Laney LC15

Thats very simple all-tube amp. It has one channel, no footswitch, no FX loop, no reverb, no external cab output, speaker wired just with a cable, no speaker socket! Its some older unit. It has no grill to secure the speaker and valves. There are some pros though. It has Celestion Tube onboard and TAD tubes. The third tube in preamp is no-name. I suppose it was there since the amp left factory. The amp has line-out taken from output transformer.

I use it with Epi LP, humbuckers. It produces mostly dirty sound, there are is no crystal clean channel. Gain knob lets you make overdriven sound, very high gain. Unfortunetly it was something wrong with my output transformer. Those overdriven sounds were very sharp, they did hurt my ears. Thats why I give it only 5. RECENTLY I upgraded output transformer and now I have cool natural overdrive. If it was stock transformer, I'd give it 9 or 10... But the stock was really cheap. So I give only 5.

Output trafo is rubbish! After I replaced it, I think the amp is reliable. After trafo replacement, I could give it 7 points in this category. It has a big con. All the heat from tubes goes to chassis. Its dangerous because after few hours even the front panel is very warm :(

no experience

I love it since I've changed the trafo.

very simple valve amp... volume, treble, mid, bass and gain controls... and a bright switch (wahoo).
2 inputs hi and low... in all not particularly versatile

it can reach pretty high volumes (i've never pushed it right up) so not bad for small gigs, but mine hasn't often left my bedroom due to the lack of features (and my lack of effects pedals to sort it)

this thing seems to work best with humbucking pickups on a higher gain setting and is great for that fat classic rock tone, thanks to those valves in the back. the unit would however benefit form a reverb control, i play mainly a sort of rock/blues mixture (SRV/Hendrix style) so it would be nice, i've recently found out that the model up from this one has a reverb control, for an extra ??30!

seems to have a problem handling nice clean tones though
especially not good with fender style single coil pickups playing through it... which can sound sharp and occasionally brittle... as i've mentioned a good few effects pedals would help improve the amp a great deal.. but i don't have enough pocket money for that =[

i'm going to give this amp a 9 for reliability, i feel like i've been quite harsh so far... and this thing has never let me down performance wise, i've had it for over 2 years now and it seems to be built pretty well. the only problem could be the valves... i've always thought they look quite fragile and they wouldn't be easy to replace on the night of a gig (but hey valve amps are the way forwards)

i may have been a little harsh reviewing this amp, because i probably haven't experienced it's full potential without effects... but if you've got a fully loaded pedal board then it could work really nicely as a small gig/practice amp.

i personally found the tone on it's own to be a bit brittle when using a guitar with single coils but when you ramp up the gain a bit and plug in a les paul, you can get some really great beefy sounds... restricted... but great

Features for this amp are pretty nill
2 inputs, gain, bright switch (killer with germanium fuzz pedals!! Use this switch its like a presence booster!!), low, mid, treb, master volume..

..that being said I like simple amps becuase I like to use effects to get my tones, being a effect designer I have access to any sound I want in that department..

This amp can be unbeileiveable and I am going to tell you exactly what I did to make it killer...goto the "Sound quality" section for this info..

Ok to make this amp simpley OWN!!9 after mod 8 before..great for studio home use...great entry level tube amp and awesome unit if you ditch the enclosure!
Step 1)
Take the chasis out of the unit and put it in a enclosure that will handle at least a 12" speaker (this is a optional but its what I did)
I used a old standel 15" speaker combo enclosure that was from the 60's or 70's.. I stripped out the old chasis and put a new wood frame in it to except a 12" speaker.. I then ordered a HH invader speaker off ebay..I got 2 for 40$ !!!! These speakers people talk shit about but if you use them with low watt amps and break them in they are just as good as any 100-150$ speaker trust me..I have 1000's! in gear and speakers and build effects pedals for a living these speakers are not as bad as people say they just dont know how to use them whish is true with most gear that people flame...at any rate
Step 2)
Replace the power amp tubes with 7189's these are the EL84's that they used in the 60's so you have to find NOS ones or used ones..they are easy to find on ebay and are not to pricey. I recomend these old school EL84's in place of any EL84 for a warm beautiful clean tone..they also sound great overdriven but since this is a classA/B amp the preamp tubes make more of a difference in tone for these I used EH tubes but you can use whatever suits you
Step 3)Put protetive covering on the circuit board..Because you are putting this amp in a new enclosure if anything touches the board while it is on it will short and you will be spending 175 to fix it if you arent electricaly inclined I used buisness card stock and clear packing tape and it worked awesome as a anti-short shield.. I will post pictures of all mods soon.
The result was a amazing sounding amp with a loud clear clean side with tones of head room.. a blistering lead sound when the gain is cranked and this baby with do everything but the metal chunk thrash sound.. which it can easily get with pedals.. I also use the line out of this amp to go my 5watt modified class A Valve JUnior but thats another review..

Has treated me very well has very nice Transformers on my model!!
New models come with a ceramic 8" speaker I think but ditch the speaker and enclosure and use a 12" speaker for this baby!!

newver dealt with them

Over all nice tones for the money...amazing entry level amp I highly recomend this to anyone starting off on there tube journies.. You cant go wrong with this..and if you are machanicly inclined can mod this into a professional peice of gear!

This is an update to a previous review after having contacted Laney

I called Laney up, which if you try and get their number from a website is nigh-on impossible, but if you contact the dealer your purchased your amp from they'll more than likely be happy to put you in touch.

The person I spoke to was very helpful and gave me all the information I needed. Had a good long chat about the finer points of output tubes, and he helped me solve the problems I had and recommended good output tubes.

It's a shame that they're so hard to get in touch with initially, but all you have to do is ask your dealer, or any for that matter, and they'll put you in touch.

I reached them on 01215-086-666, start with +44 if you're calling from outside the UK. Top guys to talk to.

this is a fairly new combo. not sure exactly as i bought it used. i play all kinds of music as a semi-pro player. single channel but with quick knob turnings can be nice and clean to nice and dirty. oh yeah it's tube. 3x12ax7 and 2xel84. no reverb or extension speaker or fx loop. the lc15r has those. it has all ineed for features. i lean towards single channel amps with simple functions. it does have a bright switch which i don't use. otherwise gain bass mid treble and volume knobs. it does have a line out which is useful. i use it for practice, recording and a live project where my sovtek mig 100h is too much.

i use ahumbucker equipped guitar and a p-90 guitar and get excellent results from both. i'm building a tele and i can't wait to hear it as i'm sure it'll be stirling. it sounds killer with all my styles although i do have a wasabi over drive to boost for more heaviness.i have little buzz going on at some frequencies especially on higher gain settings so i took it apart and tightened everything up but the buzz remained and now i'm sure it's one or both of the power tubes. i bought another pair to see if that helps. other wise no real noise even at high gain with the p-90's. on it's own with knob tweaking there is quite a range of tones and with my setup,guitar into wasabi od-snarling dogs blues bawl-small stone phase shifter-boss delay machine 100 into amp i have a really versatile sound setup. clean setting has quite abit of headroom and the bright switch can get quite bright. the distortion settings have quite a range from crunchy to quite saturated. not metal or numetal tho but i really don't go there. great for hard rock though and this little fellow can get really loud.

don't know about that. simple circuit. easy fix.

even though it was used laney answered my emails right away and sent me a manual. laney dealer where i live. no warranty of course but laney is really approachable.

i've been playing for years and years and years. i've owned alot of stuff including some digital modelling stuff. amps and fx. now i am simplified and i think my tone is the best ever. i love it's tones and portability and simplicity. i was leery of el84's as i had a peavey delta blues and a peavey classic 50 but was never happy with the tones.this amp is different tho. i guess i'd have to say it's more of a british tone than the peaveys which suits me better

This amp is so new that it wasn't finished when I ordered it (March 2005).

It's got gain, bass, middle, treble and master volume controls, high and low inputs, a line out, and a 10" version of the Celestion V30. It runs on two EL84s and 3 ECC83s. There's also a nifty lil bright switch on there, good package.

It's a single channel amp as you probably know and works well for anything that uses a sound anywhere between jazzy cleans to hard rock drive.

It has a point off for no standby, and a couple off for chasis design (more on this later).

I'm currently using an SG with PAF style humbuckers. I'm quite eclectic in what I play, but this amp works well for jazz, blues, rock, funk, reggae, surf(with reverb added externally), metal would need a pedal to drive it, but it snarls nicely on its own.

There's some background noise, but it's a valve amp and my bedroom is an EMI nightmare, what you gonna do? You can hear hiss at the start of "Voodoo Chile slight return" on Electric Ladyland, you can hear a phone ringing in "20th Century Boy" by T-Rex, so I think I can handle a tincy bit of background noise that's only audible in moments of silence.

I can get a variety of sounds, I got a pretty good woman tone out of it, somehow dragged Angus Young out of there, and I got this fantastic sound like Link Wray had on "Rumble", that was almost exact. Between the different controls and your pick attack you can get a lot of sounds.

The amp is more versatile than it's single channel nature would suggest, if you set it right you can go from sparkling clean to rock & roll grind just by digging in harder with the pick.

The sound is slightly boxy and stiff, but this is down to the speaker needing to be broken in, and the Celestion speaker is a fantastic improvement. I was willing to pay money for this with the HH Invader in it, but my one with a Celestion beats that hands down before I've even broken it in.

Well, I've not had it long, but as with all valve amps some things are bound to go wrong, prehaps moreso because the design of this amp though.

The EL84s have a pointy bit to dissipate heat, heat rises. So what do Laney do? They mount the EL84s upside down so not only is the pointy bit no longer doing anything but the heat rises up into the chasis and into the PCB which the valves are mounted on. Not very smart, but since it was cheap (like the budgie) I won't moan on and on about it.

I won't rate this section since it would be unfair to, but there is an inherant design flaw in how the heat is dissipated and this could lead to reliablity issues. Aside from that, it's quite sturdy.

No idea, never tried them. But their website's shit. There is absolutely no way for me to find out how to contact them through it, in fact, there is no direct link between Laney and the musician buying their product which I find a bit worrying.

Flying Pig Music on the other hand were very helpful in tracking down where the hell my amp had gotten to (apparently Laney were waiting for bloody handles!) and happily answered all my stupid questions. Top fellas. Since that good support was Flying Pig and not Laney however, I will keep the rating neutral.

I've been playing for 3 or 4 years now, my other gear consists of an SG, half a telecaster (work in progress), a Korg AX-1500G(cheap & cheerful multi-FX) and rather a lot of planet waves cable (it lives forever...apparently.)

I love that Laney created a cheap valve amp with an excellent tone. If this amp caught more publicity Marshall would never sell one of their "budget" amps again. I hate the silly design flaw in it though. Silly, silly flaw...

I tried several other amps before settling on this. The Peavey Classic 30 was a good amp, but more bits than I needed and was a bit loud to be useable at home. I tried a Line 6, good for what it is, but sounded artificial when trying to replicate valve tone (if you want valve tone, buy valve amps, it's not rocket science). And I tried the other version of this which is the Laney LC-15R. It was essentially the same amp, but with the addition of a speaker out, FX loop and reverb. Had the reverb been valve, not SS and the FX loop been absent I'd have gone for it, but I don't want a valve amp with non-valve parts in the circuit and an FX loop I'd never use.

I think if Laney redesigned the cab, they'd solve all it's short comings in one go. If they mounted the chasis to the "back wall" of the cab like on a Vox AC-30 the valves being horizontal would have a far greater top surfce area and no chasis above them which would vastly improve ventilation.The front would have no panel on, and the controls would be more accessable from when you're standing over it. When I thought this was going to come with an HH speaker I planned on making a cab like this and upgrading to a 12" speaker. The change in spec has made me reconsider this though, but it'd be a cool project anyhow.

In conclusion: Laney have made good valve tone accessible to the gigging musician on a budget. Good tone does not cost the Earth when you no where to look and don't need it to say "Vox" or "Marshall" on the front. If Laney had designed this thing how I said, it'd be an 11.

