Laney la30bl or marshall sv20h

oldmansanj

Hi all,

im considering one of these two amps has anyone had experience with both? The stuff I play is sludge/ thrash (mastodon, black cobra, high on fire etc) with a drummer. This rig would be used with pedals.

Any opinions on both amps especially the laney would be appreciated.

cheers

nick79

Can't help you with the Marshall, but i've had an LA30BL since July last year. Bought it because i wanted it for the Black Sabbath thing, which it nails, but i've been using it for pretty much everything ever since. 
Theres not a lot of drive even when on 10 compared to most amps but whats there is lovely. Depending on  pickups it starts to break up at about 4 on the gain control, thats on channel 2, channel 1 it stays clean for a little bit longer. Cleans are stunning, very full and bold, with quite a fast attack. 
I will say its a very loud amp though, easily loud enough to gig with and have a nice clean sound, but having said that after about 5 it doesn't really get much louder, just dirtier. I use an attenuater with mine otherwise i would go deaf very quickly, but i do like to crank it. 

Overall it just sounds huge, with lots of low end, with the gain on 10 i run the bass on 0, and usually treble and mids all the way up on bass input 1, but its surprisingly versatile and i'm still exploring with it. 
I would say definitely try one if you can, in my opinion it sounds like what you are looking for - It takes pedals very well, and excels with pretty much every drive pedal i've put in front of it. 

That all sounds like i'm a bit of a fan boy, but it's genuinely the best amp i've ever owned, and its killed my amp GAS...
I will say though that Laney are about to release the LA100SM, 100w version with a master volume but it's handwired so i'm guessing will cost a fair bit more. I'm sticking with the 30w

ICBM

I have no personal experience of either amp and don't know exactly what they sound like other than from online videos, but speaking purely as a repair tech I would get the Laney - it's slightly better-built. Going by what's visible in pics online, it appears to have fewer jumper connectors and better-quality pots than the Marshall, which are two known problem areas with modern Marshalls. It's also a bit more powerful, which may matter for that style of music at the volume you're talking about.

It might also be worth looking at a second hand Orange Rocker 30 - the older 2-EL34 model, which is unfortunately discontinued now. That's got a really big tone and enough volume to keep up with a drummer, and will be a lot less money (typically well under £500). Brent Hinds has a signature model 15W Orange based on it, if it matters... the guitarist in the band I play bass in has both, but the Rocker 30 sounds much bigger at band volume.

Exorcist

FWIW my old rig for similar styles was an old AOR, Tons of low end and the clean channel with MV high and GAIN low was awesome with pedals IMHO. I've never heard anything like it with a modded Russian Muff into the clean channel. And if you ever want that sleep/sword sound you have the crazy gain channel.

Exorcist

But saying all that, love the look of the LA30BL

Tat2dstesh

Can't comment on either but I've had a Laney aor which sounded massive and did the 80s thrash amazing with a pedal Infront and have the rocker 30 which has become my favourite amp as it really is a jcm800 type sound souped up.. I use it with a way huge saucy box pushing the drive and it's huge sounding 

riffpowers

ICBM said:

I have no personal experience of either amp and don't know exactly what they sound like other than from online videos, but speaking purely as a repair tech I would get the Laney - it's slightly better-built. Going by what's visible in pics online, it appears to have fewer jumper connectors and better-quality pots than the Marshall, which are two known problem areas with modern Marshalls. It's also a bit more powerful, which may matter for that style of music at the volume you're talking about.

It might also be worth looking at a second hand Orange Rocker 30 - the older 2-EL34 model, which is unfortunately discontinued now. That's got a really big tone and enough volume to keep up with a drummer, and will be a lot less money (typically well under £500). Brent Hinds has a signature model 15W Orange based on it, if it matters... the guitarist in the band I play bass in has both, but the Rocker 30 sounds much bigger at band volume.

If you're looking to play HOF style stuff, I'd definitely go for this. It'll nail that compressed power tube sound that Matt Pike uses a lot, but at volumes you can use !! The marshalls sounds too tight for that I always think.

oldmansanj

Cheers for the replies. I actually have all the amps mentioned (just sold the aor) but looking more and more at the laney. I want to do a stereo rig with my fargen retro classic. 

Nerine

This thread piqued my interest, actually. And I decided to look at a few vids online of the Laney LA30BL. 
It certainly looks very cool. Love the aesthetics. 
I wasn't overly enamoured with the tones as it kinda sounded a bit woolly when it was starting to overdrive to me. Sounded a bit fuzzy and buzzy. But the slightly less driven sounds seemed to have much more sparkle. 
Maybe I just heard a duff clip. 

nick79

The key thing with the LA30BL when running it at past 6ish on the gain is to bring the bass right down, its naturally  bass heavy, and doing this tightens things up. A lot of the time i have the bass on 0, everything else on 10. Sounds magical. 

oldmansanj

After all that I’ve ended up with a jcm 800kk I got for the same price. Loving the tone at the moment amazing classic rock sound.

riffpowers

oldmansanj said:

After all that I’ve ended up with a jcm 800kk I got for the same price. Loving the tone at the moment amazing classic rock sound.

they are great amps!!

Fenderish

No loop on the laney so that’s one big difference

oldmansanj

Ok i sold my orange tv200 and bought the laney. Dear god the laney is great and absolutely pisses over the oranges in term of low end. Not as loud as I thought it would be but loud enough to gig. I’ve been diming it with everything at 10 and then into my sonic titan - massive sound.

nick79

Excellent.... Glad you are enjoying it! It's quite an amp isn't it!

Just out of interest what cab/speakers are you using with it?

oldmansanj

Currently I’m using my orange 2x12 with vintage 30’s but I have a few cabs to try out with it. Been using the power station with it and with the deep and bright switches it’s sound really good.