New Amp Advice

[Bradock PI]

Five year warranty implies they probably had problems in the past that are now fixed it is a common reaction from firms sufforing with bad rep, as it shows they are confident everything is fixed now. If it wasn't they would go out of business fast fixing returns. If they honour that warranty for gigging as well then that's pretty cool.

[Ian Price]

Five year warranty implies they probably had problems in the past

And this is based on what exactly? Zvex have a lifetime warranty on all of their handpainted products and I rather suspect that this isn't due to historical problems. Surely warranties are included as manufacturers have great confidence in their products. Maybe I'm being naive but I don't think I am.

[Philly Q]

Laney have been going 42 years so they must be doing something right.

[38thBeatle]

My VC30 ( bought off ebay and therefore history a little unknown) has proved to be dependable and great sounding. In fact, only last night I had a grizzled old rocker telling me I had the best Strat tone he'd heard for ages and had a look over my rig.The VC has a bit to play in that I think ( along with superb BKP's of course).

[Elliot]

5 year warranties are pretty much industry standard for guitar valve amps (Fender, Marshall, Laney, Crate etc) - I don't think its anything to with production issues.

Of course, the warranties are all void if you mod the amp; is there anyone here who doesn't mod their amps?  Mine go under the soldering iron on the first day.

[_tom_]

I havent modded any amp I own. Mostly because I think I'd end up killing myself with all the dangerous currents in there..

[Philly Q]

Of course, the warranties are all void if you mod the amp; is there anyone here who doesn't mod their amps?  Mine go under the soldering iron on the first day.

I mod all my guitars, but never touched an amp, except to put wheels on it!

Guitars have, at most, 4 pots and a switch, I can cope with that.  But amps are a lot more complicated.... and I wouldn't even know what I was trying to achieve.

[Bradock PI]

Yup sorry that came across as wrong I should have said that 'if they had problems in the past ....... ' As I said earlier this was hearsay but it did put me off.

Some companies are great then go through bad patches due to a change in production technique, location or cost cutting.

Seems I was misguided and shoulda tried them out lotta happy users here.

[Jonesy76]

Nice to see I have a started a good ol' discussion on here.

The one thing I did manage to get out of my time playing the VC-30's was the fact that the single 12" Celestion definately had more of the 'quack' that I like over the twin 10" Jensens.  That alone makes me happier to consider the Lionheart as it's only available with a 12" Celestion.  Obviously my ears have become attuned to 12" Celestions over the years :D  I know we've got into some deep discussion here about tone produced from various appliances, but my 10 pennorth is that sadly everybodies ears are going to be different.  I'm a Bass Baritone opera singer, and tone and penetration is what I live for, because with opera singing you have to do it all with the voice as you have no microphones to help the voice.  This means that everything is heavilly technique dependant as you have to be able to place the voice in the right areas to get the resonance that will carry straight off the stage, over an orchestra and out into the audience.  You have to be able to hear this tone and resonance, as well as feel it, but it doesn't mean that the sound I produce is music to everyones ears.  You will always get those people who prefer the edgier sound of a tenor over the larger sound of a Baritone, which is almost like the difference between a Stratocaster and a Les Paul.  I know that trully I'm the only person who can identify what I want in an amp, but it is superb to get the valued opinon of you good people who at the very least all have Barekuckle humbuckers like me,

The Cornford Harlequin looks like a nice beastie from the on-line reviews I've seen of it, but is it just me missing something or does it not have a second channel?  I really don't want to go down the line of paying out £400+ for a secondhand Cornford, only to have to then throw out another £100 for one of those excellent Blackstar footpedals.  Maybe though I need to re-think my attitude to footpedals.  I only really have my Jim Dunlop Crybaby.......and then a couple of little chorus and delay pedals that I pull out every now and then for silly noodling, but which spend most of their time tucked away in my guitar cupboard so that the wife doesn't trip over them!

Anyway.....enough mindless rambling

[juansolo]

Consider the Blackstar HT-5 head with a 1x12 cab. The cleans can't match the Matamp Minimat I used to have, but then neither could the Minimat do a surprisingly realistic impression of a really small Mesa Rectifier. Versitile little thing that IMO, is a complete bargain at a little over £200.

[dave_mc]

the cheaper and/or smaller cornfords only have one channel. if you can switch from clean to dirty with your guitar volume control, it should be ok (or if you use a cleanish boost or something), but if you definitely need two channels, then it's probably not going to cut it. and if you need to go from pristine cleans to br00talz, again that's not going to happen with just the volume control, most likely.

[Lew]

I've used single channel amps for so long now that it's a non issue but I do remember first thinking that it may be restrictive and in some situations I suppose it can be.