Laney Amps LC Range LH50 50-Watt Guitar Amplifier Head Review

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(More customer reviews)I had been interested in buying a Laney head for quite awhile.
I've bought and played other amps in the past where I found it difficult to find a good sound. Where I had to constantly tweak the knobs and never being truly satisfied but settled on "as good as it's gonna get." In addition to often adding distortion boxes just to thicken the sound or try to improve the overdrive.
Granted, different amps suit different people. And there are a lot of different guitar players out there.
The clean channel is actually clean when the gain is turned down. It sounds absolutely gorgeous with a chorus pedal. It does break up kinda early, but in a very natural, pleasing manner. Fender being the standard for clean tube amps, this isn't a Fender. (To sound cliche) But the cleans ARE there, and channel 1 is very versatile.
The drive channel floors me. It has its own personality. You can take the drive all the way to 10 and it only improves the distortion. The notes are still defined and tubey. In terms of high gain tube amps, the hiss and feedback are minimal when the drive is maxed. Very impressed by that. The amp doesn't get out of control. I would go as far as to say it enters mesa rectifier territory as far as the sound of the overdrive. I have no desire to put a distortion box in front of this amp. The natural sound is perfect to me. As for the "modern" switch... whether or not you use it depends on what sound you're looking for. It sounds good with the switch on or off. It adds a little versatility.
One thing that's taking a little getting used to is the universal tone knob. It's a single knob independant of each channel's treb/mid/bass controls. It effects both channels. I like it set a little higher for the drive channel, and a little lower for the clean channel. For channel switching, you kinda need to find a happy medium on that knob and then do your fine tuning on each channel's treb/mid/bass.
No complaints about the quality of the digital reverb. I've never been big on verb, but in the last couple years I've started to play around with it. It sounds alright to me. I would have appreciated an indicator light when the reverb is on. Sometimes it's hard to tell it's on when the reverb is set low and you're on the drive channel.
A major thing I've noticed is the absence of "ice-picking" trebble. The uncomfortable trebble that kinda strikes a nerve and tweaks your head to the side. I find this amp to be very "warm," even high on the fret board.
As for the FS2 footswitch... They can be tough to find. I assume just about any 2 channel switch would work, but... there aren't a whole lot of Laney dealers on the web who carry the FS2. For the price of this head, I guess I can't really complain that it wasn't included. I did find one though.
Speaking of price, I would assume it's made in China. The box said made in China. However, the back of the amp itself says Made in the UK. Not sure what to make of that.

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