Review: Laney GH50L

3 Reviews:

Review by	Ultimate Guitar
Submitted on	2011-06-01 09:45:24
Rating	9
I run an early '90s ESP with a single EMG 85 bridge pickup, and the combo works great for what I want. Not too noisy (EMGs are great for that), not sure how versatile it is, since I don't change my settings much after I find one I really like. it's a bit hard to describe the sound, but basically I put it at bass: 10, mids: 7, and treble: 6. The amp is a little trebly for my tastes, but rolling off of it a bit fixes that. The Clean channel is OK, but it does distort quite easily (but hey, if you want clean get a Fender). The distortion is quite nice, not quite as tight as what I was looking for, but still great for what I play.

Review by	Ultimate Guitar
Submitted on	2011-06-01 09:45:02
Rating	9
Sounds absolutely fantastic! Straight from the shop with stock tubes, master volume only on 1, it sounded great. Very bright, but if you just roll the treble back a little that solves that. Being a single channel amp, if you want to go from clean to super-brutal at the flick of a Switch, the VH100R might be more for you. You can go from clean to heavy Drive though, by rolling the "gain" to 2 and the Drive all the way up, and footswitching between the two. If you aren't using it like that, the distortion channel is MASSIVE. Thick, crushing tube gain. Sound wise it's one of the most versatile amps I've ever played, considering it's single channel. From Lynyrd Skynyrd through to Meshuggah, this amp can do it. Recommend a change from the stock tubes, though.

Review by	Ultimate Guitar
Submitted on	2011-06-01 09:44:15
This head is basically a Marshall on steroids. Same basic sound, same responsiveness and same level of raw power but at a price tag mear mortals can afford. Clean channel/dirty channel are one in the same. Change your guitars volume and tone controls and your pick attack and you can get everything from rockabilly spank to Zakk Wylde squeals. I use 3 guitars with this amp. #1, Les Paul Classic with dual humbuckers, #2, Fender Fat Strat with a bridge humbucker and dual single coils and #3, a DeArmond M72 with EMG81 and EMG85 active humbuckers. The head is noisy. With no signal, there is a very noticible hiss at anything above 2 on the master and gain settings. Turn on the Drive and that hiss increases with each step up. Prescense also adds to the hiss. Once you start to play though, the hiss vanishes.