Laney Black Country Customs LA30BL Head

Full Description

The Laney LA100BL blueprint

In 2017 Laney reissued the LA100BL as a celebration of 50 years of business. This original 100BL amplifier was the first used by Tony Iommi on the debut Black Sabbath album. Tony pushed the front-end with an Arbiter Dallas Rangemaster to create the saturation that he needed, and there the sound of heavy metal was born.

Laney reissued the LA100BL to coincide with Black Sabbath's final tour – a rather poetic ending to the band's long career, with the same amp featuring at both the beginning and the end of the band's long touring life. This 100 watt behemoth had a wide and open sound that was perfect for large stages in the '60s, where it could push a huge amount of air when PA systems weren't adequate for mic'ing up a guitar amp.

However, today's modern PA systems mean that, if you require significant volume, you can use a lower powered amp and use the PA for the serious projection. The 30 watt Black Country Customs LA30BL Head is a realisation of this principle. The amplifier was conceived in the '60s but never released – today it has finally found its place.

Highly usable 30 watt volume

A 30 watt valve amp is the ideal level for allowing you to push the power amp tubes for glorious saturation, whilst still maintaining sensible volume levels for smaller venues and rehearsals. The Black Country Customs LA30BL Head has 12AX7 preamp tubes feeding EL34 power tubes for a true 'British-style' sound. It has the same preamp as the LA100BL for the same tonality, which is very open and uncompressed. This makes it ideal for use with a pedalboard – it is quite a clean amp that responds fantastically to boosts and overdrives, with a smooth and warm breakup for a true vintage sound.

Simple operation

The Black Country Customs LA30BL Head has a simple 3-band EQ with presence control. It has multiple inputs (Treble and Bass) for different flavours of overdrive. The amp is hand-made in the 'old fashioned' way, with turret boards and hand populated PCBs. If you're seeking a true vintage response and user-experience, this is it. Laney also has a Tony Iommi signature booster pedal and 2 x 12 cab, which make this the perfect package for achieving early metal tones, and much more - the vintage response of the amp makes it inherently more versatile and capable of performing in a surprising range of musical genres. 

Specifications

• Type: Valve Amp Head
• Controls: Presence, Bass, Middle, Treble, Gain
• Channels: 2
• Inputs: Bass x 2 inputs, Treble x 2 inputs
• Resistance: 4, 8 or 16 Ohms
• Power: 30 Watts
• Pre Amp: 2 x 12AX7 Tubes
• Power Amp: 2 x EL34 Tubes