Laney LC15

I acquired this amplifier 2 months ago. Apparently it had been sitting in the "amplifiers" section of my favorite music store for a while--I got it cheap. It's probably a couple of years old.

Single channel, 15 watt and all tube w/ gain - bass - mid - treble - volume controls, hi and lo input, no effects loop but it does have a preamp output! I dig that! Nice move Laney...cool. This is a basic, all tube guitar amp.

I use it with single coils, p-90s, and humbuckers on occaision, and it sounds great. Like the previous review, it does sound like a Hiwatt/Vox (classic british jangle when clean and pleasantly biting and defined gritty sounds) with a little "old Fender Champ" midrange throaty-ness when cranked up. Nice!! It can cover a lot of different grounds. Natural, clean tube compression can be had quite easily and the overdrive can get pretty insane. Violin sustain with a "loose" kinda tube sound. Neat-o!

But, there's a catch. You gotta sink a little money into it to really get it to rawk. I replaced the H&H 10" speaker (crap-ola) with a Celestion Vintage 10" and replaced the cheap chinese tubes with some Sylvainas--the depth and character of the tone was improved 100% with the tube change, and the Celestion focused it and gave it more presence. I spent about $118 bucks on that stuff and a little time, but it was totally worth it. Now it sounds good.

The original sound, to my ears, was a bit harsh. But that aside, it's a great start and by spending a little cash you can have a fantastic sounding little tube amp that's *plenty* loud for small to medium-sized gigs and even better for recording.

No problems yet. I'm working on it though! :)

Stock off the shelf--a darn good amp. With some good tubes and a good speaker...this amp is really awesome, and I would reccommed to anyone to buy one and make the same upgrades. Would I replace if it were stolen? Yep. Without question. Even stock, this amp had a shimmering topend that most other amps cant get--unless you want to spend 10 times as much on a Vox or a HiWatt. Now, I love those amps...but I don't wanna drop $900 bucks on one. It sounds better than any of the new Fenders of that same design, and it smokes. But again, you gotta spend a little time and cash. I give it a 7.

I bought this little amp brand new 4 days ago--it was made in '99. It's a single channel, 15watt, all tube, bare-bones amplifier. Just the way a good amp should be. Clean and simple.

It sounds like a cross between a VOX AC30, a Hiwatt, and an old Fender Champ. I am a multi instrumentalist who does a *lot* of creative 4 tracking, and have found the LC15 to be perfect for many things--the tube preamp--utilizing the preamp output--is very useful and sounds great for Bass! And I even ran a good large diaphram conderser mic into it and the preamp output was ideal for vocals too! And the straight-up guitar tones? they are beautiful. All pickups sound great thru it--definately crank the master volume up and use the gain knob to bring it up. Hooooiieee! Tone central!

It's been left on for 2 days straight and played very loud--so far so good. It will definately be used for live gigs and it's ideal for recording.

i have no idea, but I'm giving them a high score just because i love this amp.

I've been playing for 15 years--a touring professional for the last 6. USA Fender Telecaster, Gibson LP Jr., '67 Harmony w, Jerry Jones bass, USA Fender Jazz bass, '72 Fender Musicmaster bass, bunches or other guitars and basses and amplifiers. All my guitars and basses sounded great thru it. It chimes, it growls...it's lovely. I would buy another, and I just might! 2 of these would handle ANY live playing situation, and it would be easy on your back and on your bank account. This amp rocks! Buy one now!

this amp is pretty simple...hi and low inputs...i found out later that hi inputs are SOLELY for single-coil guitars and LOW input for humbucker equipped guitars...if you plug in your strat to the low input, you get some buzzing noises and volume dips...no channel switching, reverb, just a line out jack...versatile enough for me...

