DC 5 Lead channel settings.

Hey i was wondering what settings DC-5 users are using to get the best sounds for any style, without any effects in their signal chain or effects loops. Just guitar and amp. I have been using a DC 5 for a long time and love to play with my sound so I wanna see what some of you guys are using and play with some suggestions. I love everything music wise so inspire me.

Hey psycho,

Glad to see more love for the DC!!

I'll give you what I use. Style revolves around classic-to-contemp rock, blues-based, and pop semi clean ...from contemp church to Zep and SRV

Lead channel:
Gain: 3-7 (huge range here, depending on single coils or bucker, and "looser" rock vs. "tighter/modern" OD saturation ...though I never play metal, but that tone IS in there

Again, here it are my "centers" but will tweak +/- a bit depending on sc or hb pups ...and genre of course:
T: 4
M: 5
B: 4-6
P: 5

GEQ: I assign this to only the Lead channel so I can tweak it w/o effecting the cleans.

80: almost all the way up
240: the fader knob's thickness above center line
750: just a bit lower than the 240, but still above the center
2.2K: about the same as the 240
6.6K: about the same as the 750

The GEQ is one of my favorite aspects of this amp as there is a vast tonal range that you can cover right from here. And play with just the 750Hz: you'll find that a bit north and you'll get great middy crunch, a la ZZTop, and drop it south and scooped chunky thud is right in your hands. As with all things "tone," your mileage may vary. Hope this helps you a bit

Edward

Here are my normal settings for a McCarty with Alnico II humbuckers.
Combo with C90 speaker.


Gain 7
Treble 5-6
Middle 6-7
Bass 8
Presence 4
Reverb 3
Master 4-5

Output 3

EQ for Solo Boost only.

I get this intense Santana like tone that I just love. Sometimes I forget to play chords. :lol:

I use my "lead" channel for my go-to overdrive sound, no GEQ (though I'd like someday to build a two-switch footswitch to control both channel and EQ, and use the EQ for lead boost).

All knobs on 5. :twisted:

I use my DC-10 head with a 2x12 3/4 back Mesa cabinet with the C90's. Guitars with single and double coil pickups.

Channel 1

Gain 6-10
Treble 5-8
Bass 6
Presence depends on the room

I find that I tweak channel 1 the most depending if I need a spanky clean rhythm or pushed bluesy tone. Sometimes I leave it clean and just use my Xotic AC+ for a little hair but I still mess with the treble and mids pushing them higher for a more edgy tone.

Channel 2

Gain 3-7, if I don't have time to change I'll leave it on 4 and use an OD for more gain or push it with a Luxury Clean Boost.
Treble 6
Mid 5
Bass 3
Presence 3-6 depending on the room

Master and main level controls as high as the room will permit. I only use the EQ for either a boost or classic lite V for sudo acoustic sound for my electrics. Too lazy to bring a real acoustic to a gig for just a couple of songs.

thanks guys

It also depends if you want to solely use the raw gain of the amp, or if you're using a distortion device. Since i play raw, my settings are
Gain - 9
Treble - 6.5
Mids - 8
Bass - 7.5
Presence - 6

and i have the GEQ set up like John Petrucci sets up his Mark IV's (then again, my DC-5 really sounds like a mark iv, its kinda spooky). you can check out the GEQ settings here: http://www.johnpetrucci.com/images/gear/TopMK4Settings.jpg

Great thread, hopefully this thing grows. I'm picking up my first Boogie, a DC-5 tomorrow - I'll have it plugged in and rocking in less than 15 hours. I'm stoked!

Good choice! The DC-5 is a great amp.

I love my DC-5 and will never get rid of it. I play very raw using only the amp, a delay and wah pedal, thats it so i like to experiment with settings quite a bit. TY for the petrucci link I have been setting my GEQ similar to this and it smashes heads. Thanks guys

I get my Mercury Magnetics transformers next week. Can't wait.

I sent my original ones in to be cloned. This way, anyone with a blown transformer for almost any 50 Mesa can get a great replacement one.


These are really great amps.

Monsta-Tone said:

I get my Mercury Magnetics transformers next week. Can't wait.

I sent my original ones in to be cloned. This way, anyone with a blown transformer for almost any 50 Mesa can get a great replacement one.


These are really great amps.

Click to expand...

Wow, Monsta ...that is very cool! I didn't know MM would "clone" ...did you send both the PT and the OT? Please update us with details and feedback when you get them installed. Thanks!!

Edward

I did send them both.

I figure, this way, we all have an opportunity to find out once and for all.

I remember a thread a few months ago concerning the merit of changing OT's.

Didn't mean to hijack the thread. But....my settings are probably going to change.

I'll post the new settings and findings next weekend. Haven't received the tranny's yet.

Does anyone know anything about some of the DC models being modeled directly after the mark IV? Cause ive tried both amps and its kinda scary how mine sounds EXACTLY like the mark IV (maybe a bit better since 2 channels means a clearer signal path). Maybe its a modification or something?

They are pretty close. I haven't compared the drawings in a while, but I did an A/B test between my Mark IV and DC-10 when I had the IV.

There are some subtle differences. In the end, the 10 won because it had no R2, better reverb and more chime on the clean channel.


At 1/3 the cost of a IV, I can do with out the options and keep the DC-5 & 10!

if your after a petruccish tone then i use

Lead channel

Gain 7.5
Treble 7
Mid 2
Bass 4.5
Presence 4
Reverb 0
Master 4.5
GEQ in classic V shape

Output level for me is bedroom volume so about 2
---------------------------------------------------------------------
My nice clean settings

Rhythm channel

Gain 4 - no pull boost
Treble 4.5
Mid 3.5
Bass 0 <----- for some reason for me this amp is so bassy on clean channel
Presence 6
Reverb 4.5
Master 8
GEQ in classic V shape <---- somtimes turn it off because its still to bassy lol

Output level again about 2

throw a bit of delay and chorus on these two channels and your in tone heaven 8)

Those settings are really close to the ones i normally use, I have made some nice adjustments thanks to the people who have replied, TY all. keep the ideas flowing

Ok so i discovered an insane setting for my lead channel that makes my amp sound amazing.
gain 8
treb 10
mid 10
bass 1
pres 10
master 3

i have no idea why but my lead channel is bassy as hell and makes the sound very "flat" with everything up and bass down it has a serious high gain cut and still a ton of low end. TY for all the posts guys. Weird that after 5 years I finally got this thing hammering a sound that I never could find before. l wanted to experiment and because of this thread I discovered somethingi never found before, TY guys

I :twisted: the search feature! Found some very nice usable tones in this long ago thread.

Thanks folks!

Don't forget to bring the master at ~6. This's where all the good stuff happen. Power tubes saturation is a bless