Laney LC30

Features all listed below. All the features I want. The only thing I wish it had would be a footswitchable boost for the gain channel. The gain channel is so sweet I always use it, so to have some extra boost for extra would be good. But for the money, I won't complain. Easily loud enough, although I like using the gain channel on super-low gain, so sometimes it struggles a bit for volume, but that's my preference to have the gain down so low.

One thing (has been mentioned by others): the volume knobs don't actually do anything (literally ANYTHING) until about 2. This can be frustrating for home playing, because it's difficult to get it playing at a low volume. Nothing...nothing...and BLAM!! Small thing.

I play clean-ish indie and it's just amazing for that. Seems versaltile.

The sound quality is the best feature... This amp sounds like I thik all amps should. Maybe my ear is crap and there are heaps of other amps that sound as good, but this amp sounds much better to me. I also own a 1970s Vase Trendsetter 60 tube head with a Marshall 212 cab and a Fender Super 210 valve combo and, to me, neither stack up. I sold a Peavey Classic 30 to get this. Gorgeous, full, responsive tone. Lively but very controllable. Really well balanced.

The gain channel is the best I've ever heard. I love low gain sounds and this is the best amp I've ever heard at handling them. On low gain, I think this amp really comes alive. I can't speak highly enough of it. Sounds even better plugged in to my Marshall 212 cab.
The clean stays clean (not that I ever use it) to really acceptable volumes. No excessive noise on either channel.

I use a Fender Mustang, strat and Jaguar, always with the neck pick up. Beautiful match with the Laney, especially the Mustang. I use them with a big line of effects and it handles effects well.

It seems dependable- although I???ve only played 1 gig with it. One thing that worries me: I bought it second hand and when I got it home, the reverb wasn???t working. I just moved the wires around and it came good. It's fine now and hasn't done it since but it concerns me a bit.

One good thing: the LC30 runs at a decent temperature. The the Peavey Classic 30 I traded ran HOT. Very hot. I know other guys who have them and they all say the same. I had problems with mine and I assume it was for that reason. Anyway, despite the best sound quality, it doesn't get obscenely hot. Even my other valve amps run hotter.

Never had experience with Laney customer support. This is the second Laney amp I've owned and I've never had a problem with either.

I have been playing for ages, but I suck but I love guitar and guitar gear. I would buy another one in a flash and have even thought about buying another one to make into a head. I'm comparing it with other good gear (which I still own so they're valid comparisons). I just think it sounds really alive and balanced but not excessively trebly like my Fender. As I said, it's annoying that the volume doesn't kick in until about 2 on the pot but apart from that, it's a great amp that sounds amazing- for me, at least. And great value for money too.

2 channel.
Easy to dial in!

I play an SG Standard & SG Junior.
It sounds better with Humbuckers than P90's.
I changed the speaker to an Eminence Governor.
The stock speaker really doesn't sound that bad.
It sounds better than a Peavey Classic 30, Fender Hot Rod Deluxe
& Ampeg Reverberocket. I've owned all of the similar amps
& this one kills them all. The Drive channel actually sounds
great. The Clean channel is incredible, it breaks up at about 5
so not a lot of head room (for 30 watts it's fine).

CLASS A must be the difference.

You don't need to have it biased since it's Class A.
It's a solid amp.

They answer emails quickly! That's a plus.

I've been looking for an EL84 lower watt amp for a while.
It looks like this one will do the job. I don't like taking
my Tophat Super Deluxe to play live shows unless it's a larger room.
I have played thru a VC30 & didn't care for the drive channel at all!
This amp is voiced completely different.
Classic 30's sound good, but not this good.
Plus this amp doesn't run as hot.

If you can find one pick one up. I would buy it again!
I lucked out & found one locally.
For a back up/rehearsal amp it rules.
I use live all of the time too!

Wanted an amp that would do a bit of everything ..and this fits the bill with bells on!!! Clean with my telecaster and the laney I have never heard a combination so alive ..Bright but not ear drum shredding and with the second channel it RAWKS !!

