I chose to review the TFX3 because the TFX2 and TFX1 are simply shaved down versions of their big brother and include some of the features c...
I chose to review the TFX3 because the TFX2 and TFX1 are simply shaved down versions of their big brother and include some of the features covered in this article. For more details please see the foot of the page.
The TFX3 provides three channels to serve a single input, one Clean and two Drive channels. Two DSP effects channels crammed with goodies are added, one for the Clean channel and one for the first Drive channel.
Starting at the extreme left I plugged up a PRS Soapbar and activated the Clean channel with the dedicated push-button. The Bass, Middle and Treble controls offered huge tonal scope, always a critical factor on a clean setting. The Soapbar's distinctive tonal output was soon under control and with some experimentation I was dialling up some really luscious sounds. The final control on the Clean channel is a little button labelled "Bright". It's a bit difficult to describe the effect except to say it's like added Presence with a bit more edge (and incidentally also works when a Drive channel is selected). Once the Bright button was engaged I tended to leave it on to take advantage of the extra cut it supplied to the Soapbar's tonality.
Moving onto the Drive channel I swapped the PRS for an Epiphone SG. On the TFX3 and TFX2 the drive is produced using a good old-fashioned valve pre-amp which responds to the interplay between the Gain and Volume controls. The first thing I tried (of course) was the full on maximum Drive setting. The payback was (not surprisingly) a full-on Heavy Metal sound. It was immediately apparent that this sound lacked the "edge of insanity" coarseness of some digital modellers thanks to the underlying warmth of the valve front-end. The result is a genuinely classic HM tone.
Playing around with the Gain and Volume took me through Hard Rock tones all the way back to Blues country. Both Drive channels are controlled by the same dedicated EQ section of Bass, Middle and Treble serving up the same tonal range as the Clean channel's controls.
One addition on the Drive section in a button labelled "Scoop". According to the manual this "radically cuts the level of mid-range frequencies present in the sound". This is quite disconcerting when you punch the button for the first time. But after taking time to experiment with the Scoop I started to see it as a useful tonal shortcut to some interesting sounds.
Following one of the suggestions in the manual I racked the Gain down to 2 and cranked the Volume. Using this as my base I engaged both the Bright and Scoop buttons and knocked the SG over to neck pickup only. I was treated to a wonderful ballsy blues tone, perfect for pub-rock posturing!
The second Drive channel is a clone of the first and provides switch-able versatility for performance.
The last thing on the front panel before we get to the effects sections is a lonely little button labelled "Vibe". Now I'm a sucker for this kind of stuff - I bought my Dano Fab-Tone purely because it has a knob to add more "Fab". So what is this "Vibe"?
In Laney's own words the Vibe switch "generates a radical EQ cut and boost - difficult to explain but easy to hear". So I adjusted the Drive channel to a moderately heavy rock sound and punched in the Vibe. It seemed to add a touch of sweaty Les Paul and the aroma of Marshall grill cloth underpinned by the menace of a hostile crowd holding beer in real glasses. I swear, that's what it did...
Let's hurry on to the effects...
There are dedicated effects for both Clean and Drive channels. The effect is chosen on a rotary click-knob. The level of the effect in the signal is controlled by the Level control with a setting of zero effectively turning off the effect.
I started on the Clean channel with the Octave effect. The added octave seemed to be marginally delayed which added to the overall character of the effect. Results were clear and accurate on straight single note runs but, in common with all octaviders, the electronics get confused with bends, triads and chords. If you stay within its capabilities this is a very pleasing and usable effect.
Next up come four different Delay effects. These do exactly what they say on the tin, which is:
250mS Single Shot;
400mS Delay with Repeat;
500mS Delay with Repeat;
600mS Delay with Repeat.
The Flange set at maximum level gives a blissful, lovely effect for arpeggio chording. Roll it back for more subtle enhancements to clean and funky rhythms. The second Flange setting adds depth by way of a 400mS delay with repeat.
