Laney GH100L and Marshall JCM800

tekbow

Out of interest Rather than a desire to buy either.

I remember Laney were doing a big Marketing push in the mid 90's with folks such as Gilbert and Satriani etc associated Laney GH and VH Amps for varying spells.

Seems like the GH100L and JCM800 would have been 'equivalent' amps (although Granted the 800 wasn't actually produced at that point) or had similar intent of use.

How do they compare sound wise? Similar?

ThePrettyDamned

Sort of...

The laney is more gain, and to my ears less bright and present. You can mod to jcm800 spec though. It is a loud single channel rock amp though. 

I really rated them back in the day, they were affordable and decent. The lh50 was my first big amp - toroidal transformer to keep it smaller, two channels and a modern switch that changed the voice (but not gain - it was not a high gain amp!). It was the head version of a combo... 

gjonesy

As above, similar but not the same, I think the tonestack is subtly different
My experience is with the older 50w version though  

MattBanshee

I've played a GH50L fairly extensively, having borrowed one from a mate when my amp was in for repair during a run of gig bookings, and I don't really think it was particularly Marshally, though it had a very good range of drive tones available. I remember running gain at about 12 o'clock and EQ flat too, and using a RAT for high gain sounds into that.

Another thing that I seem to remember though is that it had switchable valve options in the 50, and I think my mate's one had 6L6s in it? If so, that'd explain why it didn't sound as much like a Marshall, when it might have done with EL34s?

EDIT: checked, yeah it has a 'bias switch' that allows you to use EL34 or 6L6 power valves

tekbow

Ok, so sort of but not? What would the key difference in characteristics be, other than more gain? Say you dimed the gain of the 800, set the Laney for similar levels of preamp gain, set the MV's for similar levels of grit and both had 34s.

Like for like kinda sorta.

Redlester

I seem to remember ads with Vinnie Moore for Laney in the late 80s. Were they for the AOR series? Ring any bells? 

HerrMetal

Redlester said:

I seem to remember ads with Vinnie Moore for Laney in the late 80s. Were they for the AOR series? Ring any bells? 

Indeed there is something in my mind's eye.

(Confirmed via a Google image search.)

Reverend

I have a GH50L and 2 70s 2203 heads. The laney has more gain but doesn't have the same huge punch in the face. Strummers rehearsal rooms used to have one that had been modded to have more of a marshall feel and that was incredible. 
Vinnie Moore advertised the AOR, which bizarrely is responsible or a lot the interest in Matamp these days. 

Redlester

Reverend said:

I have a GH50L and 2 70s 2203 heads. The laney has more gain but doesn't have the same huge punch in the face. Strummers rehearsal rooms used to have one that had been modded to have more of a marshall feel and that was incredible. 
Vinnie Moore advertised the AOR, which bizarrely is responsible or a lot the interest in Matamp these days. 

@Reverend What's the Laney/ Moore/ Matamp link then? 

TTBZ

I had a GH50L for years, great amp. Should have kept it really. Really needs cranking up to sound the best otherwise its a bit fizzy. I don't think it really sounds that Marshally, it's British sounding but it's too dry gritty and stiff feeling without a boost despite all the gain it has. The mids sort of sit somewhere between a Marshall and Orange, don't have that same roar and punch as a Marshall but not as dark and muddy as Orange.

For me they really need a boost just to get the right feel, without it the feel was really flat and hard to play whereas I find a Marshall feels quite easy. I wish I'd just tried a treble booster with mine to give it more of that upper mid sizzle and bite I wanted. Was good with a Rat.

ThePrettyDamned

tekbow said:

Ok, so sort of but not? What would the key difference in characteristics be, other than more gain? Say you dimed the gain of the 800, set the Laney for similar levels of preamp gain, set the MV's for similar levels of grit and both had 34s.

Like for like kinda sorta.

The Marshall is less compressed and has more presence to my ear. The laney I remember sounding a bit more modern, less dynamic.

I'd pick the laney for modern rock, but the jcm would take my pick for just about everything else. 

