Mesa/Boogie DC-5 Combo

1999 Mesa/Boogie DC-5 1x12 Combo. This is a really versatile amp for just about any style. It can go from really good cleans, blues tones, to rip your head off metal/rock. Umm don't know many artitst that use this amp just Jim's Slipknot guitarist uses this amp on the road from 99-present. Has 2 real channels and 3 modes. Effects Loop, Headphones jack, Recording jack. Its loaded w/ neato featues. The EQ is great one thing I love about Boogies is the sensitivty on the amps so you cna get all types of tone. Has a custom "Vintage 30" the black shadow is bascily a "Vintage 90" Just a 90watt version of the 30 watter. But its a Mes exclusive. Sounds awesome! Plenty of headroom for 50 watts its damn loud. But I've noticed it sounds pretty good on 4 and is fine for in house stuff.

This is where the amp shines. I have no IDEA what brand of crack thoose ppl that gave this amp horriable reviews but this amp is killer in everything! I've owned 5150, Mesa Recto, Line6 Flextone II, Crate amps and 2 Rokctron and Mesa preamps, Bandit ect... This thing blows all of them away. THe dynamics are incrediable. Cuts thought like glass but in a very smoooth way. It can go from nice clean to rip your head off dist. I had a Single 93' Rectifier I didn't like that amp at all clean was horriable and the distortion channels were very fuzzy. This amp totally changed my view on Mesa.

Haven't had this amp for to long. Built like tanks. Also the preamp tubes have a holster so they wont fall out. There amps and cabs are all done by hand so thats it right there TOP NOTCH!

Tim over a Mesa/Boogie is awesome!! They've been really helpful even when I had my rectifier a few years back. Great and friendly guys. Most of them are busy but will call you back with in the same day or next morning

I dont give things many 10s but this deserves it. If this was lost or stolen I'd kill the mofo that stole it then throw some crappy amp on him. I've been playing for little over 2 yrs and really great amp I found my "perfect" tone.

I am very pleased with the features... I was gonna go with a marshall tube combo but this delivers a presence knob and EQ (essentials). As far as power... its 10 watts more powerful than the marshall. And i got a bargain so i got it 100 bucks less than the marshall. Although only 50 watts this can pump out some loud sounds while retaining tonal clarity.

Love it... just takes some fiddling with the knobs and then you can create any tone you want... It comes with EQ unlike the marshall combos, which i think makes it that much better.

Never had a problem but i havent had it long... made in US and and built tough.

Never Had to deal w/ 'em

If you can get a good deal with it.. go for it. i find it brilliant!

Cet ampli n'est pas une machine a gaz (comme certains trucs modernes pleins de DSP qui demandent plus de temps a regler qu'a utiliser vraiment) mais il comporte juste l'essentiel:
- 2 canaux (clair et sature) avec tous les reglages independants y compris les reverbes et le contour
- une boucle d'effet de qualite studio
- des extras terriblement utiles: un mute du HP (qui permet de charger l'ampli a la bonne impedance pendant une ecoute casque silencieuse), des selecteurs de choix du fonctionnement de la pedale switch et le truc qu'il est absolument allucinant de ne voir sur aucun ampli, un egaliseur a bandes graphiques!!

Je joue une vigier excalibur original.

1) Cet ampli est une machine a son. Il garde une forte caracteristique MesaBoogie avec des mediums prononces mais garde une plage de sonorites a mon sens inegalee ailleur. Il ne s'agit pas de le brancher et de tout mettre a fond pour avoir le son de sa star preferee (= attitude du pauvre mec qui croit que copier un artiste rend artiste a son tour...), le but est de passer quelques jours a chercher un son original et plaisant ou simplement qui convient tout a fait a ce qu'on cherchait.
Les sons clairs et crunch (pull boost) sont tres precis ou tres cremeux suivant les reglages. Les sons satures vont du doux au brutal et meme si on veut au glacial parfait pour le metal.
Globalement, on trouve beaucoup de dynamique et de precision meme avec des gains eleves, et la plage de son permet de faconner un grain et un timbre presque sans limite (contrairement au cote compresse des rectifiers).
Le bouton de reglage du volume general influe beaucoup sur le son general malgres ce qui est dit dans la doc. Personnellement je le laisse en permanence a 7-8 et je regle en suite les volumes de chaque canaux.

