Mesa Lonestar Special - Beautiful but too dark, recommended mods?

fingers

camf said:

When I did the post above, I knew there was a slight niggle I had with it but I couldn't remember what it was. I thought it was the lack of a solo boost (but it has a great solo boost) but then remembered that the reverb could only be controlled globally where I'd have liked if it could be assigned to a specific channel.... it was such a nit-picky issue, even I couldn't remember what it was.

I wonder if this was a recent change? My LSS has seperate reverb control for each channel.

camf

Yeah, you're right, but I think it was just that the footswitch couldn't turn off/on the reverb from one channel... or something like that. I really was struggling to find something to fault... as I said, it was so minor that I now can't even remember what it was. In the end, maybe it was just perfect after all.

longshins

I'm happy with the Jensen Tornados in my Mesa 2x12 it's on its third gig tonight so starting to get more of an idea on settings. Found I really need to dial back the bass and mids compared to rehearsal/practice volumes.

mesa3077boogie

Hello guys this is my first post here nice to meet you. Are there any folks out there still interested in modding the Mesa Lonestar special?  

While I feel that that the reeder mod (pot swap) is a good mod, there are many more mods that can really sculpt the tone of this amp in a more beneficial way depending on your skill level and willingness to hold a solder. I am also surprised that for as long as the amp has been around that there are not more mod threads on this amp as the amp in its stock forum is a beautiful example of a feature heavy base for mods. Also I wanted to say that putting an EQ in the loop will not be as effective as swapping out certain components in the amp to get rid of that honk and flub. The problem with this amp is the same typical problem with most mesas, the tone stack & the large value capacitors throughout most of the early stages of the preamp. You cant fux that with EQ, it will only "smear over" the bad tones but the issue causing the unwanted tones are still there.

I'm getting ready to publish some threads on this and am seeing if there is still any interest out there. All of my mods achieve usability on all of the tone controls throughout their entire range. I took out all the honk all the & deep fatness that lead people away from this amp. The mods essentially neuter a lot of the "boogieness" of this amp. while that may be a turn-off for some of you I can guarantee that folks who try these mods will be very pleased with the results and will agree the amp is much more usable. I have transformed the clean channel into a bright yet deep Fendery classic clean, again with usability through all ranges of the tone controls. For channel 2, I have transformed that into a early marshall British tone capable of medium to High Gain classic rock tones. Darker, but clear cutting. Channel 2 no longer has that fat flub in the drive mode and is able to achieve an articulate palm muting sound and nice saturated overdrive that was not achievable in the original model. Cheers

Chester

Are the mods applicable to a Lonestar also? I'd certainly be interested in hearing more Mesa