[theunforgiven246]

has anyone used this amp head before? cause i wouldnt mind a good solid state head and the sound samples sound ok but the "metallica" distortion sounds kinda muddy(?) or lack of punch and clarity, but the clean sounds quite nice. any one here used one/have one/played one at a store before?

[Toshiro]

Got one here.

It's not really high-gain, more of a mid-gain. In their own words in an email: 'vintage voiced'.

The Tweed(fender) setting is great, killer clean and blues tones(which get better with a TS9).

The British(vox/marshall) is interesting. Clean it's very voxy and bright, distorted it walks a thin line between that and a marshall. It's got a bit more gain than a JCM800, but not as much as a DSL/TSL. As you turn the gain knob up though a high-pass filter kicks in, so at full gain it's brighter.

The Cali(mesa) setting is odd. It has too much low end, and that metallica demo on their site is pretty accurate to what it sounds like. This with a TS9 is what I use 90% of the time now, because with that little boost and mid hump it tightens the sound up a lot and gives it way more balls.

I will admit that the amp seems to have more gain up loud, and you definitely want to get one of their cabs, or another that works with modelling gear. Another thing to keep in mind is that the EFX loos on this thing run hot, at only -10db. This will overdrive most pedals on the market, so rack effects would be a good idea.

For all it's quicks, this thing is the closest solid state has gotten to tube tone IMO. It sounds so sweet. If you're looking for just metal tones, the Peavey XXL might be a better option, or a Randall RH200G2 if you can live with 2 channels, in the solid state arena. The Trademark 300 seems to be designed to cover a lot of sonic ground, but not really as a straight up metal amp.

I do have some of the add-ons though, the rackmnount kit and ARMD MIDI converter. It's made my rig a lot cleaner and simpiler to use.

Here's some pics for you:



Hope this helped. I have some crappy sound files of it(my mic sucks, and I had to use a tape-deck to record), but they have the affore-mentioned TS9 in front of all the gain tones.

[theunforgiven246]

well i think i'm gonna get the trademark 60 if i do get a tech 21 cause i like combo amps cause they seem more portible and i want a smaller amp than my 5150 combo, for when i need a good amp to practice with in quiter settings.

[Drew]

Actually, I'd advise the 10 over the 60, especially as a "practice" amp - it's cheap, and while the 60 got me closer to a SRV tone than anything I've ever tried (including some cranked fender tube amps), the 10 did MUCH better for gainier stuff. It's easily the best sounding small solid state amp on the market, imo.

-D

[Shannon]

Thread resurrection!

Toshiro (or anyone else who had one of these),
I've been very curious about these & I'm thinking about trying one out.
What made you get rid of the Trademark 300?
How much was the rackmount kit & the MIDI converter?
What's your overall opinion of the FX loop? Some love it. Others hate it.
Did you still have pictures of it? I'm especially interested in the back panel hookups.

[Toshiro]

Originally Posted by Shannon

Thread resurrection!

Toshiro (or anyone else who had one of these),
I've been very curious about these & I'm thinking about trying one out.
What made you get rid of the Trademark 300?
How much was the rackmount kit & the MIDI converter?
What's your overall opinion of the FX loop? Some love it. Others hate it.
Did you still have pictures of it? I'm especially interested in the back panel hookups.

Photos of the back? Um, I think I have one somewhere, but it's from my old camera(ie shitty). I'll look for it.

I sold it because it wasn't really metal enough for me. If the preamp had been 3 Trademark 10's, with that level of gain and voicing, I woulda kept it, but this amp is based on the Tri A.C. pedal voicing, which is a bit more vintage in gain and the Mesa channel is a bit too 'round' IMO. It had just enough gain for me with the speakers starting to break up(LOUD!), and typically I don't play at that volume. Once the 'honeymoon' first few months wore off I started to feel less than thrilled with the amp. Funny though, that the amp I have now is the one I originally wanted when I got the Tech 21.

The FX loop is probably the amp's weakest point. The damn thing doesn't have a stong enough pad on it for pedals, and it will distort the input of a lot of brands. With rack gear there's no problem at all, just pedals. Both loops have the issue as well.

Overall, I'd say a PSA1 and a decent poweramp would destroy the TM300 for metal tones. For rock it would be very cool though.

The rackmount kit was $20 direct from T-21, the ARMD converter is (I want to say) $50? Can't remember exactly, and I got the stuff while working for a dealer, so I got quite the deal.

Edit: Bad photo of the back:

[Drew]

Would it be fair to say the TM-300 is best compared to the TM-60, then?

They've apparently introduced a Trademark-30 now, which is a higher-wattage Trademark-10 going through a 10", I believe, for only like $20-40 more or something. I want one.

[Donnie]

Originally Posted by Shannon

I've been very curious about these & I'm thinking about trying one out.

Damnit man, I was scrolling down the thread thinking the same thing... then I saw your post.

[Shannon]

Toshiro,
1) I've heard that the California model has a lot of low end. Is it woofy at all?
2) How's the feedback control when the gain is cranked?

[Toshiro]

Originally Posted by Drew

Would it be fair to say the TM-300 is best compared to the TM-60, then?

They've apparently introduced a Trademark-30 now, which is a higher-wattage Trademark-10 going through a 10", I believe, for only like $20-40 more or something. I want one.

Actually, it's not real close to the TM60 in layout, tone wise they're very close though. It's not the TM-10 & 30 preamp voicing, that's for sure.

Originally Posted by Shannon

Toshiro,
1) I've heard that the California model has a lot of low end. Is it woofy at all?
2) How's the feedback control when the gain is cranked?

1) The Bass knob has a fixed frequency of 125hz I believe, with like + or - 12 db. It has a lot of low-end on the Cali setting. Woofy.... Hmmm... Well since most of the time I was running a TS9 in front to tighten it up, I wouldn't call it woofy. I do remember the low-end's tone sounding very clean sometimes, almost like the gain was in parallel in the curcuit. lol

2) I don't remember it feeding back much, if at all.

Really, you need to go out and test one in person, or order i from somewhere with a good return policy. There's no real way other than hearing it to get a feel for these amps. If you want tight-ass high gain metal tones though, I would look elsewhere. Unless they changed the voicing, then that would be sweet.