Any Landry G3's Around Nashville

[Chasintonez]

I have a Landry on my shortlist. I have played most of the other amps that I have been interested in, but with the Landry being in the lesser known camp for local shops etc. it is hard to find anywhere to play one. Anybody have one around the Nashville area that is a more current G3 with latest features? I would really like to check one out before I make any final decisions.

Probably the closest variants I have played to the Landry for reference are the PT100, Friedman BE100 or DS. The Friedman amps do have a fluid, easy to play quality to them under the fingers. The PT100 is more open and a bit more raw than the Friedmans. Would just like to get a few minutes on a Landry to tell if it sits kind of between the two..meaning a little more open sounding than the BE, but with the easier feeling under the fingers.

So many good choices out there these days from so many good builders. They are all great! Clips and videos just cannot replace a few minutes on one in person. I know Bill is only about 5 or 6 hours from me, but it would be much easier to find one in town if possible.

Thanks

 

[idnotbe]

first of all, i'm not in Nashville.

G3 is more open than the 2.
in other words, G3 has less aggressive low end girth than the 2.

for me, generally speaking...

Friedman : the most aggressive and modern among the 3, not so touch sensitive, compressed, not a good clean, low end rather than open high
PT100 : the most versatile but general tone, can be aggressive with more open high than BE
G3 : the most un-compressed and dynamic, has some high karrang but don't the aggressive low, VH territory

 

[Chasintonez]

Thanks for the overview idnotbe. Interesting. I thought the PT100 would be the most open out of the ones that you mentioned. Especially the way Pete has it set up when he plays thru it. It is usually really cutting when he demos it. Listening thru clips again today it does seam like the Landry does have a more trebley/upper character to it. Sometimes a bit much on the highs for my tastes depending on the video, but how the amp was set etc. is hard to tell. That is why I really will have to figure out a way to actually sit in front of one for a few minutes.

It was interesting when I sat down with the amps that I have been able to play going in with preconceived notions from videos, clips and thread postings on how different it actually was versus what I was expecting once plugged in. That is when I realized that I will need to physically plug into each of the amps I have an interest in to make a final assessment of the amp both on the way it feels/reacts/plays to my style and the type of gain structure and tone it has.

The only other model that has not been in my local GC is the Friedman SS100 that sounds like it has a much better clean channel than the BE and perhaps has a little more vintage personality.

I am in no big rush to get an amp just to get one. Until I find a way to play all of them, only then will I feel ready to make the final decision.

 

[flcmcya]

Bill may know of one thats local.....

 

[bartmcartman]

The latest Landry updates give the amp more girth if you dial up the depth knob.

 

[Chasintonez]

Talked with Bill, but he was not aware of any that were directly ordered from him in the Nashville area. As many guitar players that around town I figured I might luck out as he has been here in town for some amp shows in the past. No luck so far tracking one down. I have things narrowed down to his amp and one other and they are both tough to find for a test run around town here.

 

[lkft]

Have you been to the GC on Thompson Lane? The plat room has some very nice stuff that I'm sure would float your boat.

 

[Chasintonez]

Tried quite a few amps over there the past few weeks. I actually don't live to far from that location and am in there quite a bit. But I think I have come down to the Landry or the Redplate Magica. Talked with Henry at RP and he said there is one Magica in town here at a studio. Just have to see if I can track it down to try it out. I may have to drive over Bill's way as he is only about 5 hours from me.

 

[SgtThump]

Talked with Bill, but he was not aware of any that were directly ordered from him in the Nashville area. As many guitar players that around town I figured I might luck out as he has been here in town for some amp shows in the past. No luck so far tracking one down. I have things narrowed down to his amp and one other and they are both tough to find for a test run around town here.

Nashville is only like 5 hours away from St Louis. It's totally worth coordinating a weekend or even day trip to try a Landry!

 

[Chasintonez]

I know Bill is at a music expo this weekend in St. Louis with his amps on Saturday and Sunday so may have to take a road trip over there. Bill is a super guy to talk with. Just a really genuine guy that has a lot of patience for questions. He really understands the challenges of trying to look at an amp from afar. Henry at Redplate was great to talk with as well. Really patient and helpful when talking about his amps. Both passionate about their craft and very personable to talk with.

Two really stellar companies customer service wise for sure. Just a matter of finding the right fit.