There are two mixed effects using chorus. The first is a Deep Chorus with 400mS Delay with Repeat. I particularly like this atmospheric effect, chop a chord off and hear the satisfying echo chopping away behind you. The second mixed effect is Chorus with Reverb. Another lovely atmospheric sound benefiting from the good balance between the different modulations.
Next come the Reverbs...
Plate Reverb is a pleasingly subtle and shallow reverb sound that enhances the clean sound without dominating it.
Room Reverb is an interesting effect that seems to "contain" the sound and tighten it slightly, almost like a faint touch of compression.
The Hall Reverb creates an uncanny mental picture - whack it up to full and it really is like playing inside an empty school gymnasium. Stonking!
Two straight chorus effects are provided. Chorus Moderate delivers just that and will become your weapon of choice for adding a touch of depth to your chords. Chorus Deep is a full throaty chorus that can be taken to the brink of wobble.
Completing the package are the rotary speaker simulations. Rotary Slow supplies a moderately fast rotary flutter that can be wound back for some really nice rhythm guitar sounds. Rotary Fast delivers a full-on, no-holds-barred rotary psycho-wobble. This again can be faded back to add unique colours to your sound.
All these effects are duplicated on separate controls for the Drive channel, except the subtle Plate Reverb is dropped to make room for another delay effect. The Multitap Delay doesn't produce a regular beat in the delayed signal. Hitting a fully damped string produces what sounds like a riff played on the bongos. With properly fingered notes it's possible to produce instant-shred without the manic effort normally required.
Sitting next to the effects selector in both channels is an independent Reverb control. This pays no reference to other effects settings so can be used as an underlying enhancement to your straight and modulated tones.
The back panel has effects send and return for any off-board preferences you may have, an extension speaker outlet and, in the case of the TFX1 and TFX2 a headphone socket is included.
Overall impressions of the Laney TFX3
It's refreshing to come across an amplifier that isn't trying to copy something else (I refer here to the "I can't believe it's not Marshall" digital clones that seem to be hanging around on every street corner these days). This sense of individuality is deepened by the warmth of the valve driven pre-amp. There will always be a sense of homecoming about the sound of valves to any guitarist whose got ears. Add to that the breadth of tonal variation available in the EQ section and the TFX stands tall as a serious piece of solid kit for any guitarist seeking a sound of their own, all delivered at 120 watts through a single 12" Celestion.
While building on those basic, dependable foundations, Laney have still found time to nip down the Digital Magic Shop. The seemingly instant tonal fixes represented by the Bright, Scoop and Vibe buttons really do integrate with the EQ and expand your ability to craft the sound you can hear in your head.
The effects section is an elegant and useable compromise. Stripped of controls for depth or speed of the modulation the TFX offers control only for the level of the preset effect applied to the signal. Given the choice of presets offered (5 delays and 4 chorus for example) I think the compromise is well balanced. I particularly liked the ability to wind down any effect to very low levels so giving a wealth of very subtle colourations to my guitar sound. On the other side of that coin I found that with most effects the whole scope of the Level control offered good, useable sounds right up to the maximum setting. In any event the rear panel effects loop means that integrating your must-have favourite stompers is a thing of simplicity.
In conclusion the TFX3 doesn't rely on instant solutions but rather encourages you to build your sounds from scratch with the valve powered Drive channel making that a particular pleasure. The array of preset effects are well chosen and add layers of versatility to this solid gigging amp.
...and if you get lonely at night, just press the Vibe button.
Buy the Laney TFX3 or the dual speaker Laney TFX3 Twin
Variations on the Laney TFX Series
The Laney TFX2 omits the overall Reverb controls on both Clean and Drive channels but adds a headphone socket to the rear panel. Delivers 65 watts through a single 12" Celestion.
The Laney TFX1 offers one Drive channel to compliment the Clean channel. Drive channel is not valve-driven. A single effects selector for both channels works in conjunction with a dedicated effects level control for each channel. Headphone socket on rear. Delivers 50 watts into a single 10" Celestion.
All models work with a Laney recommended footswitch. Dedicated footswitch is supplied with the TFX2 and TFX3.
Note: As with all amps equipped with headphone sockets, turn the Master Volume to zero before plugging in the 'phones.