I use this amp at home much to my neighbours delight ! maybe a 15 watt would have been more appropraite as the 30 is VERY VERY LOUD !! but I had to have an amp that matched my rock god status !!!!!!LOL!

The amp is very versatile with a good clean channel and the second channel helps with that all important classic british rock sound!

Haven't got as far at testing the clean sound at high volume for fear of my neighbours coming around and beating me up!

My hubby and I use it with a number of guitars such as Telecasters, esp viper 400, les paul custom , Es335. All of which sound brilliant through this amp as they all still retain their distinctive character.

As mentioned before this amp is LOUD! but we wouldn't have it any other way now would we! but it doesn't break up at all at any reasonable volume ... I have still to try excessive volumes but I will have to pick my moment when no one else is home !! but so far the laney hasn't dissapointed and I would expect that the sound would remain refined and focused no matter what the volume ... afterall Tony Iommi uses them .. need we say more

No problems .. TOUCH WOOD! It has ran like a rock and roll dream !!

I contacted Laney regarding an external cabinet for this amp and they were quick to get back to me giving me all the details needed plus a contact should i need any further questions answered.

Good stuff !

There is nothing better than getting a great piece of kit to get those creative juices flowing and this certainly helps that ..watch out the beatles !

God forbid I should ever need to replace this amp I would have no hesitation in replacing it!

MADE IN UK ON 2006.
VERSATILE 100%. DAL BLUES AL ROCK/HARD ROCK.
2 CANALI CON SWITCH.LOOP EFFETTI.NESSUNA PRESA CUFFIE.

HO LETTO RECENSIONI PER MESI.
COMINCIAI CON UN MARSHALL AVT50 VALVESTATE 2000 SEMIVALVOLARE,POI HO PRESO UN BEL TWIN REVERB. MA NESSUNO AVEVA IL CALORE CHE MI DA' QUESTO 30WATT LANEY.
IN CASA BISOGNA TENERLO A 2/10 PER NON DISTURBARE I VICINI.

CANALE PULITO: LA SOGLIA DI HEADROOM E' PIUTTOSTO ELEVATA E IL SUONO COMINCIA AD ANDARE IN CRUNCH SOLO DOPO 5 DI VOLUME.

CANALE DISTORTO ( POCO GAIN ) : ACCOPPIATO AD UN IBANEZ TS9/TS808 OPPURE AD UN BOSS SD1 AVETE IL BLUES PIU' PURO E CREMOSO CHE POTRETE MAI SOGNARE.ARMONIHE DOLCI E ULTRADEFINITE.ATTACCO E SUSTAIN DA FAVOLA ANCHE CON IL REVERB IL QUALE A LIVELLI ELEVATI DA L'IDEA DEL CONCERTO IN AMBIENTI SPAZIOSI.

CANALI DISTORTO (GAIN ELEVATO ) : QUI IL LANEY DA IL MEGLIO DI SE.
HA UNA PASTA SONORA INCREDIBILE! SUSTAIN E DISTORSIONE A VOLONTA.
PERSONALMENTE NON USO PEDALINI MA USO SOLO UN BOSS SD1 COME BOOSTER.

IL MIO SOUND SPAZIA DA STEVIE RAY VAUGHAN ( VI ASSICURO : IL SUONO E'IDENTICO!) AGLI IRON MAIDEN...AVETE PRESENTE "ACES HIGH" O "THE TROOPER"? BEH...IL SUONO E' QUELLO AL 100%!

NULLA DI ECCEPIRE.FANTASTICO!

NON CREDO NE AVRO' MAI BISOGNO...MA SO CHE LA LANEY E' MOLTO PROFESSIONALE E NEL CASO MI SARA' DI GRANDE AIUTO!