 

[SgtThump]

I know Bill is at a music expo this weekend in St. Louis with his amps on Saturday and Sunday so may have to take a road trip over there. Bill is a super guy to talk with. Just a really genuine guy that has a lot of patience for questions. He really understands the challenges of trying to look at an amp from afar. Henry at Redplate was great to talk with as well. Really patient and helpful when talking about his amps. Both passionate about their craft and very personable to talk with.

Two really stellar companies customer service wise for sure. Just a matter of finding the right fit.

Yeah, I'll be working at the expo too, but just Saturday. I do highly recommend a trip here to hear his stuff in person.

I drove to Memphis last year to be able to hand select a set of cymbals (I'm a drummer too) and it was well worth it!

 

[flcmcya]

Had a killer LS 100 and RP MDD at the same time just comparing the two brands...... both nice amps but would grab the Landry hands down between the two.

Kingsxman brought his updated G3 over last weekend and we ran it through various cabs with a Soultone Plexi copy, Fargen Dual British Classic, and a
"76" JMP Marshall..... as you can imagine there were no losers in the bunch!

I find Bill's on board reverb to be one of the best I've heard if that matters to you.

 

[kingsxman]

Had a killer LS 100 and RP MDD at the same time just comparing the two brands...... both nice amps but would grab the Landry hands down between the two.

Kingsxman brought his updated G3 over last weekend and we ran it through various cabs with a Soultone Plexi copy, Fargen Dual British Classic, and a
"76" JMP Marshall..... as you can imagine there were no losers in the bunch!

I find Bill's on board reverb to be one of the best I've heard if that matters to you.

Agree with everything Flcmcya had to say. Great reverb. Just a great amp. I've only played 1 Friedman amp as a comparison. It was more compressed and "modern" sounding if you will. Harder to get a "low gain" type of sound out of it. Where as the Landry has a ton of optoins for gain. I can get mine to sound very similar to my 76 JMP but it gain go super high gain if needed. I am unfamiliar with the Redplate amp you mention. Henry makes some very good stuff. All depends on what is most important to you I guess.

If you have the ability to drive to get a chance to play the Landry you really should do it. I think its important that if your going to hear Bills your going to hear the "latest" version of his G3 spec'd amps. To me, there is a big difference in some "older" revisions versus the latest revision.

 

[Chasintonez]

Thanks for your take KingsXman. Flcmcya said it sounded great the other day!

 

[bartmcartman]

I would recommend not trying to demo the amp at the Expo. Last year was really crowded and you'll be rushed to hear all the amp can do. Call Bill and see if you can set up a time to hear the amp one on one. You could even email Bill some Mp3's of sounds and styles that your trying to get out of the G3. You'll get an honest answer about whether it's the amp for you. If you go there you might be able to hear the difference between the squeaky clean and clean that gets some dirt as well and really feel the amp. I think you'll dig it!

 

[Chasintonez]

Thanks for the heads up on the Expo. I thought maybe it would be a little smaller than the big amp shows, but maybe not. I have sent Bill several clips thru the past week and we have been talking back and forth about the G3. I may hold off until next weekend if the Expo setting makes it tough to really give it thorough run thru. He said he will have a clean clean channel version and a dirty clean version at the Expo this weekend.

 

[bartmcartman]

I think this year will be a little better as everyone will have their own room. With that said I think it would be hard to demo an amp with a room full of guys all asking Bill to play Van Halen, lol...

 

[kingsxman]

Any updates on this?

 

[Chasintonez]

I did end up going over to the Expo and lucked out. It was not too busy when I was over there Saturday in Bill's room. I spent about 4 hours with Bill going thru just about every aspect of the G3. He had a 50 watt head with his re-worked dirty clean channel and a 100 watt head with the clean clean channel.

First and foremost: Bill is just a super guy. Just a great down to earth guy that just loves guitar tone. He is very patient with questions and in my case going back and forth between heads and cabinets and effects in the loop and out of the loop. He is just very honest and real about what his amp is all about and his passion for his product is great. He always answered any emails I sent with sound/video clips, spent all the time on the phone that was needed for questions. Great experience talking with him during my amp quest and research.

The amp itself....well it is just flat out an excellent sounding amp and playing on it feels fantastic.

The amp I have been after is a great "M" style channel switcher that also has an excellent clean channel. I have played quite a few amps over the past few months both more mainstream brands and more recently the more boutique level amps. I have had a great time testing the amps and have played some really great amps. It is a great time to be a buyer of high quality amps with all of the great builders and high quality being offered. Just such great choices these days.

