DC-10 Tone Questions

[thatsAgood1jay]

I played a DC-10 at a guitar shop the other day, I was impressed by the flexibility of the amplifier, but i have a couple of questions about them before I decide to buy or not.


First: I had a hard time getting the amp to liven up. No matter how much gain I pumped into the lead channel i could never get it to not sound muddled, I tried various EQ settings and spent quite a while trying to get it to sound alive. But no dice, this could amount to the tubes being worn out, But was wondering if this was just the way these amps sounded.

Second: peering in the back of the amp, I saw 4 (If I remember 6l6's) power amp tubes and several pre amp tubes as there should be, but was wondering if these were solid state rectifier or do they use 5U4's?

 

[boogietone]

The amp is solid state rectified. DC-10's sound awesome loud. I didn't really care for my Dimarzio Area pups till I played out with a band nice and loud. The pickups, amp everything sounded killer! The tubes might be worn. Try some different preamp tubes (12ax7's) and power tubes. Don't get discouraged. There are lots of great sounds in that amp. Also, try boosting the amp. I was using a SD-1 for a boost, then a Xotic EP and now an Electro-Harmonix LPB-1 for a boost. Sounded good with all of them. Made the amp sound even bigger. Maybe it will be hard to do all this at a music store but hopefully they'll help you out.

 

[MarshMesa]

Do you have the bass dialed high?

The common mistake (and the one I made) was turning the bass up too high. The bass needs to be kept low with most guitars (somewhere between 1-4). I usually keep my bass at 2, and then crank the 80 hz in the EQ. I get plenty of bass this way without it sounded flubby or muddy. This simple thing makes all the difference the world in Mesa amps.

 

[thatsAgood1jay]

I had the Bass tuned real low, in the 1-4 range. Even so it sounded very muddled. I did try really scooping the sound out with the EQ, and it helped with the high end, but the low and mids still would not get a good dynamic sound to them.

 

[MarshMesa]

Well, its gonna be hard to know what is causing this, as I'm not sure what kind of guitar you are using or how old the tubes were. Old tubes can certainly make an amp sound muddy, especially old pre-amp tubes. If the guitar you are using sounds bright and tight on other tube amps with high gain, then it's probably just a case of old tubes. When I bought a Dual Rectifier years ago, all the tubes were in horrible shape. Re-tubing made the amp sound 5 times better.

 

[thatsAgood1jay]

I was using just one of the guitars in the shop, it was an upper model ESP with EMG's, Compared to the Music Mans I play it was not as tight and bright, but this was more than just the pickups and the guitar. So maybe ask them to replace the pre-amp tubes and try it out again? The power tubes seemed to be pretty new (meaning they visually looked ok, but they could be old)

I will note it was mostly the lead channel that had the muddled sound. The clean channel sounded nice and tight.

 

[MarshMesa]

Hmm.. guitars with EMG's in my experience are pretty bright and not muddy. I own a guitar with EMG single coils, and it's anything but muddy, so it sounds like it's not a guitar issue.

You should ask them to change the pre-amp tubes before considering buying it, which would be easy if they have 12AX7's on hand. In my experience, they affect the tone far more than the power tubes when it comes to the sound being crisp or muddy. It might be just be a few bad tubes affecting the gain. You mentioned how the clean channel sounded tight, but the gain channel sounded muddy. The DC 10 definitely should not sound muddy with EMG's,on the lead channel, so I'm betting it's probably just a few bad pre-amp tubes. But if it still sounds bad with new pre-amp tubes, I'd probably pass on buying it.

 

[Setzer]

Agree with what Marsh said.

The range of tones in a DC is very very wide,mine will go to extremely bright on the lead channel with no trouble at all.

Just because a tube is new doesnt mean that it works ok.

They want to sell the amp so get them to put a complete new set of tubes in it and try it again and if it still sounds bad just walk away.

 

[Monsta-Tone]

I used to run the bass in my DC-10's at 7!
These amps are known for being tight and raw at the same time.
If it sounded muffled, it needs new tubes.

What speakers were you playing through? That makes a huge difference, as does the cable. If you're using a cheap $2 cable, no amp will sound stellar.
I'm not talking about a Mogami or anything, just a standard Horizon would do.

I think the other guys are right, talk the store into giving you some new tubes. Even if they are sterile Sovteks, you'll have a spare pair!
I used to use JJ High Gains in the 2 DC-10's I had and the sound was incredible!