DC-5a First trial.

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joemarshalljmp

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I just played my DC-5A for the first time with my band and a little disapointed, at home at low volumes I knew the clean channel sounded alot more distorted then my DC-10B and I thought I would like that, but in the practice room it just turned to flub mud and a distorted mess on chan 1 and chan 1 pulled! Chan 2 sounded like I expected a little less feedbacky then the DC-10, but I got the nice feedback, I already started looking for clean channel mods and I havnt even touched the tubes, so any advice?
2012-10-23214737.jpg
 
a 5751 tube in V4 will give you more headroom in the clean channel withouth touching the lead side, it's better than 12AT7, 12AU7 or anyother in that family 'cause 5751 are very close to 12Ax7 main difference being the gain.

If you wanna use the clean as a rythym channel, I think you should get some type of tubescreamer pedal in front of the amp, since it has a ton of low end and will sound kind a muddy when the gain is cranked unless you're using a tele or something.

I much preffer the lead channel in low gain settings for soft stuff than clean channel with the gain cranked BTW
 
Interesting, thank you for the advice! I have a Boss turbo overdrive sitting around, same thing? I guess I should go ahead and clip the clean gain resister if I try the overdrive on clean, It has winged c's in the power, are they alright, or I am thinking of either bias mod or boogie tubes. I don't mean to hit u with alot of questions just thinking out loud.
 
Any overdrive pedal will do, i would not change winged=C= for mesa tubes, I think the preamp is a better place to mess around with tubes

joemarshalljmp said:
I guess I should go ahead and clip the clean gain resister if I try the overdrive on clean,

I did not understand that part, what gain resister???????
 
Maynardo said:
a 5751 tube in V4 will give you more headroom in the clean channel withouth touching the lead side, it's better than 12AT7, 12AU7 or anyother in that family 'cause 5751 are very close to 12Ax7 main difference being the gain.

If you wanna use the clean as a rythym channel, I think you should get some type of tubescreamer pedal in front of the amp, since it has a ton of low end and will sound kind a muddy when the gain is cranked unless you're using a tele or something.

I much preffer the lead channel in low gain settings for soft stuff than clean channel with the gain cranked BTW

V4 being a follower (end stage) i doubt starving power tubes current (less gain, less current) with a 5751 wouldn't makes them breaking even earlier!

i would advice ppl to get the rid of all mesa sovtek cheap 12ax7 for nos ones, Long plates ones, we can find good not much expensive sylvania's for "fender like" V1, GE or RCA V2 v3 etc . and cv4024 mil spec mullard at7 for reverb and PI!

mesa 12 ax7 are terrible all around!
 
follower????... it's all plate driven in this amp, no followers here.

5751s are pretty much the same as 12AX7s the main difference being gain. V4 is stages 2 and 3 for the clean channel, so a less gainy tube in there will help you.
 
Maynardo said:
follower????... it's all plate driven in this amp, no followers here.

5751s are pretty much the same as 12AX7s the main difference being gain. V4 is stages 2 and 3 for the clean channel, so a less gainy tube in there will help you.

not talking about plate follower but V4 follows the tone stack of clean chan, a weak 5751 here will tame gain and cut hight chimey, not very smart move, even 12ay7 are bettah than 5751 to lower the gain !

this guy has V1 dying tube, a NOS here would be great!
 
joemarshalljmp wants more headroom/less distortion in the clean channel, V4 takes care of stages 2 and 3 for that channel, so changing the tube there would be the best option if he does not want loose gain in the lead channel, all agree?

In my first post I mention that a 5751 would be a better option than let's say a 12AT7 (a lot of people go that way), why a better option? : 'cause a 5751 has a mu which is almost identical to the 12AT7 but it’s standing
current is 1.0 milliamps, very close to the 1.2 milliamps of the 12AX7 on the other hand 12AT7s have 10 milliamps, in the transconductance area 5751s are also close to a 12AX7.

Now, a 12ay7 would be a good option too, old fenders had them in their first gains stage, the thing is a 5751 has a gain factor of 70 and a 12ay7 a factor of 40 compared to the 100 of the 12AX7. So a 12AY7 will be a more dramatic change in the gain department, I usually think it's better to start small.

BTW @joemarshalljmp if you don't use a much gain in the lead channel, the V1 postion would be the best to knock some gain off in the clean channel with a different tube
 
Thank you very much for the info, You are correct that I would like a more clean clean channel and I would also like more gain in the lead, I might either look to modding or just find a rev B for this is an A. I have looked at an F-30 and also a Nomad 45, doin research as we speak.
 
rev B has 'cleaner' cleans, but it does not have more gain in the lead channel, so if you want that you'll have to mod and/or get higher gain preamp tubes.
 

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