Laney Cub Tube Amp Made With Cardboard

Laney Cub Tube Amp Made With Cardboard

Looks like the GAS still has it’s hooks in me because I’ve been eyeballin the Laney Cub 12R tube amp for a while now. Judging from the demo clips on line it’s pretty versatile with great tone and it’s a combo which is something I haven’t had in a while now because I’m a head and cab guy in general. But a combo was in my future (if one came along at a good price). Thanks once again to Craigslist one did. Quality was not an issue mainly because I didn’t see any reviews with any mention of quality as an issue, plus it’s a Laney, and the name has a top level reputation so I never thought that it might be shit quality, but I was soon to learn a name does not always equal quality. I realize it’s a Chinese made budget model but I STILL expected more from something Laney put their name on.

After a week of playing I decided I didn’t like the brown Tolex, the tan colored weaved grill cloth or the angled opening. So I gathered up some snakeskin Tolex from Antique Electronics, some black grill cloth, a heat gun, contact cement etc. and proceeded to strip it down.
Up to this point I was very pleased with the performance of the little combo so that wasn’t an issue but alarm bells went off when I realized the corners were plastic, and the worst was yet to come. I was shocked to find out what the cabinet was actually made of because it ain’t wood. That’s right, no wood to be found anywhere on a Laney Cub 12R. You probably think “must be particle board” right? Wrong. In fact particle board would have been better.

Fucking cardboard!

This is made of some type of compressed cardboard similar to Masonite. 1/8″ thick on the face and 9/16″ everywhere else. It made me sick to see that a company like Laney would even think about using this crap. In fact I’ve never seen an amp or cab made of this shit material. WTF Laney?

I did the only thing I could think of which was to finish recovering it and put it back together. At least I wouldn’t have to look at that crap. It looks not too bad with the snake Tolex, black grill cloth, steel corners, and a vintage Eminence speaker (which sounds much better than the HH that came with it)* but every time I look at it I still see cardboard. Un-fucking-believable. But I gotta say it sounds great! So at this time I’m planning on building a solid wood replacement. I’ll document the build and post it when it’s all finished. As it sits right now It’s still a keeper based on the tone and versatility alone. A solid wood cabinet will make it even more desirable. We’ll see.

AT least it LOOKS better.

What’s your experience with what’s hiding under the Tolex? Leave an answer in the comments below. Click here for details on the Cub 12R hot transformer issue (and a solution)

Update on the speaker change (Celestion V-Type)