Vintage Solid State? Lab Series Amps - Ask Zac 218

[@johnnygeetarmusic]

Thanks for the shout out! It's a great amp and I'm glad you enjoy the shop!

[@AskZac]

Thanks, Johnny!

[@larryayres4592]

My best friend worked at Moog Music and worked on the Lab Series amps. He got to meet B.B.King who actually worked closely on the design/sound. I thought he was the only user of them. My friend had a few at home and I got to play through them. My friend loved them but I didn't like them. Besides the sound, the pots all had long plastic (bendable) stalks on them that were a couple of inches long and gave the controls a cheap/fragile feeling. I never thought that they would hold up to professional use. I do have a Vox transistor amp that I like, but mostly I use and prefer tube amps.

[@jfinester]

Ty Tabor from Kings X used Lab amps for a while.

[@producerman10030]

Dan Pearce was the designer of the Lab series. He later had his own company. I had a Pearce G2R. It was a rack mount head. Great amp. Mike Stern used one as did Allen Holdsworth. It had 5 dip switches in front of each channel and a sweep able mid control. Of course it also had the compressor. He later designed pre amps for ART.

[@GregMcFaden]

Growing up in Nashville, Nashville Used Music was always a shop to check out for great deals on gear. Went there almost weekly in the 90's, HA! When I'm in town, it's a must visit when I'm hitting all the good shops!

[@jamescowie8445]

Great video (as always), Zac. I saw your post on the Lab Series Facebook group last week and had a feeling this video might be coming! I've had a L5 for a few years now and, although I'm strictly a SS amp guy, I've really struggled with getting sounds I want from it. I'll keep persevering with it because I'm sure BB King and Moog's engineers have a better idea of what makes a good amp than I do. I think the flexibility of these amps can make them really difficult to dial in - those filter and frequency controls mean you can steer the tone in all kinds of directions that might not be that useful. Hopefully, your explanation of the backwards labelled input jacks and the compressor (that we all thought was broken when we got the amp) will save new owners a lot of time in future. And good on you for getting back in touch with them about your discount on the amp. You always come across as a good, honest and fair man so it's great to hear about that shining through in the real world!

[@justinkarbel7914]

Very cool history. Next episode i vote for Music Man hybrid SS/Tube amps.

[@joetamm]

I saw BB King when he was using the L5. Sounded awesome. I saw Point Blank in Huston in ‘81, Rusty Burns and Kim Davis both played through L5s on top of a Lab Series 4-12 bottom, just magnificent. They were a very underrated band. 🇺🇸🎸👮🏻‍♂️

[@leftymike5625]

Thank you for doing this video. I have been eyeballing this l9 for sale near me. I’m a Kings x / Ty tabor fan.

[@picksalot1]

Good on you for admitting Pilot Error, and to Norlin for how they handled it. Makes me want to check out their store.

[@guitboy007]

I used to own a L5 in the late 70’s. Gigged the crap out of it and it never failed me. Loved it. I think I’m getting G. A. S. again.

[@DonaldMills-pg1zw]

I've been such a tube amp snob, but I need to repent, cry uncle, whatever, and admit there's great stuff happening in SS. I love my Dream 65.... Thanks, Zac for another captivating episode.

[@kevinmurtagh4996]

While digital modelers like Dream 65 are technically solid state devices, they’re a completely different thing than what most people mean when they say “solid state amp”. Unless you’re playing completely clean spanky stuff, I’d take a digital modeler like your Dream 65 all day over a traditional solid state amplifier! I have yet find a traditional transistor amplifier that I like the distorted sound of. I don’t even really like overdrive pedals.

[@TeleCaster66]

Used to use a Lab at a rehearsal spot, loved it. Moog nailed the eq section.

[@smelltheglove2038]

I hear moog, I think quality. Seems like a good rule of thumb.

[@tomrutledge5621]

I played thru 2 Lab L-5’s in the late 70’s. Ronnie Montrose recorded “Town Without Pity” with one.

[@Vaf20]

I love my Lab 5 amp! Replaced the original cts speakers with Warehouse Speakers. I prefer the 1st channel with bass and mids all up and treble around 2 o clock.

