This month's product review is sent to us by our fine friends at Matchless. The DC-30 is a Class A, 30 watt, 2x12 combo that takes the Matchless tone of yesteryear to new heights. Having played through a few of the original designs in the late 90's and actually fell in love with those amps, I am anxious to dive right in to the second generation of this incredible tone name sake.

First Look:
Way cool custom color in medium gray with an eye catching black and white pepper grill front. Silver rope bead trim with a black face control panel including black chicken head knobs, black hardware steel corner protectors, cool retro all black leather handle and of course the patented Matchless signature logo. When powered up, the patented Matchless logo and all controls on the front panel illuminate in classic Matchless fashion. The combination of the gray and black represents a unique and very classy look to this combo amp. Gray is one of the nine new custom colors now available from Matchless.

Features:
The Matchless DC-30 is a two channel amp, normal gain Channel I sporting two 12 AX7's creating a parallel triode circuit with interactive bass and treble. Channel II is a high gain channel sporting a single EF86 coupled to a six-position tone switch. A master volume control, as well as a "cut" control for attenuating or rolling off the high end is available to use with both channels. Each channel features two inputs for high and low gain. Master power and stand by jumbo toggle and a green "go" light, that indicates when the amp is taken off standby. The rear panel features a dual input effects loop, one for each channel. One input operates both send and return utilizing a ring tip sleeve configuration, so a stereo "Y" cord is required for loop operation. The rear panel also includes two speaker output for running additional speaker cabs. A "Hi-Lo" power switch, which will reduce this amp conservatively, rated 30 watts of output to roughly 50% or 15 watts. This feature also produces two distinctive tones as well. There is also a chicken head rotary type Ohm selector switch for dialing in 4, 8 or 16 ohm loads, a speaker phase switch which obviously reverses the direction of the speaker to influence the amount of distorted sound. Two AC inputs, (switched & unswitched) and an AC power cord input.

Pluggin In:
Channel I: Again, this is where the rubber hits the road. I have chosen to test with an 80's photo flame blonde Telecaster, as well as a late 90's Les Paul Flametop Classic. First, experimenting with the Telecaster and utilizing channel one and the "Hi" gain input. I first dial in the two band EQ with the bass on about six and the treble on five, channel volume on about four. Wow! Vintage clean that absolutely breathes with headroom. With the "Tele" in the neck position, the tone is rich, aggressive and incredibly punchy. Although channel one sports a two band EQ, its responsiveness is amazing. Small, subtle boosts or cuts make a HUGE impact on the tone. Utilizing the bridge pickup of the Tele, this tone is spanky, clean, and perfect for country chicken pickers who are looking for the clean cut with incredible note separation. I also experimented with the "Lo" gain input and by utilizing a bit more of the channel volume this pup cleans up even more. This tight punchy clean tone you can feel right down to your fingers.

Further experimentation with the master volume control which is of a push/pull origin, allows me to dial in a fair amount of crunch by increasing the channel volume to about seven, while the master is on about five. This is a splendid Fenderish crunch tone that is solid but certainly not over the top. By simply utilizing the Channel I volume control, dialing in tones from Chet Atkins to Stevie Ray are all possible with Channel I alone. What impresses me the most about Channel I is the unending headroom, especially for a 30w amp. These babies must be biased very hot for you cannot only hear it, you can literally smell the tubes kickin it.

Channel II:
Channel II offers a higher gain structure utilizing "pentode" vacuum tube in its first preamp stage, which allows for this channel to be driven harder then Channel I. Channel II also features a "passive" tone control with a six-position rotary tone switch and when used with the push/pull master volume knob, a "cut" control is available for rolling off the high end. These controls also work in Channel I but I am utilizing it more in Channel II's higher gain setting. My choice of guitar to test this channel is one of my favorites; a Les Paul Classic Flametop retrofitted with Gibson '57 reissue pickups. In the bridge position, and setting the channel volume all the way up and master volume on four, cut position on about three, tone rotary in position two, I was curious to see how the DC-30 could dirty up. At this particular setting, Wow! Much more then I expected. A very useable crunch is achieved at this setting and it is surprisingly LOUD! Don't let the 30 watts fool ya! The six-position rotary switch is very useful in dialing in the tone you're looking for quickly. Basically the passive six-way tone control increases low end and rolls off a bit of the high end, at the same time carefully scooping the mids as you rotate clockwise from position one to position six. This is by no means a "Hi-gain" amp, nor is it intended to be. However, I was pleasantly impressed with the rock solid crunch the DC-30 roars out. In the neck position of the Les Paul, the DC-30 sports warm bluesy tones with a lot of balls and again, a butt load of headroom. Channel II also is very capable of desirable clean tones by utilizing the channel volume and bypassing the master. Even with a humbucker equipped guitar, the DC-30 chimes out classic "to die for" clean tones.

Speakers:
The DC-30 uses two 12" custom designed Celestion speakers. One speaker is rated at 30 watts and the other at 25 watts, enabling the lower wattage Celestion to break up a little sooner. Open back cabinet designed and twin twelve designs ensure full rich tone without "nasal" quality sound of too much midrange.

Final Mojo:
The Matchless DC-30 lives up to its name of yesteryear, and then some. More consistent quality control, cool new custom colors. I've always been a fan of Matchless amps and "Class A" tube designs in general, with the DC-30, I solidify my passion for the Matchless brand. Incredibly rich tone with a punch that you can feel. Absolutely breaths with headroom. The Matchless DC-30 delivers everything from classic Matchless chime to surprisingly ballsy crunch. The power reduction switch is a sweet feature for club players where stage volume is always a consideration. Very versatile and incredibly responsive tone machine propels the DC-30 to boutique status. 100% point-to-point hand wired Class A design, and built like a brick house, the quality and attention to detail both inside and outside of this amp, is second to none. Evidenced by a standard six-year guarantee. At a list price of $3395, the Matchless DC-30 is not inexpensive by any means, but take it from me, the tone and quality will be remembered long after the price is forgotten.

Information:
Matchless Amplification
1933 Pontius Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90025
310-444-1922
www.matchlessamplifiers.com