Does anyone own both a Lonestar and a Mark V

[PeeMonkey]

For some reason have always had gas for a LSC but never pulled the trigger. I own the Mark V head right now but am still wanting to try out a LSC, is the LSC different enough to justify the purchase? Did you guys end up selling your LSC after purchasing a Mark V? I've only had some experience with a lonestar at GC with the combo, but anything I ever try at GC sounds like poop compared to running it through my setup at home.

 

[Nermel]

I was thinking of the LS Special as my next amp...as a compliment to my MK V...not a replacement...gots to have the option of High-Gain

 

[al-az]

Interesting you should ask. I am currently waiting for a bubinga Mark 5 head ( since March) so when my local dealer got a regular Mark 5 head instock I figured would go by and check it out as I have been getting kind of nervous especially considering some of the negative reviews posted here. I took my PRS Brazilian Santana down to the store and tried the MK5 through a 4x12 cab with vintage 30's. Honestly I was not impressed, actually kind of dissappointed (keep in mind I dislike vintage 30's- just that is what it was plugged into). Having already put some money down I knew that I could cancel at any time, until the custom order amp actually shipped. After that I would be stuck with it if I didn' like it. Now I really do not need another amp as I have 4 different amps already but I have been looking forward to getting one more, a little different for the group, one amp I could take out that would cover all my needs. I went to the boogie site and went over their products and the Lonestar Special really looked interesting so I talked to my dealer and he let me take a Lonestar Special and the Mark 5 home for the night. I played them back to back through my cabinets (2x12 celestion heritage g-65's, 2x12 celestion blue + weber ceramic blue dog). I have a Framptone amp switcher so I could a-b them carefully. First I love EL 84 chime and if the Lonestar had 3 channels I would have likely cancelled my MK5 and bought it. The clean channels were very close. The 2 nd channel of the Lonestar has huge spread from clean to pretty decent overdrive and it does it great from one end to the other. However my main reason for getting the MK was the versatility of having 3 channels. The MK has the flexibility of having all the bases covered ie clean, mid grind, overdrive, all footswitchable. IT took a little tweaking but I could get useable tones to cover all the styles I wanted from the 3 channels. I decided to stay with the MK 5 but it was based on versatility, not blowing the Lonestar away tonewise. In fact I would probably lean a little towards the lonestar's tone for my tastes, if it only had a 3rd channel, a clone of the 2nd channel would be fine. Now I think a lot of the difference was the El84 chime so I really doubt with the 6L6's of the classic there would be enough difference to warrant having both. But give the Lonestar a try it really is a beautiful sounding amp, especially with the EL-84's.

 

[JAZZGEAR]

I've owned the LSC several times over. And now the MK V. They are different amps tonewise. The clean on the V is not like the LSC, like most say around here. Yes, it has a LSC flavor to it, but not the same or close. The LSC is a Texas tone machine true to its name.

Edit: That not to say the clean channel on the V is not great. It really is a beautiful clean tone, it's just different from the LSC.

I'd probably add the LSC to the amp stable if I didn't already have bout 5 amps. If I ever decide to sell my Shiva, it would get replaced with the LSC for sure.