Dean Markley CD 212

I got my CD-212 used in 1986. The CD-212 was an all tube, 2 channel combo amp with 2 12" Magnum speakers. Had an effects loop. Separate bass/mid/treble controls on each channel. Mid boost, bright and contour switches on overdrive channel. The overdrive channel also had a presence control. I think the clean channel had a bright switch. Footswitch to select channels.

I used this amp with a variety of guitars including a Strat and 80's Floyd equipped super strats with humbuckers. I played rock and a little fusion.

It sounded fine for a combo amp with 6L6 power tubes. It would be unreasonable to expect it to sound like a half stack with an EL34 power amp, though I discovered that was more the tone I was looking for. Amps with 6L6's seem to have much more scooped mids, and without that upper mid edge that you get with EL34's, they don't cut through a mix well when you're using heavy gain. I found the same thing to be true when I switched to a rack rig with a Mesa Boogie 50/50 power amp. The CD-212's overdrive tone was OK, but didn't cut through a mix. I had the mid boost switch engaged all the time, otherwise it was far to weak in the midrange. I think the amp would have been far better suited to playing blues rock, with less gain than I was using. It was capable of a lot of gain though. It was the first amp I owned that really satisfied my thirst for gain, crunch and sustain. It was the first amp I owned that I thought sounded really good. It totally smoked the Peavey Musician and Roland Bolt amps I owned before this one.

The clean channel sounded fine, though it wasn't that sparkly clean that was in vogue in the 80's when I got the amp.

The amp never broke down on me at a gig. One of the power supply caps shorted out once, but that may have had something to do with a drummer friend of mine plugging his Simmons electronic drums (it was the 80's, OK?) into it at rehearsals. I replaced the cap and the amp was fine. The only other thing it ever needed was routine tube replacement every couple of years, like every tube amp.

Never dealt with Dean Markley. I suspect I'd have gotten nowhere with them if I'd needed them because they went into the amp business for a couple of years then abandoned the effort.

I sold my CD-212 a long time ago in favor of a rack rig. It served me well though, at many gigs and rehearsals. It was the best I could afford back in the 80's when I was just getting started in life, and it gave a lot of bang for the buck. As I said above, I wasn't necessarily taking advantage of its strengths. I really needed an amp with EL34's for the hard rock I was playing at the time. This would have been a great blues amp. If I needed a loud, versatile amp for a more bluesy sound, I wouldn't hesitate to pick one up if I got a good deal on a used one, and the used ones still around can probably be had pretty cheap these days.

This is a very old guitar Amp... but heck it is absolutly amazing!

The amp is real loud and even when it gets loud it keeps it's amazing smooth feel to it.

I am very pleased with it's features and all around goodness! My Grandfather gave me this amp this past summer and wow It is amazing... I have never played on anything like it before

WOW! I blew myself away with the sounds! It has a very peacfull sound whn you want it too, but then hook some distortion up to it and baby, it sounds nice! It's extremly loud so I haven't turned up past 5 yet...

gave it a seven because when I pulled it out of my Grandfathers basement and started to play on it, it started to smoke... I took it in to the shop and got it fixed for $90. I think it was one of the tubes and some dust problem

not sure

I'm sure there are better amps out there, but this baby is amazing! can't wait to play on stage next performance... its worthy of anythinG!

Bought this amp new in 1984 or 1985. It's a 50/100 watt two-channel all-tube combo w/ 4 12AX7's and 4 6L6's. Has an effects loop, spring reverb, and a 50/100 watt selector (wish every amp had this feature...). I've used the amp for playing blues, classic rock, pop, and heavy metal. It's the only non-practice amp I've ever owned. The only thing I really hate about it is that it's SO FRIGGIN' HEAVY....I can't believe I used to lug this around to gigs -- I had to move it about 20' the other day and it was like carrying a refridgerator.

I use the amp w/ Strats and a Les Paul. I've always found it to be a little bottom-heavy and the sound can be muddy at times. In fairness, I replaced the tubes years ago and never had the amp re-biased so that could be to blame. The amp overdrives OK - I usually use a Boss OS-2 pedal or a Tube Screamer to get a little more out of it, but I used to play some pretty heavy stuff without any pedals and got some good crunch. This amp definitely sounds better LOUD - I haven't played in a band in over 15 years but I've listened to some old tapes from some rehearsals/gigs and the amp sounded better than I remembered. I use a power-soak for home use - sounds ok. I remember the amp being praised for the clean channel (Alex Lifeson used one for that) but I've never cared too much for the clean sound -- could be me because the only amp I've ever liked clean is the Roland JC-120....

I've had some knobs break off....It must be my imagination but I could swear that some of the reverb springs fell out of it -- reverb still works so maybe I dreamed it. Anyway, the amp still works after 20 years and other than replacing the power tubes I've never had it serviced. I used to get some rumble when playing - usually occurred when the amp hadn't had time to warm up.

Never had to deal w/ Dean Markley. It's hard to find any info., about the amp now.

It's not a Marshall, Mesa, or a Fender for that matter....I've never played through any of them so I can't compare. It was pricey when I bought it - especially since no one stocked them and I had to have it ordered. I chose this one because most of the combo amps that were being mfr'd at the time were solid-state or mosfet and I wanted a true all-tube amp. The channel switching was a nice feature, and the amp looked cool too. I don't play live anymore so I probably wouldn't buy a new amp this size if this died or were stolen. Besides, I haven't seen one advertised for sale anywhere - they seem to have dropped off the planet. Overall I can't complain - it's been reliable and served me very well.