Tube Change

Ok, who has changed the 6l6's to L34's on their lonestars and what is the results. Do you lose those great cleans or keep them just in a slightly different form. I am into a brit amp mode and trying to think of the way to get there with a lonestar classic. And don't forget to tell about the effects on channel 2

My experience with them was a slight loss in the full/fat, bubbly sound and a tightening up of the amp. The mids were more pronounced, and sweeter. A little less sparkle. It was a definite improvement on ch 2's crunch tones for stock LSC. Actually, a hybrid LSC with both tubes, 6L6-ch1 and EL34-ch2 (Switchable like a RK) would be a nice upgrade from boogie. Overall the difference is not that dramatic and I wouldn't call it a Marshall either. But it does move the tone more towards a brit sound.

I just picked up a used EL34 LSC this past weekend. I very much like the EL34s vs. the 6L6s. The clean is still "Lonestar clean" with no appreciable loss of sparkle to my ears. Yes, it loses a bit of bubbliness, but not hugely. The 34s clearly improve Channel 2, with better clarity of notes, "less mud", and a tad of a midrange boost. While I agree that it is no Marshall, it does have that Brit overdrive character to it. I plan to try a quad of 6V6s in the future to see how things sound.

Matt

Mine sounded a little more up front with the EL's in. Tightened up the bass and made the amp more touch sensitive. I didn't really like what they did for channel 2, almost made the amp have to much mid-range, like a cheap tube screamer or something. Just my 2 cents.

JLBoogie said:

Ok, who has changed the 6l6's to L34's on their lonestars and what is the results. Do you lose those great cleans or keep them just in a slightly different form. I am into a brit amp mode and trying to think of the way to get there with a lonestar classic. And don't forget to tell about the effects on channel 2

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I love it. I use JJ E34Ls. They seem to help solidify the low end a bit. As far as cleans, you won't notice that difference. It's not like the amp suddenly becomes a heavy metal machine on all channels or something--That kinda sound is not really what this amp does. On the other hand I love the character of the amp changes slightly.

Mark

mdortona said:

I just picked up a used EL34 LSC this past weekend. I very much like the EL34s vs. the 6L6s. The clean is still "Lonestar clean" with no appreciable loss of sparkle to my ears. Yes, it loses a bit of bubbliness, but not hugely. The 34s clearly improve Channel 2, with better clarity of notes, "less mud", and a tad of a midrange boost. While I agree that it is no Marshall, it does have that Brit overdrive character to it. I plan to try a quad of 6V6s in the future to see how things sound.

Matt

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Well said, Matt. That's exactly what I found. I love the way channel 2 sounds. There is a bit more midrange and it took a bit of dinking around to come up with a nice mid level and voice setting. I have my mids at about 10 o' clock now and I actually like the thicker setting for the stage. The mids seem more prominant in that setting and I like the way the amp cuts and carries.

Mark

Yep, I'm running my mids around 9-10 o'clock too. If I roll them lower on the clean channel and add some treble, it's like I'm in Twin Reverb land

Matt

So guys, If I want to replace the tubes for EL43's then, and the bias is fixed. Who, other than directly from Mesa, can I buy the tubes from? And... Is there something I need to look out for? I can see my stock 6L6s are coded RED.

I've only purchased from Eurotubes. They sell JJ's. Just describe to them what your after tone wise and they'll do the matching(bias,voltage)for you. Or here is a link to his LSC tube kits.
https://ssl.eurotubes.com/cart/index.php?page=view_products&category_id=6&sub_category_id=139

I've purchased tubes from Eurotubes and Doug's Tubes and have been happy. Both are stand-up guys and will be able to correctly hook you up with what you need for the Lonestar. Give either one a call.

Matt

I just got my Groove Tube EL-34s yesterday and put them in last night. The ones I got in are rated at a 7. I bought them from Musician's Friend. Althought they haven't had the normal 50 hours to burn in, one thing I did notice was the improved note clarity that someone else had also mentioned. I was mostly playing on channel 1 and noticed that they tended to break into distortion a lot easier, especially if I attacked the strings more aggressively.

If you buy Groove Tubes, you'll want the Medium tubes, which are rated 4-7. So far, I like mine. I'm planning to try some 6V6 tubes after these have had about 50 hours of runtime.