WITH THE LONE STAR SPECIAL, MESA BOOGIE HAS COME OVER ALL VINTAGE. DAVID GREEVES CHECKS OUT A BIG BEIGE BLUES BLASTER

What do the words ‘Mesa Boogie’ stand for? Is it (a) state-of-the-art, flexible, high-gain muscle, or (b) low-powered, single-ended, vintage tube tone? As it turns out, the answer is ‘both’. With the Lone Star Special, the folks at Mesa have taken the bluesy, rootsy vibe of the Lone Star a step further, with a sultry, sexy tone machine that must rank among the least Boogie-like Boogies ever made. It’s a long way from the kind of amp for which the company is best known – icons of power like the Mark Series, Road King and Rectifiers – but the Lone Star Special is still unmistakably a Mesa Boogie amp. It’s impeccably built and luxuriously specified, with some ingenious and unique circuitry, and it’s got more knobs and switches than a branch of Maplins. Yup – it’s a Boogie alright.

PRE & POWER AMP The Lone Star Special’s front panel looks identical to that of the original Lone Star (see GB issue 34 for a full review), and the two amps do have a lot in common, up to a point. Both offer two independent channels, one with an additional ‘drive’ circuit and three-position voicing switch. Each channel has a switch to change its power rating too, but while the Lone Star’s channels switch between 50 and 100 watts, the Special’s mini-switches can each be set to 30, 15 or five watts.

"...impeccably built and luxuriously specified, with some ingenious and unique circuitry."

Unlike the 6L6- (or EL34-) powered Lone Star, the Special revolves around four EL84 valves. While 6L6s are known for lots of clean headroom and a big, blooming low end, EL84s are closely associated with the Vox AC30, and are all about rich harmonics and sweet, saturated overdrive. Switching the power down from 30 watts is not simply a matter of switching out some of the power tubes – that would be far too simple. Instead, At the 30- and 15-watt settings, the amp runs in push-pull mode, while at five watts, the Special uses a single-ended circuit. Briefly, while push-pull designs are more efficient, offering more volume and punch, many would argue that single-ended amps produce the most musical distortion and richer harmonics all round. Mesa also states that the Special uses class A operation for all three power levels.

It doesn’t stop there though. At five and 15 watts, the amp uses a 5Y3 valve rectifier (where the amp converts the AC mains to DC, as required by the components), while at 30 watts, a solid-state, silicon-diode rectifier comes into play. A tube rectifier contributes to the valve amp ‘sag’ effect – that feeling of elasticity in the dynamics and note attack. Solid-state rectification delivers a punchier, more immediate response.

Effectively then, this is three amps in one box. Yet while ‘half-power’ switches are increasingly common on valve amps these days (see The Valve 2/50 combo reviewed on page 120, for example), we don’t know of any that can switch between power levels and single-ended and push-pull operation like the Special can. Indeed, by setting the two channels appropriately, you can footswitch between, for example, a 30-watt, push-pull, solid-state-rectified clean tone, and a 5-watt, single-ended, tube-rec overdrive sound. And this is not modelled or simulated – it’s the real thing. We’ll talk about how it sounds soon enough, but you have to admit that, even in concept, that’s pretty damn cool.

You can fl ick between the ‘output’ and ‘solo’ volumes using the footswitch when the loop is switched in.

PLAYING FOOTSIE WITH THE LONE STAR SPECIAL

Plenty of footswitch options are available for controlling this fully- featured and fl exible tone machine. Mesa supplies a two-button, latching footswitch with the Lone Star Special, which plugs into the front panel. It switches between the two channels and ‘output’ and ‘solo’ volume knobs (if you have the effects loop turned on). At back of the amp, there are three more sockets, so you can attach individual switches to control channel selection, toggle between output and solo volumes and turn the reverb on and off.

Each channel offers gain, treble, mid, bass, presence and master volume controls, and, on the back panel, there are individual reverb mix controls for the two channels. The reverb can be globally GBINFOswitched from ‘bright’ to ‘warm’, which rolls off some of the top end at the latter setting. Channel 2 has another couple of interesting mini-switches. The first one switches in the ‘drive’ control, an additional gain stage at the front of the channel. Without it, the second channel is a slightly higher-gain duplicate of the first. This means that you’re not forced into having one channel ‘rhythm’ and the other ‘lead’, as you are with many amps; the second channel can be set to more or less the same sound as the first, but 10 per cent louder, for example. With the ‘drive’ knob switched in though, the second channel is capable of some seriously saturated overdrive tones. The second switch selects between three different There are two main 4-ohm speaker outputs, and one 8-ohm output marked ‘optional’. Mesa explains that the ‘main’ outs are best for warmer vintage sounds and provide the correct impedance match for the 15 and fi ve- watt sections, and a slight mismatch for the 30-watt section. Conversely, the 8-ohm ‘optional’ out provides the correct match for the 30-watt section, boosting the overall power to around 35 watts, and a slight mismatch for the 15 and 5-watt sections, with the effect of adding some mid-range punch to all three. There’s also a ‘slave’ output with its own level control to feed additional amps.

"Mixing different types of driver in one cab has long been used as a way of creating a more balanced, sonically rich sound...to combine responsiveness and warmth with extra punch and definition..."

