50CAL+ (MODDED) OR DC5?

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Jarel

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Hi guys, I wanted to hear some recommendations, perhaps differences tonewise between 50cal+ and the dc5. The 50 cal is a modded one, it has increased gain, another "volume" knob so you can crank the gain,eq's etc and stil keep the volume down. The 50cal is a head(!) I do not own any cab for the moment. And yeah the effectsloop don't work anymore. The dc5 its a stock one.
I can't try them out since they are far away from my hometown. Im currently not gigging although I want something steady that I can use in the near future, I will be using the amp at home a lot and I can't crank it to much. The prices on theese 2 are about the same..
Thanks - Joel
 
I'm only familiar with the DC5, so I'll tell you about how it's worked out for the past 18 months since I bought it used from GC. <gasp>

I estimate the amp (I didn't really check the serial #) to be early 90's and couldn't get much info about it's history, although I found a authorized service receipt inside the combo. Not much info besides that all internal/external parts were checked and cleaned. I immediately changed the tubes to STR-440.

Initial settings were much different than I expected. I had been gigging the better part of 8 years with a Peavey 5150 and had gotten used to that sound on stage. The DC5 sounded nothing like my Boogie Quad. It still sounded awesome, but tonally different.

Afternoon/early evening bedroom volume is okay. You can get some pretty good tones out of it. Channel 1 clean is pretty full. A little mid heavy without using the GEQ. I've used channel 1 for jazz/cocktail with a G&L Asat. Channel 2 really shines for classic rock very similar to ACDC and can get some pretty convincing British sounds. Lead channel is decent at bedroom volumes and is not as high gain as a Dual Rec, but can do 80's pop metal with some GEQ and knob adjustments.

Once you hit stage volume, it really comes alive and sounds like a different amp. I'm talking around 2.5 - 3.5 on the Master. I use the DC5 as my main gigging amp. It's not as heavy or as large as the 5150, and weighs about 10kg less than my Mark IV. Depending on which weekly gig I'm doing, it can do Dance/Pop with single coils, old Van Halen on a Les Paul, and Rage against the Machine on a PRS.

For me, it's a versatile gigging amp. Cuts through the band mix with very minor EQ from the FOH.
 
well Thanks for the info man, It seems like a really versitale amp, Im looking for a raw tone, I envy the Down - Nola record, Pepper keenans tone is amazing! Ofc I'd like to have some variation, and both of them seems be doing that job fine. However I only read that the 50 cal got a more raw tone, more agressive.. Well I guess I'll have to think about it for a while :)
 
Only heard stock 50 cal's but my friend who's owned one for yrs loves it but does complain about how it's a bit of a one trick pony. I have a DC-5 & when I tune down, crank everything & get the EQ right and the DC does stoner/doom really well. One of the reasons I've kept it so long. :D

Not sure on the Down albums (Orange I think...) but Pepper used the DC-5 with COC.
 
Pepper keenan used .50 caliber+ (unmodified) on all the COC records from Deliverance to In the arms of god. However, they are very much a two guitar band and Woody used Dual Recs on everything.

pepper on NOLA is either through his .50cal or JCM800s (or a mix). later Down stuff is either plugins (all of Down II was plugins) or a variety of stuff. they use Orange Thunderverbs live and sound amazing. I have a .50 caliber+ modded similarly to the one you describe and i really like it, except for the shared EQ. my ideal setup would be to have two!
 

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