For a small combo, I give it a higher rating because of the addition of the master volume knob. 3 band eq is nice, but I don't think the eq is as versatile as I'd like it to be. Cuts and boosts are not as dramatic as in other small tube amps I've owned (including a few Fenders and an Orange). The presence boost button is good if you're playing at low volumes.

I'm playing a Fender Nashville Tele modded with a Seymour Duncan 59 mini-humbucker in the middle position. No pedals.

Let me say from the start that I love this amp. I found the stock sovtek tubes a little bland, so I replaced the 12ax7's with JJ Tesla tubes and heard a huge improvement. Cranked gain is now more dynamic and harmonically rich. Even at lower volumes, there is still a nice warmth and some tube compression. I rarely play without some tube overdrive, but clean, this amp does fine - maybe it's not as woody as an AC15, but it reminds me of that. Having the gain around 5 or 6 is what I like best. Later today I am going to replace the Sovtek el34's with a pair of Svetlana tubes. I actually like the stock HH speaker, though it can be a bit too mid-rangey. The bass is somewhat spongey, but it's not a bad speaker. I've tried a Jensen MOD speaker in it, and while that speaker is nice for clean stuff, it sounds absolutely horrible when overdriven.
My rating is based simply on sound - not on price-performance.

Never had a problem with any modern Laney amp I've owned, though an old AOR 30 watt combo eventually died on me.

I've thought about selling this amp and getting something more boutique, but every time I do, I go home and play it and realize that I love the LC15. I've owned other amps - some boutique - and this one is right up there with the rest. As a studio amp, you can't go wrong, especially considering the price.

I bought this new in around '97.
I bought it for home/practice. It sounds better if you turn up the volume and get the el84's working a bit. Its really a bit too loud for home use at higher volume settings. It came with chinese 12AX7's and russian EL84's. I liked the chinese tubes in this amp.

I used it mainly with a strat.
The amp has nice cleans and good overdriven sounds. Has that tube warmth too.
It has lots of gain, enough for whatever style you like, I think.

I gave this a 10 because I have never had a problem with it.
I don't use this for gigs, but if I were to, I would take along a backup. This amp seems to be cheaply made, with the tube sockets mounted directly on the PCB.
I have never really looked after this amp, because it was very cheap. (easy come, easy go) It has had a rough life and plenty of use, and its always worked fine. 10/10 for that.

N/A~never had to contact customer support.

This gets a 9/10 for being a cheap tube amp with 'proper' tube tone.
The best value for money amp I ever bought.

I bought this little amp used early 2004 from a college kid in TN without seeing and listening to it first. I believe it is an early model, according to Laney's tech support, probably made in mid/late 90s. This amp has a single channel, 15W tube power, regular EQ (bass/mid/high), two inputs (hi/low), bright switch, line out and a 10" internal HH invader speaker.

This is absolutely my main amp, I am using it regularly at club gigs, our band plays blues and west coast swing. The features of the amp suit me 100%, it is well powerful enough even for larger venues too.

Nothing is perfect -- the internal 10" speaker in an open back cab does not project those low frequencies from 11 or 12 gauge strings I use so I needed to built into the box two external speaker connetors: One that activates just an external speaker cab and another one that uses both the internal and external ones in series. At gigs I mainly use the amp with just an external closed back cab with 12" Celestion 70/80, cab made by Traynor in Canada. And, by the way, having two 8 ohm speakers in series DOES NOT DROP VOLUME INTO HALF!

Two ideas for Laney to lower manufacturing costs: Remove the Bright switch and the Low input Jack.

I use this amp mainly with semihollow and hollow body blues/jazz boxes with humbuckers (neck pu only) strung with 11s or 12s, typically with wound 3rd. The amp is not noisy at all, the sound is great (through external cab), tubes respond exactly the the way they should -- play harder and you'll get more sweet bluesy distortion. Keep front end gain low and power tubes hot, you'll get absolutely a great sound for blues & jazz that your audience will thank you for after the set!!

Have had the amp just over 6 months, bought used. I play it upside down, thanks to the info on this site. So far everything is OK with original (5 yr or older) tubes. However, the previous owner had played the amp in "correct position" and tubes are now really GLUED to the clips and sockets with hot glue from the main circuit board holding the caps etc. According to Laney, I can use a sharp knife to remove the glue for being able to remove and replace tubes.

Chassis, speaker, connectors, cables etc. perfect!

So far so good.

No longer under warranty -- I emailed to Laney support in the UK once for some technical advice -- received reply immediately. Great service. However, I do not know if they have a distributor with service in the US. However, due to fast response, my rating reflects to it.

Played for a long time (decades) -- and, as said this is my main amp now. I love it and it has more power and features than any true guitarist playing blues or swing ever needs. If you happen to use effect pedals you may want to look for something else -- this is a pure blues machine.

This is an update to my review just below.

I added the Jensen C10Q speaker and it is a HUGE improvement. much more clarity and control. also, a good way to run the amp is with the volume up pretty high (past half-way), then start with the gain all the way off and slowly bring it up to the desired level. roll back your volume knob a little too.

still going strong except for the input jacks. they are working but not very well. need to get them replaced.fixed soon.

Not much in the feature dept. one channel. HI and LO inputs, knobs for gain, low, mid, hi, and volume. bright switch, and a line out for recording. i'd say its best feature is the tone this beast can create, but we'll get to that later. 15 all tube watts, more than enough power for me. i use it at home only.

Using a Fat Telecaster (humbucker neck). i changed the stock tubes to JJ's from Bob at www.eurotubes.com and it made a world of difference. i also have a Jensen C10Q 10" speaker on way to replace the stock piece of shit, i think it is called "the invader". Suits my blues/rock style just fine. This little beast is what i wish my old Peavey Classic 30 could have been. Tone, tone, tone... i am hesitant to even buy a fuzz/distortion stomp box because this amp has the best range and quality of distortion i have ever witnessed. goes from pretty clean to raunchy dirty (not hi-gain nu-metal sounds, go somewhere else for that shit.) can do early zeppelin easily. kind of noisy when the gain knob is turned up but it could be the single coil pickup on my tele since i haven't shielded it yet. basically, this is a poor man's Orange amp.

here in lies the problem. i heard all the tales of overheating, so i picked up a little 6" clip-on fan and it has worked wonders keeping this baby cool. i have heard if you turn the amp upside and play it, that will help keep the heat off the goods if you dont have a fan. ALSO, the input jacks for HI and LO do not work properly. i have to plug in, then pull the cable out of the HI jack just a little for it to work. and the LO jack doesn't work at all.

haven't used this yet but i probably will end up taking it in to get those jacks fixed.

i wish i would have known about this amp before i went and spent $$$ on a Peavey Classic 30 and upgraded the hell out of it. this is THE amp for practice/recording or small gigs. highly recommended.

Mine was made in 2004. This all-valve 15 watt combo has 1 channel, two inputs, a gain control, 3 way passive EQ, a volume control and a bright switch. Also features a line out which I never tried. It has a 10 inch Celestion Tube 10 driver built in. The cabinet is made of 1/2 inch ply I think, and is quite small. The tubes used are 2x Ruby Tubes ECC83, an unlabeled ECC83, and 2x Sovtek EL84.

This amp isn't really versatile (like say a modeling amp), but it has some tones which are really good. It resembles me of a VOX AC15 when run clean, and a Plexi from the 70's era when the power valves are driven hard.

I only use it for practicing, but always crank it up.

I use an Ibanez GSA60 (HSS) directly plugged into it. I also tried an Epiphone LP. I mainly use the bridge pickup, which sounds more lively on the Ibanez.
I play mersey beat (Beatles, and some Hungarian bands you don't know I guess), classic rock (AC/DC, Hendrix), and also like playing blues.
I think this amp is very suitable for these styles. I always turn up the master to full, and play with the preamp volume to get the power amp overdriven.
I'm simply in love with the middley, and treblish (chimey) clean sounds. It's like a VOX. When pushed a little bit into clipping, it produces a well defined, pleasing overdriven tone which I like too.
The overdriven sounds aren't fair though. Preamp distortion is OK, but you have to keep the bass on 0, or it gets really bassy. When the treble knob is turned past 1-2, and the distortion is beyond 7-8 you can hear a very harsh trebly sound like a crisping paper bag.
Unfortunately you can't get a dynamic overdrive with preamp distortion, so you have to crank the master up. In this case the EQ is also very inresponsive, and above all you don't have enough clean preamp headroom to 'cean boost' your power valves. The power amp has to be pushed really hard to get good (I mean infinite) sustain, but in that case it lacks middle frequencies. At least it is really responsive, and compresses well.
One more thing. The speaker has a 11oz ceramic magnet. It's bad. It has too much bite, and when driven hard it goes muddy and harsh, it becomes very agressive at pick attack.

The amp is barebly loud when crancked, but much above bedroom levels.

Even though there are several throwbacks of this amp, I find the circuit design basically good, so tweaking it a bit might sophisticate the sound a lot. I am gonna try the following modifications in two weeks:
-gonna change the preamp tubes to JJ/Tesla ECC83, the phase splitter to ECC81.
-change the power tubes to Sovtek EL84M, or NOS Tungsram EL84s.
-change the voltage divider before V2a tube to 1:3 ratio (which will present more gain, but I will then be able to 'clean boost' the power amp.
-make an 1x12 pine speaker cab with an Eminence Red Fang speaker (a replica for the Celestion Alnico Blue).

After all this is done I post a Sound Quality Rating too.

I haven't owned it for so long yet (about 6 months), but it seems to be reliable. Quite hot, but never broke down, even when playing at full volume for hours.

Haven't dealt with Laney yet. And after the mods I not likely to do so too:)

I've been playing for 4 years. I owned a solid state amp. This sounds heaven compared to that.
If it was stolen I would finish my homemade amp:) Or I would buy another one, it's well worth the price.
Overally it's quite good, I LOVE the clean sound. I also wrote about my dislikes.
I tried several other amps too in the studio I play (Laney TF350, Laney Klipp, Fender Princeton, Marshall Valvestate), and it sounds quite OK compared to them, without the features. I choose this one because it was the cheapest all-valve combo I could find.

I submitted an earlier LC15 review on 03/28/1997 (scroll down to find it). I thought I'd add a fresh set of comments based on the more recent reviews.

See 03/28/1997 review

Alot of people seem to have been having reliability problems with this amp. For what it's worth I have two of them, both bought 1997. I use one at a time for practice (most days an hour or so)and both for playing live via a splitter box. I've averaged 60-70 gigs a year since 1997 - not major venues (apart from the largest folk music festival in Europe) but local halls, clubs, pubs etc. Live I set the master on each amp to over 7 (it needs to be this high to get good power amp overdrive and compression with input gains between 3 and 5.

One amp is fitted with JAN Phillips valves throughout, the other with Phillips in the preamp with its power amp retaining the stock Sovteks.

I have had no reliability problems whatsoever. Each amp has required one revalving of the power stage (and I guess I'll need to redo the reamps before too long). For a valve amp in regular use for 7 years that's not bad at all. Other than that one pot's had a dose of cleaner and I can't remember needing to do anything else other than re-gluing a bit of the cover on one and replacing a damaged power lead (it got trapped between bits of staging - no lead would have survived - luckily the amp was off when it happened).

The valve bases on both my amps are not plastic - they are good quality ceramic components. The PCB around them is a little darkened by the heat from the EL84s but is in no way damaged. The speakers are still fine.

One thought - this is a Class A power amp (not A/B) and they do run hot, so decent ventilation around the amp is a good idea. If you revalve the poweramp you *must* rebias to avoid all kinds of problems. The bias voltage is -11.5V cathode-ground (according to Laney technicians) and the bias pot is easy to spot on the PCB.

