Tech 21 Landmark 60 Bass Wedge Combo

2006 model. 60 watt amp with a single 12" speaker. This little combo only weighs about 38lbs. It is quality USA made, with very nice fit and finish. In fact I really like the scratch resistant textured finish much better than the typical scum-catching cheap carpet that other manufacturers use. It has excellent but simple Bass, Treble, Mid eq controls, plus very usable "Sans Amp" Drive, Presence, and blend control (blends the amp vs. the bass). If you like the Sans Amp gear like I do, then you will LOVE the bass combos!

I use this amp for recording, and practice. It is a very powerful 60 watts. It far out performs my (ex) Ampeg 15 combo. The Landmark simply has better tone and volume than any other combo I've owned, (Gallien Krueger, Ampeg, Crate, Peavey, Carvin). The amp is dead quite, stays cool, has a great clean or dirty sound and is loud enough for small gigs. It is high quality, USA made, and also very affordable! What is there not to like? These Landmarks are the best combos that I have ever had in my 23 years of bass playing!

The Landmark combo is built like a good looking tank. They have a steel grille covering the speaker, corner protectors, and a terrific textured finish. They are solid! no buzzes, rattles etc. The amp stays cool even after a long session at high volume. I've never had any problem whatsoever with this amp.

Before I bought the Landmark combo, I called Tech21 customer support with a few questions. The Rep I talked to was very helpful and friendly. I've not had the need for any repair work..but I had the impression that Tech 21 would take care of business without any hassle.

I've played bass for 23 years. I'm a sort of "gear head" and am very picky about musical equipment. The Landmark series combos are the best I've owned. As you can tell from my review..I'm 100% happy with this product. I would certainly replace it if lost or stolen. If I needed a bigger system I would go for the Landmark head and cabinet combinations. Judging from my experience with the SansAmp Bass driver pedal, and the Landmark combos, I'm sure the heavier rigs are fantastic as well. These USA made amps are simply a terrific value for musicians of any level.

This is an update to my earlier review...

While setting up for an outdoor gig, I smoked a first rate surge protector, and my Landmark 60 due to a bad power outlet.

Here's how it happened: I plugged the surge protector (which was turned off) into the power outlet. Then I plugged my Landmark 60 (which was also turned off) into the surge protector. When I turned on the power to the surge protector (the Landmark 60 was still powered off) I smoked my surge protector, and my Landmark 60.

It was discovered that the outlet was wired wrong.

This is a very reliable amp. I've giged with this amp weekly for over two years now without issue. My recent mishap had absoultly nothing to do with Tech 21's quality.

On Monday I called Tech21, got an return authorization number, and returned the amp. Within 5 business days they repaired the amp, and made a modification to the xlr out to help protect the amp further, and had it back to me.

Since my Landmark was out of warrenty, I had to foot the repair cost, but Tech21 was extremely inexpensive and even split the shipping cost (I paid for it to get there, they paid the return freight).

Last night I giged with my Landmark 60, and the old workhorse sounded as good as ever. I am well pleased with Tech21's customer service and speed of repair. Great Folks!

Bad power can happen at any gig. It can fry your equipment, or worse - you!

The lesson I learned: If I would of had a $3.00 outlet tester (available everywhere) - and used it - I would of found that the outlet was wired wrong, and would of avoided the whole mess.

Made in 2003. This is the 60 watt, 10" kickback style. 1 MOhm input jack, XLR out, effects loop. Knobs: Drive, Presence, Blend, Bass, Mid, Treble, and Level. This amp is Solid State, and oh yeah it weighs about 36 pounds.

I use this amp with a passive Fender Jazz w DiMarzio Ultra J pups, a passive Fender frettless J, and an acoustic bass with a piezo pup. I play in a blues/oldies trio and a 10 piece southern gospel group. This amp is a tone monster!! I can get the most wonderful tube sound out of this little workhorse. This amp gives me the ability to dial in the sound that I want. The amp is ultra clean, but you can dial in as much distortion and overdrive as you want. It's all in the controls. I use the kickback as a monitor facing me with a line from the XLR running to the board. There is no situation other than perhaps thrash metal where this amp wouldn't be loud enough. Remember the amp is pointing back at you - let the PA push the bass to the house. This is the design of this amp and it works great.

I've had this amp for over a year now and have had no problems with it. I do gig without a backup. In fact that's the reason I bought the amp in the first place. I got tired of lugging a half stack around. My gospel group sometimes does four gigs a weekend and I was able to cut down four trips to the car to one (a backpack for my cords, stand, and other junk, my bass in one hand and the amp in the other).

