Mesa Lonestar

nashvillerocker · Aug 21, 2004

I would be grateful for all replies.

I checked out the Mesa Lonestar very nice sounding amp the problems I found were that when the fan is runing the amp hums when I turned it off the amp is dead quite why is this?

Can the amp run without the fan without damage?

I also found when I was playing the amp in my local music store that the amp started to cut in and out and drop in volume then the amp quite no sound I checked the Head and Cab to make sure the ohms were matched and every thing was cool what would cause this?

I truned the amp off and the sales dude changed speaker cables this gave the amp time to cool off and the problem didn't happen again I played the amp for a hour or more when all this happened.

Are Mesa any good or do they cut corners now? I had a MkIII when they first came out were boogie amp better back than? Also are the New Mesa hand
solder there componets to the PC Board?

Thanks,
Chris DiMella

ducmike · Aug 22, 2004

I got one of the first LoneStars in the Dallas area, before the fan switch. At normal volume I have never been able to here the fan. I had the same problem whith the volume dropping and the no sound. This is usually a sign of a bad power tube, and sure enough I had one glowing cherry red. I replaced it, and have not had a problem since. I did call Mesa and they were very helpful and sent out a new duet of power tubes (they warranty tubes for 6 months). A few weeks later they called me to make sure everything was allright. The amp covers all kinds of tonal ground and love pedals in front. With the output control you can get the power tubes to overdrive with out going deaf, or switch to chanel 2 and get that searing mesa gain. Even with the output control, it sounds best kind of loud, definatly not a bedroom amp.

nashvillerocker · Aug 22, 2004

ducmike,

thanks for the reply very helpful. I like the lonestar I'm mostly a rock,blues,fusion with country back ground and the lonestar covered it all for the price it's a very cool amp.

Thanks again,
Chris

John Phillips · Aug 22, 2004

My Maverick fan hums a little too. It doesn't bother me outside the house, but it is a bit of a pest in the evenings if I want to play quietly.

I would think that if they make the fan switchable it must be OK to run it at some times with it off - check in the manual. Class AB amps (which this is) use a lot more power when cranked than near idle, so it may well be fine without at low volume.

I think the majority of these kinds of failures are caused by the crappy tubes Mesa insist on using. I know they test them, but they're really working with junk to start with and they just don't hold up (especially not when the amps are shipped with the tubes in place, which is far from ideal). Roll on the day when they decide to switch to the new GT 6L6-GE or something...

I have noticed a very slight increase in problems with some Mesa amps (not all models, either), but by and large they're still very reliable. I'm not sure whether the boards are entirely hand-soldered or not though. The flying-lead connections to the pots etc will be, but some of the rest could be machine-done. They do at least use through-plated boards, which provides a much better contact and support for the component wires compared to cheap single-sided boards though.

nashvillerocker · Aug 23, 2004

Thanks for the reply. I had a Rivera Rake 100w which is a very nice head but it had problems so I fixed it and sold it. Would you say that Mesa is the same or better than a Rivera amp? I'm starting to play out again and need a head that is reliable and can get parts for. Like I said Rivera was nice but the other problem I had was my tech coudn't get parts local always had to send off to Rivera which has excelent service but still had to wait for the parts. My style of playing is Blues,Rock,Fusion with country back ground. My clean tone is Micheal Landau, Mark Knofpler and OD tones Robben Ford, Larry Carlton. The lonestar gets these tones granted not like a Fuch's or Two-Rock but the Mesa is also 1/2 the price.

thanks,
Chris

Slick51 · Aug 24, 2004

Did Rivera make that 100 watt Rake head custom for you? Per their site (and the one I have in the basement), it's 55 watts. I've seen times I wished mine WAS 100 watts....

Just wondering.
Slick51

nashvillerocker · Aug 25, 2004

Ya paul made me 100w Paul is very cool and one of the nicest people I have met. Tubes are always going to have problems so I don't worry there. The internal parts are more my interest and how they are put toghther if waved solder, hand solder to the PC board. If parts are available or Have to order from amp maker.

I thank you all for your reply,

Chris

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