Forgetting about CH2 LSC v2

[ellem52]

I've got CH1 and CH2 set nearly identically. Drive is set to off and the effects loop is engaged. The biggest difference between CH1 & CH2 is the reverb setting. It's basically off on CH2. Essentially I switch to that channel for more complicated parts, heavier riffing and when delay is engaged.

I'm condering disengaging the effects loop, unhooking the floor channel/solo switcher and running the amp with only CH1. Essentially treating the amp like a Fender Princeton with balls.

I realize I'm giving up a fair amount of features/functionality but i think the thing my LSC v2 does best is clean. Between my Badass '78 (Distortion set to 0) and my Big Muff Pi with Tone Wicker I have plenty of distorted tones.

I think Vernon Reid essentially runs his LSC this way too.

Anyone doing this or am I completely insane?

 

[Sebber]

At the moment I'm doing precisely this with my LSS: running through CH1 only with the FX loop and MV disengaged. I've never been an FX loop user and I generally found the solo boost to be a bit fiddly in getting the levels nice and balanced, and that even if I got it sounding right for one venue, the moment we went somewhere else it needed tweaking again... and as good as the amp's reverb is, I'm setting it to low levels and kicking in extra from my pedal board as required. It's not that I don't like CH2 so much as I can't be bothered with the pedal at the moment, and to be perfectly honest CH1 just sounds so damned good!

 

[DanL]

Wow. Surprised to read this. I've been considering buying a new Mesa head and from everything I've heard online (especially some of the Andy Timmons videos), the Lonestar was high on my list. Not sure if I'll sell my DC-5 head or not........but wanted something with a more useable lead channel than the DC-5. I like the clean channel a lot on the DC-5 but I can only seem to dial in a killer heavy metal rock tone with the lead channel, and those days are long gone for me. If want that kind of tone I'll plug into my Marshall.

Anyways, just starting to check out the Boogie Board again after many years away and I'm really interested to see how you guys are using the Lonestar. Like I said, the Andy Timmons demo video really drew me in. Clean channel sounded great and the lead channel had a great warmth to it while maintaining articulation for great sounding lead solos.....can't get that kinda tone out of my DC-5.

 

[djw]

I don't think this is insane, and the amp is still worth it for the clean channel alone, I think. However, if Ch2 is just not quite there for you, well, that's what the Reeder mods are for.

I have extra dirt pedals on my board, for Marshally tones that I'll never get out of Ch2 -- and that's ok. But Ch2 sounds like nothing else when it's dialed in right. It's a thing of beauty.

Just sayin'. I highly recommend the mods (#1 and #2 on Ch2) if you like the amp enough to keep it, but aren't happy enough with Ch2 to use it.

 

[saintzband]

It's not insane. I run my Lonestar on Ch 1 only. I use a digitech Bad Monkey for distortion (before the amp; not in the loop) and I get killer bluesy/classic rock crunch...BUT... there's 1 advantage of leaving the fx loop engaged and that is the solo boost. I think you'll really want to keep this feature.

 

[Scofieldme]

I do not like the compression on the CH2. Solution? Hmmm, not really but I partially found one. I disengage the Drive and pushed Gain to 3 o'clock. Less compression and if I want more gain, I use pedals.

 

[rfrakes]

I have done the Reader mods, and should consider the blending mod, so you can foot switch in a blend on both channels. Sounds like what we need. Is it true that the loop provides another gain stage? If so, if you hard bypass, I guess that extra stage isn't there.

 

[Toowoombaus]

Yes I would say the way this amp sounds the best is to use Channel 1 only, and keep the effects loop off.

I have a 1x12 LSC 100/50 watt with new JJ EL34's.

Goosing the input with gain from a pedal with distortion at zero works pretty well.

I am not a fan of using pedal distortion but a little bit of overdrive does work. For instance I have gotten good results with the Way Huge, Green Rhino (Tube Screamer emulator) and the Pork Loin soft clip injection pedals.

Channel 2 is a waste except sometimes for solos it can sound O.K. For rhythm with the Drive switch engaged it is low midrangey over compressed lifeless Mush-Ball and I hate it! :evil: The EQ is useless I always ran the Bass at about 3.
The only way I could make channel 2 sound good was to run a Focusrite Red Mic Pre/Parametric EQ in the effects loop to dial out all the mud.

As far as the getting an extra gain stage from the effects loop It can yeild some interesting results. I stumbled across this one night at home trying to make channel 2 sound decent at low volume.
I had a TC Electronics Delay pedal that can accept line level signals in the loop and I cranked the Master volume up to about 7 or 8 I had the Output low using it as the Master and W0W! It sounded great!

You have to set the Drive and Gain a little differently but I was impressed. If only channel 2 sounded this good right out of the box! It was a little different at rehearsal and I didn't really spend the time dialing it in but maybe with some tweaking it could work.

I am officially OVER messing around with this amp. After about 10 gigs in the last four months I am selling it and I will never turn it on again. My theory is I shouldn't have to work this hard to get a decent usable gain channel. Also I prefer a more British sounding gain channel, so I just bought a Rivera Venus 6 and it nails the Fender cleans better than the Lonestar and the gain channel is very British class A with tons of usable uncompressed gain. I just got it last night. I have used Riveras for years and have gotten the tones I prefer.

My bitching aside, the Lonestar channel 1 is very good and the various features on the amp make it really nice just not for me.

 

[plan-x]

^^Hey Toowooms, there is a mod that fixes the clarity of ch 2. See "Reeder mod #1" sticky here: http://forum.grailtone.com/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=30857

For further improvement, check out the "Reeder mid mod" in 2nd sticky of this sub forum

 

[Toowoombaus]

Thanks for your input.

I went looking for clips on You Tube of the reeder mod and the few I found were very subtle, I couldn't hear much of a difference. I have also read the same thing on this site.

Channel one is good but the EQ is still kinda weak and it is very bass and low mid heavy in it's voicing, so if the mod makes Ch 2 sound like Ch 1 that would be an improvement but I don't know... I obviously haven't heard it personally.

The distortion on Ch 2 is still very compressed and lifeless.

Help me out here, So I buy a $2000 channel switching tube amp from the great Mesa Boogie and now I need to MODIFY it to get decent results out of the gain channel? Uh, no, no, no...

It has a useable clean channel with some issues, but it's pretty good. It has some great features, half power, switching rectifier, tweed mode, EL34/6L6 operation. That is about it in my offended, not so humble opinion.

Boogie has a good reputation for awesome gain and this Lonestar falls short in that category.

It's really my fault because I bought it online without playing it. I did by the way do tons of reading about it and I should have listened to the people who said, "it's dark, run the bass on 3, do the reeder mod, it won't cut through with a band" Because everyone was right. Having owned two previous Boogie Studio Preamps I thought "it will be O.K. I can make it work" WRONG.

It's for sale on Craigslist.

 

[ellem52]

While getting my amp's manufacturing date I had an email conversation with Trent at Mesa. First, let me say this, the guy was absolutely awesome even though I gave him the wrong serial number the first time.

He gave me some ideas on CH2 and I played with them for a while. I think the gist of any advice on CH2 is turn the BASS down and the PRESENCE up. Everything else is relative.

I get the the whole "Why do I need to do a mod to fix my 2000USD amp" thought process. I played around with CH2 for a very long time and was able to recreate CH1 without the Reeder Mod... but great... now what? As soon as I added Gain & Drive... everything changed.

The Lonestar is a very, very complicated amp. I can't even imagine a Mark V.

CH1 is literally perfect (to me.) It takes pedals, it chimes, it rings, it screams. It's plenty of amp right there. I'm not sure I _deserve_ more amp! Still, it wasn't a cheap amp and it does have 2 channels. Making that second channel work is really hard. I've had the amp since 2007. I still couldn't tell you a good Loop setting. I still haven't figured out exactly what SOLO button does. In fact, I turned the loop off just to avoid it.

I'm not Andy Timmons, or Vernon Reid... I'm probably not smart enough to use the amp properly.

I love this amp (CH1) but it's on Craigslist as I write this.

 

[Toowoombaus]

Ellem,

I'm glad I'm not the only one! Since I came to my decision to sell the Lonestar I have spent many hours A/B ing it with other amps and I haven't changed my mind one bit. The gain channel is a useless over compressed muddy mess, and the clean channel is good, but have you noticed the EQ hardly changes the sound at all? Where is the control?

My little 1968 Fender Princeton Reverb sounds better than the clean channel on the Lonestar and when you dime it the thing sounds dangerous, the low end is erratic and you can hear the amp working hard, it's not the same sound only louder. Also being hand wired it's easy to fix.

I guess using two or more amps live is the way to go for me. I played on Saturday night with my Rivera Venus 6 and hand wired Budda Stringmaster and Tom Anderson, Gibson Les Paul it was great having so many tones to switch between. I didn't struggle one bit hearing myself or cutting through.

I guess the Lonestar is occupying sonic real estate that the bass guitar and drums are sharing as well, and I could never make it cut through even with the bass almost off and the presence way up.

The Lonestar isn't complicated it's just not very good as an all around 2 CH amp which was disappointing seeing that my Studio Preamps I owned in the past were so sweet. I did get the solo to work pretty well even though the amp sounds better with the loop off.

What a waste of money! I can't give this amp away! Not one call or offer on Craigslist or Ebay in a month. I'm almost finished bitching waaa haaa haaa!

Seriously, I guess I'm glad I bought it because I learned a few things about what I like and don't like tone wise.

Well good luck with your sale and I hope you get an amp with a better 2nd Channel!

 

[ellem52]

Actually since I've been using it as a Princeton, I'm just going to replace it with one.

 

[Hollis]

It's simple. What you need is an Electra Dyne. They're just getting hard to find. The Electra Dyne is everything you want: Fender cleans, with 2 modes of British gain. I've had mine about 6 months now, and I am very happy. Read a couple of threads I created in the Electra Dyne subforum, especially the "Review".

 

[0rpheus]

Well,
I once had a lodestar head and sold it because "I just didn't like it". Then years after I gave it another chance and that was it, now I can't get rid of it. I love the whole thing! Both channels, everyone in my band love the amp as well. It is a very versatile amp and I realized that all I needed to do was to spend time with it and understand it.
Check out this two videos that I recorded with it where I used both channels.

With Les Paul: http://youtu.be/THWXUkXwRpw

With Ibanez (Andy Timon/style) http://youtu.be/dSXEo7Ja5uA?list=UUBAWt9E8Vp7B5_zq-xqyLHA

 

[VJM]

Well,
I once had a lodestar head and sold it because "I just didn't like it". Then years after I gave it another chance and that was it, now I can't get rid of it. I love the whole thing! Both channels, everyone in my band love the amp as well. It is a very versatile amp and I realized that all I needed to do was to spend time with it and understand it.
Check out this two videos that I recorded with it where I used both channels.

With Les Paul: http://youtu.be/THWXUkXwRpw

With Ibanez (Andy Timon/style) http://youtu.be/dSXEo7Ja5uA?list=UUBAWt9E8Vp7B5_zq-xqyLHA

Great tone and playing. Can you please tell me how you hooked the peavey up for stereo sound?

 

[VJM]

I have had the same feelings as a lot of folks her with channel two. Been tweaking a lot the past week and am getting some real good tones out of channel two. This may sound simple but read the manual, read the manual and read the manual. I have read it quite a few times this week and paid attention to how the controls work together. This is VERY important and has made a big difference. I am also guilty of switching up guitars too often. If you have more than one guitar choose your favorite and get the amp to react best to that guitar....mark your settings before plugging in another guitar and repeat.

 

[felix vampiro]

I've had my LSC nine years and am only now getting to appreciate Ch2. Was disappointed at first but I think it is worth persevering if you have already laid out the cash for it.
True, it can be a mud-fest (I cannot do much good with a neck humbucker on Ch 2, personally I can't stand the woman tone).
But I have found certain things that Channel 2 really adds. It depends on the guitar and I always have the gain lower than the drive.
I have a strat with noiseless single coils and a no solder wiring harness with a circuit which lets you keep all the tone when you roll the volume down. If you have a guitar which can do that try channel 2 with the drive engaged (normal) to about 2-3 oclock, gain set below noon and the master turned up, with the guitar's volume rolled down to around 5 or 6 it cleans up (mostly) and gives that real chimey, fender quack. Sounds better than Ch 1 in some ways.
A neck P90 also sounds good through Ch2.
For the lack of drive CH 2 offers the right overdrive pedal added to Ch 2 helps both in clearing the mud and beefing the distortion, I my case a Keeley modded 4x2 flexi tubescreamer works well.

As for my Princeton re-issue I got a few months back with the intention of getting some natural overdrive at lower volumes - I'll keep trying with it a bit longer but will probably trade it in. Lovely cleans below volume 5, buzzes and vibrates at higher volumes and gives too much thin distortion even when a light overdrive is added. Big watts and big transformers is where its at for me now.

Anyway that's my tuppence worth.

best to all.