[@michaeldavis4969]

Teriffic deep-dive on an amp that I'd never heard of (which is surprising as B.B. King is a hero and influence). Also a great "tour" of Nashville at the end! I'd love to visit your City one day. Thanks!

[@joeltunnah]

Cool amp, I've never heard of Lab Series, and I'm a gear nerd. Even though I build tube amps, I've never been a solid state amp hater. Most of my gigging years back in the late 90s were with a Roland Jazz Chorus JC-77... another great transistor amp line. Today I use a Line 6 cx-60 Catalyst. I swapped the stock speaker (which was fine honestly) for a Jensen C12N, and it's one sweet sounding amp that's also very light and compact. Highly recommend.

[@nicko6710]

Honorable mention is a the Yamaha G mark II designed by Paul Rivera maybe more common here (Australia ) . But can be picked up cheap. Very similar features. Oh let's not mention the Santana woodstock amp.

[@richardelson3261]

Nashville Used Music - great store. I don't know but Zac said so.... and he did an honest review

[@ludvigbydal7812]

Great review on Lab Series amps, and very interesting story of Norlin and Moog, to create this amazing amps. Hands down it's the best demo on LabSeries and how it sounds by BB King it's superb. I'll be happy to find an L5. Thanks Zac !

[@bdonova1]

I bought my L5 in early 1978 when they first came out. It has the original black-face panel. I still have it and play it all the time. All original, except for a couple of replaced components on the preamp board. I still have the hang tags! My only regret was selling a Marshall 2104 50 watt combo to pay for it (I didn't know enough yet to appreciate what I had). The Marshall would be worth $2500 today if I kept it. The compressor is great, but you need to be over 2+ on the volume before it kicks in, and I don't play as loud much these days.

[@jipes]

Never understood before your video why BB and ALbert were using a trasistor amp from Lab Series but now everything is crystal clear! Love your honesty !

[@121212Guitars]

Heard that Ty Tabor from Kings X used a racked L5 and Allan Holdsworth used L5s for a spell.

[@bobcabo4509]

I have an L7 and an L11 head. Great amps. You can add Ronnie Montrose and Kim Simmonds to the former users list.

[@jfinester]

Great story! I tried a Lab amp back in the ‘70s and did the same thing you did; turned the compressor up and thought it wasn’t working! I already had a DynaComp anyway, and a Music Man 410HD-130 amp that I couldn’t lift, so I didn’t figure the Lab amp would give me anything I didn’t already have. I’ve never tried another one.

[@sethburrows]

James McMurtry uses an L5 too

[@robertprice5039]

My old guitar teacher, Jimi Bell (House of Lords & Autograph) used to play L11 amps in the 1980s.

[@therealkevinmcnally]

Whoa! Jimmy was my first teacher as well! Fastest lefty ever....probably just the fastest guitarist. I play nothing like him! He sold me my first "real" guitar around 1988/89 - a Steinberger with a trans trem a la EVH. My only real gear regret was selling that in the early 2000s. I still see Jimmy play in CT here and there. He is a good dude. Thanks for the blast from the past!

[@robertprice5039]

@@therealkevinmcnally Yes, I am still catching Jimi play here in CT too, whenever I can.

[@dlux703]

Nice to see this from Zac, as you usually only find favorable SS commentary on Roland chorus series amps. I own several old tube amps but don't really use them, as they're too fragile to move around, and there's always some concern with function and parts and service. My secret weapon for joyful SS amp performance is to "velcro" a 12ax7 microphone pre-amp to the top and run my pedalboard through it patched to the amp input. I don't miss my tube amps much cause I don't ever play loud enough to get them in their 'zone', and the single 12ax7 does a pretty good job of altering the signal into any SS amp. It allows you to just use the clean channel cause the OD is usually the weak link.

[@zpick3067]

I bought an L5 back in the 90’s from a guy in Hot Springs Arkansas ( who lives in Nashville now) and have used it throughout the years when I needed a lot of clean headroom. The amp still works great and sounds especially good with a tele. Thanks for another excellent video Zac!