2) L'egaliseur graphique est un outil indespensable pour jouer en groupe puisqu'il permet de modifier legerement le spectre du son de la guitare pour lui permettre de s'inserer dans le mix. D'un geste vous pouvez obtenir une balance exellente sur scene. Il peut aussi etre utilise pour faconner encore plus le son si vous vous sentez l'ame d'un createur.

3) largement suffisant niveau puissance sonore pour jouer en groupe et dans n'importes quelles conditions. Le HP n'est pas trop directif et resonne bien en 3D (Loin, loin, tres loin devant un marshal combo ou meme 4 hp)

super costaud mais a tubes quand meme

pas d'experience

C'est l'un des tres rares amplis a remplir tant de prouesses pour sa taille et son prix (cher par rapport a une merde mais pas cher dans sa cathegorie).Vous pouvez y aller les yeux fermes quelque soit votre style mais attetion, je vous aurez prevenu: ce n'est pas un ampli plug and play!
Cependant, il existe des amplis encore meilleurs soit parce qu'ils conviennent a un style precis (Vox, Hiwatt, Fender, Soldanos, VHT ...)
soit parce qu'ils appartiennent a l'inclassable ( Budda par exemple est aux amplis ce que PRS est a la guitare: tres cher mais au dela des exigeances)

S'il vous plait, soyez creatifs, arretez de copier les autres pour faire bien devant votre femme ou vos potes, faites de la musique. Merci,

The features of this amp have been covered below by others but my combo is covered in a rare red Lizard tolex, looks stunning. I have a complete Hybrid road case for it. Got it on E-bay for $1000. I also own a DC-5 50 watt head and a 2x12 Boogie Cab but i got the combo for smaller bars and and clubs. I have been using it a lot this summer for all types of music but mostly hard rock and metal. It's a very versatile amp, i used to use the Graphic for a lead boost but now i used a separate Boss eq in the effects loop for a boost and i use the Graphic eq for different tones. Believe me, i like to be loud when i solo.

Awesome crunch, and not harsh. With the Graphic eq you can really tweak your sound. I really cant believe someone below thinks this amp does not cut through a live mix. I play out 3-5 times a week, i July i played 18 shows with this amp and i have let other people go up and jam on my stuff so i have heard what it sounds like out in the crowd and i always ask soundmen of their opinion on my sound. Believe me, this amp cuts through. I just recently jammed with a guy who is a Marshall user and he liked the amp a lot. The clean sound i ok, not as good as many Fenders i have played on. The gain boost on the clean channel is nice but it boosts the volume too much and there is no way to channel switch it. I do agree with someone who said that the dirty channel does not clean up when you lower your guitar volume, but for my needs i can live without that and I'll use the clean channel whenever i dont want the dirt, but this amp sounds like a mean tube amp to me, nothing like a solid state amp.

I have had the head for 1 year, no problems.
I have had the combo for 2 months, no problems.
Why is it that people who dont like the way this amp sounds are the only ones who have something go wrong with it?

I e-mailed Boogie a few times because i had some questions and they always send me a reply.

Been playing for 16 years and this amp works great for my style, i like the aggresive nature of this amp, mean and loud. They dont make these amps anymore and if it was stolen i would hunt down another one since i like it better than rectos.

The features have been listed many times over. They are part of why I bought this amp.I spent an afternoon trying amps at the famouse House of Guitars and put it up against 4 or 5 other amps including the Twin and Marshall jcm 900. The DC5 cut thru the Saturday music store din of teenage hackers better and with more tone than all the others.

