Getting High Gain out of Lone Star

[gregrjones]

I love my Lone Star and never bought it to be a high gain machine, but if I want to get more diversity out of this beast, is there a really great high gain distortion pedal that any of you would recommend that gets a great tone out of the amp?

The Vox Saturator looks interesting to me, but I've never tried it out....

 

[Mork]

I use a Boss SD-1, not set very high but it really livens thing up.

 

[lonestarpaul]

...right now I'd say the Wampler Triple Wreck. I haven't tried it yet but it sounds like a beast, plus it's designed to "emulate" the sound of a Rectifier more or less, so you can get both sides of Mesa keeping one of their greatest amps so far.

Have a look! :wink:

Wampler Pedals: Triple Wreck Distortion - Sadie presents...

Triple Wreck high gain distortion from wampler pedals

wampler pedals, triple wreck with single coils (G&L asat, fender hot rod deluxe)

 

[SyKrash]

hitting the front end with an overdrive pedal helps. On the pedal turn down the gain, turn up the volume. Turns the LSC into a mid-high gain wrecking machine.

I use either an RC booster or BB preamp.

 

[FunkyMonkey]

I've been using the BB pre-amp for about 18 months with my LSC and its well worth a look. I went with this over a Tubescreamer as I thought it was more transparent (to my ears). I don't play much high gain stuff but it is a great pedal for giving the front end a bit of a kick when you need it.

Lots of variety of tones and an active EQ. Also works well as a clean boost with the gain right down.

Mine is set so that is gives me some crunch on the clean channel and kicks the front end of ch2 when I need a little extra! (Gain and Drive set to 2:30)

D

 

[jjboogie]

I have yet to get a high gain sound that I am truly happy with using pedals and the LSC.....it is great for low gain but not built for high gain. The higher the gain I go with pedals and this amp the less tight the response is....just doesn't feel right.

I am hoping to get a Mark V soon.

I absolutely love the LSC for what it was made to do though!

 

[lonestarpaul]

I have yet to get a high gain sound that I am truly happy with using pedals and the LSC.....it is great for low gain but not built for high gain. The higher the gain I go with pedals and this amp the less tight the response is....just doesn't feel right.

I am hoping to get a Mark V soon.

I absolutely love the LSC for what it was made to do though!

...true that...I get pretty good results pushing my LSC with a Fulltone Fat Boost 3, a Xotic AC Booster and a Fulltone OCD v3 but I cannot really say what comes out is a "high gain" tone. Probably I'm gonna try the Wampler Triple Wreck as soon as I can just to see if I can break the "wall" between the sound I get now and what I call "high gain", but honestly I dream about a rig where I can switch between my LSC for clean and low/mid-gain tones and a high-gain beast like a Bogner or a Diezel...that would be awesome for me and I think it would be the only way to preserve and valorize the nature of the Lonestar itself.

Ok, I can go back to sleep now!!! :lol:

 

[Mork]

I am hoping to get a Mark V soon.

Jason... I've already got mine :wink:

 

[jjboogie]

I am hoping to get a Mark V soon.

Jason... I've already got mine :wink:

Thanks a lot bro! Way to rub it in! :wink:

 

[lostcause]

Ive been getting some great results and having fun using the Blackstar HT-Dual on the clean ch of the LS.
Its not the most transparent pedal Ive used when activated but in someways thats part of the reason it works for me. It makes the LS not sound like a LS when its switched on. It tightens up the bass and adds its own flavour.
I can use ch1 on the LS as a nice clean and ch 2 as a just breaking up bluesy funky ch and then the HT-Dual gives me two extra ch of usable high gain with a slightly different voice. Pretty happy. YMMV.

 

[Quetapasao]

Check out the Riot pedal from John Suhr . It seems that it can turn a clean amp into a high gain machine. There are a couple demos on youtube .

http://www.suhrguitars.com/effects.aspx?series=riot

 

[SyKrash]

Check out the Riot pedal from John Suhr . It seems that it can turn a clean amp into a high gain machine. There are a couple demos on youtube .

http://www.suhrguitars.com/effects.aspx?series=riot

If you can find one. I'd have an easier time finding a leprechaun riding a unicorn than finding a Suhr Riot in stock anywhere.

 

[lonestarpaul]

Check out the Riot pedal from John Suhr . It seems that it can turn a clean amp into a high gain machine. There are a couple demos on youtube .

http://www.suhrguitars.com/effects.aspx?series=riot

If you can find one. I'd have an easier time finding a leprechaun riding a unicorn than finding a Suhr Riot in stock anywhere.

lol :lol:

Anyway the pedal sounds pretty good...wonder how it compares to a Fulltone OCD v3 (HP mode) like the one I have on my board right now. That one's a very hot box too, but I wouldn't really call it high gain while for example the Triple Wreck from Wampler seems to break that "wall" between an overdriven tone (even a very hot one) and what I have in mind if I think to "high gain" (for ex. the 3rd channel of a Diezel VH4 or a Bogner Uberschall, just to mention a couple).

Anyone who tried these pedals, hopefully in conjunction with the Lonestar?

