Why no love for Laney?

[Jonny Boots]

I'm still quite new on here so have maybe missed some things but I was wondering why there seems to be little love for Laney amps. I use a RB9 head which I picked up used for £150 boxed with all the paperwork & a RB410 which was 100 quid & I get a great sound out them. I don't think I've ever turned the head above 5or6. The cabs a bit battered but works fine & plenty of other bands have used it & never complained. 

The rehearsal room we use has an Ashdown head & cab & in my opinion doesn't come anywhere near the Laney set up.

[v8bass]

Brand snobbery and much competition I reckon .

Used and owned a few Laney rigs over the years , never had a bad sound .

A bass player local to me uses a Laney rig ( DPseries ) and sounds enormous 

Like the look of the newer Nexus , just think its so competive at the pricing and maybe they lack an endorsee or 2 .

Must remember where I left / put / stored / my RB9 too …hmmm

Gary 

 

[Frank Blank]

10 hours ago, v8bass said:

Brand snobbery and much competition I reckon .

Exactly. I used Laney almost exclusively with a thrash band I was in, 500w head 1x15, 4x10 and a Stingray, great sound. I hammered that gear, volume and transit wise, it never let me down.

Edited July 23, 2018 by Frank Blank
Incongruity

[Dood]

The Nexus Tube head I recall was superb! Heavy, just like an SVT II or Mesa 400, but easily as lovely sounding!

I also really liked the SL and SLS amplifiers and combos which have a pleasing tone and some clever features on board. 👍

Edited July 22, 2018 by dood

[Delberthot]

I had the Nexus 1x15" and 4x10" cabs and absolutely loved them. They were very capable cabs but I just wanted and needed something smaller and lighter or I would still have them

[gjones]

Every Laney bass amp I've played, in rehearsal rooms and at gigs,  has sounded great. I do believe their lack of kudos, is merely due to brand snobbery. I've owned many top brand amps and cabs over the years and laney holds it's own with all of them.

Edited July 22, 2018 by gjones

[JPJ]

There was a period in their history where they were a bit underpowered and mismatched speakers, especially in their combo range, resulted in a reputation for farting out at fairly low volumes. Personally, I owned the G120 1x15 combo for a lot of years and loved the sounds I could coax out of it. It just wasn’t loud enough to gig with. I did play a gig through the Nexus head and 8x10 cab at a multiband event and was blown away by the improvement, albeit at a slightly different price point 😂

[EliasMooseblaster]

You'd think a company that had kept Black Sabbath in amps for several decades would enjoy a better reputation!

I've been quite staunchly loyal to Laney for most of my time as a bass player - partly because they were among the best-sounding bass amps I could afford for a long time. I always thought they sounded good and were pretty solidly built, and I probably would have stayed with them if not for the temptation to drift towards all-valve heads.

[EBS_freak]

I was playing through a Nexus SL and matching cabs at a rehearsal studio recently. I have to say, I really like the tone and the headroom. I wouldn't have any issues going out gigging with such a setup. In fact, I've gigged with a lot worse that's cost a lot, lot more.

I used to have a LC15R for guitar too. At the time, there was nothing to touch it as a small guitar valve combo that actually sounded decent. Things have moved on now - the market has opened up for low wattage guitar amps... but for me, the LC and VC combos were punching way above their perception.

[thodrik]

I don't think that there is much brand snobbery when it comes to their higher end stuff. The Lionheart range and the new Black Country Customs line are very highly regarded. The AOR and Klipp series were/are very cool as well.

I just don't think the Nexus line have really had much impact on the market compared to their guitar stuff. If there was a bass equivalent of the Lionheart series (say a 100 watt valve head) that would interest me more. 

[T-Bay]

We use a couple of Laney monitors, great sound and cheap to buy. 

[Deedee]

23 hours ago, Jonny Boots said:

I'm still quite new on here so have maybe missed some things but I was wondering why there seems to be little love for Laney amps. I use a RB9 head which I picked up used for £150 boxed with all the paperwork & a RB410 which was 100 quid & I get a great sound out them. I don't think I've ever turned the head above 5or6. The cabs a bit battered but works fine & plenty of other bands have used it & never complained. 

The rehearsal room we use has an Ashdown head & cab & in my opinion doesn't come anywhere near the Laney set up.

