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How old is my Linebacker?


KingBollock
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I wasn't sure whether to put this in here or Amps & Cabs, but since it's not a bass amp I plumped for here.

Sometime in the 90s I bought a Laney Linebacker PL100R that looks like this:


(That's the 50 and mine is the 100, but it's the style that's important to note)

I know there was a newer version out by the time I got mine, but I don't know when the new version came out. Out of nothing but pure curiosity I have been trying to find out how old my version is.

I can't get any clues from mine because (and this isn't a joke...) my wife once decided to clean it for me and she used nail polish remover (no, I have no idea why!) and took all the lettering off it. So all the labels are just what I remembered (She obviously didn't take all the lettering off in one go without realising, but she'd taken enough off to make it look silly, so I made the decision to remove the rest and replace with Dymo labels, which actually looks quite cool).

I have Googked until I have Googleyes, but with no luck. Anyone have a clue?

Oh, while I'm here... Does anyone know of a schematic for the footswitch? I'd quite like to build one for it.

Also... I have tried putting my Boss GX700 into the effects return on this amp but there is no volume control for the power amp stage. What would be a good way to add one?

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Not sure if they have the schematic you need, but lots of laney stuff here.

http://bmamps.com/tech_sch.html

Have you tried contacting Laney?
They couldn't supply me with a drawing for my old bass combo, due to health and safety, but pointed me to a site with one.

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[quote name='verb' timestamp='1463818690' post='3054239']
Not sure if they have the schematic you need, but lots of laney stuff here.

http://bmamps.com/tech_sch.html

Have you tried contacting Laney?
They couldn't supply me with a drawing for my old bass combo, due to health and safety, but pointed me to a site with one.
[/quote]
Thank you! That's brilliant! They have the schematic for my amp, and included in it is the schematic for the footswitch. Which is about as simple as it gets, but I figured it might be worth seeing if it was available anywhere before I started mucking about with it.

I haven't bothered trying to contact Laney because I only thought to ask about the switch as I was posting this thread. And I only thought about asking the age of my amp a few minutes before that. It really is just idle curiosity. Though, having said that, I like the amp and I have been playing guitar a bit recently. I had an accident and buggered my knee, just in the place where my basses sit when I am playing, but my skinny stringed Flying V is shaped differently and doesn't bother me so much, so I have picked that up again for the first time in a long time. Managed to tear all the callouses off my left hand while at it, too, which forced more inaction and the asking of pointless questions.

Edited by KingBollock
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[quote name='icastle' timestamp='1463948204' post='3055277']
A lot of amp manufacturers back then used to put stickers on some of the subassemblies - you might get an idea of the date by having a peek inside...


...you know you want to... :)
[/quote]
I'm going to have to anyway. It spent a couple of years in the conservatory, where it gets quite humid, and it has effected the reverb chamber and the Jack sockets for the effects loop. I made the mistake of bringing it in and trying something in the effects loop, and ever since I have had to keep a short lead between the sockets else it doesn't work. So I shall clean the sockets up and, hopefully, it'll just be cleaning rust out of the chamber and perhaps the springs. It [i]sounds[/i] rusty, if that makes sense. We'll see. I might open it up tomorrow.

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Well, the only thing I found inside was a couple of little stickers attached to the pcb with, what I assume is, the assembler or tester's name on them. Hi Nate if you're reading this...!

That and a cobweb, which was easily sorted with a blast from an airbrush.

I thought I had looked inside this amp before, but it turns out I never have because I didn't see what I was expecting. The reverb chamber, which is pristine, was in a pleather bag. And it was only attached to the inside of the amp case by a couple of wood screws through the bag. I don't know if it was the cobweb on the pcb that was causing the scratchy sound on the reverb, but removing it was the only thing I really did and the reverb works fine now.

The problem with the effects loop was stiff contacts. Having been forced open with a jack plug after so many years of not moving, they were reluctant to reset and failed to make contact again.

I really was expecting it to be a right state, I thought the reverb chamber would be a solid lump of rust.

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[quote name='KingBollock' timestamp='1464010567' post='3055708']
Well, the only thing I found inside was a couple of little stickers attached to the pcb with, what I assume is, the assembler or tester's name on them. Hi Nate if you're reading this...!
[/quote]

Stranger things have happened on here mate... :lol:

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  • 11 months later...

[quote name='KingBollock' timestamp='1464010567' post='3055708']
Well, the only thing I found inside was a couple of little stickers attached to the pcb with, what I assume is, the assembler or tester's name on them. Hi Nate if you're reading this...!
[/quote]

Old thread, but someone may find this useful. If there are any audio op amps inside (TL071, TL072, TL074 were common) they may have a 4 digit code printed on them, for example 8935 would be week 35 of 1989 when the chip was made. Output transistors may also have this code. These codes were common in 70's to 90's. Modern parts seem to be more obfuscated these days.

Hi Nate !

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  • 1 month later...

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