Love my new Lonestar - hate the Mesa tubes!

[Profklamen]

I just bought a new lonestar with a flame maple cab - killer looking and sounding amp. I prefer EL34 tubes and bought two pair of the STR-447 tubes and put them in. They rattle so badly that I can't reasonably play the amp at low volumes. Just the hum of a single coil pickup cause one of the tubes to rattle fiercly. I took that pair back to GC who was kind enough to take them back, being a new amp and all, and I got another pair. They rattle too!

This makes the amp unplayable at low volumes - it was bought to be my living room amp. I'm also sure that these tubes will have a very short life rattling as hard as they are. To make matters worse, they were WAY overpriced, and I'm stuck with Mesa tubes under warranty.

I wish I could use higher quality tubes (at a fair price) and not void the warranty.

 

[RussB]

Stop whining and buy some other tubes! :wink:

When it comes down to it, who's gonna know that you DIDN'T have mesa tubes in the amp?

I highly recommend Lord Valve, aka Wille Whitaker of NBS Electronics in Denver, 303-779-1156. Tell 'em you want tubes that won't rattle, see what he suggests...

I really like the SED EL34 (which is also the Mesa STR-447, if you just HAVE to use Mesa tubes!), the JJ is a good cheap tube as well

 

[Profklamen]

RussB,

so your SED EL34's don't rattle? Did I just happen to get two out of three bad pairs?

I usually buy tubes for my other amps at The Tube Store. I've always had good luck with them, I like the JJ tubes a lot.

(I'm a bit of an amp collector, so I've had quite a bit of experience with tubes)

 

[RussB]

Oops, I mis-typed, they're sold by MESA as STR-442's for $60 a pair

Lord Valve sells 'em for $35

Thy're a stout tube, no rattles. I ran 4 of them in a Twin Reverb :shock: for a while, and that thing will shake the bejesus out of any power tube!

 

[old-guy]

First thing, I have to ask you is how long have you owned the LSC?

Second thing, on your post you say "killer looks & sound." If it's got a killer sound why do you want to swap out the tubes?

Third, if the Mesa EL34's suck or you're having a problem with them why not call Mesa's customer service. Tell them the problem that you're having with their tubes. Why not see what they have to say before you start buying more tubes. I've called them a couple of times and always got a call back with an answer that was "straight-up" and direct. That's what they're there for. They want you to call if you have a problem with any of their products. You got nothing to lose. (except the price of the call)

Good Luck! (I bet that cabinet is absolutely beautiful ............ I want it!)

Enjoy!

 

[Profklamen]

Old-guy,

I've only had the LSC for a little over a week - The reason I'm swapping tubes is:

the amp was a display model that was played with the bias set to EL34's but with the factory 6L6's, and it cooked the power tubes. They still worked but lacked high end and poped loudly when the amp was shut off. Mesa customer service suggested new tubes and GC kindly gave them to me. The new tubes stopped the loud pop when shut off and evened out the sound.

I prefer the sound of EL34's in general - a little less of the big low end.

You're right, I should call and ask how they can sell EL'34's that rattle so badly, and what they suggest.

Aside from the sound of shaking glass at low volumes, this amp is an incredible sounding thing.

 

[SlaveofPain]

The Mesa STR 447s are Sovtek. They are not the best sounding tubes and they obviously didn't work for you. Mesa ships those in all their amps that come with El34s like the Stiletto or Road King.

The STR 442s are Svetlana (now called SED). These are much higher quality, better sounding tubes and that's why Mesa charges more for them. You can get them a lot cheaper if you buy them without the Mesa branding. However you have to talk to the dealer to make sure you get ones with values that fit Mesa's fixed bias. You could also have a bias trim pot mod done but it's better to do that after the amp is not in warranty.

 

[old-guy]

Yo Profklomen!
I got my LSC a little over a month ago. I would have bought the custom wood cabinet in a heart beat, unfortunately there were none to be found and I didn't want to wait for months. But, I did find one with the creme bronco finish so I'm happy. (not big on the "blue")
Any way, these amps are versatile little suckers. I'm still finding great tones and "tweaking". If your an EL34 man that's great.
But, just to give you an example there was a guy from the "Board" who has the LSC. I believe he had it for a few months and swapped out the 6L6's for the 34's. He though the new sound was excellent and played it with them for a few months. Just for the hell of it he switched back to all of the original tubes (6L6's) and found he actually liked them better and as far as I know he's still got them in.
My point to you is to really get to know your amp. Put the time into it. I would talk to Mesa and tell them that someone at the store was running your amp with the 6's and had it set for 34's on the back panel. If it were mine I'd want to make sure it was running 100%.
Because the bottom line is, you can't accurately test the "tone" if something might be wrong. I think Mesa says that running the amp with wrong "tube settings" is really "not a good thing" to do. Do you think they put that in the manual just to scare us for some bizzar reason?
You have a beautiful (and expensive) amp. Again, CALL MESA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Tell the "tech" EVERYTHING and see what he says. (Don't be lazy, do the right thing)

Enjoy your amp!

 

[Profklamen]

Old-guy,

I've called Mesa several times and they have been responsive and helpful. They think the 6L6's were probably damaged and seem like they are going to exchange the rattling EL34's.

Aside from the rattle of the tubes, this amp sounds really great and seems to be working perfectly.

 

[Nifty50+3]

Attention old-guy and Profklamen
you both have PM's

Nifty50+3

 

[Nifty50+3]

Profklamen,
just a quick thanks (thank you) for the GC sale info labor day weekend. I picked up the amp this past weekend. And it's a dynamite amp.
N50+3

 

[Profklamen]

Nifty50,

I couldn't find any PM - I'm new at this, so perhaps I didn't know how to find the PM.?

For an update -

I received a new set of 6L6 tubes from Mesa today. They sound great and have no rattle or noise at all. Clearly 5 of the 6 EL34's were very noisy tubes. I'm sending them back to Mesa so they can inspect them in person.

In any event, Mesa came through with very professional, no nonsense customer support. They are a classy company.

My lonestar sounds incredible.