervollen Sound! :)
Momentan spiele ich ein Strat-Modell (3x Single Coil) aus dem Hause Stagg und einen Flying V (2x Humbucker) Nachbau der selben Firma.
?ber die Strat bringt das Laney bei einem Gain von ca. 3/10 einen leicht-kratzigen, aber immernoch sehr sch?nen Clean (auf jeden Fall warm) und liefert im Distortion die gew?nschten Verzerr-Sounds. Diese klingen ?ber die V um einiges b?ser - fast Metallig! :)
Alles in allem ist der Distortion relativ Basslastig und das Ger?t r?hrt recht britisch, aber ist meines Erachtens nach perfekt f?r jede Art von schneller (und lauter!) Rockmusik!
Nimmt man den Gain v?llig heraus, so ist der Sound wunderbar glockig und clean, also kann damit nicht nur b?se Musik machen...

Ich habe das Ger?t schon eine Weile und es hat mich bis jetzt nicht einmal im Stich gelassen... Ich denke man kann sich wirklich auf das Teil verlassen!

Ich bin mir nicht sicher, ob es in Deutschland einen Costumer-Service gibt, Laney sitzen ja in GB... Ich kann hierzu leider nicht viel sagen!

Kaufen! :)
Ich denke das GH50L ist in der unteren Preisklasse mit eines der Besten (Neupreis liegt bei ca. 630 Euro) und perfekt als erstes Topteil, aber auch f?r fortgeschrittene Gitarristen eine Alternative. Gitarrenvirtuose Paul Gilbert spielt die 100W Version des Tops!!! Wer also nicht das Geld f?r ein Orange hat, der sollte sich das Laney besorgen. Wer mehr auf den amerikanischen Sound steht w?re vielleicht mit einem Marshall besser bedient, aber h?tte bestimmt genauso Spa? am Laney! ;)
Ich denke ich habe mit dem Laney einen sehr guten Griff gemacht, den ich jederzeit wieder tun w?rde! :)

Fair amount of features compared to most marshalls but less than 5150's or rectos. Not a bad thing, just less. I haven't used the fx loop much so I can't comment on it. I play the 80's metal type of tones and some edgy blues-ish tones and of course, clean. I mostly record with a medium budget pc based system and I use any fx through the console.

I mostly use stock strats with bridge humbuckers added. It suits my style well. I've owned or played many types of amps but the main ones used were a Gallien Krueger 250 ML which I still have, a hard wired 50 watt marshall clone called Max Butler from the late 70's, A vintage 1967 sunn 50 watt head (a clean only tube amp) and a Marshall DSL 100. I'm not going to compare it to the GK or the Butler because the GK is solid state and nobody's ever heared the Butler. In comparison to the Marshall DSL 100 the Laney is FAR better for the cleans and slight distortion tones, they are just bright enough and full bodied, very "class A" vintage tube sounding, either using the guitars volume or the amp settings to achieve it. If you like your middle distortion and clean range this amp so completely conquers the DSL 100 which has dull middle tones with no sustain or pick attack. The metal tones of both are similar, the laney's high gain to me sounds more like real tube gain and not as fuzzbox as the DSL. I realize the cab makes a LOT of difference, I used a Marshall 1960a 4_12 for the comparison. If you're wealthy and like the Nickleback sort of high gain tone and not much else, the DSL is fine. If you like quality middle and clean tones along with a very, VERY comparable high gain tone (better IMHO) at about half the price, get the Laney. I have not only played both extensively but listened to them on many recorded tracks, a far better way to really hear an amps tone. I have yet to try different power tubes in the Laney but I like having the option. I think this amp, even if it were twice the cash instead of half, is more versitile, natural sounding, and at least as well built as the DSL 100. I would like to try it with a Hotplate to hear the sound, so if anyone has, let me know what you think. I don't give 10's ON SOUND and wish nobody did. Unless you are talking about a Matchless or Bogner or some other Five grand boutique or vintage collecters amp. Tens on sound destroy the objective curve of this forum.

It seems dependable, Of comparable quality to just about any modern manufactured amp for the masses. I have amps from the 60's, 70's and 80's because I really take care of them.

Hope I never have to find out.

I've been playing for more than 30 years, I would like to try a Fender Prosonic to see if I like it. If someone stole the Laney I guess I'd throw a little hissy tantrum, kick the wall breaking my toe and generaly make a completely pathetic, whiney ass of myself. Then I'd calm down and fix the hole in the wall, suffer some mild embarasment and get another. Just like the rest of you guys.

