A Bubbling Tonal Smorgasbord for the Serious Player
Written: Feb 23 '05 (Updated Dec 31 '07)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Superb construction, amazing tonal variety
Cons: Expensive. Heavy. Too much amp for some players.
The Bottom Line: The Lone Star is a great boutique amp for players who want tube warmth and sounds ranging from vintage blues to metal madness. Cons: Expensive.
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| buffoonery's Full Review: Mesa Boogie Lonestar Combo |
Like the headline says, this is a serious amp for serious players. No kids allowed.
The name of Mesa/Boogie’s Lone Star boutique amp may sound as if it were designed to play Texas-style blues but in fact it will deliver a dizzying array of tones ranging from vintage blues to straight ahead rock and roll, hard rock, prog rock, and the gainiest metal you can imagine. It’s a terrific amp that is all about tone, tone, tone, courtesy of the stock 4 6L6 tubes (easiest changeable to 4 EL34’s for some Brit stack raunch) and a host of switching options. This device provides you with a serious sonic arsenal, I kid you not.
The Lone Star (reviewed here in its 1x12 combo version; a 2x12 combo and head with matching 4x12 cab are also available) looks as if it is built like a rock. The front contains most of the control knobs (see below), the reverse the usual assortment of speaker selection, slave, bias select (6L6 or EL34), and reverb (one knob for each channel, plus a switch that allows you to choose “bright”, i.e. spring, or “warm”, i.e. plate, and both are superb). The manual is very clearly written and should answer most questions. If you’re like me, though, you just plug in and start fooling around, but read the manual because it has important tone tips.
You get two channels. Channel 1 is a traditional blues/rock tube amp that will deliver warm, shimmering tones, perfect for a Strat or ES335. Channel 2 can be set to either a higher gain version of 1, or a monster gain creature by flipping a switch. This allows one to climb into the metal stratosphere is so inclined. So, essentially, what you have here is two different amps, with great tonal variety and a price tag to match.
The amp’s front control knobs are the usual assortment, one set for each of the two channels. You get:
Gain—and there’s a lot of it when dialed up, don’t lay it on too heavy. The more Gain you use, the less effect will the various tone controls possess.
Treble—This is first in the signal path and will affect your Mids and Bass so look for the sweet spot
Mids—Easily scoopable, for those so inclined
Bass—Lots if it, too, but reduce it as you add Gain
Presence—Affects frequencies higher than Treble and independent of the other controls. Lower Presence actually serves as a compressor
Master—Master feed from the end of the preamp to the driver stage. Each channel has its own Master and you can therefore match their relative volumes
Drive—Only for Channel 2, this controls the high gain preamp for that channel. If you switch it out, you’ll get a slightly gainier Channel 1; if you leave it in, look out! (The manual recommends you set your Gain higher than Drive for a warmer usually more preferable tone; don’t just switch things to 11 with this amp or you’re missing really cool sounds).
This is all standard stuff so far. The heart of the Lone Star, therefore, is the switching options that really determine the nature of the tones you want. One switch allows you to switch between Channel 1, 2, or the footswitch. The next switch gives the option of “Drive” or “Clean”. This activates the “Drive” control for Channel 2, giving you uber gain when you need to go over the top on your leads.
A very important option is the 50W/100W controls, one for each channel. These allow you to use either 2 or 4 of the tubes. You can set one channel to 50W and the other to 100W and mess with the volume controls as you please. The point, of course, is that you can overdrive at 50W to attain clipping more easily while retaining the 100W channel for maximum headroom. Many different tones can be attained this way.
Another cool option gives you “Normal”, “Thick” and “Thicker”, which determines the frequencies the Treble control will enhance. Normal is best for clean blues leads. Thick lowers the frequency of the Treble for (as the manual says) a more traditional Brit sound, while Thicker lowers the frequency even more and adds more gain for metalhead solos and maximum sustain.
Two more switches permit you to select “Tweed” (read “Fender”), which lowers the line voltage to 93 watts so you can clip at lower volumes. Use this with the 50W option for real vintage sounds. Stay with “On” for normal volumes. The “Standby” switch idles the tubes and increases their life.
The back panel contains a Rectifier switch. At 50W, you can use either a tube rectifier or a silicon diode, while at 100W you automatically get the diode rectifiers that provide the headroom for the 4 6L6’s.
