1. Lone Star Series
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Overview

RICH FULL BODIED TONE AS THICK AS WEST TEXAS CRUDE!

Lone Star Special Front Panel Detail

Lone Star Special Rear Panel Detail

Dave Wallace and the Lone Star Special
Dave Wallace, guitarist for Country Music star Jake Owen, stands behind (or on top of) his MESA Lone Star Special amps!

From its conception, the Lone Star series was targeted directly at exceeding players' expectations of both tone AND versatility from a vintage and/or modern boutique amp...without accepting compromise. Tonally, it must be experienced to believe as there are not enough adjectives to remotely do it justice. Simply put, the Lone Star is a sonic flood of Texas-sized proportions! The most ridiculously amazing cleans, classic breakup and high gain tones we have ever offered in a single amplifier!

Since the series launched, the stylistic momentum of the Lone Star has been overwhelming. Players and reviewers alike have bestowed global accolades on this gem, including prestigious Editor's Pick and Platinum Awards.

Introducing the Pure Class A, EL-84 Powered LONE STAR SPECIAL featuring channel assignable power that allows you to assign 1, 2 or all 4 EL-84's to either of its 2 Channels for independent Power Ratings of 5, 15 or 30 Watts!

WHAT SETS THE LONE STAR SPECIAL APART FROM THE LONE STAR?

Lone Star Special Combo in Black Taurus and Cream Bronco with a Tan Grille.
Lone Star Special Combo in Black Taurus and Cream Bronco with a Tan Grille.

Take the incredibly expressive pre-amp of the Lone Star with its intuitive versatility, add the vintage magic of EL-84's running Pure Class A, and a new classic is born. Where its big brother, the Lone Star boasts the huge warmth and headroom of 6L6 power, the Lone Star Special delivers seductive, bubbly tone and a sensual, elastic feel. This Lone Star is short on weight, but tall on personality.

AUTHENTIC RETRO-TONE IS ALL ABOUT POWER AND THE WAY IT CLIPS.

Authentic retro-tone is all about power and the way it clips. Yet in any given amp, the sweet-spot of power clip is inseparably tied to its wattage and playing loudness. The Lone Star Special smashes this age-old limitation by offering three distinct power configurations, each with its own window of wattage: 30, 15, or 5. Perfect Power. Per Channel. On Demand.

Lone Star Special Muti-Watt
Multi-Watt Channel Assignable Power offers three choices that may be pre-set for each channel. Push-pull configurations deliver 30 or 15 watts. For 5 watts, the Special switches to Single-Ended. Operation remains Pure Class A at all times.

30 Watts, bold and pure from all four power tubes punches through the mix and hangs with a band in mid-size venues. 15 watts cries the blues with sinful passion and coaxing expressive soul from an electron-soaked pair of EL-84's. Both circuits run Pure Class A in a Push-Pull configuration. But what really makes this Lone Star Special is its ability to switch down to 5 watts of single-ended power bliss...more on circuitry.

THE MAGIC OF PUSH-PULL CIRCUITS

Lone Star Special Drive Control
Drive Control: Channel 2 CLEAN/ DRIVE switch kicks in another triode tube stage for the high gain lead mode, or lets you bypass it entirely for a slightly higher gain clone of Channel 1.

In Push-Pull circuits, the second harmonic is cancelled out when the two halves of the wave-form are recombined in the output transformer. Unlike Push-Pull, Single-Ended circuits preserve this most musical of all harmonics. A subtle coating of warm distortion (an octave above the note you're playing) glazes the entire spectrum with a purring, golden halo of precious nuance. Perfect for individual playing or recording. For a full description of this technology see Randall Smith's "Class A - Exposed and Explained" on the Amplitudes Blog.

Between the two Lone Stars, you can choose to clip your power at 5, 15, 30, 50 or 100 watts.

HOME, STUDIO OR GIG READY. FINELY TUNED POWER FOR ANY VENUE

All this bouncy Class A tone blooms naturally in a trim, new 1x12 cabinet roughly half the size of its big brother Lone Star. And you can afford to pack both of these hand-crafted jewels for around the same bling-bling as a one-trick pony from the boutique corral. But don't shop price, compare tone!

Gigging at the club, rehearsing with the band, recording in the studio, tracking at home or simply finding inspiration late at night, the finely tuned power sections of the Lone Star Special transcend all these needs going where no single amp has gone before.

Videos

Andy Timmons and his MESA/Boogie Lone Star Rig

Quinten Hope demonstrates his Mesa Boogie Lone Star

Tone Sessions: Andy Timmons & Protocol III –

Reviews

  • "The Lone Star Special is an exceptionally sweet-sounding amp that covers all frequency ranges. Its overall tone is incredibly fat and full, with gain to spare, and exceptional clean tones. In fact, “exceptional” pretty much defines this amp in an all-around sense. But then, have Smith’s amp designs ever been anything less?”


    Bob Tekippe
    Vintage Guitar

  • "The Lonestar Special is a very hip amp that offers superb build quality, smart features, and excellent tonal range…So if you’ve been holding out for a medium-power combo that pushes the envelope of forward-thinking design, your wait is now over.”


    Art Thompson
    Guitar Player

  • "There’s a lot of seriously hot competition at this level, but for sheer tone the Lonestar Special is ahead of the pack. For blues, rock, country, jazz or any combination, it’s one of the ultimate guitar amps at any price.”


    Music Radar Team
    Music Radar

Available Formats

Head
Head
Rackmount Head
Rackmount Head
1x12 Combo
1x12 Combo
2x12 Combo
2x12 Combo