Tech 21 Tri-A.C.

Gain, amp type, EQ and Level - easy enough. Editing patches is easy, but I wish I could change the volume level of ALL patches with one knob :)

Well... I use it with G&L ASAT Special Tribute direct into mixer/PA, as Tech21 say. Fender settings are great (just don't set gain past 10:00) . But... Brittish is f***ing CRAP. With gain less than 9:00 and 0 tone and guitar you can get a half-decent half-overdrive (and be VERY careful with strumming and chrods). Anything with more gain, no metter how low you set guitar volume, sounds total crap. Well, maybe some SINGLE notes on the fretboarb, but that's it :) No chords, no stumming available. Just fake plastic junk. Never played Boogie, so can't tell anything about how authentic the sound is, except that it sounds really BAD. 2 of 10 for sweet Tweed.

I would use it on a gig without a backup if I could get any useful sound out of this shit :)

I play blues/rock/pearl jammish grunge. I've been playing for some 5 years. Now with the band... We have some good amps at studio. So I can tell good sound from bad. And this is BAD, really BAD. Save money, buy the real ones...:(

Yes maybe if you can use an amp you can use tri-ac, but it doesn't mean that it's so easy to use because first of all using an amp is not that easy.. Using an amp proffesionally.. When I first get the tri-ac for trying, at the first weak I thought of change the pedal because I couldn't get the sounds I wanted when I spent a month on finding real good tones, I made it!! Now I really love my pedal:)

I use a Fender Telecaster Standart, and Behringer Ultratwin GX-212 as an amp, this is really a powerful amp in which two 60 watt Jensen cabinets used.. I use the tweed channel for a sweet clean tone with the neck pickup and a little bit crunchy tone with the bridge pickup.
I use the british channel for a really crunchy tone It sounds rally good with the two pickups, with the bridge pickup it's only a bit mor treble. And I use the california channel for a full distorted tone, I use it with the bridge pickup for rhytms and with the neck pickup or both for the solo tones.. I use the tri-ac with a DOD Tech-4 that's not a very qualified pedal I only use this for its noise gate and eq, I sometimes use its chorus effect too It sounds great with the tweed channel I also use a Jim Dunlop Mr.CryBaby a volume/wah pedal It does the job with all the channels..

I depend on tri-ac, I use only the tri-ac for drive my sound and it gets the job done well!

I didn't have any problems with the machine yet.. But I heard that when it brokes It's nearly impossible to repair..

I play in a rock/blues band and It's a good match for this style of music. I'e been playing guitar for five years and I own the tri-ac for three months. I also own adod tech4 and a Mr.CryBaby.. If I lost the pedal I surely buy it again! I love its sound so much, it's really close to the Marshall, Fender or Mesa-Boogie sound. My favourite feature about pedal is that I can reach three really qualifed tones easily. I wish it had more channels:) It surely help me make music..

First of all, please the ecuse my english, im from Hungarian.

This amplifier in a box, is very good to do, i say the nice knobs are good. The patches are to wrick the knob and press the other knobs.
The manualy wasent, i buy the box used.

The sound are like good like metallica, slayer and my faveourite, PAT MARTINO! I use jackson copy that name is "schrelat", with emg 81 humbucker and i get jazz and the HEAVY METAL sound! I like tones!

Welle i was playing it the day, and i smelled fun smell, like kokos or, you understand, the smell BURNT!

I open its up and i see CLEAN and METAL sound melted together! I mean, the knob is are burnt togeter! It was like coal in it!

I were wery mad!

if i buy a this again, i don't use it wittout vatching the smell (hahahaha).

I try to get a new, but the store say the my foult, with wrong the adaptor or something like this. Why is my foult? The adaptour fit so nice i think it's rigth.

i think the adaptour was the wrong, when i got from the mann i buy it from.

Name of me is Michai Bonezsco. I am playing 4 years and i love METALLICA, SLAYERA and my favouritte PAT MARTINO! My guitar is jackson kopi "Schrelat", and i use the PEAVY RAGE 128 amplifior and the BOSS METALLICA-ZONE Mt-2.

The box is nice, but it smelled the Kokos when i did playing with it. I am not afford new box.

As someone else told, "if you can use a amp, you can use tri-ac".

The only difference is that the controls (especially mid, treble and bass) are very sensible - for every tiny move you do, the sound changes a lot.

Althought that's a good thing (there are lots of sound variation), you feel a little lost, and have to expend hours (maybe days) trying to configure it in the best way.

REPEATING: that's a good thing, cause hardly you won't get to the sound you intend.

I use my tri-ac with a boss chorus (CE-5) and a boss delay (DD-2), plugged into a Gibson Les Paul Standard.

