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.

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Michael Astley-Brown

Mike has been Editor-in-Chief of GuitarWorld.com since 2019, and an offset fiend and recovering pedal addict for far longer. He has a master's degree in journalism from Cardiff University, and 15 years' experience writing and editing for guitar publications including MusicRadar, Total Guitar and Guitarist, as well as 20 years of recording and live experience in original and function bands. During his career, he has interviewed the likes of John Frusciante, Chris Cornell, Tom Morello, Matt Bellamy, Kirk Hammett, Jerry Cantrell, Joe Satriani, Tom DeLonge, Radiohead's Ed O'Brien, Polyphia, Tosin Abasi, Yvette Young and many more. His writing also appears in the The Cambridge Companion to the Electric Guitar. In his free time, you'll find him making progressive instrumental rock as Maebe.