Laney VH100R- worth it?

[Anonymous]

I currently own a Mark III blue stripe that I'm completely happy with, but I'm ready to try something new. I keep listening to bands and think, "man, I want my amp to sound like that!"- only to look them up and find that they all use Laney's. Bands like Mastodon, Oceansize, Opeth, and probably some others I haven't yet discovered. I want something similar to a JCM800, but with a better/separate clean channel. I'm not going to give up my Mark III just yet, only if I find something I like better. Would I be happy with a Laney even though I already own a Mark III?

 

[ursinus]

Try the Stilletto, seriously. It is truly a great amp.

 

[Charlie]

+1

 

[Charlie]

+1

 

[Anonymous]

Try the Stilletto, seriously. It is truly a great amp.

Yeah, that's another amp on my list. But I'm still interested in amps outside of Mesa.

 

[Ultron]

I had a VH100R, I sold it and kept my Mark III bluestripe.

The Laney had great cleans and a very good lead tone, but lacked the bite and agressiveness of the Mark III.

 

[Anonymous]

I had a VH100R, I sold it and kept my Mark III bluestripe.

The Laney had great cleans and a very good lead tone, but lacked the bite and agressiveness of the Mark III.

I think I'm starting to back off of the whole new amp thing. The other day I turned on my Mark III and it just sounded amazing! Do all tube amps sound different every time you turn it on or is something just wrong with mine? :?

 

[creative]

I had a VH100R, I sold it and kept my Mark III bluestripe.

The Laney had great cleans and a very good lead tone, but lacked the bite and agressiveness of the Mark III.

I think I'm starting to back off of the whole new amp thing. The other day I turned on my Mark III and it just sounded amazing! Do all tube amps sound different every time you turn it on or is something just wrong with mine? :?

yes if you have oscilation from outlet. mark series are very sensitive to bad power. if power in your house drop you will notice drop in gain and it will sound lifles without harmonics and sustain. use a power conditioner!

 

[Anonymous]

I had a VH100R, I sold it and kept my Mark III bluestripe.

The Laney had great cleans and a very good lead tone, but lacked the bite and agressiveness of the Mark III.

I think I'm starting to back off of the whole new amp thing. The other day I turned on my Mark III and it just sounded amazing! Do all tube amps sound different every time you turn it on or is something just wrong with mine? :?

yes if you have oscilation from outlet. mark series are very sensitive to bad power. if power in your house drop you will notice drop in gain and it will sound lifles without harmonics and sustain. use a power conditioner!

A power conditioner can fix that? ****, I wish I had known that the whole time. :roll:

 

[srf399]

I had a MKIV and I loved the lead channel.... But if you want a Marshall JCM800 sound with better cleans you just described the Stiletto Deuce II. Fat Clean sounds like my 1965 Fender Deluxe Reverb but with a slight EL34 jangly feel and Crunch & Tite Gain easily gets you the JCM 800 overdriven sound but you can go past that with higher gain in Tite Gain mode so it's more like a hot rodded JCM 800... Fluid Drive goes back into the traditional Boogie MKIV type lead sound. In my opinion both the Tite Gain and the Fluid Drive modes sound and play better than my MKIV lead channel did. Not only that but band members and audience comments backed it up without me saying a word to them. When I was contemplating replacing my MKIV with the Deuce II I was very concerned with losing the nice Mark lead sound but in my opinion and the opinion of the guys in the band I play with the cleans...crunch and lead are all superior on this amp than the 2005 MKIVB I played for 2 years.

 

[sgtbaker]

I had a Stiletto Deuce I and it was great for cleans, moderate rock, and blues. I now have a VH100R and it covers all that the Stiletto did with a great clean channel too. It also gets really heavy and I cannot say that the Stiletto does.

 

[sgtbaker]

Yes, Opeth does use that head but I have not tried a Deuce II. I have played an Ace though and it really wasn't that much of a noticeable gain increase.

 

[srf399]

The Stiletto Stage II gain can only get up to moderate rock & blues? LMAO I guess the MKIV isn't high gain either cause the Stiletto stage II has every bit the gain my MKIV had. If Steve Vai's heaviest sound is moderate rock I'll accept that cause the Stiletto does that easily without an OD. IMHO more gain than Vai is just noise covering up lack of chops anyway.

 

[sgtbaker]

The Stiletto Stage II gain can only get up to moderate rock & blues? LMAO I guess the MKIV isn't high gain either cause the Stiletto stage II has every bit the gain my MKIV had. If Steve Vai's heaviest sound is moderate rock I'll accept that cause the Stiletto does that easily without an OD. IMHO more gain than Vai is just noise covering up lack of chops anyway.

I have never played a Stage II. And if Steve Vai uses the most gain then I don't know where you have been...

 

[srf399]

Steve Vai isn't moderate rock or blues.... his sound is high gain. I also didn't say it was the highest gain... I'm an old fart... been playing over 30 years and a good part of that was ... along side many extremely skilled players... studied at GIT and the good ones who have major skill usually use less gain as they mature in their playing...