Gear Reveiw: The Mesa Boogie Lonestar Special vs. the Dr. Z Maz 18.

Earlier today, I drove down to CAE Sound in Redwood City to drop off my Carr Mercury for a bit of work (I think it needs a new tube). Lucky for me, Gelb Music -- the best music store on the planet -- is also in Redwood City, so I stopped by to have a look at a Dr Z amp, which I knew from previous recon that Gelb carried. On arrival, I stated my wishes and was ushered into a room packed floor to ceiling with boutique bodaciousness. There were DR Zs, a BadCat and others, but the two amps that caught my eye were the Dr Z Maz 18, which I've listened to numerous times on Dr Z's web site, and a Mesa Boogie Lonestar Special, the amp I have been coveting -- until today.

I plugged into the Lonestar first, and after just a bit of fiddling, I got a nice bluesy tone that I figured no Dr Z could touch.

Wrong.

One strum on the Maz 18 and I was pretty sure I had a new favorite amp (my Carr Mercury excepted, of course). To be fair, the Maz 18 was a 2X10 config, whereas the Lonestar was a 1X12, but surely all the extra depth and punch on the Maz could not be attributed to speakers alone. So I tried the 1X12 Max 18, too, and it lo and behold it also displayed more punch and fullness than the Mesa, although it was no comparison to the 2X10 Maz.

In addition to the rounder, punchier sound, the Maz also had a smoother high end than the Lonestar, which to my ear was a bit buzzy, almost like a distortion box. True, the Boogie could sound really nice at very low volume levels, whereas the Maz needed to be turned up, but unless you're looking first and foremost for an amp that can go from a whisper to a roar, I would get the Maz. Before I do anything myself, I would like to try the Lonestar Special with a 4X10 config -- or even a 2X10 -- but I still think it would lose out the Maz, especially on stage, where the extra punch of the Maz would be pretty critical.