I play a Clapton Strat with an ART ECC and a whine-o-wah in the effects loop. We play everything from oldies to top 40. This amp suits them all. I only use 3 settings in the ECC, 1 clean with reverbe & a touch of delay, 2 flange with reverb & delay and 3 a light distortion with reverb & delay for rythms. I've had the amp 5 years and have repalced the 6L6's with boogies and just replaced the pre-amp tubes with the low noise electro harmonix 12ax7's. The tone on the clean channel is even more warm & creamy while sparkling clean. The dirty channel I'm still tweeking. I've found the secret to the DC5 is in the sound shape via the gain & graphics. Having no experience with tube amps when I bought it I spent a lot of time trying different settings until I got where I kept it until the new preamp tubes. I think those that didn't like the DC5 didn't give it the time or effort needed to make it sing. My one complaint...why have a boost that's not foot switchable. I don't have time during songs to push or pull a knob!

I've had it 5 years and have never had a problem. It's still so quiet I have to hit a string to know it's on.

I've never needed a repair but I recently asked for schematics so I can figure a way add a boost footswitch and the send them right out.

This wide body amp is the loudest 50 watts Ive ever heard. The wide body covers a room as well or better than the 2 x 12's I've had or tried. Kille tone with the EC Strat. The first gig I used it on several people who had heard the band before asked what we change because the sound was great. The only change was my amp. Tone is everything and this amp has it.

I bought it in 1997.
There are two channels, a boost in the first channel and a 5 bands EQ. One effect loop. I use this amp everywhere (live, in my bedroom...). I love the versatility of this amp: I can do all what I want.

I play on an ESP M-II deluxe with EMG pickups and on a PRS custom 22.
The rhythm channel is very dynamic. All the controls are very accurate so you can find all the type of sound you want. The boost is very effective. In fact, this channel is perfect for... all the clean and blues sonds you want to ear!
The lead channel is amazing: like the rhythm channel, this one is very dynamic; it also has a lot of bass. The distortion is VERY BRUTAL!! With the EQs, you can access to a lot of powerfull distortion sounds : Metallica, Testament, Vai...
I wanted to be more critical but I love this amp...

All right.

I have been playing a little over 7 years: I've played on a lot of amps and my prefer is this one. I LOVE IT. I think that it was the better in this category: you can't find a better lead channel in a 50W combo in a same price.

read previous reviews

awesome clean. great headroom. modeled after mark 4. pushed channel is ok. add a ts-808. perfect blues. lead channel modeled after dual recto. it sounds better. i use it with a u.s. masters and a buscarino tele. lets each axe shine through.

few chips do break. constuction is very good. worth the repair for this tone.

kinda slow. they do e-mail you.find out tricks on your own.

secret (1). retube with lord valve chinese 12ax7's and svetlana 6l6's.he sets voltage depending on amp type. 30% improvement. secret (2)buy an extension cab.2x12 or 1x12 widebody. huge increase in projection and low end.secret(3)always leave the graphic eq on! tone suffers without it.secret (4) only use a vintage chandler digital echo in loop. no reverb of any kind, even the onboard reverb sucks tone.secret(4) buy a real ts-808. on the clean channel, use a mild overdrive boost for killer tone. in the lead channel, set gain on ts to zero for great clean boost. improves sustain and clarity plus harmonic structure. i searched 100's of amps trying to get a great clean, blues and metal tone out of one amp.except for the $4,000 diesel, this is as close as you will get. do not be swayed by some previous tone deaf reviewers. this amp sounds great "in the bedroom" and does"cut through on stage". with the ext.cab this amp combo can hang with any stack.

First of all let me say that I giged for two years with this amp, in a loud rock band, so I think this is a damn good refernce. As far as features go this amp has got a lot. Mesa definatley packed in every feature you could ask for in a amp, but this is also why I the tone suffers, see below. I also think the tone is weak unless you have the EQ engaged on both channels, which takes away any lead boost. this amp doesn't like a overdrive pedals added to the gain channel, unless you have the pedal gain turned all the way down, so your limited with pedal boost options, you have to buy a line driver/booster pedal to get a lead boost. I think they fixed this on the Nomad

