Laney VC50 - Overlooked Pedal Platform?

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[@prorenzo]

Laney is such an underrated amp brand! Fractal should go about having some laney models in their amp modelling lineup!

[@LeonTodd]

The Axe-Fx Ultra had a VC30 model if I remember correctly.

[@SirVicc]

Love Laney amps. The ultimate underdog that match the big boys.

[@josephmittiga2373]

Todd is one of the very few guitar based KZbinrs that information and knowledge just flows out of him with no hesitation , he talks about all things guitar with such authority that you really have to have experience with all facets of guitar playing ro be like this . He is also one of the few KZbinrs who makes me want to go plug a guitar in and have a jam after I see one of his videos 😉

[@freakkyt]

My amp! I think you didn't mention the crazy FX loops versatility (serial+parallel) In the past I used it in different ways: - as a 3 channel amp (CH1, CH1+Drive, CH2+Drive) with pedals in front and mutliFX (TC GMajor) in the loop - as a power amp for ENGL520 + TC GMajor rack (a great "90s metal" solution) A couple of mods I planned, but never got to do were: - revalve the power amp with EL34s (I bought it with 6L6, but supports both) - change the speakers with V30s Too bad I had to leave it back home... not exactly a big city flat-friendly combo :( You are also correct in stating that it's a heavy beast... my back can confirm it! Please don't butcher it by turning it into a head, there's the VH100 for that, which is the same amp, in head vormat and just twice the power. Great demo as usual!

[@LeonTodd]

Oh yeah the fx loops are amazing!

[@mattgilbert7347]

I used the effects loop level as the master volume!

[@QuincyJamesMusic]

I’ve still got one of these, it was my first tube amp purchase. I bought it in Cambridge, England when I used to live there. When I moved to the states the tubes went out and from then forward I’ve been using amp sims. I put off retubing it, but I finally did today, looking forward to being reacquainted haha

[@thechannelforeverything2170]

Gotta say, that amp has some killer crunch tones.

[@LeonTodd]

Yeah it's like a refined JCM800

[@colejustesen]

That circuit really does! I loved my VH100R for its refined British sound. However, the GH series had a bit more raw crunch that is really awesome too.

[@colejustesen]

I had a VH100R, which is essentially the same amp in a 100 watt head format. It really was a great amp, and I miss it quite a bit. Thanks for demoing this one!

[@shakeyjonez]

That thing sounds wicked. I've had two LC50's. Both were great. The torrids Laney uses are among the best power supply's out there.

[@peterschmidt9942]

Yeah I've still got one. Nice amps and loud for 50W

[@LeonTodd]

yeah those power supplies are amazing!

[@miltonbarton3610]

I swapped the speakers from my TSL 122 into this amp and it is a real game changer, takes away a bit of the fizz on the Marshall voiced channel. The cleans are less “beautiful” haha, but still very nice just a bit more British sounding. These amps are outrageous value, mind boggling stuff. Picked mine up for £80.

[@andyracksthecams]

I love Laney amps. Great Demo, lots of options at hand on your VC. I have two IRT Studio rack amps, one in the control room through a G12H Celestion in a cab I built myself and the other is in the Live room through a Vintage 30 also in an Identical cab I built. Celestion speakers are great. I think these are brilliant all round versatile amps to have in a recording setup. I have an L5T 1 x 12 which is beautiful and prompted by that amp I recently picked up a broken L20T 2x12 which I repaired (Bright Switch and valve fault). I sold my Mesa Boogie Mark IV which funded all of these amps. I swore I'd never part with the Mesa and finally realised it was quite limiting in tone after 12 years. It was just too damn loud also, I tried eveything to lower the level but still have it sounding great. I think it needed an isolation booth which really would have spoiled the whole experience. Much happier with the IRT instantly and after experimenting with numerous valves and speakers they are a winner. You can leather them too and not deafen yourself. Controlled feedback with the tone you like is a wonderful thing. You would have had the Boogie!