OK this little combo sounds really good!!.....clean tones are bright and full and mid-rangey, which i like very much.....the bright button is always on for me, it really adds that extra zing to the sound...for the overdrive, it is sweet and responsive to pick attack...no solid state fuzz here, just pure tone...i use a godin radiator and the pickups are low noise, so no, it is not noisy except when the gain is full...the distortions are not say brutal, but really good for blues-oriented players and people looking for that pearl jam distortion sound...it's all here man!!...

i'm not sure about this...i've read nightmares on other reviews, but am prepared to go through it all because it was the only cheapest class A tube amp that i know of, and it has the most wonderful tone...no problems yet though, thank God...

went to laney's website...quite good, but other than that, no dealings with service centers or anything...

i've been playing for 3 years now and this is my first tube amp...i had a fender frontman 25 watt combo before and this little monster just blows it away in terms of sound and yes, even looks with its silver panelling and chicken knobs...i have a boss os2 pedal which sounded harsh and fuzzy with the fender but through the laney, i am able to get very sweet overdrive sounds and distortion sounds that well, how do you say this, does not actually sound fuzzy but clean in a sort of way...overall a great amp with my godin radiator, another great guitar by the way...previously had an ibanez rg, peavey rage, fernandes strat copy, korg 411fx...SOLD them all away, now i've only got it stripped down to the basics and i'm a really happy guy...this may be my bedroom setup for life!!!...ahhhh.....

This was made in 1997. Check out other feed back for specs.

I really enjoy playing with this amp. The clean is nice and full, and there seems to be any level of distortion you could ask for. It is just too lound. When it is dimed my ears ring for a week. The amp now has a Celestion vintage 10 speaker, ei el84's, and philips JAN 12ax7s. Suprisingly low noise with my strat copy.

Here is the fun part. I had read the feedback on this amp, so I was prepared for some disappointment. I had thought about building the ax84 amp, but for $170 I could get the laney. It would of cost me more to build from scratch. And since I can do some basic electronics, I wasn't scared to do repairs myself. Oddly enough, the weak point on this amp was the HH Invader speaker. When the volume was turned up there was ragged clipping. After a few days it crapped out completely. I like to make my lemons into lemonade, so I put in a celestion vintage 10($76). The amp now kicks ass! This speaker is much more 'in your face' althought I have not heard what the HH invader is supposed to sound like. I also dumped the sovteks and chinese tubes- It seemed to have a metallic sound with these. I replaced them with ei el84's($7.50ea), and philips JAN 12ax7s($11ea).

Two things- I contacted them by email about a schematic and bias information for this amp. The airmailed it to me right away, no questions asked. The other was the speaker- I thought about sending it in for repair- but decided to get the celestion, so I didn't follow through. I give them a six, since the best customer service is to make an amp that doesn't break!

I have been playing for about 15 years, and just got into playing again after a three year hiatus(marrige, house, baby) I wanted a tube amp that would not break my back, and I was sick of my Park practice amp. I could of blown $400 on a soldano atomic 16, but I would of felt bad about pulling it apart and messing around. I guess half the fun of this laney is that I can mod it to my hearts content. If you don't like working on amps, get the soldano.

Bare bones, 15 watt class A tube ( preamp 3 ECC83's, power 2 EL84's )one 10 inch speaker, line out jack. Hi & LO input jacks. Gain, bass, mid, treb knobs, bright switch. One channel. I needed a simple practice amp, and this fits the bill.

Fender Strat with SC neck and middle, humbucker in bridge. Fender Tele with Lace Sensor in neck, SD 59 in bridge. Mostly blues, often run thru a Digitech RP-3. The tones you can get from this little amp are awesome. Tone heaven can be found simply by turning volume to 10, and adjusting the gain to your desired distortion. Under powered for stage volumes. Very effective EQ controls, just three of them but, a pretty broad palette of sound can be obtained from them.

Total crap. Wouldn't go to a gig without at least three of 'em in the trunk. The first one I had imploded after two hours, and the replacement required a retubing after two weeks. I know tubes are not Laneys fault, but the GOBS of hot glue all over the CB and tubes which led to overheating is. I'm probably blowing my warranty by saying this, but I had to take the chassis out and spend an hour or so removing the glue mess all over the circuit board and tubes. VERY SLOPPY QUALITY CONTROL, and not too small of a fire hazard either.

I have the good fortune of having a very cooperative and knowledgable local dealer, who replaced the first one, and was willing to replace the second one as well. Haven't experienced Laneys customer support, their toll-free number is probably 1 800 HOT GLUE.

This amp can produce that elusive liquid clean sustain that other amps only promise. Its underpowered ( 15 watts ), so its best used at home or for recording. Relibality sucks, plain and simple, so you may need to buy a six pack of 'em but if you like the tone, its worth it.

