Laney VC15 V1 or V2?

scarry67

New one at £299 or older version locally on eBay at £175ish? I prefer newer styling (quite subtle changes) and think they have different reverbs but which is best investment? Alas I can’t claim money no object...

steamabacus

Initially, there was no difference between the v1 and v2 other than styling - later v2 changed to a digital reverb, I think? I have an early v2 and it has spring reverb (and I agree, the styling looks better).

Another point to consider is the speaker - the early v1s had an HH (?) speaker thayt was reportedly pretty awful. Later ones (and the v2 I have) had a Jensen which is much better. I'm not sure whether they stuck with that speaker for the later digital reverb v2?

Mine was £225 new about 10 years ago (from Peter Cook's) so I'm not sure if £175 is all that good a price?

stickyfiddle

V2 has better cooling iirc (more vents) but tonally they’re the same, apart from the reverb change in later V2s

My very early V1 came with a Jensen speaker which was fine but meh. I put a greenback G10 in it and it was fab

scarry67

Sounds Grest have reduced them to £299 which is pretty good and it will have a warranty. I’m sure I’ve read about some issues with valves overheating or being poorly positioned but it’s a rare amp that doesn’t draw some critical comment.

steamabacus

I don't think they're the most robustly built amp but they sound pretty good. Mine survived being lent out to a friend and getting pulled off an amp stand onto the stage floor - it stopped working but was only a case of replacing a dodgy power valve when it was checked over. So it's not that fragile!

stickyfiddle

steamabacus said:

I don't think they're the most robustly built amp but they sound pretty good. Mine survived being lent out to a friend and getting pulled off an amp stand onto the stage floor - it stopped working but was only a case of replacing a dodgy power valve when it was checked over. So it's not that fragile!

Yeah I gigged mine for years. Only had one issue after I bashed it against a doorframe during a load out, which caused a single solder joint to fail. But about 6 years of gigs in total and never put a foot wrong. I'd happily buy another

scarry67

They seem to generate happy owners and options for small 15  watter  with fx loop sub 300 are limited ie rockier Blackstar ht5r.

steamabacus

Beware the fx loop - it's a parallel loop with a fixed 50/50 mix (a bit silly really). It's fairly easy to mod to serial by removing a resisistor (and patching the in/out if not in use) - I had that confirmed by Laney support although I never got around to modding mine.