Best pedals in front of a Mesa Lonestar 2x12?

[ledvedder]

My band has been chosen to compete in a local station contest. At the competition, we have to use the venue's backline, which is a Mesa Lonestar 2x12. I've been considering 2 options. Either going straight into the front of the Mesa with some pedals, or going into the effects return with my Fractal FM3. It might be easier and less prone to issues if I go straight into the front with some pedals, which I could load up either in my FM3 or Line 6 HX Effects. I normally play through a 20 watt Marshall Origin head that I've modded to a bit of a hot rodded JCM800, or a 50 watt plexi. That's the tone that has always felt like me. Marshal Plexi or 800.

What pedals would work best into the front of a Lonestar to get me more toward that Marshall tone? Drive, delay, boost, or whatever else you think would work? Also, would I run them into the clean or drive channel. It looks like the Lonestar has a few different modes that I'm not familiar with.

 

[griff10672]

For a marshall type tone ... I would use something like a MI Audio crunch box ...aka Angry Charlie ... aka JHS AT ...

 

[MontiCristo]

For a marshall type tone ... I would use something like a MI Audio crunch box ...aka Angry Charlie ... aka JHS AT ...

+1 on the angry Charlie, the Andy Timmons model sings.

 

[Neptical]

I was surprised to find that a clean-ish boosted RAT ( low gain, low filter, almost cranked Volume ) sounded great in front of my Mesa's. I'm also in the Marshall camp ( Plexi and JCM ) which of course the RAT works fantastic with them as well.

 

[skoora]

No difference in chance of failure if the FM3 is out front or in the loop. If you have core tones setup exactly as you like in the FM3, just put it in the loop. If you run pedals out front go into CH 1. It will have the most dynamic range, even though both channels are super close, minus the drive control. Lot of factors here. How loud will the stage be? This will really change what the Lonestar is doing. This is why I like the FM3 in the loop. The amp volume won’t really matter.

 

[itsme]

I’d use a Friedman BE pedal. Those things are made to go into a cleanish amp. They’re far too gainy to boost an already broken up amp.

 

[cobrahead1030]

Keeley Muse Driver (or i think it's now called the mk3 driver?) would be a good choice, similar to some of the circuits previously mentioned.

 

[romanianreaper]

They Keeley El Rey Dorado is based on his own older Marshall and sounds awesome in front of a clean amp! I even jacked mine up when I accidentally plugged into 18v (and smelled burning) and the shop fixed it for me. Has a low and high gain setting and does a great crunch.

 

[DanTravis62]

Lawrence petross 68 and 74 for Miab

 

[ewill52]

love my JHS AT and the Revival Drive for this scenario