GH100R HEAD AND GS 412 VR CAB
100 watts with four 12AX7s and four EL34s, the GH100R features two channels with shared EQ for a straight-ahead tone-shaping amp. Channel 1 has a drive control with a ‘pull’ bright switch whilst channel 2 has drive and volume controls. The 3-band shared EQ consists of bass, mid with a ‘pull’ shift switch and treble. Rounding it out are master tone, output level and reverb controls.
As a clean platform, channel 1 was pristine and ‘chimey’, and I found the digital reverb to be quite nice and room-like – not too airy and washy. Great for blues, rock, funk, country and a host more, there’s tonnes of clean headroom, plus it’ll sit nicely as a basis for effects pedals. Switching across to channel 2 you can really arc up some gain thanks to the drive and volume controls. Edgy and broken sit well with a Strat or Tele and you can then increase the gain to get into heavier rock and metal tones.
For balancing channel levels, it’s actually as easy as setting your clean sound on channel 1 with the channel drive control and master output to get your desired volume and gain. You can then set your dirty channel 2 via the channel drive and volume controls – voila! All the while the GS412VR 4×12 cab chugs along effortlessly. Closed back and loaded with Celestion V30 speakers it seems balanced and warm and a nice match for the GH100R head.
GH50R 212 COMBO
Packing the same control layout into a 50-watt combo, the GH50R is still damn loud. Two Celestion V30s this time give you lots of clean headroom on channel 1 and the ability to really let it scream on channel 2. Tone-wise, you’re in the same league as the GH100R head with lots of chime and ‘spanky’ clean on channel 1 whilst channel 2 takes you from blues and rock to more saturated shred.
BACK IN BLACK… AND RED
These GHR amps from Laney are really cool. Good looking, the red and black tolex makes for a nice point of difference; the top edge handles are tough, the two channel setup gives you lots of tonal options and the options of heads and combos give you some setup choice. The cabinet emulated DI out is a handy feature for live and recording too. Plenty of features, a reasonable price point and some good tones – worth a look.
For more details on Laney products, visit austmusic.com.au.
