Yeah, so I played the Stiletto, LoneStar and Express today

[gambit]

The stiletto has no low end and the lone star has not nearly enough treble, could use more mid range too. I'm thinking the Stiletto must be a real metalish amp considering the bass is absent. The lonestar I have no idea what anyone uses it for.

In my opinion the Express was a much more well rounded amp, I easily prefer my Trem-o-verb any day... but out of the three the express won in my eyes.

 

[Octavarius]

Good for you!

 

[gambit]

Thanks!

 

[halfnote]

The Stiletto stock is not much to talk about. There needs to be a geq in the loop to achive recto style lows. You can get more lowend by upgrading the tubes but the geq is the best bet. I'm not a huge fan of the lonestar either, it's clean is nice but it doesn't wow me like a Bogner or a BadCat.

 

[gambit]

Yeah I hear you, I wasn't impressed by either... I played the express and it was a little more rounded out but not much. I'll play the roadster this week, see how it feels.

 

[phyrexia]

I wonder how you had the Stiletto set up. It can't do Recto type low end, but not too many amps can.

I haven't ever heard anybody complain about Lonestars being dark.

 

[ifailedshapes]

Which Express, which Lone Star, and which Stiletto did you play? Were they head/cabs or combos?

I own an Express 5:25 1x10 combo. Love that little amp. It's not my dream tone, but for the portability I can't complain at all!

My favorite amps are a Lone Star Classic combo and a Stiletto Ace combo. I get chills when playing through both. If I ever have a roadie, I'll own both. Until then, I'll spare both my wallet and my back!

I will agree that the Express amps are more versatile than any Lone Star or Stiletto. I think that in their respective areas, though, an Express will never trump the Lone Star (for cleans) or the Stiletto (for crunchy, distorted, gainy goodness).

Personally, I'm not a big fan of Rectifiers. I used to LOVE them a few years ago, but now I don't like the way they sit in a mix. I don't like the gritty tone to the distortion (granted, that's the trademark Recto tone) and I don't like the disturbing amounts of bass on tap. It's a LOT of fun to play through a rectifier sometimes, but for the music I actually play, it's not a good fit.

 

[gambit]

I was playing all combos, I plugged in to a new dual rectifier after and it was infinitely better!

 

[ifailedshapes]

What I was asking was more along the lines of Lone Star Classic or Lone Star Special? Express 5:25 or Express 5:50? But if you don't know, then you don't know! No worries.

 

[KH Guitar Freak]

It's all in the EQ, and the generally voicings of each amp. With the LoneStar, it's supposed to be big and fat. Cranking the treble on them shouldn't be too much of a problem, then go easier on the bass...

As for the Stiletto, the lack of low end is to help blend in better with the thunderous lows of the Rectos, and many low to low mid heavy modern amps. If you have a go at a classic British amp such as a vintage Marshall or whatnot, they do have low ends like that. It's only when metalheads wanted more low to low mid in their tone, Marshall started coming out with models to accomodate their tastes. The Stiletto sounds even better when in a band mix or whatnot...

YMMV, but being like most Mesas, they require more time to find the sweet spot, but when you do, all hell will break loose... :lol:

 

[danyeo1]

Reeder mods help the Lonestar drive out a lot. I set the treble high and bass very low and I'm getting tones i like a lot. I'd take the Lonestar over say, the Egnater Rebels anyday.

 

[fama]

Sweet spot is right. I'm very happy with my stock stiletto ace head when jammming full out rock rehersals and shows with the band. This amp cuts through and sits on the bass and drums at high and low volumes just right. It took some tweeking with tone settings and effects levels but after that all bedroom / music store level tests were out. Get those mesa amps in the garage and crank them up. Make sure your bass player and drummer are hammering it out along with you when tweeking the amp. I knew the ace head had something special about it and I knew that it would work for me in a live band setting when tested. The ace head did not sound that great when I tested it at guitar center but it had the over the top tonenality that I felt was missing with my 78 jmp. I tried the diezel... to much money. My brother is copping killer blues tones in his band with his lonestar and thats what led me in the direction of mesa amps. As for the express 5 -25 -1-12 I feel its a great practice / small giging amp for someone who wants great tone but does not what the burden of a half stack / larger combo set up playing in a classic R&B band.

 

[HaggertysMusic]

It's noteworthy too that you really have to EQ these amps differently. The Lone Star and Express have pre-gain EQ's... the Stiletto is post-gain EQ.

Generally on the Lone Star and Express, I will start with the EQ's at 9:00 which seems to be pretty neutral on those amps. Run the EQ too high and everything turns to mush. The Stiletto is very bright, but that can be tamed by running the treble and presence very low... 8 or 9:00... even all the way off... and the mids and bass at 12:00.

 

[Barry]

The stiletto has no low end and the lone star has not nearly enough treble, could use more mid range too. I'm thinking the Stiletto must be a real metalish amp considering the bass is absent. The lonestar I have no idea what anyone uses it for.

In my opinion the Express was a much more well rounded amp, I easily prefer my Trem-o-verb any day... but out of the three the express won in my eyes.

Sounds like you have some tweaking problems to solve . Those two amps are off the rails amazing . Are you tweaking with your eyes or ears ?

 

[HaggertysMusic]

Are you tweaking with your eyes or ears ?

That's the point exactly. On the 5:50's I'll run the treble completely off... What's so wrong on one amp is so right on another.

 

[Monsta-Tone]

I have a great Stiletto mod that increases bass and lower mids!

Other than that....I will keep my DC-10, Heartbreaker, & Maverick. Nothing really interests me in the new lineup!

 

[Barry]

I find the Stiletto to be quite awesome to say the least , without any mods or changing any tubes . I bet you if you went back and isolated the guitar track on some classic rock songs from Zep, The Who, etc.. I bet you would find the guitar track might sound thin and somewhat fiddly . When you hear it in the context of a band it quickly shines . As far as swapping tubes you might also consider all the R&D on Mesa amps was done with stock Mesa tubes not some posh upgraded tube .

 

[KH Guitar Freak]

I find the Stiletto to be quite awesome to say the least , without any mods or changing any tubes . I bet you if you went back and isolated the guitar track on some classic rock songs from Zep, The Who, etc.. I bet you would find the guitar track might sound thin and somewhat fiddly . When you hear it in the context of a band it quickly shines . As far as swapping tubes you might also consider all the R&D on Mesa amps was done with stock Mesa tubes not some posh upgraded tube .

Good point. Like I've mentioned before, if you listen to a lot of classic tracks with British amps powering them, they all sound like the lack low end, from Judas Priest, to many American 80s metal band, to Led Zeppelin, the list can go on and on. In fact, another example would be Andy Timmons demoing his rigs prior to having his Mesa rigs. With his late 70s Marshall JMP, I think he had the bass on 8, mids was around there, but treble is at 2, or something silly like that. They were really THAT bright and "lacking" in low end those days...

 

[Monsta-Tone]

You know, those are great points, but you don't need a super thin sounding amp to cut through the mix. My DC-10 has gobs of bass, but it cuts like a jet powered chainsaw when I want it to.

 

[rocksalt7]

I find that if I need more low end out of th Ace, I've always got the EQ pedal to shove into the loop. So far thats workin' well for me at lower levels and home practice.

When jammin' with a good drummer and bass player, I don't need the EQ pedal at all!! That seems to be the same as what everybody here is saying. We were playin' a couple of weeks ago and I decided to see what it would sound like without the EQ....Well, it had not been on the whole time!!! :shock: I laughed til I cried after that! Just goes to show you what a killer little green amp this really is!! :mrgreen: