Laney HC50R Hard Core

This is a relatively new, budget solid state amp. I t has basic eq for clean and "crunch". However, it unforunately has NO GAIN! This is it's biggest failing but I'll elaborate later. Features compared to most amps are very basic indeed. It doesn't even allow you to disconnect the preamp from the speaker/amp like other better Laney models but Hey, it's a low priced amp aimed at the new guitarist!

I'm using an Ibanez RG with a lot of Rocktron, Boss etc fx and a Big Muff For distorsion. The amp distorsion is ok. It's no where near as powerful and heavy as other people here have said. Clean is good though, bright and crisp. Here's the BIG problem however. You cannot really assess an amp in your won home. It need to go into a band situation to really test it. I found that my friend mere 30W Laney GC-30 was far superior in sound becuase it has a gain. It didn;t go as loud but the fatness of the sound allows for a really great sound that was more easily audible than my 50W amp! ANY distosion sound is far to thin on the HC50, it desperately needs gain. I want to sell this amp now because of this.. it's a shame I'm really gutted but quality has been sacrificed at the sake of cost. Another thing is the 12" speaker! That's insane for an amp of 50W! The amp isn;t powerful enough to really drive a speaker of that magnitude so you would expect some gain but there is no gain control! For a Laney this amp has poor sound.

Never broken so I guess that's a ten. Built like a tank too.

One year warrantly

I've been playing three year and am in a rapcore band. If it were lost I would be pissed off but only because I've got no money to get a better or new one at the moment. I like the great clean tone. I HATE the fact that the speaker to too large and there is no gain. Don;t get me wrong, LANEY amps are fantastic but don't do what I did and get this because you thought you were getting a lot of wattage per ound/dollar. Laney are wrong to market this as a rock amp, it's far too weak for that. It would be good for blues pplayers but if you have money get a much better model woth more features. POOR for a Laney.

I find that this amp is really geared towards high gain sounds which it does well enough.Better witha cab though

Noisy and hisses alot but the distortion is good when with bass and drums.I play a hamer through it

Never let me down but it pisses me off when one day it sounds great and the next crap

Never needed to.......

Good little amp for the money as im a student(short on cash) its my gigging and practice amp

Good solid state amp... cheap (only $250) from AMS or Musician's Friend (i don't remember which). It's a GREAT amp, i love the clean and distorted channels. I haven't used the effects loop because i run my guitar through some pedals and then into the amp. I play in my room AND with my band. i have never turned it up over 5, it's plenty loud! i don't have a footswitch,but if i got one of those, i wouldn't even need a distortion pedal (although it is fun tweaking with all my pedals)

Very versatile distortion!!! It kicks! I play alternative/rock and it works great for that. I use a Les Paul copy (Ibanez, 1977) with Gibson pickups. I don't like the low end sounds, but that problem is my guitar... I NEVER use the bridge pickup. The distortion is great because you can adjust it all the way from mellow to HOWLING. good for any style.

I've had it a year, and i hasn't broken. I don't think it will. I've screwed up my fair share of guitars, but even I couldn't break this amp! Go buy one tomorrow!

never have... probably never will

almost 4 years playing... not that long, but by now i know what i want. if it got stolen, i'd buy another one within an hour!!! overall great amp! and the only thing i will hapilly play for under $700!!! :)

Two channels, clean and crunch. Seperate 3-band EQ for each channel (Low, Mid, High). Effects loop, speaker out, headphone jack, footswitch jack (no footswitch included, I paid $25 for a 2-button Laney Footswitch with it. That controls channel switching and reverb). There is one control for reverb, that is it..all solid state, 1 12" H & H british made speaker. Metal grille plate. Good features for the price, I think it could use a built in chorus, but I'm not picky.

I use it with a variety of metal axes to play METAL. I use Jackson, ESP style, and Ibanez. It haS A GREAT clean tone, for a little 50-watt solid state thing. Nice dynamics. The crunch channel has tons of distortion, but it is pretty fuzzy after a while. I use a boss metal zone with it to get more punch and less fuzz.. I also use it with a crybaby, danelectro chorus, and boss flanger. I like it with my pedals.

It has proven itself to be okay, but I've only had it for two weeks.. so I'm not gonna comment.

I didn't get a power cord with the damn thing, so I called and got one in THREE days. Very cool. Never had other experiences.

I compared to some crates, marshalls, and peaveys, and this had the best clean tone. I didn't judge the distortion that much in the store because I knew I could make it wail with my metal zone and guitars.. I really like it. I got it to replace a stolen Peavey Bandit. I also own a Marshall Super Lead, a Mesa/Boogie Triaxis rack system, and a Crate BLue Voodoo, and a fender twin. I like this for practicing. It won't get you great tube distortions and sparkling, complex tones, but for the price it beats any other practice amp!

As far as features go, the Hard Core has two inputs, hi and lo, but only one can be used at once. Two channels, Clean and Crunch, foot switchable. There is a Clean Volume knob, and Treble, Mid, and Bass knobs for the clean channel. For the Crunch channel, there is a master volume, a knob labelled "Crunch Factor" which adjusts the amount of distortion without changing the volume. There are also Treble, Mid and Bass knobs for the Crunch channel.
Other features are reverb (which is also foot switchable), effects loop, a headphone jack, and a speaker out, which is damned useful, meaning you can plug it straight into a quadbox if the need arises! :)

Before I review the sound, I've got to say that I don't really know enough about good guitar sound to be a fantastic judge, but i'll try!
First of all, this amp is LOUD! It seems louder than your avwerage 50 watter to me. The loudest ive put it so far is 5, and that was easily loud enough for a small gig. I play mainly metal/rock, Metallica, AC/DC, Megadeth, and a bit of blues (Clapton). My guitar is an '87 Fender Jap Strat with Duncan Actives replacing the stocks. With this amp I can get a very nice Angus-y type distortion by putting the crucnch just below 7, the bass about half way, very little midrange, and treble at full. A classic Metallica (Puppets, Ride the Lightning) sound can be achieved by midrange at 0, bass at about 3 and treble at full. You can any range of disrtorted sounds from this amp, whether it be a Dave Gilmour clean type sound, that just distorts if you play it hard, to full on death metal grind. The clean sound is clean, surprisingly enough, although sounds very bassy to my ears. I was trying to get a clean Hetfield type sound, like on the front of "One" or "Welcome Home", but couldn't get it trebly enough even with the bridge pickup selected and the treble turned to full, and bass and mid at zero. This "bassiness" is true of the distortion too.
I can't really say how the sounds are at high volumes simply because I haven't cranked it yet due to fear of being kicked out of the house ;) Although the crunch channel is fairly hissy, moreso when the crunch is cranked.

Having only had it a week I can't really say, but being solid state there shouldn't be too many problems. It has a three year warranty, and one year on the speaker, so that should be some testament to its reliability. laney make pretty solid amps. My school's amp is Laney, and its been to hell and back, and still works fine.

Doesn't apply so far, and I'm expecting it to stay that way :) 3 year warranty, 1 year for the speaker

This is a fantastic amp as far as price and quality goes ($560 is cheap for Australia, we get ripped off :( ) I like the distortion, I like the clean sound. I compared it to a Crate GX65, it won hands down, and my retailer told me that the whole batch of 65's blew up, due to Perth's fluctuating electricity levels or something. Didn't happen anywhere else in Australia, so they weren't carrying them anymore anyway.