Laney VC30 212 £250 (going to hang on to this for a while now)

snowblind

Going to keep this amp for a bit now. I'm doing some practice sessions with a local bitsa group and the VC30 is the most portable thing I have. Also we're going to be doing some stereophonics covers. Kelly Jones is a matchless/vox user so the Laney fits into that ballpark (ish). Also the venue probably won't been too keen on me rocking up with a 100W HiWatt. What happened to al the fun in the world? 





I have a Laney VC30 212 30W valve amp that I am looking to move on. It has some miles on it but it is solid and sounds good.
Specs are 30W, 2 channel, built in reverb. I have swapped the original Celestion Seventy 80s for HiWatt units because I think they sound better. I bought the amp from a guy who works at Orange. It was intended to become part of an OTT wet-dry-wet stereo rig but in the end I found the whole setup just a step too far. The dual amp rig is lush enough.

Sound-wise the thing is in AC30 territory but it has the advantage of not having to be cranked to "ears bleeding" to sound any good.
Better bottom end and better at lower volumes.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kcquKoBa5smVuCpoOQqd8H1G1oRh6r18/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kSBjt9qVNmvNA5N8U4Ko6sI70jmk0wE5/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zET9R42M2CvJH0bnY4ZTY5zUbBkNE_PW/view?usp=sharing


For anyone interested it was going to become part of this lot.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dMbI0AHNAeOXVlnP-xDdZ6tO3sEHAbpm/view?usp=sharing

I was going to run the two combos out via either the TC Alter Ego x4 or TC Nova delays with the HiWatt doing the heavy lifting in the middle. Matching the delays with the modulation and everything else all at once is just a bit too much and takes all the fun out of things. Easier with just the two amps to the Laney gets to find a new home. If nobody wants it I might keep it as the travelling amp so I never have to deal with another Blackstar DSP monstrosity.

Located in Bucks near Leighton Buzzard. I still have the Celestions around if anyone wants it in stock form.

snowblind

Here's a couple of clips of the thing in action. Just recorded on a phone audio app so far from stunning quality (and that includes the playing) but it gives some idea of what the vc30 can do.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qbKWQ8hAoz70VxhLdQMuNlWhHby8qWzI/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qaNjEOaNP3NXNw5cJnuuCngHVpHp8-S8/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qnDzW-v-qLIB0iqi6QfqMHgXGB9-zAum/view?usp=sharing

viz

sounds nice!

snowblind

Thanks for that. It's a good little amp. OK, so maybe not so little but it sounds good. The clean clip was done with a tele and the driven stuff is on a Les. The recording app did say I was blowing out the mic in the phone but you work with what you've got.

snowblind

Knocked a few quid off. It's just gathering dust so it needs a new home where it can be cherished and upset neighbours the way it was born to.

Voxman

snowblind said:

Here's a couple of clips of the thing in action. Just recorded on a phone audio app so far from stunning quality (and that includes the playing) but it gives some idea of what the vc30 can do.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qbKWQ8hAoz70VxhLdQMuNlWhHby8qWzI/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qaNjEOaNP3NXNw5cJnuuCngHVpHp8-S8/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qnDzW-v-qLIB0iqi6QfqMHgXGB9-zAum/view?usp=sharing

I think I recognise the clean riff - Sheryl Crow's 'Steve McQueen'? 

Laney amps are for some reason hugely under-rated and the VC30's are really good amps.  I have the VC30-210 with 2 x Jensen C10Q16's that I pair with the matching GS112-VE 1x12 cab.  Incredibly loud, great cleans, and I put a Russian Electroharmonix 12AX7 in (V1 or V2 - I think V2?) for a more Marshall type crunch. 

And Laney's fixed price servicing (just for Laney amps) is just brilliant.  I had mine serviced in May, priced at £60 including VAT, collection and redelivery. Any parts required for the job are on top of the labour but often they don't charge if it's just an input or the odd pot.  So for anyone looking at buying this, I thought that might be worth sharing.  

GLWYS! 

snowblind

Correct on the riff. You have a good ear to work that out from the mess I made of it. 

And thanks for the leg-up on the VC30. I reckon this is a damn good amp but I've had b**gger all interest so far. When I think what you can pay for a low-end Fender blues junior or a Blackstar its kinda sad that nobody seems to want this sort of thing these days. You can't beat real speakers moving air. That lovely interaction with the guitar just doesn't exist with the digital stuff. I'm kinda tempted to keep it as the travelling amp but I'm under orders to "moderate" the amount of amplification in the house. 

 

Supportact

I just realised I got given one of these as backline at a festival over the summer. I wasn't sure which Laney it was but I recognise the control panel here. Anyway just to say I thought it was really great and I much preferred it to the Marshall I'd had on the previous gig. I just used the clean channel and pedals for drive but it was a good sound. Good luck with the sale! 

snowblind

I have changed the third audio clip to a thing with a different phone and run through the main fx chain which in this instance includes a neo mini vent, Klon clone, TC spark boost, the Alter Ego x4 with a minimal delay and the T-rex roommate.
As with a lot of these things the mic doing the recording is the real decider but in any event you get an idea of what can be done. With proper recording kit you could appreciate the fullness of the sound. The Laney with the HiWatt speakers is a lovely thing, to my ears at least.  It deserves to go somewhere it will get used more often than it does.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zET9R42M2CvJH0bnY4ZTY5zUbBkNE_PW/view?usp=sharing

snowblind

Just in conversation with the gent who runs the local music shop. He reckons 2x12 combos just don't sell these days. 
Too heavy for the kids to lift. He has a Mesa Lonestar that he's knocked £1K off the original asking price and it still won't sell.

While that may be due in part to ewe tube amp techs showing the horrors of Mesa internal construction in this particular case it does highlight current trends. There's loads of really nice old combos around for almost pocket change and yet people will still pay 4x the price for a piece of Blackstar DSP landfill. Go figure.

jonnyburgo

Laney are so underrated, Ive got a VC15 with a 10inch Jensen speaker, its a cracker