I've always found Laney very helpful, though I used to work a couple of miles down the road from them and I live about 15 miles away so contacting them is no problem (the company name is BLT Electronics by the way). Last year we took an ancient (mid 80s) PA head in for repair (buzzing a bit - new capacitors needed). They stripped it, ran all the boards through their quality control system as used on new amps, replaced the faulty board, decided to replace 2 pots they considered marginal, replaced the cooling fan which had been noisy for a while, cleaned everything, reassembled and tested as per a new product. Total cost was about 50UKP and took under a week. Not bad at all.

Years ago Laney fitted into many people's "it ain't very good but at least it's cheap" category. Over the last few years they've done much better than their previous reputation would lead you to expect. The valve guitar amps introduced in the 90s played a very large role in this.

See 03/28/1997 review.

#160 bought new 2003. one channel, bass, middle and treble controls, bright switch, hi and low input,the stock speaker is a celestion V10 silver series. sometimes i wish i had got the reverb version, but to be honest it sounds so sweet that i don't really miss it now. a headphone socket would be nice as i often get the urge to play late at night and have two young children. by the way i think that the amp is really nice looking, particularly like the mini chicken-head control knobs. play a bit of everything,veering towards rock, probably use 50/50 clean to dirty sounds.i use the amp at home and to be honest it's almost too loud for what i need. i can only really crank up it when the girlfriend/kids/neighbours are all out.

i play a brian moore mc1 composite, one piece neck/body, H/S/H, this guitar has a wide range sounds and they all sound good through the laney. because i generally don't play it very loud i can get a sound which is nice and clean without any problems. as you start to wind the gain up things start to get bluesey, then everything starts to get nice and crunchy and by the time you've got the gain at full, there's more than i would normally ever want. it is a little noisy when cranked up but as soon as you're playing all you hear is that rich valve tone. i've had only had transistor amps in the past and the laney has been a revelation to me. my guitar being composite and hollow it quite bright so i don't tend to use the bright switch too often. sometimes i'll plug into the low imput as my SD pickups are very hot and sometimes it can be a bit much in a small room. only effects i use through it are a marshall guv'nor distortion, dunlop wah and boss chorus. i got given the guv'nor just before i bought the amp and to be honest hardly use it, the amp just doesn't need it and i don't like to muddle it's sound. my wah-wah sounds lovely through it especially clean. this amp has all the sounds i need.

i've read all the reviews here and know about the poorly mounted valves and heat issues i've had it for eight months and it has worked perfectly, however it has only been out of my house a couple of times. my kids have knocked it over a few times. i guess i would'nt trust it if i was a working musician. it does run very hot. but then again it is primarily a practise amp, so it was probably not designed with prolongued periods of full volume/gain levelsin mind

n/a

been playing for 18 years, had an early japanese squire strat for years which i played through a small vox then a 50w peavey. just sold the peavey and strat to buy the laney and my beautiful simon and patrick accoustic. if it got nicked i'd be well pissed off and buy another, probably with the reverb, maybe. i love it's crunchy overdrive and the fact that it's nice and compact but packs a serious punch. i tried a few other amps vox, crate, marshall, peavey, but for me the laney stood out a mile in terms of tone, plus i like to buy british. i nearly bought the little vox with one valve and 8" bulldog speaker. but they're now manufactured a million miles away and it didn't sound half as good as the laney. i love it. it could be better in terms of finish and manufacture(vavle mounting and retainers) but then you couln't buy it for so little money. a class A valve amp for 160 quid is a serious bargain especially when it sounds this good.

Just your basic features here, nothing special. All tube, single channel, hi and lo inputs, gain, lo, mid, hi, and master. There's a line output jack that is taken off the speaker output so it's a true line out vs. a preamp out jack as found on many other small tube combos... The amp isn't incredibly versatile, but it is very good at what it does, so long as you've got the right tubes in it. It has plenty of power to cut through in small club and rehearsal settings. Of course, you can always utilize the line out and slave another amp onto it or mic it if you need more volume. Small amps have never presented much of a limitation to me...

Okay, here's the deal. The stock speaker is pathetic--think pure mississippi swamp goo here... I exchanged the stock 10 incher for an 8 inch speaker I had lying around (I built a new baffle for it). That improved the tone greatly in itself. I also swapped out the 12AX7 in the phase splitter position for a 12AT7 (a tube with moderately less gain than the 12AX7). I tried a 7247 NOS in the first tube position, and it sounded great, but was microphonic so the stock tube got put back in. I plan on trying a 12DW7 in that spot (that's a tube that is like a 12AX7 in the first triode, more like a 12AU7 in the second one). The reason for all the changes is that the amp's stock distortion was kind of splatty. I surmised that there was just too much gain getting back to the power tubes and swapped out some tubes to compensate. I still haven't replaced the Sovtek EL84s, but plan on dropping some JJs in soon (along with the 12DW7). In it's stock condition, the master began to break up at around 3 and the gain would just push it too far too soon. With the tube changes I can run both channels on around 5-7 and get a nice early breakup, AC-15 type sound. engage the bright switch and you've got the top boost thing going on...very cool. I use a MIM Fender Strat (with upgraded pickups) and it mates to the LC-15 very well. It's easy to get a bluesy grind going on, as well as a sparkly jangle on the lower gain settings. I play straight ahead songwritten rock (think Black Crowes) and this amp suits that style perfectly. It's not overly noisy when you get a decent tube in the first postition. There's not tons of headroom available, but c'mon man, it's only 15 watts...what do you expect. If you want tons of clean headroom get a Twin! If I'm recording and don't want the hiss, I will just jumper a 12V dome lamp (like you find in a car) across the speaker leads--a cheap noise reducer for all you DIYers out there. The stock sound gets a 5 while the modded sound gets an 8. More tube changeouts would probably increase this rating to a 9 (with 10 being reserved for the rare, vintage glory amp you wish you could afford).

This amp is only somewhat reliable. I've never had it completely kick the bucket on me, but I've had some annoying pops, whirrs, and intermittent power losses due to the tube sockets not making good contact. Contact cleaner helps, but doesn't completely alleviate the problem. I also worry about the board mounted tube sockets. I've owned other amps that had the tubes mounted in this way, but they were all heads, not combos, and the heat was allowed to dissipate and rise out of the circuitry instead of up into it. I wish more of the small amp manufacturers would use chassis-mounted sockets wired to the circuit boards...but that would drive the cost up and the volume of sales down...oh well, I'll cross my fingers...

Never had to deal with them so I don't know.

Overall, it's a fairly decent amp for the money. I have been playing for nearly 20 years and have dealt with a fairly advanced stage of G.A.S. for most of that time. I've had better amps, and I've definitely had worse. As with most cheap tube amps, there is need for plenty of little upgrades, but then again it goes with the territory (e.g. MIM strat and stock p'ups...) I would like to see chassis-mounted tube sockets at least on the power tubes--it would make me feel better. Also the tube retainers are kind of cheesy, but you can update those for yourself if you're so inclined. Overall not too bad.

This is an update on my previous review.
Very basic amp, absolutely no frills, one channel; one high and one low gain input; bass, middle, and treble controls; volume and gain controls witha bright switch and a line out jack. 3 12AX7 (ECC83) preamp tubes and 2 EL84 power tubes on a printed circuit board.

I recently purchased a strat with Rio Grande Halfbreed pickups and it sounds wonderful through this amp, though I may soon replace the HH speaker. My '59 Les Paul Standard doesn't sound that good using this amp as the pickups seem to be too hot and distorts very early on into the power span of this amp. This sucker is an extremely loud 15 watts and sounds even louder through a decent speaker cab loaded with a couple of 12" Celestion V30's. With the gain turned up this little booger turns into a nasty chainsaw that cuts through pretty well in a small club situation. Recently I've been experimenting using the Laney's line out jack into my '66 blackface Fender Band-Master with fairly pleasing results. The Laney makes the Band-Master break up pretty well and adds some sustain to that extremely clean Fender sound. I use an A-B switch to jump between the Fender set clean and the Laney driven Fender. It's almost like an overdrive pedal, but a little smoother. I also replaced the Sovtec EL84s with some JJs and the Chinese 12AX7s with some Electro Harmonix tubes and it smoothed out the harshness of the amp somewhat. I may try some lower gain tubes in the preamp at a later date as the amp developes much more gain than I find necessary.

This is where my problem with the Laney has been... it hasn't proven itself as a reliable amp. After sending it in to Laney twice to have an output transformer replaced with the amp not lasting more than a month between repairs, I relegated the beast to a nice place in my closet for several years. I finally dug it out and decided to repair it myself (it needed yet another output transformer), had a VERY difficult time locating a US distributor from which to order the part (no local dealers in my area anymore). Laney's website was absolutely no help in this matter and I finally found an address in a discussion group. After getting the part in and taking the thing apart I found out why I was having so much trouble. The circuit board and ALL the wired connections were rife with cold solder joints. There were also big globs of some kind of glue that had dripped down onto the board from the heat of the tubes that needed cleaning off. After spending considerable time cleaning up the mess and resoldering the bad connections, I installed the beast's third output transformer and put the thing back together. It has been working fine for the last 9 months, though had Laney's quality control been better, I wouldn't have rated the amp so low in this area. I'm giving it a 3 because of that. After I fixed it myself (though that souldn't have been necessary), I'd give it at least an 8 since it's been working for the last 9 months with no problems, no even a fuse that it used to eat regularly.

Another poor area for Laney... they'd love to sell you one, but they don't have much use for customer support it appears. Their east coast distributor was very helpful after I finally got an address and phone number to contact him, but getting that information wasn't as easy as it should have been. The warranty period was a year... I had the amp for about 2 months of that period and it was in Laney's shop for the other 10 months.

I have been playing for 35 years. My other gear is a '66 Fender Band-Master head with an Avatar cab loaded with Celestion V30's. I only hope the Laney is more reliable now, God knows that 38 year old Fender has been. If the Laney were stolen, I'm not sure I'd buy another. I'm having trouble developing much trust in it, though since I repaired it myself, it has worked flawlessly and really sounds good now. I would give it a better overall rating had I not had to fix all the sloppy work that Laney did on this amp.

Very basic amp... completely no-frills.

I've played for 30 years and use a '59 Les Paul Standard and mainly bouth this beast as a practice amp., however it was very loud.

This is where the problem begins... I had the amp for a short month and the output transformer went out. My dealer wasn't very helpful in repairing it and the beast had to be returned to Laney for service. They kept it for 5 months before they returned it and it lasted another 2 weeks before the same problem occured. Repeat of the prevouis scenario except it took only 4 months for Laney to return it this time and by this time the warranty period was out. A short month later it suffered another output tranformer failure and I gave up the ghost. I wouldn't consider gigging without a truckload of the bastards handy...

Absolutely none to speak of... Laney was a real pain in the ass to deal with and of course all the amp's problems were deemed my fault.

Sounded real nice the 3 months that I had it working, but I really wish someone would steal it so I could collect some insurance on it. A complete piece of crap!!

Hi/Lo input. Gain, Treb, Mid, Bass and Volume. All you need.
Cost me #149. Have changed the valves for Harmas from Watford Valves - brilliant company and excellent advice to help you choose the right valves to help get the sound you are after. Use it at home in the dining room. Bags of volume.

I use a USA 57 vintrage re-issue strat and a Boss GT5. This set up gives me everything I need from Hank Marvin through to Gilmour (clean and dirty), Santana, Gary Moore, Satriani and Jeff Beck type tones as well as my own sounds. Wish my playing could match the sounds. I love the amp and it flatters my playing. Sounds really good with wah wah. Tend to keep gain around 4 and volume maybe up to 5. Hurts my ears any louder! Nice and quiet providing I use noise gate to tame the effects.

Never let me down.

Been playing since 1973. Had a crappy Zenta, then a crappy none-trem 1974 Fender Strat and a Yamaha B212 100 watt combo. Had a strat plus in 89 which I never liked and a Peavey Bandit.
Wish I had an Ibanez Jem and a Univibe.