SUONO DA 10 ANNI E SOLO ORA MI RITENGO ARRIVATO.
HO RAGGIUNTO IL "MIO SUONO ALLO STATO DELL'ARTE"!

My amp is a mid 90's LC-30 Mk-I combo, 30 watt. Plenty loud, reverb, two channels, good EQ. Can play this amp anywhere, but I must admit that I like a larger venue so that I can crank it a bit. Sounds great when it's working hard.

This amp has had a few adjustments to suit my style, the first thing I did after purchasing it was to ditch the stock Sovtek tubes fot JJ Tesla ones. I cannot recommend these tubes (and Bob Pletka's advice) highly enough. It was as if my amp had been liberated from a packing crate into the open air, the difference was really that noticeable. Next fix was to remove the stock H|H speaker, this must be quite possibly the worst speaker ever made, ever, period. These are a heavy 12" piece of mystery cobalt/iron garbage that you might commonly associate with Russian PA equipment from the 1940's. I replaced this with a Jensen 12" ceramic speaker - instant gratification. This amp now really sings with clear and open tones, and packs a mean bottom end and a heap of grunt when required. I use a Tele '72 Custom reissue through this, so if it's set to single coil clean, it's clean. If I set it to neck position humbucker, it's growly, not muddy.

Amp has not failed me yet. Changing the speaker out for the Jensen has lightened it quite a bit, so now even more portable. I don't have the luxury of a backup amp, so I treat this one with all due care.

Never had to deal with them. Have a local guitar shop who handles this brand, I'm sure that if required I could get parts or service quickly.

Have been playing for 25 years, have previously owned two Fender Twin amps before this one. I think this says a lot about the sound of this amp, it has all the virtues of the great Fender tube sound without the weight. It would of course never match the Twin for sheer output, but the whole revelation was that you never need 100 watts of power from your amp, and to get a great tube amp sound you need to be running on 7-8. If you do this with a Twin, the audience (if you still have one) is pinned to the back wall with their ears bleeding. With the Laney, it has a great tube distortion sound without the associated hearing loss problems. I think there's a lot to be said for smaller 20-30W tube amps, no-one really needs 200W Marshall stacks anymore, except maybe to make themselves looks better on stage. If I lost this amp I would go out and buy a Laney LC-30 MKII straight away.

All is in here. Dont need no xtra utilities or sound-wrenchers.(Except for the reverb that is good enuff, as an option in small rooms)) I can do any sound with my fingers.... I like that there are separate EQ on both channels.

Use a Strat '79 Anniversary, Fender coils and a (DiMarzio or what?)Humbucker at the bridge. Sounds as a Gibson/Strat alltogheter in between. The sound is warm, but tends to get a little bit hard at louder volumes.Especially in the mid, that is.The distortion is somwhat fizzy and the lower distortion gets away in higher volumes, and the brighter tends to overtake.Because of the HH speaker?? Does this mean I'm disssatisfied? No, I love this one, bought it solely on the rewievs here, didnt even test it (As i have done with all my other amps before) I played Layney's before, and I love the sound. Warm,somewhat like AC30 (Believe me the 1960's VOX AC30 originalversion isnt as good as this one, I traded that one for a Laney 50GL...) This amp follows what Im doing, and answers the way I want (or am used to)Emulating amps like Pod, Line etc gives you a good sound-or emulates some good tones, but dont answer your playing like this one. Even the openback cabinet is Ok for me, always had closedback Celestion 12" 60 or maybe 70W type - sounds better than the 80's. Play mostly blues R&R,R&B, pretty much Slide, sometimes fingerpicking style.(ie Hubert Sumlin, Magic Sam,FreddieKing or even DireStraits style)

This one no problem.
(But my 50GL broke down just before a gig,small cap's for the AC to DC conversion. Standard problem sometimes on amps)

Been playing over 30 years, Had Marshalls, Fenders, Vox,Orange, some odd amps, even a Laney GH50, some solidstates (Vox, Hagstroem, etc) Mostly tubeamps.
And here Im back in the tube business, with openback cabinet,No celestion speakers, but Im truely happy with this one!
Maybe should get a tubescreamer for some extras, but it aint necessary yet....

