Laney HC50R Hard Core

clean and overdrive channels, reverb, effects loop. it's pretty loud for a 50 watt, but not quit enough punch to cut through drums.

i play an ibanez sa160 with emg81 and 2 emg SAs. i play mainly deathmetal. gets very noisy (Squeels) at high volumes. i thought it was loud untill i jammed with it. not loud enough. clean channel is pretty good. distortion is weak, not hardcore at all. it'll do if you want to play blink 182 or other girly music, but if you want real overdrive, look elsewhere or get a peddle. i don't like it's tone either.. if you want a scooped, all-out destruction sound, it don't cut it. i blew the speaker with volume around 8 on crunch channel, so be careful.

besides the speaker blowing, it's fine. i thought it could handle 8 volume, but i guess not.

never talked to em

good cheap amp, but the last amp i bought a crate mx120r, blows this little combo out of the water, for only 100 bucks more. it's a good amp for not very advanced players who aren't picky about distortion or tone, and who don't need ear crunching volume.

I bought this amp in january 2001 and have loved it ever since. Even though its solid state it still cranks and is extremely loud for 50 watts. It has 2 channels and reverb with a line out and an effets loop.I use this amp for band rehearsals and just to crank it up on my freinds farm. It easily has enough power for me, but if i wanted stereo sound i might hook it up to a quad box not that it would need it

I use a crappy old yamaha through a cry baby then into the amp. I had a danelectro distortion pedal but after buying this amp i pawned it due to this amps great distortion whick i controll with a foot switch. I play all kinds of music from korn to ben harper and this amp suites them all. Basically i can play anything through this!!!
When i was choosing this amp i made sure the clean channel was never distorted and it wasn't (unlike a much more expensive marshall)
I can change the distortion from metal to punk and even just a really light distortion all by turning the crunch factor down

I would trust my life on this amp, its built like a tank and ive taken it to gigs and the thought of it *&%^ing up never crossed my mind

I"ve never had any problems with this amp but my friend bought the 25 watt version of this amp and he blew the speaker but laney replaced it free of charge.

Ive been playing for 6 years and watched my dad playing gigs for years so i have a fair idea about what good and whats shit this is certainly not shit If it were stolen or lost id call the fbi to find it and beat the theifs head in with a stick. I like my amp more than my girlfriend and think everyone should own one. While choosing to buy amp i had the choice between it, a peavey studio pro, and a marshall. The marshall had sick distortion but the clean channel would distort at about half way- it just plained sucked. The peavey had a nice clean sound but the peaveys distortion was crap. Then i played this beast- the clean channel was loud but crisp and clean and the distortion was as compressed as a marshall that why this laneys in my living room and a marshall isnt.
Just a last message if your looking for a new amp BUy ONE OF THESE THEY ARE AWESOME

I bought the amp in December of 1998. It has a very versatile sound, despite the name "HardCore". I have found good blues, metal, punk and clean tones from the solid state. It has two channels with EQ's for each. It has remote channel switching capabilities, but I never got the pedal to do so. I wish it came with the amp, it would be very useful. It has and effect loop, a headphone jack, and an extension jack. I primarily use this amp for just playing in my bedroom, but it can hold it's own with a full band setup (drums, bass and vocals).

I use and ibanez gax70 with two humbuckers. I play all sorts of music, but primarily rock, metal and punk.Like I've said before, the amp has no problem with any sounds. I have never found noise until around 9 out of 10 in the volume range, on the distortion, or around 7-8 on the clean channels. the distortion can go from a sllight overdrive to almost all out rage.

I would definitly use it for a gig, the amp is very durable to hold up in an on-stage environment. I have blown the speaker, however. I'm not sure why, because it happened at a very low volume while playing all alone in my room, at about 1 and a half. Very confusing. Other than that, I have had no problems.

I have not dealt with the company because the amp was over warranty when the speaker blew. I could make the repair myself installing a 90 watt pyle driver.

