The Forgotten Mesa-Boogie - 1990s Dual Caliber DC-3 Repair (PART 1)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 21 ต.ค. 2018
- Part 1: • The Forgotten Mesa-Boo...
Part 2: • This Amp is an ABOMINA...
Part 3: • That's It...This Ampli...
Part 4: • Ahab SLAYS the Mesa-Bo...
In this video, we'll service a 1990s Mesa-Boogie Dual Caliber DC-3. The DC3 is sort of like a 2-Channel Mark Series amp with EL-84 output tubes. There were a couple other models in the Dual Caliber Series, which lasted from about 1993 until around 2000, featured several models (Studio Caliber DC-2, Dual Caliber DC-3, Dual Caliber DC-5, and Dual Caliber DC-10). This example came to me with intermittently red plating output tubes, sound that cut in and out, faulty EQ, and just generally in need of cleaning and maintenance. The Dual Caliber Series was eventually replaced with the now also discontinued F Series (F-30 and F-50). The fact that this model series isn't even listed on Mesa's "Out of Production Products" website list means this is indeed the forgotten Mesa-Boogie model series.
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The call to Mesa and the displayed level of technical knowledge on the call agent is just stunning.
I would never have guessed these pc board circuits to be as flexible as you have shown through finding specs and isolating individual resistors, caps, and other parts, then rebiasing without using much more expensive output tubes to dumb down the amp. Great lesson for the uninitiated like myself! I put off watching this vid for a while, but I’m really glad to have seen it now. Thanks.
Great sleuthing and repair Brad! You really made that Mesa sing!
I've had this amp for 15 years. It just has always run incredibly hot. I love the sound, but have had the same issues cooking tubes. Thanks for doing the D.C.-3 video!
I have one too. Yeah, sound beautiful and run hot! Seems to be EaL 84s run hot
Geez watching this is an adventure to how you invest your knowledge, time, and patience into tube amp repair. Amazing work! and playing too!
Awesome Brad... That was one of your best repair vids.
Thanks. I appreciate that. Look like few will see it, probably due to the length.
The Guitologist
loved the soldering scenes and the 1 hr. length .
Thanks for the free knowledge man, you are really helping me!
Amazing. There is so much love in Brad’s videos. Respect, craft, intelligence, compassion, trust.
Nearly a religious experience, he demonstrates the power of man, and perhaps inadvertently becomes a role model for us all. A role model like we used to know.
We don’t need fake prophets, lies, NASA...we need more Brads.
man, I admire your patience and dedication
Nice playin' at the end of your video here too!
Excellent job Brad. I love watching your videos very educational and you did an excellent job servicing this Boogie!
Love how if I pay attention I never Fail to Learn Something New from You, and since I have been looking at some MKIIB's this was very informative and helpful
As iv said in the past im no electronics guy Brad, but i really like watching you doing things and sorting them out, really enjoyed this one, Thank You, Cheers from England uk, Great Chanel
Thanks for watching. Really appreciate it.
i can't explain why i'm drawn to watching these amp repair videos like a bug to a porch light but i sure appreciate you going through the trouble of sharing them Brad. i'm sure i'll go into withdrawals if you ever stop. thank you.
I love these videos and they've not deterred me from purchasing Mesa-Boogie amps in any way. Complex is not bad, just different. :)
My goal is not to dissuade people from Mesa. I hope no one thinks that. I just want to show things as they are. If there are flaws I find, I'll point them out. There is good and bad in almost any design.
Mesa stuff is rock solid (with all the bells and whistles)...as long as you treat it right.
Good. Less copycats.
@@Twobarpsi that's funny because Mesa's most popular guitar amps were someone else's designs that they STOLE
@@shekador right lol basically every amp is stolen from fender or vox and sort of marshall but Marshall started ripping off the bassman so it's fender and vox. And Leo fender built his amps based of the old RCA books. Basic radio amplifiers really
Thanks for sharing! I like your guitar work at the end. Sounded amazing.
Electrical engineer extraordinaire Mr. Brad Lindsey. Great stuff my mate and the amount I've learnt from you is invaluable, thanks Brad. With a bit of Ravi Shankhr at the end.
