Lonestar 1x12 Combo Vs Express 5:50 Combo Help Me Choose

Hey guys,

I've been after a another amp for a while now I have a rectoverb 25 head and 1x12 cab I currently gig with but wanted something a little more compact but with slightly more headroom. I took the plunge the other day and bought a Lonestar 1x12 combo 100 watt version. First of all its a fantastic amp, great clean chan and loads of headroom. Chan 2 on the other hand although I can get a fairly high gain sound out of it and its pretty cranked gain wise. Plus the amp is heavy as well.

I was thinking on sending the lonestar back and getting the Express + 5:50 just purely because the Express has more gain and is less heavy. I just wondered what everyone's thoughts are? Gain wise can you get a pretty high gain sound out of chan 2? And also what is chan 1 like? Plenty of headroom even though its 50 watts? I'm coming from a 25 watt amp anyway but I really dig the 100 watt headroom of the lonestar.

Even though I've only used the Lonestar a couple of days it does sound pretty awesome i just think maybe the Express is suited slightly more to me.

What do you think guys? Has any one had a lonestar or tried one and preferred the Express?


Thanks in advance

Paul

So many amps, so little time.

I would put the Express closer to the Rectifier family, though the GEQ on the + gives it a lot of flexibility. The overdrive is a little smoother than the F-series, which has quite a bit of bite. There is a lot of drive in the Express, especially in Burn mode. I don't think you would want for gain. But the clean is mediocre IMO. If you care about clean, you'll miss the Lonestar I think. The Express has a bunch of filtering (contour) in place of a good clean circuit.

I think that the F50 is a good higher-power RV25-style amp. The Express has more features, but is really not my favorite amp. I'd stick with the Lonestar unless you really feel the gain isn't enough. Even then, I'd stick a BBPre or OD808 in front of that amp to get effectively 4 switchable channels. You can also pick up an F50 for like $500-$600.