I've been playing for four years, and this is one of the best things I have bought for my rig. I have an old CMI "mustang" imitation, bought it for 25 bucks at a garage sale, a decent first electric, but very noisy, as all cheapo guitars are. I also had a digitech rp5, til I jumped on it real hard. I love the sound and size of the amp. I did try some other amps, some tube amps but I really liked the Laney.

HC50R Its a really good amp for the dolla. I got it for 230 dollars. For fifty watts of power it plays loud and I have no problem chasing down my other guitarists Marshal. It has two channels from clean to to a decent distortion. I think the distortion could be smoother but I don't use the gain so high cause it gets too noisy. I don't think it should be advertised as hard core. It seems somewhat misleading to any one who plays metal. We play metal but I like it for my unique sound. I hook it up to a Marshal cab and it sounds good. Its a good budget amp.

I use a LesPaul with 490 and 498 pickups, A Floyd Strat with dual Dh1 humbuckers, and a Destroyer with a single distortion pick up. It can get noisy with the Strat on the gain channel, but it handles athe other two very well. The Strat sound great on clean. It is very rock-n-roll and heavy sounding enough for me. The distortion isn't too brutal There for I have to play it brutal.

Has never failed at all. And in some cases I always works better than the house amps at my bar.

Never needed any. Iguess if it failes I'll probably go for a bigger Laney VH100R

I've been playin for fifteen years and have gone through a few guitars and three amps. Dollar for dollar this is the best amp. But if I had to replace it I would go bigger and better, but still a Laney

I play every style of music under the sun. When I decided to go from a practice amp to a larger 'gigable' amp I chose this one primarly because of its cost. I paid like $250ish for it and I'll tell you its pros and cons.

Pros:
- Its cheap
- It can get pretty loud (50watts) and cuts right through the drums so you can be heard.
- It has a good clean channel

Cons:
-It has lousy distortion (I use an effects processor so I only use the clean channel)
-It squeals when it gets loud
-It looks dumb when your bass player has a half stack

I have a Roland ready strat and a Gibson Les Paul Standard and to tell you the truth that dumb 2 input thing makes no difference. It has really lousy reverb. And the overall sound is created by my processor not the amp. If your like 15 and want an amp that you can gig with in your high school band save your parents money and buy this amp. If you are over 17 and can play F#maj7 in more then 2 positions then this amp is not worth your time. My friend just bought a Marshall for $100 bucks more then this and I would go with that if I wasn't poor when I bought this.

Its built like a tank and it sounds like one too.

Hell if it breaks I'll throw it away. I don't want it fixed.

Like I said if you want to play barre chords and jump around to impress cheerleaders then this is fine. If you are experienced and want a cheap combo look more because this thing is not for you. Trust me if you are in high school. Don't flatter yourself and buy a halfstack to play covers. That pisses me off when I see little kids with better equipment than me and they play Nirvana covers that sound like a dying cow. If you want to know about this amp or have Q's about your situation I'd be happy to answer them.
Now I upgraded to a Laney Halfstack with the sweet TF800 head and that is a great amp. (But not for kids)

It's a 50W solid state amp. I have had mine for about a year now. My previous amp was a Crate GX-15, so obviously I like this one better. I think it looks extremely cool, with the black metal grill protecting the big speaker. It seems to be very sturdy(and heavy!). It has two channels, clean and dirty. There is a built-in spring reverb. There are input options for a footswitch, headphones and lo/high inputs for guitar. There are effect loop input/outputs in the back. There is also an output for an external speaker. I think it's enough features for its price.

