Mesa/Boogie DC-3 Combo

Two Footswitchable channels, Footswitchable EQ, all tube 4 EL84's and 6 12AX7's ...Independent gain, treb, mid, bass, volume, reverb and presence controls for each channel.

I use a Fender custom 72' tele with a joe barden bridge pickup and a stock fender humbucker in the neck. I play in an original band that also plays some covers like sting and SRV. This amp has an wonderful clean channel it is sparkling and full with a great reverb. I love this channel. The distortion channel is a bit hard to dial in, it's pretty harsh and at first seems a bit boxy sounding, but with some tweaking in will go away...and you can get some nice blues sounds but you have to crank the gain way down. Over all a great channel.

This is a mesa boogie. Don't question it.

Again this is Mesa Boogie

I think this amp will spend the rest of it's life with me, at least I hope so. If it was stolen or lost I would cry, then quickly go and find another one. I have been playing for about 13 years and this is one of the best sounding amps I have ever played, and all the ones I would compare it to are boogies too.

Two channel tube amp, features as mentioned below. Seperate eq for each channel, which is important to me. Has effects loop and recording out. Footswitch for channel switching and switchable graphic eq. 35 boogie watts, which is loud. I play classic rock, and it is loud enought to gig with.

I use this with tele, G&L Legacy,both with single coils, and Musicman Axis Sport with humbuckers. When I got this amp, it sounded pissed off. Loud and harsh. I changed all the tubes from boogie to JJ, and it mellowed to usable. I channged the phase inverter tube to a GE 5751 and managed to score some used Amperex EL84's. Wow, the clean sounds like an old fender, approaching blackface clean. But with the clean gain up and driving the amp, you get a stonesy grind, like Brown Sugar. The distotion channel is like a cross between dual rec without the scooped fizz sound, and a Soldano. It rocks. I have the switchable eq set for mid/lead boost, so I can get four distinct sounds and volume levels. Much versatility for a two channel amp.You do have to tweak a bit to get the sweet spots, and they aren't where you might think you would find them. The mid and bass on this monster are incredible. If it sounds a bit boxy, then fool with it a bit, and turn the volume up. This is not a bedroom amp.

I believe in Mesa quality, but I always bring a backup on gigs.

I haven't had to contact mesa, got this baby used, so no warrantee.

I have been playing since the early 60's. Love the sound, versatility, power and it is on the light side for a boogie. They are just built so heavy duty, made to play and play. If there was anything I could wish it had, I wish it had a motor, some wheels and a saddle, so I could ride it around. Buy it again? they don't make em anymore, but maybe they should reissue it, like they have on some other models. I also have a Nomad 55 combo, a Marshall 2x12 silver anniversary cab and a peavey supreme head. Some bass stuff too.

I think everybody before me covered the features pretty well .It's the common Boogie formula for a combo amp. 2 channels with seperate eq for clean and dirty and one master eq . With all the little extras,effect loop,direct out ,footswitch etc .

I use different array of humbucker guitars and single coil stuff.PRS,G&L,FENDER ETC.
I've owned many Boogies and they seem to require a lot of tweaking to find your sweet spot .This one is no different. I bought this as a backup/practice amp (used) at a price I couldn't refuse. At first I thought is was a little boxey sounding but after I brought it home and really started tweaking it I found some really useful tones in it.
I recently picked up a Boogie 1x12 thiele cabinet to go with it and it really opens the amp up and gives it some bottom .I may actually start to gig with it .I took it took band practice and it really cuts through everything .
As everyone has said the amp is loud and capable of some very high gain heavy metal tones .I use it mostly for the clean channel but I do enjoy the lead channel as well .You can get some really great Santana type tones .I used a DC-5 for many years and this amp
is very similair just with less power and features .
I only run floor effects with it righ now. A chorus and delay pedal.
I'm currently looking for a nice distortion pedal for an "in between" sound .Any idea's ?

Like I said I've had owned a few Boogies over the years and they are built like tanks and don't break down .Tube problems is the only thing I've ever encountered but that's common with any tube amp .
I never gig with a backup .Too much to lug around .Take care of your gear and do the preventive maintenance stuff and you won't have problems .

I haven't dealt with Boogie recently but I have had to call them in the past and they were really helpful.I don't know what they're like these days.My local dealer is dropping them because they haven't been happy with the dealer support .Boogie has a lot of rules dealers are to follow and because they're amps are basically hand made it's hard for music stores to get product .But that's another story .