I picked this up used off of Ebay, and it had a different speaker inside (blue dog). It sounds amazing. Reverb isn't nearly as good as my 69 blueface fender twin, but that's not so much of an issue. The dirty channel is okay. Not the greatest, but the clean on this amp is so nice, and I use pedals for distortion anyway, so this wasn't an issue. minus 2 for dirty channel, and minus 1 for reverb.

Using an American Tele (97) and a Fender Lead III. I do mostly Indie rock, but other styles are thrown in there as well. This amp suits my style PERFECTLY!! The portability of the amp, the output, the eq, and the warmth are fantastic. It's not noisy at all on the clean channel, until you turn it up past 3 1/2 or 4, which isn't necessary unless you wanna overdrive it (which sounds quite sweet). I've had no need to go past 3 in any situation yet, studio or live. I give it an 8 because it is still no match to my twin. It doesn't bite on the low end like the twin does.

I haven't had any issues with this thing. And it seems simple enough to service (i've checked out the inner workings a few times).

I have no clue. Haven't had to contact them yet.

I give it a 10 because there is no way in hell you'll ever be able to get something else that sounds as good for the money. For the value category, it blows everything else away 10 fold. Solid state can suck it.

All listed below. Its the Mk1 version, had it from new in 1997 and thought it was time to do a review( I feel qaulified ). Enough options in there if you know how to use them. Every type of style/sound can be found here and I will tell you how I use mine.

Used every type of guitar with this amp, fenders gibsons jacksons, single coil, humbucker, p90 it doesn't matter you just make some fine adjustments. Firstly bear in mind what dictates what comes out is dependent on what your fingers are doing, I'm not being obtuse here, what I mean is that if you play hard then more current(juice) will go through your sytem, if you play gently there is less. With a good qaulity tube amp you can get ANY sound you desire, you just have to know how. Dont be taken in by the marketing men who promise this sound or that one, why are they telling you that?
Ignoring time based effects for a moment, all you need is a reasonable graphic eq and a Boss SD1. With these set you can get anything out of this amp. Why? because I have taken 8 years to find out. Minor adjustments here and there. Set the eq with a slight dip around 1k, set the SD1 with NO gain/dist but with full volume, eq to taste. When you use this on both channels to amp springs into life and will give you amazing sounds. Another tip is learn to use your guitars volume control as a tone/gain controller you will become a player. Lastly I use an old Boss DD2 in the loop, sound is exactly right warm and full, dont use a delay in line( that is before the pre amp.

Gigged twice a week for the last 8 years with this. NOT a problem. Thought it might be wise to have it serviced, the tech said its in pristine condition, even the tubes were in good nick. YES the original tubes! No mods( dont do it) you are being scammed by people trying to sell you something. You dont need to change anything in this amp. If this amp could have been improved dont you think they would have tried that at the factory? Why are all these so called amp gurus/ self appointed experts/ engineers/salesman not working for a respected brand? Sorry about that ( pet hate)They all tell you different things anyway. Develop your own ears and knowledge and question things.

Never needed it. Its now ouf the warranty.

Been playing 40 years, use a Marshall JCM 900 half stack for large gigs, otherwise its the Laney everytime. If lost or stolen I'd go and get another one. It does the job, you cant love an amp, you cant love a guitar, you can only love a person, get real! I am sure other amps ( as long as they are tube) would do a similair job but I am only reviewing this one. But I repeat learn how to use it properly , and get a graphic eq and an SD1.WHY? because the graphic allows you to fine tune the tone( obvious ? well no!) If you read other reviews what do people say , well the tone isnt as good as this or sounds like a fender that, boogies are to middly blah blah blah blah. The graphic allows you to tune it to YOUR sound. WHY an SD1, well it gives you control of the extra gain going into the pre amp, and therefore how much or little dist/overdrive/crunch/volume lift/ you might want for your style. Trust me and save yourself time & money and heartbreak. Stay away from Tranny and Modelling amps for live use, they dont sound as good. If they sound good to you you need to develop your listening. I dont blame you I fell into that trap and I'm giving you the benefit of my experience. Remember how you play is more important than what you play on, how you sound is more dependant how you use what you have. You cannot buy someones sound, this is a myth extolled by the markeing men! Find your own sound....

bought it new in '97 or '98.