All tube, 15 watt, class A combo amp. No reverb, no efx loop. One 10" HH INVADER speaker. Preamp volume/gain, bass, middle, treble/ master volume and bright switch. Single channel, with high and low inputs. Has a line out. Everything I need, but reverb would be nice. Overall, it doesn't have a lot of features but the sound quality is outstanding!

Best sounding amp I ever owned. Clean or distorted, it wins! Better than anything I'd ever heard in a small combo...Boogie, Marshall, Fender...blah, blah, blah. Maybe I bought a ringer but I can't really tell you HOW GOOD this amp sounds. I play clean, mostly and I'm always looking for that pure, "bell like chime" sound that I consider the holy grail of tone, y'know? This little guy had it, cold! The distortion was perfect...tons of room before it goes into the scream zone. Too perfect for blues/jazz. Very articulate, very touch sensitive. Guitar's volume control was all I neded to control my tone/volume. Too, too perfect: AWESOME TONE!!!!!!!!!!!

This is the problem area. Bought mine used and had it about 14 days before it went south on me. I never abused this amp but who knows what happened before I got it, y'know? Anyway, it started making ticking noises and I noticed a loss in power. I bought it at SAM ASH and they warranted it for 30 days so I brought it back to them for repair. It's been in the shop for 3 weeks. Laney is not too good about supporting the LC 15, according to the repair tech. It needs a whole new circuit board-NOT a good endorsement for reliability or repair costs! I had heard some "war stories" about LANEY's reliability before I bought this amp but IT SOUNDED TOO, TOO GOOD TO PASS UP for $165.00!! Guess the stories were right on. The circuit board actually looks flimsy, y'know? Lot of heat in that chassis...I don't think it can handle it, frankly.

As I said, LANEY hasn't been very helpful to the SAM ASH guys.

I submitted another review of this amp earlier. I praised its virtues because it sounds so awesome!! Trouble is, I can't use an awesome sounding amp that doesn't work!!! I'm going to SAM ASH tonite and getting my money back. HEY LANEY...get the reliability thing down and I'll buy your stuff. Until then, I won't be fooled by a pretty face (or sound) again. What a pity that such a marvelous piece of sound equipment is designed/built so poorly, from a reliability perspective. It breaks my heart.

My best guess is that this amp was manufactured in 96-97. I bought it used but it looks brand new. This guy is a straightforward, single channel (high/low input jacks), class A tube amp with a solid state rectifier. Very responsive tone controls: bass, mid, and treble. There is a bright switch, too. It is outfitted with 3 12AX7's and 2 EL84 power tubes. (I replaced the preamp tubes as follows: First two with Sovtek 12Ax7WB and driver with Sovtek 12AX7WXT. El 84's are Sovtek.) It has preamp gain, and MASTER volume with a line out. This amp has a pretty fair amount of pre-gain and it doesn't go straight to scream from clean. There is a nice fat range of pre-gain saturation in there. Very nice of Laney to give us so much pre-gain control. I don't use a lot of effects so the features like effects loop and reverb are unimportant to me.

I play a solid bodied, early 70's, all maple Epiphone L 450. It is similar in wieght to a Les Paul and is bright sounding with neutral EQ. It is outfitted with a Lawrence XL 500 and a Schaller Golden 50 in the bridge and neck positions. The pickups are series/parallel wired so I can go from HIGH output to a slightly lower output. I play rock, blues, pop, contemporary Christian and jazz styles with some occasional metal. (Very occasionally..I'm NOT a metal player at all but I do like some of the styles of guys like Vai, Satchmo, etc.) The Laney can accomodate my style of playing very well. I find I can dime the master volume and set the gain on 4-7 to get all the sounds I want by just manipulating my guitar's volume control. I've tried using a Tubescreamer with it and found it really sounds great, too, for an additional lead boost. All by itself though, this little guy really shines. Bell like chime stays true all the way up to 7-8 on the master volume with gain set at 1-2, with a slight grit appearing at 8 or so. VERY responsive to pick attack. I use DUNLOP tortex "shark's fin" .60 mm picks and when I switch from the serrated edge to the standard point, the amp's tone character darkens considerably. It's like having a bright switch at my fingertips. Twisting up the gain past 7 results in some very tasty harmonic distortion and sweet, creamy feedback/sustain. If you miss having channel switching for the "clean to scream" transition, stick a boost pedal in front. Keep the power tubes HOT!! This guy likes to sing with the master dimed!! THIS AMP SOUNDS WAY, WAY LOUDER THAN WHAT YOU'D EXPECT FOR A 15 WATTER!!!! It produces exceptional tone at all/any/every setting. Tones are there whether distorted or clean. You name the tone zone...it's in there..unless you're a hardcore grinder, but what do you CARE about tone?!! As far as noise goes...nothing you'd be surprised at for an all tube design. Not overly noisy at all...some hiss at higher gain settings but not a problem, really. I could hear myself perfectly well, sharing the house PA with keyboard, drums, bass and another guitar. It's plenty loud for a club gig, if you use it alone or as a "monitor" when going through the house. It mikes up great with a SHURE 57. When using P 90's with an old SG, the Laney served up some kickin' chicken picken sounds. Tele players will love this guy! Single coils retain that "drippy" sound and character (can you think of JIMI or SRV?), even at moderate pre-gain levels. Personally, I think it's best character can be exploited with pickups similar to the PAF types which everyone seems to be re-issueing nowadays. Moderate output from the guitar works very well. I admit a bias here.

