Laney HCM120R

Clean and distroted channel, each with standard low mid high EQs. Also has a Noise gate switch and a distortion channel. Has a foot switch port which can be used either to turn distortion on and off or to boost the lead... a very handy feature indeed that mst amps should have. This amp basically has all you need to get started without overdoing it on the effects. Also it has a metal mesh as apposed to a fabric one.

Clean channel is amazing. Can get some glorious tones, and using my Jackson with a dimebucker in the bridge through an MT2 just sounds mighty as hell. I can't say much for the distortion on this amp though. To me, it's a little too muddy, and I've had issues with feedback when playing loud. It is however a pretty good tone for playing really hard bluesy lead solos and if your guitar has the right set up, a bit of bach rock on the neck pickup seems a little too much like Yngwie's tone... maybe that's just me. but basically, crystal clear gutsy clean channel! With a pedal it's a beast.

I do use it at gigs with out back up, but that's only really because I don't have nay money or another amp. The volume and mid knobs keep crackeling when I move them, I think they just need a good dusting. Also, it has developed a rattle... that said, it's been fine for 5 years of brutality. I have taken this amp so loud you would not believe, and it bounces back every time.

I have not dealt with the company at any point. Haven't really needed to.

I've been playing guitar pretty much all my life. I am serious about metal and jazz and am generally pretty pretentious and a little bit of a tone freak. Since buying this amp I've recieved nothing but praise for my guitar sound. I use a BOSS MT2 and my guitar as previously stated has a SD Dimebucker in the bridge. even before I upgraded the amp was growling out tones that would make most men cower. I highly recommend this amp, although I think it's a rare gem and not easy to get ahold of.

1999. 120 watts. 2 x 12 HH speakers. 2 switchable channels, as well as a switchable reverb. Seperate 3 band eq on each channel. Effects loop, headphone jack, two speaker connections, line out. The overdrive channel has, in addition to gain, volume and eq, an effective noise gate and a 'max' button, which scoops the mid range a bit, and boost the lows/highs. The amp also has a switchable volume boost, which can be useful to boost the amp a bit for lead parts.

If you've read all the previous reviews, you'll know that this an excellent amp for metal and hardcore.

I don't play these styles. I am into more of a vintage or hard rock sound...nothing particularly 'brutal'. I think the amp does a great job for these styles. I generally keep the distortion around half, and this gives a smooth, defined overdrive. Cranking it up will certainly deliver a hardcore sound, but that's not what I'm after. The max button is useful as well...have it out for a more raw sound, or in for a more modern sound.

What I'd like to know is why a lot of the other reviewers have panned the clean channel? I think the clean sounds GREAT, probably more so than the overdrive. The amp is solid-state, so its not going to have the character of a tube amp, but in my opinion, it sounds close to the holy grail of clean amps (the Roland Jazz Chorus). It will never break-up, and it provides an excellent platform for using effects pedals.

The reverb is good....it can get very deep if you turn it right up, and there's not too much excess 'splash'.

No repairs have been needed since I bought the amp about 5 years ago. The reviewer below obviously got unlucky and bought a faulty amp...he should have just taken it back to the store to get a new one.

I've been playing for about 9 years. I've owned a few tube amps before, but was sick of the maintanence costs, as well as the inconsistency with their tone. If I could change anything about it, it would be the name...'Hardcore Max' doesn't really describe the versatile amp that it is.

Not too sure when it was made? When i first heard the amp i was impressed, it suits my styles perfectly. I play mainly Punk music (eg. Rancid, NOFX, GBH, ATR, The Exploited) But i also play Heavy ass metal music and this amp is great for that. It's not a subtle amp and the clean is not the best, the reverb sucks tho (i hate reverb anyways). The Features are great for the cash, 2 x 120w RMS, It has effects loop, Headphones, and a nifty little lead boost. Without trying to sound too clique it does excactly what is says on the tin. HARDCORE MAX.

Can't really comment on this as it died on me.

I wanna put 0 on this matter. First I got it, it worked for 15 mins then Blew up. never ven got it past2 on the dial. Sent it back and didn't even plug it in and it did the same fucking thing. I've got a shitty little practise Westfield 1ow amp, that has Taken a hell of a lot in it's 8 year life and it's a millions more times reliable than the Laney.

Dunno how long the warrany was for, sent it back to Laney when it died, but they either sent me another duff one or the same one back again.

I've been playing just over 3 years now and have never come across such an unreliable amp. If it was stolen or lost i'd just laugh cuz the fukka is broken anyways. There's one thing i'd love for it to do....WORK.

Same features, but now i use the distor channel....

This amp is still amazing me, i use a ESP LTD MV-200 ---> MT-2 ---->
GE-7 (Bass equalizer, it has a more wider range of frequencies) that directly to my amp.. it really wipes the floor, but the clean channel really SUCKS!, unless u get a good chorus pedal

HELL YEA!!!! RELAIABILITY = LANEY!!!

whooooooooooooooa!! talk about features, 2 channels, clean and distor, FX loop, LEAD BOOST (Thank u LANEY!!!!), 2 foot switch jacks, 2 HH 12' speakers that pack a punch of 120 watts!!!! that's power!!!
this amp has to pass the live gig test, but so far so good.

talk about sound!!!!!, i am usin a special edition squier with a DiMarzio Tone Zone on the bridge, a boss mt-2 and my 'ol trusty digitech RP-7, and BANG!!! u can hear the devil him self screamin!!!!! hahaha, usually i don't use the distor channel, cus it's to middy for me... and the lead button, that lil thingy makes your sound very neat, u can get every sound u want..I play In flames, Metallica, Cradle, Iron, and some 80's metal.

very reliable, I would use it on a live gig, no back up.... i have kicked it some times really hard, and it still sounds great!!!, the only thing i can say is that, the on board reverb sucks!!!!!!

never dealt with them

i have been playin with it for 1 year.

If this amp was stolen.. i would buy another one instantly.

Great amp for a LOW price

The amp is 2000 (i think), 120 watts, a very nice distortion, effects loop, headphones, footswitchable channels, the reverb sucks ,its the only thing that this amp is bad for, but the distortion rocks so i defenitively would buy this amp again. I give an 8 because the reverb sucks.

Oh my GOD!!!!!!!!!!! this amp is the sweetess thing that you could get for this price, but be sure that you want a heavy distortion because if you dont want distortion then you should get an amp with good reverb an chorus. This babe rocks, its suits my music style perfectly because you can get pretty versatile distortions from it. I play mostly rock, alternative rock, punk, and metal. I like the max button you can get very good tones from Metallica's heavy distortion to a nice and clean sound from Claptons riffs.

It looks pretty tough you can kick it several times before you do some damage to it. One of the cables of the speakers was loose but i fixed very quick. This amp is perfect for gigs

I havent dealt with Laney. But i got 2 year warranty

I have been playing for 5 years and i was looking for an amp that could hold up gigs, and this is the one. I play Guns n Roses, Metallica, Offspring, Green day, Led Zeppelin, Silverchair, Pearl Jam and Kiss , with this amp you can get very good tones for all that kind of music.
IT definitly rocks.

I think the amp is 1999 but I'm not sure. The amp has excellent distorion, very heavy, it sounds awesome especially with the max button pushed in. The amp has headphones an effects loop and footswitchable channels. I also find the reverb to be very weak and almost unnoticable but besides that it sounds great. I basically use this amp at band practice an its 120W is fine.

I have a B.C. Rich Bich with a gibson Tony Iommi signature pickup installed in the bridge position. I like a heavy sound (along the lines of white zombie) as well as a dark bluesy tone like Danzig. The amp is very heavy, if your not looking for a really heavy distortion Don't buy this amp, it is killer. I hardly ever use the clean channel but it sounds fine to me. The only major problem is the lack of reverb, mabey I'll get mine checked out. Before I bought this I purchased a Marshall (Park) G80RCD which I had replaced 4 times (seriously) they sound fine but thier quality sucks, as well as a fender roc pro 1000 (which had crappy distortion for my style) it also broke down and I was glad to return it.

