Experiment with your preamp/poweramp volumes...nice!

[edward]

It is worth it! Try with the preamp vol set low and the output high, say around 8. Then try bringing up the preamp about one to one and a half numbers and adjust the output accordingly. And everywhere in between. In the Clean channel, not a world of difference: it's there, but the tonal changes are subtle. But with the Lead channel, I found there is a significant difference in the "gritty" vs "liquidy" timbre of the OD, as well as how the bass feels, and the amount of treble bite. Of course, adjust tone stack accordingly. It's almost as if the amp's character changes, and it's all usable differences in tone that are considerably more dramatic than merely turning treb/mid/bass settings.

FWIW, my DC5 has been my #1 go-to live amp for maybe going on 15+ years now, and has been awesome. A few years ago, I had gone through tube experiments and created my own personal cocktail, tailoring the tone ever further to suit my styles (less overall gain, more round and "Fender-y" but still well in the realm of Rock territory). But playing my Express 525 more lately, and live, I've been crossing over to that EL84 so-called "british" flavor more and more. Well as much as I love my DC5, it doesn't go there very well. No matter how I tweaked the gain and tone stack, it would not get me there. But after goofing with the ratios between said preamp/poweramp settings, man it gets me close! The mids and highs really wake up! Ya gotta give it a try, all. I'm curious if you find the various "new" voices I've found in there! Im going to revisit this whole experiment tomorrow with fresh ears, and critical objectivity. But likewise would love to hear what you all find.

Edward

 

[Monsta-Tone]

I use my amps like this when I want a really great low gain setting that has lots of sustain and sparkle! Glad I'm not the only one.

Have to admit though, most of the time, I just crank the gain and go for the "Gobs of Distortion" tone! :mrgreen:

 

[dante]

I'll give it a try at rehearsal tonight.

I have a rack gear rig at our practice pad, but I was planning on draggin the DC-5 to check out the amp gain with the whole band. I'll give your advice a shot tonight & let you know whassup. Thanks for the tip

EDIT: I just found something I wrote in another thread...is this what you're talking about?

Cleans: I was very happy w/my cleans until a couple gigs ago when it wouldn't get clean enough. I couldn't figure out why until later. I had the Master volume too loud on the clean channel. My Output level was still very low, so I had a lot of headroom to be gained there. I turned down the Master volume on the clean channel, turned up the Output level, and the sparkling cleans are back.

 

[edward]

Hi dante,

WRT your post, not really what I was referrring to ...though what you mention makes total sense as you
are referring to inital gain structure affecting overall headroom.

What I was referring to in my post is the actual change in timbre when adjusting the balance between the preamp and poweramp section ...think ratio of preamp master to poweramp master affecting the voice of the amp, not where you set the gain knob. That if you figure the same overall perceived volume, more of one master over the other gets you different voices from the amp ...significant enough to write home about, IMHO. Significant enough a tonal difference to merit looking into if you're interested in getting more sounds out of an already very versatile amp. I intentionally am refraining from commenting on which is "better," especially considering this isn't an x vs y comparison as there are shades of variation as you adjust the ratio between the two masters. And like I had mentioned, the tonal differences in the Clean channel is pretty subtle, but it it in the Lead channel that really got my attention ...FWIW

Edward

 

[dante]

What I was referring to in my post is the actual change in timbre when adjusting the balance between the preamp and poweramp section ...think ratio of preamp master to poweramp master affecting the voice of the amp, not where you set the gain knob.

AHhhhhh, I get it now. Thanks for clarifying