Well if you got this far down in the reviews you already know what going on here.

as for sound on cleaner side of this amp,im probably not the most qualified but.NICE.WOULD BE A GOOD DISCRIPTION,very flexible.OK now on to the dirty ch,thats why im writting this review.ive been looking for a amp for about a year when i ran into the laney,actually in that year i had a Laney AOR,Peavey ULTRA,SOLDANO,marshall 2204,dsl 50,artist 30,ashdown fallen angel,marshall 8100,andFINALLY LANEY GH 50 L.I admit the trial and error of amps on ebay was a challenge but well worth it,if your looking for that WARREN DEMARTINI/GEORGE LYNCH SOUND.THATS ALL IM REALLY QUALLIFIED TO REVIEW ON,BUY ONE,W/EL 34S ITS THE ONLY WAY TO GO

ONLY HAD IT A MONTH

I BOUGHT IT FROM NICK HE SAID IT WAS GOOD

Not sure when it was made....Mid 90's? I bought it used at guitar center and got a great deal. Essentially this is a one channel amp. It has a jack for a footswitch, which I assume is meant to be used for selecting the extra gain stage. The EQ controls are passive and need fiddling with based upon the weather....it IS all tube. Ohyeah...it also has a real neat biasing switch so you can go from 5881s to EL34s and back!

Currently I play in a hardcore band and wanted something different from the usual Boogie/Marshall sounds. My set up live is as follows: 1986 BC RICH NJ Warlock with a single EMG81 and Kahler bridge straight into the high gain input on the front. Presence set at 2, Treble at 8, Mid at 4, Bass at 10, BOTH Gain stages pegged at 10 and the master volume at about 3 or 4. The overdrive is very natural and warm, like a retubed and modded 5150, but it could use some more beef on the bottom end. With FOUR gain stages it can be a bit noisy, so I might have to put a hush pedal between myself and the input.

Overall it is a very versatile amp. I have mananged to get Plexi, JCM800, Soldano Hotrod50, Fender clean, and a bunch more out of it tone wise. I will have to update later as I am about to retube it with something other than the Sovtek 5881s and mismatched preamp tubes that it came with.

It rides from VA to Baltimore every week and some other places during the week in the trunk of my Mustang and sees about 5-6 hours of hot loud operation everyweek and has yet to fail me. I have no problem using it as an only amp at gigs. Not having pulled the chasis out of the cabinet I can not comment upon the construction internally, but from what I can see this thing is built almost as tough as a Peavey.

I have yet to call or email them so I can't say yet.

If this were stolen, I am not sure if I would go search out another one, but it would be missed. I love the biting midrange crunch, but wish for more bottom end roll over. I do wish it had a drive/clean 2 ch set up as it makes it easier to mute the amp live rather than turning guitar volume down, which still mean LOTS of high gain white noise.

This is an update of my previous review (a year or so ago).
First of all,don't expect to use the boost as a second channel,because the difference in volume between switch on/off is just too much for live use.
Then,while using the the gain+boost,near max,the level out of the FX send is so high that most multi FX won't cope with it,For Instance the GT-6 I mentionned before is useless and will feedback like mad(no level-in knob on the crappy boss),I got an intellifex and it works ok on the limit.Great otherwise.
One last thing: this amp is definetely very loud.I bought a Marshall powerbreak for bedroom use,but even at the highest attenuation it is still too loud when all the gain+boost are used.
I'd like to see a genuine 2-channel version of this amp,Marshall would have another reason to worry...

i bought this amp in 2001, dont know when it was made. paid $1750 australian dollars for the head and the laney angled quad. also tried the Tony Iommi head thru this quad and it sounded like poo.
i play modern progressive rock, tool, cog, a perfect circle, and a bit of new metal, the amp is FANTASTIC at high volumes but make sure if you turn it up you are in a bigger room, because you wont be able to hear the tonal characteristics in a small room because it is so damn loud. im glad i bought a 50 watt head for this reason as power tube saturation is much easier to attain at lower volume levels (and dont we love power tube saturation!!)
it is a single channel head with a footswitchable gain stage, and it is possible to set the channel up so that without the extra gain stage engaged a clean sound can be obtained and the final gain stage can be used for distortion sounds. there is one problem with this which i will mention later.
it does have a fully equipped fx loop with thru, parralell and bypass modes s options. with the parralell mode there is an fx mix knob (which is a godsend.)there is no headphone jack, but then you dont buy a head and quad to use it with headphones, that would be silly now wouldnt it?
the head also has a resonance switch with tailors the head to certain cabs, in the case of mine, the switch in the on position offers more bass response. If you use distortion full time then this could be the amp of your dreams, but there is not enought headroom in the clean channel which means if you turn it up, even with the gain on zero, you will get some power amp distortion, but hey this is an all tube amp, and thats why i love it.
if it had an extra channel i.e. clean/lead then it would be perfect.

