Laney R3

The Laney R3 bass amp has flexible tone shaping. Lots of different good sounds can come out of it. It is made to drive a 410 and 115, so it can be part of a very large rig, and it is easy to use. I have used this head with a 410 for about 6 hours in total, and I have had no problems with it. In fact I am saving for one, and a 2 15 at the moment.

I've been searching for at least a 100W combo for an acceptable price, with the largest loud-speaker and with horn. Laney was the first I thought about - I have a HCM15B, and it's a real little monster.

So I first tested the HCM160B, which "just" has a single 15" driver. It was loud and the sound was hard; a bit too hard for me, although it's a great hard rock amp. Then a guy from the shop showed me the R3 - it's natural sound is better than the HCM. After playing for 30 minutes on both of them, it was an easy choice - the R3 made me smile while I played.

If you want a combo which is small enough for pubs, practice with the band, and for studio use, choose the Laney R3. If you connect an external cabinet to it, for example the R115 or R410, you'll get tons of power and a really great sound. And with it's "Kickback" cabinet design, it can be used on major stages well, too.

It really needs some warm up. I brought my never-used R3 to a practice, and first it was soft, quiet, the limiter was always active at just half gain and volume. After a while (about 30 minutes) it became louder and louder, and new sub-harmonics came into the tone, bringing it deeper. At the and of the practice I looked at the amp - all the EQ's were off, and the gain and volume were again at half. So the amp works in a band with 2 guitarists who are using 120W combo's.