CABINETS &SPEAKERS The Lone Star Special is also available as a head, and in 1x12 and 2x12 combo formats, but what we have here is the 4x10 version. It’s a tall amp, standing around 75cm high with the included heavy-duty castors attached, but it’s not as wide as many 2x12 combos. The review model has the standard Lone Star Special finish: ‘cocoa bronco’ vinyl, with a ‘cream bronco’ front panel and tan grille cloth. It might not be quite as eye-catching as the snakeskin cabinet on the Lone Star combo we reviewed back in issue 34, but it captures the vintage ethos perfectly. The desert-sand colour scheme fi ts the Lone Star range’s ‘tone as big as Texas’ tag perfectly, and little details like the darker brown piping around the grille and the tan leather corner protectors look lovely too. The usual array of custom finish options are available and, as you’d expect from Boogie, the quality of the build and finishing are excellent inside and out.

THE LONE STAR’S CASTORS ARE WHEELY HANDY

Mesa Boogies are renowned for their weight, and, while the Lone Star Special isn’t as heavy as some (despite its size), the included heavy-duty castors are very welcome. These are Mesa’s standard wheels. They slide into chunky metal brackets screwed into the bottom of the amp and are retained by spring-loaded buttons. They’re easy to use, fit for purpose and properly built – all true of the Lone Star Special itself. We’d be grateful for some recessed handles either side of the amp too, like you get on a 4x12 cabinet. It would mean you could use two hands, or two people of course!

Inside the cab are two 10-inch Jensen Vintage Alnico speakers, and below them, two 10-inch Mesa Boogie Vintage Black Shadow speakers manufactured by Eminence. Mixing different types of driver in one cab has long been used as a way of creating a more balanced, sonically rich sound. The idea here is to combine the responsiveness and warmth of the alnico speakers, with the extra punch and definition of the ceramic-magnet Mesa/Eminence units. The main advantage of the 4x10 format is that four speakers can project the sound of your guitar more evenly and more widely than one or two. Four 10-inch speakers also take up less space than four 12-inchers, with only a slight reduction in the amount of bass they throw out. The back of the cab is almost completely open, with just an 8cm-high panel at the bottom, concealing the back of the Black Shadow speakers and the long-spring reverb tank. A sturdy metal grille protects the own-brand Mesa Boogie valves hanging down from the aluminium amp chassis, while there’s also a vinyl pouch attached to the inside of the cab to look after the footswitch when it’s not in use.

...the Special’s response just feels great under your fingers, a combination of the clipping pre and power stages and the tube rectifier: it feels like an instrument, rather than a mere ‘amp’.

SOUNDS The first thing we want to know is whether the switchable power modes really pay off. It’s all very impressive on a technical level, but does the sound of these three different signal paths justify their inclusion? The answer is an emphatic ‘yes’.

AT LAST: A ‘SPECIAL’ THAT TRULY DESERVES THE NAME As well as offering a combination of features that is completely unique, the Lone Star Special delivers some fantastic sounds and, unlike some Boogies, it does so at lower volumes. This automatically pushes it towards studio and home applications, but crank it up at small to medium-sized gigs and you won’t be disappointed. This amp is too much fun not to be allowed out of the house! As usual with Mesa Boogie amps, in the UK particularly, the only sticking point is the price. It may be three amps is one, but most players who are into vintage-style amps won’t need all of these features. Just one amp, one channel and one sound will do. This amp is built to a very high standard though, and for obsessive tone tweakers, it’s something close to heaven.

Keeping the rest of the controls the same and switching from five to 15 to 30 watts, the difference in tone, timbre and dynamic response is striking. At five watts, the amp begins to break up very early – there’s little clean headroom. There’s a raw, unrestrained feeling to the overdrive that’s really exhilarating, and though five watts might not sound like much, it’s loud enough to rattle the windows before it’s even running flat-out. Switching to 15 watts, there’s a slight increase in overall volume, and you immediately notice a drop in background noise and more clarity and definition in the tone. With the masters cranked, the Special’s response just feels great under your fingers, a combination of the clipping pre and power stages and the tube rectifier: it feels like an instrument, rather than a mere ‘amp’.

At 30 watts, in comes the solid-state rectifier to tighten the tone further. There’s still plenty of warmth, but notes are crisp and defined. There’s a lot more clean headroom too, though it’s still possible to get a very healthy overdriven sound at a civilised volume by using the drive, gain and master volume controls. The EQ and presence controls are just as powerful as you’d expect from Mesa Boogie, and once you get used to how the ‘drive’ and ‘gain’ controls on the second channel interact, and what the voicing switch does, an extremely wide range of sounds are at your disposal. From country, soul and blues through to classic rock rhythm and lead tones, this amp runs the gamut of ‘vintage’ guitar sounds. Super-clean jazz and mega-gain metal aren’t best served, even though the 30-watt setting has lots of clean definition and punch, and you can achieve some pseudo-modern slam using the ‘thicker’ mode in channel 2. We love it best on the point of break-up and just beyond, where playing becomes a joyful, highly expressive experience thanks to the Special’s sensitivity to picking dynamics and the guitar’s volume pot.