The Watering Hole

Making Music
3 posts
Just come back from Electrohill in Palmers Green, where I took my Epi Sheraton II to have new p/ups installed.  Whilst there I tried out the Laney Cub 12R.

This is one of the sweetest sounding amps in its class that I've played.  Gloriously good tone with very nice cleans, a nice distortion & excellent playing dynamics and feel that responds beautifully to picking strength & guitar volume roll off.  With a 15w and under 1w input (0.75w), it's loud enough for small club playing yet quiet enough for bedroom use whilst still being able to crank it a bit - I was just amazed at the quality of tone and the volume even at 0.75w!!  And the reverb is nice and very usable too (digital - but surprisingly good) - it even has an FX loop (I think it's serial?), 8/16 Ohm extn cab outs & I believe comes with Chinese Ruby tubes.  

Plus, there are some further very nice little touches, including a built in 'tilt' stand, and in addition to the traditional Bass, Mids, & Treble passive EQ, it has an additional 'Tone' control which seems to be - or at least it acts act very much like-  a presence control.  

At circa £225-£250 this is a lot of all valve amp for the money, and it's compact & very light to take around too.  

OK, it's made in China, the cab construction and finish may vary in quality a bit, but it's still a lovely, lovely little amp! I've been very impressed with Laney customer service & support & in the UK you still get (I believe) a free 5 yr extended warranty if you register it on line - so even if there are any 'wobbles' I'm confident Laney will sort them out!  

Very impressive Laney & well done to the designers!  :)

Rich   ;)
Cool review. I may be in the market for a 15 watt combo amp and I was leaning towards the Fender Blues Jr. I may have to look into this one, it is only $399 US free shipping from American Musical Supply or zZounds dot com in the US.

http://www.americanmusical.com/Item--i-LAN-CUB12R-LIST
It does sound like a really cool amp.