[@p_mouse8676]

I still have the Chrome O Zone, which is exactly the same amp, but 30W. Unfortunaly I can't really play anymore (long story), really great sounding amp. Most people don't really seem to care about Laney these days anymore. There is also a 50W and 100W head version of this amp.

[@LeonTodd]

Laney did some fantastic stuff in this era. I had a GH100L that was a beast.

[@piotrkanarek]

This amp sound terrific... as your playing does

[@stevenmgyori3826]

Great to look back and rediscover why we fell in love with gear in early days! Well done and thanks for sharing brother! Be Well Leon and All!

[@LeviBulger]

These are great for recording. The issue I always seem to have with any Laney is that they don't move a lot of air and have a very one dimensional quality. Seems every Laney I've tried has that going on. Great tone, but not complex like a fender or a Marshall. That said, they cooperate with microphones really well and are so easy to record.

[@albertkotze8974]

idk man, I have the old Iommi sig head and that thing doesn't do anything but move air lol

[@b-spot]

The AOR 30 II moves a massive amount of air when you pull the bass boost out.

[@shanewilliams4369]

Haha YES! I was going to convert my Mesa F30 combo into a head because I always used it through a 4x12 Recto cab. Ample grunt. That was all before I entered the Fractal eco system. Great project, love to see it Leon.

[@AndrewHeskett]

I've had to leave mine back at my parents' house 5000km away. I don't think I'd have the luggage allowance :) Thanks so much for the demo. It's been just over 10 years since I've played it and I couldn't remember the sound(s). I do remember what drew me to it in the first place was the sparkling cleans and the Back To The Future punch from daring to turn it up just slightly! Here's an image for some of you. I used to manage to squeeze this into the boot of my mini. That's the original mini. It was the exact size of the boot. It's a good job too because you couldn't get it into the back seat with out taking the passenger seat out!

[@LeonTodd]

Hahaha that's wild. When I was using this amp my girlfriend at the time had a mini cooper and I could barely fit myself in there.

[@AndrewHeskett]

@@LeonTodd I'm 186cm tall. That bloody steering wheel used to wear my work trousers out in a few months and in a really suspicious area - inner thighs - but I'd have to have been hung like a donkey to be scratching that low!

[@rickbrunet2559]

Wow! Amp sounds great all around. Has that 60's blues then the 80's rock. Love it

[@Wardell43]

all 4 of my led's are red. I also have a matching 4 12 cabinet I've owned my VC-50 since 2014 but haven't gigged it out yet....mostly because I haven't been in a working band since I got the amp. so I'm looking at a Laney 212 Ironheart and set it up with the VC-50, as a 412 situation to go with my Laney Gh50L and the above mentioned Laney 412 and my Marshall JCM 900 50 watt 2500 and 412 which give me much flexibility

[@Wardell43]

Also, Laney may have made a head model This is a LH 50 ii facebook.com/marketplace/item/396138791382129

[@shawnhedrick3570]

I just noticed the green LEDs in the video, all of my LEDs are red as well!

[@Wardell43]

Well, I've done something that I normally would not do. I plugged into the Lo Input. This is the best all around Amp that I have ever owned. The Low Input allows you to play Benson style jazz with outrageous tone out of the A Channel, 60s distortion out of the B Channel. I've ran my electric nylon classic guitar into the Lo Input and it sounds great I've got an Douglas WNO 630 Jumbo "Super 400 on an extreme budget" with P-90s and I couldn't stop jamming.

[@LeonTodd]

nylon into the low input? What is this wizardry!!!! I need to try this

[@Wardell43]

@@LeonTodd I have 2 Laneys (GH50L) and love them both. But the VC50 has much more versatility.

[@prook2001]

I loved mine but swapped it for an Axefx Ultra. I then luckily fell onto a deal for a Laney VH100R so I can still have the same sounds as my old VC50.

[@jacmoll9]

Thanks bro. Because of this video I dug out my Laney L5T-112 little combo. I kind of forgot what I liked about it when I purchased it. Lol it happens don’t judge. Anyway it was always a noisy amp but I have a noise gate pedal now so I’m gonna give it a go. Laney makes a quality class a amp but once you move on to Marshall it’s hard to go back. Great video as usual. Stay safe and GB.

