Laney AOR Bros: How do you set your amps?

[WeHuntKings]

So I have one of these beastly amps and I love it. I am super used to single channel very clean heads and have never had this much gain and EQ options to play with.

How do you guys set your amps up in terms of eq and gain? Do you prefer to let the amp do most of the crunching or do you like to push it with pedals?

I aim to use mine for a rather doomy thick yet still cutting black metal sound. Currently using a paul reed smith baritone.

[conky]

On that amp I liked diming that bastard and letting the preamp do all the work.

[wildebelor]

I totally agree with conky.
I have two AORs and the preamp is awesome.

That being said - for a more controlled sound that I can later really push with pedals:
Preamp 1 and 2 volume are set just part 6 and I have the bass boost pulled and dimed.
Everything else is usually just past 6 except maybe treble.
Remember, your tubes / speaker combo will have a massive effect on your overall sound.

[HeavyXIII]

wildebelor describes how I use mine lately, I'm planning on picking up a Rat to run out front because I need a slightly more compressed distortion sound. I trained myself to only use the mid boost, as the treble boost tends to give me a squealing sound that I hate, and the bass boost pushes so much that I sit in a weird place in the mix.

Dimed preamp controls / AOR boost definitely = Holy Mountain/Age of Winters tones. That's how I used to run it, but without a dedicated clean channel I couldn't play the cleans I wanted.

You can definitely dial in some cut with the treble and presence controls when you need some.

[dub]

I had a lot of fun just running a full range boost into the low input (at about 6, with an old NOS tube in there), which bypasses preamp 1 the first two tubes and the AOR circuit, and cranking the master.

You lose quite a bit of volume. But pretty close to vintage sabbath.

I think I had bass 6, mids maxed, treble at 0, presence dialed in for the situation.

[jojo]

I'm still kinda messing around with mine

[wildebelor]

I put KT77s in my series one and ran it through a full stack.
Shit yeah - exactly what I was looking for. Massive difference compared to EL34Bs and half the speakers.
Maybe look into tubes as well.

P.S they can run KT88s if you do a little modding.

[mattyjaytee]

Haven't had a chance to really play mine that much since I got it (been rockin' my slightly new-er Peavey VTM60 non-STOP since I got it...), but I found it sounded INCREDIBLE when set to a nice, crunchy tone, right at the edge of breakup. Rolling back on the volume or just picking lightly gave me a VERY pleasing clean sound and it responded very well to the OD's and fuzzes I hit it with. The AOR/boost channel was dialed in for a nice, fat chunky sound, but I always preferred the main channel with pedals over the AOR. I think I could totally gig with a 6-knobber... As for boosts, I went back and forth between the mid-boost on and off.

Yeah, I really need to spend some more time with my AOR myself! Good reminder!

[HeavyXIII]

Haven't had a chance to really play mine that much since I got it (been rockin' my slightly new-er Peavey VTM60 non-STOP since I got it...), but I found it sounded INCREDIBLE when set to a nice, crunchy tone, right at the edge of breakup. Rolling back on the volume or just picking lightly gave me a VERY pleasing clean sound and it responded very well to the OD's and fuzzes I hit it with. The AOR/boost channel was dialed in for a nice, fat chunky sound, but I always preferred the main channel with pedals over the AOR. I think I could totally gig with a 6-knobber... As for boosts, I went back and forth between the mid-boost on and off.

Yeah, I really need to spend some more time with my AOR myself! Good reminder!

My buddy has a VTM60, and honestly I think I could be happy with either. REALLY solid amps. I only really noticed a difference between them when I turned the volume way up and distorted the power tubes. And even then, that's a taste thing.

[Charmless]

I put KT77s in my series one and ran it through a full stack.
Shit yeah - exactly what I was looking for. Massive difference compared to EL34Bs and half the speakers.
Maybe look into tubes as well.

P.S they can run KT88s if you do a little modding.

