MusicRadar

The styling is impeccable.

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• Review
• Manufacturer's Description

Following on from the 6L6-powered Lonestar Classic range, the Lonestar Special marries the same preamp to a clever Class A power stage that can be run in single-ended and push-pull modes for a wide range of outputs with a different tonality that changes the amplifier’s character, while still managing to complement the original design concept.

Like all Mesa products, the Lonestar Special is built to last, which means that despite its relatively small dimensions, it’s still quite a handful to carry around, so we’re glad to see the inclusion of snap-in castors on this amp.

The styling is impeccable, marrying cocoa and cream vinyl with a jute speaker grille for a very cool vintage look. The ply cabinet is up to Mesa’s usual exemplary standard, and on this sample the vinyl is neatly applied, apart from two small V-shaped pieces in the corners under the control panel, which stand proud and spoil the perfection we’ve come to expect from Mesa. We’ve seen other Lonestars where vinyl cuts are virtually invisible, so this is undoubtedly a one-off.

Like the Lonestar Classic, the Special uses an aluminium chassis, which for this amp is powder-coated in a gloss, off-white enamel that blends nicely with the vinyl colours for an appealing vintage effect. Inside, you’ll find a typically neat layout, with a high quality double-sided and through-plated circuit board holding most of the electronics and flying leads to the front panel components, for improved reliability and ease of servicing.

Controls

The front panel controls are arranged into two almost symmetrical rows of gain, bass, mid and treble, with separate channel volumes and an extra gain knob on the lower channel. To the right of these are two overall master volume controls that can be preset at different levels for rhythm and solo use. There are three small toggle switches by the gain controls: one is for selecting channels when the footswitch isn’t being used; the second one switches the extra gain stage on the lower channel control; and the third is a voicing preset.

As with the Classic, you can assign power output levels to each channel, but the Special goes further, offering three choices of 30 and 15 watts in push-pull, or 5 watts from just one output valve in single-ended mode. On the rear panel, you will find a series effects loop with variable send level, a trio of speaker outlets, dual reverb level controls with a tone switch and external switching jacks for channel and solo functions.

The dual master arrangement and effects loop can be bypassed here for those players who don’t need these features. There’s also a handy slave output with its own level control, a separate jack socket for toggling the reverb effect and a switch for the chassis fan. Overall, the features on the Special are typical of the high standard we’ve come to expect from Mesa, and just about every need is catered for on this amplifier.