New Amp Suggestions

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jonnyc

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Well I had a horrible experience last night. We were recording with my Mesa dc3 and all the sudden I smelled this weird burning and then the amp started to slowly crackle and fade away. First, anyone experience this that may be able to clue me in on what may have gone wrong? Will tubes make that smell when they burn out or is it worse than that? Anyway I've been allowed 600 bucks for a temprorary replacement until I can get the amp repaired. The dc3 has a nice distortion but doesn't get that seering lead tone that something like a 5150 would, just gives a nice thick crunch. Is there anything comparable to that out there? I was looking at the Vox ac15 combo or the Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. Man I'm bummed.
 
Could be a few things-- a cap or even a transformer, maybe the rectifier.

Caps are cheap and transformers and rectifiers are expensive.
 
Expensive as in a couple hundred bucks or as in I should put the amp in the trash.
 
I have a DC-5. It's my boo so I feel your pain. Keep us updated if you can.
 
I was in denial for about 5 minutes until the sound started to fizzle. It just left a huge empty feeling in my stomach, barely slept last night. So what do you guys think about an el84, replacement? I've got up to 800 bucks, the hot rod deluxe is looking nice, I need that fat overdrive/distortion sound.
 
no sane man would ever throw away any tube amp, especially a decent one. get it fixed and sell it if it's not your thing. there are plenty of people out there that would love to use that amp. find a good tech and don't get ripped off on the repair. you might get lucky and the amp just blew a tube and took a resistor or something with it. if you don't have the money to get it fixed, sell it as is and be as descriptive and honest as possible about what happened to it. i don't think you would have a hard time selling it.
 
I was just playing about pitching it. I love this amp more than most women I've dated, truely amazing for the price I paid for it. I fully intend on getting it fixed, I'd just like to educate myself a bit before I take it in somewhere. Until then I'm really interested in getting a quick replacement. Does anyone have any suggestions on a good studio amp to replace this one? I know most people wouldn't let it worry them and would just tell the bands to bring their amps, but if I have to record one more Marshall MG100 I'm going to shoot myself. So what do you guys think, Vox, Fender, Traynor, Line 6(puke).
 
jonnyc said:
Expensive as in a couple hundred bucks or as in I should put the amp in the trash.

A couple hundred bucks.

hey, that amp is worth fixing no matter what is wrong with it, short of getting flattened by a truck. :D
 
Just pulled the trigger on a Vox AC30CC head. It's glorious spending someone elses money. Now I just need to send off the Mesa and get it fixed. After it's all said and done I'll have a fairly decent amp collection, and I don't even play guitar. :eek: :D
 
if its for recording try a carvin v16 (16watts pentode/ 5 watts triode) all tube, celestion greenback, has tone for days and is loud as hell for as small as it is (just as loud as my line 6 spider and better tone). By itself its not a metal monster but more in the stevie ray vaughn/joe walsh area for sound. but hook up a good preamp or stomp box and it will shred. I bought mine brand new from carvin for like 349.00 and it sold me for life on carvins. and with a 600.00 budget you can buy the carvin and prolly get the mesa fixed.
 
gremlin said:
if its for recording try a carvin v16 (16watts pentode/ 5 watts triode) all tube, celestion greenback, has tone for days and is loud as hell for as small as it is (just as loud as my line 6 spider and better tone). By itself its not a metal monster but more in the stevie ray vaughn/joe walsh area for sound. but hook up a good preamp or stomp box and it will shred. I bought mine brand new from carvin for like 349.00 and it sold me for life on carvins. and with a 600.00 budget you can buy the carvin and prolly get the mesa fixed.


Please review my last post. But thanks for the suggestion, the more the merrier.
 
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