Do you have a 50 or 100? I have a 100 and I'm considering KT77s but want to make sure they will fit :-)

[wildebelor]

They will fit in either?
Like a lot of older amps, the company used the same chassis for both the 50 and 100 watt versions.
They made a very positive difference!

[Iommic Pope]

I put KT77s in my series one and ran it through a full stack.
Shit yeah - exactly what I was looking for. Massive difference compared to EL34Bs and half the speakers.
Maybe look into tubes as well.

P.S they can run KT88s if you do a little modding.

Since you posted this I've spent the past day and a half trying to find out if my 86 6 knob 50 water has the same transformer set as it's 100W big brother so I can convert to kt88s
I know Marshall used to do that, so I was kind of hoping Laney, who shared a lot of building and design practices with them back in the day, were doing the same.

Am I nuts? Is there hope?

Anyway, I'm running mine on the high channel, all tone pots pulled and dimed, except for bass, it's at about 8 o'clock, just past on, gain at about 9 o'clock, just before it gets crunchy. Also I run a 12at7 in v1. Got the black forest going for dirt, giving me those early 90s Down tones.
I'm as happy as a pig in shit.
Just gotta get up on a 412 instead of my 212.

[wildebelor]

I put KT77s in my series one and ran it through a full stack.
Shit yeah - exactly what I was looking for. Massive difference compared to EL34Bs and half the speakers.
Maybe look into tubes as well.

P.S they can run KT88s if you do a little modding.

Since you posted this I've spent the past day and a half trying to find out if my 86 6 knob 50 water has the same transformer set as it's 100W big brother so I can convert to kt88s
I know Marshall used to do that, so I was kind of hoping Laney, who shared a lot of building and design practices with them back in the day, were doing the same.

Am I nuts? Is there hope?

Anyway, I'm running mine on the high channel, all tone pots pulled and dimed, except for bass, it's at about 8 o'clock, just past on, gain at about 9 o'clock, just before it gets crunchy. Also I run a 12at7 in v1. Got the black forest going for dirt, giving me those early 90s Down tones.
I'm as happy as a pig in shit.
Just gotta get up on a 412 instead of my 212.

You need to be able to change the bias resistor to correctly run the kt88s.
http://www.foreverdoomed.com/forums/vie ... 22&t=28214 interesting little read on the exact subject.
There are lots of things online about it, however I would recommend the KT77s as that is what I'm personally running in both my 50w AOR's.

When I played the AOR through the full stack I was blown away, so much better than I could've hoped for!

[Iommic Pope]

I did a fair chunk of research online and found that thread you posted, but it didn't really clear up how capable the transformers were. So im guessing theyre capable of putting out the 100w youd need for a pair of 88s? Kt77s are kinda the obvious choice, but I liked the idea of the 88s as it means I could get my amp up to 100w with out (hopefully) having to spend so much. Plis 88s are bad ass. I mean, more watts is good watts. Moar is Moar.

I'm quite happy to stay at 50 if there's no possibility of doing it without ponying up for new transformers, choke, additional filtering and having to completely overhaul that section if the amp.

I'm looking at changing the bias resistors anyway, as I don't seem to be getting the right amount of draw for the plate voltage. I have a feeling that that's because the old filter caps may be giving up the ghost, though, and leaking voltage some.
So getting that ship shape is my priority for now.

I do have those thoughts though, you know the ones, "well, while I'm in there, may as well GO TO 100 WATTS AND PUT KT88S IN THE BASTARD."

You know.
Those thoughts.
Edit: I read that again. Slowly this time. It seems doable on paper? With not a whole bunch of changes......
Hmmmmm......

[wildebelor]

I would just compare the 50w and 100w schematic and make the mods whilst I'm in there.
Last night I was at rehearsal and my series I started making a strange sound - looked in the back and one of my power tubes was very very hot.
Lucky I only live 15mins from the space so I drove home and got my series II AOR - bit of a bummer though, tubes are expensive!