Mesa Boogie DC-5 Head

I'm just a budding guitarist. Been playing around 8 years and in that time I've done a few gigs. I'm into all kinds of music: rock, blues, jazz, metal, pop etc!

Bought this amp second hand for £600. I was studying a performing musicians course at the time and needed an amp. Mesa have a huge reputation and my local shop had this one up for sale so I bought it!

THE TONE! There is no end to this amp. Firstly you have two channels each with there own set of controls. As well as the gain, bass, middle and treble, they also have their own presence, reverb and master volume.
The clean channel is up there with the cleanest of clean amps. You got crystal clean to warm jazz to edgy blues. There is also the pull boost on the gain just to crank things up a little. It has it all.
The gain channel is pure heaven. Anything from rock to metal. Set the gain low and turn up the master to push the valves and I swear, pure tube tone. Set the gain high and its a wonderful liquid overdrive. It's so sweet.
To top things off, you've got a footswitchable five band equaliser. If you want to add more colour to your tone then use the eq for a more tonal spectrum. You couldn't be happier really!

My only little niggle about this amp is that the pull boost on the clean channel is not footswitchable. It's ashame really because it offers a completely different sound and would be useful to have when needed. I dont want to have to turn around durin a gig and pull and push the switch when needed. Other than that, nothing at all.

The amp is well built, like a tank. The reverb unit is wrapped up and tied down in the back of the amp. Kept safe unlike some amps. I haven't had a problem since I bought it. That was well over a year ago.

You want tone, here it is! These amps were built around 1992/3 - 15 years ago. I played through a mesa boogie combo (i think it was the F series) a few months ago in a shop on Denmark Street in London and I was disappointed. I mean really disappointed. My DC-5 blew it away!!! If you ever get the chance to buy one, do it, you wont regret it. They don't cost the earth and it's ironic really, because mine is priceless to me!

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

Playing for many, many years. Gigged. Recorded. And evolved musically. Currently living 12 miles from NYC and working on original music. I love tone.

I bought the amp new in 1993. It was a prototype complete with the type written owners manual. Since buying it I have taken it with me to auditions, sessions, you name it. PAID: $1100 USD

The amp is incredibly versatile and built like a tank. It has shimmering clean channel capability as profound and unadulterated as anything out there and on par with some vintage Fender Amps. It grinds with superb overtones on the overdriven channel to provide the type of crunch usually associated with hard rock or metal music. I can play everything from country to rock with this fairly compact little combo and then plug in a cabinet and keep up with anyone or anything out there !

I have never had any problem with the amp -- but I have gone though a few speakers. Being a tone junkie I have tried several different speakers including a greenback that I keep around for low volume stuff and a heavier capacity Celestion that I can slap in there for louder gigs....I was never wild about the Mesa speaker that came in the amp.

I love the way they built this amplifier..the knobs are tight and after 12 years or so they work as well as the day it was purhased. This unit has the unique black push button switches and not the silver toggles on the control panel. I like that feature. It is a very solid feeling piece of equipment.

I wrote this review to contrast the first review of this amp which I found uninformative and somewhat slanted. I run a custom shop Stratocaster with staggered pole pickups through this amp and it chimes, I crank up my Les Paul with it's hand wound Lindy Fralins and it crunches and breaks up with a majesty and beauty that blows aways seasoned professionals who hear it. I also find it capable of handling a very customized Telecaster and provide that all important twang. These are bargains if they have been taken care of and are available used. It is really the one amp that you can use to record and gig with. One amp that will provide any sound you need without employing any effects.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

I purchased the amp at MARS in Houston, TX. The DC-5 was around $740 (after tax).

The DC-5 has unreal gain, totally evil sound. The lead with the built-in eq allows you to just grip and rip. Just plug it in and plug your guitar in and your off. Simplicity ws what I was looking for and I found it with the Mesa DC-5. Loud as HELL and only 50 watts.

The only downfall is the footswitch for the eq and channel switching could be longer. The DC-5 I don't think is available as a stock amp. I think that you have to order them from Mesa.

The DC-5 has pretty good construction, but be careful of the knobs are plastic

If you are looking for a solid heavy tone that covers most rock, try the DC-5.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

It is a full amp lamps (2 X 6L6 X12AX7 and 6).
50W of power (attention is the Watts lamps and Mesa-Boogie - trs is powerful)
effects loop with MIX FX, among footswitch reverb and equalizer-channel output recording (with the possibility to cut or not the speaker) output 2 HP 4 Ohm and 8 Ohm output, an output driver for a slave Another amp and finally between a guitar!

UTILIZATION

The handling of the amp is simple but the equalizer (depending on whether or not BTAC) is a little less. The easiest way is to rfrer the manual that contains many examples of sounds. By grinding a minimum rglages have come to get a more than valid.
The manual is disponbible online for those who would not have received with the amp (www.mesaboogie.com)

SOUNDS

I use several guitars: a Tom Anderson Drop Top, an American Standard Fender Stratocaster and a Gibson Les Paul Studio. The DS-5 fully respects the personnailt of each guitar. I think it is a guarantee of quality for an amp. Each guitar keeps the sound it must have: the mesa does not color frquences instruments.
The clean sounds are warm and crystalline (like those of a Boogie Mark IV), the crunch is perfect for rhythmic well supported. The lead channel alone is worth the dtour. The sound is the Dual Rectifier (I know: I had a dual head grinding and I did not care because I had the same sound with the DC-5). It allows you to have a solo but its powerful trsdfini. The sound does not bleed like some Marshalls, it's clean and prcis. In rhythm with a lot of gain we get the big sound of Korn, Limp Bizkit ..
.

OVERALL OPINION

I bought my amp new in 1996 it still works as well (if not better, it gets better with age!).
I changed lamps amplification two times (I'm thirty concerts per year). Never prampli lamps (not ncessaire unless you want to change the texture of the amp - ask Mike Soldano)
When purchasing j'tais party to buy a Marshall JCM900 combo ... and I flash on the DC-5. A little more expensive but so much better ...
The report price quality is unquestionable. In the era for the price we could find no better (about 1400 euros today).
If mine broke down and silent irrparrable I will seek a DC-5 APRS ...