DC-3 Owners - what tubes, speaker? what guitar and setup?

[twangbanger]

Recently picked one up. Great amp!

Shocked at the versatility of this loud little beast. Curious who else has one and what they are doing with it - setups, tweaks, music/gigs, etc.

Mine's minty stock (has the V30) with a full new set of JJ's. Wouldn't change a thing at the moment!

Others? Jump in!

 

[geenads]

i've had my DC3 for a couple of months.. had some initial problems.. but did a complete retube with eurotubes.. (JJ's).. what a difference!! I'm using the fabled "V" on the EQ.. but am also looking for some other DC3 user input. A good place to start is to download the manual at Mesa.. they have some good suggestions.. i guess each amp and tube combination will sound a little different. The previous preamp tubes were Groove tubes.. and they just didn't seem to cut it.. maybe too old or something. Still looking for a schematic if anyone has one..

 

[Ken j]

Still looking for a schematic if anyone has one..

Just contact Mesa. They are willing to email any schematics as long as the amp is no longer in production.

 

[twangbanger]

I'm using a soft version of the V as well on the Lead channel. Tried several different configs (those in the manual and a couple other 'ideas').

Have the EQ on the Lead channel only and on at channel switch to keep the overall amp color similar to the clean channel (EQ cuts some of the mid, mid-high frequencies and boosts a bit of low), then kick the EQ off for the 'mid boost' and subsequent volume boost when the solos roll around.

Seems to work pretty well...so far. :wink:

80Hz bottom of slider setting right above middle line
240Hz middle line in middle of slider
750 slider between the middle and bottom line 1/3 up
2200 slider between the middle and bottom line 2/3 up
6800 bottom of slider setting right above middle line

 

[Monsta-Tone]

I have a really early one, Serial # 718.

I re-tolexed it because some fool had drawn a bunch of garbage on the Gray Tolex in Blue Marker.

These are great amps. I am also running a Mullard Re-Issue in V1 and JJ High-Gains in all the other spots. JJ Power Tubes.

The new tubes really added a lot of harmonics and touch sensitivity. I think the amp still had the original tubes in it when I got it. They were really old.




I just modded mine to make the EQ much more responsive. Now I use it for a footswitchable Lead Boost.

I also modded the footswitch jack in front so that I can use a 2 button footswitch instead of 2 different footswitches.


I have the schematic for the original (Version A) DC-3's, email me with an email address & I will send it to you. It's big though, if you have dial-up, it may take a while to download.

 

[plumptone]

Bought mine brand new (wish I could remember what year - thinking 96 or so?). It replaced an old studio .22 and .50 caliber head and 2x12 cab I was hauling around. I'm very glad I got this amp, because the longer I own it, the more I appreciate its versatility. I retubed several times with EH pre- and power amp tubes, and now I'm almost ready to retube again. Think I'll be using the eurotubes website for a complete set. (If anyone has any recommendations on the particular sets they have available for complete retubing, I'd apprecaite it.)

I still have the stock V30 speaker, and it's still in good shape, although most of the time I run out through a 2x12 old fender open back vertical cab. This cab has 2 8ohm speakers wired up so that I can use the 4ohm jack on the amp, and the set up like this seems to really open the amp up and make it breathe more. I wish I knew what speakers were in this cab - they are old CBS Fender speakers with a silver dome in the middle. Looks cool under the lights.

We play a lot of Dead and Phish, as well as our own material that's in that vein, with the emphasis on improvisation. Current set-up is as follows:

GTR (strat/tele) > dunlop wah > q-tron > mxr dynacomp > mxr phase 90 > amp.

FX send > rack tuner > digitech digital delay pedal (old) > rack reverb > midiverb (for chorus) > fx return. All of this is powered through a Furmann power conditioner - and yes, you can tell the difference.

I have the EQ dialed in so that it's only working on the overdrive channel, and I use a basic V with the mid slider at the middle position. This provides a nice lead boost.

What's really great about the amp is its abaility to seamlessly switch between the trad. boogie screaming lead and a very articulate clean sound with surprising headroom for an amp rated at 35 watts. My band is a trio, so it's really important that I get a full sound, and the effects need to be clean and add depth to the feel of what I'm doing. The set up works great for me. It's a quiet amp, and if you take care of it, I think it'll run for years without much need for modification.

Mine chews through power tubes pretty aggressively, but that's a small price to pay for such great tone.