I play a Godin LG with Schaller pickups, which is an extremely high output guitar, this is capable of overdriving the input stage when played very hard through the humbuckers. This amp has a fairly low noise floor on the clean channel BUT: when a footswitch is used, it tends to pick up hum and other crap through the reverb return. The distortion channel gets crazily saturated above about 7 and is much
noisier when set this high (can still sound cool though). The bass of
this amp is somewhat flabby, particularly with heavy distortion sounds, I think this is mainly due to the tiny output transformer
(I know it is not solely the speaker/cab comination because when I drive it from another amp the bass is much tighter). I replaced all the capacitors in the signal path with polypropylene types, this made
a huge difference to the sound; it is much less harsh now. You can get
some very nice "fenderish" clean sounds from this amp, similar but distictly laney (but much cheaper than a deville). I don't really like the distortion channel that much it is quite jagged sounding, it's not really possible to get smooth distortion sounds. It may sound like I
dont like this amp but I really do, there's probably nothing that will
beat it bang for buck, and it has it's own unique sound.

Build quality is pretty good, tidy point to point wiring with through-hole and smd PCB, probably the first guitar amp to combine these construction techniques. I've only had one fault with this amp, which was entirely operator error.

Good sound, good price, looks cool.
Has anyone else noticed that the weight is centered very far back, so that on plush carpet the amp is unstable and tends to tip over backwards?

Tube amp,30W RMS
Two channels of clean and overdrive (with bright setting)
Fx loop (and an effects setting,but I cant figure out what it does).
Actually wish that this had a decent manual with it, explaining what each of the controls does, and how to get the best sounds out of it. I know that sounds lazy, but some of us want to know what an Accutronis reverb is etc. Just a suggestion

I have three gats that I have been playing around with for this amp, a cheapo Squire (that doesnt actually sound too bad), Yamaha pacifica, and custom Gibson les paul with Langcaster pick-ups (Langcaster scorpion). Play sometimes through a Line6 podxt. I have to say that I was slightly disappointed when I started playing through this. Being a new guitarist a few years ago, I didnt really take the time to check this amp out, but simply brought it at half-price. The clean channel is quite clear and crisp, and would match a number of other clean amps more expensive than this one, however when it came to the overdrive channel, I was quite disappointed. The sound always sounded a bit too harsh, and even with all the suggested settings from others, it still didnt have the sound I was wanting. It seemed to produce a lot more annoying hiss the higher the gain, and with the gain at about 5, the individual notes were not as clear as you would find on a marshall at a similar setting (even though the marshalls are considerally more expensive). But aside from all this, once I plugged my Podxt in, with a few added tweeks, then this amp became very useful. I would never play it without any effects again, but with a decent effects system, then this amp may very well be all you need for a decent gig etc. Beware of the incredibly loud sound when you switch it on, as you will be finding plenty of heart attack victims near by if you switch it on above 3. Generally good for the price, but I may stick to the marshall.

no probs with this amp at all, most probably because I have never cranked the sound out above 3.

I have been playing for a few years, and when I have the money, will be buying a Marshall head and cab, but will definitely keep this for the home practise amp. Needless to say though, this is a very handy little amp to have around the place, especially if you have some decent effects to rock through it. To sum all this up...'love the clean, hate the dirty'. Even if you have very little money, please do your homework, and search high and low for a good used amp, so you will fully get your moneys worth