I have a Les Paul with Seymour Duncans pickups('59 and duncan distortion). I play anything to rock to alternative and even some blues. For the price I paid, and I bought it new, I must say it is an honest amp. It is EXTREMELY loud, so I believe it could be used by professional musicians who need to gig a lot and need cheap and reliable amps. The distortion is extremely weak, and I believe this is the main problem with this amp. I never use the distorted channel, since it is very, very weak. It sounds horrible. It doesn't come anywhere near a Marshall or a Mesa or anything nice, even solid state. The clean channel is great. It is clear and loud and it responds nicely when you change the equalizer settings. Actually, I don't care to the distorted channel because I have like three or four distortion stomp boxes, and they really satisfy me. This amp is not noisy at all. If you don't mind using stomp boxes for distortion, instead of the amp dirty channel, I believe this amp is a great choice for a beginner guitarrist ( 1 to 2 years ), or for a musician on a budget who needs to play gigs for a living and need a simple to use, honest sounding and cheap amp.
Again, the distorted channel is not anywhere near "hardcore", as it is adverstised. But as long as you have a multi-effects or some stomp boxes, I believe this amp can serve you well until you can afford a "super" amp.

I believe it is very reliable. Unfortunately, my reverb stopped working, but I guess it is my fault. The day I bought the amp, I just put a cable from my stereo in the guitar hi input, and with the volume around 5, just hit the play button on my stereo to listen to "One big rush" by Satch... :) Man, what a stupid person I am. Not only it was so loud that my ears almost exploded, but several neighboors came complaining and then the reverb was gone... :( This is punishment for a stupid guitar player, I think. Yet, even after the incident the amp has been working flawless for a year, no noise or buzz or radio stations. It is a sturdy and reliable amp. An amp to be used and taken to gigs. Not like a boutique amp you never take outside your room.

Never dealt with them

I hope to buy a better amp in the future. However, for its price, this amp is lots of fun. YOu can gig with your friends, since it is loud and sturdy. The clean channel is very good and it will accept all kinds of effects and distortion boxes. As I said before, if you think an amp distorted channel is very important, go shop anywhere else. But I bet you won't get anything near this price. As long as you have some distortion boxes, this is an amp you can play loud and take to gigs and abuse because it is very realiable and sturdy. But it is a solid state amp and it sounds like it. If you want valve like tones or anything high end, start saving your money because it will cost you a lot more. This amp is fairly priced and it can give lots of fun, as long as you accept the limitation of the distorted channel.
I have a Marshall JH-1 Jackhammer pedal, Boss OD-3 overdrive and Tube Works Real Tube with a real valve, so I really don't miss the distorted channel.

Two channels, clean and "crunch" footswitchable, hi and lo inputs, fx loop, headphone input, external speaker output. Quite a few features for such a chep amp.

I use a LTD Explorer with an EMG-81 in the bridge position. Good clean sounds. Distortion is OK, but not bad at all. It sounds thin and too solid-state(Because thats what it is). You can get a mix of the Puppets and Ride the Lightning tone with gain, bass and treble at full, and mids at zero. Kind of noisy, but again not bad for the price. This thing can get LOUD! I dont think i've ever had the volume past 5. Good for a band setting.

I've had it for 2 years now and it still works as good as new. Dependable, in my opinion.

I've heard better amps, but like I've said before it's a lot of amp for a really good price. Great if you're on a tight budget and need a cheap loud amp. I don't really use the distortion anymore, because i use my Boogie v-twin(which ROCKS by the way). I also have a Boss-NS2, OD-3,GE-7and Korg Px3(also extremely cool). With the Boss EQ and clean channels both scooped you can get a REALLY good clean sound!Wish the distortion was more tube-like and versatile, but still good.

THIS IS AN ADDENDUM TO MY PREVIOUS REVIEW///
I just ran a head to head test of my HC50 between my Epiphone Les Paul and my Harmony H80T stratoclonester, and I realized that my previous reaming of this amp's sound was a bit skewed by the fact that I've been using my LP on this amp a lot recently. The strat sounded worlds different, and BETTER, than the Paul?a much more even, brighter tone than I remember, somehow, while the Paul in fact still sounded whiny and unpleasant. This leads me to believe that it's a problem with the guitar/pickups, not the amp. So keeping that in mind I'm going to raise the amp's sound quality rating a bit, since I know it's capable of better than I gave it credit for...please disregard the previous. I hope this backpedaling doesn't make me look like a total doynus :-P

Still not a perfect amp, but not as wretched as my stupid Paul led me to believe. (Maybe the weather has something to do with it?) The lesson learned here is to TRY a couple of different guitars on an amp before condemning it to Wormsville! I'd still rather have a Twin Reverb, tho.

