Lone Star Special - Fan on, Fan off? When?

[Monstercastle]

All,

I did try searching through the board before posting this question. It's not in the manual either. Perhaps I'm over-thinking this, but should the fan be left on at all times unless there is a concern about its' noise when recording?
I'm new to tube amps, unless you count the old Peavey MX100 Combo I bought and sold in the 80's. I want to take utmost care of my new baby so I've been running the fan all the time. Is there a reason to shut off the fan other than to eliminate it's own noise?

Thanks,

 

[Gerin]

Not be a dork but your answer is in the Manual, if you want the exact page give me a week to look it up again.. The funniest part however is that your Concern over the fan is exactly what they put in the manual.

So your answer is yes leave the fan on as much as possible.

 

[Monstercastle]

Apologies. I cannot believe I missed that given how many times I've looked through it. Sure enough, on page 13. Duh.

 

[old-guy]

Hey Monstercastle!
Good luck with your new baby! Great amp! I just brought home the LS Classic. I play at home and play at lower levels. I shut off the fan, it annoyed me. If I was playing out and using some VOLUME I would turn the fan on. Are you running all 4 EL84's? How long are you playing for? I play @ 50W so I'm only using 2 out of 4 power tubes. I'll play anywhere from 2 to 3hrs. I know those 84's can be "hot little babies". I guess it depends on how hard you're pushing the amp and how long you use it. I had a Fender Blues Jr. (15w, 2 EL84's, 3-12ax7) it didn't have a fan or a stand-by switch. Never had a problem. Before my LSC I had a Recto 50w head with less air flow than my LSC and that didn't even have a fan. Like I said, at room levels I can hear the fan and it bothers me so I turned it off. I think it's great that you want to take good care of your amp. Lets face it, none of the Mesa's are exactly "cheap". So I'm right there with ya! If you're really concerned e-mail or call Mesa. I talked with them quite a few times when I had the Recto. Real nice guys. They'll probably ask you the same things that I did and then give you a direct answer to your question. I think it's a great question! Enjoy your new toy!

Play Well!

 

[SabuJSE]

I've yet to turn the fan off - I have not heard it at all outisde of when my head is directly behind the amp while it's on and no strings are being hit. And even then it's pretty soft.

Congrats on your purchase!

 

[DoTheDo]

I've yet to turn the fan off - I have not heard it at all outisde of when my head is directly behind the amp while it's on and no strings are being hit. And even then it's pretty soft.

Congrats on your purchase!

I've got a Lone Star Classic with no ability to turn the fan off. It's just always on. Did MS add this ability to the LSS only or do new LSC have it as well?

 

[cnumb44]

On my LSC there is a switch on the rear panel to turn the fan on or off. It would be an easy thing to install a similar switch and mount it just inside the cab if yours doesn't have one.

I'm like old-guy in that I hardly ever put the fan on when I am playing at home since I can hear it. outside at higer volumes it goes on. It is the only amp I've had with that feature. There is a part of me that says the tubes like to get warm, but Mesa does cram them in. If you look at the inside of a Marshall standard head, there is a lot of airspace - much moreso than in the LSC or LSS, so the fan probably makes sense.

 

[btdvox]

I dont know about that..... I mean there are tons of fender Amps with barely any space also, more over.....I had a Triple Recto....talking about space and heat.....theres NONE no room, and it gets hot, but even if, i would leave the fan off, its not needed in a guitar amp, tubes are meant to get hot, and there meant to be changed, its there nature, if people dont like it... there is a solution! SOLID STATE......I guess thats a little to harsh...but i dno, id keep it off if your playing live anyways, at least if your mic'ing it, which i always do.. even if im playing with a 150 Watt tube amp half stack

 

[LSCMan]

I leave mine on, I can't hear it unless I put my head in there with it. :shock:

 

[cnumb44]

As long as we're voting...I never turn the fan on. I've owned several tube amps and this is the first that has that feature. I'll see how far the tubes go and then maybe I'll start using it on the next set!

 

[JoeVFR]

I always leave the fan on. I haven't recorded with it, just live gigs and you will never hear it with the rest of the band. Even when jamming in my basement by myself, I let it run.

 

[ol4t]

I leave mine on. It doesn't bother me and I figure Mesa wouldn't have wasted the time to put it in there unless they thought it was a good idea.

 

[btdvox]

Im definitly going to get mine removed, or get a switch in there, because mine doesnt come with an on/ off switch

 

[fatboy135]

Once a time a customer of mine becomes with a so hot carvin, it becomes to fail on high temperatures, we put of course a couple of fans, he could connect or disconnect it with a simple switch. The matter was that on the begining of the gig it needs to fan move slow air to warm up the tubes and then it needs the faster speed to evacuate the warm air rounded the tubes.
After thinking about the matter I decided to just put a thermical sensor circuit over the tubes that regulates the fan speed, when they were cold and need to warm up the fan doesn´t works, then when the temperature raise the fan speed increases on a linear way, the thermical sensor idea was a great success and this customer is today one of my great partners
If anyone wants the photos of the circuit I could upload them

 

[xarkon]

Resurrecting an old thread...just came across this in the course of following up a problem with my own LSS tonight. Starts cutting out. So I start the troubleshooting process:

1. Does it on both channels - yep

2. Does it in all modes 5/15/30 - yep

3. Does it with drive on/off - yep

4. Does it with hard bypass set on the loop - nope

The usual issue with #4 is poor contact on the loop jacks, but my amp is not quite a year old.

Aha - V3, the loop driver/return tube, is RIGHT in front of the fan.

And apparently, when I was putting the amp up on the amp stand in the practice space, I bumped the fan switch to "off".

Since V3 is right next to a transformer, and toward the front of the chassis (thus a bit less out of the general airstream), I would vote for leaving the fan on. I sure can't hear it, even at what might be considered a "bedroom" practice volume.

My two cents.

Dave

 

[CudBucket]

I've never turned it on. I hated it on my RKII and Stiletto.

 

[MrMarkIII]

If you can hear the !#$%& fan, you ain't playin' loud enuff! :lol:

 

[xarkon]

If you can hear the !#$%& fan, you ain't playin' loud enuff! :lol:

I would agree with that. Though the boxer fans sometimes have bearings go bad; at that point the noise can drive you nuts. Mine is ultraquiet.

Dave

 

[dvcamshooter]

Leave mine on all the time, dont notice it at all. Maybe if you were recording but even then i am not sure if it would be noticeable.

 

[Griz]

The real early Specials didn't have a fan so I always figured it was put in there to solve a heat buildup problem of some sort. Mine's quiet, but I notice it when not playing.