Laney GH50L Discontinued

The Laney amplification company has built a great consistency of good quality sounding amplifiers. This amplifier is a single channel no-frills no nonsense 50 W amplifier head. It has a classic A/B power section as well as a the ability to switch EL 34 power amp tubes with 6L6 powering tubes.

UTILIZATION


The features on this amplifier a pretty minimal but very useful. For instance it has a high and low input jacks as well as a foot switchable gain. You also get an effects loop and a slave out as well on the backside of the amplifier. It's a great amplifier to get a basic sound of a British hard rock and classic rock tone with.

SOUNDS


This amplifier sounds best to me with a British speaker cabinet such as greenbacks or with GH30 speakers. This is the kind of amp that can get you a great classic rock tone from the 60s and 70s. It's not a super high gain amplifier but if you use a nice boss pedal or some other distortion or boost pedal then you can get this amplifier cooking into some hard rock and metal type times. It takes pedals very well as you would imagine. So this is it pretty each versatile amplifier for someone who wants something very simple and not too much to think about.


OVERALL OPINION


These amplifiers are built over in the United Kingdom and they have a great British feel and tone. Overall they're not very expensive if you can find one but then again Laney has other amplifiers in their current line that I would say would be better than this. For instance they have revised this amplifier for some subtle cosmetics and some subtle changes to the new version. At new you can find these amplifiers for right around $1000 which is a pretty good price for a quality sounding amplifier. This is good rival or competitor against a Marshall amplifier or a Mesa boogie amplifier.

Laney GH50L Features

* Single Channel, 50 Watt, Class A/B Amp Head
* Hi and Lo Input Jacks
* Footswitchable Gain
* Premium ECC83 and EL34 Valves
* FX Loop and Slave Jack
*Switchable Between EL34 and 6L6/5882 tubes



UTILIZATION

It's a very straight forward amp. It has a setup very similar to a JCM800 on the front panel (Presence, Treble, Middle, Bass Master Volume. It also has a two position resonance control and a footswitchable drive channel. It also has two gain knobs (drive and gain) for the two different channels, with the drive engaged both "gains" are working and you can mix and match the gains, the "gain' from the clean or first channel is very VERY much like a JCM800 is very bright and defined. The gain from the drive channel is much more thick and punchy, its a cool thing to be able to mix and match.

SOUNDS

I've owned this amp for about 6 months now (that is good for me). I've gigged it many times and I find it to be a great amp for pretty much anything between country and hard rock (maybe metal with a boost). I play with two main guitars. A Les Paul Copy with Seymour Duncans in it and Fender MIA Prodigy Strat.

Les Paul:

With my Les Paul the Laney is almost always breaking up, anything over about 9 o'clock has some hair on it, which is cool and does a really good 60s rock and roll sound. I could pull old Led Zep sounds and Clapton sounds very easily out of this channel with the gain low. As you inch the gain up at about noon you start getting into some more rock and roll territory ala 70s bands (think Cornerstone by Stxy). the cool thing about this channel is that the gain is useable through the whole sweep of the pot. After 12 o'clock you just start adding saturation and not really more gain' per se. At about 3 o'clock you are into old metal sounds like Iron Madien, Def Leppard and the like.

Switching over to the drive channel you have two different gains to work with and it is kind of weird at first, but once you get used to it it opens up a whole new way to do things. There is no way I could cover it all, but you can use the gains from the two channels to mix and match the sounds you like. a Thicker more "juicy" sound from the drive channel and a clear and more defined sound from the "clean" channel. My settings usually run at about 11 o'clock on the clean channel and noon on the drive channel, its a good mix of clarity and thickness for me and is a great hard rock sound.

Strat:

The Strat really shines here on the clean channel, think RHCP cleans with that dirty grind, and it sounds great with a fuzz pedal up front. There really isn't much to say with the Strat though because, well, it sounds like a strat and there is no fixing that. on the drive channel especially it sounds much like the les paul with a little less balls (think TOTALLY 80s cock rock sounds)

My biggest complaint with this amp is that it really needs a EQ to shine, the drive channel is too muddy and undefined without one in my opinion. its not TERRIBLE but I would highly recommend a EQ for this amp if you plan on using it for the drive settings

OVERALL OPINION

For what I payed for it this amp is amazing, its very hard to beat. I personally wouldn't ever pay retail for it, even though it is better than most amps for the price. It has a lot going for it with the clean and gain channels, but with the muddiness of the gain channel it really looses points for me.

