Here's the amp I played. Sexy!

Yesterday I sold an amp to a fellow New Jerseyan, and the designated meeting place was the parking lot of the Oxford Valley, Pa. Guitar Center. I admit it was risky getting paid for an amp and walking straight into a music retailer, but I needed new strings….

Anyhow I always go into stores looking for used amps and used guitars. I’m not one of those guys who has to have something new. I could care less whether it’s been used, and it seems to me that broken in guitars, speakers and amps (even heads) sound better. Of course, it could all just be in my head.

I asked Chris, the guy in guitars, to pull a ‘60s Les Paul repro (R0) in tobacco burst, and a cool-looking red BC Rich Mockingbird off the wall, but it wasn’t about the guitars. I wanted to play through a used Mesa/Boogie Lone Star 2×12 combo. I haven’t played many Mesas because I’d gotten it in my head that I’m a more a Marshall-type guy (simple circuit, EL34s) than a Mesa-type guy (complex, 6L6s). But the Lone Star is a Mesa I’ve definitely wanted to try, along with the Electra Dyne.

First the specs, then my impressions.

Specs

I played the 4x6L6 version, which can run at 10, 50 or 100 watts. Four 6L6s are stock, but apparently the amp can also run four EL34s – which might make it truly scary (in a good way). Five preamp tubes.

The speakers are listed on the Mesa website as C 90s, 90 watts per, wired at 8 ohms. The label of the magnets reads “Black Shadow” and I believe it said on the speakers that they’re made by Celestion.

Those are just the bare-bones specs. You can get the full specs on the Mesa website – it’s a long list! But here are some highlights:

> “From its conception, the Lone Star was targeted directly at exceeding players’ expectations of both tone and versatility…the most ridiculously amazing cleans, classic breakup and high-gain tones we have ever offered in a single amplifier.”

> “Channel 1 epitomizes the best of Black Face: a punchy, shimmering twang that gives way to furry smoothness. It’s based on a traditional vintage/boutique gain structure to produce angelic and warm clean sounds in its low- to medium-gain ranges.”

> “Channel 2 has a split personality. At the flick of a switch, it can clone the clean magic of Channel 1 (with an added touch of blues-roots gain) or kick in an additional high-gain amplifier with its own dedicated control.”

> The amp “lets you assign 10 watts of Pure Class A Single-Ended clippability or 50- and 100-watt Class AB Push-Pull power sections per channel. Then choose the optimum Rectifier. Tube Rectifier Tracking offers you a choice of the elasticity of vacuum tubes or the tight-tracking authority of silicon diodes. These options enable you to foot-switch between high-power headroom and small-amp expression.”

> “Truly seductive reverb (our best ever) includes separate depth controls for each channel, plus a unique voicing feature that switches between glowing amber warmth and a brilliant springy halo.”

> “The Power Switch is fitted with Tweed or normal “On” power settings. The Tweed setting provides a built in Variac effect by reducing the incoming AC voltage, which produces a spongier feel and increased clip-ability. This ability to run everything in somewhat of a brown-out state produces amazing possibilities for the clean sounds that are driven to clip.”

Believe it or not, there are even more options and things this amp does and can do – it’s a Mesa! So for the true picture of the amp, check out the website.

I have to admit I was digging the tooled look (click to see it bigger).

My Impressions

Although I didn’t know much about the Lone Star, I knew that Mesas meant options (versatility) – which makes me a little nervous. I like to plug straight into an amp, twiddle some knobs and go. If I have to spend 30 minutes figuring out the amp, F it.

Initially, looking at all the knobs and switches, I thought I might need a tutorial. In fact, I did need some help from Chris just getting a signal! But once I could hear the Les Paul, I did what I always do when I’m testing out an amp: I put all the knobs at five (12 o’clock) and started playing – in this case, on channel 2 and I believe the 10w setting, which got pretty loud.

Sounded good! I’m a classic rock, WoodyTone guy, and that tone was there. I ran through some Van Halen, ZZ Top, Black Crowes, Rush and other, similar riffs, and was really digging it, particularly when I turned the amp up. Volume magnifies everything (duh), and good amps to my ears will always sound better the louder they get. The Lone Star got better, and I kept getting louder.

The Les Paul sounded awesome, and with that slim 60s neck was easy to play – much easier than my baseball bat neck 1980 Les Paul Standard (which sounds shweet!). I switched to the Mockingbird, which I really wanted to like because I’ve always wanted one. The ‘Bird wasn’t set up optimally – the bridge pickup, a DiMarzio Super Distortion was too low – so it didn’t put its best foot forward. But the neck pickup and especially the bridge + neck sounded much better.

The best part, though, was that the guitars sounded completely different from one another through the amp. To me, that’s a great thing. An amp should have its own tone, but it also should allow a guitar’s voice to come through, as well as your fingers. The Lone Star definitely did that.

Well?

There are two tests of how well I, and probably you, bond with gear. One is you “have to have it.” And the other is how quickly you stop playing. In this case, I didn’t want to stop playing. I don’t even know how long I sat there, but I guess it was long enough for Jason, the manager of that store (a cool guy), and Chris to check on me at least four times.

So I didn’t want to stop playing it – did I recycle my amp money on it? At $1400+ for a used amp, the answer was no. That’s beyond my spur of the moment budget, and into “have to really think about it” land. But I did leave my name in case it goes on sale (it had just gotten on the floor, so major haggling wasn’t an option).

Plus the one thing my ears are never completely certain about is 6L6s. To my ears, those tubes just seem to lack a warmth and depth that you get with EL34s and EL84s. By warmth, I don’t mean bass, I mean a “fullness.” It seems like I can usually get good tones from 6L6 amps, but great tones – to my ears – are harder to get. Yet I am strangely drawn to some 6L6 amps…GAS!

Here’s where I came out: Even with all those options and five preamp tubes, the Mesa Lone Star is definitely a toney amp. I was pleasantly surprised, and would definitely like to spend some alone time with one one day.

Notable

> I didn’t mess around with the amp too much – I was too busy playing – but the ‘verb sounded really good.

> I feel compelled to mention this: On the Mesa website it says that the Lone Star is “stranded island” good. Have I missed that expression all these years? “Desert island” anyone?