Laney Lionheart L20 Head, more Fendery, Marshally or Voxy ?

Telejester

Sure looks like a real nice head , more fendery, marshally or voxy ? Hopefully someone who owns or has used one can give an opinion.

EricTheWeary

http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/75009/laney-lionheart-l20t#latest

Bit of Lionheart chat on there. 

timmysoft

It's not fender, Marshall or vox.

i toured one for a year, it's the classic laney sound, bold mids that soften slightly under higher volumes, solid lows and bright highs. It's got more in common with the Orange sound rather than any other manufacturer.

english_bob

^that.

...but if I had to pick one of the three options you gave, I'd say Marshall.

I'm not sure I agree that it sounds like an Orange- there's something stiff in the the treble range on the Orange amps I've played that I really don't like, but that the Lionheart doesn't have.

Preamp sections for each channel on the Lionheart are supposedly based on a JTM45(?) and a JCM800, which is not to say that they sound identical.

shaunm

Funny because I found it move Vox than Marshall. But it is 100% not a Vox, it has its own sound. 

Truth is it's a great amp, takes pedals like a champ and sounds ace without them. A good gigging amp

Telejester

shaunm said:

Funny because I found it move Vox than Marshall. But it is 100% not a Vox, it has its own sound. 

Truth is it's a great amp, takes pedals like a champ and sounds ace without them. A good gigging amp

For use indoors is the master vol like a hrd off/insane control or nice and progressive ?
I keep reading that its dark, i play an ash tele, should i be concerned ?

timmysoft

I recorded the whole of "Take Courage" on a L20h through a Zilla 212 and Marshall JCM900 412. Boosted with a Love Pedal Amp 11. 

kreggs

Telejester said:

shaunm said:

Funny because I found it move Vox than Marshall. But it is 100% not a Vox, it has its own sound. 

Truth is it's a great amp, takes pedals like a champ and sounds ace without them. A good gigging amp

For use indoors is the master vol like a hrd off/insane control or nice and progressive ?
I keep reading that its dark, i play an ash tele, should i be concerned ?

I dont think its dark sounding but im keeping the tone up at between  8 and 9 on my tele. I dont even use the bright switch and it sounds good. It feels like the tone should be set high and backing it off is really just a kind of tone cut. But thats just my preference.

JCA2550

A friend and former band mate has had A LH20 since they came out he swears it sounds like a cross between a Hiwatt and a AC30.  I thought it sounded throaty and chimey with a Strat, Plexi with a Les Paul. Great loud 20 watt amp and a decent platform for pedals too. I haven't really helped have I?

Sassafras

They're quite laney.
  

shaunm

It's not a dark amp in my opinion. I found it really clear and clean. It's a great amp. I think just buy it

zepp76

Love mine, it doesn't do high gain well but it'll take a pedal like a champ to do that if that's your thing. Cleans are great and a good light to medium crunch is obtainable that'll impress you. Mine doesn't get as much use as it used to since I got the JTM but I don't think I'll ever sell it as it really is a great amp, even if it was made in China. Zero reliability issues, gigable, go get one!

Telejester

What about the master volume ?

Nicely progressive or touch it and windows get blown in like using a hrd ?

shaunm

Nothing like the HRD, it's useable all the way round

english_bob

Telejester said:

What about the master volume ?

Nicely progressive or touch it and windows get blown in like using a hrd ?

Nicely progressive. I can get it down nice and low for home use without any of that hair's-breadth-between-silent-and-deafening bullshit.

Telejester said:

I keep reading that its dark, i play an ash tele, should i be concerned ?

Nah. It'll go very bright with the master tone control right up. Not Fender bright, but bright enough, certainly with a Tele.

Telejester

Knew i forgot something  is the L20h cathode biased or not ?

shaunm

Telejester said:

Knew i forgot something  is the L20h cathode biased or not ?

In all honesty I've never known if any of my amps were or not. I just want it to sound good

colourofsound

Do the earlier, British made 1x12 L20 combos come with Spring Reverb? I know the L5s do...

EricTheWeary

colourofsound said:

Do the earlier, British made 1x12 L20 combos come with Spring Reverb? I know the L5s do...

Yeah, Chinese ones with digital. Mine is Chinese and the reverb is arse although apparently the spring wasn't much better. 

english_bob

EricTheWeary said:

colourofsound said:

Do the earlier, British made 1x12 L20 combos come with Spring Reverb? I know the L5s do...

Yeah, Chinese ones with digital. Mine is Chinese and the reverb is arse although apparently the spring wasn't much better. 

I've got one with spring reverb. And no, it really wasn't.

FWIW, the UK made ones also have a terrible effects loop. It's easy(ish) to modify (the hard part is getting to the one component you need to remove) but stock it's an absolute joke.

EricTheWeary

english_bob said:

EricTheWeary said:

colourofsound said:

Do the earlier, British made 1x12 L20 combos come with Spring Reverb? I know the L5s do...

Yeah, Chinese ones with digital. Mine is Chinese and the reverb is arse although apparently the spring wasn't much better. 

I've got one with spring reverb. And no, it really wasn't.

FWIW, the UK made ones also have a terrible effects loop. It's easy(ish) to modify (the hard part is getting to the one component you need to remove) but stock it's an absolute joke.

I'm sure I read this was fixed on the Chinese version although I've never used the loop so I've no idea.

In answer to the original question I don't really know. I'm reasonably familiar with modern Marshalls and to my ear it isn't particularly like those. There's a reasonable amount of flexibility with the eq anyway.
 I bought a Bright Onion channel switcher for mine so it had the LED but at gigging volume the difference between the channels gets less obvious so now I just use it on the OD and turn down for clean (er). 

We did a gig end of last year with a band whose bassist used to dep in my band. I'd describe them as a lot more professional than us and he is a brick shit house of a man of few words but has played in loads of bands, done some touring. However, after our set he came over to me and told me how good he thought my new amp sounded so I took that as meaningful praise.