Has anyone compared the LS to the Blue Angel?

[djw]

So, I'm either suffering from a ridiculous attack of GAS, or I'm starting to wonder if I could shave a few pounds off my load with a different amp. I know! Say it isn't so. I ~*~LOVE~*~ my LSC and I'll never get rid of it, but I've been getting the old sweaty palm curiosity about the Blue Angel.

But I'd only do it if it had something that the LSC doesn't. I've brushed off a few temptations on CL over the years with my Lone Star Mantra:

My amp already has the best clean tone on the planet, or at least for an amp under $3000.
(This is also punctuated with ...and you don't have the money, anyway.)

But I hear great things about the cleans on the Angel, and these days -- in my band, at least -- I spend 100x more time on my LSC's clean channel than I do on Ch2... I like the idea of a single-channel amp that has a really awesome, touch-sensitive clean tone, and has the Mesa feature set we know and love.

I actually have a '65 Deluxe Reverb, which is quintessentially Blackface Clean -- 22 watts of LOUD clean power. It's almost impossible for me to drive that amp to break up, which is another reason I'm so happy with my LSC. The DR sounds really, really good... just really really clean, too.

I guess my mental audio-image of the BA has been inflated by the lack of any decent demos out there (on YouTube or whatever), so my ill-informed curiosity has taken on a mythical aura... maybe I just need to try one out sometime, somehow.

Does anyone have any insight? Does the Blue Angel clean measure up to the Lone Star's?

 

[plan-x]

Well, I certainly have no clue about this, but you might copy and paste this over to the modern amp secton.

 

[mdortona]

DJW,

I have a LSS, had a LSC and briefly had a BA. I would also PM Monsta-Tone about it since he bought the amp from me. The BA had a nice clean, not quite as good as the LSC/LSS. To get it to overdrive it had to be at the 12 Noon-2:30 range (depending on which tube flavor you used - EL/6V6) and was stupid loud (since there is no MV)!! Great sound but LOUD. The LSS was much easily tamed volume-wise. I also found the BA to be "hissy". Not so with the Lonestars. I didn't care for the 2x10 speakers in the BA, but liked it much better with a 12" cab. Lastly, I like (and need) clean and dirty channels and did not find the "roll back you volume" strategy on the BA good enough for my purposes. Lonestars excel in the versatility department. My conclusion was that the BA would make a great blues amp (if I was in a blues band) and/or a great studio amp. It's a very nice amp for what it can do and the EL84/6V6/or both option is a bonus. Now, I would use it in a heartbeat if it had a PPIV master volume along with a Fender Deluxe/Bandmaster/Princeton and an A/B box. FWIW, I'm running a Bandmaster and the LSS with an A/B box now for my live rig and it sounds sweet. Take care!

Matt

 

[djw]

Thanks Matt, that helps; you answered my basic question, which was mainly about the quality of the clean channel. I'm definitely planning on keeping my LSC around for as long as I can see playing, honestly, and it's at least partly for the versatility and Ch2's vibe... but it's funny, at this weekend's show, once again I didn't spend any time on Ch2, it was all Ch1. So I fantasize about a clean-only platform that's as flexible AND as gorgeous as the LSC's. But it does seem that the BA has to really be pushed to get any breakup, so it doesn't seem all that practical, OR all that much less of a beast in the end. Honestly, one of the LS's best features is the controllability of the clean's breakup threshold; it doesn't sound like a Master volume amp, but it is.

And yeah John, I was planning on pinging the upper forum too but I wanted to pose the question for Lonestar believers primarily, since I figure our tastes are naturally more similar.

Happy holidays, y'all.

-Damon

 

[Murphy Slaw]

I've been gigging a Blue Angel for a few years. The beauty of the BA is in your hands. If you NEED high gain, this isn't your amp. Having said that, I can turn around, drop it to 2:6V6's, and crank it and get some pretty mean gain. But I usually live in the 4;EL84 zone.

The cleans on the BA are not that clean with humbuckers, it's gonna break up pretty quick, but the TONE is the secret.......

The Blue Angel is the finest amp I've had the pleasure to gig with in over 30 years of playing bars. Once you figure it out, it comes natural, without a thought......

Just sayin'.....

Murph.

 

[Steve73]

I rented a BA for a gig before I bought my LSS and I was very impressed. Great pedal platform and nice, 'gritty' cleans, but in a good way. I was going to buy one but in the meantime the LSS came out and after trying it, I went with it based more on the versatility of it in a gig situation. I would love to try out a BA again now though after gigging more LSS for so long. There is a used one in town..... must RESIST!!