Lone Star headroom...

Hello all,
I am happy to be on this board.
My question involves the Lone Star Special series of amplifiers.
I have recently had the pleasure to play a Lone Star Special 1x12 and I've fallen in love with the tone. The clean channel is simply gorgeous, and is what I have been looking for for years. Every note simply blooms, and is coated with a sonic halo that brings every subtle nuance to life. I'm addicted :shock:
My problem is the issue of headroom. The amp is small and extremely loud, but I worry about my clean signal breaking up when the band is involved. I realize the amp has been designed to do so, capturing the 'vintage' frequencies of early Vox amplifiers etc... but I refuse to let this 'clean tone' go. It is too wonderful. There must be a way to preserve it, and your suggestions are welcome.
The Lone Star Classic is designed for headroom, but that magical something appears to be missing (at least for my ears).
Might an external speaker help the special? Running it at 35 watts? Does a 2x12 maintain the beauty? Does anybody run 2 Lonestar Specials together in stereo?
I apologize if this topic has been discussed before. I'm really close to making a purchase, and would dearly love some insight.
Cheers!

-SLS
8)

The volume of the amp is adequate for playing in a band. I currently play using the 15W setting with the master at 3:00 and the output at 9:00. But here is the key: The amp should only act as your own private monitor. It should be miked and run through a board. This insight, which came from a professional sound guy who sat in on one of our practices, has made the sound of my band 100x better. The key is LOW STAGE VOLUME of all insturments. If you do not run the amp through a board, you will struggle to maintain the exact tone you speak of, because the volume will have to be pushed to keep up with the never ending circle of drums-bass turns up-guitar turns up- drums hit harder- bass turns up again, ect... An eq (which I use) can provide some boost while helping to maintain the tone, but even that will alter the tone in some way.

Guitarvet is right on the money - but I would also add that if you want to thicken up the sound and provide a little spatial seperation, order a 1x12 cab as well. It adds to the sound quite nicely.

Check the pic in my sig for an example of what it looks like...

I love my LSS but wish it did have a bit more headroom. Channel 1 at 30 watts does start to break up sooner than I thought. More-so with humbuckers than single coils. Even with the guitar volume down a bit.

Does the second cab add headroom?

Thanks

brianf

The definition of "headroom" is always confusing for me... if by headroom you mean additional clean volume then yes, I think it does.

Just curious, how much gain do you have set in Channel One with the humbucker guitar?

SabuJSE said:

Just curious, how much gain do you have set in Channel One with the humbucker guitar?

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I have to keep the Channel 1 gain below 12:00. The guitar has to be turned down a bit too.

brianf

Hmmm - I never set the gain higher than about 10:00 and I very rarely get any breakup on my SG unless I am really pounding the strings...

SabuJSE said:

Hmmm - I never set the gain higher than about 10:00 and I very rarely get any breakup on my SG unless I am really pounding the strings...

Click to expand...

Yeah, I have not understood the few comments here about not-quite-enough headroom with the LSS. I leave the gain at 10:00 myself on Ch.1 and definitely achieve enough clean volume to play with a drummer. On rock tunes too, not just blues.

Are peopel m istaking EL84 color for breakup?

Here is a suggestion....set the LSS at whatever setting that suits your ears...then run a cable from the "slave" output to a large amp and use that larger amp as a boost for the Mesa sound....anyone agree??

very nice setup Sabu, do you ahve a 1 X12 Cab with a 2 X12 cab? why not just get the 4X10 cab or just an extra 2X12? to much headroom?

Anyways, ive heard that the LSS and LSc have quite different headroom spectrums i guess being a 30 and a 100 watt amp though i heard the specials cleans are amazing also

By the way very nice computer game collection:S haha play WOW alot? i got to addicted had to quit! lol

I got tired of WoW pretty quickly - and it takes time away from playing guitar

Sabu could you give me details on your cabinet.
I would like to order the same cabinet for my LSS
Thanks
Don

Replied to your PM

thanks

Just my .02. I had a LSS and it did not have enough headroom for my gig situation. Absolutely beautiful tone, but the clean channel would break up to soon. EL 84 tone out the wazoo. I now play with the Lonestar 2x12 and I have never played thru a better amp. At HC, someone called it a Fender killer. I'm not anti fender in anyway. The LS did TRRI and DRRI's perfectly. Simple to use and tweaks galore. The LS can cover without pedals 75% of what you will ever need in the tone dept.

Yep, slave out to a power amp and another cabinet. You could get a Mesa 20/20, they are sposed to be pretty loud. I'm looking at getting a Mesa 2:50 to run in the Line out of my Mojave for a wet/dry setup.

picnic said:

Just my .02. I had a LSS and it did not have enough headroom for my gig situation. Absolutely beautiful tone, but the clean channel would break up to soon. EL 84 tone out the wazoo. I now play with the Lonestar 2x12 and I have never played thru a better amp. At HC, someone called it a Fender killer. I'm not anti fender in anyway. The LS did TRRI and DRRI's perfectly. Simple to use and tweaks galore. The LS can cover without pedals 75% of what you will ever need in the tone dept.

Click to expand...

Yeah, and that last 25% is what I mainly play. :lol: I wish I could get an extremely high gain amp and a seperate amp for cleans and just A/B the two, but alas, money is the issue.

In regards to the original post; I was going to suggest running the LS slave into a seperate power amp like someone already mentioned. I would do that if a sound board/PA, isn't readily available.

Well then just buy a nice overcrive pedal, im guessing u really want a highn gain like a recto- but want the sparkly clean, then get a LSC 2X12, and a nice drive pedal. if u play more rock or metal buy the weapon pedal