My DC-3's 1st Jam Session

[Monsta-Tone]

I took my DC-3 to it's 1st jam session (since I've owned it) last night.

I stopped playing when my oldest son was born, 4 years ago. Things were just too hectic.



Last night I went to a friend's house for a Blues jam.

He used a '64 Princeton Reverb.

My DC-3 didn't sound quite as lush on the Clean stuff at 1st. I was thinking, "What the hell, it sounds so good at home."

Then, I realized that the Tone was all the way down on my Strat. What a difference that made. I felt like Homer Simpson for a couple of minutes, then I realized that my Clean tone was almost as sweet as the other guy's.

With a little tweaking, this amp can get some very Fender-like tones and the Reverb is DEEP.


My friend was fairly smug about his amp until I kicked in the Distortion for the obligatory 5 minute solo in E.

My amp kicks ***!!!!

I still think it would sound better with a Simul-Class or Cathode Biased Power Amp Section. I might do something about this on Sunday.



What do you guys do about the heat though? The amp was so hot after 3 hours of jamming at moderate levels (Master Volume on 3) that I could feel it under the handle! The wood was hot on top of the amp.

I think that part of this is due to the fact that the Preamp tubes are 1/2 way up into the Chassis. I'm sure that the physical size of the amp has a lot to do with it too.

I'm thinking about putting a fan in the cabinet, but it's already too small in there.

 

[plumptone]

Hey monsta - first time out eh? Big fun, I have no doubt. It's always so much fun when you bring the DC-3 to the uninitiated - they look at it and think: what the hell is that tiny little thing going to sound like? And even though most people are impressed by the sound of the clean channel, all is fine until you kick on the overdrive, at which point most people I have done this with are immediate Boggie converts.

This amp does get hotter than hell. Personally, I like to let it get hot, because I think the power amp tubes sound better that way, but obviously only to a point. When we're out playing 4 or 5 set gigs I have to be real careful about things. We're a jam band, so sometimes a set will be four songs long, but last over an hour. That can be rough on the amp. If we're doing more than an hour and a half per set I bring a fan and aim it at the back of the cab, which seems to keep things mellow. Same goes if we're doing outside shows in the summer. If I don't do this, then typically the thing starts to get very weak by the end of the night. I think with all the heat bulding up everything starts to work itself loose - and since the cab's so small, the whole thing is actually vibrating pretty badly. Power tubes seem to suffer in particular.

If you run this amp over 3 on the master for more than a couple of hours it gets scary hot, and you can smell it! By the way, if you can tolerate the amp at more than 3 on the master for any length of time, you should probably take a trip to your audiologist. I rarely go beyond 3 and some of the rooms we play hold upwards of 400 people.

I asked my tech about putting a fan in the amp, and he said it couldn't be done due to lack of space.

Have you tried using a 2X12 or 4X12 extension yet? If not, definitely plan to, because it turns the DC-3 into a HUGE tone monster. You won't believe it.

I can relate to your taking time off - I did a couple of graduate degrees, and couldn't play for several years - it was pure joy to get back into it after the break. Enjoy.