Hello again and welcome to my second new gear thread in 2 days hahaha
So today finally a package from Thomann arrived with something in it I've been eyeing ever since it came out: The Laney IRT Studio 15 watt rackhead amplifier.
Now I'm sure a few of you have already seen/heard/played one but I wanted to open up a thread about my first impressions this stunning little piece of gear has left me with after the few hours I spent with it today. I'll try to put this into chronological sections and keep the wall of text I'm about to write somewhat overseeable. Here we go:
Unboxing:
So as I'm used to it it came in a huge ass box from Thomann filled with air cushioning protecting the actual packaging the amp was in. I opened everything up, seemed to be packed well and sturdy enough to survive the journey from China to Germany and finally to Austria, Vienna without any problems. Happy to report everything is working without a problem!
Included were a power supply cable, the footswitch, the manual, a few stickers from Laney, and some screws and dogears to mount the amp in a rack.
Construction/Quality:
So my first impression was that the unit seems to be built very sturdy, the black brushed metal casing gives it a solid look and feel despite its low weight and on the top you can see the two EL84 powertubes smiling at you through a metal grid. The one thing that seems cheap are the pots and the switches, very easy to turn without a lot of resistance and likely to make readjusting your settings a must when you carry the amp around in the provided bag. Some of the white color on the pots isn't perfectly drawn but I expected this judging from other reviews on the net and in the end one mustn't forget it's a chinese amp. It also came with a sticker on top I instantly removed before I fired it up to prevent the glue from heating up to the point where removing it would be impossible, it left some stains and glue I got off carefully with some nail polish remover. After doing that I had only the shiny black brushed metal smiling at me together with an engraved Laney logo. Muuuch better.
Firing it up/Sound:
I unplugged all the cables from my Marshall DSL 100 and seated the Laney on top. Connected my JCM 800 cab, my pedalboard, set the impedance to 16 ohms, checked everything twice and flicked the switch.
I was blown away. I played this amp before in my local music store, but I already suspected it would sound even better through the original G12-65 speakers in my early 80s Marshall cab. I won't rave too much about the cleans, all I'll say is that they sound good, no Fender clean here but a good plattform for either adding dirt for rock or doing jazzy runs on it's own. I didn't get this for the cleans anyway so you'll hear my final verdict after I played this baby for a few months. The reverb sounds very good and almost made me forget my RV-5 pedal. Very nice.
The rhythm channel. Heaven. The amount of gain this thing has on tap is ridiculous, but the real joy is the voicing of the amp. I can't really describe it, it's just exactly what I'm looking for in an amplifier. It's tight up to the point where you don't need a tubescreamer for thrash riffing, it's voiced "british" with bite and overtones, yet it seems to have something a bit darker going on. It spits pinch harmonics and bites and hisses like a tiger that's been unleashed. It feels great to play. Very responsive and very rewarding. Lot's of "chicka chicka" when you play dead notes. Kick in a tubescreamer and activate the internal reverb and your notes sustain endlessly and sing. Hard Rock, 80's Metal and Thrash Metal. It's all in there. Amazing.
The lead channel adds more compression and sustain and as expected continues where the rhythm channel left off. It's saturated up to the point where I'd really just use it for lead playing. Sweeps, legato runs, tapping and all those juicy notes played up high on the fretboard with the neck pickup, amazing. Exactly what I expect from a lead channel.
The built in boost is a nice idea, but compared to an actual tubescreamer up front it just muddies things up and takes away from the clarity. If you need some extra volume for soloing cool, for riffing I'd rather use a dedicated OD pedal up front. But hey, it's there so I won't complain.
The 15 watt input is loud as hell, I wouldn't fear to compete with a drummer, if you have the option of micing the cab in a live situation you should be golden. And if not there's still the DI XLR out you can connect to the PA. The 1 watt input allows you to play in your bedroom without pissing off neighbours and helps to saturate the powersection even more. But make no mistake, I never had the master volume higher than 3, even on 1 Watt. This is still a tube amp.
My final thoughts on the sound are that the cab makes or breakes this amp. As said I already played it once in a music store and the first 412 I used was your standard Marshall 1960 with G12T-75s. Very thick and balanced sound, juicy. Tried it next with an Orange PPC 412 and I got a honky, nasal and thin mess. This thing doesn't like middy speakers, it's voiced mid heavy already. The G12-65s in my cab are broken in, not as scooped as the 75s but not as nasal as the V30. The fact that the Orange was brand new and the speakers had no play time on them probably made things even worse. Anyway, if the older brothers sound anything like this little fella here I might be tempted to get one of them as a live amp
Connecting to PC/Recording:
So this was a must for me to try out today. I read a few reviews where users had noise issues connecting the amp to the pc via USB, seemed to be a problem of the first batch of amps due to a lack of shielding. I tried it out and had perfect silence. So the amp stays with me. I got one of the second batch models where Laney fixed the noise issue. Very nice.
Now I opened Reaper and set everything up, pretty self explanatory. You have two signals, one processed, one dry that you can later on send through the unit again to reamp and finalize your sound. The most important aspect for me is the feeling of the amp. Your signal goes through the pre and power amp section, retaining the natural feeling from the tubes whilst playing that you loose with plugins and modellers. The chain is finalized with an internal speaker sim that you can turn off and substitute with dedicated Impulse Responses in your DAW.
Now I put it on my table in the kitchen, connected it to my PC and almost cringed when I turned it on. No speaker connected. It's a tube amp. But wait. It has an internal dummy load that gets engaged as soon as there's no cable connected to the speaker out. Phew. It's all good
The sounds is great. It will be all I ever need for covers and demo songs, and in case there's still something missing, you can always just use the dry track and re-amp it without having to replay perfect takes.
First Verdict:
So, the reason I got this amp in the first place is because my neighbour is pregnant. And because my laptop is too weak to process VSTs when I wanna riff away 3 in the morning when the muse kisses me (she's a bitch, always visiting at the most inappropriate times). And because I get carried away sometimes with my Marshall Halfstack in my room and turn it up until the whole neighbourhood heares me. And because it's portable and doesn't require a cab. And because I can use it to record songs. And because it sounds great. And because...
Anyway, before I go on. I just spend one day with it. Time will tell how good it is and if there are downsides. So far I'm a very happy fella. If you consider all the options you get, the 15 and 1 watt inputs, XLR DI Out, Headphone Jack, USB Re-Amping out, FX Loop, Internal Dummy Load, the great sound and the portability I don't regret any of the 598 bucks I paid for it. Oh and if I ever feel like it I might just as well us it as a preamp in a rack going into a poweramp to be able to play stadiums one day. A man can dream...
If this amp was made in England I'd be more than happy to pay double for it.
Anyway guys, I hope you excuse the wall of text. Maybe this review makes someone else pull the trigger on this amazing piece of gear. I'm sure happy I did. Pics are attached.
Cheers!!!
