Members rockhound76s Posted August 2, 2006 Members Share Posted August 2, 2006 Hey everybody, I just wanted to share my experiences so far with my new Mesa Lonestar Classic combo. A short while ago I was torn between buying a Lonestar Classic or Lonestar Special as I loved attributes of each. I spent 4 weekends at various stores testing them out before my purchase of the Lonestar Classic 1x12 combo in Blue Bronco/Silver Grille I found out that I loved the LSC for the headroom of its sparkling clean tones. The lead channel I didn't care for. Not that it wasn't great (it is), but I felt that it didn't offer anything that I couldn't coax out of my Mark IV. The Special, however, had a drive channel voicing that was to die for with the EL84's...distinctly different but beautiful nonetheless. The problem I had with the clean channel was that I was running out of headroom at loud volumes. I finally decided clean tones were the most important, so I went with the Classic 1x12 Combo and bought a set of THD Yellowjackets with JJ EL-84 tubes. Good God, this setup is killer. I am running the Yellowjackets in the outer two slots, with the stock 6L6's in the middle. I run the amp on Tweed Power, with 100 watts mode selected on Ch 1 (all 4 powertubes in use) and 50 watts on Ch2 (only the EL-84's). In 100 watt mode, the clean on CH 1 gains another dimension that sets it way apart from the cleans on my Mark IV and the stock Lonestar. It retains all the 6l6 bloom and chime, but adds a bit of el-84 jangle and sparkle that sounds awesome. It also reduces the bass a tad (which was more than ample with the 6l6's alone) and maintains tremendous headroom for my needs. Switching to 50 watts puts only the EL-84's to use, and I get an alternate clean sound that is bright and jangly, and VERY similar in voicing to the LSS (from what I remember of my demos at the store). The big difference is that there is more bass, probably due to the larger cabinet design. On CH2, I have the Drive disengaged and the Gain cranked for a dirty blues tone. On 50 watts, (again only using the EL84s) i get a similar but slightly bassier tone than I was getting with the LSS Combo. Engaging the drive with a moderate level and things get into heavy blues territory, (esp on the neck pickup of my Les Paul). Flipping to 100 watts and engaging the drive switch, I am getting liquidy sustain, but with a slightly different voicing and a more immediate feel from the EL84's. The response is really pronounced at higher gain and drive settings where harmonics fly off the strings effortlessly. Sorry for the long post, but I am SO fired up about this amp. I noticed that there have been quite a few LSS vs. LSC threads, so I hope that some of you try this option, as I am getting the best of both worlds. While the Yellowjackets are not gonna magically change the LSC into Special, it gets 90% there, and adds another dimension to an already versatile amp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Paul VanJohnson Posted August 2, 2006 Members Share Posted August 2, 2006 Great review - thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rockhound76s Posted August 2, 2006 Author Members Share Posted August 2, 2006 Thanx...trying to spread the word. It seems that this amp doesn't get a lot of love on this board, but I really hope that people see what it has to offer:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Rawchannel Posted August 2, 2006 Members Share Posted August 2, 2006 That makes me want a LSC when I was obsessing about the Special...good thinking!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members musicdog400 Posted August 2, 2006 Members Share Posted August 2, 2006 LSS is at the top of my amp lust list. I spent 20 minutes with it at GC, and it was unreal. I was able to crank it up with a strat. I would like to compare it to a Vox AC30. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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