Mesa Studio Caliber (early DC2?)... any good?

[Le Chat Noir]

I have been looking to get a Mesa for some time for medium to fairly high gain rock tones and have a chance to pick up a Studio Caliber combo locally.

From what I can gather it is an earlier version of the DC2, with no contour switch. It has two lines of knobs on the control plate and no graphic EQ. I can't really find much info about these early DC2 predecessors.

Here's a poor shot but I can see the switch doesn't say 'countour' and there's no 'DC-2' after the Studio Caliber bit:

The price on it is 500GBP, but I may be able to bring him down on that - it seems like it's probably a little steep.

Are these particular amps any good or should I hold out for something else?

Any help or advice would be much appreciated!

 

[rocksalt7]

Hey Teddy
I've had my DC=2 about 2 years now and really like it. It has great cleans and can give me all the grit and crunch I need. It's a great grab-n-go amp because it's so light. Mine is a later version with contour, but I nearly always run it without. Mine also seems to be very responsive to tube and speaker changes; real easy to experiment with different things. And don't worry about volume...this thing drives my 4x12 like it was born to!!!

Hope this helps... :mrgreen:

 

[Le Chat Noir]

Thanks for your input! I've read that a lot of people use the countour on the second channel though, so should I hold out for a later model rather than this one?

 

[bhsbhswarp]

THe early version DC2 "ROCKS"!Get it,you'll love it!Way better tone then the later version(IMO)not as nassely..

 

[crguti]

Mesa don't play well with Orange amps. :wink:

 

[bhsbhswarp]

Mesa don't play well with Orange amps. :wink:

Huh :?: :?:

 

[edward]

Contrary opinion alert:

The GEQ is part of the magic with the DC line. Unless it is stupid-cheap, I would personally pass on a DC2 and wait for a DC3, also with EL84s (or a DC5 with 6L6s if that's your flavor).

Edward

 

[bhsbhswarp]

DC 2 did'nt come with GEQ,only contour control I believe

 

[rocksalt7]

Correct...No GEQ on the 2's. I use a GE-7 pedal w/ mine and it's like having a third channel. :mrgreen:
If you're getting a good deal on a DC-2, go for it, I seriously doubt you'll ever be sorry.

 

[originalflo]

hi boogie board!

coincidentally i bought exactly this amp. got it a few days back. it looked very vintage... i think it lived somewhere in a wet basement, quite dirty and rusty... all tubes okay, speaker okay (not blown), tolex okay.

after rippin it apart, cleaning the **** out of it and building it together again it looks quite okay - i wanted something vintage sounding rather than vintage lookin but i'm fine with it now

i think it needs a technical service, at least cleaning the parts inside (contacts, pots, etc...) too, but first lets do a soundcheck cause tone is what counts!
after replacing the british BS1363 plug (Type G) with a Schuko plug (Type F) i was able to properly power that thing here in austria. so i plugged in my michael kelly patriot (lp copy) and played some chords 8)

technically: as already stated by Le Chat Noir this seems to be a very early version of the dc-2. no contour switch, no GEQ.

both channels work, all pots - except the output level work fine after turning em back and forth for about 20 times each (no cleaning yet). i'm just able to dial in a "max" and a "not-quite-max" position as output level. i think i need a replacement-pot before my eardrums blow :twisted:

the tone controls are very powerful. i've found a good clean tone in the rhythm-channel quite fast but had to experiment a lot with the lead-channel and i'm still not quite happy with the result. i didn't like the reverb at all.

i love the clean rhythm channel but i found the lead channel sounding a little bit too harsh (it distorts very early and it can get quite high gain). i want it a little warmer/smoother (more bluesier) so i purchased a 12AT7 and a 12AY7 to experiment with in position v2.

i've got a 808modded TS-9 between guit and amp and when it's engaged in rhythm channel it sounds very similar to the lead channel. at the moment the use of my TS doesn't make much sense but maybe i can get it a little more graduated, e.g. rhythm-channel: very warm and clean; slightly overdriven with engaged TS; lead-channel: warm and smooth lead tone

i hopefully get the new preamp tubes this week

maybe someone had similar experiences with the lead channel and likes to share their solution with us

rock on
Flo

 

[crguti]

Mesa don't play well with Orange amps. :wink:

Huh :?: :?:

I have checked this guy in the Orange amp forum.