Making my DC-5 sing

[Ace]

Hi, in my search towards the understanding of my Mesa/Boogie amp, I found this forum, which looks cool, so I hope I well meet great people aorund here

My situation : I own a DC50 combo and I feel this amp has potential, and it's also known for it's versatility. But... it doens't give me quite the Solo sound I'm looking for. No prob for a metallica type of sound, but a transparant singing solo sound a la (ok, here we go) Vai/Satch (Tone like Vai's "for the love of god") is a problem. The onboard EQ gives a lot of possibilities, but the sound remains too "muddy" and lacks straight definition to me.

The amp is completely original, as well as it's pre and power tubes (mesa 6L6, which I heared are chinese and a bit of a shame for such an amp, and I'm a total nubi when it comes to changing valves). I guess they're pretty old, don't they have a date printed somewhere ? The speaker is the stock Black Shadow.

Strangely enough, I come closer towards the kind of sound that I want with my EMG81 equiped RG570 than my fred/paf equiped JS1000.

I also own a Keeley SEM Boss DS1 in the idea of "pushing" a tube amp to get where I want, but since I'm a bit stuck with this muddy sound, the DS1 makes it worse most of the time. Then I think, I have way too much gain, no wonder it start to sound like a bulldozer driving trough mud, but then again when I lower the gain until a more decent tone, singing notes and sustain are down. Some people recommend me to try a Compressor on it, but I prefer not to go just wild and buy al kinds of pedals before I spoke to you guys on this Mesa-dedicated forum.

So I have some suspicions, but it would be great to hear what DC owners here have done (modifications etc) with their amp.

So any hints/comments on tubes (loose the 6L6's, plug EL34 in), settings on amp/pedals (the DS-1 is wrong, it's a distortion, not an overdrive), speaker (the Blackshadow is too dark, get yerselvez a Vintage30)...

in fact it's my real first tube amp, so I've got a lot to learn

I saw LankyLeo's post a few days ago about his DC-5, but I think I have other specific needs, therefore this post. (hope I'm not crossposting here )

Right, I'm all ear. shoot! Thx in advance

 

[Monsta-Tone]

Get some new tubes in there quick.

I use JJ High-Gain 12AX7's from Eurotubes in all positions except Valve 2, which is an Electro Harmonix 12AX7 (this setup gives me gobs of distortion, but no mud).

I also use JJ 6L6's.

My amp sounds incredibly focused, no mud at all

Another thing that I never do is turn the Bass up.

Start with the Graphic OFF, and all tone knobs in the middle. Find the tone that you are looking for by moving the knobs only. Get it as close as you possibly can, then kick the Graphic EQ in. Start with the Graphic sliders in the middle and adjust accordingly.


The way I use my amp is similar all the time, but the tone knobs will adjust according to room.

I can dial in the tone that I want without using the Graphic EQ. I use the Graphic only for a solo boost.

Hope this helps, or maybe it's just the pre-drunken ramblings of a madman.

 

[mrmax]

I've got a couple of DC 10's (head & combo) . I season my preamps like this ; V1,3, 4 & 5 Electro Harmonix 12ax7's ,V2 Boogie ECC83, Power Tubes JJ 6L6 GC. Sings perfectly. Take your time dialing in your tone , it will come. 8) 8) 8)

 

[Ace]

Hi, thx for your recommendations.

Monsta-Tone : ah that exactly what I did last week. turn the GE off and make sure I got a decent tone whit the basic knobs to start with and that got me a bit closer indeed. Problem is there is really a lack of good amp techs around here. :shock: I know one dude who has a website, but it's a long drive. I'm gonna give him a call about testing different tube combo's. What amp do you have exactly ? you don't use any extra overdrive pedals of some sort ? It would be great to hear what you get out of your amp, so if you have the means to record it somehow... it doesn't need to be the pro-way, just to hear roughly the difference with my amp.

mrmax : Thx, I'm gonna try to check out different preamp combo's as well.

So you both stick with 6L6... no biasmod needed then, just the right bias-tube for my amp.

When I'm at it, I'm would equally change the clean preamp tubes. I would like to have them as clean, but warm as possible. what pre amp tubes do you guys use there ?

Thx !

 

[Monsta-Tone]

I use JJ's, the High-Gain ones from Eurotubes for all positions but the V2 spot which is the 2nd & 3rd gain stages for the dirty channel.

They sound very warm to me.

I tried all E-H's and thought it was too brittle or Metal sounding for my tonal needs.



As for the amp, it's a DC-5 Version B.

I use no distortion pedals, just a wah and a Maxon AD-8 delay pedal in the loop. I also have a G-Major, but haven't had the time to use it yet.