disappointed with DC-3 purchase.

[Mugambi]

Hi Guys,

I need help bad! I bought a DC-3 last week sight unseen to use for smaller gigs (I have a Lonestar Classic). The size, wattage was right and it seem to get great reviews for the most part. I even had it sent to Boogie Hollywood to have it looked at before I had it shipped to me in Denver. I used it for a gig Friday and I was very disapppointed. Channel 1 sounded great althought quite different from the Lonestar. Channel 2 is horrible. Midrange city. I had the bass, midrange and graphic dialed out to 0 and it was still overly midranged! It also became very hissy and humming the more I turned the gain up. Unacceptable. The graphic eq seems a little lite to me as far as effect goes and it doesn't work on both channels unless I have the footswitch engage. Am I missing something? I guess I could use a good distortion pedal on channel 1 and keep the amp but right now I ready to give it up. Any advice?

Thanks.

 

[disassembled]

First things first, did you try retubing the amp? I bet the tubes are original and have been beaten to death inside of that combo for the past 10 years or so. Once you retube you should then reevaluate your amp. As far as the eq working with the footswitch only....there should be a switch on the amp to tell the EQ when to work(like auto, ch1, ch2, ftswtch). If all else fails read the manual.

Greg

 

[siggy14]

If it is the combo, take out the V30 and put in a different speaker.

First things first, did you try retubing the amp? I bet the tubes are original and have been beaten to death inside of that combo for the past 10 years or so. Once you retube you should then reevaluate your amp. As far as the eq working with the footswitch only....there should be a switch on the amp to tell the EQ when to work(like auto, ch1, ch2, ftswtch). If all else fails read the manual.

Greg

 

[Charlie]

First things first, did you try retubing the amp?

Ditto. I just got a used F-50 a few weeks ago and I was a little put off by the sound at first. I re-tubed the preamp with Tung Sols and now I'm loving it.

 

[Mugambi]

Thanks Guys..I have a Lonestar with JJ's and I love it! The DC-3 combo supposely had new JJ's when I had it sent to Mesa. Mesa Hollywood said the tubes were not putting out the correct wattage, so they change them. Could the Mesa pre-amp tubes be the problem as one has suggested? It has the original V-30 in it but I usually like those speakers especially in my Recto cab. Would a tone tubby serve me better? I play rock, funk and blues so having a great clean and dirt is essential. What about the hum and hiss as you turn up, tubes? I will read the manual to figure out this eq. The amp still has a lot of mids. Does anyone have any suggestions on mods that will deal with the midrange issue.

Thanks again..

 

[disassembled]

The noise is most likely related to a tube issue. I had 1 bad tube in my Triaxis and it would make all kinds of hissing and popping on the clean channels only but not on the drive channel. If you have 1 extra tube you can swap 1 preamp tube out at a time and see if that clears everything up.


Greg

 

[Charlie]

Thanks Guys..I have a Lonestar with JJ's and I love it! The DC-3 combo supposely had new JJ's when I had it sent to Mesa. Mesa Hollywood said the tubes were not putting out the correct wattage, so they change them. Could the Mesa pre-amp tubes be the problem as one has suggested? It has the original V-30 in it but I usually like those speakers especially in my Recto cab. Would a tone tubby serve me better? I play rock, funk and blues so having a great clean and dirt is essential. What about the hum and hiss as you turn up, tubes? I will read the manual to figure out this eq. The amp still has a lot of mids. Does anyone have any suggestions on mods that will deal with the midrange issue.

Thanks again..

Well the guy I bought my F-50 from off of Ebay said that the tubes only had a few hours of use at low volume. He seemed trustworthy and I also had some Mesa tubes in my JTM-45 I wasn't happy with either. So in my experience Mesa's preamp tubes don't sound that great and with the noise you are getting it sounds like you might have a bad tube somewhere.

Anyway I had some issues with the tone of the amp when I first got it and the new preamp tubes cleared things up.

Good luck.

 

[Janglin_Jack]

I had a love hate with my DC-3. Loved the clean channel but could never get the lead channel right. I found using a Celestion G12H-30 to be a nice speaker for that amp.

Since then, I have done a lot of homework about amp circuits, so I would just look for ways to taylor the circuit to be less muddy.

Maybe try treble cap on the volume pot to make it brighter.

The only other thing to do is use the EQ.

Jack

 

[plumptone]

First, new tubes are probably not a bad idea - just to make sure you're starting from scratch, so to speak.

I own and play a DC-3 and have done so for many years. I would definitely not characterize the sound of mine as overly heavy in the midrange frequencies. The one thing with this amp is the tone controls are really very sensitive, and you need to play around to get them all working together properly. It's generally not a good idea to run the amp with any of the tone controls set at zero, because you're not dumping enough signal through. Playing a strat, in channel 2 I set my treble at about 6, mid at 4.5, bass at 6.5 and presence at about 4.5. The channel master is usually set to about 3, and the output master is on 2 for rehearsals and up to 4 at gigs. With the eq in the classic "V" shape I get monstrous tone. Nice bass, sparkly on top, and if I want it to be less mid-range focussed, I scoop the V heavily, but generally find that the center slider should sit only slightly below the center line if I want to cut through at all in a band situation. For me, with this amp in a live setting, the trick is to coax as much bass out of it as you can without the tone getting flubby. It's a small box, so it does suffer from "small amp syndrome". Getting the bass response right seems to compensate for this.

