The Lonestar is the Mesa I’ve been interested in for a while. It’s not overly complicated but it DOES have some unique things going on that make it a good candidate to build at home if you’re into that sort of thing.
Lyle, fyi during todays That Pedal Show's Monday live VCQ&A show Mick and Dan asked viewers for suggestions for 2023 a joint live feed with other channels starting with Psionic Audio was mentioned and The Lads liked the idea.
@@PsionicAudio well, they thought your name was "Pete" which may or may not be an improvement on "Kyle" 😉 I've been plugging you where/when relevant in the comments there for over a year. Posted a link or two to your vids on Fender reissues, hotrod deluxe and WGS speakers with suggestion they check them out and talk to a UK tech. They're good Lads, been subbed almost 6 years. bought merch and exchange quite a few emails over the years. I'd be surprised if they haven't followed up and checked the links I posted. Like you, they qualify as "good people" especially Micks wife Katherine I still owe her pictures (he just got big enough for it) of the grandson in the TPS "one-sie" she sent with a t-shirt order.
I’ve owned and toured with the early Lonestar. Call me “weird,” but I cannot understand why someone would want an amp using 4 6L6/EL-34s for a 10 watt operation. I’ve had one rectifier blow a fuse…Mesa sent me a new rectifier tube. I have not used the tube rectifier since, and that was 2008. I prefer the sound & feel of the diode. I try and keep track of my power tube usage. A habit I started in the 60s. In those days one could get RCAs at Radio Shack… Remember those days? What brand of tubes will be using. I believe they biased the tubes cold. I’s been a good sounding amp for me. The DRIVE channel is EQ’d a bit strange. Enjoy your channel - you remind me of the techs I had when I was a kid.
Very cool. I know nothing about electronics so this is like a lecture on Astrophysics given in Latin..but interesting on the level of "Oohh..shiney!! Look at the tube thingies!!!" :) Best Regards and Best Wishes for 2023!
welcome to my private hell....ive been working on live gigs with 2 lonestar 2x12 combos and one 8:88 bass amp, all 3 amps had blown fuses, bad tubes and noise issues while they were brand new. if you plan to gig with a mesa amp, it can be easy as long as you always make sure to bring a backup amp,some spare fuses, tubes ,a forklift and a tech
I wish I had known you a year ago. I had a bunch of 5U4 in stock. I would have sent them to you. the 5U4 was used in a lot of older rf amplifiers. I gave away a pace desolder station. Sorry too late.
Fuse holder nut appeared to move when you put the correct fuse in. I'd opt to upgrade the screen grid resistors if new power tubes end up being ordered. Would also consider preamp tubes if needed. But that's just me. Hopefully all else is OK. Tubes ain't exactly cheap nowadays.
That’s crazy. I was studying the schematic of this amp(just curious about it) and this video popped up! It was just released! The algorithm is influencing the video creators,now!! 😊
@@andrewthomason3857 , I watched Lyle's vid about the tweed Fender Harvard yesterday, and today a news piece about Harvard University popped up in my feed. I also responded to a comment on the Franlab channel yesterday where we were joking about how to make clickbaity video titles; somebody said to *squeeze* in a certain phrase that would make more people click on the video, and today in my feed I found a video of John Hiatt playing with Nick Lowe and members of Squeeze! I've been a Hyatt fan for decades and I thought I'd seen pretty much every video worth seeing of him on RU-vid but there's 4 or 5 individial Hiatt/Squeeze songs posted by the same guy 10 years ago and I've never seen any of them before. Apparently the guy disabled all associated adverising so there won't be any pop-ups or ads shown before or during when the band is playing, and perhaps that's why the algorithm doesn't specifically recommend them to me based just on having John Hiatt's name in them.
@@williambock1821 , yesterday I made a "plumber's crack" joke on a RU-vid livestream chat. Today there's a crack running straight down through my personalized coffee cup with a picture of my dog and me. It must be a conspiracy! 🤔😳
Lyle - I'm reasonably sure in the 10 watt mode the Lonestars only allow tube rectification, hence no sound when the tube rec is removed - most likely the issue you are seeing here...... I know you aren't the world's number one Mesa fan (that'd be brad :D ), but these ones sound great!
Not according to the schematic. The 10W mode switching is not tied to the rectification switching, unless the schematic is inaccurate (which is not impossible).
