Laney BC75, has any body got one?? and where can i see a pic?

Had one for about 3 years, bought it in '97 for coffe house/church gigs. To be honest, I wasn't that crazy about it. It just couldn't deliver on the low end. Overall sound was very boxy IMO. About six months after I bought it I checked out a BC120 (thinking maybe I'd trade up), but it didn't seem much (if any) better. I finally sold it and bought an Ampeg B-328 from GC (at a blow-out price of $320), and I couldn't be happier.

Is there a reason you're specifically thinking about the Laney? Have you checked out any other combos in the same price range?

- Frank

 

By the way, here are pics of the BC75, BC120 and a closeup of the front panel of the BC120. The panel on the 75 & 120 are the pretty much the same except that the BC120 has an XLR line out vs. a balanced 1/4" on the BC75. The BC120 also has a switch to enable the compressor, as well as Hi & Lo boost switches.

- Frank.

http://216.119.80.53/tmp/BC-75.jpg

http://216.119.80.53/tmp/BC-120.jpg

http://216.119.80.53/tmp/BC-panel.jpg

 

Most of the times I kept the volume around 3 or 4, and the gain between 5 and 6, which was more than loud enough for these types of gigs. I would notice quit a bit of hiss with the volume at 5 or above. Things would distort a bit with the gain any higher than 6 (I used it with a 4 string w/ passive controls), and pushing the volume much above 5 wouldn't increase the volume as much as it did the hiss.

Don't get me wrong, it wasn't a bad amp, especially for the money (I paid $275 for it new), but if I had to do it over again, I would have saved some more and looked at some other combos instead.

- Frank

 

Just a note, I also have a Laney EA-120, which is a 120 watt electric/acoustic g**tar amp that features two separate channels, which I couldn't be happier with.

- Frank.

 

I bought if from a very small music store that I've been going to since I was a teen. I sold it back to the same store as part of a trade in on the Laney EA-120 that I bought. He gave me $175 for it. That's about 119 Pounds U.K.

By the way, an interesting story about the EA-120. I wanted this amp because I also played both acoustic & electric g**tar in a praise band I was in. I had to order it from them as they do not stock it. After playing it for I while, I noticed that the acoustic channel had slight distortion that you could hear as notes trailed off. Also, the tolex covering kept peeling up at the seams. I dealt with it for about 8 months, and then finally decided to get rid of it too. I've had it too long to return it, so the store took it on consignment. After about 2 months I decided to pick it up because it still hadn't sold and I had started another praise band at our church so I figured I'd just keep it at the church. When I went to get it, the guy who owns the store had said that the Laney Rep had seen it while he was there, and replaced it with a new one because of the peeling tolex. The new one works great without any unwanted distortion. Oh, and the tolex doesn't peel on this one!

- Frank

 

Not really. There is no "Drive" type control for that sort of thing, and as it is a solid state amp, if you were to clip it by turning the gain too high, the resulting distortion would be rather unpleasant (typical of SS amps). Usually to get a halfway decent overdriven sound from a solid state amp, the amp will have a tube preamp section. Of course ultimately, an amp that uses tubes in BOTH the preamp and amp sections would produce the best overdriven sound.

Some solid state amps attempt to simulate this without tubes. For example the Ampeg "B3" combos are SS amps that have a drive control that give a pretty good "tube driven" overdrive simulation. Another option is Tech21NYC's SansAmp Bass DI. It's a direct box/preamp that simulates a warm tube driven sound.

I hope that helps a bit. By the way, how much are you able to get that Laney for? Is it new or used?

- Frank