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King Loudness « Killer cleans and smooth leads »
Published on 08/31/11 at 09:20The Mesa Boogie Lonestar Classic is a fairly recent offering from the company designed to offer an amplifier that was meant to do cleaner and lower gain sort of tones for the more vintage minded player. The Lone Star has been utilized by great players such as Andy Timmons for use in their pro rigs, and the 1x12 combo version is great for players that want the Lone Star tone in a smaller combo amplifier.
The amp is a dual channel amp that is basically designed to be Mesa's answer to a Fender Twin Reverb or other such "Blackface type" amps. It adds to this wonderful clean channel with an excellent drive channel that is great for smoother lead tones for fusion or some more mild shred. It's not an absurdly high gain amp, but it can be boosted with a good overdrive pedal if needed. Here's a more complete list of specifications:
Lonestar® Amplifier Features:
Handbuilt in the Petaluma, California
Multi-Watt™Power Amp (Patent 7,602,927) featuring Duo-Class™ (Patent 7,173,488) allows you three power options that are channel assignable via 10/50/100 Watt Power Switches:Choose 2 power tubes operating in pure Class A (single-ended), producing 10 watts, or 2 or 4 power tubes running in time-honored Class A/B, producing 50 or 100 watts respectively / 4x6L6, 5x12AX7, 1x5U4
Bias Select Switch (6L6/EL34)
Fixed Bias for Consistent, Maintenance Free Performance
Selectable Diode or Tube Rectifier Tracking - Patent Pending
2 Fully Independent Channels each with Gain, Treble, Mid, Bass, Presence, Reverb & Master Controls
Channel 1=Boutique Vintage Clean/Classic Breakup - Channel 2=Clone of Ch 1 or Cascading High Gain
Drive/Clean Switch activates Ch 2 “Drive” Control (Multi-Stage Cascading Gain Circuit)
Thick/Normal/Thicker Voicing Switch (Channel 2)
Full Power/Tweed™ “Variac” Switch (Patent 5,091,700)
All-Tube, Long Spring Reverb with Bright/Warm Reverb Tone Switch
Output Level Control (over all channels when activated)
Footswitchable Solo Level Control - Patent 6,724,897 (over all channels when activated)
Fully Buffered FX Loop with Send Level Control (over all channels when activated)
True "Hard” Bypass Switch that removes FX Loop, Output Level & Solo Level Controls from signal path
Slave Out w/Level Control
Fan Cooled with On/Off Switch
External Switching Jacks for Channels 1/2, Solo & Reverb
All Aluminum Chassis
2 Button Footswitch (Channel 1/2 & Solo)
Slip Cover
UTILIZATION
Dialing in this amp is far more difficult than I'd like it to have been, especially on channel two. The channels are laid out fairly simply with their separate gain, volume and equalization controls as well as a few basic switching options for different modes on each channel, but the thing about this amp that kind of bugged me about setting it up is that there is definitely a learning curve to figuring out how the EQ controls react - especially on the drive channel. The clean channel is the easier of the two to dial in because it's basically geared up to do pristine clean or a more broken up "pushed" type of clean sound. For that channel I just set my gain levels and then decided on where the EQ controls should go afterwords. For the drive channel I had a few more hurdles in setting it up to sound good. When it's dialed in badly, the amp has a certain buzziness and overbearing bass that is hard to get rid of. It took me probably about an hour to really get the controls set just so with the Les Paul I was using. I find that with this amp, the lows need to be turned down and the highs need to come up more than usual to compensate for the more prominent low end that this amplifier has.
SOUNDS
I've tried this amplifier mostly with a Les Paul and I can basically say that I love the clean tones. It sounds like a great vintage Fender that's been brought into the modern age. It responds with great dynamics and a clear note to note distinction that makes playing a breeze. It's a great channel for jazz or blues as well, because when you push the gain a bit, it gives the amp a nice throaty voice that really allows the user to dig in and get some great harmonics and other overtones happening when the tubes start to cook.
The drive channel once it's dialed in sounds awesome. It has a great smooth voicing that is perfect for fusion players who want a sound that's heavy in the mids and has a refined gain structure with no odd order peaks. It's almost too pristine sounding at times (IE: it'd be nice if it had a bit more oomph to it) but for those looking for a very smooth and clear overdrive sound that is a good low to mid gain tone, this will get you there.
