Laney amps

[eldi]

I'm thinking about picking up one to use possible back-up to my Mk III. I've noticed they go fairly cheap on ebay. I may try to pick up one of the AOR series heads that they made in the late 80's. I've read favorable reviews on Harmony Central about them. Anyone here have any experiences with them?

 

[Cleekster]

I've owned both the old (AOR Pro tube 100) and the the new(GH100L)version.

the AOR amps kinda sound like a Modded JCM 800 but it won't sound like you're 900 MKIII(used to own one of those too)..anyhow heres what your getting:

single channel w/ MV
4 gain stages w/ switchable 5th gain stage....the preamp alone will produce the gain of you're cranked marshall....but it is a "transparent"distortion so old metallica is about as "METAL" as your going to get IMO.

bass/mid/treble can either be passive or active or any combination thereof(push/pull knob)so it's possible to get REALLY scooped out mid tones if you're into that sort of thing......DO NOT TURN THE MASTER OVER 5 W/ THE BASS KNOB ON 10(PULLEDOUT)OR YOU WILL TOAST YOU'RE SPEAKERS AND FRY YOU'RE AMP!!!!!!!!!!

I used GT ecc83's(preamp)and 6CA7's in the poweramp and got a really good sound going with it and would probably buy one again if the oppertunity presented itself....

the GH100L is basically the same amp w/ passive eq and a more modern distortion.

 

[eldi]

I'm not really concerned about getting something that sounds exactly like my Boogie Mk III, I would actually rather have something that sounds different for some variety. But the thing that intrigues me about the Laney is not only the value, but that I've heard it said that they do sound alot like a modded JCM 800. (I used to own a JCM 900 mk III 2500, I kinda miss that amp) But I would probably set it for clean & run a stomp box in front of it anyways, ala a Boss DS-1, a TS-9, & an EH Big Muff Pi (NYC Reissue). I would also like to experiment with different types of output tubes if I do find one. I understand they come equiped with EL-34's, but I may use it as a gunea pig of sorts & learn to bias the output tubes on it. I may try some 5881's or maybe even some 6550's in it for even more power amp flavors. I'm curious if maybe 6L6's would give it more of a Soldano SLO type of sound. Or maybe even a set of KT-88's, the possibilites are endless......Then in addition to the head & different tubes, I'll need to buy a good multimeter & then the fun can begin....

 

[Russ]

Those AOR's were cool amps. I think that it is just that Laney wasn't as big of a name as Marshall that they really didn't hold as much of the market attention. This is the same as can be said about the Ampeg VL that I own. Like the AOR the VL sounds like a hotrodded Marshall JCM800. Actually there were a few amps that were being produced at that time that sounded like the hotrodded Marshall because the other manufacturers were having to compete with just that... a hotrodded Marshall. The taste for that sound rolled through and became what people sought. I have even been told that the Mark III can sound like a hotrodded Marshall. I haven't bothered looking for that in my Mark IV because I have the VL and a real JCM800 not to mention the JMP. Enough about my stuff though. The AOR can be one hell of a player if you are looking for a solid rock-hard rock-classic metal-early thrash/speed metal amp. The low cost of entry makes it a seriously viable choice for those types of gain and tones.

The 900, to me, never sounded like or rather captured the essence of the sound of a hotrodded 800 or even a modded JMP. It had more of a fizzy wannabe Mesa sound to it. It didn't quite exactly capture Mesa's sound either. This is not to say that the amp completely sucked because if you dropped the gain back a little you got back into decent rock/metal tone provided your eq knobs were dialed in. The used price of an AOR is about that of the 900 that you had. Why not just return to the 900 that you liked? The MkIII did have some merit. They actually sounded ok and didn't sound nearly as bad as the high gain dual reverb heads that took a perfectly good splitchannel JCM800 and ruined a perfectly good design.