DC-5 combo value and weight?

[Stevie C]

Hello-
Does anyone know what would be fair price for a DC-5 combo? There are two for sale locally and it's one of the models I'm considering. One is listed in good condition and the seller is asking $625.00 for it, and the other is listed in mint "closet classic" condition at $750.00. I'm thinking $750.00 might be a tad high, but opinions would be appreciated. Also, approx. what does the combo weigh and how is the clean channel? I know the dirt will be pretty good. Thanks.

 

[dante]

Stevie,

I'm no authority, but $625 seems like a good deal. The guy asking $750 might come down a bit if you talk nice.

As for the cleans, the DC has very nice cleans, once you swap out some preamp tubes. I have a thread in the DC board that talks about 'Re-Tube Time' go take a look at what I put in mine. It now has the cleans of a Fender, without the ice pick in the forehead. The dirty tones are brutal. I mean that in the best way.

 

[Stevie C]

Thanks Dante.....any idea on the weight of a combo?

 

[dante]

About 60 pounds or 27.2 kg (weighed using the highly scientific bathroom scale)

It's a tank. I installed pop-out casters the day I bought it - best $24 I ever spent

Here's the tube cocktail I have in my DC-5
V1: JAN GE 5751 (V1 for Rhythm and for Lead)
V2: Mullard Reissue 12AX7 Hi-Gain (Lead Gain)
V3: Mullard Reissue 12AX7 (Lead Gain, Loop Return)
V4: Mullard Reissue 12AX7 (Rhythm Gain)
V5: JAN 12AT7WTC balanced Black (Reverb Driver)
V6: JJ ECC803S Balanced (Phase Inverter)

Cleans sound good all the time now. Dirty sounds like crap in the bedroom, but simply dreamy when you are in the mix of a band. I can hear myself with less volume – and I have a rhythm guitarist to compete with. I run mine just loud enough to hear it with the drums, then have the sound man put my amp in the monitors loud enough to make a stereo field in the middle. It works great. When I hit a solo boost, it boosts the whole stage (woot!)

 

[kekam35]

Here is a pretty good demo of the DC-5.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKX0uVEWFrw

As for price they usually run in the $550-$750 range.

 

[Stevie C]

Thanks guys. I'm "weighing" my options right now.....

 

[D2dark]

Weight worth the sound in the dc family

 

[edward]

Important consideration in the DC5 is there is an "A" version that has channel LEDs on the front, and the "B" version that has no channel LEDs. The "B" has a cleaner clean channel whereas the A always seems to have a bit of hair around the edges. Neither is better; just which suits you better? FWIW, I found an A long before I heard there was a B ...got curious and eventually found and heard a B. I ended up loving the tone the A has to offer as I never play spanky clean.

The other great thing about these DC amps is their two channels are more "independently tunable" in terms of tube choices. On some later Boogies the tubes seem to share channel functions but on the DCs, you can tailor one channel's tone with a particular tube without affecting the other channel (within reason). Huge boon here IMHO. These DCs are largely ignored and overshadowed by Mesa's more popular models which makes these amps seriously undervalued, IMHO, as they do not get on most folks' radar. Well worth the expense. Oh, and definitely get Mesa's detachable casters ...your back will thank you!

Edward

 

[Stevie C]

Score! Got the one locally(version A) and it's in great shape.....has the original tubes, and they're due to be changed for sure.
Dante-where do you buy your tubes? What are you using for power tubes?

 

[dante]

Stevie - sorry, I was unavoidably detained. I shopped at DougsTubes.com and TubeDepot.com for my preamp tubes. The difference in price was $0.20. No kidding. Same exact order, totaling $120 - within 20 cents of each other.

Power tubes I was told to use (by the same guy that gave me the tube cocktail for the preamps tubes) are TungSol 6L6GC-STR

Get a matched pair. Get a quad or two matched pairs if you can afford to, then you'll have a spare set.

I hope that helps - and let us all know how you like your DC-5!

BTW: My bass player just asked me the other day 'why do you have wheels on that tiny little amp?' I said 'go pick it up'

 

[Stevie C]

Stevie - sorry, I was unavoidably detained. I shopped at DougsTubes.com and TubeDepot.com for my preamp tubes. The difference in price was $0.20. No kidding. Same exact order, totaling $120 - within 20 cents of each other.

Power tubes I was told to use (by the same guy that gave me the tube cocktail for the preamps tubes) are TungSol 6L6GC-STR

Get a matched pair. Get a quad or two matched pairs if you can afford to, then you'll have a spare set.

I hope that helps - and let us all know how you like your DC-5!

BTW: My bass player just asked me the other day 'why do you have wheels on that tiny little amp?' I said 'go pick it up'

Sorry for the delay, but ordered the tubes from Tube Depot (147.50 for the whole shebang), got 'em installed, and what a difference! Thanks for the recommendation. The 5751 does wonders for channel one. Haven't decided whether the amp is a keeper yet.....need to get it out in the real world and see. Thanks again.

 

[dante]

If you think they sound good now, just wait a week or so until they burn in. YUM.

 

[polaris20]

Important consideration in the DC5 is there is an "A" version that has channel LEDs on the front, and the "B" version that has no channel LEDs. The "B" has a cleaner clean channel whereas the A always seems to have a bit of hair around the edges. Neither is better; just which suits you better? FWIW, I found an A long before I heard there was a B ...got curious and eventually found and heard a B. I ended up loving the tone the A has to offer as I never play spanky clean.

The other great thing about these DC amps is their two channels are more "independently tunable" in terms of tube choices. On some later Boogies the tubes seem to share channel functions but on the DCs, you can tailor one channel's tone with a particular tube without affecting the other channel (within reason). Huge boon here IMHO. These DCs are largely ignored and overshadowed by Mesa's more popular models which makes these amps seriously undervalued, IMHO, as they do not get on most folks' radar. Well worth the expense. Oh, and definitely get Mesa's detachable casters ...your back will thank you!

Edward

As Edward correctly noted, the A is hairier on the cleans than the B, but I for prefer that sound; it's what makes a tube amp a tube amp. For me, anyway. I see a lot of people (generally on other boards) claim the B sounds "better", but that's pretty subjective. I guess a lot of people prefer cleanest of cleans, and therefore that sounds "better" to them.