lone star head v.s. tremoverb head

[jfrusciante17]

Fellas,

I'm in need of some serious counseling as far as mesa tone goes. Now, I, as I'm sure many if not all of you, am an Andy Timmons fan, and when I first heard the tune "Resolution" I was FLOORED. I had no idea that a mesa could do that! Now granted, I'm afraid I've become a bit of a traditionalist over the past years to the point that I've looked over anything that didn't have the name Fender, Marshall, or Vox on it; so when I first heard Andy Timmons and looked into his rig I started to get interested in Mesa. To be fair I've always known about mesa as I'm also a big Mark Tremonti fan, as well as a fan of Incubus circa 2002 and before, so I knew all about rectifiers and tremoverbs, but seeing as some of my most influential guitar players all used Marshall, Fender, and Vox, and the fact that I don't normally play metal or hard rock,( though I still enjoy playing along with my Alterbridge albums and playing an old Incubus cover here and there) I never thought I'd really care for a mesa boogie. Man I'm rambling on! Ok, here's the point; I heard "resolution," became enamored with the sound, went to a GC played a lonestar, was seriously impressed. NOW, here's the other thing; some used music store around my apartment just got an old early 90's tremoverb in, and upon seeing it I had to play it. Anyway, I don't know if it was the nostalgia of playing the same amp as one of my highschool heroes Mike Einziger played, but I loved it! and here's the thing! I'm not talking about the awesome gain that it can produce, though it can, my favorite sound was turning down the gain on the vintage hi-gain channel with a strat and just becoming flaberghasted with the sound! It was hendrix, it was the chili peppers, there was a bit of Andy Timmons in there, I loved it! Plus, and this may just be a testament to my immaturity, but I thought the reverb wasn't half bad either. So, Finally, after wasting all of your time reading this digression, the question is; what do I do? I'm a college student who's been saving FOREVER, so I have a little money, but not to get both amps, so what I want to know is, for playing the hendrix-ish, John Frusciante-like, Radiohead-ness, with flecks of Bill Frisell and Sonny Sharrock, and finally a healthy dose of sonic youth-ish style that I play, which amp do you think will meet most of my needs? Oh and as far as cabs go i've got an old Marshall 1936 2x12 with celestions, and I may be getting a new-ish orange 2x12 depending on whether or not a friend of mine ends up going the combo amp route. Anyway, those of you who are left that read this whole **** thing, thanks for your patience and please help!

 

[djw]

****. Well, I'm a big LSC evangelist, so I basically believe that amp to be superior to all others. But... if you groove on the TOV, and money's an issue, why not go for that? They've got a good rep around here. You'll get a high-gain sound that most people who are into that will like better than anything you can get with a Lone Star. And if the cleans and verb are decent, you'll be happy.

But. The LSC's cleans are addictive and amazing, probably better than anything you can get for under $2500, and the amp basically sounds awesome at any setting. And you can get a lot of fun stuff out of the drive channel as well, just not really really heavy modern metal w/o using good pedal in front. Pretty much anything else is a snap with the Lone Star, though, and going into a good 2x12 or 4x12 it's mighty good stuff.

 

[fishyfishfish]

Timmons used a bunch of different amps on Resolution, the Lonestar came in middle of production if I am correct. Just goes to show you that tone is in the fingers! Second, I bought a Lonestar Classic in '05 when the first hit the shelf thinking that it would be the end all amp. It was for a while but I kept having to put pedals in front for more gain, the amp can be a little dark or mid heavy in some rooms, and for the most part it had to be loud and proud to get the tone I was looking for. To make a long expensive story short, I checked out a Dual Recto, and couldn't be happier. I can even make the Recto sound exactly like the LSC if I wanted, the clean is kind of wanting but I rarely play clean so no big deal, and now I have a amp that can be on 1 and miked up and sound good or play outdoors and sound even better. For me it was just the matter of having an amp that sounded good without pedals first, then just using some to add a little flavor if needed. You can always turn gain down on an amp, but it's a different story when you have to add it with a pedal. Get the Tremo or Recto, you will be a lot happier in the long run.

 

[plan-x]

Ya know, you can get both in one amp. A Road king II. It has the Lonestar clean ch and bone crushing recto mayhem. Or even a Roadster, which just has a similiar set up of vintage and modern ch's.
Back to the choice of the 2 amps your faced with, the Lonestar doesn,t do modern. Tremoverbs can do both vintage and modern.

 

[srf399]

Actually, If you watch the video you'll see that the Resolution album was primarily vintage Marshalls. The Stiletto Deuce II, not the Lonestar Classic, is the amp that Andy uses to do the songs from that album live. The Lone Star Classic is amazing though. There isn't an amp that sounds better on the clean channel IMO. You can always add overdrive pedals (see BB preamp). I think that the Stiletto Stage II's track a lot better than the Lone Star or the Rectos though....because it is immediate. If you're playing fast runs the Lone Star can get mushy. When you pick a note it's like a MKIV... it's NOW.... no sag if you're using the diode rectifiers and Bold setting. The nice thing is you can get the Stiletto to sag using the spongy and rectifier settings and you can still get that vintage sag (Hendrix) thing going. If you can get a comparable clean on the Tremoverb, I'd go for it. They are considered one of Mesa's finest and should probably be reissued.