I've never had to deal with Tech21 with the Landmark, but I did email them one time with a question about my Sans Amp Bass DI. They replied to me within a day - good folks.

I've been playing for over 20 years, and have played and owned a number of bass rigs both big and small. I am so pleased with the Landmark 60. If it was stolen, I'd definitly replace it - without question.
When I was shopping for a small combo amp I compared the Landmark to similar kickback amps by: Fender, Behringer, and Harke.

One thing I'd like to add is that this amp is all about tone and is extremely tweekable. At first it's too tweekable (think about the old saying - enough rope to hang yourself). When I started with this amp I found that I could dial in a cool sound and everything would be great, then I would move one of the knobs a fraction and it would suddenly sound - well let's just say not great. Luckily Tech21 provides sample setting in the manual to get you started (by all means RTFM it's a quicj read and is filled with info you need to know)and then suggests that you experiment from there. It honestly took me about six months of trial and error - mostly error - to be able to understand the interaction of the drive and presence, with the bass, mid, and treble. Keep in mind the tone controls are Active - this means both cut and boost. Moving a single knob just one tic really, really makes a difference.

Early on, there were times I was fustrated with the amp. It would sound boxy, or hollow, or harsh, or gritty. I cannot tell you how happy I am today that I spent the time to figure this amp out. Today I get nothing but compliments on my sound.

Let me start out by saying I generally LOVE Tech 21 products. I will try and be objective. However, I was dissappointed in this product. This is a 60w into 8ohm 12" speaker combo. it has a built in tech21 RBI for the preamp section. It also has XLR output and effects loop, headphone and "speaker out". I was looking for a practice amp, but underestimated my desire for similar tone to my "big rig": RBI/Stewart world 1.2 amp/2-aguilar gs-112. I wish the "speaker out" would not shut off the internal speaker. I tried this amp at home and at church where I play with a 5 piece band and couple of singers with PA support.

I used my G&L SB-1 with the amp and I was plugged into the PA also. I played at church, but thats not necessarily boring or quiet. The volume was pretty good, however I was quickly dissappointed in the tone of the speaker or maybe it was the shape/size of box? since I'm use to the GS112 sound: fat, round, smooth mids, I played briefly with the internal speaker and switched several times back and forth with the gs112. what I slowly got tired of was the slightly "boxy" sounding tone of the internal speaker. I played all church services with my gs-112 plugged into the "speaker out" which shuts off the internal speaker. On a lesser note the internal speaker was not as deep as the aguilar too, but the boxiness is was bugged me more. for some people this amp might be great. I still like the RBI preamp section. The headphone output was pretty quiet. another negative was during shutting down the amp it emitted a wierd squeeky squieel from the XLR through the PA that lasted several seconds and was embarrasing.

I did not own this amp long. I had it for two days and returned it. It seamed well built and if I can go on the reputation of tech 21 I'd say it would work well if not abused.

I think it comes with a one year warranty

Compared to the 10" version of the landmark 60 the 12" version has more bass and is not too heavy at 36LBS. I like the preamp section of the combo. I didn't like the SLIGHTLY BOXY sound. Not crazy about the grill as far as keeping out little fingers from poking the cone or dust cap. I prefer the sound of my aguilar GS112 cab and I think for general speaker tone I'd prefer the SWR workingman 12. If the boxiness of this cab was removed I'd consider buying it at a later date, but for now I'm gonna piece together another "separates" rig starting with my RBI and a new gs112, but maybe I'm too picky for tone?

Date of Manufacture: 2003
One channel with one input. 60 watts with one ten inch woofer. Small; light, and portable.The best feature is The SansAmp tube emulation pre-amp the is almost identical to the rack mount RBI. All of the tone controls are active, and wonderfully tweekable. This allows the bassist to focus right in on the tone you want. Much louder than you might think.

Great sound from such a small package. I use this amp at home so I don't have lug my stage rig around. Very capable of playing both clean and overdriven bass. The single little ten inch woofer aquits itself quite well. It will handle the low B, but can not really accurately reproduce any of the delicious undertones below an open E. I never expected it to. Reasonable expectations are the key to small bass amps.

I feel confident that this bass combo will last many many years as it is built like a tank. I don't abuse my equipment. You can blow anything up if you want to.

One year warranty. Never had to deal with Tech 21 directly and don't expect to.

I've been playing bass for 35 years, and only use tube bass amps with 15 inch woofers. So I am used to serious bottom end and lots of tube warmth and growl. The Landmark 60 comes remarkably close to real tube sound. I choose it over every other small bass combo in its wattage class and price point. An SVT it ain't, but it does exactly what I want it to do.