Laney Ironheart Studio 15W Rack Amp, 15W Mini Amp, and 15W TI Combo (New for 2013)

[nowhere]

this is the dropbox link, they will upload in the next minutes. total is 13 pics
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/x152d744m9n4doj/6IbMii6aR6

i shot it in context to get the size

 

[22km Tombstone]

this is the dropbox link, they will upload in the next minutes. total is 13 pics
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/x152d744m9n4doj/6IbMii6aR6

i shot it in context to get the size

Cool, thanks for the pics (nice pics, btw!) It seems quite compact indeed...

You mentioned you have it hooked up to your interface through the headphone jack - why not use the FX send if you're just using it direct in?

Looking forward to hearing a riff or two.

 

[nowhere]

thanks
i'll get an XLR cable tomorrow i guess for the DI

 

[stormrider66]

That's too bad - can you elaborate at all, for those of us who are considering buying one?

Well, as there is a 4 months newborn at home, I play a lot on headphones, and I have to say that in this configuration the sound wasn't good.
It is supposed to be a high gain preamp, but when I was pushing gain high, there was a sort of clipping in the distortion, and overall sound was very bad, very muddy.

Through a cab (Engl with WGS loudspeaker) the sound is way better.

But the distortion is so tight (and I like tight distortion), that the palm muted notes sound thin, without body.

This is what I feel with my gear, and you know, it's just a matter of taste. It is just not for me.

 

[guitarfishbay]

Firstly, thanks for the review. I've got a few questions/observations from owning the 120h.

-solid 4 button footswitch - boost and reverb are simple ON/OFF selecting between the channels clean/rhythm/lead is more tricky and it involves was is set up on the actual amp (5meter! footswitch cable incluuded)

It is pretty easy to use when you're used to it. Basically the Lead channel always takes precedence. So clean/rhythm works like having a one button footswitch like on some 2 channel amps, and lead always is on when lead is selected. It is a bit annoying that there isn't another switch so 3 individual switches, but it is easy to use when you're used to it. When you are on the lead channel you can change which mode is engaged on the clean/rhythm switch so you can get it ready for when you switch lead off.

-clean/rhythm share the same EQ but different volumes
-lead channel is identical as far as I understood with the rhythm. same gain stages and overall gain amount as I can tell

-global boost - footswitchable. no complaints as of now up until 3-4,
-global reverb - i personaly dont care about this

-global tone: like resonance
-global "dynamics" - which it says it has to do with bass tightness.

-no standby switch for some reason.

Firstly, are the rhythm and lead actually identical? I know you can EQ them to sound very near the same on the 120h but if you set all controls to 12:00 the lead channel has more bass and less treble. Rhythm is definitely a bit brighter and crunchier and lead a bit darker and smoother on the 120h.

Global boost, if it is like the big heads, is linear. So it is ok if you want a clean boost (i.e. all frequencies) but if you want a mid boost a TS or SD1 is still a better choice IMO.

Global tone is like a presence control on the 120h
Global dynamics is like a resonance control on the 120h.

 

[nowhere]

i have to agree on the tightness. Distortion channels are really tight, and it seems you cant do nothing to loosen it up a bit. Its not that I dont like this, after all I think the Ironheart aims the 5150 target group, but with control over tightness it would be more versatile.

moreover it seems that its usable at lowergain settings like gain at 1-3 for rock tones. clean channel is also good. although i cannot get it to sound tweed

dynamics control seems like it does nothing.

the EQ knobs that can be pulled out do make a subtle difference. Bass says deepens freq., Mid and Trebble shift freq.

 

[Toshiro]

i have to agree on the tightness. Distortion channels are really tight, and it seems you cant do nothing to loosen it up a bit. Its not that I dont like this, after all I think the Ironheart aims the 5150 target group, but with control over tightness it would be more versatile.

moreover it seems that its usable at lowergain settings like gain at 1-3 for rock tones. clean channel is also good. although i cannot get it to sound tweed

dynamics control seems like it does nothing.

the EQ knobs that can be pulled out do make a subtle difference. Bass says deepens freq., Mid and Trebble shift freq.