Monstronaut

I knew 3 guys who played GH amps back in the 90's. They sounded incredible, I remember thinking they sounded much better than the 2204 I was using at the time. All 3 flogged them because they were always breaking down.

TTBZ

I never had any issues with mine in 10 years of ownership with weekly gigging in smoke filled pubs (pre-smoking ban!) for probably half of that. The worst that happened was the parallel FX loop mix pot was a bit scratchy but I never really used that anyway. They do sound much thicker than an 800 but don't quite have the same wallop when you hit a chord!

Dopesick

Always regret letting go of my GH50L a few years ago. Might even get another if I ever see one on eBay as they generally go for peanuts which is pretty scandalous. I sold my last one for 250 and that was with some haggling.

Reverend

its not qute a link. 

The main driver for the explosion on Matamp was Sleep. They had rented Orange amps for the holy mountain tour. and needed them fixed. They got taken to the matamp factory and ended up getting a load of green amps, including 4 of those ridiculous 4x15 cabs with the handles in the wrong place. Nearly all the talk I've ever seen about matamp has been based on Sleep using them. OF course, Pike used an AOR for Holy Mountain and went back to it fr the first high on fire album. 

riffpowers

Matt Pike has played through pretty much everything and still sounds great , and still sounds like him. I remember he toured with a load of jcm900’s a few years ago.
I had a gh50l before i went with matamp and it wasn’t up to much . But I think in retrospect I’d liked to have tried it with new valves and a decent cab , I don’t think those h h speakers were up to much. 

Reverend

Yeah, my experience with Laney is that they are very sensitive to speaker choice. I one gigged an AOR through a 70s hiwatt and it sounded incredible.
My experience with Matamp has not been great, all 6 cabs I owned or used on tour have had seripus quality issues.
When I supported High On Fire he was using Soldano and Marshall. 

earwighoney

riffpowers said:

Matt Pike has played through pretty much everything and still sounds great , and still sounds like him. I remember he toured with a load of jcm900’s a few years ago.
I had a gh50l before i went with matamp and it wasn’t up to much . But I think in retrospect I’d liked to have tried it with new valves and a decent cab , I don’t think those h h speakers were up to much. 

Matt Pike's most important aspect to his tone is his weed.

He'd sound the same with a Hello Kitty Strat played through a Behringer amp.

ALL HAIL MATT PIKE.

Sorry, I got a bit carried away, I was listening to Sleep earlier today.

Reverend

This is a gh50l into a klipp cab with greenbacks 

TTBZ

Dopesick said:

Always regret letting go of my GH50L a few years ago. Might even get another if I ever see one on eBay as they generally go for peanuts which is pretty scandalous. I sold my last one for 250 and that was with some haggling.

Mine went for £200 in the end    definitely should have held onto it for that, the guy drove up to me from Bristol (250 mile round trip) which should have been a sign haha. 

Agree that they're very sensitive to speakers. The first cab I had with mine came with Eminence Legends and it was horrible, very bright and brittle. Much better with the G12H30s which I used for years but wish I'd tried the H30/V30 combo sooner as that was even better and took out some of the fizz. I suspect 2x V30s would have suited it better still to get more of that upper mid stuff I wanted with less of the harsh/fizzy H30 top end. Sounded huge through a Mode Four cab too.

Dave_Mc

tekbow said:

Ok, so sort of but not? What would the key difference in characteristics be, other than more gain? Say you dimed the gain of the 800, set the Laney for similar levels of preamp gain, set the MV's for similar levels of grit and both had 34s.

Like for like kinda sorta.

Far as I'm aware if you leave the extra gain/drive stage off and leave the resonance off, the circuit is pretty much a JCM800 with (very subtle) value differences in the tone stack. So, on paper at least, it's very, very close to a JCM800 (without the extra drive engaged or the resonance turned on, as I said).

That being said, I've never tried an 800 (I've got a GH50L) and pretty much everyone on here (and elsewhere) says the Laney doesn't sound the same as an 800, so I believe them. Different parts? Circuit layout? FX loop? Something else? I dunno. But there must be some reason...