[@cortez47]

There’s one in my city going for $475 with original foot switch.. foot switch connector needs repair.. but I think I’m gonna get it.. Edit: he dropped it to $275 !

[@KauffeyBean]

Laney is not seen as a 'sought after' amp because its always competitively priced while giving a helluva lot of delicious tones for the buck! But I bet many people including yourself has used it as workhorses who deliver day by day and by night faithfully. I am using my two 1987 solid state Linebackers as the power/cab section of my rig - and it continues to give me love till this day!

[@LeonTodd]

They get the job done!

[@AndrewHeskett]

I think 'competitively priced' and made in a non-western country stop people from judging a product fairly. I think it's hard for people to believe that there could be artisanal level people in certain countries. Much like the 'Judgement of Paris', where Californian wines beat French wines in a blind test, people buy with their eyes rather than their ears. Laney seem to be a victim of their pricing strategy.

[@KauffeyBean]

@@AndrewHeskett Which is a good thing for consumers like us, who listen with our ears and get a bang for our buck, as opposed to some self proclaimed 'tone connoiseurs' who will easily fail a blindfold test, insisting that you need to break the bank to get a great tone. I have seen too many people using boutique gear sounding 'just ok' 😁

[@Millo1868]

Wow. I’m surprised! That sounds good!

[@johanhofstedt7317]

Nice I would like to see a cabinet build!!

[@peterschmidt9942]

Leon, I've still got my Laney LC50 (which was the one after these), only 2 channel (basically clean/drive). For 50W they're loud little fuckers! But you sort of get it to a volume level and the more you turn the level, the more it just goes from clean to compressed distortion. While my Marshall gets more action, I like the Laney for clean'ish British stuff (like Beatles). It does a clean Vox type sound really well especially with filtertrons or Rickenbackers. Although mine came factory with 6L6's and apparently you can put EL34's if you like - personally I've never had to change them. If you decide to make it into a head/cab make sure keep the old housing incase you ever sell it.

[@LeonTodd]

Yeah it's very much a Vox/Marshall flavour to my ears

[@peterschmidt9942]

@@LeonTodd I'm pretty sure they share the same speaker too. I actually traded a Fender Twin Reverb for mine as I was after something with less power that could distort and that Marshall'y sound.

[@KrachWerke]

Laney is larney! Love them.

[@mattgilbert7347]

Amen!! I have two :) Three's the charm - jonesing for an LT20, kinda my "dream amp" (apart from a Reeves or HiWatt Custom 50). But it's pricey so atm I am happy with my OG Cub12r and VC30 112.

[@89ji76]

I always thought the drive channel was red because red=clipping And a lot of times the mid gain channel is yellow so that would keep with that audio monitoring LED theme.

[@LeonTodd]

This makes a lot of sense.

[@kaindog100]

I’ve got an LH50 head that I’m selling at the moment as it just doesn’t get used anymore. Such a versatile amp from Fender cleans with my Strat to to AC/DC rock with my humbucker guitars. Paired to a 2x12 cab with Weber speakers. Great amp but going to waste.

[@wadeburgan1574]

If you were to convert it to a head, would you wire the switches backward? 😁 Seriously, that would be a pretty cool video.

[@MrKichtopher]

That thing sounds killer!

[@aeaso3]

Paul Gilbert used Laney in almost all Mr. Big Albums

[@GoldenGateNum9]

Sounds amazing.

[@mrparkinson]

FAQ question perhaps? Have you ever experimented with using a regular guitar combo amp on stage as a monitor for the Fractal units? Like just going into the effects return and out to the FOH simultaneously?

[@stefano.salari]

That's my amp too and I'm still using it after a very long time. I simply love it, but it seems mine it's a bit more noisy than your. And how can you pump that volume and stay in front of it without being pushed away? It's a beast, for 50 W! Congrats, you have a very powerful touch and phrasing, I like them so much!

