In winter, more often than not, all we feel like doing is staying home and forgetting about going out. In my case, though, an invitation to spend the afternoon somewhere cozy, calmly trying out an appealing amplifier, has me springing up and pushing aside whatever chores I had planned for the day. And that's exactly what happened when I got the offer to test the Laney IronHeart IRT120: a rather gray winter afternoon suddenly gained some color thanks to a few hours spent playing through this amp.

It's worth mentioning that Laney is a company that has been around for quite some time and has vast experience in the world of amplification, which is why it has a very extensive product list to choose from, divided into different sections. The model in question is the 120 W IRT amplifier from the IronHeart line, which, as its name suggests, belongs to the most aggressive side of the company. It's worth noting that the full IronHeart family also includes a 60 W head and a 60 W 2x12 combo with the option of adding an extension cabinet.

The subject of today's review is the big brother of the entire IronHeart family, and the one with the most power and the most possibilities of the three. The head comes with a matching 4x12 cabinet from the same series. Even unplugged, the head-and-cab combination looks very attractive, which gives it a mouthwatering presence on stages or in rehearsal spaces geared toward heavier styles.

Technical specifications

What's inside?
What does the amplifier have? What knobs, inputs, outputs... are we going to find? When you turn the head on, it surprises you, because you don't even need to flip the standby switch: the head lights up inside with a red glow that can be seen from anywhere in the room where you're playing. Let's go over each of its features:

1) Input: Jack input.
2) On/Off switch to activate a Pre Boost ahead of the amplifier, thus producing more saturation.
3) PreBoost: How much boost we need, that is, how much extra saturation we want. This is directly related to the ON/OFF switch and affects both channels.
4) Clean Volume: This is the amount of volume we want for the clean channel. We can get a saturated sound simply by finding a combination of PreBoost and volume.
5) On/Off switch for the Clean or Rhythm channel: With this switch, either only the clean channel volume is active, or you can easily engage the rhythm channel for semi-saturation. If we choose clean, the Pre Boost control is more sensitive and saturates less than when the rhythm option is selected.

We should point out that the amplifier has three channels: a clean channel, a rhythm channel and a lead channel, which is the one with the most saturation. Some controls, therefore, have functions shared by several channels.

6) Lead Gain/Rhythm Gain: You can control the amount of saturation you want for each channel. On the rhythm channel, it goes from an angry clean sound to a distorted one. On the Lead channel, it goes from a fairly saturated sound to a tone designed entirely for metal.
7) EQ: Three-band equalization with bass, mids and treble, independent for each channel. In addition, each EQ pot can be pulled out to work as a pull switch. By pulling out each control, we extend how far that control can reach, in terms of frequency range.
8) Lead / Rhythm volume: With these controls you can choose how much volume you want from each channel. Like most amplifiers of this type, you can play with the volume and the input gain to get a wide range of sounds: from an overdriven tone to a fully compressed metal sound.
9) Dynamics: This control is one of the most attractive pots on the amp. You can choose how much bass response you need depending on the cabinet you're using.
10) Tone: This is a tone control like the one we might have on a guitar. It simply gives us the option of rounding off the overall sound a bit more.
11) Reverb: This is the reverb control. In this case, the reverb is digital.
12) Watts: This control is very interesting, because it lets you choose how much power you need from the amplifier. Best of all, you can do it on the fly and adjust it at any time.

Around back, the amplifier offers a series of rather attractive features that go beyond the typical options of any head.

a) Bias control: You can choose which power tubes to use, 6L6 or EL34. When you change them, you must remember to adjust this control. From the factory, the amp comes with 6L6s.
b) Effects loop: A conventional loop with an attenuation control.
c) Footswitch: Inputs for the channel-switching pedal. It's nice to be able to choose the type of connection you need depending on the footswitch you have.
d) Speaker connections: Honestly, it's great to have every connection option. That way, you'll find the outputs you need in any situation that might come up.

How is it packaged?
How are all of the amplifier's features presented?
It's worth noting that the amp looks completely rugged and gives the impression it can withstand the abuse we usually put our gear through. On top of that, it's quite a spectacle when you power up, flip the switches and watch the whole inside of the amp light up in red.

Sound
Now we come to the most important part: the moment I plug in the guitar and take it off standby. That's when I play the first chord and it becomes clear that I'm dealing with a Rock/Heavy/Metal amplifier. However, you can also get other sounds out of it, calm it down and reach much creamier registers, but if you're not careful, the "beast" inside comes out and starts throwing saturation and "attacks" all over the room. For the occasion I used one of my Les Pauls, with humbuckers, which suited the amp perfectly. When I plug into the clean channel, we get a sound with plenty of bass and treble, perhaps a little short on mids, but with a great response to pick attack.

On the rhythm channel, we can hear how the amp goes from a fully overdriven sound (more or less open) to a fairly saturated sound with relative compression. Interestingly, this is the channel where the effect of pulling the EQ controls is most noticeable. On the Lead channel, you can tell from the moment you plug in (even with the gain at 2) that you can feel the metal running through the cabinet. If you raise the gain, you increase the distortion but also the compression. You also have bass and treble to spare, although the mids may be a touch more hidden. So the amp tells me loud and clear that it has a modern metal character. Of course, you can play with the dynamics control, which allows for a bit more bass and is also very rewarding on the rhythm channel. With the Watts control you can increase the power. However, if you lower the power, you can turn up the volume and heat up the tubes more, which also increases the compression.

Conclusion
This amplifier won't leave you indifferent: if your style is Metal/Heavy, you should try it. It has very attractive components, but what really stands out is that its sound is very modern. So you should ask yourself whether you want a new-millennium metal sound or whether you're looking for something more classic. On the other hand, you have to consider the number of options the amp offers, the most remarkable being its great versatility. That said, if you use it for metal, don't expect that tweaking the controls will make it sound like a Twin Reverb.