BoogieDown
Well-known member
I just got my Mesa Boogie Lonestar Special in the mail. I bought it for $1075 from a guy on this forum (jdh4him).
First: Obligatory UPS horror story
I live in a walk-up apartment building on the 5th floor. With an amp in hand, its a mighty struggle to get up to me, so when the UPS guy buzzed it was a mad race to get some shoes on and get down the stairs before he either left or did something...stupid. When I got to the flight of stairs before the last, I discovered the UPS guy cartwheeling the box up the stairs, end over end. The box was clearly labeled fragile but...I guess that doesn't mean much in a recession. I just signed for it and carried it up the stairs.
Here are the pics of the box/packaging. It was well done I must say.
Fully packed
what i used to open it
footswitch cable and NOS power tubes
casters
inner packing
in the slip cover
under the slip cover
Once I unpacked it all, I checked to see that all the tubes were securely in place and that the knobs were stable and secure. I also checked the footswitch out to see that it was in good condition. I was pleasantly surprised on all fronts. When I powered the amp up though, I hit a hiccup. I got one second of sound and then kaput...nothing. I got on the phone and called mesa boogie and found out that it was probably a blown preamp tube. Fortunately I had another one lying around so I swapped it out until I found the culprit. I also noticed that one of the power tubes was out so I grabbed one out of my Crate V18 and plugged it in. I powered it up again and it was bliss. I've never been happier with an amp. I don't really have to do any work to get my sounds out of it. I might need a drive pedals with it (one for a crunchy/heavy rhythm sound so I can keep my lead and clean sounds amp only, maybe a fuzz, a wah, and a delay just for fun), but other than that, it doesn't really need anything.
All in all, its a pretty happy NAD for me.
First: Obligatory UPS horror story
I live in a walk-up apartment building on the 5th floor. With an amp in hand, its a mighty struggle to get up to me, so when the UPS guy buzzed it was a mad race to get some shoes on and get down the stairs before he either left or did something...stupid. When I got to the flight of stairs before the last, I discovered the UPS guy cartwheeling the box up the stairs, end over end. The box was clearly labeled fragile but...I guess that doesn't mean much in a recession. I just signed for it and carried it up the stairs.
Here are the pics of the box/packaging. It was well done I must say.
Fully packed
what i used to open it
footswitch cable and NOS power tubes
casters
inner packing
in the slip cover
under the slip cover
Once I unpacked it all, I checked to see that all the tubes were securely in place and that the knobs were stable and secure. I also checked the footswitch out to see that it was in good condition. I was pleasantly surprised on all fronts. When I powered the amp up though, I hit a hiccup. I got one second of sound and then kaput...nothing. I got on the phone and called mesa boogie and found out that it was probably a blown preamp tube. Fortunately I had another one lying around so I swapped it out until I found the culprit. I also noticed that one of the power tubes was out so I grabbed one out of my Crate V18 and plugged it in. I powered it up again and it was bliss. I've never been happier with an amp. I don't really have to do any work to get my sounds out of it. I might need a drive pedals with it (one for a crunchy/heavy rhythm sound so I can keep my lead and clean sounds amp only, maybe a fuzz, a wah, and a delay just for fun), but other than that, it doesn't really need anything.
All in all, its a pretty happy NAD for me.
