Star Amplifiers Gain Star 15 112 Combo

I bought this amp in Dec. 2006. after the price increase. Obviously, I liked the amp well enough to pay the extra for it. This is a very versatile amplifier. Two channels, both clean and gain. Celestion Custom 12 inch speaker. EL 84 power tubes, etc. Has all of the other features mentioned by the other reviewers so I won't repeat. This is a portable amplifier because of it's size, but is a bit on the heavy side. Probably due to the speaker. I started looking into Star amps because of Mark Sampson's reputation and because I love my '96 Matchless Chieftain 2x12 amp. Only problem with the Chieftain is that it weighs a ton. The sound is superb and I wanted something with that sound but in a more portable package. The Star Gainstar fit the bill. I have found this amp to be plenty loud for most situations, though sometimes I feel that the Gainstar 30 may have provided the security knowing you can get louder - more clean headroom. But so far I have not experienced a need for more watts. The Gainstar 15 has more than plenty fire power. I occasionally wish I had bought the Sirius Reverb amp for the reverb, but to be honest, this amp sounds wonderful without it. If needed you can add a reverb unit. This amp has channel switching - both clean and gain. This amp can play any style of music - jazz, rock, country, pop - you name it - extremely versatile. This amp replaces a Mesa Rectoverb 50 combo - not very inspiring, good for Metal, little else - IMO. The Star Gainstar amp is totally in another league in tone. Superb build and tone quality in a manageble package. And as an added bonus the Star logo is backlit. Very cool!

I've used several guitars with this amp - Gibson Les Paul '59 custom shop, Fender Stratocaster custom shop, James Trussart Steel Deville, Fender Telecaster custom shop, Gibson Flying V, Gibson 335 '73, etc. This amp sounds great with anything I plug into it. The Star Gainstar amp goes from Vox jangly clean to Marshall full drive to Santana like high gain. Both single coils and humbuckers sound pretty good on the gain and clean channel. I found that the clean channel is superb with a Strat or Tele. The gain channel just loves humbuckers. There is a low level hum when on the gain channel, but that's expected. I wanted sounds that inspire me to want to play. The tones coming from this amp truly inpire. I love high quality precision made instruments. Playing through the a Star amp is like driving a high end automobile. You can truly feel the difference. You get what you pay for. This amp sounds great without any added pedal effects. This amp out performs most amps out there. Just plug and play and instant happiness!

This is a quality built amplifier that I expect to have forever. It looks and feels solid. This is a very well built amplifier. Mark Sampson has very high standards and it shows.

I haven't had to deal with customer support. I'm sure Makin Music would take care of any problems.

I been playing since the 60's. I've owned alot of gear. Some I wish I still had. This amp is currently in pretty good company. I own a Matchless Chieftain 2x12, Soldano Atomic, Bedrock Royale, '65 Fender Deluxe Reverb, and a Star Nova. If this amp were stolen I would buy another or save up for the Sirius Reverb amp. I compared this amp to BadCat, Bogner, Savage, Dr. Z, Budda. These are all great amplifiers. I chose the Star because it had the sound I was looking for - jangly Vox clean and Marshall overdrive, plus other sounds not found in these other amps. I want amps that inspire me and this amp does that everytime I plug in. I wanted a high quality amplifier with superb tones and that's what I got with the Star Gainstar 15.

This is a 2005 amp that I've had for a month or two now. I'm not ready to do a numeric review but thought I'd share my first impressions since there's only one review of this amp up so far. Two footswitchable channels, which was a big selling point for me. I have an older TopHat Club Royale (I like EL84 amps and have a Budda SuperDrive as well) that gives me a nice AC30-ish option, but I wanted the effect loop and drive channel that the Gain Star offers, as well as a more shimmery clean channel.

The effects loop only works on the drive channel. The rationale for this is that the clean channel signal path will not be compromised. I was a bit grumpy when I discovered this, but the good news is that the clean channel is worth the hassle of switching a front end stompbox delay on and off every time you switch between the clean and drive channels (if you use delay as much as I do, that is). The loop on the drive channel sounds good. I use a Lexicon MPX-1 in the loop and an SIB EchoDrive on the input.

Both channels have independent volume, bass, and treble controls, and there's a shared Brilliance control for both channels. The drive channel has a drive control, an interesting Trim knob and a master volume that works well. The Trim control basically adds focus to the overdrive--more open, throaty, and softer-edged when CCW and gradually adding bite and focus as you move CW.

There's no standby switch. This isn't a problem at power-on since it warms up slowly and safely (the instructions recommend keeping your guitar volume at zero for a couple minutes). If you're switching guitars though, you may want a momentary cable, tuner, etc. so you can silence the input from your guitar cable as the pop when switching guitars is LOUD.

One 12" Celestion vintage (modded) speaker, no reverb. I'd be interested in checking out the Sirius model as well, but given that it took over 6 months (and a fair outlay of cash) to get this amp, that won't be any time in the near future.

