Speak to me about the Laney GH series pls

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CirrusCirrus Frets: 8481
edited April 2014 in Amps
What's the scoop? I don't really know nothin' about Laney's range other than they're reasonably cheap on the second hand market and people who use them seem to like them. Is the GH series just a 50 and 100 watter? Are there different models within that? What are they like, am I right in thinking they've got quite a lot of low end on tap? Think they'd sound good with a greenback loaded 4x12?

Cheers :D
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Comments

  • Just a 50 and 100 watter.

    Brilliant, in a word.  

    Like a JCM800, but more low end, less fizz and more gain available.  
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  • longjawlongjaw Frets: 420
    edited April 2014

    The other guitarist in my classic rock covers band The Test Pilots has the 50W head and matching 2 x 12" cab.

    Sounds great, not too big and seems very reliable.

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  • Dave_McDave_Mc Frets: 2324
    Yeah far as i'm aware they're more or less hot-rodded 800s. Sounds good with greenbacks, yeah (though out of all the amps i've tried it's probably the most forgiving in terms of speakers, it sounded at least decent with virtually everything I tried it with, and I tried a lot :)) ) Will sound like more of a classic/hard rock type of amp with GBs, I found the speakers used affected it a lot. Obviously that's the case with any amp, but seemed especially so with the GH- since it sort of straddles the line between modern high gain and more classic-sounding master volume amps, the speakers you use can kind of give it a nudge in either direction.

    Really nice for the money, if you ask me (though new prices have shot way up recently :( ).

    Cons:

    Single channel with a boost, rather than 2 channels. I've heard some people say that they could dial it in clean and then crank up the boost drive control to get high gain, but I found the boost drive knob to sound a bit fizzy/harsh if it was set higher than the gain control. So yeah if you want pristine cleans combined with really high gain it's probably not the amp for you (VH100R would be the thing in that case).

    In the same vein the extra boost adds a fair bit of volume so again it doesn't really react like two independent channels.

    Gets a bit fizzy and noisy with the drive control (i..e the boost control) set too high. I generally keep both gain controls at about 12 o'clock and use boosts. that helps a bit with the noise thing (and also the tone).

    Like a lot of the laneys, while it sounds really good it maybe sounds a little generic. More so with some speakers than others (V30s I thought didn't help in that respect- they really moderned the amp up and made it feel much more like a modern high gain amp, but yeah made it sound just like any high gain amp).

    the resonance control would probably be nicer on a knob rather than a switch.

    probably some other things i'm not thinking of. I should add I only play at home so you can probably take most of what i'm saying with a pinch of salt :))
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  • timmysofttimmysoft Frets: 1962
    The gh series are one of the finest amps ever in my opinion. Straight away you need to forget the comparisons to jcm800s, it doesn't sound like an 800, it doesn't feel like an 800 and straight into the front it's a lot more flexible and versatile. Massive low end and a superb ability to cut through any mix. The mids are more like the mids you find in hard pushed early orange amps, but without the tendency to lose definition. I used to run one as a 1.5 channel amp, getting clean and drive isn't really a problem and I didn't suffer any of the volume hikes or problems that anyone else has encountered. The whole eq section is more responsive than a jcm800, although it doesn't back off on the guitars volume pot as well as the 800s I've used. It'll out gain most amps on the market but with both gains wound up you will get a lot of noise. It's not an amp for everyone, but if you are playing heavier styles at gigging volumes it's a hard amp to beat. I toured mine for two years before moving to the vc50/vh100.
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  • samzadgansamzadgan Frets: 1471

    timmysoft said:
    The gh series are one of the finest amps ever in my opinion. Straight away you need to forget the comparisons to jcm800s, it doesn't sound like an 800, it doesn't feel like an 800 and straight into the front it's a lot more flexible and versatile. Massive low end and a superb ability to cut through any mix. The mids are more like the mids you find in hard pushed early orange amps, but without the tendency to lose definition. I used to run one as a 1.5 channel amp, getting clean and drive isn't really a problem and I didn't suffer any of the volume hikes or problems that anyone else has encountered. The whole eq section is more responsive than a jcm800, although it doesn't back off on the guitars volume pot as well as the 800s I've used. It'll out gain most amps on the market but with both gains wound up you will get a lot of noise. It's not an amp for everyone, but if you are playing heavier styles at gigging volumes it's a hard amp to beat. I toured mine for two years before moving to the vc50/vh100.

    Just a 50 and 100 watter.

    Brilliant, in a word.  

    Like a JCM800, but more low end, less fizz and more gain available.  
    cant really say more than has been said...you need to buy one!
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  • CirrusCirrus Frets: 8481
    Well, you all paint an alluring picture. Thanks for taking the time to reply, all  :)
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  • Cirrus said:
    Well, you all paint an alluring picture. Thanks for taking the time to reply, all  :)
    In case you didn't get it, if you want a one channel amp, they're FUCKING AMAZING.

    Thing is, there is now the Jet City range to complicate things.  They also sound amazing.  
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  • The GH series are really great.  The only downside for some that they are single channel, but that means they go cheap second hand and are fantastic value for money on the used market.
    My muse is not a horse and art is not a race.
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  • samzadgansamzadgan Frets: 1471
    ThePrettyDamned;204222" said:
    Cirrus said:

    Well, you all paint an alluring picture. Thanks for taking the time to reply, all  :)





    In case you didn't get it, if you want a one channel amp, they're FUCKING AMAZING.

    Thing is, there is now the Jet City range to complicate things.  They also sound amazing.  
    Hmmm...thats also a good point. I am a Laney fanboy, but i do have a jet city...and the Jet City 100HDM is very hard to beat...may need a clean mod to keep the crunch channel clean all the way up...but they are wonderful amps.
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  • timmysofttimmysoft Frets: 1962
    I recorded the last album with a gh and a jet city hdm, they're very different amps, the hdm is more suited to lead playing with the gh sounding bigger for rhythm tones.
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  • samzadgansamzadgan Frets: 1471
    timmysoft;204249" said:
    I recorded the last album with a gh and a jet city hdm, they're very different amps, the hdm is more suited to lead playing with the gh sounding bigger for rhythm tones.
    Oh yeah no doubt they are different sounding amps. Just another option.

    I did find putting KT66 in my Jet City made a much bigger and fuller sounding amp.
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  • timmysoft said:
    I recorded the last album with a gh and a jet city hdm, they're very different amps, the hdm is more suited to lead playing with the gh sounding bigger for rhythm tones.
    Thanks for clarifying, I've actually played both but not side by side and a couple of years apart.  

    I'd prefer the GH if it's thicker.  I love a nice, thick drive.  




















    ;)
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  • Dave_McDave_Mc Frets: 2324
    edited April 2014
    Cirrus said:
    Well, you all paint an alluring picture. Thanks for taking the time to reply, all  :)
    In case you didn't get it, if you want a one channel amp, they're FUCKING AMAZING.

    Thing is, there is now the Jet City range to complicate things.  They also sound amazing.  
    Agreed. I have both :)) I like them both... the Jet City does have the two channels (though crunch and high gain, rather than clean and high gain, so maybe not just as useful as you might think, but I still reckon it's a bit more useful than the Laney way of doing it on the GH). the jet city is a bit more compressed and modern-sounding, I think. Just depends on what you want. At current prices, though, the jet city is a fair bit cheaper (new). I mean you can get the 50 watt head for less than £250, which is hard to beat.
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