Purchased From:
Secondhand seller
Price Paid:
?200
Introduction
The VC30 looks a little plain in a neat sort of way, no flashy logo's just a Laney badge.
The top of the amp looks very retro with some nice touches on the air vents,which believe me are needed.
Good Points
A well laid out control panel with cooker style knobs.
Lovely tone, very clean and a very nice bright tone activated by a switch n.b not so noticable in overdrive mode as the manual states.
Choice of low and high inputs giving a different sound especially in overdrive mode.
The laney has also a lovely reverb and an effects loop.
Another good point is that the combo isnt to heavy and should fit in most car boots.
For 30 watts this amp really does excell on volume, in clean mode its loud but overdrive it really is a beast especially when i connected my Marshall 2x12 cab to it for a gig, running at about 7 on the overdrive volume it demolished a valvestate 100 watt that was about to go into meltdown.
If you want an inexpessive amp that gives a voxy AC30 style sound and overdrive for a third of the cost and sounds wicked with fx units then buy one you will not regret it, if you want a Marshall type sound then the LC series might do it.
I use this amp for more glassy sounds when used in conjunction with my Marshall JCM 2553 stack {i use an A/B box} Marshall for overdrive and Laney for clean.
The fx unit i use for both these amps is a Boss GT6 set on the stack output selector,its certainly less trouble setting up the GT6 to sound great with the Laney than the Marshall due to the Laney's more neutral tone.
Bad Points
This Amp gets hot so dont worry to much as its the norm.
The Amps dont come with a channel/reverb switching pedal which is pretty essential for gigging, mine cost about ?25 and was well worth it.
My reverb has a mind of its own and turns itself on full tilt when it wants to (i must get this sorted out, its probably just the pot.)
Having the switching pedal sorts this problem,and i just use the GT6 for this.
The Verdict
If you want an amp thats near perfect for most styles apart from metal and anything on the extreme side then go and try one before you buy anything else.
if you do play metal Laney should have an amp to suit.
Apart from the reverb I cannot rate this amp enough and some of my students have bought one having heard mine.
Nice one Laney.
