ebagjones
New member
Just took possession of the new Ironheart 120 head. I’ve had two Laneys in the past, a 50 watt Lionheart (amazing probably my biggest regret of selling since it’s no longer made and hard to find used) and also the GH50 (also amazing). Over the last few years I’m increasingly playing more and more prog and instead of doing it old school with a fuzz pedal into a loud clean British amp, I’ve been using amps with high gain for that harmonically rich high gain lead tones. Based on my very positive history with Laney products, you would think I would have played more of their amps but there’s always been some sort of a snobbery about them from me, I don’t know why and I know it’s irrational, but it was present nevertheless. Probably why it took me so long to pick up one of the Ironhearts even though the demos all sound great.
Anyways, I haven’t had a ton of time with it, but it’s made an extremely positive first impression.
- Sounds: I’ve read some things saying this is tricky to dial in. This may be how my ears are tuned, or the fact that I use Jensen Raptor speakers and Fane F70 speakers instead of the recommended speakers, but I immediately was able to dial in pleasing sounds. Even now the knobs are pretty close to noon all around and only the treble shift is pulled. Very smooth lead tones with just the right amount of gain, and the rhythm channel is equally good at crunch or lead tones for a different, leaner flavor. The cleans could be considered a bit sterile I guess but for the music I play, needing big bold cleans even with hot humbuckers, it’s a godsend.
- Build quality: this is a bit more of a mixed bag, at least from first impressions. On one hand, the side handles make this extremely heavy head easy to move, and the presence of two of the largest transformers I’ve ever seen (one torroidal) make it seem like something shooting well beyond its price point, but the knobs and especially switches feel a bit flimsy. Realistically though I don’t know if they are that much worse than my JVM though, so that could be just me being picky.
Features: This is largely TBD. I haven’t tried the DI output yet. I will say this, the layout and controls, particularly the dynamics and tone knobs, allow you to dial in your tones with the EQ knobs and then just tailor it from there with those two knobs. The built in boost seems fine to me, despite reading online several places it was disappointed, but it also takes my own boosts just as well, particularly sounding great with an EchoPlex style boost. The reverb seems fine, but I mostly use ambient delays for this purpose instead of reverb so pickier ears may not like it.
Overall seems to be an incredible amp not just for its price but in categories of amps much more expensive that I don’t think sound half as good (here’s looking at you Mesa Badlander and the entire Revv lineup). In the demos I’ve heard, the amp maker that most seems to fall in that same voicing but certainly higher build quality would be the KSR’s, and, if anything that makes me want to grab an Orthos as soon as I can for comparison.
Last note on the boost - the one thing I will say is that the mids are so perfectly voiced that it seems to slightly favor boosts with flatter more neutral mids, which is why I think it like it with my SpeakEasy and E-Plex setting on my ZIO so much. I wish I still had my Keeley Red Dirt because I have a feeling that would be a great match.
Anyways, I haven’t had a ton of time with it, but it’s made an extremely positive first impression.
- Sounds: I’ve read some things saying this is tricky to dial in. This may be how my ears are tuned, or the fact that I use Jensen Raptor speakers and Fane F70 speakers instead of the recommended speakers, but I immediately was able to dial in pleasing sounds. Even now the knobs are pretty close to noon all around and only the treble shift is pulled. Very smooth lead tones with just the right amount of gain, and the rhythm channel is equally good at crunch or lead tones for a different, leaner flavor. The cleans could be considered a bit sterile I guess but for the music I play, needing big bold cleans even with hot humbuckers, it’s a godsend.
- Build quality: this is a bit more of a mixed bag, at least from first impressions. On one hand, the side handles make this extremely heavy head easy to move, and the presence of two of the largest transformers I’ve ever seen (one torroidal) make it seem like something shooting well beyond its price point, but the knobs and especially switches feel a bit flimsy. Realistically though I don’t know if they are that much worse than my JVM though, so that could be just me being picky.
Features: This is largely TBD. I haven’t tried the DI output yet. I will say this, the layout and controls, particularly the dynamics and tone knobs, allow you to dial in your tones with the EQ knobs and then just tailor it from there with those two knobs. The built in boost seems fine to me, despite reading online several places it was disappointed, but it also takes my own boosts just as well, particularly sounding great with an EchoPlex style boost. The reverb seems fine, but I mostly use ambient delays for this purpose instead of reverb so pickier ears may not like it.
Overall seems to be an incredible amp not just for its price but in categories of amps much more expensive that I don’t think sound half as good (here’s looking at you Mesa Badlander and the entire Revv lineup). In the demos I’ve heard, the amp maker that most seems to fall in that same voicing but certainly higher build quality would be the KSR’s, and, if anything that makes me want to grab an Orthos as soon as I can for comparison.
Last note on the boost - the one thing I will say is that the mids are so perfectly voiced that it seems to slightly favor boosts with flatter more neutral mids, which is why I think it like it with my SpeakEasy and E-Plex setting on my ZIO so much. I wish I still had my Keeley Red Dirt because I have a feeling that would be a great match.