Basic but enough. Hi/Lo input. Gain, Treb, Mid, Bass and Volume. Line out at the back. What there is, does the job!

Bloody great right out of the box. I gig this amp. Have it as a monitor and mike it thru the PA. Just using a standard USA Strat and a JD Wah. That's it. Keep it simple. You need to crank it but that's why you've got it??? Can't beat a cranked class A amp! This one lets you keep your hearing too. I wind the volume full on then use the gain to control things. At gain 3 or 4 it's plenty driving for classic rock. Back the gain off and the volume and you can get some nice clean tones (not fender) but powerful, maybe a bit darker than a Fender amp (e.g. my Fender Rivera Concert 2x10). Overdrive sound is way way better than Fender and better than a TSL601 I tried for one night (then returned it...usual sounded good in the shop...) More like JTM 45 sounds.

Been OK so far. Just ordered some JJ's and Harmas from WatfordValves.com and keep the Sovs in reserve. Derek at watty vales reckons Sovs last 3 months with regular use (working!) and the Harmas (ref Brian May) about 8. Going to also try a different speaker (Jensen C10Q) but the stock HH package sounds excellent. Most people need to understand how hard this thing drives the power amp valves. The amp does get hot but blow a fan at it or allow air to get to it.

Never dealt with Laney. Their website is a bit pants but plenty of reviews of their gear else where. For once people in the UK get a good deal.

Been playing about 20 years and gigging 10. I've put this in as my main amp. Left my disto pedals behind and come home being able to hear!! Even our loud drummer can hear this thing (as I have it in a monitor/side fill situation pointing back at me and mike it up for out front).
You can't beat working valves!!
Excellent price (even new). It's tiny and weighs nothing (compared to a 2x12 combo or 4x12 + head etc etc). Buy two, think I will if I see another one.
Email me if you have any questions about this amp or other guitar stuff.

I bought my amp this year second-hand for #160.00.
My amp has been upgraded somewhat. The valves were replaced with harmas from watford valves. And the speaker was replaced with a fane 10" (as used by hi-watt) Also the valve holders have been replaced with a better heat conducting solution.
I mostly play metal and hard rock and find it is great for this.
It is of course valve and that makes one hell of a difference. the distortion is just lovely.
It only has 1 channel though, which isn't a problem with me because if i want a clean sound i'll just back of the volume on the guitar.

I use a gibson gothich explorer with original high output gibson pickups (which I love btw). It really suits my style well, it's clear, lovely harmonics beautifull tone.. exceptional.
It's VERY LOUD. do not be put off by the low ouput rating, I had an 80watt 2x12 amp (solid-state) and this blows it away for sheer power and volume).
I can't give an accurate description of the clean sounds because I havn't much need of a clean sound and have nothing to compare it to, but I think it's nice and does a job. Distortion wise, I think it's very very good. Even at low volumes (around 1 or 2) in the bedroom it still has a nice tone, but when you crank it.. oh boy !!
This is very versatile for distortion, can go from lovely warm bluesbreaker type overdrive to black sabbath fatness through to metallica type crunch. I love this amp !

I havn't had it long so can't really comment. It seems sturdy though, maybe there should be a standby switch to help the valves but i havn't had any problems.

Not had to deal with with as yet. Although I'm from the UK and know all about laney's great reputation for service and loyalty.

I have owened a laney linebacker, trace elliot supertramp twin, boss metal zone, od2 and various other pedals, gibson sg's, explorers, bc-rich warlock and a westbury double cutaway and a jackson kelly ke-1. I can say that this amp has been my best ever purchase, I just wish I bought before all the other stuff and I would have saved a fortune. Is this the best kept secret in the amp world?

I love the tone, I love the distortion, I love the volume, this is the perfect amp for me (except for maybe a low watt power duel rectifier with custom 2x12 cab) If i lost it or it got stolen, I would definitly without doubt get this one.. or maybe it's big brother for the other channel.

Single channel, 3 band EQ, LO and HI gain input, Gain and Volume control, Line-out. Simple and straightforward.

It's the model with Sovtek endtubes. The pre-amp 12AX7 tubes don't carry any identification.

I build a STBY switch in it immidiately.

Only a 7, because it's got all you need, except a STBY switch.

Just home practice rock-style. nice sound, suits me well.

It's not very noisy, but could be quiter. New 12AX7 of higher quality will fix that. But that's just to make it really perfect.

Have it for a week now, still going :-). Had a good look at the PCB and componenets. It seems very well build. Build to last so to speak.

Drilling holes in it and resoldering the wires makes warranty no longer an issue for me :-)

Playing for 2 years now, this is an excellent home Amp. I will never use the enormous soundpressure it can produce. Luckily it sounds excellent at low sound levels.

The Amp itself is a very good one, cooling holes at the back should allow the hot air from the tubes to flow outside. Not perfect (the PCB will get hot) but it should do. A STBY switch would be nice but is an easy job to do yourself, just put a proper (250 volt!!) switch in series with the HI Tension fuse).

A big (7mm) slot above the speaker panel makes you loose some soundquality due to "acoustic short". I filled it up with a bit of wood and you can hear the difference. A definetely advisable "upgrade" with more noticable effect than an expensive new speaker (this one is quite good).

The "wallpaper" finish really sucks and is going loose everywhere. Typical English ... build a very good thing and sr*w up the finishing touch.

Having fixed the little flaws this one is "not for sale". Anybody wants a nice Crate homepractise Amp???

I was actually looking for a cheap 15 Watt practise amp when I read an ad in which this baby was being sold (laney amp, new tubes...). I had tried out all amps I could afford and was about to settle for a Vox Pathfinder even though I didn't like the way it sounded. I thought that there just wasn't an amp sounding like I wanted it to for the price I could pay. Oh boy, was I wrong...
I visited the Laney website to check its features which are few. Pots for gain, bass, mids, treble and volume. And a bright switch. No reverb or anything. Still curious I went to this guy and gave it a try. It took me about 20 seconds to decide that this was THE amp.

I rate it a 7 because I kinda miss the reverb and maybe an FX loop.

I play it with an Epi Les Paul and a Squier Bullet (80's and sounding a whole lot better than the crap they make now).The sound of this amp really surprised me. It sounds very sweet clean and with the gain at 3 o'clock it tears off my wallpaper. Most of the time the gain is at 11 o'clock and then it gives me a nice warm blues sound. This was the sound I've been looking for for a long time.
I tried a tubescreamer for more gain at lower volume settings but that sounded really disappointing. It worked perfectly on my old amp but that was no tube amp. The speaker on this Laney sounds good enough.
The amp sounds very big, much bigger than it looks. It is louder than any other 15 Watt amp I tested which all were solid states. Actually it is louder than I wanted it to be, but when an amp sounds as good as this one does, let it be loud...

Don't know yet.

Don't know

I've been playing for about 18 years now. I was never really serious until a few months ago. I'm not a good guitar player, but I know what sounds good and what does not. This amp sounds good. No, this amp sounds great!! Warm tones, perfect for the blues sound that I love. Over the years I gathered quite a collection of pedals which should have given me the tone I was looking for. All those endless hours of tweaking pedals and amp settings were a complete waste of time. I should have bought this amp years ago.
If it were lost I would buy one again in a second. After testing Vox, Marshall, Fender, Peavey, Ibanez and Crate I'm sure that I have the best sound my bucks could buy.

I'LL TRY AND MAKE THIS SHORT AND SWEET, SEEING AS THERE'S ALREADY A LOT OF REVIEWS.

Mine is an LC-15, no reverb. 1x10 combo. 3 12AX-7's, and 2 EL-84's. 15W.

Gain, Bright switch, Bass, Mid, Treble, Volume. High and low gain inputs. I use it as a practice amp, and this is all I need for that. It also has a line out that I use sometimes for bedroom recordings.

Not a whole lot of features, but plenty for my purposes.

I use a Gibson SG '61 Re-issue straight into this amp, and I only use it as a practice amp at home (low volumes). So you know what this amp is up against, my gigging amps are a 64' Vox AC-50 head (tube rectified) and an Orange OR-80 head (early 90's RI). I use them with matching Hiwatt 4x12's loaded with Fanes.

First off, this amp is pretty damn loud for 15W. Way louder than I expected it to be. The distortion is where this amp really shines. Sounds a lot like my JCM800, but a tad smoother when the Marshall can be raspy at times. I wish it had a little more midrange on tap. But then again, i'm sure part of that is due to the fact that I play it so damn quiet. A TAD more treble wouldn't hurt either, but again...with the volume on 1...

The clean is a little bit disappointing...not so much the clean tone that it's capable of. But i'm used to rolling back on a volume pedal for clean, or even my guitar's volume. The Laney won't clean up. To get a decent clean I have to use the low gain input with the gain almost all the way down. And even then, it breaks up early. I like the high gain for distortion, so i'm kinda stuck compromising. The clean is nice, not my Vox, but nice...

At any rate...i'm kinda being picky. For $185, this is a damn sweet sounding amp. I'm considering using it the next time I go into the studio. Considering the other amps I have to use (Vox, Orange, JCM800, Sovtek MIG100), I think that tells you where this amp stands. The speaker is a piece of junk. Plug it into a decent speaker and it turns into a new amp. I ordered a Weber Ceramic 10" for it that should be here soon.

Bottom line...great sounding amp for the money. Destroys the Peavey Classic 30 (which I also own), Fender Blues Jr, and any other small tube amp in it's price range. And heck, my Laney was half the price of those other ones.

Hasn't let me down yet...although it does get pretty hot. I found some glue on one of the pre-tubes that dripped down off the circuit board or something...so I guess it gets pretty hot after it's been on for a while. Points off because this makes me think twice about trusting it as a gigging amp ever.

never dealt with them.

Great tone for a great value. Sure, it's got some flaws. Tube sockets on the board, heat issues, crappy speaker. But, the components are good quality, the tone is great, and the price is amazing. I would definitely recommend one to a friend.

Looking for Marshall-like overdrive in a small package? Looking for a nice buttery EL-84 clean tone? This is probably your amp. For some reason, noone has really caught on to how good these amps are. I have a friend with an AOR50, and that amp sounds great too. Sooner or later people will catch on, and the prices will go through the roof...like what happened with Sovteks. But until then, i'm happy to have one of the best kept secrets in the tube amp world.

Buy new, 2002. from left to right on panel:
hi/lo inputs, gain, bright switch, bass, mid, treble, volume, reverb. no standby switch. 15W. 10 in HH Invader spkr. 3 pre amp tubes and 2 EL84s. speaker and line out, effect send/return. single channel. not the most versatile amp out there but good enough for me.

I use std start, stock PUs. play some rock and blues.
this is a sweet little monster. Most of the time I play in my bedroom and it sounds prettydecent. It definitely sounds better as I crank it up (so are most other tube amps) but bedroom level is not bad.
EQ is not as sensitive as I want it to be.
reverb is good, not noisy at all.
The distortion in this little amp is very good, can play any rock lead with no problem.
it is definitely a LOUD 15W amp. shouldn't have any problem if ur drummer is not super loud. again, 15W means u won't be deaf if u want to drive the power tubes hard.
one thing about the speaker. the amp can get a little muddy if bass is dialed up since the speaker can't really handle that much bass. replacing the speaker should fix this problem (I haven't done that yet, so can't comment).
btw, the bright switch is useful, gives u very a different (and good) tone.

only have it for 2 months... so far so good.
there were known problems with transformer in earlier models but are fixed in new ones. so watch out if u are buying it used, make sure the transformer is the good one (I don't know how to tell...). if u buy it new, I won't worry about its reliability.

have only deal with my local dealer (when ordering the amp). 3 yrs warranty.

before I bought my LC15R, my checklist is:
- tube amp! (C'mon, it is not a hype, tube amps really sound better)
- low watt (man, u know tube amps, most of them, sounds better when cranked)
- good tone (try before u buy!)
- effect loop and reverb
- size (this amp is small. ok, u only get a 10in speaker)
- $ (to me, this amp is very affordable)

channel switching 'was' one of the items on my list, but after I tried the amp in store, I just can't resist to buy it coz of the sweet tone.
in this price range/configurations, I think Blues Jr is another candidate. However, I am not impressed with its distorted tone at all and LC15R is a little bit more versitile.
spend some time on the knobs and you should get a lot of different good tones from this amp.

