Lone Star or Lone Star Special

[axwielding1]

The Lonestars have excellent reverb, and I'm a huge fan of the warm setting as well. Also, singing sustain is to be had with the LSS for sure. It howled like crazy with a '62 strat they had on the wall, and cleaned up quite nicely with guit-vol...
ax. 8)

 

[cnumb44]

I had a great opportunity to bring a LSS home for about a month as a loaner when I ordered mine. I used it every day and really liked the tone shaping available through a) the channel selection, b) the power selection , and c) the channel EQ. Each had a distinct impact. It was easy to get great tone up front, but then you could tune it very nicely to what you wanted to hear.

Here's the rub. This was by far the best EL84 amp I have ever heard. The trouble is that I realized I am not an EL84 fan - especially when they are being driven hard. To my ear they get flubby.

I wasn't really thinking about a change and was at the music store on a Sunday afternoon and just went back into the sound room and plugged into an LSC. Using the knowlege I had gained on how to tweek the sound I was able to quickly get to the tones I wanted. The amp is definitely louder, but it is also more to my liking because of the 6L6s. After about a half hour I swapped out for the LSC. That was 3 months ago and I am still very pleased with the sound.

The clean channels on both are phenomenal. I find myself playing those channels a lot more than on other amps because they have more richness and character than I have ever heard in a clean channel.

In both cases the warmness of the channel 2 was great when set to do a little breakup, but the 6L6 power allows a bit more control when the drive starts to increase. When the overdrive channel is kicked in, the LSC sounds awesome - a really tight distortion that doesn't seem to go out of control.

Both amps are great. How you play and what you want to hear will push you to one or the other. I have added a Weber MASS attenuator to the signal chain so I can get those great tones at reasonable volumes. Even the 5W on the LSS could clean your ears out at full volume, so the 100W on the LSC will blow your head off in a practice room.

I will try the EL34 option soon, since I like the sound of those tubes.

You will not be upset with either amp. If you like the slightly looser overdrive of EL84s, then go for the LSS. If you like the tighter sound of 6L6's then the LSC. In both cases I prefer the 2x12 format for a more dynamic speaker effect.

Hope this helps - but since I didn't tell you one or the other is better, it may not be that useful a post. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to put my thoughts out there.

 

[eweise]

I'm surprised that you found the EL84 sound flubby when overdriven. I thought that was more characteristic of 6L6 tubes. Well, I guess I'll just have to listen for myself at GC this weekend.

 

[cnumb44]

eweise, that all goes to show you how everyone hears things slightly differently. I've owned 3 el84 based amps (a marshall something or other, a Fender Blues Junior plus the LSS) and played several others. They are classic blues tubes, but there is something about those bottles when driven hard that I don't like. I called it flubby, but that ws the only word I could think of. The best el84 amp I ever played was an Aiken Intruder.

Most of the amps that I have kept for longer than a few months have all turned out to be higher wattage el34 or 6l6 based. I've been trading amps around for years looking for the "tone" but didn't really get into the tubes and design character until a few years ago, so all the trading I did was based on what sound I liked and being clueless about the bottles inside.

That is why I think it is a very personal statement. I had the opportunity to hear Jimmy Vivino play couple of live sets at the Red Lion on Bleeker street in NYC. He just wailed thru a small el84 based amp that looked like a custom tweed of some sort. It hit me that it really is a lot in the way you play and your own fingers. My fingers must not get along with el84s!

That said, I really liked the 5W setting on the LSS. You could do some dangerous things with that!

 

[cnumb44]

I meant to also add that the presence control has a profound effect on the crispness of the amp sound. It takes effect after the preampand sets the tonal cut of the amp (it manages the high frequencies obove what the treble dial does). My first plug into either the LSS or LSC was disappointing until I saw that the presence was way low. When I moved it past 12 o'clock, both amps really openned up.

 

[SabuJSE]

When I moved it past 12 o'clock, both amps really openned up.

This is so true and makes such a HUGE difference in the tone... I think I have it at 12 noon for both my channels and would love to hear what others have it set at...

 

[davealan]

After 2 weeks of playing around with LSC and LSS I love them both but bought the LSS 4x10 today - 2 Jensens, 2 Eminence speakers. I went with the 4x10's cause the tone is so sweet and sparkly and with the LSS cause I don't need the headroom - but I love that LSC too! I tested an LSC 2x12, a LSS 1x12, and a LSS 4x10, and swapped speaker leads to see what each sounded like in different cabs. I think the 12's add breadth to the definition of the 10's. I would like to add some 12's - 2 or 4. Any recommendations for what speakers and what cab?

 

[boogiemon]

You all may find it interesting to know that the beautiful clean channel of the LSS is remarkably similar to the clean channel of the el84 equipped F-30. Dont' believe me? check it out. If you like recto grit & LSS chimes, the F-30 might be the amp for you.


j

 

[btdvox]

Im very apparent in this situion, but very confused, i ordered a LSC 2 X12, i tried both amps but they were quite different, I had a triple Recto b4 and i reallyl oved it, but now i like a different taste, thing is that the LSC had an amazing clean and a disto taht sounded more towards a recto rather than a really high crunch, i never got a nice raw disto sound out of the LSS more of a clean crunch at most with overdrive, and thats what threw me over, the LSS has nice cleans for sure, but the distos are something else to talk about, i still have to play around with them both more though, but thats what i think so far