We’ve checked the forums, and we’ve heard your questions, so we’re answering some of the most common FAQs and explaining exactly why we built the Laney LA- Studio SuperGroup Tube Amp.
Since the LA-Studio SuperGroup Tube Amp has been released, we’ve been blown away by the positive reviews and feedback. But some key questions have been cropping up, like why does the LA-Studio not have an effects loop? Why does it only have 3 watts? Why is it only a single-channel amp? Who is it best for, live or studio use? Can I use it to plug into my computer speakers?
So let’s get into it.
The LA-Studio is a vintage-designed low-wattage, great-sounding tube amp and something we are extremely proud of.
Everything we make here at Laney; we create to make the musician’s life a life of less compromise. You should never have to compromise on tone based on the gear you have to hand.
So with that in mind, we built the LA-Studio so musicians of all levels have access to incredible tone both on stage and in the studio and virtual access to recording studios and live environments, supported by the ability to record and play with an array of different microphones through DynIR technology.
We firmly believe that as a musician, you should be able to realise your dream – in the studio and on stage. This is why built the LA-Studio and partnered with the good people over at Two Notes. You get a hard-working, work-horse tube amp loaded with cabinet sims and the ability to enjoy the sound of a myriad of different studios and microphones – all in one handy, easy-to-use amplifier.
When you plug in the LA-Studio and connect with the Two Notes app and Torpedo technology, you are instantly transported to a variety of different recording and live environments. We’ve discussed the key presets of the LA-Studio in a previous article, but within seconds you could be enjoying the sound of your amp in a controlled studio or enjoy a recreation of the wide-open reverb of a massive arena, complete with the quirks of a ribbon microphone or the transparent sound of a dynamic microphone.
You may not have the space or budget for 6 different cabinets or 8 different microphones and you may never be able to step foot in a world-class studio, but with the LA-Studio, you have all that you need thanks to the fact we’ve recorded this amp in multiple scenarios in multiple locations with multiple microphones!
The LA-Studio’s design is steeped in a rich heritage and background in amp design where we believe everything about building an amp was done in the pursuit of tone. An amplifier can have as many bells and whistles as you want, but if it sounds terrible, what’s the point?
Bringing a classic back
The LA-Studio is a reimagined 1967 Laney SUPERGROUP amplifier head, one of our most famous amplifiers as used by Tony Iommi. And with this updated version, we stripped it all back to basics, providing everything you need as a recording or gigging artist and nothing you don’t, firmly bringing it into the modern day thanks to DynIR technology.
Vintage amps have a particular sound and feature set to which we have stayed faithful. The LA-STUDIO is a very straightforward amp – a single-channel amplifier, with no reverb, no FX loop and just the right amount of gain to be driven to the edge of tube saturation, which allows the amplifier to really showcase its beautiful tonality. Dial back the gain and you have a lush, clean vintage-style sound with plenty of character. Crank the gain and add some bass and you have a Sabbath-worthy monster sound that provides that lush saturation we love so much, but without the overbearing modern metal sound that some amps can lean towards.
You have just the right amount of gain at your disposal. If you need more, you’ll have to rely on your pedals!
It’s also a fraction of the cost of a vintage-style tube amp. This means you can enjoy the unmistakable sound of a vintage tube amp without having to trawl the 2nd hand market or remortgage your home!
Another question we’ve been asked is why the LA-Studio is only a single channel. Again this is to keep the amp as straightforward as possible. Once you start adding new channels into an amp, you can start creating the paradox of choice – too many choices and you’re going to get lost trying to find a decent tone.
However, you DO have the opportunity to blend the inputs and enjoy some very interesting sonic textures.
In a nutshell, the 4 inputs on the Laney LA-Studio allow you to blend the treble and bass inputs, providing additional sonic options without becoming too overbearing in terms of choice.
Fun fact:
You may or may not know that the 4-input design on vintage tube amps was originally designed to allow multiple instruments to play at the same time when only one amp was available. The bass would plug into the Bass input and the guitar would plug into the Treble input. Both musicians would enjoy the amp whilst retaining the low or high end of their instrument.
We’ve included this feature as it allows you to blend the inputs and allow more bass end/top end characteristics to your playing.
Each input is EQ’d to have specific sounds:
Absolutely – we call this “Channel Jumping” when mixing or blending the inputs.
You can mix the tonal and gain characteristics of each input on the LA-STUDIO to create some really interesting tones and enjoy the best of both inputs.
Here’s how you do it:
When you do this, you’ll find you have more treble in your signal without losing the bass response generated by the Bass Input. Channel jumping is awesome for experimenting with sounds and can help you bring out the power if you’re playing a particularly lifeless stage/venue.
With a smaller sandbox to choose from when creating tone, you can get the sound you want, faster.
Pic: This is how you blend inputs on the Laney LA-Studio
On one hand, we wanted to keep it simple. From a technical point of view, when there’s no effects loop, your signal path is pure and unbroken. This provides a cohesive signal between the pre and power amp which produces the best tone. There’s nothing stopping or disconnecting your tone. It’s just pure.
Let’s be honest, do you really need an effects loop? We’re going to discuss this in detail soon, but there are only a few instances where you’d actually need one.
Let’s say for example you’re using delay pedals.
Live Scenario
If you’re playing really clean, there’s no need for an effects loop anyway as your delays will not be affected too much by the gain stage on the amp. You get cleaner delays and effects as standard with the LA-Studio.