Pretty basic. Just 2 inputs, gain, 3 band eq, master volume and a line out which I had rewired as an external speaker socket coz
'line-out' sux. This one's got no reverb which is great coz that
means it doesn't have the solid state spring circuit in the signal
path, it's 100% tube!!

It only makes one sound and that sounds is oh so sweet! Man, this
little baby rocks and is loud enough to break your windows. It's
loud enough to keep up with a drum kit at rehersals or in a small
gig. It's great in the studio. But then I tried it it with a 4x12
at a gig plugged into the converted line out socket. HOLY SMOKE!!!
This little amp is awsome through a 4x12. People, if you have one
of these amps, get the line out changed to external speaker. You
won't be sorry! Some folks on the guitar forum suggested changing
the speaker to a Fane Hiwatt which has a big cast frame but I don't know where to get one of these. Maybe I'll put in jensen or a
celestion in instead. The HH speaker is a bit harsh just as well I
got my 4x12 or it would be a 9!!!!

Heard some horror stories about early versions and I've been told
to get the power tube bases changed to ceramic coz they can get
hot and melt the plastic ones fitted if cranked to the max, but
mines has been great. Maybe I'll get it done l8r.

Never used them. I hear its pretty bad in the US

This is a great little amp. If it was stolen, I'd definitely get another. It's portable and it rocks. Maybe it should come with a
better speaker the HH one sucks a bit. One great little amp.

15watt class A tube combo.
3x 12ax7/ecc83 preamp, 2x el84 poweramp.
lo/hi inputs,gain, bright switch,lo mid hi,master. that's it, who needs more?!

This amp is really capable of making some nice sounds.
Gain at 6/7, lo and hi at 5 mid at 7 and bright on, combined with mij ariaproII hollowbody 2hb give s a very good blues tone.
more gain and you get a fat distorted tone, and with gain at max you've got fuzz.

Heard some horror-stories.
planning on putting the chassis upside down in a home made top-enclosure so the tubes can get rid of their heat, Think it should be reliable then.

beem playing for 3 years now. had a fender champ, but switched to the klaney because this amp is far more versatile, and has a whole lot of nice crunch-sounds.
I play mostly blues and rock'n'roll, and some 70ies rock, very suitable for those styles.
a lot of amp for little money.

Just the basics. One channel with master volume,gain, bass,mid,and treble controls and a bright switch. 15 watts. 2 EL84's, 3 12AX7's, 10 in. speaker. It has everything that I need.

Excellent sound! I bought this amp new over 5 years ago and knew I had to have it after playing my first chord through it. This amp breaks up beautifully with that sweet EL84 chime and rich even-harmonic content. It sounds similar to a Vox AC15 only somewhat "ruder". It actually uses a class A/B curcuit as opposed to an AC15's class A curcuit. It has a very pure tone clean or distorted. I prefer the sound of humbuckers through this amp, but single coils also sound very sweet. As a stock unit, this amp is very good. However, I made some modifications to it that made it sound even better. I replaced the stock H&H speaker with an early 80's 25 watt Celestion. The H&H, in my opinion, is not a bad speaker, but the Celestion is a definate improvement. The H&H sounds dull in comparason and does not break up nearly as musically as the Celestion. Also, I replaced the 2 stock preamp driver tubes with Tesla 12AX7's and the stock 12AX7 used as the phase splitter with a NOS RCA 5751. The 5751 lowered the amp's gain slightly but gave it a sweeter overall sound to my ears. Both of these mods were well worth the time and money invested, although the speaker was a bitch to replace thanks to the bone-headed way Laney installed the speaker frame mounting screws. This amp is loud for its size!

This little amp appears to have a reputation for great sound but poor reliability. In my experience, it has been perfectly reliable. As I said earlier, I've owned my LC15 for over 5 years now and have not had one problem. I've gigged fairly regularly with it in the past. It really is loud enough for club gigs, especially if its miked. I had it running with the volume at about 5-6 and the gain about half way when playing live or practicing with my band and it never gave me any problems. I once opened it up for a look inside and noticed that the wiring was neat, and that the components were of high quality. All tubes are mounted to the PC board. Not a problem with the 12AX7's but the EL84's, despite being smaller tubes, should really be chasis mounted. It sounds like the heat from these tubes when the volume is cranked is what is causing this amp to fail. This could also be related to poor quality control on Laney's part. For the record, I also own a Laney GC50A 50 watt combo and have never had a problem with it either. For this price, don't expect point to point wiring, a solid wood cabinet, or tank-like construction. However, I would hardly consider the LC15 to be a cheap amp either.

I've never dealt with the company.

I love this amp. Its light, compact, loud and it sounds fantastic. It is an awesome amp for recording and also for gigs that don't require huge amounts of volume. I really hope it never breaks down because I am not sure if they still make these little guys.

Hi & low inputs, 3-way EQ and a bright switch, gain and (master) volume. Line out (or is a preamp out, I've never used it..) at the back of the cabinet. As you know by now, 15W all tube, 10" HH invader speaker. I guess it's class A/B.

It has all the basic stuff, I wouldn't mind it having effects loop and a reverb, but I really don't need either, so I'm all satisfied.

Well, it sounds great ;-) Nice somewhat brittish sounds, sounds good both clean and overdriven/distorted. With my MIJ Fender Strat is starts to distort slightly (depending on pick/finger attack) when
gain knob gets over 10 o'clock and at 2 o'clock it has a nice 'clear' distorted sound. Gain at max it gets pretty fuzzy, but for
that kind of sounds I prefer combining amp and pedal distortion. I've got Boss SD-1 and Danelectro French Toast Fuzz for that, and they both do well with this amp.

When the master volume hits something like 3 o'clock, powertubes start to distort, and yes, it sounds great. At that point it's way too loud for use in a normal sized room, but if you have free minded neighbours and a set of earplugs, go for it :-)

Well, I bought it second hand summer/2001 and it's been built at
1996. As far as I know, no repairs have been made. So far it has worked great, and I've played it pretty damn loud from time to time, though not over couple hours at once. No problems so far.

Nothing to complain about and sounds great. Maybe I've heard better sounding amps, but they were 10 times the price of this Laney. Awesome value for the money.

Carries the basic stuff so you can have that tube tone you was looking for in a small package.

I think it suits the blues, rock and roll players. Not the thash metal ones.

It isn't reliable.This was the reason i has motivated to right this review. I built my own amps with my brother.And we service our friend's gear.When a friend came by with this LC-15, we removed the chassis to look the horror! The sockets are very low quality and pcb monted(directly in the printed circuit board).So, 3 big sins were made in the design in this amp:
-Very cheap sockets PCB monted (melted after use...and the close components on the circuit board too!)
-SMD preamp circuit too close to the tubes, so to their heat
-and the worst of all...the power tubes (a pair of EL-84)which is a tube with glass base monted upside down.In this tube the dissipation pole is positioned on the top of the tube (in 6L6GC are at sides),so the heat do not go to the pole because the tube is monted upsidedown, the heat flow thought the glass direct to the base of the tube, making them very very hot, so the socket melts, and the base of the tube cracks (small cracks, but suficient to air enter the tube and the gatter oxides...ruining the tube).
We reseached this topic in the bible of all circuit tubes, in the RCA'S RADIOTRON HANDBOOK (amem) and it's written there that glass base tubes with the metal pins running though the glass SHOULD NEVER BE MONTED UPSIDE DOWN because the heat goes up not down, it will concentrate in the base of the tube, cracking the glass ...so running the tube.
My question is....the guys in Laney don't knew it?With all their experience and so?
My opinion to those with this amp and what to use it?
Use the combo upside down...doing this the tubes will run up (normal position) the heat will flow to the pole, and to the air normally (convection).Like i had seen the ZZTOP guys playing their ORANGE combos upsidedown in the Jools Holland Show on the TV.

Just note....here we are all engineers...(mechanical, eletrician)just crazy about the true tone on our basses,guitars, and what is behind all of that pile of wires, resistors, caps, and so.
You can believe in what we wrote...

Warranty time expired...
Hahahahah....we're in Brazil....warranty doesn't work the same here as in the US or in Europe because this kind of gear is not imported officially by Laney and so.

It doesn't work any more....
We are removing all the junk and putting a new circuit....
Just the cab, speaker and X tranformers will the used...all the rest will go to the junk....

This is my update for my LC15 review below (where I compared it to the DSL50).
The Laney blew up!
I think running it with one powertube pushed it over the edge. I brought it to a electronics wiz who diagnosed that the mains transformer had blown and the EL84 valve sockets were melted to nothing - this damage must have been done by the previous owner by cranking it to 10. I contacted Laney and got a new transformer and two new EL84 valve sockets including delivery for #25. The new transformer is issue no.3 which suggests the older LC15's transformers were not good enough. The new tube sockets were hi quality and durable plastic rather than the resin type originals. I contacted

This is my update for my LC15 review below (where I compared it to the DSL50).

The Laney died!

I brought it to a electronics wiz who diagnosed that the mains transformer had blown and the EL84 valve sockets were melted to nothing - this damage must have been done by the previous owner by cranking it to 10 all the time. I contacted Laney and they were very helpful in getting a new transformer and two new EL84 valve sockets to me for #25 inc delivery. The new transformer is issue no.3 as was much more substantial, which suggests the older LC15's transformers were not up to spec. The new tube sockets were hi-quality and durable plastic rather than the resin type originals. I purchased new EL84 valves (Harma STR) and 12AX7's (Sovtek LPS - higains) and a new Jenson C10Q speaker to finish the upgrade and repair. I purchased my parts from www.watfordvalves.com - they were very knowledgable about my amp and told me they have known of many a early LC15 that have blown. They also told me that due to unusual pin wiring on these amps you have to be careful what poweramp valves you use. Most of the common brands of EL84's emit a loud hum in this particular amplifier (they recommended the Harma STR's).

I finally got my amp repaired and upgraded and it sounds great. You've gotta hear it to believe the vintage tone this produces. The amp excels at low gain, crunchy blues work giving a nicely compressed, easy to play tone. Truly inspiring. The upgrades makes this amp something special.

Total cost=#190:
#25 replacement transformer and tube sockets.
#40 new valves. #35 new speaker. #90 for the amp second hand.
Plus two hours help from my electronics wizard friend.

If I'd known the hassle I'd have with this amp I would not have bothered. I should have held out for an LC30, or even better for my type of playing, got an old Laney AOR combo. But now its all been done I smile every time I play it and I cant see myself letting it go. I dont think the reliability of this amp has any reflection on Laneys other products. The LC15 is a very cheap amp so what can you expect?
I am definately going to get myself one of the new Laney TT50 amps when they are released, I'm sure it will knock the socks off my Marshall DSL50!

Basic amp. See other review.
BTW: I play traditional brit metal such as Black Sabbath, Ozzy, Iron Maiden, Led Zepplin, Deep Purple and some blues.

Being a computer engineer I had the ultimate of digital setups. Various FX boxes such as POD, VAMP2, GX700, Digitech... thru Marshall 20/20 valve poweramp into celestion 1912 Marshall cabs. No matter what I did I couldnt find a tone that really gripped me. In despair I researched into the valve amp world to see if my answer was there. Before making my choice on a big amp I came across this little Laney in the local paper ads for #90. I picked it up and low and behold my guitar playing came ALIVE. My first valve amp experience. I ended up not being able to stomach the sound coming out of my big setup at all. This amp can do metal stuff with gain on 10 but the gain just wasnt quite there for that style. Still, it sounded so warm it was great!

