Laney L30R Linbacker 110 Combo

Year of Mfg Unknown... Says -Made in England- so probably a while ago. Not what you want for most Country or Pop, decent clean tone at lower levels but nothing outstanding. Really Shines for Heavy Pop and Hard Rock. Crank up the Gain and Pop out the Boosts and it's a little monster! Single Channel with headphone, direct, and remote jacks. Heavy Duty Reverb! (a little goes a long way). Sounds better than most solid state amps this size... Closed Back Cabinet, (REAL)Celestion Speaker.

I've used it with most every style guitar at one time or another and it handles them all well... Cut the treble a little for the Strat Single Coils and pop the MID Boost... Back the Mids and Bass Down a little for most of the Humbuckers and P-90s. This one had a Celestion G10L-35 installed and even with its closed back cabinet some guitars got a bit screechy with the treble maxed. I've had a 10" Scorpion in it and that smooths it out some and adds a Southern flavor to the sound. The amp is quiet, no noise issues. Distortion is very tubey without any electronica influence present... I've fooled a few people and everyone has been impressed... Pull the Gain Boost and Max it out and you are over the top, it shreds! I have an old univox graphic EQ that also has a gain stage and with that in play I can get pretty much any metal tone I want.

Never had a glitch out of it... It's seen long term continuous use and it's sat in storage at times for months, plug it in and it's ready and waiting. At the professional level you should ALWAYS have a backup available. This is one of mine, I've miked it up and finished the gig a couple of times when the rented marshalls failed.

Not aware of any.

I've played for around 40 years (since I was 12. I own more gear than I want to try and list... Personally I usually use a Rack Rig with all the goodies for most situations... Other favorites are a 73 MkII Lead, a Carvin XB-100 and a Traynor YGL-3... Just bought a Peavy Revolution... I wouldn't get overly excited if this amp wasn't available, but if I found another one I'd grab it. It's PORTABLE and puts out a sound I can get into... Compared to OTHER amps of it's class that I've experienced it beats them all. Fenders are to transistory and those little marshalls are so TAME... Peaveys just suck.

This is just a follow up to my last review. I've gotten a lot more informed since then so i'd just like to use this space to criticize myself a little. My new commments are [between parentheses like this]

Laney L30R Linebacker dated 1993 [dated 1992 actually]. Solid state 30 watt amp/10 inch speaker combo. Left to right: Power switch, "Phones" jack, "Direct Input" jack, "Remote" jack, knobs: Reverb, master volume, bass, mid range with pull for boost, treble, gain with pull for overdrive, and finally the input jack. No jacks or buttons on the back. I got this amp to replace the shitty Radio Shack amp that my grossly uninformed parents bought for me (bought me a shitty guitar with it too, I never learned to play till i went and bought an Epiphone [Epiphones are good to start with but not of the best quality. Check my review of the Epiphone Special II]).

Well it IS a solid state [which is good]. But i LOVE the overdrive and it plays clean quite well too [fuck no it doesn't]. I mostly play a Cort Strat humbucker copy thru it [a beater of a guitar which gets the job done but is nearing retirement]. I use it for practicing by myself and for recording. Can't use it for band practice, drums drown it out. It would be better tone if it was tube [whatever], solid states are for poor people like me.

Would you believe that just a few days after posting this review i actually went a tried a few tube amps FOR THE FIRST TIME. Shows ya how much I really know. Oh, well so at least I admit to being a poser. I actually like solid states better. Tube amps are good for classic rock and shit like that but i play metal/punk/hardcore type shit. Gets a great sound which i will elaborate on in "reliability":

The reverb is screwed up [weakened] although that doesnt bother me because i dont use it. I dont know whether its just my ear or the amps distortion but it seems to have deteriorated in the 2 years ive owned it. Could be because i've played basses thru it though.

Yes, the SPEAKER was the problem. If you buy one of these, either put a good speaker in it or do what i did: Run a cord from the "phones" jack to the "line in" jack of your computer and rig a home stereo up to the computer thru the speaker jack of the computer. SWEETEST sound!! As much as i hate cover bands and covering songs (I only play originals), if you want the sound of Type O Negative or a lot of those "new metal" bands like Slipknot or Limp Dipshit or whatever GET THIS AMP!! Be warned, this amp does NOT get clean sound very well, its made for heavier shit.:
Its been transported to and fro, been knocked over, kicked, beaten,[had the speaker removed and a switch pulled out], and still works. I'm sure this thing will last at least 10 more years [but only as a recording amp; I recently bought a Laney 120R World Series head on ebay. Once i get a decent cab for it, you can expect a review from me on it. I review just about every piece of gear i've ever owned.]

They dont make these anymore, at least not with this model name, i think they call these "hardcore" amps now. I've never found another Linebacker of the same model as mine- not on ebay [i saw one of these in a 50 watt model but not a 30], not in stores, not even on this site or even Laney's website.

I've used this amp exclusively cept for the first 3 months in the 2 years ive played guitar, played bass, and recorded music. This is a great amp for being a solid state. They dont make these anymore and they are quite a rarity (I'm the king of extinct equipment, my guitar is a Cort Panther and have a fetish for Samick TV Twentys [not anymore; Samick TV Twentys are stock heavy]). This amp has given me a favorable impression of Laney and i plan on selling this amp someday to replace it with a Laney tube amp [um no. I cant sell it anyway, i busted a knob when i tried to fix the reverb]. Some people say these sound just as good, if not better, than Marshalls. I wouldn't doubt it. I play a twisted mix of punk and metal and this amp gets the sound i want. You can hear this amp for yourself [with my old method of micing that shitty speaker. I record straight thru the "line in" nowadays] at my website, www.mp3.com/wall_street_on_fire

Laney L30R Linebacker dated 1993. Solid state 30 watt amp/10 inch speaker combo. Left to right: Power switch, "Phones" jack, "Direct Input" jack, "Remote" jack, knobs: Reverb, master volume, bass, mid range with pull for boost, treble, gain with pull for overdrive, and finally the input jack. No jacks or buttons on the back. I got this amp to replace the shitty Radio Shack amp that my grossly uninformed parents bought for me (bought me a shitty guitar with it too, I never learned to play till i went and bought an Epiphone).

Well it IS a solid state. But i LOVE the overdrive and it plays clean quite well too. I mostly play a Cort Strat humbucker copy thru it. I use it for practicing by myself and for recording. Can't use it for band practice, drums drown it out. It would be better tone if it was tube, solid states are for poor people like me.

The reverb is screwed up although that doesnt bother me because i dont use it. I dont know whether its just my ear or the amps distortion but it seems to have deteriorated in the 2 years ive owned it. Could be because i've played basses thru it though. Its been transported to and fro, been knocked over, kicked, beaten, and still works. I'm sure this thing will last at least 10 more years.

They dont make these anymore, at least not with this model name, i think they call these "hardcore" amps now. I've never found another Linebacker of the same model as mine- not on ebay, not in stores, not even on this site or even Laney's website.

I've used this amp exclusively cept for the first 3 months in the 2 years ive played guitar, played bass, and recorded music. This is a great amp for being a solid state. They dont make these anymore and they are quite a rarity (I'm the king of extinct equipment, my guitar is a Cort Panther and have a fetish for Samick TV Twentys). This amp has given me a favorable impression of Laney and i plan on selling this amp someday to replace it with a Laney tube amp. Some people say these sound just as good, if not better, than Marshalls. I wouldn't doubt it. I play a twisted mix of punk and metal and this amp gets the sound i want. You can hear this amp for yourself at my website, www.mp3.com/wall_street_on_fire