Recording Scenario
When using the LA-Studio for recording by using the Two Notes app, through your interface or in a physical studio, all effects are added post mic on the channel strip anyway, and as the LA-Studio has been designed for studio use, predominantly, this makes total sense to leave the effects loop out.
No compromise in sound
There is absolutely no compromise in sound when using the LA-Studio. You get the full unbridled sonic quality of a vintage-sounding amp that cleans up beautifully and can be driven just past the point of breaking up, providing the sound of 70s-style distortion.
As musicians, we all get GAS – Gear Acquisition Syndrome. But we have neither the space nor the budget to fill our homes with 20 different mics and 40 different amps (most of us anyway). The LA-Studio amp solves the common problems guitarists have: lack of space, lack of budget and lack of knowledge when it comes to effective mic placement techniques.
It’s the perfect studio recording amp for beginners – you’re buying expertise in a box and perfectly formed studio environments.
One of the major benefits of the Laney LA-Studio is the fact that it provides consistent sound across the board, whether you’re playing live or recording.
You’re using digital plugins of cabinets driven by a tube amp as well as faithful recreations of microphones. This means no matter where you are recording or playing live, you get the exact same sound every time from your amp and your sound engineer will simply need to adjust the signal for the room.
Yes, you can. You have multiple connection options with the LA-Studio. As illustrated below you can use a DI-out to your USB interface or use the XLR to your DAW. Then simply play your guitar, turn your speakers up and you’re good to go.
However, we recommend a good quality set of speakers to really get the benefit here!
Again, it comes down to straightforward setups that are ready to use.
The LA-Studio presets are designed to be an example of 2 of our most famous cabinets, the LA2212 and the LA412 in 6 different environments – all perfectly useable within a mix. Each preset will stand out on its own and allow you to enjoy studio-quality sounds straight out of the box.
There’s nothing outrageous here as we simply wanted to capture the SuperGroup vintage sound in real environments. Of course, you can change these presets if you want, but these are put together by recording and studio professionals complete with ideal mic placement.
If you DO want to tweak the presets, you can actually create and recall 128 of them via midi.
Essentially, we wanted to make this as simple as possible to use for ANYONE. Whether you’re a seasoned professional or a newcomer to recording guitar.
You can learn more about the LA-Studio presets HERE.
The Laney LA-Studio is predominantly a recording amp designed for use in a recording studio and in particular a home recording setup. It was designed for those who want to be able to capture the real feel of multiple cabinets, microphones and environments at home or in a studio free from budget and gear constraints.
If you want to record one sound in a dry, intimate studio environment and layer it with the sound of a bright venue, you’re going to love it!
This is a vintage-sounding amp. So if you want that classic vintage style pushed to the edge of break up – hell yes this is for you.
If you want something with a sonic cultural heritage firmly rooted in the 70s/80s then this amp is exactly what you’re looking for, providing classic vintage love sounds and recordings.
A lot of amps out there are sonic chameleons able to provide a multitude of different sounds. But we wanted to make sure that the LA-Studio was the best at what it could do – provide vintage SuperGroup sonic qualities that guitar lovers will enjoy with minimal tweaking. Part of the reason it’s used by the guitarist for the Black Sabbath ballet!
If you’re looking for a super high gain and super smooth modern style distortion, we can tell you now that the LA-Studio is probably not for you. Yes, you can stack your pedals in front of the amp and create the sound you want, but this amp was designed to be used predominantly on its own, setting you free from effects. We’re extremely confident you’ll love the sounds on offer with this amplifier.
Remember, this amp is as vintage as they come, so if you wanted super-spangly cleans with super-loud headroom and ZERO life or character, again, this amp is probably not for you.
It can do clean sounds, but you’ll always have that vintage character there – which we love.
If you’re using a lot of distortion and drive pedals and rarely using the isolated tone of the amp, you might not need this amp as it’s designed to provide the sound of the vintage SuperGroup amps. So why would you want to cover that classic sound anyway?!
Of course, the golden rule when it comes to tone is that there is no golden rule. But in this case, we feel the simplest tone is the best tone. Which is why we didn’t overcomplicate things with the LA-Studio.
It does what it does and it does it better than any amp today.
As the LA-Studio is predominantly designed for recording and gigging without a cabinet, we kept it simple with only 3 watts. Based on the now legendary LA30BL head, it’s driven by 3 ECC83 preamp tubes and a single 12BH7 power tube.
In a home recording studio, you don’t need a 100-watt head – there’s no way you can crank it without getting evicted. You need a tube amp that you can drive into saturation and enjoy the tube breakup at lower volumes.
This is why we’ve kept it to a lower wattage. You get the real hot tubes, real hot tone, real feel, and real dynamics at a lower volume at either 3W or <0.1 Watt thanks to the power break.
Again, the amp just makes life easier without compromise.
Every feature we have placed within the amp is designed to make the musician’s life of less compromise.
From the lack of effects loop to preserve the signal path to the input blending with single channel operation right the way to partnering with Two Notes and their Torpedo technology. This amp helps you realise your dreams in the studio and on stage without any fuss.
You have multiple cabinets to choose from, multiple mics, environment and mic placements all packaged within a vintage-sounding amp that you can crank as hard as you want, recording in complete silence to those around you.
What it does, it does well. What it doesn’t do, you probably don’t need.
Check out the Laney LA-Studio HERE.