I picked up a Marshall Guvnor 2 pedal (after trying load of crap Boss pedals) and with a small boost from that, my Laney now compresses and sustains for days with total clarity. Can easily do my brit metal stuff beautifully with bags of spare gain. A very fat hot-rod Marshall sound.

I checked out the valves after a few weeks of use and realised one of the poweramp valves was dead. The amp still sounds very loud and clear! I am a bit concerned about its lifespan though after reading other reviews here.

n/a

After experiencing this amp I sold all my digital rig and bought a Marshall DSL50 valve head. The other day me and my buddy were jamming at my house - me thru the Marshall and him thru the Laney. After tweaking the Marshall for a while I said "Hey, why dont you play thru the Marshall for a while!". No kidding, the tone out of the Laney was so FAAATTTTT and pure, it walked all over the Marshall. Obviously the Marshall would kill it at band volume but for home use, I find I'm playing the Laney just as much as I do the Marshall.
If this amp had an FX loop or reverb i'd change the valves and speaker and keep it forever. Unfortunatly it doesnt, so I'm going to pick up a second hand LC30 and mod that.
The only other thing I can say is whereas the Marshall can do modern metal (scooped mid and hi sizzle) the Laney cant really do that. But the tone it does have: pure, fat and british is just totalling inspiring. A nice transparent boost pedal such as Marshall BluesBreakerII or GuvnorII transforms this amp into a monster - essential for gain applications.

I cannot recommend this amp enough and am now very curious about how Laney heads would compare to my DSL50... as for all the digital modelling, I wasted 6 playing years on that weedy sounding rubbish.

Only 1 channel, so it's totally "pedal friendly" (analogue pedals, not digital. NEVER digital!). But, be forewarned; only 1 channel.

I'm putting a pair of Hot Seymour Duncan P-90's through it on my Fernandes Native. Plus an all MXR pedal scheme (noisegate>compressor>octavefuzz>tremelo). And I LOVE this amp! I have the best tone on the friggin' block! Maybe in all of Las Vegas! Kinda Hendrix' "Purple Haze" meets Thurogood's "Born to Be Bad". I can't stop playing this setup! I've always dreamed of this tone in my head. Now I have it, and it's SO satisfying!

Never one problem. Ever.

This is perhaps the best tube amp you'll find under $200 used. Don't let the watts (15) fool you. Everyone I play this for is amazed at how loud this little thing is. I put a "speaker off & out" modification on mine, so you can disconnect the 10" celestion greenback I upgrade to & run this through a 4 x 12 (or any other multi speaker cab) and it sounds fantastic doing it. Nothing sounds quite like a tube amp being pushed all out (w/ just the right amount of preamp gain). And c'mon, 100 watts is just too damn much these days. Nobody's doing the "Wall of Marshalls" thing anymore. That died when Nirvana killed hair metal. By the time you get 100 watts (or even 50) to sound their best, the volume level is damn near unbearable. When this little puppy sounds it's best, it's volume is still a very workable stage level, without starting the "dick-off" over who can be the loudest! (Besides, the drummer should always win that one!) If you can find one of these for under $200, buy it! I also highly recommend putting the "line out" through a Hughes & Kettner "Red Box" speaker cabinet simulator. It sounds so much like a SM57 balls deep in 4 x 12 celestions, it's the perfect home studio setup. Top it off w/ the slightest room reverb in the mix, and it's dripping in sweet tube saturation glory. I'll say it again: I LOVE this amp!

Simple simple dials, if you don't understand become a drummer. Being able to add or remove the top sparkle with the bright button is great.

Very usable and beautiful english clean/crunch sounds, not too hot for squeely distortion on it's own but a pedal pushes things up nicely. It is a little noisy but not bad considering it is all valves. the volume knob is not particuarly subtle at high gain but again if you are using a pedal to provide most of the overdrive it is more reponsive

no problems at all on the reliability front. If you are in a place with really ancient electric supply you may find volume swells and dives mysteriously.

i like it and will one day buy a big lc50 (tony iommi like me uses laneys and SGs and if they're good enuf for the sabbath they are good enough for me) it kicks the poo out of transistor practice amps because of it's honeylicious golden valve tones. bargain. Dont waste the same money on a rubishy Park!

Bought it in 98 took it back, it was already broken in a week.
Got a fender instead, much better. If it breaks right away take it back & ask for something else.
Features were about average.

Good sounding for a small package. Broke down, it sounds very quiet, almost like silence.

Broke Down, won't buy Laney again. If they can't make a low powered tube amp the doesn't break down, then am I gonna trust them to build a big one?

Dealer gladly exchanged/store credit.

Sounds great, Breaks down.
I've bad mouthed Laney ever since.
Mean old bastard that I am.
If it breaks down, I have no use for it, nor the company that made it.
Any pro will say the same.

I noticed that the other reviews said something about the tubes needing replacing. Well, this came with Sovtek's, so I guess Laney have updated the range. Pretty simple interface, from left to right there is: HI input, LO input, bright switch, gain control, bass EQ, middle EQ, treble EQ, volume, and Power switch. On the back there is a Line Out. Apparrently, this comes straight out of the pre-amp, suggesting that it could be modded to make an FX loop. Given that this is meant to be a simple amp, and it does everything it sets out to do, I think it's pretty decent!

I use this amp with an Ibanez RG 470, which I have modified to give different sound using a push-pull volume pot. I rarely use effects with this amp, but when I do, I use a Marshall compressor --> ProCo Turbo Rat --> Boss Me-30.
When I first turned on this amp, It was very impressive. Using my rythm pickup, I managed to get (to my ears anyway) that exact "Sunshine of Your Love" sound! Be warned - to get a good sound, the EQ needs to be set quite delicately, I normally turn all EQs to 0, and then turn them all up to their sweet spots in turn. The other thing is, this amp conveys your playing style very well, if you play sharp, it'll blow off your head, f you play gently or fluently, it will sound jangly and subtle. Also note that if you play shit, it'll sound, err... shit! DO NOT BE UNDER THE ILLUSION THIS WILL MAKE YOU A BETTER PLAYER!
As for the effects, well the compression doesn't seem to have much of an effect given the natural sparkle sound of the amp. I also read reviews complaining about the amp being used for heavy stuff. Setting the gain to about 4, putting on the bright switch and EQing the Rat / amp correctly, I managed to get the "grind" of Metallica's distortion and I managed to get the sound from the chorus of Placebo's "Passive Aggressive". The Rat doesn't sustain much though! But the gain on the amp will do blues at best. Notice also, I use a shit FX pedal, yet for some odd reason it sounds really nice with the amp when using modulation effects with it. But then, I don't overdo my effects like most...
The amp however is very trebly. This is superb for clean playing, I've never heard anything as nice for clean rythm, but I will probably invest in a new speaker, to give it extra "kick".
Very impressive, but due to that speaker, I'll give it a 9.

All I have to say is FUCK YOU LANEY! I got this as a christmas present, only I couldn't play it because one of the valves were loose. It'd play for two minutes, then completely screw up! I managed to get the valve back in; after a few days I tried to wiggle it and it seemed to click into place!

Can't comment on Customer support!

Great little amp, out of it's league for this price range! If you are looking for a practice amp, and you have a few more quid to spare, get this! It will improve your ears and playing, and could probably get you signed. I imagine it's loud enough for small venues. COmparing it to a Marshall 30W GRCD or something, it can get just as loud, sounds better, and the gain on it is musical, that Marshall sounded like a Chainsaw on steroids let loose on a flock of seagulls!
BOTTOM LINE: If you are a begginer guitarist, or strapped for cash but looking for something nice to play through, you cannot go wrong with this! I don't think it could handle big gigs very well, but it could handle practicing with ease, and this amp would give any begginer a kick in the right direction, I cannot stress how satisfying it is for me to finally hear my months of guitar playing make such a nice sound through this. I cannot stress how important it is, especially for a beginner, to be able to hear yourself play, and to sound good! If you play well, then a tube amp is a must, as otherwise you will not sound as good as you play, your amp will not be working as hard as you are!

THIS AMP IS VERY BASIC BUT IT IS EFFECTIVE FOR A 15 WATT AMP . SETTING THE GAIN ON 7 THE PERFECT STRAT DRIVE SOUND IS ACHIEVED

THE AMP SOUNDS GOOD INITIALLY BUT I HOOKED IT UP TO SEVERAL OTHER SPEAKERS AND FOUND IT IS AWSOME WITH A 12IN. EVM. THAT ONE MAKES EVERYTHING SOUND BUT ITSSTRAT HEAVEN LIKE THAT. THE 10IN FROM LANEY IS A LITTLE CONSTIPATED,LOUD ENOUGH FOR A SMALL GIG WITH A12IN SPEAKER

IVE GOT MARSHALLS + FENDERS +AMPEGS BUT FOR CONTROLABLE GAIN ITS A WINNER. i HAD A SMALL BOOGIE ,WITH A12 IT SOUNDS BETTER

'99 or 2000, 15 watts, 1x10", all tube. Not sure about the class A or B thing, though. Most people say class A, but I've been told EL84s doesn't necessarily mean class A, and on Laney's website it says nothing about class A. It's the sound that matters, anyway. I love the size and wattage - I never need more than 15 watts, whether it's for practice, gigging or rehearsal. High wattage only makes power amp overdrive a pain in the ears. More feature-wise, it's got one channel, gain and volume controls, three knob EQ, bright switch, line out jack, no reverb, no FX loop, no fancy crap. Perfect for me. The LC15R model has an ext speaker jack and reverb, which is really nice, but I don't use much reverb anyway. The Hi and Low input jacks is a nice feature - plugging your humbucker equipped axe into Hi gives way too much gain, but through Low it's perfect. I'm probably going to replace the speaker (probably with a Jensen C10Q) and the tubes (probably with NOS from Watford Valves) to improve the sound, but I have no complaints about the stock components yet. Nice silver panel, but a real jewel instead of an LED and a vintage style power switch would look great.

I've used this amp almost exclusively for home practice, but will definitely use it for recording in the future. I mostly play my MIM '72 Telecaster Custom through this amp, with the volume around 7-8 and the gain at a low setting, to get a really nice power amp crunch, which this amp does really well at 15 watts. Unfortunately it gets a bit noisy at those high volume levels. A tube replacement will probably clean up somewhat. The preamp distortion you get by cranking the gain is not very good in my opinion, and I only make use of it if I want to practice at lower volumes an overdriven sound. Clean sounds are very good, though, and will probably improve upon that with new tubes and a new speaker.

I've had no problems so far. No boutique/tank feel, though. For instance, the tubes rattle a bit. But I haven't messed with any components yet, so I can't comment much in this department.

Never dealt with them, never needed.

Before I bought this I had for a long time been looking into the 10-20 watts amp category. Played the Orange AD15 (loved it but decided it was way too expensive), a '79 Champ (too small and bad value) and a '82 Champ II (also too expensive and wimpy), but jumped on this because of the great price at a 50% discount. I also have a '82 Music Man 112RD-50 that I use for rehearsing and gigging, and these two amps complement each other very well. There's not a whole lot of "mojo" in this brand new Laney, but is sounds great, especially with the master cranked, and is a real winner in the Bang for the Buck category. With new tubes and a new speaker it could be a serious smoker! If it were stolen or lost, I'd consider it again, but not unless I find it at the same great price. I also recommend the LC15R for you who want reverb and other bells and whistles. Bear in mind the reliability problems others have reported though.

15 watts, all tube, simple controls, preamp output.

Overall, for the price, this is the best deal on a tube amp out there. Replace the speaker and tubes, and yer set. This amp excels at clean to slighty dirty sounds and is great for recording. It's definately a UK sounding amp, and if you dig that tone you'll like the Laney.

Reliability is this amps only downfall. Tubes should *never* be mounted underneath a circutboard--tubes heat up, circutboards/components fry...you get the idea.

