Laney VC30 - any thoughts?

Denalihighway

first of all apologies for posting here as its not directly production related but you guys have great experience in instrumentation issues so with that in mind...I'm about to buy an amp. Was giving this a good rattle and I liked it a lot, especially compared to others that I tried with similar specs / performance but with much higher price tags...

Has anybody any experience with this and what do they think regarding reliability and the amp in general?

thanks for any responses

i57dwun4yb1pt8

shouldnt you be trying a guitar forum ?

dav nagle

Hey,

I am a guitar teacher, playing 17 years. Had a Laney for a few years. They are affordable amps no doubt but they have absolutely NO TONE OR COLOR so Forget about it!


Check this out:

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_best_guitar_amp


Remember size doesn't matter!

Denalihighway

hmmm...that shows you what guitar players know (thats me I'm talking about). But I played it side by side with an AC30 and although the AC30 sounded beautiful, I thought the VC30 measured up well even if price wasnt taken into consideration.

And about size, yeah it doesnt matter...but it can be a factor, so can money, awfully frustrating

dadaumtish: the answer is probably yes but since I'm buying for the purpose of recording I find it's nice to pick the brains of people who actually do the recording to get their opinions on how things sound on record rather than from guitar players who tend to be biased towards whatever amp they've had a love affair with for the last number of years. The lads here have been helpful in the past.

dav nagle

Denalihighway wrote: »

hmmm...that shows you what guitar players know (thats me I'm talking about). But I played it side by side with an AC30 and although the AC30 sounded beautiful, I thought the VC30 measured up well even if price wasnt taken into consideration.

And about size, yeah it doesnt matter...but it can be a factor, so can money, awfully frustrating

dadaumtish: the answer is probably yes but since I'm buying for the purpose of recording I find it's nice to pick the brains of people who actually do the recording to get their opinions on how things sound on record rather than from guitar players who tend to be biased towards whatever amp they've had a love affair with for the last number of years. The lads here have been helpful in the past.

How much bread have you got to spend?

Denalihighway

well to be honest the answer is not a lot but where there's a will there's a way
and if its worth spending a grand on an AC30 (or whatever) which I'm very tempted to do then I could do that but I just wanted to check around a bit first. The way I see it if I could save 500 hard earned euros by buying something thats good value I'd do that because I think some of the bigger brands are priced according to their reputation and I try not to indulge that.

It just feels good sometimes to find something a little bit off the beaten track. In saying all that, a lot of time you just have to shell out for quality. So if money was no barrier I might go straight for an AC30 with the blue bulldogs etc. (might end up doing that anyway )I didnt get to try out the AC15 unfortunately as they didnt have it in stock but I reckon I might be interested in that. I think the problem is I'm so used to playing a ****ty Marshall MG in rehearsal that my ear probably isnt astute as it should be when I'm trying amps.

dav nagle

Denalihighway wrote: »

well to be honest the answer is not a lot but where there's a will there's a way
and if its worth spending a grand on an AC30 (or whatever) which I'm very tempted to do then I could do that but I just wanted to check around a bit first. The way I see it if I could save 500 hard earned euros by buying something thats good value I'd do that because I think some of the bigger brands are priced according to their reputation and I try not to indulge that.

It just feels good sometimes to find something a little bit off the beaten track. In saying all that, a lot of time you just have to shell out for quality. So if money was no barrier I might go straight for an AC30 with the blue bulldogs etc. (might end up doing that anyway )I didnt get to try out the AC15 unfortunately as they didnt have it in stock but I reckon I might be interested in that. I think the problem is I'm so used to playing a ****ty Marshall MG in rehearsal that my ear probably isnt astute as it should be when I'm trying amps.

AC15 or AC30 would be nice and well worth waiting for IMO. If money is a factor do yourself a favor and save because you get what you pay for in this world and any amp that your not truly chuffed with is a bad buy. Have a Fender blues deluxe myself. Best of luck OP.

Denalihighway

cheers dude

PaulBrewer

I think it's interesting you should post your question here as the 'sound' of things is what's often discussed here.

Often we speak of the sound of the recording gear but of equal importance is the gear that's used to make the sound that is to be recorded!

Guitar amps have been an area I've been thinking about a lot recently (in fact a lot today by coincidence)

It's interesting you should mention the AC30, I've heard 2 of the new Chinese built ones (I think it's China anyways) and they both were proper dogs, especially at volume... well that's what I thought!

Depending on your requirements a smaller, lower powered amp for the same(ish) money may be a better option in search of tone.

However I can't make specific suggestions I'm afraid of what else to try.

i57dwun4yb1pt8

oh, sorry , ok if you want a great recording amp

look here

http://www.swartamps.com/

artvandulet

Denalihighway wrote: »

The way I see it if I could save 500 hard earned euros by buying something thats good value I'd do that because I think some of the bigger brands are priced according to their reputation and I try not to indulge that.

In that case try the Epiphone Blues custom 2x12. I though it sounded excellent for the money, and as you are into your AC30 sound, you should like it.

PaulBrewer

Have you got one DaDum?
What's it like?

DaDumTish wrote: »

oh, sorry , ok if you want a great recording amp

look here

http://www.swartamps.com/

Seziertisch

Those Laneys are ok, decent for the money. In terms of a recording amp I would say check out the Vox Heritage AC30 and AC15s. The 15 can be had for under a grand new if you look around. These are Chinese made as well but point to point wired. Savage amps.

They are covered in cream tolex and have quite a distinctive look (which leads me to my next point). I saw two bands using them onstage at the Electric Picnic, Wilco and My Bloody Valentine (although considering Kevin Shields had a good 9 or 10 amps on stage that isn't necessarily saying a lot. But Jeff Tweedy played exclusively through a pair of the 30s). Neither of these bands are slouches when it comes to tone.

i57dwun4yb1pt8

PaulBrewer wrote: »

Have you got one DaDum?
What's it like?

no but ive heard one in battle in a blues / rock band and it was pretty incredible - if i ever get the cash I will get one , they sound huge and rich for such a small amp
some guys even play live with them and mic them up .

teamdresch

A Fender Blues Junior records well and is pretty affordable.

Denalihighway

thanks all
- related question: do you it's relatively starightforward to make an amp that might not be top of the range sound top of the range with modern digital skullduggery?

I'd like to think no, but in my limited recording experience it seems very little is impossible

i57dwun4yb1pt8

no mate - you cant polish a turd
you might be able to take the smell off it , but it wont shine ;-)

PaulBrewer

Denalihighway wrote: »

thanks all
- related question: do you it's relatively starightforward to make an amp that might not be top of the range sound top of the range with modern digital skullduggery?

If only life was so simple .........

Denalihighway

thats comforting all the same

ZV Yoda

It depends... I've gotten some very good results just by DI-ing a guitar into my 003 rack and then just using the standard Amplitube plug-in that comes with Pro Tools LE.

OK, it's not the real McCoy, but from a recording perspective, it gets maybe 80% of the sound you're after with only 5% of the effort... no mics needed, no fancy sounding room... jeez, you don't even need an amp

Aside from the free guitar amp plug-ins, there lost of other stuff like Guitar Rig etc

Might be worth your while checking out the software option at least. It's all about the return on investment you're after... worth a try - you might be surprised.

i57dwun4yb1pt8

yeah , you know - your better off getting a POD xt or something and do it using software in the box - for the money .

or reamp the tracks in a pro studio with pro amps .