Trust the volume pot on my only assembled guitar to come loose the day the damn thing arrives... That aside (can't be bothered fixing it), first impressions are good. The reverb is better than I was expecting it to be (although there's a loose wire somewhere that periodically decides to just buzz uncontrollably rather than actually add any reverb. Nothing a bit of selotape and some ingenuity won't fix), there are some really nice chiming cleans in there, and it just sounds great all the way up the gain knob, through blues, classic rock, up to actually quite convincing metal distortion. On about 7-8 it'll lap up early metallica, 10 takes it not too far from machine head territory. I was expecting to need a boost pedal to get anywhere near the amount of gain the laney can produce. And it's good gain, too, it doesn't mush up too much or fizz at all. It's no recto, it's quite grainy, but personally I like that. Very usable right the way up. I might just get one of those danelectro EQs for pushing it a bit harder, though.
The amp's EQ actually seems very flexible at high gain, too, for going between a british mid punch sort of tone and a more american scooped tone (shut up, I like it). It's not perfect, I think I'd maybe like some warmer valves, and just generally a better speaker, but that's not too much effort to change. Once I've changed the valves and speaker and bought an EQ (bringing the total to about £250) I don't think I'll be looking to replace it for a very long time.
The question now is, which speaker, and which valves? I've heard EH valves are quite warm sounding generally? I've got no idea what speaker to go for. Something as versatile as possible, I suppose. Any ideas?