Vox, HiWatt, Marshall, and even Crate figured this out years ago. Perhaps this will change in future versions of the LC15. If it does, the LC15 (and Laney)would be the best. No foolin'.

Also, someone at Laney got spastic with the hot glue gun (huffing glue fumes?).

I spent 2 hours removing glue from the board and componentry--thats not cool. Glue has it's place--but not on a circut board.

My experience with Customer Support wasnt good. No response to emails or the phone message I left. Bummer.

Sounds awesome, but expect some problems too. I suggest playing a few of them at the store before you buy, making sure to let them warm up for a while first. If you get a good one, you won't be sorry.

Not many features. 3 band Eq, volume, gain, bright switch, preamp out. One channel ,no reverb, no effects loop (the LC15R has both of these if you need those features), no standby switch. It has a few more features than the Fender Pro Junior, which was another similar amp I was considering. Three 12AX7/ECC83s for the premap stage, two EL84s for power tubes. Class A tube amp. Very loud for 15 watts.

Best sound I've heard from any amp I've ever owned. Smooth, glassy clean sound even at lower volume/gain and a tremendously useful range at overdriven sounds at higher gain. I use a lot of pickups - a Parker P-38 (single coils, humbucker, piezo), two Strats with Lace Sensors (all four colors), a Lace guitar (Lace Holy Grails), a DeArmond JetStar (humbuckers), a Danelectro Hodad (lipstick pickups), and a Route 101 Solimar (hot rails, single coil). The only time there is any significant noise is using very low output pickups like the lipstick pickups at higher gain. There is some noise using conventional single coils, but that's normal. This amp has improved the sound of my guitars signifiacntly, and it's powerful enough for any gig that I would get. The previous owner had replaced the tubes and the speaker (Carvin speaker), so I'm not sure if a stock LC15 would sound as good, but this sounds exceptional. Suitable for anything unless you need a Marshall stack.

I would never use anything without a backup. If you want reliability, you don't get a tube amp. If you want a reliable tube amp, you don't get a class A (they run hotter). From previous reviews, it would seem that you might want to avoid Laneys also. That having been said, I've had no problems, nor had the previous owner.

They apparently don't have a US distributor at the moment. The Web site is so-so, and I couldn't even find an email address. I hope that this doesn't break.

I've been playing about two years seriously, although I also played as a teenager. My guitars are listed above, and I use a Johnson J-Station (the amp simulations sound great through the Laney), and a few overdrive/distortion pedals. I also have a few small solid state amps ranging from a Fender Mini Twin (1 watt) to a Fender Amp Can (15 watts). I would replace the Laney with the same thing if I could find it. The things I dislike would be common to all tube amps - they are heavy and expensive, and tubes are inherently unreliable.

Bought in October 1998. Made probably in the same year. Features: 15 Watts, single channel, three ECC83/two EL84 tubes, controls: gain, bass, middle, treble, volume. No standby switch; lo and hi inputs. Line out without compensation (not very usable for DI purposes when playing live). A 10" HH speaker. I saw it at a music store and when I tried it, I was amazed at the volume it produced despite its low wattage. I play in several bands ranging klezmer/balkan/punk with a lot of acoustic instruments so I don't need a hundred-watter. The only thing I would change would be a 12" speaker to get a little more bass. Otherwise, the little beast is all I need. It does that "British" sound, and with mids cranked, it can cut through a drums/double bass/accordion/saxophone/ trumpet/mandolin/viola band even without a PA. Recently, my other band drafted a drummer. She rocks, and I had to get a more powerful amp to be heard. But I will keep the LC15 for other gigs and for events where I can't use a car and have to actually carry it with my poor hands. Bottom line: bonehead-simple, but in a good way. Makes you concentrate more on playing and less on tweaking, is lightweight and portable and still has power enough (at least for me in most applications). Rate it 8, because it would be a killer with an 12" speaker.

I use it with humbucker-equipped guitars mostly (a Gibson LP Studio, The Hawk, Epi Flying V and three of my specials), and occasionally a Japanese Squier Strat. I have mentioned some of my styles above, and I also play in a jazzy/folk/rock band. The amp covers all my bases - I mostly set the gain at 3-4 to get a very slight crunch (depending on the guitar, of course - the Hawk and Studio get about 3 whereas those specials with DiMarzios get 4), volume must be at least 3 to get a serious tone (and when miked) or more (when playing without PA). Then I add some crunch with Marshall Jackhammer (on the Classic Crunch setting as described in the manual), Bluesbreaker II or Danelectro Dady O. Generally, I add rather volume than gobs of distortion with the pedals to keep it "legible" within the band. When I don't bother to lug pedals, I set the gain to 5-6 and crank the volume and then control the tone with the guitar's volume pot. It works. I don't like the extreme gain settings (basically anything past 7) because they tend to get mushy. Rate it 8, because of the high-gain mush and because the volume pot does not operate evenly - there is no sound between positions 1 and about 1 3/4, then there is a volume jump so it is not very easy to get a really quiet but decent sound, which is sometimes needed.

Well, I have had this for more than two years, and I have had no backup for almost all of that time. There was a period when one of the power tube sockets had a bad contact or something and wouldn't turn on, but that improved after I had changed the tubes, so it may have been a bad tube. I had to change the power tubes once, and the manual said that this is possible the DIY way. That is true. Now the manual also said that you possibly don't even have to use matched tubes, but then the sound will be worse. Well, that is true, and you can do it only if you want your amp to sound like a fart after a Sunday dinner. I did it, and the sound was so horrible that I ended up installing back the original tubes. Then I got a matched pair of Yugoslavian EL84s and the sound was much better, almost as good as new. I didn't have the bias adjusted for reasons too boring to explain, and maybe the sound would be better if I did, but as is, the amp works great. This fall I started fancying another amp, so checking out this database, I read some horrible stories on this amp's reliability. I must have been very lucky because it still kicks ass, and I have been dragging it along on trains, sitting on it in subway on my way to rehearsals, shaking it in the trunks of my friends' cars and so on. I rate it 9 because of the tube problems. Otherwise, it has been great.

N/A. Never dealt with them. The warranty is, I think, 1 year.

Been playing for 12+ years now. The other amp that I was after this fall turned to be a George Dennis VA30 Mighty Mouse in the end. I will review that one later on. Now if I lost my Laney in whichever way, I would definitely go for it again. Maybe I would try the LC15R option with reverb and some more features, and maybe I would have a bigger cabinet built to house the chassis and a 12" speaker, maybe Celestion Blue. I also like Fender Pro Junior, which has the same power rating, is about as frill-free and has a 12" speaker, but is more than twice the price here in my country. Bottom line: it is very portable (I don't drive), has a good all-tube sound and power enough for most pub gigs (plus you can always mike it for larger venues with PA), and mine is very dependable. Great value for the money I paid (it is under $250).

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.

This is a very basic amp, gain-eq-master and a bright switch. It's not very hard to get a good sound out of it.

I play on a Yamaha Pacifica 112 and a ephiphone lp through a dunlop crybaby and some old chorus pedal someone gave me.
The overdrive is great, I love it. Hard to get a good clean sound though. I play funk, blues and rock, this amp is especially good for rock/metal but you can also get a real bluesy tone. I think you can compare this with some much more expensive amp's. Therefore i'll give it a nine, not a ten because of the noise.

I've almost got it for a year now and I never had a problem.

Never had any problem's so I never had to deal with them.

I use it for home practising, I bought it so that I could practise whitout making everybody else in the house deaf, but it's still pretty loud. I use a Marshall vs265r for gigging and the Marshall is to loud to play with at home. Once I took the Laney to bandpractice just for fun but it is loud enough to hear through our drummer and basplayer. But I don't think i would gig whith it. This is probably the best amp in it's pricerange.

I don't know what year this amp came out. It is my second one of this model. They have GREATLY inproved the reliability, so I went out and purchased one for the second time and it works like a champ! I have used it heavily for several months and it has been through gigs and practices without any problems. It is a simple 15 watt tube amp with 1 10" speaker. No reverb, but I use an external echo unit, so I could care less. Sure, I would love an old Fender echo unit, but that would cost as much as this amp alone! I wish they had this model with a 12" speaker. It would sound MUCH better, even though the 10" speaker is top-quality they use in this model. A stereo model in this configuration (i.e. with an external little cabinet with a 10 or 12" speaker) would be cool! In general, I think the amp companies push the musician too much to get gigantic amps they don't need instead of giving a lot of options in their smaller amps. I hate dragging around big equipment. That is appropriate when you are playing gigs in large rooms or outdoors all the time. And you can always mic your amp, so why hassle with large equipment?

I play a G&L Broadcaster, Hamer Sunburst, and a Stage Strat and this amp sounds the best with the Hamer. The amp sound fantastic turned up loud. The more you crank the amp up, you get a Marshall-like distortion and sustain. I play psychedelic space rock with it. The distortion is sort of like Black Sabbath distortion, though a 10" speaker doesn't quite give that. It is fairly smooth, though if I were Laney, I would listen to the Peavey Classic 20 tube amp and make the distortion a little more in that direction - more smoother. I have a Peavey Classic 20 and I think both that amp and the Laney LC15 are great amps. It really is preference. They sound a lot different. But, the Peavey Classic distortion is more blues-like and not as "British" sounding, maybe I would say that the Peavey is more "Fender-Twin" like - you know, those old Fender Twin Reverb amps that used to be used all the time. One this is certain - the Laney gets MUCH louder than the Peavey. The stock speaker is probably better in the Laney and perhaps it is just the way the circuit is designed. The Peavey can get sort of "Out of Control" when you crank it all the way up - the sound will break up sometimes and feedback too much, but the Laney seems more "firmer" and in control. Of course, small tube amps tend to sound like they are going to explode when you crank them up all the way! That is part of the charm of owning them - you don't go deaf when rocking out.
With this amp driving (the preamp out) my Laney 50 Watt amp, it comes closer to a big amp sound. Fairly versatile, but NOT like a Fender sound at all - pure British. Can get Hiwatt sound. Clean channel is clean enough at high volume, but note that 15 watts is not that much, but this amp has MORE head room than any other amp this size, that I have seen. Overall, I think this amp compares favorably with a JCM800 and Sovtek, which I think are the two greatest amps out there if you want a powerful head. The Sovtek probably has the best crunch for the buck out there. I don't know if it possible to get a small 15 watt amp to sound like a Sovtek for only $225.00. I compared the Laney to many amps and it blew most of them away. Only the Mesa Boogie small combo amps, the Peavey Classic 20, and I heard that Soldano makes a small amp, have compared to this Laney amp.

Never has broken in several months of use. I use a Solid State Laney anyway, along with this amp, so that is my backup.

I wrote Laney a letter and they were extremely helpful to me when I considered giving them a chance again. They actually called me and worked out my problems with the first amp breaking, which really made me want to do business with them again. I think this is a company that learns from its mistakes and improves its products. What happened to me is proof of that. i was ready to hang them up as an amp company, but they proved me wrong. I have heard horror stories on some other amp companies, so it is good to find an amp company that cares about their customers.

I have been playing for 26 years. I own Laney 50 watt amp, Peavey Classic 20, Peavey Rage 158, Hamer Sunburst, G&L Broadcaster, Stage Strat and other stuff.
I think that no amp comes close to the sound and value of the Laney LC15 unless you spend a lot more bucks. For bigger amps that have a similar sound (i.e. you need a 50+ watt head), I would get a Laney Solid State amp and use the LC15 as a "tube preamp" or get any other solid state amp you like to boost the volume. If you have the money, a Marshall JCM 800 or Sovtek amps are good values and have great sound, comparable to the LC15 but lots louder (and more expensive).