The TFX3 provides three channels to serve a single input, one Clean and two Drive channels. Two DSP effects channels crammed with goodies are added, one for the Clean channel and one for the first Drive channel.
Starting at the extreme left I plugged up a PRS Soapbar and activated the Clean channel with the dedicated push-button. The Bass, Middle and Treble controls offered huge tonal scope, always a critical factor on a clean setting. The Soapbar's distinctive tonal output was soon under control and with some experimentation I was dialling up some really luscious sounds. The final control on the Clean channel is a little button labelled "Bright". It's a bit difficult to describe the effect except to say it's like added Presence with a bit more edge (and incidentally also works when a Drive channel is selected). Once the Bright button was engaged I tended to leave it on to take advantage of the extra cut it supplied to the Soapbar's tonality.
My favourite setting on the Clean channel had the PRS set to neck pickup only, Bass set to 4, Mid cut down to 1 and Treble on 8 with the Bright control engaged. This produced a great chunky rhythm sound with enough crystal to cut through the mix.
Moving onto the Drive channel I swapped the PRS for an Epiphone SG. On the TFX3 and TFX2 the drive is produced using a good old-fashioned valve pre-amp which responds to the interplay between the Gain and Volume controls. The first thing I tried (of course) was the full on maximum Drive setting. The payback was (not surprisingly) a full-on Heavy Metal sound. It was immediately apparent that this sound lacked the "edge of insanity" coarseness of some digital modellers thanks to the underlying warmth of the valve front-end. The result is a genuinely classic HM tone.
Playing around with the Gain and Volume took me through Hard Rock tones all the way back to Blues country. Both Drive channels are controlled by the same dedicated EQ section of Bass, Middle and Treble serving up the same tonal range as the Clean channel's controls.
One addition on the Drive section in a button labelled "Scoop". According to the manual this "radically cuts the level of mid-range frequencies present in the sound". This is quite disconcerting when you punch the button for the first time. But after taking time to experiment with the Scoop I started to see it as a useful tonal shortcut to some interesting sounds.
Following one of the suggestions in the manual I racked the Gain down to 2 and cranked the Volume. Using this as my base I engaged both the Bright and Scoop buttons and knocked the SG over to neck pickup only. I was treated to a wonderful ballsy blues tone, perfect for pub-rock posturing!
The second Drive channel is a clone of the first and provides switch-able versatility for performance.
The last thing on the front panel before we get to the effects sections is a lonely little button labelled "Vibe". Now I'm a sucker for this kind of stuff - I bought my Dano Fab-Tone purely because it has a knob to add more "Fab". So what is this "Vibe"?
In Laney's own words the Vibe switch "generates a radical EQ cut and boost - difficult to explain but easy to hear". So I adjusted the Drive channel to a moderately heavy rock sound and punched in the Vibe. It seemed to add a touch of sweaty Les Paul and the aroma of Marshall grill cloth underpinned by the menace of a hostile crowd holding beer in real glasses. I swear, that's what it did...
Let's hurry on to the effects...
There are dedicated effects for both Clean and Drive channels. The effect is chosen on a rotary click-knob. The level of the effect in the signal is controlled by the Level control with a setting of zero effectively turning off the effect.
I started on the Clean channel with the Octave effect. The added octave seemed to be marginally delayed which added to the overall character of the effect. Results were clear and accurate on straight single note runs but, in common with all octaviders, the electronics get confused with bends, triads and chords. If you stay within its capabilities this is a very pleasing and usable effect.
Next up come four different Delay effects. These do exactly what they say on the tin, which is:
250mS Single Shot;
400mS Delay with Repeat;
500mS Delay with Repeat;
600mS Delay with Repeat.
The Flange set at maximum level gives a blissful, lovely effect for arpeggio chording. Roll it back for more subtle enhancements to clean and funky rhythms. The second Flange setting adds depth by way of a 400mS delay with repeat.
There are two mixed effects using chorus. The first is a Deep Chorus with 400mS Delay with Repeat. I particularly like this atmospheric effect, chop a chord off and hear the satisfying echo chopping away behind you. The second mixed effect is Chorus with Reverb. Another lovely atmospheric sound benefiting from the good balance between the different modulations.