I hate this amp because it's making me want to look into the more expensive boogie stuff again .I just sold off my big Boogie rig a few years back .I had a rectoverb half stack and DC-5 .Both great amps as well .
I've been playing guitar for over twenty years and have gone through tons of gear .Mesa stuff has always been very good and reliable .I jumped on the modeling amp bandwagon a few years back and do enjoy those amps as well but this Boogie is renewing my love for straight ahead "real" tube tone you can only get from the real thing .

No idea when it was made. Handcrafted in USA. Iplay metal and it fits my sytle very well. good clean as well as overdrive supprisingly. it has 2 channels.reverb, footswitch, 6 12AX7 preamp and 4 EL-84 power tubes. 35 watts but very powerful. enough for small venue. slave, speak out and select between 4, 6 and 8 ohms speaker input. effects loop with wet or dry knob. Celestion Vintage 30 speaker.

i used an esp 7 string and washburn 6 with stock humbuckers in the washburn and duncan in the esp. sounds great with the esp.makes great clean and dist. the dst especially. clean stays pretty clear even at higher volumes.

very dependable but as with all tube amps always carry extra tubes. never broken down. Doesn't need biasing so tube changes are easy.

e-mailed them and got a reply the same day with a number to call for help so i'd say they're very friendly.

Overall great buy and would recommend it to anyone who could get their paws on one. but they stopped making it so its hard to find now.

Two channel,independant bass,treble,presence,mid and reverb on each channel with a shared 5 band eq. Piles of features for one of Boogies intro level amplifiers. Also has Boogie typical slave out and their less common speaker mute,which is a great feature for me,as this amp is basically my practice amp.This amp uses 4 el-84 power tubes to produce 35 watts. Like most Boogies,there is so much design put into a small package, I find the six(yikes!more to go wrong)preamp tubes quite unaccessible because of their fold down tray,jammed together as close as you can get together without generating hum kind of layout. All in all, a fantastic amount of features for the price..By Boogie standards.

I use mainly Godin guitars,but in all cases h/h pickup configurations,so I cannot comment on single or split coil sounds. Most Boogies are not terribly noisy,or particularily silent either. Some hisses etc., are quite common for high gain amps and Boogie is no exception. The sound of the el-84's are a refreshing change to that of Boogies typical 6l6,el-34 affairs, so expect a more nasally upper mid tone from this amp. Do not expect the scooped mids of a rectifier,even if running through a 4/12 cab. Variety of tone is fantastic for a high gain amp, no fender jangle here,but a unique clean to itself. The lead channel has characteristics of both the rectifer and the mark series,but still retains a unique voicing,probably in most part due to the el-84 configuration. Imagine a Marshall 800 with high gain mod on it,combined with the compression of a typical Boogie.I will not rate the "brutality" of the distortion as the bullet in the review lists. It tends to be the player that makes the "brutality",not the gain.(And i've heard some pretty brutal players playing Boogies of late.he he.)

Ive only ever experienced tube failures,blown fuses and the odd filter cap go on any of my Boogies.Generally normal for tube amps.The chassis builds for these amps are among the best.My best friend is an amp builder and he always marvels at Randall's layouts. Great reliability,but for the price they should be as reliable as an anvil.

Perhaps one of the highlights of your Mesa purchase (new OR used),is the availability of their staff to help you with your purchase.They are top notch,bar none. They bend over backwards for their customers,and with the amount of amplifiers they have/will sell,that is no easy task.

I collect Mesa amps,and this is one of my hidden jems. Not quite loud enough for an unpredictable tour schedule,but a really great sounding amp in a little(and lighter than most Boogies!)package. These little DC-3 combos are getting harder to find for sale,and I have been watching the used prices climb higher and higher in the last year. Definately a steal for anywhere between 600-900 US. It will not replace my mark iv,but has about equal playing time with my dual rec.

If you want a small amp with two great sounds, this heavy little combo fits the bill perfectly. There are two channels, a low-gain and a high-gain. Both have seperate gain controls, treb, mid, bass, reverb, presence, and master volumes. There is also a Output volume - basically a master for both channels. This is a surprisingly great thing; you can set the volumes of the two channels relative to each other with the masters and use the output to turn the whole amp up or down depending on your performance situation. There's also a five-band graphic EQ that can be switched on or off. The front-panel controls are extremely intuitive and useful. Tweaking the knobs produces a wide range of useful sounds, especially if you're playing rock or metal. I rarely use the graphic EQ, but it is a very powerful tone shaping tool. For example: if you want a scooped mid sound for rhythm playing and a mid boost for soloing the switchable EQ is perfect.

