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Starts breaking up at about 4 (with humbuckers) but again can be controlled so well with just winding back the guitar volume a touch.
At 5 it's properly starting to break up and after that doesn't really get any louder, just more break up.
At 10 it's starting to go into meltdown (in a good way) and that strange lower octave type effect comes into play. Boosted with the TI boost and it's instant Black Sabbath - not close to it, it really is that sound that i've been after for so long.
I've got an attenuater now just to knock off a bit off volume, i think i'll be running it at about 6 or 7 on the gain and hit it with the Ti boost, it seem's happiest about there.
So overall i'm really enjoying it and it's everything (and more) that i hoped it would be.
But there is a fly in the ointment....
According to Laney it's construction is 'turret board that is hand soldered'. They have also made mention of it being constructed with turret board and pcb that is hand populated.
https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1788/42557910014_3d6506b2d6_z.jpg
But it's not. It's all pcb, no turret boards in sight.
https://farm1.staticflickr.com/836/42371838035_04fd1e9bb1_z.jpg
So either someone in Laney's marketing department has got the wrong end of the stick, or they are being dishonest. I would like to think the former.. To begin with i was pretty pissed off and was going to return the amp, but now i've had a few days to think about it (and some very helpful advice) i'm going to keep it. Its a lovely sounding thing, and to be honest i did wonder how Laney could make a handwired turret board amp for less than £900. I do think its out of order how they have marketed it though - If i had known it was all pcb from the start i would still have bought it.
Bandcamp
I just think it's a bit off that people have been misinformed about this one.
Can you not post something on that Facebook/Twitter thread to highlight the issue?
Bandcamp
If so there are no solid-state components in the audio path, since there are no others visible as far as I can see.
I would actually hope someone from Laney could confirm this as it would answer some questions.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Whatever those components do, it looks like a deliberately unusual design rather than a cheap shortcut.
After some more looking at the pics, I’m more sure they’re filament voltage regulators - firstly the heatsinks are quite large, which means the components are handling a lot of current, and secondly the filament connections to the preamp valves are different from the phase inverter. So my best guess is one regulator for each preamp valve, which would also fit with their physical location.
One problem with DC filament supplies is that by simply rectifying and filtering the AC supply, you end up with too high a voltage, which is not good for valve life. Voltage regulators would fix that.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
You can't tell just by listening whether an amp is PCB or turret board, eyelet board, true point to point etc.
If the circuits are the same, the differences in tone are due mostly to component quality and a little to do with layout. A PCB actually has an advantage in that the layout can be more consistent, although a neatly-made hand-wired amp can be too.
The real differences are more in long-term reliability and maintenance.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
My worries in the long term are more to do with the PCB jumper connectors (these have a habit of making a bad contact eventually), the surface-mount components (relatively few, and if they're only resistors which have no chance of ever burning out then it's not an issue at all - although the rectifier diodes might be, they could damage the board if they fail), and those big heatsinks... they're good at protecting the components they're cooling, but where they're mounted means a lot of the heat will go straight into the PCB - remember that the chassis is upside down in the pic, so they hang down from under it.
I'm not actually a fan of DC filament supplies at all, they always cause issues with extra heat. A well-designed layout and gain structure shouldn't be noisy even with an AC supply. (This assumes that's what it is! Although I can't think of any other possibilities.)
No idea where they're made, but they are not hand-populated, apart from possibly some of the larger components. Not sure what difference it makes anyway...
Probably .
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Hit it with an overdrive pedal (ts9 is fantastic through it) and it really sings.
It's a different world away from any amp i've had before, i've no regrets letting my Mini Rec go.
First gig tomorrow night with it, and looking forward to it.
Ironically, I repaired a Rectoverb 25 a couple of weeks ago, and the fault was a *solder joint* on a wire which hadn't 'taken' properly to the PCB when it was made... so you can't win!
At the end of the day, if it sounds good, doesn't break, and if it does break is fairly easy to repair, it's all good. I think .
But I do agree with you about the misleading marketing.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
But it also has fantastic cleans, and every pedal i've put through it so far has sounded incredible.