On the full size IR head the Dynamics is like a resonance control, turning it up gives you a bigger looser low end. Dunno if it not working right or whatever there.

The pre-boost needed to stay under 3-4 on mine before it turned the amp into volume "pumping" mud. I stopped using the onboard boost completely about 2 days after I got the amp. It was an interesting feature, but real OD pedals are better, IMO.

 

[nowhere]

i hooked it up with an XLR cable to my interface. this way i can choose if cab simulation is on or off.

would anyone care for wave files, so as to use le cab with his/hers own impulses?

(update- usb driver is not ASIO, its called "samsung microphone" directX driver, with latency through the roof >100ms. good news is that you can monitor the amp without latency from the headphone output or through the DI xlr out)

and also for some reason i cannot get it to record dry and wet through the USB

 

[guitarfishbay]

In case you haven't seen this yet.

 

[Aztec]

Great playing in that vid.

Too bad the DI output is after the preamp. I really don't want to use the built in USB to get a dry track...

It is true that you can't choose anything abouve 16bit for the USB driver, but for some reason Reaper still shows 24bit at the top right corner, has that something to do with reaper's settings or does it actually really record at 24bit?

And to that guy who said that it's impossible to get under 100ms with USB, I got 46ms, compared to the 33ms I get with my interface.

 

[Orren]

Too bad the DI output is after the preamp. I really don't want to use the built in USB to get a dry track...

DI output is after the power section. Simon from Laney told me this at NAMM, and if you read the manual (available online for download) it shows that the DI is after the power section in the block diagram.

Orren

 

[Aztec]

DI output is after the power section. Simon from Laney told me this at NAMM, and if you read the manual (available online for download) it shows that the DI is after the power section in the block diagram.

Orren

Yes you are right, I had the cabinet emulator off when I listened to it in my DAW, that's why I got mixed up.

 

[nowhere]

how do you got it to go under 100ms?
at my default settings its at 180ms

and also how do you record the dry/wet signal ? i can get it to record via usb, but it looks like a mono track.

 

[Orren]

how do you got it to go under 100ms?
at my default settings its at 180ms

I'm curious if anyone has a Mac what options you have in the drivers. I'd like to know if it's 16-bit/44.1kHz only or if you have more options than that.

Orren

 

[nowhere]

from 22 to 96k sample rate

 

[Aztec]

how do you got it to go under 100ms?
at my default settings its at 180ms

and also how do you record the dry/wet signal ? i can get it to record via usb, but it looks like a mono track.

Have you tried reducing the buffer size or a higher sample rate?

Arm two separate channels, one Input 1 and the other Input 2, the first one will be dry and the second one wet.

 

[nowhere]

aha. yes that works
but is seems the levels are very high and both channels are saturated and thus sound the same and ugly

 

[Aztec]

With my setup the dry level was perfect for me at about -12dBFS with the gain at 0 and you can control the wet level with the volume on the amp.

The sound itself was not the worst, but there's a lot of unwanted noise. Unless there is some sort of update, which I doubt, I probably wont be using the USB at all.

 

[nowhere]

could you share your settings with us ?
sample rate etc?

btw did you try recoding the preamp and using a cab sim in your daw?

 

[Aztec]

could you share your settings with us ?
sample rate etc?

btw did you try recoding the preamp and using a cab sim in your daw?

I just tried it once. I used 44.1kHz and 16bit (only one it allows) and the default buffer. I just wanted to hear it, didn't care about latency. Yes, I tried LeCab with a RedWirez mesa and it sounded ok, but as I said earlier it's just very noisy.
If you don't have an interface then I guess you can manage, but if you do then I'd rather use the DI out.