i use mostly a crappy korean humbucker in a washburn bt4 (the stock humbucker died and the guitar tech replaced it with crap.)
i hope to be upgrading to a les paul soon, and im sure i'll sound better with an lp anyway!
firstly: turn it up!!! it doesnt sound good until its at about 2.5 on the master volume, but once you hit that spot it is very warm, also its very fuzzy at lower volumes because your hearing all preamp, turn it up and you get a much fuller range of sounds and the nasty top end dissapears. on its own you can hear all of the imperfections in the tone (not that there are many) but jam with a drummer or play in a room full of people and your sound gets transformed into rock heaven. At higher gain you need other frequencies such as cymbals and room noise to block out the harsh frequencies, but once you do that you will be in heaven. the distortion can get as heavy as u like but it does get heaps of top end if you turn both gain knobs up too far.
i have the bass on full the treble on 2-3 and muck about with the mids and presence to mould your sound. gain is also a personal thing however the bigger the gain difference between the two modes the bigger the volume difference. if you have a very clean sound and a very distorted sound dialled in the volume difference between the two can be too much. i am currently looking for a pedal type tube preamp to use with it, because the volume difference is too much and unavoidable. the amp is quite limited but if you like what it does you will love it.

in the shop one of the power tubes was making a noise so they sent it away to be fixed, i think i might need some new tubes soon anyway, but otherwise there is not much to break, tho it is a tube head so be careful with it. would you drop a light globe?

havent dealt with laney, just through music city sydney. they use a crap freighting company so dont expect your goods in the same week but otherwise the customer service is great. all of my main musical purchases have been from there and it takes me 2 hours travel to get there!

overall i would give it an 8, its a great amp, somewhat limited but has all the characteristics of great tube tone.
i have a question for reviewers though: i have a boss metal zone pedal and i think it sucks. i want to find a tube preamp or some sort of distortion pedal that sounds like my amp. what do you reccomend???
basically what is the closest sounding pedal to the dirty sound of this amp?????
if you dont own one: buy it, you will be happy.

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)............

THIS AMP IS A 1995MODEL I JUST RECENTLY SOLD IT FOR 35O DOLLARS BUT IS A KILLER AMP FOR THE HARD HEAVY ROCK WE ALL KNOW AND LOVE. IUSED TA GIT BITCHED AT BY MY BAND MATES CAUSE IT WAS TOO LOUD.I PLAYED IT THROUGH A SLANT 2 12 W/VINTAGE 30s IT HAS PURPLE TOLEX COVERING I NAMED THE CABINET ''BRUCE'' FOR OBVIOUS REASONS. I TURNED THE CAB AROUND SHOVED AN SM 57 ON BRUCES BOTTOM SPEAKER AND THIS AMP WAILED!!!

I USE A GIBSON LES PAUL JUNIOR LITE W/P100 PICKUPS, A 91 LES PAUL STANDARDWITH DUNCAN CUSTOM IN THE BRIDGE ANDE A 59 ON THE NECK A 1990 GIBSON FIREBIRD REISSUE,AND A 93 IBANZ RT 450 WITH A DIMARZIO TONE ZONE ON THE BRIDGE A CARVIN AP11 SINGLE IN THE MIDDLE AND A SCHALLER GOLDEN 50 IN THE NECK WHEW!! THEY ALL SMOKED THROUGH THIS AMP ESPICALLY THE FIREBIRE AND THE LES PAUL JUNIOR THOSE P100 PICKUPS REALLY BARK THROUGH THIS AMP I PLAY BLUES CLASSIC ROCK WHAT EVER I CAN GET MYSELF INTO. IM 45 I BEEN PLAYIN ELECTRIC SINCE 1968. IT GETS NOISY WHEN THE OD CHANNEL IS ON, BUT I USED A BOSS OD3 OVERDRIVE TO GET MY SOUND.I PUT SVETLANA EL34S AND 12AX 7 GE NOS PREAMPS , ALL I CAN SAY IS LISTEN TO HUMBLE PIE LIVE AT THE FILLMORE OR AC/DC AND YOULL GET MY DRIFT ON HOW THAT SETUP SOUNDED!!

I USED IT MANY TIMES W/O A BACKUP JUST BROUGHT SPARE TUBES NEVER BLEW A TUBE OA FUSE BUT I TOOK CARE OF IT IT WAS MY BABY!!

I BEEN PLAYING FOR 35 YEARS IREALLY DID NOT WANT TO SELL THAT AMP BUT I SOLD THE GH50L AND A LINE 6 FLEXTONE XL AND IM WAITING ON A NEW MESA BOOGIE 50 WATT RECTOVERB I STILL HAVE A LINE 6 FLEXTONE PLUS THATS PRETTY VERSATILE.I TELL YA THAT LANY WAS SOLD IN 2 DAYS!!RVVERB WOULD HAVE BEEN NICE BUT MAN IF YOU ARE A YOUNG METAL DUDE THE LANEY IS THE AMP FOR YA! BE SURE TA WARN THE NEIGHBORS!!!