There’s other cool stuff on the back that I won’t go into, in the interest of space. The important thing is that this amp delivers an awesome variety of tones. You really have to play with the tone controls and various options and you just CAN’T crank this to 11 or you’re missing out on the subtleties of this wonderful amp, from spongy leads to cranking blaster chords to weeping bends. It’s a marvelous machine. And it’s plenty loud, believe me. The 1x12 combo I tested at Guitar Center (through a Fender Strat and a Gibson SG) blew me away and I didn’t get it much above 5 on the Richter scale. This easily matches my Line 6 Vetta II, rated at 150 solid state watts.
So who should buy this near-masterpiece? Answer: serious guitarist who demand serious tube sounds and are willing to pay for them. Guitarists who play across the blues, rock, hard rock, and metal spectra, and who are willing to spend the time coaxing out the sounds they want. Guys who don’t mind lugging around something that seems to weigh as much as a nuclear attack submarine.
So who shouldn’t buy this? First, guitarists who don’t have something over sixteen hundred samolians. Second, guitarists who tend to stick to one particular variety of music. While jazz, country, metal, and other types of players will find some very pleasing tones in one channel or the other, you’re still paying for the other channel. If you like sweet singing leads, you really have no use for Channel 2. If you’re a high-gain crunch hound, forget Channel 1. Spend your dough wisely and find an amp more specific for your needs.
On the other hand, if you are a real tone head, love vintage tube sounds but like the option to turn up the gain and fire away, this is a terrific amp. All you’ll need are your delay and chorus pedals and maybe a Tube Screamer and off you go. And it goes with out saying that any serious collector will want this in his game room.
As Will Smith said in Independence Day (the only worthwhile line in that sorry movie), "I gotta get me one of these!"
Note for the Grammar Police: Yes, I know that the kindest thing that can be said about the headline is that it is a mixed metaphor, as luncheons typically do not bubble, but I still like it.
My effects and stomp box reviews:
/review/Digitech_Brian_May_Red_Special_Overdrive_Pedal/content_412727086724
Boss ME-20 Guitar Multiple Effects Processor
Boss GT-8 Multi-Effects Processor
Boss ME-50 Multi-Effects Processor
Digitech RP50 Guitar Effects Processor
Digitech RP80 Guitar Effects Processor
You may find some of my guitar reviews interesting:
Epiphone Zakk Wylde Les Paul Custom
Epiphone Les Paul Standard
Epiphone G-400 SG
Fender Classic 50s Esquire
Fender Cyclone
Fender VG Stratocaster
Fender American HSS Stratocaster
Fender John Mayer Stratocaster
Fender Eric Johnson Stratocaster
Fender Stevie Ray Vaughan Stratocaster
Fender 57 Stratocaster Reissue
Fender 50s Telecaster
G&L Legacy Strat
Gibson ES-5
Gibson ES-5 Switchmaster
Gibson ES-165 Herb Ellis
Gibson ES-175
Gibson ES-333 Memphis Style Hollow Body
Gibson ES-335
Gibson ES-335 1959 Reissue
Gibson ES-350T
Gibson Jimmy Page Les Paul
Gibson Les Paul GT
Gibson Les Paul 1957 Goldtop
Gibson Les Paul Studio
Gibson Les Paul Classic Ebony
Gibson SG 61 Reissue
Gibson Super 400
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Martin D-28 Acoustic
Ovation VXT Acoustic Electric
PRS McCarty
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Variax 700 Acoustic
Other amp reviews from buffoonery:
Crate Acoustic CA30
Crate Power Block
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Fender 64 Vibroverb Custom Blackface
Fender Super Sonic 1x12 Combo
Fender MH 500 Metalhead
Hughes and Kettner Switchblade 50 Combo
Line 6 Spider II Head
Line 6 Flextone III Plus
Line 6 Vetta II Combo
Line 6 Spider III 75
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Mesa 5:25 Express
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Mesa Dual Rectifier Roadster
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Mesa Triple Rectifier Head
Mesa Lone Star Combo
Peavey JSX Joe Satriani Signature Head
Peavey Classic 30 Combo
Peavey Triple XXX Head
Peavey Penta Head
Roland Micro Cube
Vox Valvetronix AD60VT
And you may also be interested in a few books such as:
Hugo Pinksterboer – Tipbook Amplifiers and Effects
Ritchie Fliegler – Amps: The Other Half of Rock and Roll
Michael Ross – Getting Great Guitar Sounds: A Non-Technical Approach to Shaping Your Personal Sound
Nick Freeth – Classic Guitars: Identification and Price Guide
Recommended:
Yes
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