My first thought was 'WOW this is a stunner. It's a right mix of Blackface, Marshall and Vox cosmetic. And it's black. And dark. And I think it's uber hot.
Second... it's heavy, but not TOO heavy.
Comes with TAD valves... two EL84s and 3 12AX7s/ECC83s. One of the 12s isn't badged. The others are actually high grade 7025. So I think as far as valves go, it's a 10.
Dunno why, I replaced the one closest to the power valves with a JJ ECC83S... I HOPE it's the PI valve hehe... I wasn't able to find which is which. I just took off the not badged 12AX. If I don't find much difference I'll try the JJ in the middle valve. The way I figure it, in clean, the middle valve is bypassed and in dirty, it comes in to add 2 gain stages. So with a JJ in the middle I'd keep the cleans I love and possibly boost up the dirt? Or maybe I'm twisted. I haven't tried it like this though.
First thing I did was to put everything on 5. And I kept it this way for a while. The amp sounds absolutely GORGEOUS. I always had this idea that EL84s are pretty thin sounding. No idea why. Maybe because they ARE thin :laugh2: But nooooo... this amp is VERY, very nice sounding.
Speaker is a Jensen Custom 10''. The seller of the amp also gave me a free Vox speaker which is darn nice.
I saw no faults in the Tolex.
The amp's reverb is NICE and not overcooked as it's often the case. So I put on a little bit... Though pretty much nothing comes up until around 4 or 5. I don't mind, it's a good reverb to my ears.
The amp also has a TONE control! It works instead of a presence. Basically if you play exclusively with a Tele or Strat bridge pup... you can tame it down. But I don't find the treble harsh at all. Though that could be the guitar, maple neck through with a Screaming Demon.
Mhmm ok just downloaded the manual and it appears I was right. The one closest to the OV is V3 and the PI. Laney even included a basic block diagram of the overall gain layout! It appears the effects loop is SS boosted but eh. I got nothing in it right now. It appears V1B is the drive triode though. V2 is just before the EQ (I thought it'd be one half before, one after).
I plug into the low output. Why? No idea. The notice said so. And that's about the first time I ever follow a notice hehe...The hi input is just marginally louder, which I don't need and that's all I noticed. That diagram implies a pad for the low input...Does this mean the natural sound of the amp comes through the hi input?
I'll get a Laney FS2 footwich (which I can ALSO use for my AOR. Woot!) and have the basic clean and drive sounds from it. Then use my route 66 for boosted cleans with a hint of breakdown, or to really get that edge with the drive channel.
Or of course use the CrunchBox on clean ^_^ Sounds excellent too!
I couldn't be happier with the amp. I don't notice less bass than I want, more like the opposite. That speaker seems quite nice.
What else can I mention... did I say it's a stunner yet? ;)
The ebay seller was VERY nice and delivered it to me this morning... While I was on the plane! He lived in Glasgow and accepted to deliver it but could only make it this morning. So I told my flatmates to reception it and everything went fine. That was very cool of him if you ask me, and he was great to deal with from the start.
I may get a AB/Y box and run both Laneys. So that I'd always have a nice clean sound WITH The drive sound of the tiny one. Or to better compare them simply enough. Right now though my old faithful AOR could disapear and I wouldn't notice. Hope I don't hurt its feelings, it served me well and will get some upgrades soon.
I'm a happy man!
