Mesa Lonestar performance questions

[fisherob]

Hey guys. I have a couple of questions. I purchased the Lonestar about 4 months ago. I play out on an average of 4 times a week. I started having an issue last night at a gig. The amp volume starts out ok but as I am playing throughout the gig the volume gets less and less and the distortion gets very muddy. If I let it cool down it is fine. Could it be after 4 months it's time for tubes? If so, do I replace them all? Help? Thanks

 

[Monsta-Tone]

If the power fluctuates, you might try a new set of power tubes.

It is a really good idea to have an extra set anyway, just incase.

I have noticed that mine is muddy as well, but I just put new power tubes in. I'm thinking that the muddiness may be a preamp tube, but try the power tubes 1st.

 

[JAZZGEAR]

Nope.....this is a known problem with the LSC. V1/V3 preamp tubes need to be Chinese due to some voltage issues.....Rich at Mesa Boogie told me something like that. I'd call Mesa.

I had the same problem, called him and he sent me some preamp tubes.

 

[Monsta-Tone]

Hmmmm!


I had heard that for V3, but I hadn't thought about it for V1.

 

[Monsta-Tone]

I've been looking at the drawings and it looks like V3 & V4 are the ones with really high voltages applied to them.


I'm gonna try some new tubes in mine right now and report back.

 

[plan-x]

Never heard any of that! I re-tube with JJ's, and have had no problems for well over a year now. The mud factor improved with the re-tube as well. And the Reeder mod helped with the mud as well as an ext. cab.

 

[Monsta-Tone]

:lol: :lol: :lol: I think it all has to do with the Russian II tubes not being able to hold up under higher voltage conditions.

I would be willing to bet that JJ's would do just fine in there.

I just put 2 Ruby high gains in V1 & V2 and it made a drastic improvement over the stock Russian II's.

I'm going to have to replace all of the original ones and see what the amp can really do.

 

[plan-x]

I tried the mesa tubes and they were really bland, flat, no life, with no sparkle etc. The JJ's fixed all that and were alot cheaper. I got them at Euro tubes. I asked for the high headroom package. To the original poster, sorry for this highjack. Yes I would replace them all if you can afford it, but you might want to swap just some of your tubes to see if there is a tube problem. Maybe say V1. Use V5 in there, I think thats the rev tube? check your manual

 

[fisherob]

ok I bought new tubes. I bought all new tubes and will let you know how it works. I purchased the Mesa replacement tubes. I am really not into the whole electronics stuff you guys spin my head with but can someone answer this for me? Can I swap in other tubes without modifications or can I only use Mesa tubes?

 

[plan-x]

You can use any brand tube in the LSC. But.... there is a voltage range that is optimal and mesa does the testing and matching of those tubes. Generally they recommend the blue dot, which is said to be a cool (lower voltage) tube as compared to a hotter running tube. Hmmm maybe I'm thinking of Grove tubes color dot system. Anyway...there are tube dealers who know what the amp needs in voltage range and will test the tubes you need. For example, I wasn't thrilled with my first replacement set from mesa. My amp didn't sound as good as with the original set. So, I checked with Bob at Eurotubes and he has several pre-tested tube packages for all kinds of amps including mesa amps. Take a look at the link below. He actually put together a custom package for me that I called the "High headroom package" for no extra charge. The name speaks for itself. I was going for clean and loud. And I was not disappointed. He deals with one brand of tube which are "JJ's". They are considered as good or better than any other current production tubes. Read up on it at the web site. Good luck Boogie bro.

https://ssl.eurotubes.com/cart/index.php?page=view_products&category_id=6&sub_category_id=139

 

[Bikedude]

++on the JJ's. I re-tubed mine with JJ's about a month after I got the amp, and I've had no probs. for 2 years. These tubes got rid of the "flub". I've since put in some JJ EL34's and I like the different flavor, and it wakes up ch.2. Most versatile amp. 6v6's, and YJ's/84's up next.

 

[fishyfishfish]

Not to be a stinker, but have you placed a short jumper cable in the loop send/return? Mine did the same thing after it was used for a while and what I thought was always a tube issue was just in/out jacks gone wild.