Tech 21 Trademark 300 head Review

[jgcable]

I just picked one up a few weeks ago and have been noodling with it at home. I took it to band rehearsal today and unplugged my Mesa Boogie Mark 3 Green strip head and replaced it with the Tech 21. I was plugging into a Marshall 1960B loaded with T75's. I have a Yamaha SPX90-II in the loop and a chorus pedal and a custom wh out in front.
It sounded fantastic. Actually.. better than fantastic. Tight,smooth, plenty of gain, great solo boost feature, the footswitchable effects loops are outstanding (with rack mount gear plugged in).
3 channels, 3 EQ's, each channel can be set for Tweed, British or California. These equate ot Fender, Marshall and Mesa.
I have channel 1 set to Tweed (clean), channel 2 is Mesa and channel 3 is Marshall.
The tone is extremely if not exactly tube tone. The amp has an XLR in the back which is the SansAmp output to the board. Thats how I had it hooked up. The tone coming out of the PA was stellar...actually perfect is a better description. This amp actually sounds a little better through the Sansamp DI than through the actual cabinet.
The Fender sounds just like a Fender Tweed
The Mesa sounds extremely close to a Rectifier
The Marshall sounds like a pro modded JCM800. Its smooth, tight and very crunchy.
Palm muting is outstanding and super tight in all settings.
The amp has a crazy amount of power and sounds outstanding at moderate levels.
Its cool looking, extremely well built inside and the 5 button footswitch only requires a standard instrument cord to hook it up.
I love this amp. I am semi-retiring my Mark III and gigging with this amp.
The true test is in a live band setting and this amp passed with flying colors.
What a fantastic surprise. I wasn't sure how good it would sound live. Man am I happy.
People talk about the gain level. Let me address that.
The clean (tweed setting) is super clean to Fender tweed break up. It has a ton of headroom so you can stay super clean really loud.
The Mesa setting (California) has enough gain to do Metallica no problem. You have to dime it out though. It has the perfect amount of gain and it doesn't get muddy or fizzy at all.
The Marshall setting (British) sounds pretty much exactly like a cross between a Marshall 2210 and a modded JCM800. I think its smoother than both and exactly what a quality hot rodded Marshall should sound like.
It doesn't exhibit any of the thin SS traits that you normally find in a non tube amp. This amp sounds like it has tubes in it. Nobody could ever tell and believe me.. I can tell the difference. This thing sounds exactly like a tube amp. It also reacts exactly like a tube amp when you roll the guitar volume down. In a nutshell.. the Tech 21 Trademark 300 with the proper effects processor in the loop and the proper cabinet is a killer rig.

[VitaminG]

sounds cool. How much does one of those set you back?

[toejam]

I love the sound of mine, but I find it could use just a tiny bit more gain with the Mesa and Marshall tones, especially the Marshall which sounds best to me. It does work great with OD pedals, though.

[jgcable]

I love the sound of mine, but I find it could use just a tiny bit more gain with the Mesa and Marshall tones, especially the Marshall which sounds best to me. It does work great with OD pedals, though.

I thought it would need more gain too when I was noddling with it at home. When I got it to my rehearsal studio and plugged it into my Marshall cab I was pleasantly surprised. It has the perfect amount of gain for the metal that I play. Keep in mind... I have the gain dimed out on both the Marshall and the Mesa settings. I suppose other players might need more gain. I was one of those players once but have found over the last 3-4 years that I get so much better tone live when I don't play with a crazy amount of gain.
Don't get me wrong.. this amp has alot of gain and more importantly.. its all useable. The guy who designed this at Tech 21 really is a genius. I can tell that he is a musician because it has all the features a guitar player could want in an amp to use live.

[atilla]

I've used the SansAmp Tri-AC pedals, which has the same models. I imagine that, because of the size differences, your circuitry might be different.

If I were to go solid state, I'd go Tech21 all the way based on the Tri-AC. It's cool to hear the Trademark works well for you. That's a solid vote for anyone looking for (relatively) inexpensive and good.

[Spivonious]

I think these sound so good because they're not modeling amps. It's a total analog signal path.

[hippietim]

I think these sound so good because they're not modeling amps. It's a total analog signal path.

[PowerTube]

I think these sound so good because they're not modeling amps. It's a total analog signal path.

Actually, I suspect that they have hidden tubes. The power supplies get awfully hot.....

[toejam]

I've used the SansAmp Tri-AC pedals, which has the same models. I imagine that, because of the size differences, your circuitry might be different.

If I were to go solid state, I'd go Tech21 all the way based on the Tri-AC. It's cool to hear the Trademark works well for you. That's a solid vote for anyone looking for (relatively) inexpensive and good.

I've also got a Tri-AC pedal. The sound is very similar to the Trademark 300, just the frequencies are a little bit different.

[jgcable]

[Spivonious]

Hey now...I've always read that the signal is kept analog through the whole circuit, and that's what gives Tech 21 such a nice sound. I don't mean tubes, I mean that the signal is never processed through an IC.

From the manual for the Trademark 10:

The overall design is far more than just a scaled-down version of its big
brother 60-watt, 2-channel Trademark 60 amp. The 100% analog Trademark
10 merges the simple-to-operate format of our exceptionally popular
SansAmp GT2 pedal with the look and feel of the Trademark 60, and provides

the totally professional sound quality for which Tech 21 is known

[jgcable]

Hey now...I've always read that the signal is kept analog through the whole circuit, and that's what gives Tech 21 such a nice sound. I don't mean tubes, I mean that the signal is never processed through an IC.

From the manual for the Trademark 10:

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That is the secret behind Sansamp technology.
It actually looks like a tube amp inside "sans tubes"
The most amazing thing is th Sansamp DI. The sound that is sent to the board (or recorder) is amazing. I think that 100% of the JCF'rs who listened and played through this amp would be impressed.
Its a great gigging and recording amp.

[DHardmanJr]

The Trademark 300 looks interesting but I noticed it's not on the Tech 21 site. Did they discontinue it?

[toejam]

The Trademark 300 looks interesting but I noticed it's not on the Tech 21 site. Did they discontinue it?

Yes, discontinued. I think there's a revision in the works due to the fact that the effects loops are only line level.

[jgcable]

Yea, you have to use a line level effects processor in either or both of the 2 loops. Pedals can only be used out in front.
If any of you JCFR's get one make sure you try it out at band rehearsal and DI it into the console before you make any judgements.I would say that its not the greatest home noodling amp (actually.. its not a good bedroom amp at all). This is a live/gigging amp. This is the reason it takes only line level effects in the loop and why it doesn't have onboard reverb. It also sounds much better when its turned up to a moderate level (that isn't suitable for most home applications). If you want a small version for home use Tech 21 makes many small Trademark combo's.