I bought it used. I've had it one month. It isn't a tank but it appears to be typical combo amp construction. I'd like the circuit board/tube socket connections to be better but it's adequate for these type of designs. Tube keepers are cheap but they do the job. Hey, it's an inexpensive amp...treat it as such, y'know? I've played it out a couple of times with no problems. I would gig with it without a backup.

No opinion here. I'm an electronics tech and I don't shop out my own equipment for repair. If it breaks, I'll fix it myself.

I've been playng for 30 years. I've owned EVERYTHING at one time or another. After all is said and done, my opinion is that there is no substitute for the great tone/sound of a small tube amp beig driven to its limits. Here is where the Laney l15 really shines. It just sounds great. Soundwise, it's in the same league as the MESA Subway amps. I auditioned the Fender PRO Jr. and the BLUES Jr. as well as the CRATE 5 watter and the PEAVY small tube amps and I found the Laney to be in the same class of these offerrings. Maybe I just found a "ringer" but my Laney sounded a little nicer than some more expensive units. I would recommend the Fender BLUES Jr. too. By the way, if you're into a BIG sound, try hooking the Laney up to a 4 X 12 cabinet and dime it out. You will be amazed!!! If there is one thing I would like to see in this amp which is different than the stock unit, it would be a greenback 12" Celestion. That said, the stock HH INVADER 10" which comes "stock" is a great sounding speaker in its own right. I'm going to add a speaker out jack to the rear panel so I can use the Laney to drive 2 X 12 or 4 X 12 cabinets when appropriate. Overall, I'd buy it again and recommend it to friends.

Mine is about 2 years old, bought new - a bit of an impulse purchase. I use it for practise, playing at home or without a drummer. A one channel amp without reverb, effects loop or speaker out, although it does have line out. Gain and master volume which gives a good range of clean and overdriven sounds, short of all-out metal. It is loud for a 15 watter, but the speaker is not all that solid. I once had an old Princeton Reverb (either 12 or 18 watts, not sure now) with a replacement 10" Celestion in it and I remember it being louder than this. I think the lack of a speaker out is an oversight, and the ability to kick in some boost wouldn't go amiss. For this price, though you can't complain.

I have used this with a Strat fitted with Texas Specials and also a Rickenbacker 360/12. It accepts pedals and a GT5 multi-effects at the front quite willingly. I play rock, blues, country all sorts and it lets the sound of the guitar shine through. Although there's no reverb, somehow, the valves seem to enhance the sustain of the guitar and make it sing, it doesn;t sound dry at all. There is some noise when you wind up the gain, but not too much. Clean is clean up to a usable level. Distortion gets some good classic rock sounds going and you might manage metal (I wouldn't want to) with a humbucking guitar; the eq is quite effective.

Well, the first time I got it home it wouldn't work. There is a fuse fitted internally which had blown. My big amp was in for repair (I remeber, that's why I bought this!) and it took my dealer a few days to get and fir a new fuse. The dealer was great (a plug for Nova in Caterham, UK) and even took it to his home so I could get it from him after work. The controls have been noisy, although it's probably through lack of regular use. I have put contact cleaner on them a few times and it seems to have doen the job. This is a fairly lightweight construction, I wouldn'e see it as roadworthy unless you were very careful with it - it's more a home or studio tool. That said, if you mainly play at home or have an occasional small blast with some mates, this is a required purchase, I would say. Why spend a fortune on a Boogie or something, this sounds brilliant and will do the job.