Both of his clean channels are just excellent. Best clean channels I have experienced in all of the channel switchers I have demoed and better than some clean platform oriented amps.

I went into it thinking I would for sure lean toward the clean clean channel, but ended up really liking his recently re-worked dirty clean channel. That channel is just such a musical and versatile channel and it has such depth that still has some sparkle with the gain down low. Turn the gain up and it gets a fantastic organic very natural sounding grit to a low gain setting. Anything from a nice Hendrix bluesy tone on up to a great Bryan Adams rhythm grit (especially with a strat). Even up to the earlier AC/DC gain levels. The guitar volume reacts great with it for still having a very rich and nice sounding clean with it rolled down. Turn the guitar volume up and it has a really nice lower gain quality.

The gain side picks up where the dirty clean channel left off, or as starting point from the clean clean channel. Still can get down to that lower gain setting for pop rock, classic rock. There is plenty of gain on tap, but the drive channel covers plenty of ground for several flavors of gain. It is definitely a fundamental Marshall basis (To try to put a finger on it...kind of a plexi'ish/jcm'ish hybrid with extra sauce available). What I really liked about the general character of the gain channel is that it has a very clear quality to it all while being driven. So odd chords have good separation to them and it allows the amp to be very articulate all while being very nice under the fingers. While there is some compression there, it still has a very open nature to it. This allows for a lot of dynamic variation to what you can get out of the amp, especially with single coils or tapped humbuckers. It is the kind of amp that will put out whatever you put in. A lot of amps that have quite a bit of gain on tap can tend to lose dynamics and "touch". The G3 reacts great to the volume knob on the guitar at just about any gain setting. With it having an open character to it, the variation that can be controlled just with picking attack and volume knob adjustments gives a very wide range of dynamic control. My perspective was using vintage output to medium output humbuckers and Suhr single coils.

I played some Jeff Beck stuff with it (Day in the Life, Over the Rainbow) and that is usually a pretty good test of what kind of subtle nuances an amp can give back. When playing with fingers, the volume knob and working the little harmonics with the trem the G3 did an excellent job handling the very gentle approach with it, yet could be juiced just by hitting the strings or kicking the volume knob up a bit. I had asked about this earlier in my research about the G3 and had a reply say that it was not really suited for that kind of playing, but my experience with it is it passed with flying colors while using my Suhr Pro Series HSS strat. The G3 can smooth down some or have some bite and grind on top depending on the eq and the approach of how soft or hard the guitar is played. If the player has the ability, there is quite a bit of emotion that can be coaxed out of it. I know most videos have covered the more driven side of the G3, but it really handles the lower gain side of things as well. And you can then go full blown Van Halen and well beyond with the juice and the diodes setting.

The reverb on the gain channel is worth mentioning as well. The on board reverb works great. It is there and giving the ambience, yet is stays out of the way. It does not get blurry or smear the main guitar tone like many on board reverbs do. Just a nice texture to the tone without being overbearing in anyway.

The EQ tone knobs have a wide sweep and allow the G3 to be super versatile. And of course the EQ's are separate on the clean channel and drive side (which is a must for me). Add the 3 way bright switch, the new hard/soft switch, the modern (diodes "on")/vintage switch, the depth control and all of the tone stack control and this amp will do just about anything you can throw at it (maybe minus some of the heavy heavy stuff and DJent).

All in all with all of the new tweaks that Bill has incorporated into the latest version of this amp it is really dialed in. He has added a little more low end girth to the overall character, which can be easily pulled back for some more cut in gigging or studio situations depending on the environment. The new hard/soft switch is nice for some added flavor of how the mids come forward a little or pull back a bit depending on which way the switch is set. The hard setting on the switch gives the amp a little more immediacy on the attack, but still feels good under the fingers.

It has a great loop (yeah I had him put the cables in and out several times for comparison. Not much variation really at all).

The one thing that I really like about Bill as an amp builder is that he is actually a very good guitar player. What I mean by that is that he can really push the amp with the ability of a good rhythm AND lead player and feel what the amp is or is not doing or giving back. He has taken that direct feedback that he is experiencing and has made meaningful adjustments based on this and his customer feedback.