[@kenwhisler]

I’ve owned a few L5’s and had an L11 full stack. Always tweaking. Well after the fact, I got to know a well known jazz guitarist in my area, he put EV’s in his L5. Sounded great but added even more weight to an already heavy amp. Saw another rock player from Springfield who claimed to have once been roommates with Ty Tabor; he had an L5 sitting on a Marshall cab and it sounded great. During the break he told me he was bypassing the stock speakers and going straight into the Marshall cab.

[@ArchtopBill]

Thanks for the plug of Nashville Used Music. Will make a trek there in early ‘25.

[@louisdombrowski4198]

I've seen BB King play out of a Twin reverb & L-5 ,the Lab sounded every bit as good as the Twin reverb. Have a great holiday season to you and your family 🎅🎊

[@Tonetwisters]

Back in the early '80s I think it was, I borrowed my brother-in-law's L5 for quite a while. Darn thing sounded really good. And the drummer in our band begged me to turn it down. I played an original Firebird through it, and I was a baaad boy ...

[@donhall2759]

2 things: First, thanks for saying nice things about solid state amps. You've been kind to Peavey in the past and now this...I figure if you get a good speaker, get the gain staging right, and figure out a reasonable tone stack, a solid state amp can totally handle anything you can throw at it. Second, thanks for the tip about the music store since I'll be in town this spring, I'll add it to the list, including Gruhn's and Gibson.

[@verticalit8]

Sounds like you meant it: Sold! Beats hell out of dodging traffic in a full-body fuzzy chicken suit while waving a big arrow high and active in August, anyway. Must be nice people running things over there at 4876 Nolensville Rd.

[@charliew830]

I just watched a Rig Rundown with Rob McNelly on Premier Guitar and he said that when talking to engineers about what frequency they boost for the guitar, he said it is 400 hertz. I guess great minds think alike, Zac! With 2 recommendations from pro players I'm going to start experimenting with boosting that frequency. Another great video Zac!!

[@nicko6710]

really depends on the speakers and guitar

[@howardskinner4916]

Good info, thanks Zac. Take a good look at Quilter. They're class D, powerful, light, and sound good. I often use a Pro Block 200. In lieu of a master volume, it has a wattage control. It's flexible enough to go loud for a big or outdoor gig, or it can go down for a small or low volume gig. There's a good XLR line out on the back. It's small and weighs about five pounds or so. I use it with a small 1x12 cabinet usually.

[@dennismullins4930]

I love Nashville Used Music. It is the first music store I went to when I moved here in ‘91. ☮️

[@musicofanatic]

Always played pre-1970 Fender amps (still do!), but I have owned a coupla Lab Series. I have repeatedly proclaimed the L9 to be the ultimate pedal steel amp. Mine had an EVM-15L speaker and it was ideal for pedal steel...no limit to the clean headroom and an extremely musical, hi-fi sound. I also had the L3, which was a Princeton Reverb size combo, but lacked the popular features of the bigger models: the fancy eq and the compressor. The reverb tank is also small and does not provide the lush springiness of the bigger LS models. I wanted to like the L3, and did for its lightweight portability, but it does not have goods of the bigger models.

[@jimilee459]

I’ve been to Nashville used music a couple of times. I need to get back up there. We ate at Martins Barbecue when it was the only one in Nashville.

[@jeffcooper3433]

Hello from Indiana, funny story Zak, they did you good not once but twice! Have a Happy Holiday Season and KeepSmiling! 😂

[@hoagyguitarmichael]

Great vid! Another terrific player who used Lab amps for a while was John McCurry (Cindy Lauper, Julien Lennon). Thanks for the shout out to my old hood. Nolensville Road is the United Nations of cuisine. Love that music store as well. Got a really cool Harmony Rebel there. Great folks.

[@AskZac]

Jealous of your digs

[@kevinwillmann9462]

I wish I’d known of Nashville Used before my wife and I took a trip last summer to Nashville. We ate at two different locations of Lady Bird Taco, a BBQ place in Franklin, and even caught a show at BlueBird Cafe. We were going to see a show at the Ryman that cancelled before we got there. I also went to Carter Vintage and saw the Bloomfield Tele, but they’d just sold his Strat that JD had demoed. I gotta come back sometime

[@Winterfell1066]

In addition to LAB which has great solid state amps (I used to have an L5 back in the day that I loved), give a shout out to older Peavey and Musicmann amps with the solid state preamp and tube power section. I have had both and they were great. I still have a mint Peavey Artist 240. Solid State Pre with 4 6L6 tubes for power (120 watts I think). Also great. I currently have mostly Fender BF amps and a few SF amps. My favorites. I have a 53 Gibson GA 40 Les Paul that Uncle Doug restored for me. It is a sleeper for sure with early breakup. But that Peavey sounds great too and I don't know why they get such little love. Mine is mint. I bought it locally in central MS for $250.

[@MickeyBitsko-bn1bu]

Found my L-5 in a pawn shop 20 years ago...$99.00 out the door. I currently have a Rivera Fandango, Marshall Dual Super Lead & a '66 Bassman...the Lab Is my favorite of all of them.

[@larryyork1146]

bought a series 3 brand new in the seventies, still looks new and plays great. It’s a telecasters best friend if you want to go solid state.

[@DubClark]

Another great video. Thanks. I can appreciate SS amps from that era. I just had my Yamaha G50 112ii professionally gone over and recapped. I think it was the first to have a true parametric EQ. Sounds like new again.

[@x2mars]

Thanks!

[@tomasjones3755]

Nice vid. What a great amp In Audio Engineering terms, the mid control is a type of Parametric EQ; control of boost/cut and frequency target. A true Parametric would also allow you to adjust the 'Q' (width of freq effect)

[@GuitarDocAndMore]

Gave a like, will watch later. Zac + Solid State = immediately on my watchlist. I will come back with other SS names. I’m a huge fan.

[@richardb7686]

I bought a LAB L5 in 1980. I was 16 and had NO IDEA what I had. Sold it a few years later. Wish I had kept it! It was loud as hell!!

[@marc_leblanc]

My first gigging amp was a Fender M80 Stereo Chorus (2x12). It had great cleans but the the lead channel wasn't great. It took pedals surprisingly well.

[@hasserl]

You're right that Gibson amps never caught on like Fender amps did, and that's a shame, the Gibson EH 185 is a holy grail amp, one of the very best amps of all time. They had a bunch of other good amps, like the tweed era GA30RV, with incredible reverb; or the GA20 which is very similar to a 5E3 tweed Deluxe, only you can usually get them for less than half the price of a 5E3. Re "the best transistorized amps of all time", maybe the Lab Series does earn that title, but there were a bunch of other great solid state amps, like the Kustom amps used by guys like John Fogerty. All those great CCR records cut with that Kustom K200-A4, and he used it for all their live shows. I kind of hate to mention some others, because they are still (somewhat) affordable on the used market, but for instance the Marshall Lead series amps from the 80's. KIller sounding amps, the Lead 12, Lead 20 & Lead 30 (aka Master Lead Combo). Also, Vox had some great SS amps out in the 70s - 80's, I think they were made by Thomas Organ Company in the US. And more recent there is the discontinued Pathfinder 15R, a great little amp that swings way above it's weight class. One more, see if you can find anything on it, the Mitchell Sand Amp 100, designed by Pat Quilter of QSC, the design was licensed by Mitchell Speaker Company and produced by them in the late 70's; they are great little combo amps, with 2 x 10 speaker arrangement in cabinet the sides of which had double wall construction and was filled with sand, hence the name Sand Amp (though that was also a play on the use of silicon chips in the amplifier). And then there are a bunch of SS Peavey amps, that we all made fun of and insulted back ion the 70's and 80's, and now we hear them and think WTF were we thinking, they sound great, and are reliable as an anvil. I've seen plenty of guitar slingers right there in your town plugging away on old Peavey amps and they sound terrific. For some video examples of Peavey amps being flogged, check out Johan Segeborn here on youtube.

[@BartDietvorst]

Wow; that thing sounds awesome!

[@jejelad]

This comment won't have much relevance here but the '90s arty hardcore band Angel Hair used a Lab Series head and I think the other guitarist played a JCM 800. They had an awesome sound! One of my best friends soon after bought the same head.

[@iananderson1391]

My Grandpa gave me his L3 when I first started playing. It is indeed a good little amp! The reverb is rad though!

