kidsmoke
January 18th, 2014, 10:08 AM
I got this just before the holiday, so, Merry Christmas to me. This addresses my need for a smallish combo that I can play live and be heard.
I love love love my custom DuhVooDooMan 5F1 110, but it just can't compete in a live setting when other amps and a kit are involved. I considered pursuing a 5E3, thinking I'd be staying in a similar sonic realm, but recent exposure to a Mesa 5:25 Express had me reviewing their lineup of small combos. The 5:25's are pretty pricey, being a later model. Several others appealed to me, and this one turned up within a couple hours of home.
This is a Studio Caliber DC-2. It's a 20 watt 112, with two completely separate channels, each with their own set of preamp tubes (3 per) and two EL84 power tubes, for a total of 8. It's got a tube driven accutronics reverb tank on board (must have for me, wanted that pedal off the board), and the original Boogie foot switch, for switching between the rhythm/contour channels. Has an effects loop, and a headphone jack with a speaker mute switch(!!) a feature which makes this a much more practical beast in my view. A friend on another forum is a fulltime gigging pro, and turns out this is his everyday amp. His enthusiasm and council played no small role in my final decision, so it's basically his fault.
Lots to learn, and sadly, very little play time right now, but early impressions: built like a tank, not light @ a robust 47 lbs, loud as hell, and very very versatile. The previous owner (since '03) had taken excellent care of this, and included the spiral bound owners manual, which goes into great detail, knob by knob, channel by channel, as to the impact of each knob, and then suggested set ups for ea channel for a desired sound. Provides a great starting point. Each knob is remarkably impactful, something I've not experienced. I didn't expect much from the contour channel, based on the comments I've read hear about the high gain tones, but I did find some sounds I like. Oh, and the bugger is LOUD. Did I mention that? So far I'm really pleased.
Here, with it's main partner in crime...
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l58/tiokimo/boogie/6ce02636a141fe3bea09482f0f58bbec_zps16eea6e4.jpg (http://s93.photobucket.com/user/tiokimo/media/boogie/6ce02636a141fe3bea09482f0f58bbec_zps16eea6e4.jpg.h tml)
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l58/tiokimo/boogie/df9b9ff9e3556aaf1338944d7a9fa7d0_zps0cfeb1f9.jpg (http://s93.photobucket.com/user/tiokimo/media/boogie/df9b9ff9e3556aaf1338944d7a9fa7d0_zps0cfeb1f9.jpg.h tml)
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l58/tiokimo/boogie/7798f049a13c715bb6c74abf3d03a9d0_zps29112994.jpg (http://s93.photobucket.com/user/tiokimo/media/boogie/7798f049a13c715bb6c74abf3d03a9d0_zps29112994.jpg.h tml)
I love love love my custom DuhVooDooMan 5F1 110, but it just can't compete in a live setting when other amps and a kit are involved. I considered pursuing a 5E3, thinking I'd be staying in a similar sonic realm, but recent exposure to a Mesa 5:25 Express had me reviewing their lineup of small combos. The 5:25's are pretty pricey, being a later model. Several others appealed to me, and this one turned up within a couple hours of home.
This is a Studio Caliber DC-2. It's a 20 watt 112, with two completely separate channels, each with their own set of preamp tubes (3 per) and two EL84 power tubes, for a total of 8. It's got a tube driven accutronics reverb tank on board (must have for me, wanted that pedal off the board), and the original Boogie foot switch, for switching between the rhythm/contour channels. Has an effects loop, and a headphone jack with a speaker mute switch(!!) a feature which makes this a much more practical beast in my view. A friend on another forum is a fulltime gigging pro, and turns out this is his everyday amp. His enthusiasm and council played no small role in my final decision, so it's basically his fault.
Lots to learn, and sadly, very little play time right now, but early impressions: built like a tank, not light @ a robust 47 lbs, loud as hell, and very very versatile. The previous owner (since '03) had taken excellent care of this, and included the spiral bound owners manual, which goes into great detail, knob by knob, channel by channel, as to the impact of each knob, and then suggested set ups for ea channel for a desired sound. Provides a great starting point. Each knob is remarkably impactful, something I've not experienced. I didn't expect much from the contour channel, based on the comments I've read hear about the high gain tones, but I did find some sounds I like. Oh, and the bugger is LOUD. Did I mention that? So far I'm really pleased.
Here, with it's main partner in crime...
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l58/tiokimo/boogie/6ce02636a141fe3bea09482f0f58bbec_zps16eea6e4.jpg (http://s93.photobucket.com/user/tiokimo/media/boogie/6ce02636a141fe3bea09482f0f58bbec_zps16eea6e4.jpg.h tml)
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l58/tiokimo/boogie/df9b9ff9e3556aaf1338944d7a9fa7d0_zps0cfeb1f9.jpg (http://s93.photobucket.com/user/tiokimo/media/boogie/df9b9ff9e3556aaf1338944d7a9fa7d0_zps0cfeb1f9.jpg.h tml)
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l58/tiokimo/boogie/7798f049a13c715bb6c74abf3d03a9d0_zps29112994.jpg (http://s93.photobucket.com/user/tiokimo/media/boogie/7798f049a13c715bb6c74abf3d03a9d0_zps29112994.jpg.h tml)