ericcalvert's Reviews

Hail Satan Russian

Hands down THE best Russian Muff made. The detailed layout, mid boost and LED clipping are what makes this beast

....whoa

The trails and shimmer on this reverb will make you think your amp is haunted. Best pedal purchase I've ever made

Amazing reproduction

This is the closest I've found to original spec Green Russian. The mid dip switch inside is great

'89 Turbo

First year of the Turbo's also with a LM308. Alot less compression but db louder than the Rat 2. Amazing pedal, great on bass

92' Vintage

Some came with LM308's and some didn't. Mine didn't so I put a NOS 78' LM308 can in it which gave it a warmer tone

97' Rat

One pedal that never leaves my board. Original LM308

White Face Reissue

One of the best Distortion pedals ever made.

Undisputed King ..... Laney

This is a '87 single channel amp with a switchable gain boost (AOR)

x4 12AX7s x4 EL34's

It's a British design and it's basically a super modded plexi in the same theme as JCM800s. Many confuse it as being a JCM800 clone... It isn't. Both came out around the same time and were the product of development towards hotter amps. The difference is Laney went the next mile, added an additional preamp valve and achieved in their production model what alot of people had to get the JCM800s modded to do. And JCM800s still aren't as flexible tonally. There's been some discussion that the AORs were an adaptation of a Lee Jackson design but there's no specific proof. There isn't any getting around the fact it's a similar amp to a JCM800, but then the Laney Supergroup and Klipp amps, the predecessors of the AOR, are very similar to early Marshalls... Which in turn were modded clones of early Fender Bassman circuits. Enough about that. The AOR amps have 2 specific features that set them aside, and arguably ahead, of most other high gain amps from the 80s. Firstly, they have 4 stages of gain... Plug into the High Input and you have 3 stages immediately with a 4th switched in with the AOR boost. If you plug into the Low Input it cuts out an entire valve and drops it to 2 stages of gain. It also disables the High Input completely. So either you get the high gain options of the High Input or you get the cleaner sounds of the Low Input. The other specific features are the EQ boosts. The AOR amps have a pull boost on the Treble, Middle and Bass. They're not like bright controls. They actually have a dB boost in each EQ range and the effect of these boosts is very dynamic, especially the bass. The preamp controls are confusing at first. Preamp 1 Volume controls the gain... But so does Preamp 2 Volume. If you plug into the low input Preamp 1 Volume is disabled entirely since the 2 stages of gain are cut out. Generally Preamp 1 Volume has a more trebly and harsh gain and Preamp 2 Volume has a darker, low mid gain. You mix them together for a desired result. Preamp 1 Level only works when the AOR boost is engaged. It works as a second Master. With lower gain setting it helps to balance out the non-AOR and AOR levels. With the gain close to flat out it the non-AOR sound is as loud as the AOR boost so it's not much of a help. Paradoxically, it still works when plugged into the Low Input... Even though the Preamp 1 Volume doesn't... Weird, right? In this situation you can switch the AOR in with it set as rhythm volume and then switch it off for solos or sections where you need to be heard. On the back panel is a socket for a AOR boost single footswitch, a +8dBv Line Out/Line In (presumably for slaving amps together), 2 speaker outs with a rotary impedance switch that has 4?, 8? and 16? settings, and an international voltage selector rotary switch with everything from 110v to 240v, very handy for people who would drag their amps to tour overseas. So there are stacks of features. The downsides... Firstly, the fact you can't A/B between High and Low inputs means it's hard to get definable clean & dirty switching. There are ways using different pedals and your guitar volume, but it's a pity Laney didn't find a way to make this possible. Secondly, and most frustratingly, the +8dBv Line Out/Line In is so close but so far away from being a proper FX loop. NO effects enjoy the super HOT signal it punches out although some analog pedals will cope with it. Digital fx however just have their input stage overdriven and most pedals attentuate the signal in some way because they are being overpowered. During the same period Laney was producing their AOR30 combo with a -6dB buffered FX loop and a -12db DI out. Why didn't Laney put the same thing in the 50w and 100w heads and combos? In reality, while you can turn the volume right down in your bedroom this isn't a happy camper. It sounds best pushing a quad box with the Master above 4 and you won't make many friends doing that in your bedroom. There are really only a couple of things it won't do. Primarily it won't do scooped modern metal. Those seeking Meshuggah and black metal buzz saw sounds need not apply. Go to the modern valve or solid state section of the store. The other is super loud cleans. It has nice clean sounds and the 100w model is probably better but headroom is limited. I would've given this a 10 but the +8dbv thing is beyond silly. Laney deserves a smacked bottom for getting it right on the 30w and not making the effort with the higher wattage models.

Amazing amp

Love this amp out of all the JCA's I have tried. The crunch channel can be backed of enough for a great clean tone (not Fender, Marshall) and the OD channel honestly screams. My favorite though is running a Fuzz or Rat into the crunch channel. Amazing amp.

Great little box

Love this head, modded mine for more of a more Fuzz/Acid King tone. I have this and the 20HV which I prefer alot more as its warmer and has the tone closer to a Plexi. The HV is a killer killer box