[@hoosierdaddy2308]

It sounds really good. Almost like a vox when you were playing on the clean channel at times. The gain channel sounded excellent from what I could hear over my phone. May I ask my friend. Do the older axeFx rack preamps sound good? Like the ultra or the standard one? I see them used and thinking maybe a used ultra wouldn't be a bad idea.. Great video as usual sir. You can make a stone amp sound good your playing is so cool my friend...

[@lukecoverdale1]

Would you be able to talk more about your old rack set up? I am also "That Guy" bringing my stereo rack and full stack setup to bar gigs (and BBE sonic maximizer) and would love to hear about what you had going on.

[@LeonTodd]

Yeah I should recreate it!

[@lukecoverdale1]

@@LeonTodd Would love to see it in a future video!

[@binface9]

1:45 you've got me already.

[@binface9]

Technical question: what is the benefit of having so many tubes in the preamp? Is it like 3 for the preamp, 1 for the phase inverter, 1 for the reverb, and 1 for the effects loop?

[@binface9]

+1 for seeing how you rehouse such a beast

[@LeonTodd]

That would make sense. Tube driven loop and verb plus the usual quartet.

[@courtney2018]

What a tasty amp. I'd love to get an old Laney like this or even an old head that Gilbert was known for using. This one sounds great though.

[@LeonTodd]

I had a GH100 that was killer!

[@courtney2018]

@@LeonTodd had? Oh nooooooo.... lol

[@LeonTodd]

@@courtney2018 I sold it to one of my students who wanted to get into tube amps. Spreading the GAS around!

[@courtney2018]

@@LeonTodd nice! At least it went to someone you know.

[@gradyshawver7643]

Sounds great! Are those stock speakers or have they been changed out?

[@jamiefloate107]

Great video - i love this amp too. I have the VC50 combo and also the VH100R head (same amp), i heard a lot of people criticize the HH speakers in the combo... what's your opinion? Or have yours been replaced? I'm thinking of running mine with an additional closed back 2x12, hopefully will tame the harshness a little...

[@Lappen89]

That must have been increadibly loud in the room, I have a VC50 and that thing is scary loud (but also scary good tones)! I did not see an attenuator either. You should look into repairing the spring reverb, i think it sounds quite beautiful. One question - How did you go about recording these tones? I have been trying to record my VC50 with a SM57 in different positions but the recordings sound quite thin and brittle despite the amp sounding really good in the room. Any tips?

[@daddywarner]

I've had one of these since '95. It's loud !! However, if you run the fx loop in "insert" mode, even if you just put a link in rather than effects, you can use the trim pot on the back to lower the pre-amp level into the power section and thus you can drive the master volume harder at sensible levels that don't lift the rafters off !

[@jamesminhas]

@@daddywarner Great idea! I might try this with mine (had since 98...:-) and only really appreciating again now how great it is). What do you mean by "link"? Just run a patch cable in the FX loop?

[@daddywarner]

@@jamesminhas Yep, a simple patch cable is all that’s needed. Always thought the original HH speakers were okay really but tried a Celestion cab and it’s much better. Now just use an extension cab and have taken the HH speakers out so that I can actually lift the thing! Will probably end up making a head out of it one day.

[@jamesminhas]

@@daddywarner cheers Steve! , I'll give it a try today. I really need to retube this thing as havent done it in the 20 years had it and the amp kills you on clean with the treble above 3 so really keen to try some Celestion V30s in there to see if it tames that. Sadly my tech skills are non existent so a shop retube, bias and speaker change is going to be some investment and prob more than buying a new one second hand. Still for sentimental sake and non waste I want to do it to this, my first proper amp.

[@daddywarner]

@@jamesminhas I’d just buy a set of ECC83’s and put them in yourself if you think the power stage is okay. 2 screws on the back to remove the grill. Remove the metal covers which are just a spring and rotate to remove if memory serves. Wiggle the valves out and wiggle the new ones in. Never touch them with your bare fingers. I always use a lint free cloth for that sort of thing. No biasing required if you’re not changing the power valves. Most people go for Greenbacks but I got a Creamback cabinet as I’m less metal these days :) Removing the speakers is just 4 nuts on each if I recall correctly but I did also have to unscrew the amp so that I could jiggle it it around to physically get the speakers out. 2 screws at either end and 4 screws on top and then the amp and transformer assembly just slides out.