Yes I truly think this amp gets a two and I have sound reasons. My first issue is poor dynamics. This is a tube amp but it doesn't respond as well as a pure tube amps like a (JCM 800 2203 for example). This amp responds more like a solid state amp. (i.e. no picking dynamics,) This is why it didn't cut thru the live mix as well as other amps I've owned. It's ability to cut thru the mix is also happered by the distortion (2nd ch) on this amp, it's a wash of gain. It's very dark, and heavy. Sure it's sounds killer in the music store and in your bedroom (if you want to sound like KORN...) but live you sound like heavy mush. You've got to turn the gain way down. This amp has almost too much bass. You have to take lower the second bass eq (2nd from left on the five band eq)and lower it to get back some midrange cut. The clean channel is a poor fender at best, my Hot Rod Deville had a better clean. The pull boost is thin sounding.

This is my second DC-5. The first was send back to Mesa because it broke in one week, the channel switching died. Really poor quality assurance for a $1000 amp.

Back in 98, when it broke I wanted a new amp, not a repair. I had to speak to the head of customer service (Jim Shrou..sp) to get them to send me a new amp. You decide if escallating to him should have been necessary. The new one worked fine and it lasted two years worth of giging.

This amp does only one sound well. The Korn Limp Bizkit, "wall of heavy noise" tone. Plus it really falls down as a tube amp when it comes to dynamics and ability to cut through the mix. Sure it's got tremdous bass reponse but your treading all over the bass player's frequency. In live situations, it's can be a dark amp that dosn't let your guitar's own tone come thru. I will say that I recently played with another band and the guitar player had a Single Rectifier and that sounded much better. Take my advise and pass on this amp, unless you want to spend a lot of money sounding like Korn in your bedroom.

Este amp es muy versalil puedes tocar desde merengue,bachata,salsa,hasta las oscuridad y pesades del metal, tiene dos canales totalmente independientes,effects loops,entrada de grabacion y muchas funciones mas,muy facil de usar

tengo tom anderson clasic con tres single una steinberg y una gibson les paul,no tengo un estilo definido detocar le prgo a todo lo que venga y este amplificador me da muy buen resultado no importa que estilo sea,el canal clean suena vintage un poco distorsionado el secreto es bajarle la media frecuencia hasta 2,3 ,la distorcion no hay que hacerle nada eso suena bien como sea a muy importante nunca tendras problema de que to te oyes pues este animalito suena duro y mientras masalto lo pones mejor es el sonido

nunca me ha dado problema (y donde vivo la electricidad es mala osea que esto aguanta)

muy atentos es la compa?ia

he tenido de todos los equipos amp de todas las marcas de todos los sabores y colores,y nada suena mejor que los amp de tubos y con este amplificador no nesecitaras multiefecto ni nada de eso para sonar bien solo un buen cable y una buena guitara y nos fuimos a la guerra

I have a 1995 combo and it is the sweetest amp I have ever heard. This amplifier is so versatile, you can read all the features on some of the more motivated reviews. I will just say it is loaded!! I agree with a lot of the reviews that say people should mess around with the rythym channel more, There are tons of different sounds you can get with it. The lead channel can be used for anything from blues to country to black metal. The only problem I have with features is that the push-pull pot is not footswitchable... but hey, you can't win em' all.

I play through an Ibanez Iceman with an Ibanez AH-1 pickup in the neck slot, and a DiMarzio Vintage Air Classis at the bridge. The amp fits all of the styles I play(which is any that I can learn). I don't have an extension cab yet but the clean channel hasn't distorted at any level I have put it up to. The distortion is not the meanest one I have heard but it sounds better than something that is just overdriven into mud. I will put it this way, I have a Boss MT-2 pedal collecting dust.

I have never had problems with it, not even a tube. I trust the amp alot but I would always have a backup.... just in case.

Ive never really dealt with the company about anything but finding an extension cab. So I have no opinion.

I have only been playing this amp for about a year, but I will never sell this amp. I compared this amp with a lot of other amps in the same price range, but the mesa has that American made sound which I think blows away all the other amps away. The only comparable amps were the Fenders, they have just as good of a clean sound but the gain on this amp knocks their dick in the dirt.