Lonestar made from crappy parts?

[blaineb]

I work at a guitar store in Vermont with a bunch of vintage gear nuts and lots of regulars who are amp builders, luthiers, etc., all very techie, and I have been telling them about my lust for the Lonestar and they keep telling me NO NO NO don't get it, they are lame amps, used with very cheap parts, etc., etc. The owner of the store said that the store was a Mesa dealer before I worked there and amps would arrive all the time broken and stuff.

Well, I bought one. It's on it's way. I haven't told my boss.

He lectured me on how all the parts used to make the amp are cheapo parts, and how an old vintage amp would do everything I needed.

All the propaganda released by Mesa and te dealers says that they are "indestructable" and whatnot, so I don't know who to believe. If I take the amp to our vintage repair/mod guy, can he essentially rewire my amp to have more robust innards?

Let me know. . I feel like I just blew 1000 bucks on a big hunk of garbage.

 

[155]

tell your co workers they are idiots! they can keep searching for those dumbles, you got a sweet amp on the way made of quality parts.

 

[webe123]

So the owner USED to be a mesa dealer and now mesa amps are suddenly no good now that they are no longer are a mesa dealer? And you don't find that suspect? I do!

It seems at one time he sold lonestars and other mesa products and they were fine enough to sell then, but now he puts them down and tries to discredit them....kind of a shift in loyalty...I think I can see why the other people you work with are against mesa also....because the owner is against them! I don't think they would be very popular if they said mesa made great amps in THAT store! Neither would the customers that come in there.

But that does not make that owner or those other people right. Mesa has been around for a long time....but more importantly they are KNOWN for their well built amps and quality control. Lonestars are no exception.

This reminds me of when some guy reads Ed Romans garbage about PRS guitars...(and Ed Roman USED to be a PRS dealer by the way)...and the guy that just bought a PRS guitar, wonders if he made the right choice? He did.

He was just listening to a bunch of garbage from someone who was a former dealer and was probably bitter about it. Sounds like your case from the way you posted it.

I would not give it any thought, those guys just sound bitter,maybe because the owner himself is bitter and decided to drop mesa or mesa dropped him.

If Mesa was as bad as they claim, then why do people keep buying them DESPITE the fact you cannot buy Mesa amps new over the web? People still go into dealers and buy mesa products. With all the other botique amps out on the market, if they were as bad as he claimed, they would not be around long....not with the botique crowd being as picky as they can sometimes be.

I would not pay any attention to what he said, just enjoy your lonestar, I will enjoy mine when it gets in.

 

[webe123]

Double post sorry.

 

[coppa]

Dude vintage amp guys will tell you that vintage stuff is the best. no **** because that is what they all like. Some of those guys that build those amps probably do build their tougher then mesa does. maybe with higher quality parts.

Who cares. Those amps don't sound like a lonestar which is what YOU want.

I used to be the same way all into point to point this and that, but the sound I wanted to have was a recto, so guess what finally stopped wasting money of ptp vintage style amps and got a recto. done.

 

[plan-x]

For a 1000 bucks, you can't buy a better amp! They're built like tanks. They are QC'd to take a 6 or 7 foot fall. Mesa fills the gap between mass production gear and boutique stupid expensive. That means best dollar value. If you want something cheap quality, then there's marshall, fender, peavey, B-52, crate, etc. Oh, I don't own any of my old fenders from the 70's because they all broke down and fried in the 70's. My LSC has already outlasted them! After hearing those dudes baggin on the LSC, and you still bought one, I salute you! A thinking man.

 

[blaineb]

So the owner USED to be a mesa dealer and now mesa amps are suddenly no good now that they are no longer are a mesa dealer? And you don't find that suspect? I do!

That's actually exactly what I suspected. I think these guys are just like dead set on A) really really old gear and B) not having a rectified channel. I explained to them my amp needs, that I need to be able to play all my jazz guitar restaurant gigs with it on the clean channel, and I need to also play all the shred guitar madness on channel 2 that I love so much, and they just tell me "well you need two completely different amps."

BS! The Lonestar does it. Thanks for the self-confidence boost everyone. I needed that!

 

[Rocky]

I had a guy at a jam making fun of boogies once....he made these TERRIBLE treble boxes that were clones of AC30 amps but sucked.

My Mesa Stiletto got compliments all night while his POS prompted people to ask him to turn down the presence and treble.

Lots of guys that make their own amps hack things because they THINK that they are experts. Amp designs are actually quite simple and dont require one to be an expert to make one...you just need to be able to solder and follow a schematic.

 

[mikey383]

Mesa gets a lot of hate for unjustified reasons.

