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By Nick Guppy
A long time ago, Mesa Engineering built just one amp called the
Boogie, which catapulted Randall
Smith’s garage enterprise to worldwide
fame when Carlos Santana used it at
the original Woodstock festival. Thirty-five years on, Mesa Engineering is now
very much part of mainstream
American guitar amplification and the
so-called ‘boutique’ market has been
through at least one major revolution,
resulting in many amps that combine
modern performance with retro styling.
After spending several years
concentrating on the rawk end of the
market, and enjoying considerable
success with the Rectifier range, Mesa
has looked to their own boutique roots
for the inspiration for their latest
design, the all new Lone Star.
Clad in blue vinyl, with a beautiful
gold-patterned silk speaker fret, the
Lone Star is a very handsome-looking
combo indeed. Mesa’s styling always
extends to close-up details, such as the
leather corners, gold piping and
recessed badge which accent the Lone
Star’s classy, refined appearance. The
chassis is aluminium rather than steel –
the brushed silver surface looks very
attractive, although we think a dull gold
anodised finish to match the speaker
fret would have been icing on this cake.
Inside the chassis, Mesa’s electronics
and layout are typically clean with one
through-plated printed circuit board
holding most of the electronics and two
smaller ones at the rear for the output
valves and back panel controls. All front
panel controls are attached to the PCB
by small flying leads, which makes for
improved reliability and has been a part
of all Mesa amps right from the start.
The Lone Star has a number of
features that have appeared on other
Mesa designs over the years, as well as
a few twists of its own. It’s a proper dual
channel design with double-decker
controls consisting of two sets of gain,
bass, mid, treble, master volume and
presence. Close to the input and
footswitch jacks are three small toggle
switches and an extra knob controlling
a second Boogie-style cascaded gain
stage on the lead channel – this can be
switched in or out of circuit using one
of the small toggles, the other two
switches are for manual channel
changing and a three-way tone selector
for the lead channel. To the right there
are two more toggle switches that
preset either channel for 50- or 100-
watt operation, with global master
volume and solo level controls. The
mains switch has Mesa’s ‘tweed power’
feature; choosing this option reduces
internal voltages for a lower output
with a squashier, more dynamic feel
and longer valve life.
Mesa Engineering likes to hide a lot
of surprises on its back panels, and the
Lone Star is no exception. As well as
solid-state rectification there’s a 5U4
rectifier valve controlled by a clever
tracking switch that brings in the valve
instead of diodes when a channel is set
for 50-watt output. The Lone Star’s
series effects loop has a send level
control and, more importantly, a hard
bypass which removes all the loop
circuitry (including the global output
and solo controls) from the signal path,
incidentally reversing the signal phase
in the process. This phase reversal will
only be of importance if you should use
two Lone Stars and activate the hard
bypass on one of them.
Both channels have individual reverb
level controls, along with a very
welcome reverb tone switch that gives
you a choice of dark or bright
characters for this often underexploited
effect. Despite being an
integral part of many guitarists’ sounds,
the spring reverb is often tacked on as
an afterthought and actually perceived
as a nuisance by some designers, as it
requires a lot of careful planning to get
a half-decent signal from one. A simple
level control only hints at the real depth
this effect can add: control over the
reverb tone is equally important and
the Lone Star’s switch is a useful extra.
The back panel tour finishes with
external switching jacks for the channel and solo functions, a bias
switch for using EL34s instead of the
stock 6L6s and a slave output with
level control as well as three speaker
jacks and a hidden jack socket for
controlling the reverb from a separate
footswitch if required.
SOUNDS: As well as vintage good
looks the Lone Star packs a lot of killer
vintage sounds. Channel 1 in the 100-
watt setting is great for ultra-clean
country, with a fast attack that will
challenge the best chicken-pickers out
there, while winding up treble and gain
and flipping to 50-watts of tube
rectified power delivers a big vintage
spread including a truly awesome
rockabilly sound – it’s better still with
the tweed power function
engaged. One player with
a Gretsch 6120 spent an hour
giving this amp some serious
stick before declaring, “that’s
the sound”.
Channel 2 is tonally
identical with slightly higher
gain, but there’s a secret
weapon in the shape of that
extra gain stage. Without it,
there’s a wide range of
touch sensitive, mild
distortion that’s perfect
for the blues, but engage
the extra gain and you’re
very close to the superb
tone for which the Mark 1 is
renowned: a sweet overdrive with just
the right amount of edge and a long,
long sustain. Great for singing,
expressive solo work and perfect with
single-coils or humbuckers, this is a
monster lead sound for anyone who
aspires to the tones of Larry Carlton,
Robben Ford or Jon Herington.
Unlike the Rectifier amps, which are
so tuned in to a specific style of playing
they can sometimes sound a little thin
if you use them out of context, the
Lone Star covers a much wider range.
The lead channel’s tone is expanded
with a simple three-way switch that
progressively darkens the character,
making it easy to dial in no matter what
guitar you play.
The series effects loop works well,
although the end result depends on the
quality of effect you plug into it. With
the loop in, the extra master and solo
features mean you can set up any
sound for rhythm and lead work,
although we think this makes the amp
unnecessarily complicated. While some
players find Mesa’s solo function
invaluable, we appreciated the hard
bypass that removes these two final
volume controls, making the amp
simpler to drive and improving the
high-end response a little.
Verdict: Another excellent amp worthy of the
Mesa Engineering badge, the Lone Star
will find converts among those who
don’t use a barrage of distortion and
need something more refined and
organic to get their sound cooking.
The clean sounds are superb,
especially with the rectifier valve in
use, and the Lone Star’s medium-gain
lead sounds hark back to the fabled
Boogie that Santana made famous (or
vice versa!) all those years ago. The
vintage looks are very appealing and
we think this amp will become a
favourite with wealthy players who
want something to grace their home
studios, as well as seasoned pros.
Like all Mesa products, price is a
secondary concern. Exceptional sound
and build quality are what you pay for,
and you get your money’s worth.
Despite the expanding competition at
this level, the Lone Star sets another
benchmark for tone that others will
have to try very hard to emulate.
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