Mesa Lonestar Special

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Mesa Lonestar Special

Postby Alain Benoit » Fri May 18, 2012 12:56 pm

This week in the studio is a Mesa Lonestar Special combo.
Single 12".
Four EL84's.
Tube rectifier.
Four preamp tubes plus a PI.

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Re: Mesa Lonestar Special

Postby Malcolm Boyce » Wed May 23, 2012 1:37 am

Make sure you get Wilson to play through this thing... and then maybe he'll actually pop in here and post about it!
"Once again, it is NEVER the gear that makes a good record.
It just fills Forum pages..." --compasspnt

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Re: Mesa Lonestar Special

Postby Scott DeVarenne » Fri May 25, 2012 12:38 am

I had trouble focusing on the Lonestar because Manoli walks in and he's like, totally in way better shape since last time I saw him (probably about a year ago). Lost a bunch of fat and he's buff now. Cool. Anyway, he's like "it's really middy", meaning the guitar sound I'm working. So Manoli leaves and this amp is bugging me now. I dail the mid down all the way and it's still got a blatty sort of quality. It's not a bad sound, but I'm looking for something a little leaner and this is girthy as all-get-out. I'm mostly in 15watt mode, which is two of the 4 el84s. I'm going for cleanish crunch at a decent volume and it feels like I'm starting to squash the output stage way sooner than I woulda thunk (channel volume at 2 o'clock). It sounds cool, but maybe a little too vintage for my liking. Switching to 30watt really opened it up. A few adjustments and it was doing it for me- but she was some loud, eh? I took a break and when I came back to it I was liking the lower wattage settings better than before. I really felt like I would have been stylin' if I had an eq between my guitar and the amp to dail back some of the lows hitting the front end. I'm not saying that I wanted single coils, no way that's crazy, but a slightly thinner signal coming from the guitar would have allowed me to really enjoy myself. Overdriven tone? Wow. Maybe someday I will possess such beauty.

Regarding the tube rectifier:
... maximum headroom of the SILICON DIODES when the 30 watt setting is called up and brings up the 5Y3 rectifier tube for increased dynamic character and a juicy feeling sag when either 15 or 5 watts is chosen.

I wonder if this was a significant factor in my liking the 30watt mode.
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Re: Mesa Lonestar Special

Postby Alain Benoit » Fri May 25, 2012 1:16 am

Al Gallant played through it for two sets tonight.
Sounds to me like a Mesa trying to be a Vox and they kinda pull it off in a classic Mesa kinda way.
Wouldn't think of kicking this amp outta the tent for munchin' on crackers.
Warm, never too bright, feature full and always very pleasant.
Like Scott I found anything less than the 30W mode to be lacking.

A.
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