Vox AC30 vs Mesa Lonestar

[TheOrangeJuicer]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Bluz57</i>
<br />If I were going for a Vox I would buy a Matchless.The Matchless DC 30 is the only amp I have played that I liked as well as my Retro 50.
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This fellow knows of what he speaks. I love the Matchless sound. I can tell you that it is way more reliable and way more versatile than the AC30 too. I'm with the Mesa fans here (both of them , the Lone Star is so much more versatile that I would never even consider an AC30 over one.

I fully understnd guys that have a style suited to the AC30 and who play out with it cranked-up. No doubt they sound great but they are (by comparison to the Mesa anyway) a one trick pony and they are only really reliable at loud as hell levels. Hey, I'm not a Fender amp fan either from a personal perspective. That's because I can't play cleanly and listen to myself without grimacing and groaning . Plus, I really do like an amp that offers a few really nice and distinctive sounds including some grunge.

If you like to play at lower levels and you want some dirt in your tone, then the Mesa is a shoe-in with it's 10w mode. That said, I can't say that I would personally want to keep either amp. Both would make great toys and conversation pieces for a couple of months but they both will cost a lot to re-tube and neither one would really be used to it's fullest as I'd never crank either one of them. Even when you could crank up the Mesa in the 10w Class A mode, you would be only using half of it's tubes. The same for the 50w mode and who needs 100w in a combo anyway?

[Heartsndspades]

yes bad cat/ matchless but you add 1500 bucks at least.

[Rocksully]

I cant buy Matchless here in Van. Ive only ever seen one, and it was at a gig. The guitarist in the band was playing it. They seem like a very rare amp.
My Vox is gone.
I look at the Mesa for Recording purposes. As I cant ever crank the AC30 for its best sound. I did once at the studio, and it was far to loud. This does not sound like a 30 watt amp. It has more volume then my 100 Watt Fender Twin, which I sold to buy my Orange. Anyhoo, it's gone to a great home. It was a love affair that ended. I am 100% Orange now.

[LeonC]

I typically don't buy stuff because it's a good deal though I guess I'm tempted sometimes. But if you never use the AC30, maybe there's not much point in keeping it either. It's not like they're hard to find.

That being said, I much prefer my AC30 to the Lonestar I played a couple years ago. That was a good sounding amp, particularly the cleans, but I myself didn't care that much for its overdriven sound. Personally, I'll take an AC30 over the Lonestar anyday...but that wasn't really what you were asking about.

[Rocksully]

Well, I like my AD30's Cleans. Id like the Lonestar for it's versatility, which would be more so than the Vox. But still, I use my Orange more than anything. Im just going to let the music do the talking. See what sounds best with my setup. The Vox is already gone, but it was just going to waste here. It is now in a loving home.