Laney Lionhearts - Now with AmpAS!!

thermionic

4 EL84s in parallel single ended configuration... not many amps I know like that.

strtdv

I have the 20 watt head and matching cab, picked it up new for £550 for both. Really great amp, cleans are up there with the best IMO, and the gritty and light crunch sounds are fantastic too. I'm less fond of the gain above 6.5 (too grainy for my taste) but for everything else it punches well above its price bracket.
Another strength is how good it sounds at low volumes as well as cranked up.

Laney customer service has been excellent in my experience as well.

I've often thought of picking up one of the 5 watt one second hand, but can't really justify having 2 of the same amp..

ThePrettyDamned

thermionic said:

4 EL84s in parallel single ended configuration... not many amps I know like that.

The 50 watt head uses 5 el34s.

And sounds glorious.

stickyfiddle

So today I sold my Mesa and ordered a Lionheart L5T. Should arrive in a couple of weeks. Will report back soon!!

57Deluxe

So, would a Laney 1watt single channel amp with 1 knob be a Lonelyheart...?

Heartfeltdawn

And a Laney clad in tartan tolex with a picture of an arse on it would be a Braveheart... 

stickyfiddle

Moving on... mine has apparently dispatched to DHL International, so assuming they don't break it I should have it between 7 to 14 days from now

strtdv

stickyfiddle said:

Moving on... mine has apparently dispatched to DHL International, so assuming they don't break it I should have it between 7 to 14 days from now

I wouldn't worry too much, in my experience Laney have really excellent customer service and would sort out any problem you had, even if the distributor let you down.

Deadman

I notice guitarguitar have the 5 watt at £649 but the 20 watt at only £545. Must admit I'm tempted to get the 20 at that price.

ICBM

Deadman said:

I notice guitarguitar have the 5 watt at £649 but the 20 watt at only £545. Must admit I'm tempted to get the 20 at that price.

I can only assume they have some old stock, ex-demo or something.

The 20 is a much better amp than the 5, to me. The 5 is a fairly standard low-powered single-EL84 amp, even though it's quite a good one - there's nothing special about the design other than the preamp being a bit more sophisticated than most.

The 20 - and even more so the 50 - are very unusual (or possibly unique, with that many valves) in that they're parallel-single-ended amps. That's a different sound from the standard push-pull arrangement - probably the closest to true Class A in a normal guitar amp… although in my opinion the Class is a bit of a red herring! But they certainly do sound very good.

stickyfiddle

It are here!!

Only got 10 minutes with it so far but it's everything good I remember about the VC15 with better clarity and no boxy-ness. Very nice AC30ish chime, which is what I wanted. Woo!

hotpickups

Great amps. I'd choose the 20w version again and again but moved away from that sound at the moment. Not to say that I'll ever got back to it again

Dave_Mc

Very nice

NBGuitar

From anyone who's owned/does own the 20 watt head, is it loud enough to gig with? I'm pretty close to pulling the trigger on one but I've seen some comments that it's just not that loud...

TimBloomer

NBGuitar;382853" said:

From anyone who's owned/does own the 20 watt head, is it loud enough to gig with? I'm pretty close to pulling the trigger on one but I've seen some comments that it's just not that loud...

I have played a fair few gigs with mine and it is loud enough for small and medium sized venues. Any bigger though and the cab would need micing up. By the way I have said head unit for sale in the classifieds if you are looking to buy one.

stickyfiddle

Time for more thoughts. 

First, I still think it's really really good, and actually very flexible. It's not going to do metal without a pedal, but the clean channel actually gets quite Fender blackfacey if you dime the bass, treble and tone and put mid on zero. The reverb on full is like a Fender reverb on 3, so shite for anything but padding, but Laney reverbs are always like that. I'll get a pedal if I find I need one.

Next up is Marshally stuff - drive channel, EQ full and tone about halfway. Even with the volume only on 2 it's a really good sound. Not quite Back In Black plexi (though it may get closer as it's wound up) but a really useable classic rock sound, just a bit squishier than your standard Marshall thing.

Then the good stuff. EQ full up, tone full up, drive on 4. CHIME FOR DAYS. It's the only thing the Mesa 5:25 couldn't really do at all, and the one thing I really want when playing anything but covers and it's BRILLIANT, and achievable at a volume that won't have my apartment neighbours burning the building down to stop me.

Takes a Valvesporker really nicely too, which is very good indeed. I suspect it'll be Rat-heaven when I get a chance to try that as well.  This is a definite keeper and probably my favourite amp I've ever had. 

Basically, if anyone's reading (found through browsing or google or whatever) and thinking about buying I highly recommend it.

EDIT: one other thing, it came with a footswitch, neatly velcroed into the bottom of the cabinet, which is nice, even though I won't use it. 

One *other* other thing, the free cover looks nice but is a bit poo, protection-wise. It'd keep off drizzle and maybe a moderate-to-strong-breeze but probably not much more

stickyfiddle

Also, random musing, would swapping the reverb tank make it better? 

strtdv

Probably not, it's a relatively long tank anyway and the reverb mix is determined by the circuit, not the tank itself. It's a pretty standard Accutronics unit so nothing wrong with the tank