Laney Amplification began in 1967 when Lyndon Laney, whilst playing in a local band, “The Band of Joy“ with John Bonham on drums and Robert Planton vocals, turned his musical interest into amplifier construction. Initially working in his father’s garage. Lyndon Laney sought to design and build amplifiers with key “tonal” characteristics that were unheard of at the time, namely distortion.
Lyndon makes Robert Plant a PA system for Led Zeppelin to tour the USA.
During this musically fertile time in Birmingham and the West Midlands, Lyndon Laney’s innovative amplifiers gained popularity among many musicians in the local gigging circuits and through word-of-mouth demand for his amplifiers grew and grew.
Laney’s signature tone, coupled with unrivalled performance and affordability were key characteristics that helped set Laney amplifiers apart from its competitors. Laney amplifiers were highly sought after and used by numerous local musicians, one noted musician being Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath, who used Laney amplifiers during the recording of their seminal first release “Black Sabbath“ launched on Feb 13th 1970. An album which defined the new sound of Heavy Metal.
In this period of rapid expansion, Laney developed a new range of innovative “KLIPP” amplifiers. Laney Amplification’s KLIPP possessed innovations from lessons learnt from the first generation of Laney amplifiers. KLIPP Amplifier featured built - in treble booster and offered excellent versatility and durability. Laney began large scale manufacturing at the now famous Custard Factory in the Digbeth quarter of Birmingham City
Building on the success of previous generations of amplifiers and continuing to forge ahead with "tone" innovation, Laney developed and released AOR (Advance Overdrive Response) amplifiers.
1980 marked a period marked by international market expansion and diversification of amplifier ranges to cater the ever - expanding amplification requirement
The Rise of the sunset strip and hair metal took over rock. The higher gain AOR series go from strength to strength among the hard rock and heavy metal fraternity.
The AORs were hot rodded right out of the box with the addition of an extra stage of pre-gain. Hand in hand with advances in guitar technology and techniques the AOR series was used by players such as Vinnie Moore, Warren Di Martini, Ace Frehley, Vinnie Vincent and George Lynch, to name a few. Laney Launches the "AOR'' Series (Advanced Overdrive Response) - The hot rodded amp, right out of the box
Hot rodded right out of the box! The trend at the time was to have guitar amps "modified" at great expense to include an extra gain stage in the preamp.
No need to do that with a Laney AOR – it was already hot rodded straight out of the box with 4 preamp tubes rather than the usual 3!
As taste in music evolved, so did Laney. In the 1990s Laney continued to build on its reputation for producing ground - breaking amplification and in 1995 released the VC range, a retro styled Class A valve combo. In this period, Laney also released the Tube Fusion series of amplifiers combining solid - state power amplification with valve pre-amplification effects in one package that changed the hybrid amplification market, as well as widely acclaimed VH100R, GH100L and GH50L range of Class AB tube heads.
The LC15 was released in 1996 to great acclaim. It is widely known as the first small and portable all tube amplifier.
The LC series offered the players needing more gain and versatility what they needed in a reliable and portable combo and could be seen everywhere from rehearsal rooms to stages all over the world.
With a user list through the 90s that read like a who’s who of players : - Paul Gilbert, Tony Iommi, Frank Gambale, Andy Timmons, Pat Travers, Joe Satriani, Nuno Bettencourt to name a few, Laney amplification were being seen on stages all over the world and recognised as a serious tone expert among performing musicians.
Laney TF200 Best of Amp of 1999 £100 - £300 Music Reader Awards
A Bass odyssey - 2001 sees the launch of the Laney B series of bass amplifiers. The first - Class D bass amps on the market delivering an amazing powerful performance without the weight of other bass amps.
In 2004 Laney Amplification relocated to Halesowen (UK). Long - time friend of Lyndon Laney and the company, Tony Iommi cuts the ribbon at the grand opening of the new HQ.
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Laney's 40th Anniversary saw the launch of two very special ranges - Lionheart & Nexus. Lionheart Parallel single - ended Class A all tube guitar amps and Nexus high power bass amps.
Artists who used Laney included: Bjorn Agren of Razorlight, Mikael Akerfeldt of Opeth Bill Kelliher of Mastodon, John 5, Glenn Hughes, Linde of HIM, Rich Ward “The Duke of Metal” and many others.