I noted on another thread that I’d used an Rb9 and Laney cab at a rehearsal room a couple of months back and it sounded great (even took a pic).  Very punchy with far better than expected dispersion.  Very impressed.

 

[naxos10]

I've got a Laney head (RB3?) in the garage must get it out and give it a whirl.

[Pow_22]

Theres one of them 400w all valve Laney Nexus heads for sale local to me for under £600, must say im tempted

[SamPlaysBass]

I borrowed an RB9 head back in the days before I had any gear of my own. I couldn't fault it; sounded good, had plenty of power on tap and that head is still used heavily in a rehearsal room to this day. A tad heavy maybe, but we're spoiled in this day an age with amp heads we could throw like a frisbee. I had a 1x15 Richter series cab given to me as an extension to a combo I was buying and it was perfectly adequate. Sold it due to lack of use rather than anything else. I don't think Laney as a company, or the people that use them, shout loudly enough about how good they are. Undeservedly overlooked.

[EBS_freak]

I think a lot of it comes down to the fact they made some seriously tripe solid state guitar amps... and some awful acoustic amps. And those will be the things that they will be remembered for. They kinda killed themselves in the 90s and it hasn't been long enough for people to have forgotten.

I think they could do with a product designer too. They never look pretty. I mean, take a look at that RB9. It's not going to worry any other manufacturer on it's looks is it?

Edited July 24, 2018 by EBS_freak

[paul_5]

I’ve been running a solid stare SP300 Laney power amp in and off for 20 years; never once let me down. 

[Al Krow]

2 hours ago, EBS_freak said:

I think a lot of it comes down to the fact they made some seriously tripe solid state guitar amps... and some awful acoustic amps. And those will be the things that they will be remembered for. They kinda killed themselves in the 90s and it hasn't been long enough for people to have forgotten.

I think they could do with a product designer too. They never look pretty. I mean, take a look at that RB9. It's not going to worry any other manufacturer on it's looks is it?

I think you should come off the fence and let us know what you really think about Laney amps? 😂

[EBS_freak]

24 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

I think you should come off the fence and let us know what you really think about Laney amps? 😂

I think you should scroll up to see my previous post where I am singing their praises.

[Al Krow]

26 minutes ago, EBS_freak said:

I think you should scroll up to see my previous post where I am singing their praises.

Aha - I see you have all the basses covered then. 

Just teasing!

Surprised you mentioned product design as being a concern given your love for all things FRFR - they're not exactly catwalk products?

[EBS_freak]

14 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

Surprised you mentioned product design as being a concern given your love for all things FRFR - they're not exactly catwalk products?

I dont know... Line 6, Helix, AxeFX, they all look suitably cool and cutting edge - to me at least. You don't look at them and think, yeah, looks like it's been bolted together from bits found at Radioshack from the 80s... Laney... well, there's a good chance that they did go down their local electronics store and hack it all together.

In regard to PA cabs - you are right... they look like PA cabs. These guys haven't recognised that there is a potential new market for them... to make a FRFR cab that looks like a traditional bass cab... but that's the thing, they probably don't care... because they make PA cabs that look like PA cabs. Or perhaps it's the mindset of the bass/guitars players to realise that guitar and bass cabs should no longer look like the bass and guitar cabs that we are traditionally used to.

I suppose beauty is in the eye of the beholder... but I find PA cans more attractive than some of the bass cab offerings (mentioning no names) out there.

[Al Krow]

 

32 minutes ago, EBS_freak said:

I suppose beauty is in the eye of the beholder... but I find PA cans more attractive than some of the bass cab offerings (mentioning no names) out there.

You surely can't be meaning this!

or this?

but I guess you may have meant this? 😂

 

Edited July 24, 2018 by Al Krow

[EBS_freak]

7 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

 

You surely can't be meaning this!

or this?

but I guess you may have meant this? 😂

I've got no idea what you are on about...?

 

[Osiris]

My first proper rig was a Laney, back in the late 80's, it was the first thing that I bought once I was earning my own money. It was a 150 watt Trace Elliot clone with a 12 (?) band graphic and various other bells and whistles plus matching 4x10 and 1x15 cabs. Unfortunately it was utter crap and would fart out at any serious volume which has put me off them ever since. But from the amount of positive comments above I really ought to give them another go some time.  

Edited July 24, 2018 by Osiris

[Osiris]

14 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

 

You surely can't be meaning this!