I've been looking for a good gig amp lately. Having tested out some Mark IV's and DC's back when stores had plenty of them, I've been drawn to the LoneStar combo.
First let me say that right now my interest is in straight ahead clean jazz tone. But I plan to delve into other idioms like Classic Rock and Fusion once I get the clean jazz down. Once I have my clean repetoire together then I plan to move on to these other styles.
Well one thing is for sure! The thing does not suffer from lack of power! Sheesh! I quote another forum member when I say, "You can get rid of your hair dryer!". :smokin: I noticed the price tag flapping in a horizontal configuration while I was playing as if it was taped to the back of a sports car going 100 miles an hour! :laugh2:
Guys that play traditional jazz guitar are somewhat different, however to their Rock counterparts when it comes to a BOOMY BASS tone. While Rock cats aren't particularly fond of a boomy low end, Jazz cats love it just like they love BIG BUTT WOMEN! The few times that I got to test out the Lonestar seemed to reveal that it's somewhat lacking in this department. Rather than the boomy bass (big butt - tone that I seem to be able to readily dial in on a Marshall, lets say) I get a much more limited bass response (flat ironing board butt)! :chairfall
Altogether its a very sweet amp! It's got plenty of headroom and is capable of being driven very hard while remaining clean. At the same time it posses some really sweet classic distorted tones that are full of harmonics (at least to my ears)! Because of the limited bottom end response though, it seems to be marketed more to rockers than jazz cats.
I'm not particularly fond of Boogies reverb tanks either! They seem to be a little drier than I like my reverb tanks to be.
In summary, it seems to me that Marshall is still in the lead here when it comes to being able to dial in the types of tones that I'm fooling around with these days. That's not to say that I reached my final verdict yet! I plan to spend more time at the local shop with the Lonstar. It could be that I'm just not familiar enough with the amp and all of it's features just yet. So I'll continue to investigate since I'm in no hurry to buy.
The local shop whose name you all know, but who shall remain nameless really sucks! They don't have a sound-proof room because their AH manager converted it into his private office!
Then most of their amps aren't plugged in and don't have chords. So you say ask a salesperson for help, right? :laugh2: Yeah, right! Those cats don't even know how to turn most of the amps on! :laugh2: I can't tell you the number of customers sitting in front of a silent amp as they strum the strings and wonder why the thing won't make a sound! Meanwhile the salesperson is standing behind em scratching their head as well! :laugh2:
Give me your thoughts!
First let me say that right now my interest is in straight ahead clean jazz tone. But I plan to delve into other idioms like Classic Rock and Fusion once I get the clean jazz down. Once I have my clean repetoire together then I plan to move on to these other styles.
Well one thing is for sure! The thing does not suffer from lack of power! Sheesh! I quote another forum member when I say, "You can get rid of your hair dryer!". :smokin: I noticed the price tag flapping in a horizontal configuration while I was playing as if it was taped to the back of a sports car going 100 miles an hour! :laugh2:
Guys that play traditional jazz guitar are somewhat different, however to their Rock counterparts when it comes to a BOOMY BASS tone. While Rock cats aren't particularly fond of a boomy low end, Jazz cats love it just like they love BIG BUTT WOMEN! The few times that I got to test out the Lonestar seemed to reveal that it's somewhat lacking in this department. Rather than the boomy bass (big butt - tone that I seem to be able to readily dial in on a Marshall, lets say) I get a much more limited bass response (flat ironing board butt)! :chairfall
Altogether its a very sweet amp! It's got plenty of headroom and is capable of being driven very hard while remaining clean. At the same time it posses some really sweet classic distorted tones that are full of harmonics (at least to my ears)! Because of the limited bottom end response though, it seems to be marketed more to rockers than jazz cats.
I'm not particularly fond of Boogies reverb tanks either! They seem to be a little drier than I like my reverb tanks to be.
In summary, it seems to me that Marshall is still in the lead here when it comes to being able to dial in the types of tones that I'm fooling around with these days. That's not to say that I reached my final verdict yet! I plan to spend more time at the local shop with the Lonstar. It could be that I'm just not familiar enough with the amp and all of it's features just yet. So I'll continue to investigate since I'm in no hurry to buy.
The local shop whose name you all know, but who shall remain nameless really sucks! They don't have a sound-proof room because their AH manager converted it into his private office!
Then most of their amps aren't plugged in and don't have chords. So you say ask a salesperson for help, right? :laugh2: Yeah, right! Those cats don't even know how to turn most of the amps on! :laugh2: I can't tell you the number of customers sitting in front of a silent amp as they strum the strings and wonder why the thing won't make a sound! Meanwhile the salesperson is standing behind em scratching their head as well! :laugh2:Give me your thoughts!
Last edited:
