General LSC & LSS Question.....

[GuitarGuy503]

For some reason I have always thought that the Lone Star Classic and Lone Star Special were Mesas take on Fender and VOX. Having said that, is that accurate or are they their own thing?

 

[tle4]

I have a classic and I would'nt even compare it to a Fender really.... I think it is its own thing. You can get Fender like tones but it is its different. I have owned a few older Super Reverbs and a Vibrolux. The Lonestar takes some getting use to. The tone knobs all affect the others. Once you get use to how it works, you can get lots of different tones. The cleans are great on this amp and is probably one of the best sounding and versatile gigging amps I have ever played. I am down to just taking an OD pedal in the front and a delay in the loop with this amp. I only use the OD for s little more saturation for solo stuff

 

[djw]

I think the Classic is closer to Fender than the Special is to Vox, but I agree that they're both their own thing. It's probably easier to get Fender tones out of either amp, actually, than Vox tones out of the LSS, though I say that without having owned an LSS or a Vox. :roll:

Mesa's take on a Fender is probably more accurately embodied in the Blue Angel, to be honest, as it's a single-channel non-master volume amp; and the TransAtlantics are way more AC/Vox-like than anything else Mesa has done.

That said, a good low gain clean setting on the LSC is gorgeous in that same way as a BF Fender, with a little more hair/compression if you want it.

 

[Jared Purdy]

I have the 112 Special, and I also have a stock 1975 Fender SFPR (next to the BF era PRs, it is probably what many would consider the epitome of Fender clean). The others are right, in clean mode, the LSS does have a spongy, Fendery BF/SF chime to it, but the reverb on the LSS is 10x more lush and reponsive, and it has a 12" speaker (compared to the 10" speaker in the PR) and a significantly bigger cab giving it a slighty more airy sound. And bear in mind that the Fender is my comparison is 36 years old, and therefore TOTALLY broken in :lol:

I have an A/B/Y pedal that I have them both hooked up to, and as far as clean goes, the LSS is just as clean as the SFPR. The smaller cab and speaker give the SFPR a slightly more focused, and tighter sound, but they are very close in terms of tone.

I've always thought that channel two on the LSS, when dialed in correctly, sounded very close to a VOX, or even a Swart AST Master (a boutique amp). I use to have a Swart AST Master 112 combo which has a master switch, taking it into OD territory at lower volumes. I wouldn't say it was VOXy, as it runs 6V6s, but with the Master switch engaged, it definately had the earlier breakup remeniscent of a VOX sound.

I think that with the full two channel set up of the LSS (and the LSC), combined with the gain and drive settings, there are a myriad of amps that you could dial in so close, that in a blind listening test, you'd be hard pressed to tell what it was you were playing through.