Delayed NAD: Landry LS100G3

[mickelodeon]

So I'm *months* late with this but figured I'd finally post a NAD/review for this beast of an amplifier.


First things first - Bill is absolutely fantastic. There are a lot of good guys in this business, but Bill stands with the absolute very best. He's knowledgeable, easy to talk to, and is just as passionate about chasing tone as the rest of us. Besides all of that, he's a rippin' player which I am absolutely convinced plays a huge role in being a great amp designer.

Now the amp.

Wow. Wow. Wow.

This thing nails the sound in my head that I've been chasing for so long. The bottom end is tight and focused, the mids and treble are nice and present with lots of cut but are never harsh, to the point of pretty much not being able to get a bad sound out of this thing. There's a ton of gain on tap on the red channel, and if you're REALLY feeling the need to go to super mondo levels of gain, kick into the boost on the second channel and it just keeps going.

It also cleans up crazy well. I mean, this amp could EASILY be a single channel of the just the red/dirty side and you'd never need anything else. Rolling back the volume offers clean/low gain tones better than most single channel clean/low gain amps. To be honest, I really don't know how he accomplished the touch sensitivity. I've played a lot of high gain amps and NONE of them respond like this.

Then there's the clean channel which I also maintain could be sold as a pedal platform in a single channel format and would light the gear world on fire. Chimey, rich, full, with just a hint of dirt when you REALLY push the gain to bust, but it's still only a hint. Bill also offers a "dirty clean" option which will take you more into plexi territory, but for my ears the low gain tones on the red are so good that I'm more than happy to keep my cleans nice and clean. I put this thing up against my blackface twin and 68 plexi and was blown away at how much ass this thing kicks.

This amp is no one trick pony - if you can't get a GREAT sound out of the LS100G3, it's time to go back to the woodshed.

More pics and clips to follow whenever I have time to take more - too busy playing and basking in the glorious tone.

 

[SDMF38]

Congrats!

 

[Luca79]

Congrats.

 

[Jayy]

Congrats on the G3! I agree with you across the board! I've had a G3 for almost a year now and love it! Mine has the dirty clean channel. I'm playing mine through Scumback M75-PVCs most of the time. What settings are you using? I have mostly settled in on roughly sticking to the red channel for most of my playing with bright switch all the way up, gain on 3 oclock, treble 2, mids 2, bass 10 presence at 3 or 4 switchs on soft and classic, and depth at 9 (this is all "o'clock" or per the clock face on the dials). I love these settings with my Scumback speakers and closed back 2X12 or 4X12 cabs. It is similar to my '68 plexi build at these settings, but the G3 is tighter and a little more gain and sustain.

Also, as you said, Bill is an absolute class act. A really great guy that loves tone and wants his customers happy, and yeah, he can play too!

 

[FourT6and2]

Congrats on the G3! I agree with you across the board! I've had a G3 for almost a year now and love it! Mine has the dirty clean channel. I'm playing mine through Scumback M75-PVCs most of the time. What settings are you using? I have mostly settled in on roughly sticking to the red channel for most of my playing with bright switch all the way up, gain on 3 oclock, treble 2, mids 2, bass 10 presence at 3 or 4 switchs on soft and classic, and depth at 9 (this is all "o'clock" or per the clock face on the dials). I love these settings with my Scumback speakers and closed back 2X12 or 4X12 cabs. It is similar to my '68 plexi build at these settings, but the G3 is tighter and a little more gain and sustain.

Also, as you said, Bill is an absolute class act. A really great guy that loves tone and wants his customers happy, and yeah, he can play too!

Wait... I thought this was a modern, high-gain amp? But you're saying it sounds similar to an old Plexi, and that's with the gain a 3:00?

 

[Jayy]

Congrats on the G3! I agree with you across the board! I've had a G3 for almost a year now and love it! Mine has the dirty clean channel. I'm playing mine through Scumback M75-PVCs most of the time. What settings are you using? I have mostly settled in on roughly sticking to the red channel for most of my playing with bright switch all the way up, gain on 3 oclock, treble 2, mids 2, bass 10 presence at 3 or 4 switchs on soft and classic, and depth at 9 (this is all "o'clock" or per the clock face on the dials). I love these settings with my Scumback speakers and closed back 2X12 or 4X12 cabs. It is similar to my '68 plexi build at these settings, but the G3 is tighter and a little more gain and sustain.

Also, as you said, Bill is an absolute class act. A really great guy that loves tone and wants his customers happy, and yeah, he can play too!

Wait... I thought this was a modern, high-gain amp? But you're saying it sounds similar to an old Plexi, and that's with the gain a 3:00?

