FUQ (eff -yu - cue) - FAQ's with an EDGE

Tagged As: Laney Amplification

Question:
On a recent business trip I stumbled across a Laney electric/acoustic guitar amp. I thought its sound was decent but was impressed with its flexibility. It is designed for both electric and acoustic amplification. I am still somewhat new to the electric guitar world having lived the last 5 years on my acoustics. My wallet and wife would love to find a single amplifier that could acceptably handle both my instruments. Are there other amps which are designed to handle both acoustic and electric guitar amplification? Is Laney a recognized name in guitar amplifiers?

Answer:
Laney is known more for it's big Marshall-like tube stacks. While less well known in the US than Hiwatt or even Sound City, Laney has been around many years and Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath was/is a prominent user. More recently they offered some Vox looklikes that sold for about 1/4 what Vox's own reissues do. Laney can be bought through most of the big mailorder places, Musician's Friend, American Music Supply, etc. They used to be (still are?) distributed in the US through Ibanez. A former bandmate used one of these and I thought it worked pretty well.The Laney is one of the few I've seen that even attempts to offer a good electric sound (it has foostwitchable overdrive, for instance, and you can shut the tweeter off with a front panel switch) although as an electric guitar amp it's only fair, typical modern solid state sound.