Possibly selling DC5 and EX 525, Lonestar or MK V?

Well my dad came to me with dissapointing news, I have to tell him I told you so, but he had been playing for only about half a year and splurged on an american strat and a new express 5:25. Now claiming he "isnt worth them", hes selling them, taking my MIM strat and will be content with his old roland. But hes being generous and offered to put the sale money towards whatever for me, pretty **** lucky. I'm so content really with my DC5, although sometimes I wish I could have a modern, high end boogie. So with the cash from a sold DC5 combo, Express 5:25 combo and an American Strat, im now looking at either a Lonestar 2x12 or a Mark V combo.

Basically my main sound and goal is to get a shimmering clean sound, and then switch to a creamy, violin tone Eric Johnson/Allan Holdsworth lead tone. I get that pretty well with an array of overdrives into the clean channel of the DC5, eq off, although I have to dance around to get back to a straight clean. The lead channel is always changing though, right now its meh, undefined and fuzzy. Although I would love to get Petrucci type leads and rhythms, which is why I'm siding towards the MK V.

So my main question is, should I go with the Lonestar just for the quality/variety of the cleans and low-gains? Or go with a MK V for more variety all together?

what styles do you play? do you plan on expanding your rig at a later time? IMO definately the Mark V but i cannot stress enough that you need try those amps with YOUR GUITAR. not necessary to involve the pedals when trying it out because those are just more for "color" than getting what the essence of the amp's really about. also, play them loud & really open them up as well as playing them at bedroom volume. the mark v for versatility. you've got 3 options for each channel, that's 9 sound options you can get. i myself will be getting one (head version) within the next few months because i need a really good "backup"(LOL) for my tremoverb. in my position, i play in a cover band that ranges from country to metal so for me i require versatility. i tried a combo at guitar center last week & though i'm not a combo kinda guy, i loved it. the mark series IMO have always been a bit "mid heavy" but can be remedied with the eq sliders. if you plan on doing lots of soloing, it's great for that. as it's been said time & time again, only you can be the judge so trust your ears. hope this helped. :mrgreen:

Well I usually rotate around Blues, Jazz to Prog rock/metal, and fusion type stuff.
I'm really more interested in certain types of tones that exact genres, as I play mostly in a jam band with my friends where we stretch the limits of genres quite a bit. So now im leaning towards the MKV for the variety.
Is the MK II C+ setting really as good as they say it is?

The Mark V seems to make the most sense IMO. It's got the Lonestar cleans, killer crunch channel, and Petrucci high gain (if desired - among other tones) all in one box. I vote for the Mark V.

(You might consider an AXE FX too though. No regrets here. :twisted: )

you might also want to consider looking at granger amps. i gave them some serious thought before deciding on the mark v. not as many options but the sounds were incredible. above all else the pricing was $500 less than a mark v. they are more "marshally" & have early van halen tones to boot. just an FYI. :mrgreen: