Laney LC15 Review
The Laney LC15 is a highly regarded tube practice amplifier, garnering an 8.9 out of 10 average rating for Sound Quality at Harmony Central. It is rated at 15 watts with an EL84 tube, out to a 10″ Laney-designed driver. It may only have 1 channel, but what it lacks in features, it makes up for pure unadulterated tube tone. Let’s see what users have to say.
“Sound is king and this amplifier can sing. With stock preamp tubes you get a clean sound with the gain knob set to lower than 9 o’clock. Past that it starts to break up but no matter what you dial in you will find a useful sound. Seventies hard rock sounds hit you in the face past 12 o’clock. I mainly use this amp for recording clean to bluesy sounds though and I found it better to put in two 12AU7 preamp tubes because of their lower gain. A good clean tube sound is hard to achieve but I actually think I found a personal favorite in this pup. It has got more personality than other low watt amps I owned over the years. Try and record with it and you will find it always finds its spot in the mix. It is like glue on the tape.” — Larry Johnson
“This amp is pretty good for its value, very reliable, easy to tweak, but it lacks a bit of the drive power. It’s good for blues and some classic rock, but those who want headbanging gain would have to pass on this amp and look for the other. It doesn’t work too well with distortion pedals either, but overall smoothness is pretty good for an amp this small.” — Nance Horrowitz
“Very usable and beautiful English clean/crunch sounds—not too hot for squeely distortion on its own, but a pedal pushes things up nicely. It is a little noisy but not bad considering it is all valves. The volume knob is not particularly subtle at high gain, but again if you are using a pedal to provide most of the overdrive it is more responsive.” — Richard Alexander
“Overall, for the price, this is the best deal on a tube amp out there. Replace the speaker and tubes, and yer set. This amp excels at clean to slightly dirty sounds and is great for recording. It’s definitely a UK sounding amp, and if you dig that tone you’ll like the Laney.” — Glen Bestmore
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