"They suck, they use crappy parts, their tone sucks, blah blah blah"

I'm on my 4th Mesa, and the only problem I've ever encountered was a finicky standby switch on one that eventually fixed itself.

 

[ja22y]

It's all about tone. Vintage amps can't do modern tone and modern amps try but can't quite get that classic tone. Only Mesa amps sound like ... Mesa. I would never buy a Mesa because I want the sound of a JTM45 or AC30, ... nor would I get a Recto and try to dial in the Deluxe.
To put things in perspecive, Mesa fills the market between boutique and mass production. The parts they use are not top notch but are not cheap either. QA is good but not great but they do have a 5 years warranty. Some Mesa amps do have hiss, pops, blow rectifier tube, wires came off connectors, etc. So no they are not bullet proof and tank do break down too. But this is normal maintenance as w/ anything else.

 

[GeoBull]

Perhaps John Petrucci, Al DiMeola, and many, many others are willing to use amps made with low-budget parts that break all the time. Or maybe not...I often read how the reason these guys (at least) tour with Mesa is that they don't break and if they do they are easy to service/replace.

BTW...liner note pictures for Systematic Chaos, Dream Theater, clearly show Petrucci using Boogies in the studio.

As to boutique/vintage: I've tried a number of them: I have a Dr. Z and I've played through other Z's, Bruno, and a number of others. All these amps had their thing but none showed any versatility for the money; the Z's are certainly great boutique deals for the money.

 

[Dusty Rhodes]

Geez. I am so sick and tired of hearing those buzz words "botique", "point-to-point" "vintage" and hell yes I'll even throw "true bypass" into the mix.

Vintage amps are great for investment purposes simply because most everyone thinks they posses this magical mojo that modern day amps cannot duplicate. Total B.S. In fact, those "vintage" amps really lack in any consistancy from one amp to the next. It was not uncommon at all for two identical models to have completly differnt tones simply because the consistancy in the compoents varied so much. No so today. Especially with Mesa.

Mesa has a 5 year parts and labor warranty and you can't beat that.

And oh BTW all those botique snobs should realize that everything they are building is based on Leo Fenders Bassman design. Yes, even Marshall, VOX and Mesa are all variants of this.

Take pride in your decision. It was a good one.

Oh and ask the owner to back up his claims with sepcifics. Tell him to prove it. The polietly tell him to procreate with himself.

 

[BMarchant]

Hey BlaineB,
Those guys are right. Mesa Boogies suck! So sell me your LoneStar so I can add it to me amp rig. My setup isn't balanced. I have a hole on one side.

Welcome to the Boogie family! I played modded and Boutique amps in the 80s. Boogies are built like tanks, and sound great. Couldn't ask for a better combination.

Bmarchant

 

[Barry]

Ive been a boogie player exclusively since 1980 and hardly ever had an issue with any mesa amp . I have a LS head that stays on our band equipment truck and havent had any problem with it . It takes a licking and keeps on ticking .

 

[Setzer]

I have a 1971 JMP lead 50w Marshall sitting here at home because my Mesa is 10 times the amp.

In all seriousness,I will do you a straight swap for your Mesa against my point to point handwired classic amp.

Get back to me(I am totally serious by the way)

Somehow I think my Marshall will still be here this time next year.

 

[CGM]

+1 on all the above. although I did get a backup for my LSS because of all the horror stories, my LSS has yet to break down. It still has great tone, it still is on every stage I play. I'm proud of it . I love it. What else is out there that does this?.....( however ...I do reserve the right to ***** about it when and IF it lets me down )...I'll just fix it like I would any other amp and keep playing.
Man..if it's got tits, wheels or tubes...it's gona give you some heart ache ......

 

[lyman]

hey man. just enjoy your new amp! if it sounds good to you, then it IS good. forget what the snobs have to say.

there's maybe a false sense of how good everything "vintage" was. there was a lot of a crap made back then too, but over the past 30+ years the shitty stuff broke down or just never really gets played b/c it sounds bad, and so the equipment that's still in circulation isn't completely representative of all the stuff that was made in that era.

i've had a couple of mesa amps, i didn't feel that they were made with inferior parts compared to fender or marshalls. sure, a more expensive "boutique" amp might have a higher build quality but they tend to be more expensive, or at least if they cost the same they often have fewer features than a mesa.

 

[DaPatrooch]

There's a place near me called George's and they said that they used to be a Mesa dealer before but they stopped because they would always come with broken parts. Really weird, because Mesa is known for their reliability. They made it sound like they were always breaking down and everything. I went in looking for a Rectoverb and the guy said "Yeah, I can't argue, the Rectifier sounds great, when it works."