DC-5 Retube

[desertcj]

I am retubing my amp and here are my options of tubes i have

1 - New Tung Sol
1 - New Tung Sol - Hi Gain
2 - JJ ECC83S
2 - JJ ECC83S - Hi Gain
1 - JJ ECC83S - Balanced
2 - Sovtek 12AX7WA
1 - Sovtek 12AX7WB

here is my thought process

V1 - Hi Gain Tung Sol
V2 - Hi Gain JJ
V3 - Hi Gain JJ
V4 - JJ or Tung Sol
V5 - JJ
V6 - Balanced JJ
Power - Winged C 6l6GC's

let me know what you guys think

 

[Monsta-Tone]

Here is what I have in mine:
V1 JJ High Gain
V2 JJ High Gain
V3 JJ
V4 Mullard NOS that I found in an old Bogen PA
V5 JJ
V6 JJ


Power Tubes are JJ 6L6, but I am thinking of trying some TAD's that I have sitting around.

I really like it. It is a bit darker than my DC-10 which has all Mesa Russian II's and Winged C power tubes, but I wanted it to be dark. I like it when my amp growls.

 

[Esromeron]

I am not a big fan of JJ preamp tubes. They seem to be a love em or hate em kind of tube. But if you have all those tubes, I'd start with what you said as its a good setup, and just keep trying out different tubes in different positions. Switch one out at a time and you'll get a good feel of what each tube does in each position. I love my SED Winged =C= 6L6GC's.

Here is what each preamp tubes does on the DC-5 (its not in the DC5 manual some reason), just in case you needed it.

V1A = First Rhythm
V1B = First Lead
V2A = Second Lead
V2B = Third Lead
V3A = Fourth Lead
V3B = FX Return
V4A = Third Rhythm
V4B = Second Rhythm
V5A = Reverb Send
V5B = Reverb Return
V6 = Phase Splitter / Driver


And just if you were curious here is my tube setup:
V1 - Tung-Sol reissue 12AX7
V2 - Mullard reissue 12AX7
V3 - Penta Labs 12AX7
V4 - Penta Labs 12AX7
V5 - Shuguang 12AX7C9
V6 - Sovtek 12AX7LPS (Balanced)
SED Winged =C= 6L6GC's

 

[Monsta-Tone]

I really like the JJ's. They are a bit darker, but that is the tone I'm looking for out of my DC-5.

I did just try out a Mark III Blue Stripe with a mixture of Sovtek, Tung-Sol & Penta tubes. It sounded incredible.



I used to use an LPS in V1 of my Soldano Lucky 13 and it sounded incredible. I haven't found any other amp that that tube sounds good in V1. It does make a great PI though.

 

[LEVEL4]

. . . It is a bit darker than my DC-10 . . . but I wanted it to be dark. I like it when my amp growls.

Excellent point. I used to dislike my DC-3's darker character, but now I really love having that "growl" on-tap in my DC-3, especially when contrasted with punchy-ness of my Mark IV .

 

[Monsta-Tone]

Oddly enough, my DC-10 spent several hours being A/B ed against my Mark IV A.

They were close enough in tone that I kept the DC and sent the Mark to ebay land. Plus, the DC was incredibly more consistent. The Mark would sound different everyday, and the DC was just so simple to use.

 

[jman7272]

Oddly enough, my DC-10 spent several hours being A/B ed against my Mark IV A.

They were close enough in tone that I kept the DC and sent the Mark to ebay land. Plus, the DC was incredibly more consistent. The Mark would sound different everyday, and the DC was just so simple to use.

This man wins the prize! I couldn't agree more! I just sold my Mark IV. Love the amp, but I spent more time tweaking than playing it. You can pretty much get every tone from snare drum to pipe organ from the thing but it is a tweakers amp and I just wanna play.

My Mark will be missed, but the DC is very simmilar and very consistent.

 

[Monsta-Tone]

It's early here, so I was just playing at below bedroom volumes.

I had the DC-5, DC-10 & .50 + Cal on at the same time.

The DC-10 has gobs of sustain with the Output below 1. I was really blown away. I don't think that I've ever played that quietly out of a 100 watt amp and been pleased.

The DC-5 sounded really good too, but had nowhere near the sustain.

The .50 Cal sounded incredible clean, but the Lead channel needs to be cranked before it breathes.

I love these 3 amps. I could just sit in front of them all day and play the same 5 chords on each of them 1 amp at a time.