Next come the Reverbs...
Plate Reverb is a pleasingly subtle and shallow reverb sound that enhances the clean sound without dominating it.
Room Reverb is an interesting effect that seems to "contain" the sound and tighten it slightly, almost like a faint touch of compression.
The Hall Reverb creates an uncanny mental picture - whack it up to full and it really is like playing inside an empty school gymnasium. Stonking!
Two straight chorus effects are provided. Chorus Moderate delivers just that and will become your weapon of choice for adding a touch of depth to your chords. Chorus Deep is a full throaty chorus that can be taken to the brink of wobble.
Completing the package are the rotary speaker simulations. Rotary Slow supplies a moderately fast rotary flutter that can be wound back for some really nice rhythm guitar sounds. Rotary Fast delivers a full-on, no-holds-barred rotary psycho-wobble. This again can be faded back to add unique colours to your sound.
All these effects are duplicated on separate controls for the Drive channel, except the subtle Plate Reverb is dropped to make room for another delay effect. The Multitap Delay doesn't produce a regular beat in the delayed signal. Hitting a fully damped string produces what sounds like a riff played on the bongos. With properly fingered notes it's possible to produce instant-shred without the manic effort normally required.
Sitting next to the effects selector in both channels is an independent Reverb control. This pays no reference to other effects settings so can be used as an underlying enhancement to your straight and modulated tones.
The back panel has effects send and return for any off-board preferences you may have, an extension speaker outlet and, in the case of the TFX1 and TFX2 a headphone socket is included.
Overall impressions of the Laney TFX3
It's refreshing to come across an amplifier that isn't trying to copy something else (I refer here to the "I can't believe it's not Marshall" digital clones that seem to be hanging around on every street corner these days). This sense of individuality is deepened by the warmth of the valve driven pre-amp. There will always be a sense of homecoming about the sound of valves to any guitarist whose got ears. Add to that the breadth of tonal variation available in the EQ section and the TFX stands tall as a serious piece of solid kit for any guitarist seeking a sound of their own, all delivered at 120 watts through a single 12" Celestion.
While building on those basic, dependable foundations, Laney have still found time to nip down the Digital Magic Shop. The seemingly instant tonal fixes represented by the Bright, Scoop and Vibe buttons really do integrate with the EQ and expand your ability to craft the sound you can hear in your head.
The effects section is an elegant and useable compromise. Stripped of controls for depth or speed of the modulation the TFX offers control only for the level of the preset effect applied to the signal. Given the choice of presets offered (5 delays and 4 chorus for example) I think the compromise is well balanced. I particularly liked the ability to wind down any effect to very low levels so giving a wealth of very subtle colourations to my guitar sound. On the other side of that coin I found that with most effects the whole scope of the Level control offered good, useable sounds right up to the maximum setting. In any event the rear panel effects loop means that integrating your must-have favourite stompers is a thing of simplicity.
In conclusion the TFX3 doesn't rely on instant solutions but rather encourages you to build your sounds from scratch with the valve powered Drive channel making that a particular pleasure. The array of preset effects are well chosen and add layers of versatility to this solid gigging amp.
...and if you get lonely at night, just press the Vibe button.
Buy the Laney TFX3 or the dual speaker Laney TFX3 Twin
Variations on the Laney TFX Series
The Laney TFX2 omits the overall Reverb controls on both Clean and Drive channels but adds a headphone socket to the rear panel. Delivers 65 watts through a single 12" Celestion.
The Laney TFX1 offers one Drive channel to compliment the Clean channel. Drive channel is not valve-driven. A single effects selector for both channels works in conjunction with a dedicated effects level control for each channel. Headphone socket on rear. Delivers 50 watts into a single 10" Celestion.
All models work with a Laney recommended footswitch. Dedicated footswitch is supplied with the TFX2 and TFX3.
Note: As with all amps equipped with headphone sockets, turn the Master Volume to zero before plugging in the 'phones.
