G.A.S Attack... Mesa Lonestar !!!!

[captain cavman]

I was at my pal's guitar shop last saturday and he just received a Mesa Lonestar 1x12 combo and this amp rocks !!!
It not the Mesa high gain kind of thing but a very versatile clean/crunch oriented beast.
It sounds warm and bluesy, it has wonderfull cleans.
You can get old Fender, Marshall and even some Vox kind of tone.

It's simply great !

Anyone tried this amp ?

Well , I need one , really !

[Mincer]

Re: G.A.S Attack... Mesa Lonestar !!!!

Anyone know how this sounds compared to a Blue Angel or a Maverick?

[kaknight]

Re: G.A.S Attack... Mesa Lonestar !!!!

well it's not Class A to begin with.

[mrid]

Re: G.A.S Attack... Mesa Lonestar !!!!

Anyone know how this sounds compared to a Blue Angel or a Maverick?

From what I've heard about the LS...I'd hold onto that Blue Angel.

[Hot _Grits]

Re: G.A.S Attack... Mesa Lonestar !!!!

From what I've heard about the LS...I'd hold onto that Blue Angel.

I agree. I played one briefly, and it was a nice amp. But it lacked push through the mids. I have a feeling it wouldn't cut through a mix that well. Would be a good choice for humbucker guitars, I think.

Definitely not as good as my dearly departed blue angel, though.

[Mike M.]

Re: G.A.S Attack... Mesa Lonestar !!!!

Just out of curiousity, why is the Mesa Blue Angel held in such high esteem around here? I'm asking because I've never heard one myself. Thanks.

[Hot _Grits]

Re: G.A.S Attack... Mesa Lonestar !!!!

I owned a blue angel head for a couple of years, and gigged it regularly into a mesa recto 2x12 with celestion v30s (the combos use a much more efficient celestion that I like less).

The coolest thing about the BA is it is so unlike any other mesa. Most mesas are basically some complication (some would argue a dilution) of a fender princeton circuit. The BA departs from the standard mesa formula of class AB, 6l6 'fender with extra gain stages' blueprint in several ways.

Firstly, it's class A, running 6v6 (fender deluxe) and EL84 (Vox AC30) tubes either seperately or together. The idea behind this is that each set of tubes work together to negate certain weakness when overdriven. 6v6s can get ratty in the top end, and el84s lack bass, so run them together and the sound fattens and evens out.

So you can get a couple of quite different flavours of amp tone, and combine them if you need to fatten things out or want more headroom.

Another cool thing about the amp is that it's simple to use. One volume, ones set of tone controls, a bright switch, a power tube selector (on the front-cool!) and reverb. No endless tweaking. More importantly, much less circuitry than the average boogie, meaning less drain on the amp's intrinsic tone. And the best reverb I've heard in a mesa.

One weakness is that with 38 watts class A max, it doesn't have the kind of clean headroom that a 50watt class AB amp has. That's the main reason I went to my vibrolux. Still, that's an advantage if you want power stage overdrive at a low level. Great club gig blues amp.

It's no longer in production. I'll definitely get another if I spot one at the right price.

[Mincer]

Re: G.A.S Attack... Mesa Lonestar !!!!

Yeah what he said! Its a very un-Boogie-like amp, and it is part of the Dual Rect series! Think of a 'dark deluxe', or a twin with more lower mids, and that is the sound. The best reverb I have heard on any amp. Also, the 'sweet spot' is between 3-5 on the volume. Amazing sound...at high volumes it tends to flab out, but it is a very loud amp- you'd never know i keep it on the 18 watt setting. It easily competes with a drummer. I don't play blues, but kind of a jazzy rock (Mahavishnu, Dixie Dregs) and it is perfect. No master volume, but you don't need it. You can go from clean to crunch with just your volume control- it is very touch-sensitive.