NAD....and a speaker question.

boogieman

I’ve just picked up a Laney Lionheart Studio 5 from Tone1 of this parish. What a lovely thing, perfect for home use. Although I’m only using it on the half watt setting it may well cope with gigging too, assuming a polite drummer.

The clean channel is great, really nice Voxy chime to it. The drive side hasn’t got huge amounts of gain but it does the classic rock thing very well and I can always push it with pedals. (It takes pedals beautifully too, doesn’t go to mush like some other amps I’ve had). 

Next task is to get a cab for it. I tried it with my Blackheart cab, 1x12 closed back. It seems to suit it pretty well, although it’s quite toppy, not a lot of bass and doesn’t have the open quality I’d like. So... would an open back cab help? Would a greenback suit it? I’m just a home player these days, mostly playing things like ZZ Top, LZ, Hendrix, Pink Floyd. I like spanky inbetween Strat tones too... Richard Thompson, Mark Knopfler. 

kreggs

I use an open back cab with a jensen mod 12/35 with mine. The speaker is only  rated at 93.7 db so good for home use. The speaker is a good all rounder and has a nice low end but also a very detailed clear voice. It has an american flavour with a hint of british on top. It works for me and I have never thought to change it. They cost peanuts  so are worth a try but also hope others can chime in with thier  preferences.

ICBM

The speaker these were designed for is the Celestion G12H-30 Heritage, which has a very full low-end and good top-end clarity, but it’s also 100dB so possibly not ideal if you need to keep the volume down at home - although it would be for getting the most out of it at gig volume. They’re pretty expensive, but the standard G12H-30 isn’t miles away - or there’s the G12H-75 Creamback which might be closer.

An open-back cab will sound a bit more ‘airy’ and open as well.

boogieman

Thanks @ICBM. ;

I’m looking at the Montage cabs, which ISTR you've said are decent enough?

Possibly stupid question here: the amp booklet says I can use any speaker from 8 - 16 ohms. Does it make any difference? Or are there any advantages? Only I notice some speakers come in both 8 and 16 ohm versions. 

ICBM

boogieman said:

Thanks @ICBM. ;

I’m looking at the Montage cabs, which ISTR you've said are decent enough?

Possibly stupid question here: the amp booklet says I can use any speaker from 8 - 16 ohms. Does it make any difference? Or are there any advantages? Only I notice some speakers come in both 8 and 16 ohm versions. 

Tricky question... in theory the amp will be optimised for one or the other, but without knowing the spec of the OT or testing it in use, it's hard to be sure which. The old L5T model is 8 ohm, but that doesn't necessarily mean this one is.

If you're only ever going to run one cabinet, it's more likely that the amp is optimised for 8 ohms since it's usually believed that a high mismatch is safer (which is not actually true...) so it would make sense that the amp would be 8 ohms but able to take 16 - so in that case I would get 8 ohms. If you ever want to run two cabs - which you can do by daisy-chaining from the first cab if it has two jacks - then you need to get 16.

There will be a slight tonal difference even if the power is not noticeably affected - 16 ohms should give a brighter, more open sound and 8 should give a fuller, smoother sound.

Montage cabs are good, and in fact they do a 1x12" with a removable middle back panel so it can be used open or closed.

boogieman

Thanks . I’ll go for an 8 ohm then. 

normula1

I've a standard L5t and until recently didn't get on at all well with the stock Celestion G12H-30 Heritage. I'd got it in a Montage cab that I leave in the conservatory which I'd noticed was sounding particularly good and as the speaker I'd got in the L5t was sounding very flat I swapped back. The trick I found to bring out the best in the bass end was to drop the mid down. I use an l-pad attenuator and use the tone control to tweak the treble dependant on attenuation settings.

boogieman

normula1 said:

I've a standard L5t and until recently didn't get on at all well with the stock Celestion G12H-30 Heritage. I'd got it in a Montage cab that I leave in the conservatory which I'd noticed was sounding particularly good and as the speaker I'd got in the L5t was sounding very flat I swapped back. The trick I found to bring out the best in the bass end was to drop the mid down. I use an l-pad attenuator and use the tone control to tweak the treble dependant on attenuation settings.

Thanks for the info @normula1 ;So in your experience does the Heritage work well with the amp at low-ish volumes? I’ve been running mine through the 0.5W output and can have the clean and crunch volumes up to around 4 or 5 without the neighbours complaining.

And as a matter of interest what was the speaker you swapped out? 

normula1

The heritage works well now. The one I haver never really tallied with @ICBM's description of how it should sound. I'd forgotten that I'd dumped it in the Montage cab that lives in our conservatory and after the hot weather a few weeks ago it seems somwhow to have come to life. But yes it's now sounding great despite the attenuator.

I had been running Celestion G35s and / or G50s that have a lot lower sensitivity which meant I could use less attenuator and they're quite neutral but pretty characterless really.

boogieman

Update. Yesterday I bought a 1x12 Award cab from a member here. Nice build quality and it’s fitted with a G12-65 Heritage. It’s a nice match for the Laney. It’s a physically larger cab than the Blackheart one I’ve been using and has lost the boxiness, even though it’s still a closed back. The Heritage doesn’t seem as sensitive as the Eminence in the Blackheart as I can wind the wick up a couple more notches without it still being too loud. It also has a really good all round tone to it. Happy bunny.