Inspirational video. I’ve been thinking a lot of becoming an electrician by trade. U rock
Brad. All my best regards to you. I wanted to take some more time to watch this video even deeper to follow your schematic study, visual and test equipment, and the measures you went through to fix this amp. I know I said thanks before for all your demos, but I cannot thank you enough for how you break down and show figuring out problems and analyzing potential causes. To be able to see how you fix the stuff is such a miracle I never had growing up in the 60's/70's.
In the past couple years, my quest to learn amps and electronics on my own, has lead me to priceless and invaluable study in this stuff from guys such as you. Despite childhood fascination, learning electronics was a stumbling block to me since elementary school. Back then, having opened broken transistor radios up and seeing nothing but a zillion little bits and pieces made no sense to me. I gave up hope from this experience of mind blowing visual mess until a fellow guitar player friend in the Catskills encouraged me that I COULD LEARN and do it, when facing a failure to my '72 Marshall 50 watt JMP head.
Over the last 30 years I've fixed a dozen or so Mesa's and not one was an easy fix. Nice video.
Ive worked on a few of these over the last 30 yrs and they all seem to run hot, and use a lot of watts compared to other amps. I think this extra wattage does contribute to the tubes getting to hot and burning them out faster while cooking that board. i always used the coolest running tubes i could get at the time, Sovteks are good choice, then adjusting the bias similar to what you've done. Ive used those adjustable resistors in a few just in case they wanted to switch tubes, but then a rebias would be needed which was easy, still needed to do the math to set it right , though some refuse and suffered the consequences. lol
its great Mesa still sells parts at a decent price. thanks for sharing, Brad!
Ya, cooling fans are a common add on for Boogie amps. Lots of other amps, too. Buys some tube life in a cramped combo.
even knowing all the problems you had with this thing in the other parts, I gotta say the cleans on it are absolutely buetiful!
Well shot video - Lots of different angles/perspectives - Informative and entertaining as always.
Great job as ever Brad, cannot imagine what the previous users lungs are like... Makes we worry about all those pubs and clubs I played in over the past 25 years yikes!! Really appreciate the fact you are so candid and LOVE SPF. Long live freedom of speech! Paul from the UK.
I’ve got one of these in my basement. Looks like I’ll have to get it fixed. Loved the PRS and tool !!
Glad to see you getting some use out of the antler pick! Cheers!
Yeah, I love it. Thought I'd whip it out on this one.
1:01:55 forward on the rhythm channel was some super tasty playing....that Boogie clean channel sounds really good, fits your style well. Great job resurrecting that old Cali special.
DAMN, Dude! I've watched enough of your videos to see that your technical skills are unparalleled, but Dear GOD - your guitar chops twist my brain up in knots!!! WHY are you not world famous, fronting every heavy rock band on Earth????
Love your Intermission from the Drive In A piece of lost Americana ………..I wish they were still around!!! As usual A tremendous Job!!! It actually sounds much better...…...
First movie I remember watching at the drive-in was E.T. They all had a playground down in front where the kids could play and leave the adults alone, complete with all the dangerous stuff like teeter-totters and merry-go-round. Ah, the good ol' days.
Always informative as well as entertaining, great stuff man- thanks.
Nice job on this & the amp sounds very nice !!
Great video! You get an Uncle Doug award.
Good old times! I had one of these back then. And I loved it! 😍
Couldn't agree more . . . hell hath no fury like working on a Mesa Boogie amp. That rep on the phone was pretty awesome, though. Lots of great info, love the mod, great picking and vid, man.
Repair nightmares notwithstanding (these newer designs raise my blood pressure, just looking at them! LOL) every one of your repair vids is worth sticking around 'til the end...just to catch some of your 'noodling!' You have a unique approach, and style, and some of the progressions you come up with, alone, are worth the price of admission! :-)
Thanks Norm. My noodling is pretty aimless, but I could probably listen back to a lot of it and get a tone of song ideas.
You've given ME a ton of song ideas!! So far, I have hesitated to use any of them, since i'm not big on plagiarism, but some of your ideas are so fresh it's tough not to ('borrow' them)! :-) BTW, you are still infinitely more patient than me!! LOL I am getting more adventurous, though....my next project is a Fender 'The Twin' with red knobs.
Great video. I understand less than half of the stuff you explain, but it's super insteresting to watch. Greetings from Brazil!
Great video! That will help me a lot to fix an old dc3 I've found here.
