Knucklehead Tre vs. Triple Rec

[Twitch]

Ive played them both in the shop, and am going again here in about 30 min to do it again and possibly bring one of them home. Curious to hear the pros and cons of both from those who own/have owned either or both of them.

[6string40]

You will never go wrong with a Rivera. I've owned several over the years and they're the only amps I've ever truly missed.

[Twitch]

Well, Im sad to report that indeed I did not return home with either of these amp, none at all actually. I played both of the aformentioned and was not impressed. It could have been the cab I was demoing through(some unknown model Mesa 412). Neither of these amps had the oomph I remember, punchy, but not boomy in the bass section. The Tri Rec was one of the newest models so maybe the guys at mesa have dicked with the voicing on the new model?? Anyways, after that little bit of dissapointment I decided to plug in to a Spider Valve MKII they had figuring I was already disappointed, what could be worse(I owned the original spider valve head when they first came out and what a train wreck). Well, theyve apparently fixed all the annoying bugs from the first version(brings more credit to never buying the first version of anything computer related, give it a year thing). I really enjoyed playing through the Line6, I turned on and off a few times to ensure that the "it never sounds the same twice when I turn it off and back on " thing had been fixed, it had(!!!) and the amp models have been further scrutinized to the point where the important ones sound just as good as the Spider series or the HD147 series do(i like the spider series tone, just at loud volumes you run into the typical SS pitfalls, the HD147s really dont have that prob cause theyre specd for like 300w so youve got plenty of headroom in the power supply). So, anyhow, a looooong story short, Im waiting to hear back from my guy at the shop about my trade and hopefully Ill have a new addition to my cluttered guitar corner and practice space by the middle of next week.

[markD]

wow. as long as you are happy that is all that matters!

[6string40]

??????:think:???

I could see it "just not being the amp for you," but being unimpressed has me a bit baffled. It sounds to me that tube amps in general may not be the right fit for you. And to compare any of those amps to a HD147, directly or even indirectly, is laughable.

[mjtripper]

Man, I absolutely love my k-tre, some of the best cleans I've ever heard and the gain channel just does it for me. I haven't played any of my other amps since I got it. Speaker choice does matter a lot with it though. I have the combo with the stock swamp thing and its the best speaker I've found yet for the clean channel. The gain channel does sound even better with a gt75 however but worse with a v30. A carvin br12 (old model) is close to the gt75 for gain but better then it for clean. I guess in the end if you are happy with the sound of the amp you bought that's all that matters, congrats on the new amp.

[Twitch]

Havent for sure bought anything yet. Now that you mention it that mesa cab was probly loaded with vintage 30s, though I thought vintage 30s were supposed to be bassier than greenbacks or GTs.

[Twitch]

??????:think:???

I could see it "just not being the amp for you," but being unimpressed has me a bit baffled. It sounds to me that tube amps in general may not be the right fit for you. And to compare any of those amps to a HD147, directly or even indirectly, is laughable.

Number 1, I wasnt comparing the Mesa or the Tre to either of the Line6 amps. I was comparing Line6 amps to the Line6 amps. Number 2, I own and enjoy and have owned many tube amps. Number 3, Yes, unimpressed. I like the sound of my Carvin X100B way more than the Mesa and the Tre I demoed. Now last but not least, SS amps are not the end of the world guys. Yes, alot of them suck balls, a lot of them are mediocre, and a few fuggin rock just as hard and sound just as good as any tube amp. The principal design flaw in 99% of SS amps is the power supply. You get that nice awesome bedroom level tone but when its time to move it to a gig or practice level of volume they thin out. Its plain and simply because the power supply on 99% of SS amps do not provide enough power to run the amp at anywhere near its rated power without severe power supply slump. Bass frequencies and lower mids with which the guitars tone is greatly comprised of takes far more power to amplify than mids and highs, therefore when the power becomes scarce the lows and low mids become very muddy because theyre not being adequately amplified or just become basically nonexistent in the reproduced sound. Talk shit, tell me Im wrong, flame me, but Im right. If you want to learn this for yourself, you can do it the hard way by reading fact somewhere in a book, or find yourself say a Randall Titan and plug in and turn it up(I personally have one so I know). Also to be fair there are tube amp that in my oppinion fall way short of the line too, and to clarify the Mesa and th Tre are not one them, simply like my X100B better.

[petez0r]

the triple-rec didnt have enough bass for you?, you gotta remember those amp sound best at past half way up... that might be one reason you werent that impressed. i know for sure that my roadster and markV sound distinctly different at low/mid level/ high.

[Twitch]

I had the liberty of crankin enough, Ive played other Tri Recs before and have liked the tone but this one was seriously lacking bottom end. I could go somewhere else to get one Im sure but I shop at this store cause Im "in" there if you catch my drift (great trade deals, under the table credit etc.). Im not saying that the Tri Rec sucks as a whole, hes had "normal" ones in before, I think there may be something wrong with this one. I went in expecting to here the same tone Id heard from one before and was completely disappointed.

[El Mariachi]

I have to agree with MJTRIPPER

I auditioned for a band yesterday and decided to take the K-Tre combo since it's more portable than my Uberschall.
(I have the 1x12 combo) Eminence Swamp Thang Speaker.

MAN! I was really impressed.
Sounded great!
Cut through the band with leads!
All in a compact package.

Super Stoked!
Thanks Rivera!

Here's how I ran it:

guitar-> Maxon OD808-> ISP Decimator-> Amp
Loop: MXR Carbon Copy Delay
Settings: Gain: 6.5
Bass: 7
Mid: 6
Treb: 7

[mjtripper]

my k-tre has a lot of bass for my tastes, it's the only amp I have where I turn the lows down instead of up. That's with the open back combo, when I play it with my closed back 4x12 with br12s it has super bass - but my high bass can very easily be low bass to somebody else.

I have a x100b as well, the old hot rod version with el34's and it can have a ton of low end as well. I bought it new in 92 and it was my favorite amp until I got the k-tre. That's one of the few amps I've ever played where you can play the clean channel super loud and it stays crystal clean. I like the gain channel but more for a rock then metal tone, even with the gain all the way up I'm always wanting to turn it up just a little more. That's one amp though that I will never part with. I think it has always been a very under rated amp.

I was searching for an uberschall for a long time and have tried a couple different ones in stores and I always could dial in a dirty tone pretty fast but the cleans just didn't do anything for me and I never pulled the trigger. I also tried a carvin v3 and almost bought that one - a couple times actually. I've always heard good things about the k-tre and when I finally got a chance to try one I new about 30 seconds into it that it was the amp for me.

I've never had good luck with any of the rectifiers but they are very popular amps and lots of people are happy with them. I do like the mark iv but haven't had a chance to play the mark v.

Well, that's probably enough thread replies for one reply.

[El Mariachi]

MJtripper,

Try using an overdrive in front of the K-tre. It really tightens things up. I use it as a clean boost (gain all the way down, tone at 12 o'clock, and level all the way up) It really tightens up the attack on both the K-Tre as well as my Uberschall.

[Trussrod]

I was told the triple rec had more gain than the dual, but I haven't had a chance to try one yet. I really like the distortion channel on the dual rec though.

[mjtripper]

MJtripper,

Try using an overdrive in front of the K-tre. It really tightens things up. I use it as a clean boost (gain all the way down, tone at 12 o'clock, and level all the way up) It really tightens up the attack on both the K-Tre as well as my Uberschall.

I'll have to try that, I have a really old mxr micro amp laying around here somewhere.