I think I may have just 'saved' my LSS.

[screamingdaisy]

I've been thinking about getting rid of my LSS 1x12 combo for awhile. I even put it up for sale once, but pulled the advert due to not really feeling like dealing with shipping a combo.

The thing is, I love the LSS... I just can't find a use for it's tone. It's great at what it does, it's just not great for me. If I were a country player or a blues player I suspect I would use it more, but as a rock player it's just a little too laid back and dark sounding.

Well, tonight on a bit of a whim I plugged it into my Recto 2x12. Lets just say that I was pretty surprised. I knocked it up into 'thick' and got a great crunch sound out of it. I used to only think the LSS was really good for mild overdrive and heavy overdrive... very fat and oriented more towards lead than rhythm with no good crunch tone in sight. Through the Recto 2x12 however it had a much tighter and brighter sound, yet not too bright. Very crunchy.

I've been thinking about buying a JTM45 for bar gigs for awhile now. Simple amp... pure rock and roll. Now I'm thinking I'm just going to convert my LSS combo to a head version and use it with a closed back cab.

 

[chmiel]

try the mid mod (reeder mod 2) on channel 2

before the mod my LSS was very bassy - great for blues but not really a rock amp

now i can still geta blues tone, but also such a great rock sound out of it - the mod really opens up the amps bass and mid settings
instead of having the bass/mids at 9 0'clock i now have them at around noon.

And if you dont like it, you can always reverse it


P.S. i havent tried a LSS through a recto cab, but sounds awesome through my stiletto cab

 

[Leroy the Massochist]

... closed back cab?

What difference do you thinkmaking a panel for the combo would do?

 

[screamingdaisy]

... closed back cab?

What difference do you thinkmaking a panel for the combo would do?

I'm thinking it'd be pretty boxy sounding. I don't think the cab is large/deep enough to pull it off well.

 

[Don]

... closed back cab?

What difference do you thinkmaking a panel for the combo would do?

This is generally not a good idea with a tube amp. The heat generated is tremendous and it will have nowhere to go.

 

[lostcause]

When I tried out the LS I didnt like the sound of the combo. I dont think Im a fan of the C90.
I tried the head through a few different cabs, closed and open back, and found it much more to my liking with the closed back cabs. The 2nd ch started to make more sense.
I previously owned a Mesa Nomad 212 combo and found much of what I didnt like about it disappeared once I converted it to a head and ran it through a closed cab. Same with the LS for me. Dont think I like mesa combos or c90's.

 

[djw]

Try running that LSS through a 4x12. I've gushed about this more than once, but happy to do it again: whenever I'm able to run my LSC through my Marshall 1960A cab, the results are just awesome. Massive (but tight) lows, and a gorgeous sparkly crunch. Brutal.

 

[plan-x]

I'll jump aboard. People are looking for that one speaker, one cab that will do it, be the best. The Pig loves slop. A variety of speakers and cabs will get the best. Think out of the box, like 4 half stacks runnin 16 ohms each, whoa! I personally run the combo with 2-5 ext cabs and 5 different speakers. It's tonal bliss. Why do I have all that? I was looking for the one cab/speaker thing. Then one day I chained it all up and Bam! There it was.

The recto 2x12 along with the combo's open back should be a winner. Put the cab you want loudest in the 8 ohm jack and the other in the 4 ohm. Or, remove one of the speakers from the Recto and enjoy a front ported 1x12 (detuned cab). Then, unplug one of the C-90's in the combo to match volume to the recto's single V-30 better. Assuming it's a 2x12 combo. At that point, you still got 8 more ohms of speakers you could still add. :lol:

 

[felix vampiro]

and for another alternative for brightening the Ch 2 darkness and adding an extra overdriven dimension- I have used the slave out on my LSC into an old Vox AC30. Blended the slave level on the back panel and the channel level on the Vox. Turned the pig into the mother of all pre-amps. Added beautiful tight crunchy overdrive to Ch 2, 60's Beatles brightness to Ch 1. All separately grounded and careful with those send levels.

Put a big smile on my face.

 

[Charles Reeder]

...as to ythe idea/question of turning a Lonestar Combo into a 'closed-back' combo.

It 'could' be done but would require some careful fitting and woodworking skills. As someone mentioned above...you CAN'T cut off air supply to the tubes...they must 'breathe'..

Mesa solved this problem in the Stiletto Ace Combo by having a horizontal shelf extending across the width of the combo which was placed just below where the tubes extended downward. You would have to mount a similar shelf and then affix your full-sized back panel to that...leaving the top area for the tubes uncovered.

