Laney L20H

Made in England in 2007

I bought it plus the matching 2x12 cab for 550, reduced from 900

All valve 20 watt parallel single-ended class A amp.

2 Channels sharing a common EQ, with a master volume for each channel and a gain control for the drive channel.

Hi and Lo inputs

Tone control that works on the power amp section, which is extremely useful for tuning the amp to single coils or humbuckers without messing about with the whole EQ

Bright switch

Effects loop, but unfortunately no level control for it

Footswitch included which controls channel selection and reverb

I bought the matching cab which came with 2 12" Celestion G12H Heritage speakers (very good quality speakers, cost nearly ??100 each)

Phenominal build quality for an amp of this price

I wish it had a level control for the effects loop and maybe a line out, but other than that everthing you could want is there.

Its also a very good looking amp in the blue tolex, wheat couloured heavy weave grille cloth, and old style Laney logos.

This amp sounds fantastic. I played a Mesa Rect-O-Verb costing 1500 but for the sounds I want this beats it easily.

Cleans:
Not a lot of headroom here, so if you want loads of clean headroom buy yourself a Fender Twin. The clean manages to sound warm and have some nice top end sparkle at the same time. Push it a little harder and you have a lovely nearly-clean sound. Think of a Vox AC30 just beginning to work hard and you're on the right track.

Tone control can tame down single coils or you can turn it up for some great Tele twang sounds.

Drive
Essentially picks up where the clean channel left off.
This channel will do everything from lightly driven blues up to AC/DC style riffs. It isn't the biggest amount of gain ever, so if you need more than classic rock distortion you'll need a pedal.

I tried it out with my USA Telecaster and I got an amazingly smooth warm lead tone for a guitar with single coils. Then I tried out a Fender Toronado with SD humbuckers, turned up the tone control and got more fantastic sounds out of it.

It also manages to nail the sound of Clapton on Sunshine of your love, so thats always a good sign.

If you play metal all the time, or if you need very loud clean sounds, then this amp probably isnt for you. Otherwise, I can't rate it highly enough. It sounds wonderful at all gain settings and volumes, and really lets the nuances of your guitars sound come through.

At all but the highest gain settings the amp has virtually no background noise. Quietest amp in that respect that I've heard.

Plenty loud to gig small/medium sized gigs (Im playing to 200 next week and I have no intention of mic'ing it)

The build quality is amazing. Its extremely solid, and it has gold plated jacks and PCBs. If you want a better made amp, you're looking at getting a handwired Vox or a divided by 13 amp, both of which cost a lot more than i'm willing to pay.

In the past Laney used to make some of their amps with transformers that were too small for the power of the amp, but for a 20 watt amp the transformers in this are huge!

Even comes with a spare power fuse in case the worst should happen.
The screen on the back to protect the valves seems strong enough to keep a bear out, so it should do its job.

5 Year warranty, so thats a good sign.
Authorised service centre is pretty close.
I emailed them and they emailed back the next day, so I have no complaints about customer service.

Been playing nearly 6 years. I have a Mexican Fender Stratocaster with BareKnuckle pickups, and a Fender USA Telecaster.
Pedals-wise I use a CryBaby wah, an MXR Dynacomp, a Digiteck Bad Monkey, a Boss DS-1, and a EHX Deluxe Memory Man.

If it were stolen I'd definately get another, although I doubt I'd be able to get it at the same bargain price again.

I was considering a Vox AC30CC, but the laney was cheaper, better sounding and had a much better warranty (5yrs vs 18mths)

Overall, it doesnt have tons of features, but at what it does, its as near perfect as it can be, and even at ??450 for the head it would be amazing value, so I cant believe i only paid ??279 for it.

First off, I would like to give you a little background on the equipment I have played in the past and the style I play. I play everything from classic rock to blues to alternative to Metal. I have owned a Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier, Mesa Boogie Stiletto Deuce, and a Peavey 6505. The Laney is a 2007 model I believe..40th anniversary and only a limited amount will be produced. I was in search of a new amp because all of the above mentioned ARE pure shit, I gave Mesa another shot by getting the stiletto which is supposed to sound more of a Marshall with more balls but It definitely is not, sounds like a dual rec with no bottom end. After selling the Stiletto I realized I need to find a good sounding amp and would go to any limits to find it. I played an Orange Rockerverb and it was absolutely unbelievable. It has plenty of gain, the control knobs for the EQ provide a wide array of sounds... plenty of headroom. Most importantly...all of the other amps have way too much treble.. enough to pierce ears. The Orange is an unbelievable amp... darker sounding.. full.. rich gain.. breaks up great and doesn't sound like a fuzz box. One day I happened to have played the Laney at Sam Ash in New York City and I was hesitant to even plug in because most of the shit at Sam Ash is actually shit. I plugged in and I think I found an amp that I would use for the rest of my life. 2 channels.. clean and dirty, reverb, effects loop, HI and Low input, Bright switch, etc... specs are on the Laney website.

Clean Channel - The clean on this amp is no Fender Twin Reverb but I would definitely give it a 7 or 8. Run a compressor with the reverb at about a 4 or 5 and it will sound crip, clear, and chime like a bell. Everything written here is a fact, not my opinion, I am sick of reading shitty opinions on this website from people who have only been playing for 2 days.

Dirty Channel - Here is where things get Amazing.. This head only has 20 Class A tube watts... There are a few things about this amp which make it great... The dirty is very versatile and will NOT get bright even when the bright channel is switched on.. so for all of you guitarists who are looking for a sound that will not break glass .. this is it!! the Gain knob on this is very versatile... anywhere between 4-7 on this channel will give you a great rock and roll sound, nothing too heavy but since you are going to be getting this amp nice and loud since it is only 20 watts the sound is very FULL.. no thin sounding Mesa shit. Another great thing about this amp.. you can actually use the gain on 10 and it will not get fuzzy what so ever.. you actually should run the gain at anywhere between 8-10 for great Hard Rock/Alternative/Metal... the sound is full.. breaks up better than anything.. and LOUD!!

You can definitely use this amp for any type of show.. it is loud enough. I have seen bands play in arenas with combo amps.. with PA's these days you can run a 5 watt amp and it will be fine to the crowd.. the only thing that you will lack running a 5 watt amp is the power.

The reverb can be switched on and off with the footswitch which is a major plus.. just wish there was an LED on it to tell me if it was on and off rather than me having to guess. Also wish the amp had a separate EQ for each channel.

The guitars I use through the rig are a Gibson les paul classic, fender strat HSS, G L ASAT Special.

Feel free to email me about this product at any time because there are not that many reviews about it since it is very new. E-mail is Dmoonshine79@yahoo.com

The variety of sounds on the amp are plentiful. Extremely good amount of headroom. Clean channel wont distort at high volumes.. only get better. This amp was built at 20 watts for this reason exactly. Using an amp like a Triple Rectifier makes no sense because you end up running the volume so low that you don't even get the true sound of the amp. The distortion on this baby is bad.. I play master of puppets and the notes come out beautifully. I use mostly humbuckers but have single coils too and they all sound great.

I would rather have a backup because anything could happen to any amp, not just this one. The amp has not broken down..

Never Dealt

Amazing