Nice work, I never would have thought to call Mesa for parts like that. Such a simple solution haha. Awesome they're still stocking parts like that. Definitely some moments that made me want to go play through my Dual Rec Tremoverb. The complexity of the high gain Mesa tone is always something I enjoy. At the same time, I just modified an old hifi amp into a perversion of a 2204 circuit, so I love both Mesa and Marshall high gain flavors
haha I want it all I guess. Also 12 years ago when I got my Mesa, it was my grail amp. It doesn't have sliders, it's just a 2 channel Dual Rec. I shy away from the graphic eq Mesa's, they're just a bit extra for my tastes. These days I still listen to extreme metal, but I pick up a guitar and love playing other stuff.
Fwwwken amazing video! Such good detail man. I just bought one of these and you helped me trouble shoot it so much! And your playing is phenomenal! 👍🙏
Nice work,Brad! Sounding great. I really dig the cleans on it ,actually.
I own an F-30 and it's an amazing amp, it has 2 EL-84's and it punches way above it's weight class. The overdrive channel is okay but the clean channel is amazing in it's clarity and power. The innards aren't as intimidating now after seeing this video. Thank you for sharing your expertise. You do amazing work.
i had an F Series once. F-100 I think, maybe? Anyway, it had a similar thing - 2 channel. Clean channel 1 and a Boogied out Channel 2.
Little amp turned out great! One could tell it had been used but not abused. Many trouble free miles ahead! man, i worked 2 blocks away from Mesa HQ around the time this amp was made (91-93) on Clegg. I'd taken a break from playing so never stopped by but more than once heard amps 'demo'd'.
Fantastic Job🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 You EXXXcellent Work, sounds so much fresh out the box. When I have electronic issues, I know who to ask first for service. Thank You.
Good fingerwork Brad ... and the playing was good too. :) Thx.
Great video, thank you! I still have a sick DSL. I've spent days on it. Brad opens up a foreign amp, "Oh, this should be fixed... and look it here, here's the problem...", solder, Tool, done. Thankfully, my self esteem has a callous on it but oh it stings. Cheers!
Great job, great sounding amp.
Wow! I did work experience in Australia around 1998 for a company called abbey sound that cloned these. I was tasked with assembling one (albeit, without the eq) and if it worked, I could keep it. Still got it somewhere in storage. Watching this has inspired me to pull it out over the weekend! Thanks Brad!
You should make a video and upload it to youtube, or maybe send it to Brad so we can see it.
I think they're still going. They were about 5 years ago.
Yes James I say if you can make a small video or any video for us then do it!
I second sending me a video.
I'd really like to see what brad would do with a 'Woogie' amp from Custom Music Adelaide. I'd pay money for that.
Excellent video bro.
I loved playing the Mesa Boogie triple recs back in my 90ś bands!
Friggin' amazing company. Just WOW. Looks like I will hunt for a Mesa-Boogie to play with.
I've used mesa along with my twin reverb. Love the dc3
You got to say tho that mesa service is top notch.
Great video as always. Generally the DCs are voiced closer to a recto than their Studio ancestors (which are voiced like the Mark series), but you did an amazing job dialing a sweet tone out of it.
Great job. I have now technical knowledge, but I couldn't stop watching 🙃 also, the Mesa technician was really nice. I still play my Roadking II.
Yeah great videos man! Great playing too! A big hello from the uk! Keep up the great work!
Helluva job, Brad...
Damn Brad you got that thing sounding better then any Mesa Boogie I’ve ever heard .....!
Boy when you get a Mesa in, it test you in ways one could never dream! LOL!
Great video (as always!). I have a studio 22+ that has always run hot (I even installed a fan...huge help). It has the same basic configuration and identical bias supply circuit as DC 2 or 3. When I had it apart for service recently I dropped a 1 meg across that 120k resistor...results in approx 107k. This was enough to drop below 70%. Also the 22+ has the PWB in "upside down" so I would just put the 1 meg on the back of the board opposite the 120k. Way easier than pulling the board!
I had a DC-2 combo. It was amazing at 6-7 on volume, but was CrAzY LOUD!!!
my DC-10 is my go to favorite. i love it.
Good job Brad!