[@hunkydorian]

I used to work on these. I don't know whether these were early ones, but the bias circuit was wrong. The amp would either have a ton of distortion crossing zero or it would go into thermal runaway. I'd fix it by moving one of the bias string diodes over onto the heat sink. Some time after that I pulled an L5 out of someone's trash bin by the street. Fixed it up, sold it. The guys at the car wash were amused by me powerwashing the cabinet and chassis.

[@drno2141]

yep nice vid mate..i love what ur doing. next one on peavey bandit?

[@SmarmyJazzCritic]

@drno2141 I agree. Peavey was incredibly popular for guitar, bass, and PA starting in the 70's with guys playing clubs...back when those existed.

[@SmarmyJazzCritic]

Really enjoy your channel. I owned a Gibson GSS100 in the late 60's. For guitar it was painfully loud as it had 2 speaker cabinets and each had 2 speakers and a horn. Not a good tone, but if you got into a volume war it would win. It was better as a PA system. In the early 70's I switched over to bass so (except for a Fender Bassman 100) I was solid state all the way, the first being a Standel bass amp. Standels were somewhat popular with steel, country-politan & jazz players at that time, and many of those same guys would own an echoplex &/or a strobe tuner.

[@ZacCostilla]

I love solid state amps. My first amp sucked, but it was SS (Crate G80XL). It had an acceptable clean tone, but the gain tone was horrendous. But I had a Tube Works “Real Tube” pedal with a 12Ax7 and it actually worked great for a nice smooth to creamy tone. And I added a Boss distortion pedal to get more gain after that. I’ve had some other amps in between that and my current one, a Quilter Interblock 45. But I finally found that tone again, with my Quilter and a Moskey Golden Horsey (Klon clone). Weird how nostalgia works.

[@frankhughes5702]

I have a Peavey classic 2x12 from the late 70s. It has a solid state preamp and two 6l6gc tubes in the power amp. I've had it for close to 40 years and it's not spectacular but it sounds kinda fenderish but also a little like a Marshall tone. It's as heavy as a small truck but I still like having it around.

[@fuzzybunnyslippers6482]

I had an L9 back in the 80s. The compressor and parametric mid eq were cool features. The amp went into storage and then disappeared some time in the 90s. I really wish I still had it. 😢

[@alanknox9914]

Session's Sessionette 75 mkii has a great clean tone and not heavy to lift. Try and get one that sounds good, as tolerances of components change due to age and affects the tone, the amp won't sound good. All the best

[@bobbaumeister5243]

I love my LAB L5!! Greetings To You Zac!

[@mikefromusa6902]

Vox pathfinder 15-r. Do a vid on that, Zac!

[@SmarmyJazzCritic]

@mikefromusa6902 Yes, Pathfinder 15r is a great little amp!

[@jeremyhorne81]

They were great!

[@mandodude148]

I used an L5 around 1982. It was a great amp, but at some point I traded for something else. I wish I still had it!

[@IantaylorCanuck]

I had an L-5 when I was a kid, and before I learned to trust my ears somewhat. Since I was apparently the only person in the world with one, so it frankly wasn't cool. It was also kinda heavy. Then years later I found out BB played one and I was somewhat verklempt.

[@generallyfinefx]

I interned with Bob Moog and worked there shortly before his death, most of the bench testing amps were Lab Series L3s

[@DavidFernley]

Well there are good soiled state my main practice amp is a fender bronco 2 0 watt made in the USA, lad series is one of the best this is for me very captivating vid thanks for it Zac you have the best guitar channel on the tube.

[@ronroskowske6047]

I owned an L5 and recorded with it-great amp!!

[@Slovy_]

The lab series makes me think of BB King

[@johnnychacon9978]

Hey Zac I bought an L5 back in 1979 and still own it. I’m 59 with a bad back so I don’t use it anymore. I was wondering if you have ever tried using a peavey Nashville 1000 amp . I bought one and it sounds pretty damn good. I don’t know if I’ll gig with it because it’s heavy but it has a very unique sound.

[@lawrencechristiansen9857]

I should have hung on to my L-11 head..... I still can't find another one.

