Laney R4 Combo

Very happy. Bought the Laney R4 Combo second hand and, other than a noisy gain pot - easily fixed - no problems. Have never used the external speaker facility but have heard (from others) it really fills the room. I suppose tho' that depends on the size of the room. Use an inexpensive Wesley Monarch bass through it and it makes it sound like a very expensive guitar - which is good because, for a hundred quid or so I got lucky and got a guitar I love to play! What more could you ask? I'd recommend it to anyone.

It is not 300 watts! Only when you stack it on a cab will it go that high, and then it overheats and cuts out even quicker!!

If you play at about a level 3 all night it may well be OK, but it's unforgivable to fail at 5 and above.

MR.Laney, the R4 Combo amp should cope with volume on 8 ALL NIGHT... PERIOD.

The kick grill is very good...trust me!

I love this Laney R4 Combo amp. For me, it's been great. I just started to play in a band,

T-U-K, and although I played guitar a few years ago, I never had a bass lesson in my life. We just started gigging, (look us up in Hampshire) so naturally I needed something more substantial behind me. I recommend any bass player in a similar situation to check out the Laney range. They are one of the biggest and reliable names around and I've found the general quality really good.

This amp is the only choice for me. It has all the bells and whistles a more advanced player could want - like 7 band graphic eq, compressor, limit defeat.... all giving great range of sound, as I said it looks real impressive on stage and the value for money is just crazy. I got mine for only £260, which is less than 87 pence per watt!

Another great point is its second line output. Although it would be cool to stick another hugely powerful cabinet on it, I found a more useful purpose is as a monitor, which my smaller practice amp doubles up as. The basic idea is that the monitor is pointed at the drummer. He is usually behind the main amps so he can't always hear what's going on. Anyway, it's a good idea to have a smaller amp too, if nothing else, because this thing is just to heavy and impractical to lugg around to every practice.

So, the R4 is a great value amp for any player, and can hold its own on stage for long periods of time even at full wack.

Hope this helps you decide.

I am generally using an evil active Peavey Fury six stringer alongside a Mode Four Marshall Guitarist in my band First Element, so the Laney R4 combo is loud enough at 300 Watts. However, I am thinking that a passive bass may be more favourable to this amp, as the Peavey just seems to overcrank it. For the price now it IS very good, and has only overheated once (but in fairness it was running a 3 ohm 450 watt cab), so it is utterly reliable, but there's just no love yet after three long years. If you have a P or J bass it should be a cracking combo though.

Laney R4 Combo: I've been looking for a new amp after the old (20 years) Laney packed in at work. It only gave 80 watts, and so the search started. Price ceiling was £400. Looked all over the net for a big sound amp for gigs of 200-400 people, and the same couple of names turned up Hartke and Laney. Hartke were knocked out in the first round cos the prices started at £350 just for the cab, and another £450 plus for a good amp. That left the Laney. After a long search I was left with the R4 and the R5. On paper the kit is the same, but with one change. The R4 has one big 15" speaker and the R5 has 2 10" cones. Finally managed to get one locally, (thanks TMC) for £340. Thats only £1.13 per watt folks! Got it home and plugged in my Yamaha RBX374.

Even at low volume ranges, the amp delivers a sweet sound that can be shaped using the equaliser and various controls to make a punchy sound right through to the rumble of heavy rock. To be honest I'm still experimenting with sound shapes and am trying to create a sound field pattern to match to different bass playing techniques etc.

When cranked up, then the beast is unleashed and the walls rattle in my house. The floors sing with its tone and people down the street have to reset their car alarms.

Sound clarity is not lost, even at (nearly) full volume, and using it brings a big smile to my face.

My only gripe is that all amps look the same, and I'd have liked to have been able to buy something a bit different to look at too. I might take off the front grille and respray it silver to contrast the black cab, and cone. It'll also match my bass which adds something I suppose.