Mesa Lonestar Classic... Wow!!

[Lucidology]

Went on a new amp search..

Wanted pristine cleans combined with a very responsive distortion channel...

Went from bringing home a Twin, taking it back after some problems,
to bringing home a Stiletto Ace , nice cleans but just not clean enough for my purposes, to the refined Lonestar Classic...

What a wonderful amp.... has anyone had experience with these?
It's amazing,,, soulful, responsive, sparkling, etc, etc, etc,
(I'm so on a honeymoon right now ...)

 

[beej]

Never played one, but I've seen the clips of Andy Timmons playing a Lonestar. Dayum! Of course, that guy could play my tube socks and sound great.

 

[phatduckk]

Never played one, but I've seen the clips of Andy Timmons playing a Lonestar. Dayum! Of course, that guy could play my tube socks and sound great.

didnt you and daveb play that LE AL thru a Lonestar at the dallas GC?

fuzzfunk has one at work and its badass

 

[wolfbone07]

Yeah, Timmons is the man. I've loved his tone for 10 years or more. Ever since the first Ear X-tacy album of his.

 

[robelinda2]

i must try out a Lonestar, the Mesa's ive tried have been "not to my liking".

 

[klawn]

Check out the videos on this page, especially the first one and the Interview 1:

Xotic Reality Web Video

His fingers have a lot to do with how beautiful the sound comes from the cabs and there is a Stiletto with the Lone Star but it's amazing... One of the best clean sounds I have ever heard.

 

[Lucidology]

i must try out a Lonestar, the Mesa's ive tried have been "not to my liking".

Rob, know what you mean, but a Lonestar is not your typical boogie..
the Distortion possibilites are much sweeter
then anything the've ever produced before ...
It's a completely different animal all together.

 

[robelinda2]

Well Lucid, an amp has to be great clean for me, so if the Lonestar does that then ill like it plenty!


great videos too, thanks!

 

[Colin]

Rob, know what you mean, but a Lonestar is not your typical boogie..
the Distortion possibilites are much sweeter
then anything the've ever produced before ...
It's a completely different animal all together.

Eric Johnson tones?

 

[Lucidology]

I don't know about Eric Johnson...
but Andy Timmons certainly get's a wonderful tone out of one..
& he very much plays in the same vain as Eric Johnson ...

OH Rob, dude/mate..,
The cleans on the Lonestar Classic are probably some of the best cleans
I've run across so far... & you know how very finicky I am about my cleans

Here's a list of some of the guys, to name a few,
using Mesa Lonestar Classic because of it's pristine cleans
& sweet, but very touch responsive Distortion...

Dominc Miller/Sting
George Pajon/Black Eyed Peas
Rob Harris/Jamiroquai
Bruno Speight/Maceo Parker
Eric Krasno/Soul Live
Andy Timmons/AT Band
Alessandro Benvenuti/Virtuoso EB Axis player
Billy Nershi/String Cheese Incident
Brendan Bayliss/Umphreys McGee
Jason Truby/P.O.D.
David Gilmore/Joss Stone
Tim Izo/Black Eyed Peas
June Yamagishi/Papa Grows Funk
Jeff Raines/Galatic
Andy Taylor/Duran Duran..etc. etc. etc.

Oh, & some guy named: John Petrucci/Dream Theater

 

[klawn]

John Petrucci ? Who's that

Come on, we only speak about very well known artists here. I am sure he is not even a Mesa endorsee : o

 

[beej]

didnt you and daveb play that LE AL thru a Lonestar at the dallas GC?

Wow- was that a Lonestar? Huh ... that totally slipped my mind. It was a fun amp, that's fore sure. Very ZZ top.

 

[Roxy]

The Lonestars are brilliant amps. Bought my first LS Classic in Oct. '04. Picked up the LSS a year ago. Both are 112's. I love the OD on the Special a bit more. With the Classic, you get much more headroom. I've never experienced better cleans. The OD is excellent for everything but metal (not intended for it). I've thought about the Stiletto Ace, but my JSX/Legacy combos are doing it for me. Congratulations! Excellent choice. An amp for life.

 

[roburado]

I'm not a big fan of the Lonestar Special--at least the combo I tried. I thought I might like it, but the distortion is too mushy/flubby for my taste. I like a tighter bottom end. But...you know...to each his own. Haven't tried the dirty channel on the LSC, though.

What I want now is one of those Egnater Mod 50s or Mod 100s, or even one of their modular preamps. Fantastic. Super versatile.