Great job Brad
Awesome work
I used this EXACT amp for 15 years straight. Same cool/odd color tolex and everything. Vintage 30 speaker that loved for cleans, weirdly, and disliked for grit (probably THAT amp's grit). Toured to nearly every state in the union with that thing. Same cool/odd color tolex and everything. Bought it when I was 20 yrs old, brand new. My first real amp and it paid off to step up to Boogie quality for sure. SO reliable. Sound guys loved it. Easy to throw in the van. Powerful enough for anything I needed it for - mic'd on stage. Before that, my only amps were PV Rockmaster preamp with 50-50 power amp, and before that a tiny PV Rage (my first amp).
Great repair. I would use alcohol and a brush to clean off that crusty flux. I would also like to add that I really like the sound of this amp, and your playing sounds great on it. This amp lends itself to a certain style of playing, and you nailed it.
I clean crusty flux too when it bridges two or more solder joints. In this case, it was just cosmetic, but yeah, I shoulda cleaned it anyway, in hindsight.
I have a DC-5, one of my favorite Boogie amps.
Me too, awesome amp! I had a Dual Rec for 15 years but I like the DC-5 so much better. It just has a sweeter sound to the Dual Rec. I picked mine up from a studio sale so it'd never been gigged, only ever sat in the live room for 20+ years. I need to get to the pots as they're all crackling badly but it's a beaut!
Yea, I got mine for $400! I couldn't believe getting a Boogie amp for that price. I've heard the lead channel is based on the early recto with a mark EQ. Sounds less muddy in the low end to me. I have a 3 channel dual rec and I find myself playing the DC-5 way more nowadays. Plenty of gain for everything.
@@KnotTime I have one of the earliest DC-5's I've seen. Red shade grill cloth with the plastic rocker switches and no headphone jack. Play it almost daily. Close to Fender cleans and headroom to level a small town! :) Keep rockin!
I bought my DC-5 combo new in 1997, and still use it. It’s been rock solid and puts out.
I went through all this a couple of months ago. It's actually impressive that all these DC-3s can survive with 125% or higher output tube dissipation. I piggybacked the 120K to bring it to 100K to bring dissipation to survivable numbers. Changing that resistor also changes the bias for the phase inverter, and actually uses the phase inverter cathode current to generate the output tube bias... luckily it was close enough. If the PI bias is off, the 15K needs to be changed as well. Later, for some reason there was -45V somehow leaking onto the grids of the EL84s from that ridiculous bias circuit, cutting off the output tubes. Tightening the input jack to fix ground was the only way I could find to fix it. Nice sounding amp when it's 100%!
This is timely information....thanks
Love the part about cleaning the tube socket individual pins with the pointy little proxa brush. Nice handle on those brushes. I think you could have found the broken inductor early with some signal tracing on that fader that didn't appear to do anything. Old faders often contained a heavy grease specifically to lub to sliding parts and not the resistance board itself. I am glad they now have a spray to handle both functions. I used to wash them out with WD40 and then add some silicone or lithium grease to just the sliding mechanism. A dainty little job.
I've found that the best thing for cleaning the Tar residue from any surface is Windex with Amonia D.
For small controls you could try some amonia on your brushes instead of contact cleaner.
Really helpful video, Thanks Brad! Ive got my DC-10 on the bench doing some mods (like to change the lead channel tone stacks to better compliment the rhythm channel)and i can definitely see the similarities from the DC-3. What an awesome thorough tech you are and an awesome guitar player!! Liking Stinkfist!!! Nice job!! Tele sounds fantastic through that amp too!! What a pleasure it must be to play the amp you've just repaired! Stay healthy!!!
Watch all 4 before doing anything.
@@TheGuitologist Ok, my irons off, saw all the 4 vids, damn, you tried and tried and tried. :( Going to see if i can trade my amp for a Fractal...
just kidding, going to re and re a few components!!!
I still think you are an awesome tech and i really appreciate your commentary throughout your videos! Im learning lots! Not that you're teaching or anything like that. ;)
Amazing video. Thank you for your knowledge. Helpful. I love my DC3 , one of my best mesa amp. Blessings.
great vid man!!
Love your repair video's
I take the most pride in them. They are tough to make though. Hard to keep them from running on too long.
It seems the proof is in the pudding. You do great work man. You make it seem so easy. I’m learning shit.
I enjoyed this vid alot ...That amp was in terrible working order and you got it back to being some dudes pride and joy... dig the TOOL riff
Always good to see a other man stabbing different holes with various tools!!!
:P
I'd have probably used a pot in the bias but oh well, you got it sounding killer. Thanks, I may buy one of these. There's some great stuff to know here.