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In 2011, Laney were one of the main sponsors of the ‘Home of Metal’ exhibition at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery where there was much press recognition (CNN, BBC news, SKY news, SKY Arts and The Guardian) of their contribution to the ‘Heavy Metal’ music genre, cultural heritage, historic link with The Black Country and the City
Tony Iommi's TI100 rig for Black Sabbath's reunion "13" album and tour.
CUB - The son of Lionheart! Designed to offer simple straight ahead tube tone for players who want a simple route to a great guitar sound.
IRONHEART - The rise of the Ironheart range of amplifiers took the rock and metal world by storm, with many acclaimed artists moving to Laney.
Ironheart became a standout range, with models to suit all needs, from fire breathing heads and stacks to the smaller IRT15 head and IRT30 Combo - which offered a speaker emulated DI for PA systems for live use.
Standout features such as in-built pre-boost and a wattage control gave players at all budget levels screaming hot Ironheart tone.
AH-FREESTYLE Freedom to take your music anywhere you need to go!
The A1+ is designed to give the discerning acoustic player an amplified acoustic performance to match the tone and dynamics of the top acoustic instruments on the market.
Launched in 2015 - The L5-STUDIO brought Single-Ended Class ‘A’ tube tone – into the digital realm, T-USB equipped means Lionheart tone direct into your DAW.
Lionheart, uniquely responsive boutique British Single - Ended Class A’ tube tone
The GHR range was developed to allow players to blend the amount of OUTPUT SECTION in their signal by balancing the amount of pre- amp distortion vs. power amp gain by using the MASTER OUTPUT control.
Laney reaches 50 and still going strong!
The LA100BL, LA412 & TI-BOOST. To celebrate we decided to build a faithful replica of Tony Iommi’s original 1969 LA100BL and a signature boost pedal designed to replace the fabled long-lost boost pedal that Tony used back in the day. The results were sensational
Styled after their iconic larger Laney ranges, the MINI range of amps offers a number of battery powered models in different styles with or without BLUETOOTH. Perfect for desktop, backstage or practice. A super compact solution for guitar tone and performance anywhere.
Built to a design conceived in 1968, and not built until the present, the LA30BL is a single channel, non-master volume style head. A modern- day SUPERGROUP - The LA30BL is a modern amplifier that sounds like a classic rock machine.
The LA100SM is a faithful recreation of the original late 60’s LA SUPERGROUP amp, with one significant modification, the addition of a master volume.
BLACK COUNTRY CUSTOMS IS BORN - Named for Laney’s origins in the UK’s Midlands, the Black Country Customs range was created to deliver the best guitar tone possible! Amplifiers and effects pedals – the ideal partners for every tone - junky, professional musician or amateur dreamer out there!
2019 saw the launch of the Black Country Customs range of guitar pedals.
Born out of the desire to achieve the best guitar tone possible. The BCC range were designed to be the ideal partner for any tone-junky to beginners alike
Launch of Laney Sound Systems
Always innovating with new ideas, 2020 saw the launch of Laney Sound Systems. The F67 Bluetooth speaker in its Lionheart or Supergroup styling allows you to have your own personal festival wherever you go!
Digbeth The. New. Standard - Bass is part of Laney’s DNA, the business was born with a bass in its hand. Launched in 2021 the Digbeth range of bass amps and Black Country Customs effects pedals celebrates our rich bass heritage.
BCC bass pedals - A range of handcrafted bass pedals from our UK workshop, inspired by Lyndon Laney’s legacy in bass since 1967. Lyndon – a bass player – forged the company in the heart of the Black Country, Birmingham in 1967 and the range of Laney bass pedals pay tribute to out place of birth. Modern, beautifully constructed and sonically inspiring
The CUB-SUPER range offers the tone conscious guitar player boutique tone without the boutique price tag. From gently compressing cleans to touch sensitive crunches and full-on leads without a hint of harshness, it’s difficult to find a bad sound in the CUB-SUPER range.
New Artists - 2021
2021 saw many new artists join the Laney family. Here are just a few of the exceptional names to choose Laney.
Nathan East & Lari Basilio
Billy joined Laney!!
Legend of the Grunge music scene Billy Corgan is renowned for not just aligning his name just any musician instrument company. Billy is touring with two Laney LA100SM "Laney Supermod" heads which have now become a main stayer in his incredible touring rig.