 

[Lucidology]

The Lonestar Special is very different then
the Lonestar Classic...

& I agree with your assement of the Special.. it's also not to my taste either.
Breaks up way too early & if the overdrive is turned up too much, it totally mushes out. It's intended to be played by guys who favor the old tweed sound & feel.

Here's are some of the big differences between the two amps in the Lonestar Series:

The Lonestar Special:
Power Amp Tubes=EL34's
Pre-Amp Tubes=EL84's
Variable wattage ratings of 5/15/30

The Lonestar Classic:
Power Amp Tubes=6L6's
Pre-Amp Tubes=12AX7's
Variable wattage ratings of 25/50/100

So you can see what your dealing with: very different amps tone wise...
Obviously the Classic produces a Blackface type of Clean,
& a distortion sound based on the discontinued Maverick.
Think early Larry Carlton (Steely Dan) and/or
Santana before they got their Dumbles...
However, you can't get heavy or death metal gain or it,
but you can get some luscious thick tones (i.e. Andy Timmons, John Petrucci..)
(one thing though, the Classic does have a Tweed 25 watt option)

The Special is meant to give a player that tweed kind of early breakup,
loose, woobly, lots of sag in the attack, vintage blues or roots sound.
Think Keith Richards, Mick Taylor, Peter Green, Pete Anderson, etc.

With that being said,
The both have channel switching with different wattage choice..
share the same lush reverb choices...& also have a choice
of a Rectifier being either Diode or tube in each channel...

 

[fuzzfunk]

Thought I would throw in my 2 cents about the Lonestar Combo. I play a fairly wide range of guitar styles from super clean jazz/bossa nova to blues, funk, and rock. It took my a while to find an amp that had a great clean tone AS WELL AS a dirtier overdriven sound that can hold up in a rock trio. It's funny you mention Larry Carlton's sound prior to linking up with Howard Dumble - I've always tried to match his tone - super clean (with great sustain!) that begins to distort as you increase the volume. I'm not sure if the Combo that I play through was what you were referring to, but I found that you could get that Carlton-esque sound through the amp. In sum, it's one of the best amps I've played and it's TOTALLY versatile.

I picked up the 2x12 combo and have been gigging with it for the past 8 months. Never had a problem. You can run either, or both channels at 100 or 50 watts, and there are numerous settings/configurations to get that perfect sound you are looking for. I also thought it was great that the footswitch allows you to get a boost without having to switch channels - I guess if your soundman falls asleep during your solo (not a good sign for various reasons), you can "go to 11" without changing your tone through a channel switch.

Anyway, the Mesa guys have thought a lot about the product and I couldn't be happier. I hope my comments were marginally helpful.

Thanks,

J

 

[Lucidology]

Great Post Fuzzfink,,,

Actually, the Lonestar Classic has been called Mesa's version of a Dumble...
You described how it works very well...right on!

I forgot to point out the very cool footswitch Solo boost as you mentioned...
It eliminates the need for a boost pedal entirely... what a great addition!

The only thing this Lonestar Classic amp doesn't
do a is hot-rodden Marshall sound,
but for what it does, it does very well!

Another plus, is that the amp takes to pedals very well...
so it makes all your pedals workable once again.
(as we all know, some amps will only vibe with specific pedals... )

There are a lot of great high gain pedals
out there for those who want gobs of gain....

 

[robelinda2]

sounds like a really cool amp Lucid, i'm gonna try and find one to play. I'm actually impressed it doesnt do high gain Marshall stuff, this aspect appeals to me, i dont see it as a disadvantage, the Lonestar Classic seems like a classy tone king!

edit- how come the lonestar classic isnt on the Mesa website?

 

[Philip]

I heard that if you mess around with effects loop knobs (level) you can increase amount of gain. I've heard some clips of Lonestar which really were quite hard rock and Marshall'y

 

[Lucidology]

Rob... I bet this is the perfect amp for you...
Here's the Lonestar page at the Mesa website:

Mesa Boogie Lone Star Guitar Amplifier

Here's a pretty comprehensive review of the amp:

MusicPlayers.com: Reviews > Guitars > Mesa/Boogie Lone Star 2x12 Combo

Philip.. you're so right...!

Apparently, if you turn the effect loops volume control past noon..
it creates another gain stage...
Haven't even tried this out yet because
I've been so happy with the overdrive channel as it is...
but I'm curious now (thanks for the reminder...)