Tweet
I went to the post office today to pick up my 25 watt Mesa/Boogie DC-2 Studio Caliber 1x12 combo amp. Here are some quick and crappy photos I took... nowhere near the caliber ( [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img] ) of my usual photos but I didn't want to lug this thing back upstairs where there was more light to take photos with. [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]
I played around with it for four hours or so. I've only ever owned one other amp in my life so the comparison is going to suck but it is all I have to base it on. I will also compare it to the Mesa F-30 combo which was what I was originally going to buy but found my DC-2 at a very reasonable price and couldn't pass it up!
Construction review: This thing feels like it's built like a tank and seems very sturdy. But I basically know nothing about amp construction so I'm easily impressed. [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]
Clean channel review: It was very easy to dial in a great clean sound on the DC-2. Fiddle with the knobs any which way and it still sounds great, never boomy/woofy or piercing/shrill. I like my clean channel to be pristine clean, so that meant gain had to be kept lower and master had to be a little higher to compensate. Higher gain pushed into warm bluesy territory. My preference is for the treble and bass to be halfway, with the mids dipped a bit for clarity and a bit of presence. Compared to my Marshall and the F-30 I tried, the DC-2 does not have very high reverb so I had to increase reverb to 8 or so. I greatly preferred the lush (wet) reverb quality of the Marshall and F-30. Maybe there's something wrong with the reverb tanks or something... I dunno. [img]/images/graemlins/scratchhead.gif[/img] Everybody knows how I love my reverb. [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img] My Les Paul's neck pickup + tone knob all the way down + single note runs = a very interesting sound that sounded like TWO smooth guitar tones were coming out of the amp! [img]/images/graemlins/eek.gif[/img] I quite enjoyed it!
Dirty channel review: It took me what seemed like forever to get a decent distorted tone as I am very picky. Eventually I got something I liked, and I used it as my solo tone to play over backing tracks (see my second photo). Reverb again was weak, so I had to increase it. I still haven't found a suitable crunch sound for rock/metal rhythms yet. Something I enjoyed about my Marshall was the easy-to-dial dirty channel with a mid-sweep knob that REALLY drastically altered the character of your sound, as well as the clarity and sizzle that it offered to thunderous power chords. Unfortunately I was unable to replicate anything close to that with my DC-2 so far but I'll keep working on it. However, as I said, I really liked my lead/solo tone that I found, as it was warm, rich, and smooth. Unfortunately it was too smooth to be a crunchy rhythm sound. The F-30 I tried had a fantastic rhythm sound that wasn't too difficult to dial in at the store.
Contour mode review: Here's me desperately wishing this extra dirty channel mode was a midbooster for solos rather than a midscooper. The notable things when the contour mode was engaged were the increase in volume, increase in gain, and a dip in the mids. Perhaps I'll find a use for this mode someday, but for now, the sweet mids of the dirty channel on its own give me my lead/solo tone that I so love.
Overall, I'm quite happy that this is my first tube amp. Clean channel is very easy, while the dirty channel I had to wrestle with. Clean tone is ALWAYS great, and my lead/solo tone is exactly what I want in a lead/solo sound. But my rhythm sound and the contour mode I will have to play around with some more.
I recently asked how I could hook up both my Marshall and my DC-2 simultaneously. I was hoping I could use my DC-2 for cleans, Marshall for rhythm crunch, and DC-2 for my warm lead/solo tone. So, I used my Boss GT-6 and sent one output to each amp, and did my best to set the processor so that it would bypass. However, the sound was totally horrible and there was considerable signal/tone loss. Help! [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] Jack Napalm is selling a Morley ABY box in the Classifieds... should I got for that?
Also, I found these two little metal things hidden amongst the bubble wrap. What are they, and do they belong to part of the amp? Help! [img]/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img]
I played around with it for four hours or so. I've only ever owned one other amp in my life so the comparison is going to suck but it is all I have to base it on. I will also compare it to the Mesa F-30 combo which was what I was originally going to buy but found my DC-2 at a very reasonable price and couldn't pass it up!
Construction review: This thing feels like it's built like a tank and seems very sturdy. But I basically know nothing about amp construction so I'm easily impressed. [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]
Clean channel review: It was very easy to dial in a great clean sound on the DC-2. Fiddle with the knobs any which way and it still sounds great, never boomy/woofy or piercing/shrill. I like my clean channel to be pristine clean, so that meant gain had to be kept lower and master had to be a little higher to compensate. Higher gain pushed into warm bluesy territory. My preference is for the treble and bass to be halfway, with the mids dipped a bit for clarity and a bit of presence. Compared to my Marshall and the F-30 I tried, the DC-2 does not have very high reverb so I had to increase reverb to 8 or so. I greatly preferred the lush (wet) reverb quality of the Marshall and F-30. Maybe there's something wrong with the reverb tanks or something... I dunno. [img]/images/graemlins/scratchhead.gif[/img] Everybody knows how I love my reverb. [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img] My Les Paul's neck pickup + tone knob all the way down + single note runs = a very interesting sound that sounded like TWO smooth guitar tones were coming out of the amp! [img]/images/graemlins/eek.gif[/img] I quite enjoyed it!
Dirty channel review: It took me what seemed like forever to get a decent distorted tone as I am very picky. Eventually I got something I liked, and I used it as my solo tone to play over backing tracks (see my second photo). Reverb again was weak, so I had to increase it. I still haven't found a suitable crunch sound for rock/metal rhythms yet. Something I enjoyed about my Marshall was the easy-to-dial dirty channel with a mid-sweep knob that REALLY drastically altered the character of your sound, as well as the clarity and sizzle that it offered to thunderous power chords. Unfortunately I was unable to replicate anything close to that with my DC-2 so far but I'll keep working on it. However, as I said, I really liked my lead/solo tone that I found, as it was warm, rich, and smooth. Unfortunately it was too smooth to be a crunchy rhythm sound. The F-30 I tried had a fantastic rhythm sound that wasn't too difficult to dial in at the store.
Contour mode review: Here's me desperately wishing this extra dirty channel mode was a midbooster for solos rather than a midscooper. The notable things when the contour mode was engaged were the increase in volume, increase in gain, and a dip in the mids. Perhaps I'll find a use for this mode someday, but for now, the sweet mids of the dirty channel on its own give me my lead/solo tone that I so love.
Overall, I'm quite happy that this is my first tube amp. Clean channel is very easy, while the dirty channel I had to wrestle with. Clean tone is ALWAYS great, and my lead/solo tone is exactly what I want in a lead/solo sound. But my rhythm sound and the contour mode I will have to play around with some more.
I recently asked how I could hook up both my Marshall and my DC-2 simultaneously. I was hoping I could use my DC-2 for cleans, Marshall for rhythm crunch, and DC-2 for my warm lead/solo tone. So, I used my Boss GT-6 and sent one output to each amp, and did my best to set the processor so that it would bypass. However, the sound was totally horrible and there was considerable signal/tone loss. Help! [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] Jack Napalm is selling a Morley ABY box in the Classifieds... should I got for that?
Also, I found these two little metal things hidden amongst the bubble wrap. What are they, and do they belong to part of the amp? Help! [img]/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img]
Comment