Sounds great and looks tough, the only problem being the reverb. I can't really give an accurate analysis in this catagory because I've only owed it for a week.

havn't dealt with laney but I have a 2 year warenty

I love the sound of this amp and the main reason I bought it was because of the price and because it suits my style perfectly. If your looking for an amp with a heavy distortion this is a great buy.

I love this amp, it suits my styles perfectly. I play mainly death metal. This amp is loud enough for me, and I like it loud so it's pretty loud. My reverb works fine, theres an effects loop in the back, headphone jack, a lead boost, a noise gate, on board max boost, and a footswitch. This thing rules

This amp kicks out the lows like a beast, But I use a BBE Sonic Maximizer, a Seymour Duncan Invader, and a DOD Death Metal to help produce the extra low end the amp doesn't produce alone. The Sounds I can put out are pretty versitile, the clean sounds great especially with some reverb. The amp holds my sound together very well. It's not noisy at all.

This amp is a beast I could probably drop it off my roof then contine playing it, it's never broken down, and I got a three year warranty on this thing.

I haven't had to deal with them.

If it were stolen I would buy a new one, because I love the sound and it isn't incredibly expensive.

Lots of effects channels including a lead selector, max power boost which beatufully drops the tone to a low driving sound, absolutely gorgeous. Solid build quality, can take a few knocks and be absolutely fine. Not outstanding looks, but what it lacks in looks it makes up in tone and sound. An excellent amp for not alot of money.

The clean sound is nice and mellow at all levels, but the overdrive gets very harsh over about 3/4 the way round. The variety of sounds means you can with the switch of a button go from harsh thrash to some nice clean sounding soft rock.

Since buying the amp, I have experienced no problems, it has been a dream. I have played alot of amps and I would never have to have a standby because of the quality of the amp it would take something extremely drastic for this one to let me down.

When I bought the amp from the mail-order company they didn't even send me a receipt and the info given was just to contact the manufacturers if anything went wrong.

An absolute peach, the max button is fantastic. Could have had better looks and the overdrive could have been a little less harsh at the top levels, but after all what can you expect for such a cheap price, a definite winner in my book.

120 watt solid-state combo, foot switchable distortion and lead boost, noise gate, a very unresponsive reverb (in fact I'm not even sure if it works), and a cool "max" button, that scoops the mids and boosts the bass a bit. Plus all the standard stuff. No effects loop.

I'm using a stock Epi SG with the amp. Without the noise gate on, the amp is slightly noisy, but just hit the button to fix that problem. The clean sound of this amp is pretty standard, but I've been putting a Boss GE-7 EQ in front of it to shape the clean sound to my liking. The distortion is where it really shines. Pump the bass and the distortion up and you have Smashing Pumpkins "Mayonaise" tone. Back off the distortion and there a bit of blues tone in there as well. It almost gets the Metallica tone after tweaking, but not quite. It completely wipes the floor with my old Metalzone. Don't buy this amp if you are just using it for clean sounds. If looking for a smooth, heavy distortion, buy the amp. Clean- 7 Distortion-9

I bought it very recently, so no problems yet. The speakers at the back are not protected by a grating or anything, so that could cause a bit of trouble. Also, as I said above, the reverb is either extremely unresponsive or doesn't work at all...I'm gonna take it into the store and let them have a look at it.

Warrenty for a year. That's all.

The price was originally $999NZ on the amp, I managed to coax the salesperson into giving me 2 footswitches, a pack of strings and the amp for $962. This is my second amp, taking the place of a 10 watt Samick amp. I compared the amp to a Marshall VS265R and a valve Peavy amp. The clean was better on the Marshall, but the distortion on the Laney smoked the Marshall. The sound of the Peavy was very vintage, and not really what I was looking for. It would be nice if the amp had chorus. To summarise the entire review...if you want cool distortion buy this amp.