I have always wanted a Mesa-Boogie amp. I really liked your primary check out of the amplifier. I think everything you did to the amp helped (except maybe destroying the 1H inductor, but heck, it was most likely a goner anyway) I was a little concerned as to how close it looked like you were gonna burn your fingers. Your analysis and perseverance to the repair is commendable. Good job Brad, keep up the good work and excellent informative commentary. I have been an industrial electrician mostly concerned with troubleshooting and repairing large motor drives (1000 hp and more). I also have been trying to learn to play guitar since I was 12, I'm 62 now and still quite inept. However, I am well experienced in troubleshooting amplifiers, not guitar amplifiers, but amplifiers just the same. Your techniques are sound, your understanding of the amplifiers is also sound. Have you ever thought of designing and building one of your own, using your knowledge of what works the way you think is right?
Great job!
These are the nicest boogies around. Miss my dc3 head.
Good video, Brad. Sounds great clean with a Tele. I wish you were in Pittsburgh. I'd send my Genz Benz amp.
Yep, surprisingly good clean sound. The EQ makes it pretty flexible too. I could even rock up that channel into a sort of AC/DC overdrive if I wanted.
Good stuff bro!
The Mk I and II, lonestar and the DC are my favorite boogie.
Great video. It was nice that Mesa stocks parts and just just boards. That part about moding the bias circuit could come in very handy for more than just this amp I assume.
Yeah, I've always said their customer service it great. They've always been good to me, anyway.
Nice work
You certainly fixed that. I'd post you my Roland W30 if I weren't boracic. Bloody well done.
Thanks, Tony!
I worked on a Mesa (MKII I think) for a friend a long time ago. Typical broken solder joints, etc. It had an intermittent problem in one channel that kicked my ass. It would pop and squeal and then mute. I didn't have schematic at first, but kept at it with no luck. Finally got hold of a manual...they used a device called a "fetron" in that channel for the preamp...that was the culprit. The other channel used a 12ax7, I think. It's jenky esoteric weirdness like that, the ridiculous muting and stone-age passive EQ that made me vow to stay away from Mesa. You have massive cajones to keep working on them. Another great video.
Great little 'pre-amp'. Had one when new, but it was so quiet I killed the speaker output (or ran it out front for a monitor) and put it into a rack mount, feeding an M-180 (180 watt) amp, into a Mitchell 2x12 bass reflex 'sand cab' w/EVM12L's. It would MOVE a full stack of Marshalls if I pointed it at it. Messed my back up trying to carry it. Also had a power strip, tuner and effect in the rack. I could not put it in the car alone. Loudest thing I ever heard. Got tinnitus now. I like little tube amps today.
Sweet ampinator! I like ho these seem to be really solid inside. Wow.
I´m a great fan of your videos, great job, youre so good as tech so as guitar player thank you.
I just got to the Mesa phone conversation and remember seeing that stuff about Mesa proprietary tubes of varying temps.
I had a DC 5 that was horrible. Half of the EQ went out on it. It would feedback even at low volumes, Horrible pop when you changed channels. My other Mesa amps were fine, but I had two DCs that were both really bad. The DC2 was an easy fix. The DC 5 I would even sell to anyone. I pulled anything good off of it then dumped it. I feel your pain.
Sooo many Mesa haters chiming in Aunt Cunty-like. Again great work and edit on your offerings!
That amp has pretty cleans. I could never get along with Mesa amps. I got so uses to playing old non master British style amps that I could never get used to the feel of the Mesa Boogie.
Brad, the Dual Caliber range is actually an upgrade to the Studio/Caliber series, which housed a single EQ section shared between two channels (almost unimaginable simplicity by Mesa standards)! The DC-2 & DC-3 upgrade from the 22W, dual EL84 Studio .22+ (of which I own a mint 1992 example). The DC-5 & DC-10 upgrade from the 50W, dual 6L6 .50 Caliber+.
I'm confused a little. I have a Studio Caliber DC-2 (No parametric EQ). Is there a DC-2 that's a Dual Caliber? You're saying the DC-2 is an upgrade? Did the lineage go Studio .22>Studio Caliber>Dual Caliber?
Brad nice work did you think about maybe putting in a single turn trim pot so you can adjust bias just curious
Very good Videos, interesting an informativ, thanks for The Tool riff
Great video thank you, I own a dc-3 . Just subscribed