rockhound76s
Well-known member
Hey everybody,
I just wanted to share my experiences so far with my new Lonestar Classic combo. A short while ago I was torn between buying a Classic or Special as I loved attributes of each. I spent 4 weekends at various stores testing them out before my purchase of the Lonestar Classic 1x12 combo in Blue Bronco/Silver Grille
I found out that I loved the LSC for the headroom of its sparkling clean tones. The lead channel I didn't care for. Not that it wasn't great, but I felt that it didn't offer anything that I couldn't coax out of my Mark IV.
The Special, however, had a drive channel voicing that was to die for with the EL84's...distinctly different but beautiful nonetheless. The problem I had with the clean channel was that I was running out of headroom at loud volumes.
I finally decided clean tones were the most important, so I went with the Classic 1x12 Combo and bought a set of THD Yellowjackets with JJ EL-84 tubes. Good God, this setup is killer.
I am running the Yellowjackets in the outer two slots, with the stock 6L6's in the middle. I run the amp on Tweed Power, with 100 watts (all 4 powertubes in use) selected Ch1 and 50 watts on Ch2 (only the EL-84's).
In 100 watt mode, the clean on CH 1 gains another dimension that sets it way apart from the cleans on my Mark IV and the stock Lonestar. It retains all the 6l6 bloom and chime, but adds a bit of el-84 jangle and sparkle that sounds awesome. It also reduces the bass a tad (which was more than ample with the 6l6's alone) and maintains tremendous headroom for my needs. Switching to 50 watts puts only the EL-84's to use, and I get an alternate clean sound that is bright and jangly, and VERY similar in voicing to the LSS (from what I remember of my demos at the store). The big difference is that there is a more bass, probably due to the larger cabinet design.
On CH2, I have the Drive disengaged and the Gain cranked for a dirty blues tone. On 50 watts, (again only using the EL84s) i get a similar but slightly bassier tone than I was getting with the LSS Combo. Engaging the drive with a moderate level and things get into heavy blues territory, (esp on the neck pickup of my Les Paul). Flipping to 100 watts, I am getting liquidy sustain, but with a slightly different voicing and a more immediate feel from the EL84's. The response is really pronounced at higher gain and drive settings where harmonics fly off the strings effortlessly.
Sorry for the long post, but I am SO fired up about this amp. I noticed that there have been quite a few LSS vs. LSC threads, so I hope that some of you try this option, as I am getting the best of both worlds. While the Yellowjackets are not gonna magically change the LSC into Special, it gets 90% there, and adds another dimension to an already versatile amp.
I just wanted to share my experiences so far with my new Lonestar Classic combo. A short while ago I was torn between buying a Classic or Special as I loved attributes of each. I spent 4 weekends at various stores testing them out before my purchase of the Lonestar Classic 1x12 combo in Blue Bronco/Silver Grille
I found out that I loved the LSC for the headroom of its sparkling clean tones. The lead channel I didn't care for. Not that it wasn't great, but I felt that it didn't offer anything that I couldn't coax out of my Mark IV.
The Special, however, had a drive channel voicing that was to die for with the EL84's...distinctly different but beautiful nonetheless. The problem I had with the clean channel was that I was running out of headroom at loud volumes.
I finally decided clean tones were the most important, so I went with the Classic 1x12 Combo and bought a set of THD Yellowjackets with JJ EL-84 tubes. Good God, this setup is killer.
I am running the Yellowjackets in the outer two slots, with the stock 6L6's in the middle. I run the amp on Tweed Power, with 100 watts (all 4 powertubes in use) selected Ch1 and 50 watts on Ch2 (only the EL-84's).
In 100 watt mode, the clean on CH 1 gains another dimension that sets it way apart from the cleans on my Mark IV and the stock Lonestar. It retains all the 6l6 bloom and chime, but adds a bit of el-84 jangle and sparkle that sounds awesome. It also reduces the bass a tad (which was more than ample with the 6l6's alone) and maintains tremendous headroom for my needs. Switching to 50 watts puts only the EL-84's to use, and I get an alternate clean sound that is bright and jangly, and VERY similar in voicing to the LSS (from what I remember of my demos at the store). The big difference is that there is a more bass, probably due to the larger cabinet design.
On CH2, I have the Drive disengaged and the Gain cranked for a dirty blues tone. On 50 watts, (again only using the EL84s) i get a similar but slightly bassier tone than I was getting with the LSS Combo. Engaging the drive with a moderate level and things get into heavy blues territory, (esp on the neck pickup of my Les Paul). Flipping to 100 watts, I am getting liquidy sustain, but with a slightly different voicing and a more immediate feel from the EL84's. The response is really pronounced at higher gain and drive settings where harmonics fly off the strings effortlessly.
Sorry for the long post, but I am SO fired up about this amp. I noticed that there have been quite a few LSS vs. LSC threads, so I hope that some of you try this option, as I am getting the best of both worlds. While the Yellowjackets are not gonna magically change the LSC into Special, it gets 90% there, and adds another dimension to an already versatile amp.
