Very first impressions of my Laney VC15...

Pierre

Stratologist
My first thought was 'WOW this is a stunner. It's a right mix of Blackface, Marshall and Vox cosmetic. And it's black. And dark. And I think it's uber hot.

Second... it's heavy, but not TOO heavy.

Comes with TAD valves... two EL84s and 3 12AX7s/ECC83s. One of the 12s isn't badged. The others are actually high grade 7025. So I think as far as valves go, it's a 10.
Dunno why, I replaced the one closest to the power valves with a JJ ECC83S... I HOPE it's the PI valve hehe... I wasn't able to find which is which. I just took off the not badged 12AX. If I don't find much difference I'll try the JJ in the middle valve. The way I figure it, in clean, the middle valve is bypassed and in dirty, it comes in to add 2 gain stages. So with a JJ in the middle I'd keep the cleans I love and possibly boost up the dirt? Or maybe I'm twisted. I haven't tried it like this though.

First thing I did was to put everything on 5. And I kept it this way for a while. The amp sounds absolutely GORGEOUS. I always had this idea that EL84s are pretty thin sounding. No idea why. Maybe because they ARE thin :laugh2: But nooooo... this amp is VERY, very nice sounding.

Speaker is a Jensen Custom 10''. The seller of the amp also gave me a free Vox speaker which is darn nice.

I saw no faults in the Tolex.

The amp's reverb is NICE and not overcooked as it's often the case. So I put on a little bit... Though pretty much nothing comes up until around 4 or 5. I don't mind, it's a good reverb to my ears.

The amp also has a TONE control! It works instead of a presence. Basically if you play exclusively with a Tele or Strat bridge pup... you can tame it down. But I don't find the treble harsh at all. Though that could be the guitar, maple neck through with a Screaming Demon.

Mhmm ok just downloaded the manual and it appears I was right. The one closest to the OV is V3 and the PI. Laney even included a basic block diagram of the overall gain layout! It appears the effects loop is SS boosted but eh. I got nothing in it right now. It appears V1B is the drive triode though. V2 is just before the EQ (I thought it'd be one half before, one after).

I plug into the low output. Why? No idea. The notice said so. And that's about the first time I ever follow a notice hehe...The hi input is just marginally louder, which I don't need and that's all I noticed. That diagram implies a pad for the low input...Does this mean the natural sound of the amp comes through the hi input?

I'll get a Laney FS2 footwich (which I can ALSO use for my AOR. Woot!) and have the basic clean and drive sounds from it. Then use my route 66 for boosted cleans with a hint of breakdown, or to really get that edge with the drive channel.

Or of course use the CrunchBox on clean ^_^ Sounds excellent too!

I couldn't be happier with the amp. I don't notice less bass than I want, more like the opposite. That speaker seems quite nice.

What else can I mention... did I say it's a stunner yet? ;)

vc15-110.jpg


The ebay seller was VERY nice and delivered it to me this morning... While I was on the plane! He lived in Glasgow and accepted to deliver it but could only make it this morning. So I told my flatmates to reception it and everything went fine. That was very cool of him if you ask me, and he was great to deal with from the start.

I may get a AB/Y box and run both Laneys. So that I'd always have a nice clean sound WITH The drive sound of the tiny one. Or to better compare them simply enough. Right now though my old faithful AOR could disapear and I wouldn't notice. Hope I don't hurt its feelings, it served me well and will get some upgrades soon.

I'm a happy man!
 
Re: Very first impressions of my Laney VC15...

Sound cool bro.

Grats with it! :)
 
Re: Very first impressions of my Laney VC15...

I am glad you are happy Pierre. Thanks for the review.

You also found an answer to your foot switch issue. That's great.

I know that AOR 30 just doesn't have the sound you wanted, but now you may be able to do some mods to make it more interesting to you. The AOR's are very tube finicky. Believe it.

Now if I can just get you to leave the VC15 alone. :rocket:

Eh, have fun, buy a few tubes, switch them around. See what you can do. It is a never ending story.
 
Re: Very first impressions of my Laney VC15...

Thanks for the cool review Pierre. I've been wanting to check those out. But, I haven't been able to find one over here. I'm sure they are great amps. How's your alnico 2 single coil neck pup sound through it?
 
Re: Very first impressions of my Laney VC15...

Pierre,
POWER TO THE MUSIC BRETHERN !!!

Glad to hear everything worked out for you. I posted this on a Laney-Posse ago, but since you are around here I wanna re-ask this again.

"I am thinking that I will need a full tube combo, that has great cleans, can do metal with a help of a pedal but also can pull off any classic rock and blues via guitar straight in. Something that can give me real tone in the recording studio but it does not have to be able to pull gigs and full band practice, not a priority at all."

Will VC15 be it ???
P.S.

Dont diss the AORs, they are the holly grails of Laney.
 
Re: Very first impressions of my Laney VC15...

Congrats on your purchase. Sounds like you're going to have a lot of fun with that amp!
 
Re: Very first impressions of my Laney VC15...

Pierre,
POWER TO THE MUSIC BRETHERN !!!

Glad to hear everything worked out for you. I posted this on a Laney-Posse ago, but since you are around here I wanna re-ask this again.

"I am thinking that I will need a full tube combo, that has great cleans, can do metal with a help of a pedal but also can pull off any classic rock and blues via guitar straight in. Something that can give me real tone in the recording studio but it does not have to be able to pull gigs and full band practice, not a priority at all."

Will VC15 be it ???
P.S.

Dont diss the AORs, they are the holly grails of Laney.

My own AOR is at the end of its life, it needs a little help ;)

Yes I think the VC15 will be it. Select your clean sound, then a put a lot of gain on the drive channel and use the footswitch between the two. If you want metal though you'll need to use a distortion on the clean channel as I doubt there'd be enough gain on the drive channel. I tried boosting mine and it sounded great for Blues and rock but not for metal.

I can't try the Alnico2 single coil as the guitar it's in right now is in unplayable condition... Still awaiting some money to bring her back to life.
 
Re: Very first impressions of my Laney VC15...

Yeah, I'm in the process of breaking in the speaker on my little VC15. Yummy soft leather handle, eh? By the way, if you notice that the power trannie gets super warm, it's okay, i mailed laney and they assured me it was normal.

I tell you, the final tone knob, just before the power stage, is a really useful thing. Have you tried it into a bigger cabinet? Very yummy!
 
Re: Very first impressions of my Laney VC15...

Me too but I can't take clips sorry. No recording gear...
 
Re: Very first impressions of my Laney VC15...

I tried the LC30 last week.And man that thing ripps!I really enjoyed the 30 minutes!And i am a bleiever now.Laney delivers it!
 
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