DC-2 question

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Newbomb Turk

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Hey all, I'm a newbie here....I've had a F-100 combo for a while that I love and just got a DC-2 last week. Is the DC-2 generally a dark amp? I'm liking it, but it has a bit of a darker tone than I normally like. Is there something that can be done to brighten it up? I'm putting new power tubes in it this evening, as the ones in it now appear that they might be original. Any other suggestions?
 
Newbomb Turk said:
Hey all, I'm a newbie here....I've had a F-100 combo for a while that I love and just got a DC-2 last week. Is the DC-2 generally a dark amp? I'm liking it, but it has a bit of a darker tone than I normally like. Is there something that can be done to brighten it up? I'm putting new power tubes in it this evening, as the ones in it now appear that they might be original. Any other suggestions?

Seeing that the tubes would be at least 15 years old if original, I would HIGHLY recommend new tubes before judging ANY character of the amp! Keep in mind, we recommend replacing power tubes every 1.5 - 2 years of normal use. Thanks!
 
MUCH better! Much more clarity and punch. I've still got some tweaking to do to get it dialed in exactly the way I want, but big difference with new tubes!
 
OK......I had a chance to play it more this evening and while it sound MUCH better, it still has a pretty noticeable hum. The louder you turn it up, the louder the hum. Any suggestions on that?
 
Does it hum when there is no instrument plugged into the amp? Are you near any fluorescent lighting, computer monitors, dimmer switches, fans, etc? Have you checked all preamp tube positions with a new/known good 12AX7? Are you using MESA power tubes? Have you tried the amp in a completely different location to see if its location specific or not? If you've covered all those scenarios, then it may be time to check with a technician to see if you've got any components that need to be checked out. Thanks!
 
No flourescents, monitors, etc.....Power tubes are brand new Mesa (yellow). Its cooling off now and I'll mess with the preamp tubes and try again. Thanks for the input AB!!
 
Got it! Switched some of the preamp tubes around and now all is well. At LOUD volumes there is a slight bit of hiss, but its not any worse than any of my other amps, but at moderate volumes, its negligible. But the hum is completely gone, so I'm happy. Thank you again AB for your help, VERY much appreciated!!!
 
OK, I've had a lot more time to tweak the DC-2 and have found the in it almost exactly what I have been looking for......Of course new power tubes did worlds of good for it, but this morning I tried turning the gain down to 5 (it was at about 8) and the master output up to 10 and running both other channels with their respective master volumes as final output level (they were at about 8, using the master output for final output level) and BAM! there is what I was looking for out of this amp! Really took it over the edge tone-wise for me. I was already liking this amp, but now I'm loving it!!
 
The DC preamp is a great preamp. Lots that can be done with it!
 

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