LC15R

AxeMan99

Ok so I finally went to a music shop near me today and tried out some amps (with my guitar of course). I went with my friend whos also a guitarist so we had two pairs of ears to judge things with.

Anyway I tried out a Line 6 Spider II 112 and was fairly impressed. I turned it onto the metal preset and straight away got the tight focussed distortion that I like. The only thing that put me off was that is is VERY VERY bassy, although it wasn't digital sounding like I've heard some say. The cleans were OK, nothing too special and I'd probably never use some of the other amp models. So then I moved on to the real reason I went...

When I first plugged in the LC15R I thought it wasn't going to be the amp for me. After a bit of tweaking of the EQ though I got a really nice warm clean sound out of it. Then I cranked the gain and volume up. With the gain full and the volume on about 3 or 4 out of 10 it was very loud and produced some good hard rock sounds. Not metal though which kind of dissappointed me a little but I wasn't expecting it to manage it on its own. Then we plugged my friends MXR Zakk Wylde Overdrive in and added a bit of gain. This produced more of a metal tone but I still wasn't convinced it was the amp for me. So I played with the overdrive pedal a bit and recalled that it could be used as a booster. I set the gain down low and the volume up high and WOW this Laney ROARS. I instantly fell in love with it as did my friend. It handled everything from Master Of Puppets to Crazy Train and sounded incredible every step of the way.

So basically I just wanted to say this amp rocks with an overdrive pedal and although it was 15W it seemes louder than the 75W Spider. I am definitely going to be getting one of these and selling my Vox AD30. We must have been in the practice room for just over an hour playing with this amp - you owe it to yourself to try one.

Unknown

Yeah, I'm planning to get one, and then later get one of those Voodoo Labs things that can do OD and boost all at the same time. Pre valves give some of the nicest aggressive OD sounds you can get (in my opinion of course), just you need to replace them sooner if you really push them, that's all.
Valves have way more usable volume than solid state, especially if you're using OD. I didn't bother really pushing this one I tried out, volume-wise, due to the fact that other people were in the shop.
The clean is even better IMO, I used the 'lo' input with a fairly hot humbucker, and it was really, really bloody smooth sounding. I genuinely don't think there's any practice valve-based amps that come near it.

Unknown

I tried the Laney VC30 and was impressed. THe only problem was the price and the shop weren't prepared to haggle.

I had an awful time trying to get hold of one off the internet so I went looking for alternatives. I don't know if you would have the same problem with the VC15, but if you like it, I'd suggest buying it rather than trying to get one cheeper online.

I finally picked up a Peavey Valveking 212 and I'm well pleased with it. Can't turn it up higher than 3 because the walls start to shake.

Unknown

Just did a google, both seem to be within about £10 of each other. Totally out of my price range though.

Unknown

Save up a bit more. Trust me it will be worth it.

I was thinking exactly the same way about the Peavey. The retail price was £450 and I got him down to £370.

The way I looked at it was that I would probably never buy another amp again. Worked for me.

Unknown

I'm not gigging with it. The LC15's actually better for me, sounds okay at bedroom-ish volumes, and can supposedly compete with a drummer if absolutely neccesary. I'll mic it up if I ever get that far. Can't justify more than £200 right now, I still mainly play acoustic.

Unknown

 Quote:

Originally posted by AxeMan99:
although it was 15W it seemes louder than the 75W Spider.

I really should know why this is...I think it's something to do with the vact that valve amps produce more higher harmonics.

Anyway, regardless of the reason Valve amps always sound louder than the equivalent solid state

Sam

Herbie

A lot of it is to do with how the wattage is measured... putting aside the fact that it's frequently fiction, amps tend to be rated up to the point which the power stage breaks up. With a valve amp, you've still got loads of useable volume after that point, with a SS amp you have no more useable volume... (valve distortion vs SS, square wave distortion)

There are other factors too, including the harmonic content etc...

Anyway, the LC15R is great amp.. anyone wanna buy one!