I have played and been impressed by many great amps during my research and demoing thru the past few months. Some top notch amps out there. But I actually put a deposit down for Bill to build me a G3. Spending time with him that day really allowed me to see that he is the type of guy that is going to stand behind his product. The amp is laid out and built at the highest levels. Right up there with all the high end offerings. He never tried to hard sell me, nor did he ever put down any other builders or amp companies. He is a very honest guy that does not want to sell you an amp just for a sale. He really wants the amp to be something that fits his customers and gets them the tone they are after.

I have no affiliation with Bill or Landry Amps. I was not prompted to write anything whatsoever for any type of kickback or discount etc. To the contrary, I drove 5 hours to try out the Landry, spent 4 hours with Bill and the amp and then had to drive 5 hours back home all in the same day. uggghhh I am glad I made the trip and took the chance on trying it in person before making my final decision on an amp. After spending a good straight 4 hours solid on the amp and trying it thru all sorts of combinations of variables, I just figured I would share my experience.

Dollar for dollar, the value you get with a Landry amp considering the high level of quality, tone and playability makes it a very worthy consideration. Is the Landry the end all be all of amps...haha Of course not. We are manic guitar players after all LOL There are tons of great amps that do all sorts of other tones and takes on classic amps. But, anybody looking for a good "M" amp or channel switching amp that can cover a wide variety of styles should really try to get a chance to try one of Bill's amps. More than likely, you won't be disappointed.

You can also feel confident in dealing directly with Bill on the sale. He has a great reputation on these and other forums and in my personal experience he is a very trustworthy and reliable boutique builder with a track record of several years.

Now the waiting period starts for delivery.......It will be well worth the wait as I fortunately was able to really play the heck out of the thing and know what is coming!

 

[kingsxman]

I did end up going over to the Expo and lucked out. It was not too busy when I was over there Saturday in Bill's room. I spent about 4 hours with Bill going thru just about every aspect of the G3. He had a 50 watt head with his re-worked dirty clean channel and a 100 watt head with the clean clean channel.

First and foremost: Bill is just a super guy. Just a great down to earth guy that just loves guitar tone. He is very patient with questions and in my case going back and forth between heads and cabinets and effects in the loop and out of the loop. He is just very honest and real about what his amp is all about and his passion for his product is great. He always answered any emails I sent with sound/video clips, spent all the time on the phone that was needed for questions. Great experience talking with him during my amp quest and research.

The amp itself....well it is just flat out an excellent sounding amp and playing on it feels fantastic.

The amp I have been after is a great "M" style channel switcher that also has an excellent clean channel. I have played quite a few amps over the past few months both more mainstream brands and more recently the more boutique level amps. I have had a great time testing the amps and have played some really great amps. It is a great time to be a buyer of high quality amps with all of the great builders and high quality being offered. Just such great choices these days.

Both of his clean channels are just excellent. Best clean channels I have experienced in all of the channel switchers I have demoed and better than some clean platform oriented amps.

I went into it thinking I would for sure lean toward the clean clean channel, but ended up really liking his recently re-worked dirty clean channel. That channel is just such a musical and versatile channel and it has such depth that still has some sparkle with the gain down low. Turn the gain up and it gets a fantastic organic very natural sounding grit to a low gain setting. Anything from a nice Hendrix bluesy tone on up to a great Bryan Adams rhythm grit (especially with a strat). Even up to the earlier AC/DC gain levels. The guitar volume reacts great with it for still having a very rich and nice sounding clean with it rolled down. Turn the guitar volume up and it has a really nice lower gain quality.

The gain side picks up where the dirty clean channel left off, or as starting point from the clean clean channel. Still can get down to that lower gain setting for pop rock, classic rock. There is plenty of gain on tap, but the drive channel covers plenty of ground for several flavors of gain. It is definitely a fundamental Marshall basis (To try to put a finger on it...kind of a plexi'ish/jcm'ish hybrid with extra sauce available). What I really liked about the general character of the gain channel is that it has a very clear quality to it all while being driven. So odd chords have good separation to them and it allows the amp to be very articulate all while being very nice under the fingers. While there is some compression there, it still has a very open nature to it. This allows for a lot of dynamic variation to what you can get out of the amp, especially with single coils or tapped humbuckers. It is the kind of amp that will put out whatever you put in. A lot of amps that have quite a bit of gain on tap can tend to lose dynamics and "touch". The G3 reacts great to the volume knob on the guitar at just about any gain setting. With it having an open character to it, the variation that can be controlled just with picking attack and volume knob adjustments gives a very wide range of dynamic control. My perspective was using vintage output to medium output humbuckers and Suhr single coils.