Yep, that is what I'm saying. As I said, it is similar, but tighter and a bit more gain and sustain than my plexi dimed. The voicing is similar with these settings on the G3 using my rig, but as I said it's tighter and a bit more gain than my plexi.

 

[skoora]

I've played plenty of plexi's that have enough gain for balls out, palm muted metal.

 

[FourT6and2]

I've played plenty of plexi's that have enough gain for balls out, palm muted metal.

"Plexis" or real Plexis? A real, vintage, Marshall Plexi from the '60s in no way, shape, or form has enough gain for "balls out, palm-muted metal." A later JMP has a good amount of gain. But it's still not enough for modern metal, in my not-so-humble opinion. This is about the most gain I've ever heard come from a 1959 Lead circuit. But it's a late '70s JMP with the right combination of specs (not a Plexi).

By contrast, this is what I would consider "balls out, palm-muted metal." Can the Landry get near this? Maybe the M version? I've been interested in these for a while, but I always forget about Landry for some reason, so I'm interested to know.

 

[311boogieman]

Congrats


Got pics?

 

[skoora]

I Like Classic metal sounds. I find modern metal tones too saturated and more concerned with low end than a good aggressive mid range voice. This is a vid of a Metro 69 circuit I used to have, that I built. Totally stock circuit, no pedals. The pickup is hotter though, being a ceramic 500T. I've owned and played real 69's that I could do this with too. But once you start getting earlier than '69, the filtering isn't as stiff etc etc.

 

[mooncobra]

Nice amp bro, all the clips I have heard sound great!!

 

[harsh59]

Congrats on the G3! I agree with you across the board! I've had a G3 for almost a year now and love it! Mine has the dirty clean channel. I'm playing mine through Scumback M75-PVCs most of the time. What settings are you using? I have mostly settled in on roughly sticking to the red channel for most of my playing with bright switch all the way up, gain on 3 oclock, treble 2, mids 2, bass 10 presence at 3 or 4 switchs on soft and classic, and depth at 9 (this is all "o'clock" or per the clock face on the dials). I love these settings with my Scumback speakers and closed back 2X12 or 4X12 cabs. It is similar to my '68 plexi build at these settings, but the G3 is tighter and a little more gain and sustain.

Also, as you said, Bill is an absolute class act. A really great guy that loves tone and wants his customers happy, and yeah, he can play too!

Wait... I thought this was a modern, high-gain amp? But you're saying it sounds similar to an old Plexi, and that's with the gain a 3:00?

I would never call the Landry a modern high gain amp . Very Marshall like , great amp for classic rock , evh , 80's and 90's hard rock .

 

[harsh59]

I've narrowed my amp search to the Landry or the Henning Bottle Rocket .

 

[journeyman73]

Congrats on the G3! I agree with you across the board! I've had a G3 for almost a year now and love it! Mine has the dirty clean channel. I'm playing mine through Scumback M75-PVCs most of the time. What settings are you using? I have mostly settled in on roughly sticking to the red channel for most of my playing with bright switch all the way up, gain on 3 oclock, treble 2, mids 2, bass 10 presence at 3 or 4 switchs on soft and classic, and depth at 9 (this is all "o'clock" or per the clock face on the dials). I love these settings with my Scumback speakers and closed back 2X12 or 4X12 cabs. It is similar to my '68 plexi build at these settings, but the G3 is tighter and a little more gain and sustain.

Also, as you said, Bill is an absolute class act. A really great guy that loves tone and wants his customers happy, and yeah, he can play too!

Wait... I thought this was a modern, high-gain amp? But you're saying it sounds similar to an old Plexi, and that's with the gain a 3:00?

I would never call the Landry a modern high gain amp . Very Marshall like , great amp for classic rock , evh , 80's and 90's hard rock .

agreed - its not really like a modern, high-gain amp...i don't find it like a plexi either.

its basically a hot rodded, refined jcm800

 

[Metlking]

Congrats! I love my G3! Best amp I have ever owned!

 

[mickelodeon]

Hey guys!

Thanks for the love! Here's a quick and dirty clip I just did today. Couple more on my profile!

 

[hammered]

Hey guys!

Thanks for the love! Here's a quick and dirty clip I just did today. Couple more on my profile!

Sounds cool , what`s the riff you start jamming on at around 2:40 ?

 

[mickelodeon]

Hey guys!

Thanks for the love! Here's a quick and dirty clip I just did today. Couple more on my profile!

Sounds cool , what`s the riff you start jamming on at around 2:40 ?

Hey man! Thanks!

It's a string of riffs I was working on yesterday for a tune I'm putting together.