@@PsionicAudioI'm an owner of a Lonestar Special - I found out when it blew the rectifier tube - still worked on the 15 watt and 30 watt settings but the 5 watt was dead - that setting permanently tied to the tube rectifier. Hopefully that'll save you a wee bit of trouble shooting time :D Gotta love Mesa ....... well, maybe not so much ....... still love the sound of the Lonestar Special.
I once owned a Mesa Boogie head back in the 80s. I think it was a Mark III. I really never bonded with that amp because I thought the EQ was way too bright sounding. That amp was eventually stolen, and I never had an inclination to buy another Mesa. I have heard from some people that the quality of newer Mesa Boogies suck. Good or bad, Mesa Boogie is just not the right brand for me.
If you’ve only owned one Mesa, seems you can’t really say they aren’t the right amp for you without trying a few. They’ve increased the variety of amps since the Mark ll - lll days and you might find something…but many of them are far from being service friendly
Mesas are like (modern) German luxury cars… really interesting to use and play around with (provided you’re a knob twiddler), but unnecessarily complex and not something I’d want to own.
Hi. Thanks that was interesting. I am curious to know when you change the power tubes what you will do if the bias is not correct? I guess either find tubes which are suited to it's pre determined fixed bias, or would you change the fixed bias setting? Regards.
To be fair though, the order of the tubes isn't intuitive. If you didn't know that a pair went on each end, with another in the middle, you'd probably just alternate them. Granted, if you indeed DIDN'T know better, it's probably a good idea to check first, but of all of these types of mistakes, this is probably the most understandable.
@@cpfs936 Clearly states in the manual where the tubes need to go. Although most people don't read em I'd guess. Probably should have it labelled on the amp perhaps
@@bugeyedmudafuka2 Labeling the amp is a GREAT idea! I'm guilty, too! I didn't initially know that the tubes weren't in alternating pairs. (That was years ago with a Twin, though.)
@@cpfs936 You are confused. There is no "order of the tubes". The tubes are supposed to be ALL THE SAME COLOR CODE. That way they are all matched the same. If your amp originally came with 4 blue color-code tubes, then that is what you need to stick with, and you have to buy them FROM MESA. You aren't supposed to mix the color-codes. When you replace them, you have to replace them with the same color-code.
Is that a pair of 220 mfd filter caps on the main filter node? Even if they're in series , which it appears they might be, 110 mfd is a lot of capacitance for a 5U4 rectifier, making the tube more likely to arc.
@@PsionicAudio , sorry! (Not!😁). I can't help it, I'm wired to notice the things that seem incongruous. Mesa is known for using overly large capacitors and other components that don't really fit the board without being shoehorned into place, but those caps looked awfully big even before I looked closely enough to read the mfd value.
@@PsionicAudio ps, that wide-open beartrap clamp makes me wonder if somebody tried to use a rectifier tube with an oversize base, like a mil-spec Chatham Electronics 5R4GY "potato masher", in an attempt finding a more rugged rectifier. Ever see one of those? (They used to be common on the NOS/ surplus market and at hamfests). HUGE brown base, extra-large/thick glass bottle, and a flat top. Theoretically more rugged, but perhaps not so in a Mesa circuit, or with that much capacitance load on it.
So, I'm not really an amp-tech in the way that you are (I've mostly worked on and fixed a lot of production-line equipment relating to audio) but I have been fixing a lot of amps over recent years. The one question I have about Mesa's: WTF is that screw sticking through the chassis not connected to anything??? I'm at 3:30 right now & it's plain as day in front of those blue caps. Why is it there??!
In theory to press up against the cabinet and keep the chassis from vibrating. In reality it mostly just annoys when removing the chassis from the cab.
I'd vote on *bent*. Maybe there are grizzlies in Memphis? Or perhaps somebody tried a Chatham Electronics military-spec 5R4GY "potato masher" rectifier in there. HUGE brown base, fat bottle with a flat top, hence the nickname. Might make sense that somebody tried one if they had been having trouble with rectifier tubes failing.....
@@1Dougloid My personal experience as a tech since 1988 is seeing more bad Sovtek/Electro Harmonix and Chinese tubes than bad JJ’s. I’ve also watched some amp companies stop using Chinese & Sovtek as well
@@cirenosnor5768 I believe that there's a lot of quality spread in between production lots of tubes. I'm not critical of JJ power tubes at all. Just their rectifier tubes.
Power tubes used by Mesa are usually Chinese. Rectifiers also Chinese or Sovtek/Electro Harmonix. Not exactly the most reliable tubes. Yet Mesa insists on using them 😑
