NAMM 2018: Laney recaptures the sound of Black Sabbath’s debut with LA30BL amp

NAMM 2018: You may recall that last year, Laney issued a highly limited recreation of the amp employed by Tony Iommi on Black Sabbath’s debut, the LA100BL head. Now, the Brit amp co has announced a lower-wattage, more affordable and available version, the LA30BL.

The Black Country Customs LA30BL packs a pair of 12AX7 preamp tubes feeding two EL34 power tubes for a 30W British tone, while an open, uncompressed tonality promises great compatibility with pedalboards, particularly boosts, à la Iommi himself.

A three-band EQ with presence control is paired with multiple inputs for different overdrive textures, while the rear houses a trio of speaker outputs.

The LA30BL is available from February for £879/€999 (approx $1,190), while a matching LA212 cab will be £619/€699 (approx $850) - check out our demo of last year’s LA100BL for a flavour of the new amp. Head over to Black Country Customs for more info.

Michael Astley-Brown

Mike is Editor-in-Chief of GuitarWorld.com, in addition to being an offset fiend and recovering pedal addict. He has a master's degree in journalism, and has spent the past decade writing and editing for guitar publications including MusicRadar, Total Guitar and Guitarist, as well as a decade-and-a-half performing in bands of variable genre (and quality). In his free time, you'll find him making progressive instrumental rock under the nom de plume Maebe.

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