ALL THE DIFFERENCE

British amp maker Laney has poured three eras of classic delay sounds into its new high-end pedal, The Difference Engine, which has attracted the interest of Brian May among many others

- Jamie Dickson

Laney may be best known as a Brum-based amp maker with a rich backstory in British rock and metal, but its deftly designed and styled effects pedals are growing in number every year. Now, with the launch of a sophisticated delay pedal called The Difference Engine, the company has got a rack-quality echo machine that conjures up some of the most famous tones in rock - and Laney says it'll please everyone from plug-and-play newcomers to the most pedantic MIDI-obsessives out there.

Intrigued, we join Simon Fraser-Clark of Laney - whose keen ears shaped the pedal's wide palette of classic sounds - to learn why top-flight guitarists ranging from Brian May and Billy Duffy to Tom Quayle are getting involved with curating and creating the pedal's raft of iconic delay sounds.

How did the idea for The Difference Engine take shape?

"It started with making effects for Tony Iommi in relation to the amps that he used - a single-channel amp with not many features on it and not a lot of gain. It leads you down the route to what you need. So first, we made a boost pedal, a distortion pedal and a chorus pedal. But the missing link was the delay pedal. So now, with The Difference Engine, I think [the Laney effects range] allows players to get every sound that they would realistically want from a relatively compact pedalboard.