On the back there's a parallel effects loop, a few outputs for external speakers, a surprisingly good recording output, and a switch to cut the power to the speakers. The amp comes with a high-quality Celestion 12 inch speaker housed in a very heavy birch plywood cabinet. All the tubes (4 power tubes and 6 preamp tubes) are easily accessible from the back, but due to the high number of tubes back there this amp can get very hot! I really like the little details Mesa has put in: the bag for the footswitch and the brackets for rolling up the AC cable.

And one more thing: like most Boogies this is a freakin' LOUD amp! You will be hard pressed to find a 35 watt amp with this much sheer volume.

If you play classic rock, alternative, punk, grunge, hard rock, or metal, you will get down on your knees and thank God for this amp! The high gain channel is thick, fat, and huge. The tone controls can get you a sludgy grunge sound, a scary scooped-mid thrash, and everything in between. The gain control on this channel covers a huge range of distortion sounds, the best being between 4 and 8. Even better, the sound is excellent at low volumes (set the channel master to 4 or 5 and keep the output down between 1 and 2).

Boogies are famous for their overdrive sounds, but what sold me on this amp is how great the clean channel is. Unlike the dry, sterile clean you get with most high-gain amps (Marshall comes to mind here), this clean sound is actually quite warm and "Fendery". The gain control is less effective here, but you can still drive this channel into a modest crunch if you want to. I set the gain to 6.5 for a best of both worlds kind of thing: warm clean with a single-coil and a bit of a bluesy crunch with the bridge humbucker all the way up. As with the other channel, the tone controls are very expressive.

Bottom line: this is the perfect sounding amp for any genre of rock.

I put this amp through a lot of abuse: cold garages, smokey clubs, falls, spills, and countless hours of playing. Not once have I experienced a problem. Mesa has put a lot of work into making sure this is a solid, dependable piece of gear. Everything looks and feels 100 percent solid, and I have total confidence in this amp.

I have never dealt with Mesa/Boogie other than through their website. They make all their user manuals available online, which is great because I bought this amp used. I wish every company would do that. There are several authorized service centres in my area.

I've been playing for almost ten years now. This is my 5th amp, and unless it's stolen or I start playing really big venues I won't be buying another. If I do buy another amp, it will certainly be another Boogie. Back when I bought it, I played it against comparable amps from a bunch of manufacturers (Marshall, Fender, Laney, Line 6, and others). The DC-3 won hands down. If you can afford the extra expense of a Boogie then I definitely recommend it. It's the perfect little rock amp. If you want three or more channels and dozens of built-in effects, get a Line 6. If you want two excellent sounds out of a sturdy, well-built amplifier, then this is your machine.

This amp is the second series DC-3 with the three way switch in the back in place of the rotary switch. It was purchased in 1999 for $749 new (W/O Tax) It has multiple features (Dual channels, GEQ, Recording switch, FX loop, headphone jack, silent recording) For a 35 watt amp combo it is VERY LOUD, I have had this amp go up against Fenders, Ampeg, and others and had to listen to those amp user ask me to turn down - when I am on 3!

Custom shop Strat, LP Custom, Eric Clapton Strat (Old version)are used to play blues (Jimi and SRV) in small venues like the Hard Rock Hotel in Bali (Center Stage) when the management will complain and not let you back if you are too harsh - but not necessarily loud.
I use several different setups for my sounds... On channel 1 (Output level on 3)

Gain 7-1/2 7-1/2 8
Middle 8 6-1/2 7
Mid 4 4-1/2 7
Bass 5 2-1/2 3
Presence 6 2 2
Reverb 3 3 4
Master 8 6 3

No problem what so ever

Mesa Boogie is Mesa Boogie

Nuff Said

32 years + using Strats, LP Customs, Fenders, Mashalls, Crates, and Ampeg.

I would find another.

I do not like the heavy bass that sometimes occurs - this can be fixed by changing speakers or using a cabinet

I believe this is a 96 release, anyhow it has the switching upgrade.
The amp is plenty versitile if you can live without 3 channells as it provides you with two only. These are awitchable as is the onboard 5 band graphic but unlike earlier releases the reverb is not. Fx loop and headphone jack(why?)slave out(pramp out) one 8 and 2 four ohm speaker jacks.
It would be nice if it had the push pull gain boost that the dc 5 offered as this can be cutomised to be footswitchable providing you with post eq gain which can be great for in between tones.
I use this amp for local gigging in small clubs also at home for practice purposes. In either situation it is plenty loud, has a patented boogie power amp stage called dyna watt power wich really increases the headroom of its 35 watt EL 84 power section. other than the power amp the preamp is also all valve. 6 of the buggers, while this is good for tone as practically every thhing goes through the 12 ax7's even the fx return(though not the send) it equals 10 valve's to replace at a latter date which can be expensive