It usually takes me a while to get happy with a new amp, and I like to play it for a year or so before giving it full ratings. Having said that, so far I'm very impressed with the Gain Star. I'd played a BadCat CubIIR combo before and had gotten a taste of Sampson's sound in a similarly powered amp. I've never had a chance to try out a Matchless but have always wanted to play one--but I took Mark at his word when he said has learned things over the years that make his new amps better than his old ones.

The clean channel is clean with sparkles and shimmer, very 3D and rich. It's not a biting treble (although you can achieve that if you wish), more a pure sound that almost feels hi-fi. You can drive the clean channel into breakup pretty easily, but until you do there is plenty of headroom. The previous reviewer's Peter Gabriel sound source is pretty accurate, although it can bark a little as well as do gutsy blues sounds in the SRV vein as well.

The drive channel took me a bit of time to suss. I have not been able to get the Marshall-y kind of rhythm guitar sounds out of it that I prefer (can't have everything), but what it does have is a beautiful lead sound that can go from similar to my impression of what a Matchless sounds like to a very focused, Dumble-y overdrive (haven't played a Dumble but have heard them in person and on record). Yes, it is that good. I keep the Trim control on the left-hand side of the dial and the drive down to 10 o'clock or so. There is lots of gain available if you want it, but I think it sounds better at the less extreme settings.

All the tone controls are very interactive. There are a lot of sounds to be had, but if you leave everything within 25% of straight up you'll find that it sounds pretty darn good without a lot of fuss. But if you want to tweak there's lots to play with.

I haven't replaced any tubes yet, but one of the ones shipped in it seems to be intermittantly microphonic. The plastic logo medallion on the front that lights up developed a small crack after I moved it in my car without a hard case around it.

I bought it through Class A Amplifiers (you can Google them if you're interested). As a dealer, and thus an extension of Star Amps, I found Chris at Class A very helpful. It took over six months to get the amp but we had lots of communication through the process and Chris sent me an extra set of chicken head knobs when it finally shipped in case I wanted to switch from black to white. Other dealers for Star may be great as well, all I can say is that I was extremely happy with Chris. (For clarity, I'm not associated in any way with Star or Class A; just a run-of-the-mill customer.)

Given that not a lot of these amps are manufactured and that Mark seems to work on all of them, I feel pretty good about my chances if something goes wrong. Of course, it might take a while to get fixed if I ever have to send it back! But it seems pretty hefty and over-designed so I'm not especially worried.

The prices have gone up since I ordered mine, but these are pretty darn reasonable (if that's the right word) compared to a used Sampson-era Matchless or even a post-Sampson BadCat or Matchless. Which means that they're pricey, but they're handmade by a craftsman who really knows his business rather than being made by exploited labor (cough, cough, Vox Custom Classic) and/or inferior components. There are a lot of excellent amp choices out there--both boutique and non-boutique--these days, so I can't say this is the perfect amp for you. All I can say is that it sounds pretty damn sweet. It gives me a beautiful, distinctly different voice alongside my Budda and TopHat amps. I cover a lot of different sounds live, so my Budda is still my amp of choice for playing live with a one-amp setup, but the Star will definitely be going with me to the studio next month.

If you have any questions or just want to share some shop talk if you're a fellow owner, feel free to drop me a line and I'll answer as best I can.

made in 2004
2 channels (switchable) . .both channles have what they need. FX loop, Celestion V-30.
Pure tube path including recto. EL84 power section.
I play in three bands . . one W&P church group, one original rock and the third some blend of original rock/jazz/blues. Works for all three. Wish it had verb but it didn't stop me from buying it. Great clean tone, though it may benefit a bit from verb does not need it.

2 guitars, American Deluxe Strat and a McInturff Taurus with Voodoo hummers in it.
Not a noisy amp.
Clean tones on this amp rival or surpass everything I've owned (including my Bruno). Chimmey, slightly compressed, blooming . . stunning. Being 15 watts there is not miles of headroom but plenty to play with a loud drummer and still not break the clean channel up much.
The dirty channel is Vox-like but in the last portion of the gain knob it really pours the saturation on. . . .very Dumbly with hummers. very toneful channel. Listen the the clean guitar fills at the end of "Sky Blue" by Peter Gabriel . . that's the tone I was looking for and got.

It's made by Mark Sampson so I assume it's made to last forever. PTP thoughout. It feels like it's made of the best of everything. No issues so far . . I don't expect any.

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Been playing 20+ years semi professionally. Chose this one because I've always loved certain Matchless clean tones plus Sampson has a reputation I admire. I love the amp, it's small and portable, but sounds very large (similar to my Shiva 2x12), it has character . . single notes bloom and are thick from the start . . .huge harmonic complexity. Tons of gain on the OD channel . . .I've owned (Bruno, Bogner, Carr, Fender, Two-Rock . . . .) and can say this amp is my favorite so far . . . I'd like to check out the Star Sirius when it comes out.