I own a DC-3, and have had it a long time. Before this I owned a Studio-22, and then a .50 caliber head running through a 2x12 roadready Mesa Cab. That was a good amp, but way too loud and a major hassle to move with that big cab. I wanted to get back to EL84s and Mesa's only offering at the time was the DC-3. I tried it, loved it, and bought it.
These amps are VERY good if you like the sound of the EL84 pwer tubes. Some people find the sound brash, but I like the bite. You will have to play around with the individual channel tone controls to find the sweet spots for both channels, but there are many to be found. The clean channel can get close to a Vox kind of vibe if you drive it hard, and on super clean settings it cuts through the mix nicely. I don't use the EQ on the clean channel much, but it can be useful for certain applications. The drive channel is hot, and voiced very well once you kick in the eq. Without the eq I think it sounds a little anemic, but you can still get some pretty decent sounds.
I have had issues with the 80K slider on my EQ - don't know if this is a common problem - but most of the time it works well if I just run it up and down once in a while to keep the contacts clean.
The effects loop is very good, and remarkably silent. Actually the amp is pretty much noise free anayway.
Tubes will be an issue. It's a really loud 35 watts, and will cut through in most situations, but you do have to drive the amp pretty hard. As a result, it's going to be running hot most of the time, so if you are playing with any regularity, expect to be changing power tubes every 6 months or so. The preamp tubes on mine have been finecky, but right now they are working fine. I change them out as a matter of preventive maintenance every 18 months or so.
If it's not big enough sounding when you get into a big room, which I have found on occasion, hook it up to eather a 4x12 or a 2x12 open back cab, and be prepared to be totally blown away. I LOVE running mine through a very old Fender 2x12 cabinet - it totally opens the amp up. But that said, it sounds pretty good all on its own without any external cabs to fatten things up in most rooms.
The reverb sounds great on the clean channel, and is almost irrelevant on the drive settings - I think it gets lost in the "bloom" of the amp's natural sound.
The older amps used the toggle switches, by the way. The rotory control was an upgrade in the later versions of the amp. I have the rotory control.
This amp should serve you well in most situations. My band covers a lot of different ground from jam-band type of jazzy/trippy stuff through Floyd and into straight blues. Handles it all nicely. I use compression a lot for my cean settings, and the amp loves it. If you use delay, run it through the loop and you'll love the way it keeps the repeats nice and separate on both clean and drive settings.
Enjoy - these amps are such good value for the money and will serve you well if you treat them with care.