I use emg s pickups, guitar's vary.
The tone is abosultely fantasic. I love it. I have used heaps of amplifiers including a boogie dc 5 head (which I giged and played for 5 years)with four clestion 30's
and two celestion 75's.The dc3 sounds better, more spongy or something. Though make sure you have at least one semi new preamp valve in the start of the chain as the dc amps need the preamp tubes changed at least every 3 years.It can be a little hissy when idling but is unoticable when being played.
The speaker provided was a 50 watt vintage black shadow made for boogie by ev I believe and is incredibly dark, I mean really dark which made it very difficult to achieve a sparkling clean sound. dirty sounds are likewise very dark and anything but a lead tone requires the graphic eq. I have however tried an other speaker, a celestion 100 watt goldback and the sound completely changes!
The clean sound is transformed and all those highs that the black shadow speaker rounds off are there for all to hear, delicious is the only way to describe the sound, like wise with the overdrive channell which is just so big fat thick and liquid. Not like older boogies ie:mk2,mk3,mk4 ect.. It actually sounds like boogie meets marshall which is a nice combination I have heard a dual rectifier combo and the tone is similar in this channell.
You simply must try one of these amps through a marshall stock 4x12
and stand slightly of to the side to diffuse the sound a little.
Absolutely gargantuan!

The fellow who previously owned this amp gigged it solidly for at least four years and never changed the valves and never had a problem.
I have owned it for a short time and have only gigged a few times with it but I have swapped the valves with other that arent quite as old. It seems great, another reason I bought it was because of its previously reliable history.
My DC 5 blew up at one stage because of liquid spilt apon it in the travel van. Boogie amp are notoriously reliable and rediculously load.

Info, manuals are available on line and they answer to e mail.
I have not needed to contact them regarding repair.

I have been playing since 1988 and have owned several amps and assorted bits over the years though recently I have owned and sold
A boogie dc 5 head (great), a carvin t 100 power amp (also great), a marshall jcm 2000 a rocktron replifex and midi mate, a marshall 1922 two by twelve also a 4 by twelve with celestion 30's.If it were lost or stolen I would jump up and down and scream like a child in tantrum and mourn its unfortunate passing and hope that one day I would find another(they are a discontinued species and apparently highly sought after.) There is nothing that I dislike about the amp its great really! Rating 9 as it has only 2 channells and I have to get a replacement speaker becauase the black shadow ev is not to my taste.

30 watt, tube ( EL-84's ) channel-switching ( w/separate, controls for each channel ) Reverb 5 band EQ Effects Loop Slave Out Record out

This baby has a very clean, clean channel, and adapts to a number of different types of guitars. I have played my Les Paul studio, a Strat and also a fake-japanese gibson copy...which thru my fender blues deluxe sounds...crap...but the mesa actually helps t omake it sound knida nice! The volume also blows me away - as does it's versitility...playing is done in medium sized clubs and churches with the master volume at about 3.

A good mate had it for 12 months, using it 2-3 times a week as well as playing full sixe (1000-6000 people concerts - thru a cabinet) and now I use it for about 2-3 gigs a week for the last month and haven`t had a single problem.

Asked for a manual - got it in a week (from the states!)
So great!

I'm kind of new to the amp thing...but after a great and reliable fender blues deluxe for 2 years...on and off...This amp is close to brilliant....I'd give this amp a 9.5.

Before purchasing it...i tried about 10 other amps and in my price range, the only other one was a second hand Vox AC 30, but it was in really bad condition....So Overall this amp is great. Versitile and portable...BUT BLOODY HEAVY!!!

This amp was made around '97. It has a lot of features that have been mentioned here, etc. It is very versatile and It can play anything from Jazz to Metal. You just have to tweak it.

I use a Ibanez JPM and a Hamer Mirage. I like to play Jazz, Fusion, and Progressive rock/metal. This is a relatively quite amp. This amp can cover the styles I listed above. The clean channel stays clean as long as you know how to use the Master Volume and Output controls right. The distortion is not the most brutal you can get, but it does a Dream Theater distortion sound very well. It is very comparable to the Mark IV's distortion (I've heard).

This amp has NEVER given me trouble in the 3 years I have owned it. It sounds better than it did when I bought it. I take good care of my equipment BTW.

I have never dealt with Mesa/Boogie, but their web site is very good.

I have been playing for about three years. I own an ADA preamp, but it sounds really bad compared to this amp. I think my review is accurate because I have had and used the amp for 3 years. I've tried it at all volumes too. I love this amp. It covers all the styles I want to play and it can give me almost any sound I want. It's too bad Mesa discontinued it. I don't think the Nomad amps (which replace the Dual Caliber line) are as good.