The Stiletto-Ace and The Lonestar combo cabinets are INTERCHANGEABLE; the Lonestar amp chassis will fit into the Stiletto combo cab with no modifications needed; even though the Stilett combo cab is approx 1-inch deeper.(This was done deliberately to allow the speaker enough room to move air properly and resonate well) If you could 'snare' a Stiletto combo cab used from someone who is changing over to a head-cab...perhaps you could get it cheap enough to try it out. It would fit...leave opening for the tubes and fully enclose the speaker.
The Stiletto combo cab would do everything you are proposing to try and do...and second only to mounting your Lonestar amp chassis in a 'Head-Cabinet (and trying closed back cabinets) would be your next 'best-bet' in my opinion.

Regards: Charles

 

[Leroy the Massochist]

Interesting.

Some constraints - $'s tight so there will be no splitting it into head and cabinet and wife says amp is too big, too many guitars skateboards and surfboards already so an extension cab - no chance (luckily she did not know me in the 80's with the full stack in my bedroom).

Therefore question is - would a half or 3/4 back panel get you half way there re a closed back sound and would it undermine the integrity of the airflow/heat etc.

 

[Charles Reeder]

You could make a taller bottom panel that would come up to just about level with the bottom of the 6L6 power tubes. With the LSC fan in the on position...that would not overheat the tubes. It WOULD tighten up and focus the bass somewhat...and might give you the results you seek. It wouldn't cost much to try it either. Take some measurements and get a piece of 5/8" plywood (or even pressboard) cut to size. Use your present lower back-panel as a pattern for drilling screw holes and give it a try. If you like the results....buy a small piece of the correct vinyl and you're in business. This method wouldn't even leave any evidence to show the mod if you decided to reverse things later.

I did this (taller lowere back panel)...not to a LSC combo...but to my LSC 1X12 cabinet and I liked the resulting sound. I use it mixed with another cabinet with regular (stock) sized back panels. So, I know it DOES change things. Only you can decide if it does so for the better.

Best of luck: Charles

 

[screamingdaisy]

Just did some more experimenting. I ordered a pair of 1x12 cabs a couple months ago for my Mark V.... the idea was to go old school with a Boogie mini-stack... 1x12 open back on a 1x12 thiele. The pair came in a couple days ago and they sounds great with the Mark V.

Anyway... this evening I tried both out with the LSS and both worked out great. I expected the thiele to add some thump to the combo speaker and it did. Made things a little tighter/thicker all the way around.

The real surprise was the open back cab. Considering it's under a 1x12 OB extension under a 1x12 OB combo I expected it to simply sound like what I already have x2. What I wound up with was a bassier, fuller sound with some actual thump to it. I was pretty impressed.

The above was done at moderate volumes. Tomorrow I'll let it rip at gig volumes and see what happens. Still, this will cost me a lot less time and money than converting the chassis over to a head like I planned before.

 

[screamingdaisy]

So, I finished my testing. I moved everything out of the corner and placed it towards a flat wall to make sure that the corner wasn't acting as a bass trap.

I started by alternating between the speaker in the LSS combo with the speaker in the open back cab and they both sounded pretty much the same. Things sound good, although there is that slightly boxy effect, and once you start palm muting anything it mute is kind of wimpy and there's no real authority to it.

Once I paired the cabs up however the mids filled out better and the boxy sound disappeared. Palm mutes also thumped a lot better and the crunch tones improved.

I then tried it with the thiele. Not as good as I'd hoped. The thiele added a more solid feel with tighter response, but dominated the pair and killed much of the combo cab's openness. Since one of the joys of an EL84 amp is the chime and harmonics I preferred the more vintage sound/feel of the two open backs.

Next I plugged it into an Orange 4x12 loaded with Greenbacks. It was an OMG! type moment. I think that if most of the people who eventually give up on the LSS could hear this they'd be sold. To put it simply, it sounds like rock and roll. And as a bonus, the Greenback loaded 4x12 is quite a bit quieter than the MC-90 loaded combo, so a little more freedom to up the volume and drive the LSS harder.

Anyway, I'm going to get a G12M to drop in the LSS and see how it sounds. And if that works out I'm going to save up and get a G12M loaded extension cabinet to throw underneath it. My theory is that it should give me a Bluesbreaker sort of vibe with EL84 breakup, which would be more than cool in my books.

 

[plan-x]

Funny how you have(?) all this stuff and you never tried it out. :? After doing mods, tubes, pedals, guitars, etc. the most significant improvement for me was speakers and cabs. Glad it saved your LSS from going to the chopping block. 8)

 

[screamingdaisy]

Funny how you have(?) all this stuff and you never tried it out. :? After doing mods, tubes, pedals, guitars, etc. the most significant improvement for me was speakers and cabs. Glad it saved your LSS from going to the chopping block. 8)

Yeah... it's just one of those things where you push one amp back in favour of another and never really get around to doing anything with it.

I've resisted most of the mods thus far. I've never really had any issues with the actual sound of the amp... mostly just with the speaker. It was always my intention to get the matching extension cab for it, just my priorities had shifted and the LSS dropped off the radar.