 

[ryjan]

This is killing me. All us Mark amp guys want Lonestar cleans. Now the Lonestar guys want Mark series gain. :lol: Big +1 on the BB preamp.

 

[Quetapasao]

Check out the Riot pedal from John Suhr . It seems that it can turn a clean amp into a high gain machine. There are a couple demos on youtube .

http://www.suhrguitars.com/effects.aspx?series=riot

If you can find one. I'd have an easier time finding a leprechaun riding a unicorn than finding a Suhr Riot in stock anywhere.

Well , if it's a matter of finding , boss metal-zone is an easy one to find :lol:

Let's wait a little bit after Namm !

 

[mikefinalapproach]

Well I'd agree that the lonestar will never be a marshall or dual rectifier for that matter. I have a few pedals I've tried with the Lonestar to give it... that little extra...

-TRex Moller. My favorite for my lonestar. It has a mix knob for blending in the clean signal and boost function as well with a separate button. I just put gain and mix about middle and find it works well for the clean channel to put just that little bit of hair on it. In channel 2 it gives enough of an extra push.

-Fulltone OCD. not so fond of with my lonestar. Now that my lonestar is a bit on the fritz (see post on intermittent channel 2 failure) and I'm using my marshall bluesbreaker reissue for gigs I'm loving the OCD for that amp (no master or gain channel). But kinda fizzy in the clean channel and too much in the the drive channel (I suppose I could try it channel 2 playing with gain and drive more)

-Pork Loin Way Huge: pretty good - again just adds a little push

-Tubescreamer TS9: I've had this since I bought it new in the mid 80's. It is what it is and works good here. Just a little gain. Not as good as the TRex for this as the tubescreamer seems to play to the mid muddiness issue a bit and the Trex a little more jangly, if that works for a word here. (I do not have any of the mods done)

Hope that helps. Just what I've used. My band seems to like the classic rock sound of my LP through moller into channel 2. "Fierce" is how it was described by my singer.

 

[marzzz]

Speaking of higher gain LoneStar sounds, I stumbled across this setting on channel two. Please give it a try and tell me what you think (and if you don't like it let me know why). I was using an Anderson S-S-H Droptop:

Drive- 2:00 (thick)
Gain- 2:00
Treble- 7:00 (off!)
Mid- 11:30
Bass- 9:00
Presence- 2:30
Master- 9:30 (50 watts)
Output- 9:30
Power- On (not Tweed)
Tube Rectifier
Loop in (w delay in loop)
Reverb- Warm

I read somewhere here about Treble being like a second gain control, and tried dialing it out (as opposed to dialing out all the mids and bass), and at least to my ears, I am getting a nice, higher gain sound without the muddy/woofiness. My LoneStar is an unmodded 10/50/100. I am just kinda surprised that it seems to work with the treble off......?

 

[A440]

An old pro co rat or the new whiteface reissue should work great into the clean channel.

I haven't tried boosting the dirty channel but the rc boost usually does the job nicely.

 

[djw]

Speaking of higher gain LoneStar sounds, I stumbled across this setting on channel two. Please give it a try and tell me what you think (and if you don't like it let me know why). I was using an Anderson S-S-H Droptop:

Drive- 2:00 (thick)
Gain- 2:00
Treble- 7:00 (off!)
Mid- 11:30
Bass- 9:00
Presence- 2:30
Master- 9:30 (50 watts)
Output- 9:30
Power- On (not Tweed)
Tube Rectifier
Loop in (w delay in loop)
Reverb- Warm

I read somewhere here about Treble being like a second gain control, and tried dialing it out (as opposed to dialing out all the mids and bass), and at least to my ears, I am getting a nice, higher gain sound without the muddy/woofiness. My LoneStar is an unmodded 10/50/100. I am just kinda surprised that it seems to work with the treble off......?

It's trippy what the Treble does to the gain "flavor" isn't it? Also how the Presence will "de-compress" the sound... so it sustains less, but still has a lot of bite. Great rhythm sound to my ears, actually.

I've really been enjoying the higher-gain settings on my LSC lately; I use really similar settings to this myself, except that I have Treble at 1:00, Gain & Drive at about 2:30, and Presence anywhere between 9:30 - 11:00 depending on the room. This is really a LOT of gain for me, but I feel like I've finally bonded with the famous Boogie Singing Sustain thing... for crunch I just turn down my guitar, but all-up it's sweet and creamy, an AMAZING howling lead tone.

As has been said, I honestly think the LS has just as much actual Gain as the other models; it's just voiced differently and responds differently then the more metal-friendly amps, which are voiced for that.

 

[gbrux]

I love my Lone Star and never bought it to be a high gain machine, but if I want to get more diversity out of this beast, is there a really great high gain distortion pedal that any of you would recommend that gets a great tone out of the amp?

The Vox Saturator looks interesting to me, but I've never tried it out....

If've been using a BB Preamp (gain: 9-10 oclock; vol:12oclock; treble:11oclock; bass:2oclock) on channel 2 of Lonestar (Gain: 2 oclock; Drive: 2 oclock). That works very well for high gain stuff. If I want more gain I sometimes add an AC Booster to it. Sounds FANTASTIC. Check it out. Good luck tone hunting. Peace, -G.