I bought this amp in april 1998 in Amsterdam for 495 Dutch Florines which is about US$ 250. This amp is an all tube one with 3 (chinese) 12AX7 pre amp tubes and two EL34 Sovtek power amp tubes. It has a very basis setup: two inputs high/low which can not be used at the same time (pity), a preamp gain, with a little knob for boosting the highs, bass, mid and treble knobs and a master volume. The amp has a 10 inch speaker and a preamp line out jack. No channel swithing, which is ok for a small amp. No effect loop (pity) No reverb. But then I should have bought the more expensive LC 15R
I bought the amp for home practicing and it it is loud as hell (some times a bit to loud, at least that is what my housemates say).
I like to play Jimi H. , Santana, Pink Floyd. It does the old Marshall stuff pretty well.
About the power, it is rated at 15 watts but I never have the master volume knob above three (which is very loud) so I think I can jam with this small monster in a band and have club gigs when it is put through the P.A.

I have a US standard stratocaster and an Ibanez Artist with Gibson PAF's. With the strat I can have very good clean funky sounds and a very nice crisp (Jimi's the wind cries mary). The high gain is also pretty good but than it has too much treble for my taste and it is hard to have a nice warm blues drive. The amp is (too) easily distorted with the Artist, for clean tones I can't have the preamp above 1, but still the poweramp goes loud enough to wake up the neighbours. Again, the gain is heavy but trebly and I use a stomp box (Boss DS1) with low gain and high level for the smooth sustaining lead (Santana, Gary Moore). Overall I think the basic sound is very good, clean as well as distorted, but it is hard to adjust the tones.
I think for an all tube amp it is not really noisy.

I have only used it in my room and up till now I haven't had any problems with it. It looks pretty tough, the housing is made very well and because of the few options there is less chance to break something.

Never had to deal with them

I bought this amp when my old practice amp went down. I wanted a small tube amp with a nice sound, which is small enough for practicing at your room and light enough to take it anywhere. I am pretty satisfied with the sound quality, it realy does not sound like a small practice amp but more like a heavy marshall. I am not an expert but I compared it to small Fender amps and I played on big Marshalls and this one just does the trick for me. When it breaks I think I will buy a small tube amp again, but then with more options ( 2 channels, effect loop, reverb) maybe a Mesa Boogie DC 2, but then I have to spend more money. I am not saying this is the best small tube amp because I don't have enough experience to say this, but I think for the price it is really a great amp an worthwile to try it!

One channel... gain, 3-band eq, master volume + bright switch.. you know 'em. No reverb .. no footswitch.. not really the most versatile thing out there.. A distorsion / more gain switch should be in there..

Tried it out at the shop with one strat-copy (all single-coil) .. quite good clean sound.. I miss a reverb though.. Distorsion was a bit of a bore.. couldn't get more than slight bluesy... if I tried more gain, it went all sucky.. Also tested a humbucker-epiphone-guitar.. distorsion improved as expected, but was still not enough.. you might be able to get high gain, but there's no way you get that smooth tubey-distorsion out of this amp, .. i'd say it sounded like "crackle 'n pop" when I cranked it.. Quite loud though, but not good for rock/metal or anything more than blues.. Not my style at all.. I wanted much gain.. SMOOTH gain... this was quite the opposite.. lowering the treble made it a bit better, but most of the distorsion disappeared aswell.. :(
This thing aint sounding like a tube amp.. it sounds like some shitty solid-amp.. My old Marshall 8020 (solid state 20 W) did it better... (not saying that either one of them are good...they aren't)
Bluesy / clean people will like it though, i think. It really responds to your picking.... not compressed at all..

Can't say too much... it looked sturdy though.. but the pots was a bit flimsy.. but its a cheap amp.. so...

I was excited by the other rewiews... obviously one should never trust other people too much.. :) .. I guess this just aint my type of amp..
I don't want solid-state fuzz.. and I don't want a 100W head+box at home ruining my hearing... and I want it somewhat cheap.. Seems impossible, but I'll keep looking and when I find something, I'll post it here!

From around June 97 to January 98, I owned a 15 watt Laney tube amp combo with a 10" speaker. The amp was extremely versatile and could emulate Vox, Marshall, and Fender guitar amplfiers, in my opinion. Besides being the cheapest decent tube amplifier on the market, I really liked having a line output jack. I fed the Laney into my 50 Watt Fender Bassman head with a 12" speaker cabinet. I then had the warmth of the Fender with the sustain, harmonics, and distortion capabilities of the Laney. In fact, I found myself sometimes just using the Laney for band practices WITHOUT having to use the Fender at all. It was plenty loud cranked up and I suspect the Laney could handle small to medium sized clubs if you crank it way up. At clubs, I would feed it into the Fender for more volume and less strain on the Laney. The speaker that came with the amp was the best speaker I have ever owned except for my 70s Electrovoice 12" speaker I use with the Bassman. It is unbelievable that Laney can include such a high-quality speaker for a $225 tube amp. I compared the Laney's speaker to other brands that had similar tube amps, and there was NO comparison! The Laney blew them all away.
I was satisfied except for two things - the amp had way too much hum, which is typical for tube amps and the internal circuit board had too many minature components, which didn't make sense to some electronics wizard who looked at it. It appeared to fragile. This relates to my second complaint is that the amp seemed to be way too reliable for gigging, which is why I traded it in. Within a time span of several months, the amp broke twice. The first time was within a month when the amp blew its transformer. The second time was recently, when it croaked during a band gig. I had to use the trusty bassman, but had no tube distortion after that, since the bassman is very clean and difficult to distort with a G&L Broadcaster. We took the amp apart and could not find any burned out tubes or components, so I took it back to the store and prepared for another long wait in getting it fixed. After much thought, I decided to trade the amp in for something more reliable. I purchased a solid-state Laney HC50R 50 Watt amp with a 12" speaker and an Ibanez Tube King. The tube Laney sounded much better, but this present setup seems to be more reliable and I could not afford to ruin any more gigs with an unreliable tube amp. Its a shame, since I still have my heart set on that Laney tube amp, but am going to wait until some future time to try it again.

I play a G&L Broadcaster with single coil pickups. The Laney LC15 was perfect for my style because of the versatility of sounds and the harmonics/distortion. I play mostly blues/space rock/ 70s type music. It seemed perfect for getting that Black Sabbath/Who sound. The amp was very noisy when making it distort. Not so bad on clean settings. But, most tube amps are too noisy and you really couldn't notice it while a band is blasting away. The amp was very clean if you wanted or extremely distorted, but in a very musical manner - not harsh at all. You could get Beatles Vox sound or Hendrix Marshall sound, you name it. The tone controls were incredible.

As I mentioned above, the amp was a dog as far as reliability goes - broke down twice within several months and ruined two gigs. I am willing to try buying one in the future, but I would never depend on it without a backup, unless proven otherwise to me.

I just dealt with the dealer I purchased it from and I was pissed, since I thought I should get a complete refund instead of having to sell it as a used amp and trade it in for another amp. I think if an amp fails more than once within the first year, you should be able to get a refund or a brand new amp of the same model or trade it in for a comparably priced amp. But, as I have seen, the amp market doesn't work that way.

I love the sound and hate the reliability of the Laney LC15 tube amp. I compared it against Fenders, Marshalls, Mesa Boogies, you name it. I wish it had less noise.

This is at first glance a basic amp. 15 watts rms, 10inch single speaker (HH Invader), one channel with High and Low inputs, gain, bright switch, bass/mid/treble, master volume. All valve construction, (Class A) and a very simple circuit. Cheap 12AX7s in the pre amp (Chinese?), a pair of Sovtek EL84s in the power amp. No effects loop, no reverb. It does have a line out from the pre-amp. Unfortunately there's no standby switch.
Physically it's about as small as a 1x10" combo could be.
Personally, the single channel amp suits me fine, so I'd give it a 9 for features (adding presence would get a 10). If you feel you need channel switching, then reduce the score to suit.

I play blues/r'n'b and folk/roots. I need an amp with a very good clean tone, that is loud but not too loud, and use sounds ranging from "traditional Fender" through to metal.
The LC15 despite it's rated power is a loud little amp. I find no problem heraing it over drums/bass/foldback..
The quality of tone is quite unbelievable for the price. It;'s difficult to stress how good without ounding over the top. Very much like a Mesa/Boogie Subway Blues or an AC15 in quality. There is a depth of tone that is lacking in many (most!) much more expensive amps.
The gain control allows tones to range from glassy clean through to Plexi-Marshall style roar. Sustain is very good even on low gain settings (I play a Telecaster with Duncan Alnico Pro bridge pickup - that will drive the amp into breakup by about 40% gain through the high input and 50% through the low). Overdrive is vintage, warm, natural, smooth, roaring and not at all buzzy. The amp responds extremely well to picking attack/guitar volume/tone changes, with distortion being very controllable from the guitar.
There is a version with reverb, but I haven't tried it (I use a Fender Reverb tank).
OK, now the downside. Any amp this cheap is going to have compromises somewhere, so here are some of them.
The factory fitted pre-amp valves are not very high quality. NOS or Sovtek (I've tried both) replacements make a definite imrovement to my ears.
There is a high level of hiss when gain and master or EQ are cranked. This isn't really any worse than on many vintage amps though, and for some reason nearly all goes away when a guitar is plugged in. Background noise isn't a problem while playing. I suspect quality of mains electricity is important in how much hiss there is; using a cheap mains filter really makes a difference.

Construction is a single PCB with pots and jack sockets mounted on it. Luckily the tracks are large and well spaced, and there are few sub-miniature components so repairs should be possible to the board itself. The valve bases are good quality, but mounted on the PCB. I'd suggest dropping the chassis out and supporting the PCB around the valve base if re-valving as the PCB will get twisted/cracked if you just try to push a new valve in. There is a bias pot, by the way.
The cabinet is not the last word in carpentry, but is acceptable.
I bought this as a practivce amp, but it's impressed me enough to start gigging with it (mic'd up in most places, though the amp will cope with a 50-100 seater venue if you don't want Who-like levels of volume). So far no problems with reliability at all, but I don't think I've had it long enough to be sure. Ask me again in 10 years time..

I've never had to contact Laney. My band has a Laney transistor PA amp that's been in use at least once a week for 14 years, running flat-out most of the time. It hasn't broken down yet, so I see no reason why this amp should.

I intend to buy another. As they don't channel switch, and the overdrive beats any pedal I've ever heard in 20 years of playing I intend to use a two-amp clean + overdrive setup with an A/B box.
I'd been looking for a small valve amp for some time before I bought this one. I'd already auditioned the Mesa/Boogie Subway Blues and Rocket, Vox AC15, Fender Champ 12, Fender Pro Junior and Blues Junior. In the end I chose the LC15 because it does what I want, has tone that competes easily with the more expensive amps, and is half the price of the cheapest of them.
Unless reliability turns out to be a problem, this amp has to be one of the bargains of the decade.

This is a 15 watt all tube Class A amp with one 10 inch speaker. It is intended as a practice amp. However, this amp is also useful for small club or church gigs. The LC15 has 3-12ax7 preamp tubes and 2-EL84 power tubes. It has one channel with Hi and Lo gain inputs, Gain, Bass, Mid, Treble and Master Volume controls and a bright switch.

This amp is very British in the Marshall and Vox tradition. It is capable of tons of gain. The settings of the Gain and Master volume controls give the amp a wide variety of sounds from Voxy clean to really over the top distortion. The tone controls have a limited, but useful range. The Hi and Lo gain inputs really make a big difference in how this amp sounds and the type of pickups on your guitar as well as your guitar's volume and tones settings makes a big difference. This amp doesn't neuter your guitar's natural sound and is very responsive.

Just got it, but my amp tech says that these are reliable and I trust him. I did get replace the cheap chinese 12AX7s for Sovteks, but other than that it is great. The ten inch speaker seems over-rated for an amp this size and the construction is first rate.

Haven't use it.

For the purpose I needed it for - a low power amp that sounds good - Yes. I'm going to check out their bigger amps too. This is probably the best tube amp deal on the market.