[@hoboroadie4623]

Thanks! I have the L7, L9, and L11 on my list, but I did not know that they pre-dated my Pearce G1 and G2r amps. L. I. B. 👍

[@jimsalman7257]

Another famous user of Lab Series amps was Eliott Easton of The Cars, I think on their first few albums. Also I think he used a head/stack version, whatever model number that is.

[@therealkevinmcnally]

Excellent as usual Zac!

[@craigstraubinger8240]

And a shout-out to my current fave solid state amp, (did I just say that?) Quilter amplifiers.

[@david25876]

Thanks Zac. Would love to see a discussion on peavey amps used by Skynyrd.

[@Scaredycat-dad]

Great video Zac!

[@briannacery9939]

Thanks for the information!

[@jdl2180]

I used to have a lab series bass amp that sounded pretty good. Kind of wish I would have hung on to that thing 😢

[@jazzFABRYk]

Had an L5 in the late 90ies, love the sound, hate the weight 😢

[@joelscott145]

Amp of the first four Kings X records.

[@jchavins]

I would love to see you compare this amp with a Peavey Session 500.....my favorite amp of all time.

[@christmasmusicukulele8318]

My dobro buddy Billy Cardine developed the Moog Lapsteel with the Moog company. From one day to another they pulled the plug on this project. Too bad! I played pedal steel with the 4X 10 inch. Now with a tone master my back thanks me...

[@giabgr]

Just think of the 'compresso'r knob as a 'compressor threshold' knob. So more master means more over the threshold.

[@GreggBennett-j3p]

Back in the late 70’s I got a used L3 (I think). 12” combo 30-ish watts. It replaced my solid state Peavy Pacer that got stolen. My memories are positive. But I don’t remember it being at all expensive as Zac mentioned. It couldn’t have been. I was 17 and still mowing lawns for spare $. No idea what became of it. I’d kinda like have it back. The lab got back burner Ed when I got my music man sixty-five. I notice not many people are selling those labs. That should tell you something.

[@janattaaya]

A repair guy once told me the L3 is actually is a 70 watt amp (for whatever thats worth) I used to do bar gigs with it, it was plenty loud, had a good edge of breakup sound and was nice and light.

[@GreggBennett-j3p]

@ yes to all, but it was no where near as loud as the Music Man sixty-five that replaced it. At least that’s how my feeble memory sees it. Wish I had both those amps back!

[@1rwjwith]

Great episode.

[@chancemiller9340]

😳😬 😅 That’s so funny! (Oops!) NOTE: “Tapatío” is slang for: “A person from Guadalajara, Mexico 🇲🇽.”

[@That52TeleGuy]

Curious how the old Lab series Amos have aged? Seems some old solid state amps get noisy as they get old, that amp hum, seen this with old Roland JC amps. I remember in the late 70’s the L5 was a very popular amp, maybe Norlin spent a lot to get these out there and noticed. Amazing over all the amp fads, Fender Tube amps still much desired.

[@reidanderson8734]

I wanna hear your Danelectro Hodad bass VI through this beast!

[@kiragina.7152]

Thanks, Zac.

[@kiragina.7152]

And thanks for pronouncing Moog like a cow would.

[@davemeshamsr6000]

How much does it weigh?

[@DonaldStrawsine]

Also don't sleep on later 70s early 80s Yamaha amps gold knob era.

[@DonaldStrawsine]

I have a 20 and 40 think of the 20 as a Princeton and the 40 as a deluxe also

[@TJSmithanniston]

Talk to Johnny Garcia about lab series. He used the l9 in South Texas. Tell him CHUD sent you

[@KristopherCraig]

I believe fender copied Johnson amplifiers with the angled chassis for the knobs.

[@deanchenry]

Peavey. Any love for the stereo chorus with delay out there?

[@jakeryan_musician]

If they did a reissue or a updated version for 2025 sub $1k to $1k+.. Sign me up. Great vid Zac!

[@RideAcrossTheRiver]

Oh, hi, Kustom amps!

[@Hazelnut_surprise]

I love the smell of a pcb in the morning..

[@leftymike5625]

Ok I pulled the trigger and bought the L9 near me. Mine also needs 2 knobs. Any chance of getting a link to that Facebook group so maybe I can find a couple? Thanks

[@AskZac]

facebook.com/groups/697577690717387