 

[Chrissmoth]

jfrusciante17

So...

You were 'seriously impressed' with the Lonestar

but...

'Flaberghasted' by the Tremverb

I'd say you've answered your own question

Go for the Tremoverb for now for a few reasons:

The Lonestar will be readilly available for years to come

Boogies hold their second hand value pretty well - so you could always sell it on later if you change your mind

You won't be a student forever - so one day you can have both

As you've already 'used your ears' go with them

 

[jakehop]

Mr Frusciante-fan,

I just got a Tremo', and I'm floored by how great this amp is. I also like Andy Timmons, Incubus (all their stuff, but SCIENCE, Make Yourself and Morning View the best), as well as the classic tones and everything in between. This amp is really amazing! I played SuperLeads and SuperReverbs before, and even though I liked the recordings I had with Mesa's, the ones I tried in stores seemed kinda stiff. The Tremo' is NOTHING like that at all. Seriously, at the US prices for these babies, it should be a capital offense not to grab one ($1000 I'M SERIAL!!!).

Kind regards, Jake

 

[jfrusciante17]

Hey guys, thanks to all who have replied thus far; you've all shared great information that is definately helping me to shape a decision. I'll tell you where I'm standing right now-- I feel like I've got one foot in the Trem-o-verb camp and I want to bring my other foot over, but I've got one concern I was hoping you guys could help me out with. See, I've been a single-channel, class A guy ever since I began playing; not necessarily by choice, but mostly because I've found them to be more abundant and available. Anyway, because of this the lonestar still has some appeal to me as it seems to be a closer relative to those older classic marshalls and fenders that we all know. I don't know, do you guys see what I'm getting at? I know that there's some boogie users out there who must've converted from old Marshalls or Fenders; was the switch to a boogie intimidating at all, and once you did convert was it all you ever hoped it could be or did you find yourself missing some of the simplicity of the single channel amps? Hey fellas I apologize if it seems like I'm trying to split hairs as far as picking up a Mesa goes, and I'm pretty sure, like 85% that a tremoverb is what I want to do, as it seems like it can really cover style I've toyed with from jazz and blues to hard rock and metal, but sometimes I find all the features a little overwhelming. Anyway, if any lonestar and tremoverb owners could help to calm some most likely unnecessary nerves, it would be most appreciated. Thanks again guys! really appreciate the insight!

 

[plan-x]

I personally wouldn't own a tremoverb. I only suggested it earlier because of your modern gain desire. My bass player has one and he struggles to dial it in when he plays guitar. Very sensitive knobs. We don't do any modern metal and that's what the amp excels at. The Lonestar(LSC)does a smoother version of all other rock styles. My favorite amp of yesteryear was the Fender Dual showman. The Lsc covers that territory well. If I wanted to do some modern metal, I could get a pedal to cover that like a tube zone or something. Hope this helps(or confuses) you more.

 

[jfrusciante17]

Hey guys, another quick question; do any of you have some suggestions on tube configurations to try in the amps that I mentioned? I like the 6l6's that I tried but I've also heard of some cool sounds coming from lonestars with el34s, and I even heard of a guy using yellowjackets in a dual rec, which of course makes me wonder about how they might sound in a tremoverb; plus the cut in power would be welcomed as I have no need for 100 watts. Anyway, just a thought and it'd be great to hear from any of you who have tried out these other tubes. Thanks again!

 

[Commander Coo1]

i have a '94 tremoverb, i love the amp, the cleans are amazing with only one drawback, it is very quiet, i have the gain and volume set to about 50% for normal playing, it tends to break up if i turn it any more, and any lower seems to lack much life. it seems that you cant set the orange channel to modern in the clean mode, so you only have the "vintage" headroom. my old 2ch recto had a louder clean, but it didnt sound nearly as good. but that said, the volume its comfortable at it sounds great. the gain channel sounds amazing, and can also be cloned to function as a second clean (blues mode gain way down). just make sure that all of the settings/switches work before buying it.

 

[fishyfishfish]

Coming from Hi Watt and Marshall to Boogie was a pretty easy up grade for me. I love the fact that there is an amp built that kind of fills the void of "Man, I wish I had a great gain @ lower volumes" or fill in the blank. Lots of knobs but I think that you could have any Mesa down in an afternoon.
As far as tubes, I really liked EL34's in my Lonestar when I used a Strat, but prefer 6L6's overall. There are some guys that use Yellow jacket adapters with success, but I haven't gone that far yet. Good luck!

 

[jakehop]

Funny thing is, when I play live I sometimes leave my amp on the red modern, and adjust the volume of my PRS to get either full on distorted, or semi-dirty to clean-cleans. Great stuff!

Jake