I played some Jeff Beck stuff with it (Day in the Life, Over the Rainbow) and that is usually a pretty good test of what kind of subtle nuances an amp can give back. When playing with fingers, the volume knob and working the little harmonics with the trem the G3 did an excellent job handling the very gentle approach with it, yet could be juiced just by hitting the strings or kicking the volume knob up a bit. I had asked about this earlier in my research about the G3 and had a reply say that it was not really suited for that kind of playing, but my experience with it is it passed with flying colors while using my Suhr Pro Series HSS strat. The G3 can smooth down some or have some bite and grind on top depending on the eq and the approach of how soft or hard the guitar is played. If the player has the ability, there is quite a bit of emotion that can be coaxed out of it. I know most videos have covered the more driven side of the G3, but it really handles the lower gain side of things as well. And you can then go full blown Van Halen and well beyond with the juice and the diodes setting.

The reverb on the gain channel is worth mentioning as well. The on board reverb works great. It is there and giving the ambience, yet is stays out of the way. It does not get blurry or smear the main guitar tone like many on board reverbs do. Just a nice texture to the tone without being overbearing in anyway.

The EQ tone knobs have a wide sweep and allow the G3 to be super versatile. And of course the EQ's are separate on the clean channel and drive side (which is a must for me). Add the 3 way bright switch, the new hard/soft switch, the modern (diodes "on")/vintage switch, the depth control and all of the tone stack control and this amp will do just about anything you can throw at it (maybe minus some of the heavy heavy stuff and DJent).

All in all with all of the new tweaks that Bill has incorporated into the latest version of this amp it is really dialed in. He has added a little more low end girth to the overall character, which can be easily pulled back for some more cut in gigging or studio situations depending on the environment. The new hard/soft switch is nice for some added flavor of how the mids come forward a little or pull back a bit depending on which way the switch is set. The hard setting on the switch gives the amp a little more immediacy on the attack, but still feels good under the fingers.

It has a great loop (yeah I had him put the cables in and out several times for comparison. Not much variation really at all).

The one thing that I really like about Bill as an amp builder is that he is actually a very good guitar player. What I mean by that is that he can really push the amp with the ability of a good rhythm AND lead player and feel what the amp is or is not doing or giving back. He has taken that direct feedback that he is experiencing and has made meaningful adjustments based on this and his customer feedback.

I have played and been impressed by many great amps during my research and demoing thru the past few months. Some top notch amps out there. But I actually put a deposit down for Bill to build me a G3. Spending time with him that day really allowed me to see that he is the type of guy that is going to stand behind his product. The amp is laid out and built at the highest levels. Right up there with all the high end offerings. He never tried to hard sell me, nor did he ever put down any other builders or amp companies. He is a very honest guy that does not want to sell you an amp just for a sale. He really wants the amp to be something that fits his customers and gets them the tone they are after.

I have no affiliation with Bill or Landry Amps. I was not prompted to write anything whatsoever for any type of kickback or discount etc. To the contrary, I drove 5 hours to try out the Landry, spent 4 hours with Bill and the amp and then had to drive 5 hours back home all in the same day. uggghhh I am glad I made the trip and took the chance on trying it in person before making my final decision on an amp. After spending a good straight 4 hours solid on the amp and trying it thru all sorts of combinations of variables, I just figured I would share my experience.

Dollar for dollar, the value you get with a Landry amp considering the high level of quality, tone and playability makes it a very worthy consideration. Is the Landry the end all be all of amps...haha Of course not. We are manic guitar players after all LOL There are tons of great amps that do all sorts of other tones and takes on classic amps. But, anybody looking for a good "M" amp or channel switching amp that can cover a wide variety of styles should really try to get a chance to try one of Bill's amps. More than likely, you won't be disappointed.

You can also feel confident in dealing directly with Bill on the sale. He has a great reputation on these and other forums and in my personal experience he is a very trustworthy and reliable boutique builder with a track record of several years.

Now the waiting period starts for delivery.......It will be well worth the wait as I fortunately was able to really play the heck out of the thing and know what is coming!

Thanks. Excellent post and information. You pretty much sum up what I have found with my Landry. Bill is top notch.