As I said, via the dealer I was looking at 4 days for a fuse, since then it has been no trouble. I wasn't in a particular hurry so i didn'e really test them! Basically, my dealer would fix it if it went wrong, the service is on that basis and I believe him.

I have been playing for upward of 20 years. I also use acoustic guitars, a Roland GR30 with a Godin ACS. With electrics, I need a clean valve sound first of all, and then maybe crunch, and overdrive for a solo. I swing between using a big brute of a Fender Vibrasonic and the Laney together with Boss GT5 and some stomp boxes. I have had many mainly Fender and Peavey valve amps over the years. The little Laney has its own voice, witha nice jangly bright sound you could mention in the same breath as Fender or Vox. If it bust or got stolen, I'd probably get the reverb version or maybe another small Fender or whatever took my fancy at the time - maybe even a small valve Marshall or Orange. Overall, if you buy yourself a nice guitar to play at home, get yourself one of these to go with it - much better lasting value than any effects box or solid state horror!

Same as the rest. Gain, Low, Mid, High, Master, and bright switch. I was looking for a small all-tube amp. I found this one hiding in a local music stores used section for $99. I have a AOR 30 head and I wasn't really looking to buy another LANEY. (Not because I didn't like it but because I wanted something different). I plugged in and loved it. Couldn't pass on it for the price. I would have prefered a 2 channel amp but not a big deal since I was looking for it to be a practice amp.

Ibanez RG570, Kramer ST150, Hamer Sunburst. I play Rock/Blues/Alternative. This little amp has a great sound. It is REALLY load. Distortion is very nice. I find a new sound every time I turn a knob.

Have not had it long enough to judge. My AOR 30 is 7 years old and I have had 0 problems. I don't bang them around too much thought. You might want to read someone elses "Reliability" if you are going to travel with it much.

Have not dealt with them

This is great small amp. I would recommend it a full price. Which should be in the low $200s.

This is a no frills, basic, class A valve practise amp, so I really can't see why people could possibly expect a load of features (at this price?). There is slightly more expensive version with reverb, should you want it. What you do get is all you need - two channels (Hi and Lo gain), tone and volume controls, a line out (a very sensible addition given the quality of sound from this amp), and loads of lovely valve tones. Mmmmm.....
I purchased the amp for practise, but can use it for most things bar larger venues. Although nominally rated at 15 watts, it seems MUCH louder, and constantly surprises me with how well it can cope in situations it really wasn't designed for.

I play a wide range of music from Jazz to blues to Rock, and use a variety of guitars, the main being a Strat (with a Duncan 'Double Deck' at the bridge), and a Gordon Smith with a Duncan Jazz at the neck, and a '59 at the bridge. Probably the hardest thing to do with this amp is get a bad sound. Starting with clean tones, (and we need good clean sounds before we should even consider dirty ones don't we children?) the first thing that strikes is how effective the tone controls are. I've always used Marshalls in the past, and I have to say that this Laney beats my current JCM hands down for tone. It has an unmistakably British valve sound, but with a delicacy and clarity which really should be heard to be believed, and my Marshall just can't live with. Crank the pre-amp past 5 and the sound starts to break up nicely, and once past 7 it's into full overdrive territory.
The distortion is definitely of the traditional/vintage type which suits me fine, although it does need winding up high to extract the best distorted sounds, which if you're practising, can be neighbour unfriendly.
It's difficult to convey the beautiful tones this amp has, so go try one. If you value tone above all else then I reckon you'd like this amp a lot.

No problems so far.

Customer what?

I've been playing 25 years and I can seriously say this is (for it's size and price) one of the best sounding boxes I've come across in a long, long time. It's simply too good to be used just for practising. Don't be but off by the spartan spec. This amp doesn't need any extra features - adding them would simply be missing the point.
I'd noticed that a couple of reviwers pointed out the valves as being AX7's in this unit - well Laney appear to have been listening. I bought this amp a few months ago and mine is fitted with Sovtek (ECC83's for the pre-amp, and EL84's for the ouput). Nice one Laney.