Introduced sometime in the early 80s, essentially these are straight Marshall clones, 6 knobs, no pull-pots, no "AOR". Available in 50 or 100 Watts. These have a different tolex like that of earlier Laneys, metal corners, and the logo is a milled plastic type like that found on HIWATTs, rather than the later printed metal types. On the back, there is no effects loop or line out; just the power input, voltage selector, fuse-holders, two speaker outs and impedence selector. Also, being straight Marshall clones, these had three pre-amp tubes.
In this line of amps it seems there were two models available: the Pro-Tube Lead and the Pro-Tube Bass. These amps are thought to be only available as heads (unconfirmed).
Pro-Tube Lead
These are basically JCM800 clones (2203/2204 : 100W/50W). Two vertical inputs. The front panel reads "PRO-TUBE LEAD".
Pro-Tube Bass
These are different to the Pro-Tube Lead in that it has four inputs: Normal and Bright channel with Hi and Lo inputs for each. Instead of "Preamp Volume" and "Master Volume" as on the Pro-Tube Lead, Pro-Tube Bass has separate volume knobs for each channel.
Pro-tube / AOR
The AORs were introduced in 1984, Laney's answer to the hot-rodded Marshall JCM800s which were so popular at the time. Cometically, there are a few changes from the earlier pre-AOR models: tolex changes to the smoother, shinier type; metal corners are replaced by big, chunky, plastic ones; HIWATT style plastic logo dropped in favour of the printed metal type. Also, the two input jacks are now horizontal rather than vertical, suggesting they've become PCB mounted. Effects loops and line out jacks also appear. These amps also had 4 pre-amp tubes as opposed to the earlier 3, reflecting the increase in gain stages. In terms of the models available, there was now also a wider selection:
- Pro-Tube: 6 knobs, effects loop, available in 30, 50 or 100 Watts, models PT30, PT50 and PT100. Basically a continuation of the earlier Pro-Tubes, but with added AOR functions, ie: pull-boosts on bass, middle treble and pull bright on master volume. There was now no distinction between lead and bass models as with the pre-AORs (they were pretty much all intended as lead models anyway), and the front panel simply read, "LANEY PRO-TUBE". PT30s used 6V6 power tubes instead of EL34 and had the on/off switch on the back panel. Pro-Tubes were available in head format only.
- AOR: 8 knobs, effects loop, available in 30, 50 or 100 Watts. These are the same as the Pro-Tubes but with an additional "AOR" (Advanced Overdrive Response) channel... I think it's basically just another switchable gain stage. They also featured various pull-boosts. AORs were available as both head and combo units: heads only came in 50 or 100 Watts (models A50H and A100H), while combos came in 30, 50 or 100 Watts (models A3012, A5012 and A10012). A5012s and A10012s had the on/off switch on the back panel and standby on the front; A3012 only had an on/off switch on the back panel. A3012s and A5012s came equipped with one 12inch speaker, while A10012 had two 12inchers. All combo models had 9 knobs instead of 8 -an extra knob to control the in-built spring reverb.
Not too long after their initial introduction in 1984, there were some revisions/updates made to the entire range (both Pro-Tubes and the straight AORs) and the subsequent line of amps were known as "Series II". All Series II amps have "Series II" written somewhere on the front panel... if there's nothing there specifically stating a Series II, then the amp is a Series I. The differences between the two are minor. The most notable being:
- Series II have a line-out jack, while Series I don't.
- Series I have the treble pull-boost on the Treble pot, while Series II have it on the Master Volume pot.
- For AORs, Series I have one red LED on the front panel to indicate when the AOR channel is activated. Series II have two LEDS -a green one when the normal chanel is activated and a red one when the AOR is activated.
- Series I have two speaker out jacks with an ohms selector switch. Series II just have lots of different jacks for the different ohmage outputs, no selector switch.
Thanks to ritz for gathering all the info together!