The graphic eq should have a fairly pronounced effect on your sound and tone. A couple of years ago, my graphic started losing its imapct on my tone, and eventually one of my sliders (the bass slider) failed completely. It was inexpensive to have it checked out and actually replace the whole eq. Problem fixed.

Good luck. Tone is so subjective - hope you're able to get as much out of your amp as I have out of mine.

 

[jerseydrew]

It's a shame you're not having luck with your DC-3 combo. I own one and I must say it's my favorite Boogie ever. (out of the ones that I've owned). (I've owned a MkIII, SOB, LSS, and a Nomad 45.)

 

[Mugambi]

Hmm..Plumptone, I've read many of your postings and others and listened to your clips before I bought this DC-3. I have to admit your channel 2 tone sounded good to my ears. It's funny, I used my Lonestar this weekend and at first listen, channel 1 sounded dull compared to the DC-3 channel 1 until I got use to hearing it again. I'm going to change the preamp tubes and try the suggestions here and report. It could be I am just not a EL-84 guy. It sure does not sound as "open and airy" as my Lonestar. But I sure like the size of this thing, the 35 watts and I like channel 1. Channel 2 on the DC-3 sounds a lot better at lower volumes to me. It seems to lose definition as you turn it up. I know a lot of people like this amp so I'm going to try to figure this out. Anyone have success using an overdrive or distortion pedal on channel 1 and not use channel 2? Thanks guys!

 

[eweise]

I've got both a dc-3 and a lonestar special and I would say that my lonestar special is much more open and airy than the dc-3 so its not a characteristic of el-84s. I would agree that the dc-3 is very midrangy, particularly in the lead channel, and needs to be dialed out with the eq, not the mid control, to get a more balanced tone.
The eq should have a drastic affect on the tone so if its not, then its probably not working right. You should be able to drop the mid to 0, and have very scooped sound, sort of like a recto tone.

I don't think you will be happy comparing the dc-3 to what the lonestar does best, great fenderish clean. It just doesn't do that well. It's got some great tones though. For a great blues tone, on the clean channel, turn the drive up to 8 and boost the mid control. For santana style solos, put the drive around 3 and don't cut the mids, and use your neck pickup. I can't get near that thick solo sound on my lonestar special.

 

[plumptone]

THe Lonestar and the DC-3 are two very different animals. I have played the Lonestar and I know what you mean about it having a very "airy" sort of sound. That's the Fender heritage coming through, and seems to be a characteristic of 6L6 output tubes. Those little EL84s aren't for everyone. The other thing to keep in mind is that the Lonestar is a much bigger and more powerful unit. The extra headroom and larger physical dimensions of the box have a huge impact on the sound. And as I have said before, the little DC-3 can saound...well...little at times.

Before you give up on the channel 2 as-is, work with it a little, and try standing 15 - 20 feet out front to hear what it sounds like to the folks listening to you. Maybe that has something to do with it. I also find that the DC-3 sounds like CRAP unless it's actually sitting on the floor (as opposed to being up on an amp stand). IN any eveny - wishing you good luck.

 

[Mugambi]

Thanks again Guys..I appreciate your help. I will play with the DC-3 some more, change some tubes and maybe the speaker. After spending some time with Mesa yesterday, everthing seems to be in working order. I'm gonna give her a chance to see if she comes through for me. BTW, I did have the DC-3 on a stand and the guitarists in the audience thought it sounded great. Go figure..

 

[JAZZGEAR]

If it is the combo, take out the V30 and put in a different speaker.

Ditto...!!! The V30 is the wrong speaker for that amp. I had it for about 5 years and it worked well after I replaced the speaker with the C90....huge difference!

 

[Mugambi]

Okay Guys,

I tried your suggestions and I'm getting better tone. I changed the speaker to a C90 for now and I like it better in this amp. Probably will try something else like a tone tubby or weber soon. I tried the amp settings and change the preamp tubes to JJ's. I'm much happier now but still will do some tweaking trying other tubes and speakers. But for now at least I feel I can use the amp. Still a little hissy for my taste and still seems midrange heavy but the amp sounds good. Whoever said it sounds great at low volumes, I concur. I wish the DC-3 would retain some of the tones I'm getting at low volume just louder! Anyway, thanks for the help, I think I'm going to keep her! :wink:

 

[Janglin_Jack]

In looking at the schematic, there is something weird about the Tone Stack. Check into making it into a standard Fender Tone Stack. I think you will find better results.

That would mean you need to check the value of the Tone Pots, change the Slope Resistor to 100K and the Treble Cap to 250pf. If you don't have any experience with that, take it to an amp tech and they can mod it for you.

In the mean time, use a good 12AT7 in the V2 preamp slot to reduce some gain.

Jack

 

[Mugambi]

In looking at the schematic, there is something weird about the Tone Stack. Check into making it into a standard Fender Tone Stack. I think you will find better results.

That would mean you need to check the value of the Tone Pots, change the Slope Resistor to 100K and the Treble Cap to 250pf. If you don't have any experience with that, take it to an amp tech and they can mod it for you.

In the mean time, use a good 12AT7 in the V2 preamp slot to reduce some gain.

Jack

Hey Jack,

I'm going to check that out. Have you tried this?