Overall though, I'd recommend this amp to anyone looking for 70s rock or 80s metal sounds, just don't expect to get anything super "heavy" sounding out of it or super "clear" without a boost or EQ.

The Laney GH50L is a British-made,all-tube (both pre and power amp sections), 50 watt rated, single channel (plus lead) beast. I say rated at 50 watts because this thing howls and can more than keep up in most clubs and venues without miking.
The amp has a single input but can handle stereo outs (ie multiple cabinets) and an effect loop with a dedicated volume knob.
The setting are simple... treble, mid and bass for EQ'ing; gain and master for volume levels, and a "presence " knob that controls the "depth" of the low end.

UTILIZATION

Setting up great (not good) sounds takes little to no effort. This amp wants to sound awesome right away and you really have to try to get subpar sounds from it.
All the EQ kobs are easy to read and have a good amount of tension to keep them in place and not slide around (even when moving onto and out of clubs or stages).
To be honest, if there was a manual I never even opened it up. There is no need to if you can read English and can comprehend that 10 is more than 1.

SOUNDS

What the amp lacks in knobs, buttons, flashing lights and other eye candy, is more than made up for by the rock solid tones it puts out. When I first plugged into this head (and matching cabinet) with my 2000 PRS CE24, I was floored by the warm, clean and round sound produced. The amp has a ton of clean head room which is great if you prefer to do your distortions or overdrives via stompbox. That doesn't mean this amp won;t get dirty, in fact it's the gain produced by this British beast that everyone has probably already heard (the GH100L was the basis of the Tony Iommi signature model Laney).
This amps natural overdrive and crunch are so good that it might just convert all you Metal Zone and Tube Screamer guys.

OVERALL OPINION

I have played through a variety of amps in the past years (Fenders, Traynors, Marchall, Vox) and while you can dial in fantastic tones on all of these, they all lack the uniqueness of
the Laney.
The only draw back (which can be rectified via effect pedal) is a lack of onboard reverb. I know you're probably not looking at this rig for playing Dick Dale surf guitar, but a little ambiance is always a nice addition to clean sounds.
I purchased the head (and matching cabinet) in 2001 for $950- or so. I believe this to be an absolute steal considering that the lowest end all-tube Marshalls are well over $1000. If you can find the Laney GH50L snap it up quick, cause these aren't going to stay on the market long.

Everything has been said
Note that there are two finishes: modern (dark corners, not chrome, black cloth, not gray) and classic
I have the modern
lamps of Origin: Sovtek 5881 power, replaced by Electro Harmonix 6L6 on mine
Sovtek 12AX7 preamp in
saw the tab EL34/6L6 BIAS

I put 8 because the components are all first quality
but manufacturing is nikel (made in england) ft. it has a good face!

UTILIZATION

As simple as a JCM800
I share the opinions of my predecessors, no need to repeat

SOUNDS

Of 212 in baffle celestion and guitars Tone Zone / Paf Pro (ibanez PGM, Vigier Excalibur, mainly Fender Start)

this head is going everywhere
pretty clean, pure and warm, although musical
The crunch, however, is too marked british for my taste but it is very dynamic and well-drilled mix
the full, I expect it has as much gain! the bulk metal has Zakk Wylde going smoothly
even if the grain is accurate and does not bleed, it will be rather more difficult to obtain its type progressive metal, unless the couple can be a grafik EQ on the head?

I put 8 as the channel saturated breath a lot, as much as a 5150 ...

OVERALL OPINION

I use it for two years, she serves me for my two groups: one of blues rock and death metal.
I appreciate it for its appearance versatile and large enough headroom. over the price is more than attractive! value for money is simply unbeatable
despite the rumors about the reliability of Laney GH and VH, I have never had a problem, yet I bought it second hand and I use it 2 hours a day and repeated 5 hours a week! over 2 years that makes for hours on the clock
it was my head all prmeiere lamps, and for that price, I would be really stupid not to repeat the choice if I had!