[@notsure1135]

RED LED is for drive is because red is the colour of clipping.

[@evaDsselesU]

I've owned this combo, it was my first real tube amp. I remember that i couldn't get a good sound from it, cause the stock HH speakers were really bad. Then i hokked it up to a 2x12 V30 cab, later to a vintage Laney Supergroup 4x12 with old Greenbacks and it was night and day. The presence dial is really strong, anything above 9 o clock is far too fizzy. The second channel is great for loose doomy riffs, but with a boost it sure can do some hair metal too. Anyway later a i have switched to a Rockerverb and never looked back. This video is the best demostration of a VC50 on youtube, good job man. :) p.s. What's your opinion on Orange amps?

[@LeonTodd]

Rockerberb is an amp I'd love to get my hands on!

[@jalaskabtu]

Leon, did you use the original HH speaker in demo? Tomorrow I will buy a VC100 combo, do you like it? I had a VH100R head, and a JCM 2000 DSL uk 100w....sold both. I'm now with no amps hehahahahahhaa, Do you think this vc100 is a great? thanks dude :)

[@azzazelo]

RED led cause it's FIRE 🔥!!!

[@moss1transcendant]

It has a jcm800 drive circuit in it

[@sadwingsraging3044]

"This amp has had a hard life." I sympathize, especially if it was lived on overdrive.

[@mattgilbert7347]

It's a great amp but I had to sell mine as I just couldn't carry the damn thing around. The stock speakers suck ass, but with your fave speakers of choice - greenbacks, V30s, whatevs - this thing is yuge. Mine was so beat up when I sold it, the "VC50" had worn off the front panel. I still have & love my Laneys, but they are lighter and more gentle on my aging frame. Cub12r & VC30 112.

[@pastafrola3]

Loved the video, I own a laney vc100 and it is a beast! Just a quick question Leon, what pedal would you recommend to get a tight metal sound out of it? A tube screamer (ts9/mini/maxon/mooer) or an overdrive pedal (like the g3, metal muff, diezel, etc)? Thanks in advance!

[@LeonTodd]

There's plenty of gain on tap here so I'd go with a GEQ pedal

[@pastafrola3]

@@LeonTodd I ended up buying an Ibanez TS Mini, I will try it on the different settings you show in your "tremonti tubescreamer settings", although I think with the amount of low end and gain these laney have I should use it the typical most common way, without any overdrive added ,right?

[@tigertom795]

Leon Todd - What do you think about HH-Premier-Vintage 60 speakers which are inside Laney VC-50?

[@Skypor]

Hey would you consider reviewing Laney Cub 1x2 or 2x12 amp? Thanks!

[@MetallicAssault]

Wow, mine souns kinda different (like thiner and more exagerated on the mid range). Also it has matched black on/off switches. Could it be like another series of VC50?

[@LukeCannotSkate]

Wow this thing sounds so much tighter than the VH100R version... smh

[@JimijaymesProductions]

Is the vc 50 like a combo version of the vh100r? Ie nothing like the vc30.

[@LeonTodd]

My understanding is it was a different beast to the VC30

[@JimijaymesProductions]

@@LeonTodd I believe they all had similar features in that series but different topologym the vc50 and vh100 being more modded marshall and the vc30 being more modded ac30. They all have switchable gain circuits.

[@MrShreddr]

Which speakers do you have in there??

[@kow294]

didnt paul gilbert use the head version?

[@LeonTodd]

The VH100? Yeah I think so. Opeth too apparently.

[@davidhendrox]

By all means please make it a good head. and share the project here

[@alexandargabric]

+1

[@ulfdanielsen6009]

Dear Leon, Would you please stop this? Pretty soon I won´t be able to afford any of my top ten list amps ´cause you´re single handedly driving up the price.... For the love of God, please, stop this! I need my new amps to myself!