Two channels: clean and dirty, switchable. Each channel has three EQ controls; I usually leave the midrange full-off, but sometimes I'll turn the bass down for a vintage surf-type tone. There is a decent spring reverb in this unit. Nothing really fancy in the features department, but has everything you NEED.

Okay, I have to say right off that I'm NOT impressed with the sound of the HC50. I'm the kind of guitarist who likes to experiment in his home studio with a wide variety of sounds (alternarock, jazz, hard rock), so I would like my amp to be capable of producing a good clean sound which I can then modify to suit. I don't just mean a clean CLEAN sound, but good fidelity whether clean or dirty channel is used. Not here, IMO. There seems to be way too much midrange on both channels for my taste, even with the mid control completely down as I use it. It has this hollow, nasally whine that I really don't like, and it's even worse when the reverb is on. I think the dirty channel produces a mighty muddy distortion, which is fine I guess if you're playing live, but since I play basically in my home studio, it's not so great; I use a variety of pedals instead, mostly my Boss orange box and my DOD Classic Fuzz. I use two guitars, an Epiphone LP Limited Edition and a Harmony H80T strat copy (amazingly, for the amp's dirty channel the Harmony actually sounds better!) Perhaps I shouldn't expect such high fidelity from a guitar amp, but this is the only serious amp I've owned...the other amps in the muzik shops always seems to sound so much better :-P ALso, the clean channel is very disappointing at high volume?it breaks up into muddy distortion as well! The one positive thing I have for the Laney is that it is in fact a LOUD amp. Maybe it's a bad matchup: a studio-bound twiddler with a macho stage amp...

Never had a problem with it.

Wouldn't know...

I've been steadily developing my playing for 15 years and until only recently I never owned a decent amp, until I bought my HC50. I must say I was considering others, primarily a Fender Princeton, but the price of the Laney couldn't be beat. It sucks that with all the power the HC50 has (as noted by others, it can be VERY LOUD for a 50W amp) it has such severe limitations in tone/sound quality. I would probably save up a few extra weeks and find a good Fender or Crate amp if I had to do it all over again.

This amp is a well built 1x12 s.s combo. I only really got it because it was available at such a cheap price. I like to play easy listening and death metal. Not so good for the metal, but overall the amp. is farily loud. Has a footswitch but no effects loop.

Right, well this amp has been marketed primarily as a high gain amp. It would certainly be fine for certain types of music you would expect to use distortion i.e. punk, however this gain is perhaps where the main problem with the amp lies: It is terrible for lead playing. You can forget such luxuries as two handed tapping etc... As a result I use a DOD FX86 Death Metal pedal instead of the distortion which works far better. So basically leave the distortion alone. On the brighter side though I was extremely impressed with the clean channel. It responded suprisingly well to my Jackson Stealth, producing some quite convincing jazz and blues tones. The reverb is pretty good too and acts to really add to the sound. Overall I would say this is a versatile amp, suitable for most styles off music save for the fairly pathetic lead tones. I really couldn't give it a high mark as I've played on so many superior amps.

As it is a Laney solid-state amp. then you can safely bet that it isn't going to explode without warning. No problems so far.

As I've never had any problems, I've never really had to deal with Laney so I suppose in terms of customer support this is n/a.

A suprisingly versatile amp. considering its so called 'High-gain' status. Good if you want to sound like B.B King or Green Day. Bad, very bad, if you want to sound like VanHalen. You probably should get a distortion pedal to supplement the 'crunch'. However if you don't mind purchasing some real distortion then the amp is very reliable and responsive. For the money it was great, but I wouldn't spend too much on it.