Re: NAD... One heck of a deal on a Mesa Studio Caliber
As dystrust posted, it is an early DC-2 Studio Caliber. The early amps in this series came in a gray vinyl. It zhould have a date written on the chassis. It's the baby of the Dual Caliber series family at 22 watts (2xEL84), followed by the DC-3 at 35 watts (4xEL84), DC-5 at 50 watts (2x6L6), and the DC-10 at 100 watts (4x6L6). I think all of these amps came as combos (112) and heads; the DC-10 combo was a 212. The DC-10 is a monster and the combo weighs a ton!
I think (not 100% sure) that the DC-2 came with a Mesa Black Shadow Vintage 50 speaker, that I think (again) was made by Jensen. My DC-3 has a Celestion V30. The -10 probably came with a pair of Celestion C-90s, and the -5 with a single C-90. The Vintage 50 is a good speaker, but they are not used abundantly.
My DC-3 112 combo uses Mesa's "Dyna-Watt" power, Class AB. It sounds more like a 50 watt amp and is very dynamic. I like to use mine with a Mesa 112 EVM Thiele cab underneath. The Thiele adds a lot of bottom end punch and projection. It is a nicely portable rig with a small footprint, yet it can hang with loud drummers and bigger amps.
At 22 watts, the DC-2 should be able to hang with a drummer, especially with an extension cab like the Thiele or even a 112 open-back. Plug into a 412 and crank it...and then wait for the neighbors to call the cops! Or mic it thru the PA.
The clean channel of these amps was reportedly based on the Mark IV's clean channel, and comparing my DC-3 to my Mark IV, they are indeed close. The lead channel is said to be based on the original Dual Recto's business channel, and my amp has lots of gain available; I rarely run my Lead Gain above 7.
The DC-2 isn't a cheap practice amp...it has a full set of features. The one thing it's missing though, is the Mesa Graphic EQ. I use the EQs on my Mesa amps to tailor the Lead Channel tone. But there are independent gains and masters and tone controls for each channel, so there's still a lot of versatility as it is.
You can't go wrong with Mesa Tubes in these amps. You may want to use the Mesa SP12AX7 in V1 for it's resistance to microphonics. I found that a full set of JJ preamp tubes made the overall tone too dark. My DC-3 currently has E-H, JJ, Mesa and a Groove Tube in it, each tube sonically selected for a particular socket. I'm currently running a set of JJ EL84s power tubes from Eurotubes (just down the road from me); Bob selected a set to match Mesa specs.
It is a good idea to get it checked out by a tech. You need to download the Owner's Manual from
www.mesaboogie.com and read it thoroughly. Twice. It will really help you understand your amp. If you have other questions, let me know. Better yet, don't be shy...call the Mesa Customer Service line. They can help, and they almost certainly have replacement parts available...knobs, pots, etc. They can tell you about the speaker, too. (Closed on Fridays.)
Great score--I love the DC Series amps. You can really hear the difference in the power tubes as you compare the amps...very cool. (Don't expect your EL84s to sound like 6L6s!) Vive la difference! With the EL-84s you wont get the glassy, open top end or the deep bottom of 6L6s. You'll get a nicely rounded, fat tone known as "chime", especially when they start getting pushed. And these amps led to the Nomads, the F-Series, and later...the Express 5:25. Good stuff!
Color me green with envy...this is a great find. I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoy my Mesas.
Bill
