Noobie (for a long time) question about DC 5

Hello all. Sorry if this is too basic a question. How can you possibly practice with this amp? It is so loud! It goes from off, to muffled, empty sounding at .5 to ear bleeding at 1 to head exploding at 1.5 on the master volume. I finnaly got a chance to play it outside on the fourth. I got the master to 2 lol. then to 5. I'm sure i was louder than the fireworks. I really love channel 1 one with the gain pulled out. the lead I haven't really found my sweet spots yet. Channel one clean is about as clean as I care for, so it's perfect for me. But it's just so loud! Does anyone run attenuators? or isolation cab? or am I just too sensitive? I usually practice through my bugera v5 but I really want to go american with all my equipment. BTW, I have very little experience, I'm a goof off player. never gig. only jam once in a wile.

Remove the 220K resistor in series with the Output Control, and change the output control to a 1MA push pull gain pot ( or 1MA pot works just fine too). You can follow the modification instructions provided here: http://forum.grailtone.com/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=58252 . This will give you a much more usable range on your Output Control. FYI, because of the nature of our tone controls, and the fact that they feed the gain circuits, it is necessary to adjust your tone controls for lower volume levels to get a good tone. Gain, Treble, and Mid usually need to be backed off a bit when playing at louder output volumes. And, can be turned up at lower volumes.

Output Volume Mod:
This mod basically removes the 220K resistor that is placed in parallel with the input and the wiper of the Output Volume pot.
The reason for this mod is to make the amp much more user friendly at lower volumes.

I take this one a step farther.....
I replace the pot with Mesa part # 591842 (Same pot as the Clean Channel Gain pot)
It is a CTS push/pull 1M audio pot that has a different taper. The taper on the stock pot is fairly linear. When the amp is on 2.5 or 3, the resistance between the input and the wiper goes from 1M to about 850-830K. This is where the huge volume jump happens!

The taper on the CTS pot is far less linear. The amp is basically at noon by the time it reaches the same resistance reading as the stock pot.
This gives you a lot more control of the lower volume range!

Then......I add the 220K resistor back in with the Push/Pull portion of the pot.
Basically, it is out of the circuit when the pot is pushed in.
It is in the circuit when the pot is pulled out.
The volume jump is extremely dramatic! My thoughts are that larger gigs and outdoor venues might benefit from the Pull Function!

Thanks so much. Sounds like your mod gives me the best of both worlds so to speak. very smart.

macdaddyof9 said:

Thanks so much. Sounds like your mod gives me the best of both worlds so to speak. very smart.

Click to expand...

It's not my mod (thanks to Monsta-Tone for this one), but, you're welcome, and good luck!

macdaddyof9 said:

Hello all. Sorry if this is too basic a question. How can you possibly practice with this amp? It is so loud! It goes from off, to muffled, empty sounding at .5 to ear bleeding at 1 to head exploding at 1.5 on the master volume. I finnaly got a chance to play it outside on the fourth. I got the master to 2 lol. then to 5. I'm sure i was louder than the fireworks. I really love channel 1 one with the gain pulled out. the lead I haven't really found my sweet spots yet. Channel one clean is about as clean as I care for, so it's perfect for me. But it's just so loud! Does anyone run attenuators? or isolation cab? or am I just too sensitive? I usually practice through my bugera v5 but I really want to go american with all my equipment. BTW, I have very little experience, I'm a goof off player. never gig. only jam once in a wile.

Click to expand...

Forget the attenuators ...I went that route long ago and it got me nothing that I cared for.

Step 1: do the master output volume mod. Simple and tonally transparent. All it does a is make the pot taper more usable. BTW, stock (with the resistor in) if you ever noticed there is not much volume difference past 5 or 6 ...it's all ear-bleed territory, even outdoors! Clipping the resistor makes the amp more "usable" at lower volumes, IMHO.

Step 2: adjust your preamp masters. This is critical. Turn these down and play with your ratio between more-less preamp masters vs master output vol settings. Not only will you get lower volume more suitible for practicing, but you'll also notice there is a tonal difference between high preamp master and low master output vs low preamp masters and higher master output.

Experiment. Take breaks (ear fatigue sets in fast and diminishes your ability to perceive highs). And enjoy!

Edward