OVERALL OPINION
All in all I think the Mesa Lone Star Classic combo is a great example of a Fender-y clean amp that sounds just wonderful. The drive channel takes some dialing in for sure, but you can get it to be great with some tweaking. At about $2,100 new, these amps aren't cheap but if you're looking for a no compromises great boutique clean tone, the Mesa Lone Star Classic is worth a serious look.
The amp is a dual channel amp that is basically designed to be Mesa's answer to a Fender Twin Reverb or other such "Blackface type" amps. It adds to this wonderful clean channel with an excellent drive channel that is great for smoother lead tones for fusion or some more mild shred. It's not an absurdly high gain amp, but it can be boosted with a good overdrive pedal if needed. Here's a more complete list of specifications:
Lonestar® Amplifier Features:
Handbuilt in the Petaluma, California
Multi-Watt™Power Amp (Patent 7,602,927) featuring Duo-Class™ (Patent 7,173,488) allows you three power options that are channel assignable via 10/50/100 Watt Power Switches:Choose 2 power tubes operating in pure Class A (single-ended), producing 10 watts, or 2 or 4 power tubes running in time-honored Class A/B, producing 50 or 100 watts respectively / 4x6L6, 5x12AX7, 1x5U4
Bias Select Switch (6L6/EL34)
Fixed Bias for Consistent, Maintenance Free Performance
Selectable Diode or Tube Rectifier Tracking - Patent Pending
2 Fully Independent Channels each with Gain, Treble, Mid, Bass, Presence, Reverb & Master Controls
Channel 1=Boutique Vintage Clean/Classic Breakup - Channel 2=Clone of Ch 1 or Cascading High Gain
Drive/Clean Switch activates Ch 2 “Drive” Control (Multi-Stage Cascading Gain Circuit)
Thick/Normal/Thicker Voicing Switch (Channel 2)
Full Power/Tweed™ “Variac” Switch (Patent 5,091,700)
All-Tube, Long Spring Reverb with Bright/Warm Reverb Tone Switch
Output Level Control (over all channels when activated)
Footswitchable Solo Level Control - Patent 6,724,897 (over all channels when activated)
Fully Buffered FX Loop with Send Level Control (over all channels when activated)
True "Hard” Bypass Switch that removes FX Loop, Output Level & Solo Level Controls from signal path
Slave Out w/Level Control
Fan Cooled with On/Off Switch
External Switching Jacks for Channels 1/2, Solo & Reverb
All Aluminum Chassis
2 Button Footswitch (Channel 1/2 & Solo)
Slip Cover
UTILIZATION
Dialing in this amp is far more difficult than I'd like it to have been, especially on channel two. The channels are laid out fairly simply with their separate gain, volume and equalization controls as well as a few basic switching options for different modes on each channel, but the thing about this amp that kind of bugged me about setting it up is that there is definitely a learning curve to figuring out how the EQ controls react - especially on the drive channel. The clean channel is the easier of the two to dial in because it's basically geared up to do pristine clean or a more broken up "pushed" type of clean sound. For that channel I just set my gain levels and then decided on where the EQ controls should go afterwords. For the drive channel I had a few more hurdles in setting it up to sound good. When it's dialed in badly, the amp has a certain buzziness and overbearing bass that is hard to get rid of. It took me probably about an hour to really get the controls set just so with the Les Paul I was using. I find that with this amp, the lows need to be turned down and the highs need to come up more than usual to compensate for the more prominent low end that this amplifier has.
SOUNDS
I've tried this amplifier mostly with a Les Paul and I can basically say that I love the clean tones. It sounds like a great vintage Fender that's been brought into the modern age. It responds with great dynamics and a clear note to note distinction that makes playing a breeze. It's a great channel for jazz or blues as well, because when you push the gain a bit, it gives the amp a nice throaty voice that really allows the user to dig in and get some great harmonics and other overtones happening when the tubes start to cook.
The drive channel once it's dialed in sounds awesome. It has a great smooth voicing that is perfect for fusion players who want a sound that's heavy in the mids and has a refined gain structure with no odd order peaks. It's almost too pristine sounding at times (IE: it'd be nice if it had a bit more oomph to it) but for those looking for a very smooth and clear overdrive sound that is a good low to mid gain tone, this will get you there.
OVERALL OPINION
All in all I think the Mesa Lone Star Classic combo is a great example of a Fender-y clean amp that sounds just wonderful. The drive channel takes some dialing in for sure, but you can get it to be great with some tweaking. At about $2,100 new, these amps aren't cheap but if you're looking for a no compromises great boutique clean tone, the Mesa Lone Star Classic is worth a serious look.