Come one... Mesa Boogie, Fender and Marshall in one pedal? Oh, thtat's a dream the became true! It's not noisy at all, and as I'm a very lazy guy, i chose to buy this pedal just to don't have to have a amp of my own.

That means that, wherever I go, I just bring my pedal case and my guitar. With tri-ac, I can have my boogie-marshall-fender sound in any kind of amp.

If you're lazy to, BUY IT.

Never broke.

Never needed it

I play in a rock and roll band, but I'm the guy that hates "soft drive" and loves FULL DISTORTION!

As there are three banks, I use:
1) Fender - almost a clean overdrive, very light gain.
2) Marshall - PANTERA STYLE, right? Distortion from hell - almost full bass and 3 o'clock treble. FULL DISTORTION (man, it's so powerful that makes you cry)
3) Mesa Boogie - this bank is for solo. I have to confess: sometimes, when I'm doing a solo, I have an erection because of the sound of it.

Problems: none. I just wish it had a fourth bank. :-)

Details:
1) do not buy it for studio recording. Real amps are still the best choice for it.

2) I have a Strinberg Flying V. Nice guitar, but didn't work with tri-ac until I bought a DiMarzio Fred for it.
YOU'LL NEVER BE ABLE TO DO HARMONICS IN TRI-AC WITH A CHEAP GUITAR (or cheap pick ups).

What is easier than this? If you can use an amp you can use this pedal.

Those of you using this in front of an amp (a really crappy practice amp or a $2000.00 tube amp) and then giving horrible reviews, please consider the actual application this pedal was designed for. This is a direct recording box for guitar and bass (bass might stretch it a bit). It is clearly stated in most descriptions. It generally goes direct into a mixing board to record, which can be rather amazing for what it costs. It was designed to get cool sounds to tape/disc, with minimal hassle/budget/equipment, and save them fast. It does this very well for the scratch. Limited but cool in live applications as some have found. Direct into a PA, ect.

Seems very well built in the stomp box word. No issues after myself and others stepped all over it for months in the studio. Gear like this get's much abuse in my world, I own a small (steadily growing) production studio, so not just me is attempting to break everything in sight.

Never contacted.

I'm using it with studio gear that costs ten times what this unit costs (avalon, joe meek, etc.) and have an array of EQ possibilites availalble. Mostly for fun and to get some cool analog distortion sounds as alternates and fast tracks. I know not everybody has this stuff at thier disposal, but it will sound good into a basic four track too.
When used correctly, this thing along with oher sansamp gear/plug-ins gets some highly sought after tones...A few might be surprised (definately those misinformed enough to post a bad review describing the worst possible misuse of it) how many pro albums were recorded using sansamp technology in the mix. I know my other gear is somewhat gold plating the sound, but that aside. Give this pedal a break. Great for home recording and the like, but nothing sounds like the real thing, which I have a couple of the amos this is emulating.
When I read this stuff, it hurts my ears, like somebody plugging the speaker cab simulator on a marshall amp into the instrument input of a line 6 pod (or something) and being surprise it sounds like unholy crap? Yikes, maybe I should try it, just to be positive...haha. Think about it! It's cheap, easy, and fun. Please give tech 21 a break and try using it correctly. Then bash away if you still feel the same way.

This is in response to the review right below. I appreciate the objectiveness of the reviewer, however there is one significant thing that must be firmly clarified, before any other person reading the said review makes the wrong impression on Sans Amp TRI-A.C:
THIS UNIT IS A DIRECT RECORDING PREAMP FIRST OF ALL, MEANT TO BE USED WITH FULL RANGE SISTEMS (MIXING DESK, STUDIO MONITORS, TAPE, HEADPHONES, STEREO, ETC.) The three preamps (Tweed, British and California) are radically voiced to emulate the tube amp characteristics of Fender, Marshall and, respectively, Mesa Boogie. Therefore, running the TRI-A.C. in front of another heavily voiced preamp (as found in a tube amp head) will be a case of redundancy, compromising the tonal qualities of TRi-A.C. Of course, it can be used other than designed, but any of these cases will be more or less of a compromise.
When I first bought it, I used it in front of a Marshall Valvestate combo amp. This wasn't able to produce a flat response so the TRI-A.C. sounded average, at best. The I ran it through the FX return of a Marshall JCM 600 head with 1960 B cabinet, bypassing the Marshall's preamp. The three amp characteristics of the TRI-A.C. were closer to reality, but that tube power amp, together with those Celestions still added a Marshallesque colour to the tone. Then I went to a professional studio and did all the takes with the TRI-A.C. directly to the mixing console (give or take some OD/boosting unit in front of it) and couldn't believe my ears: very realistic, twangy, glassy yet warm Fender cleans, nice, dinamic, sizzly Marshall crunch and dark, gainy and plenty of harmonics Boogie. Now I decided to buy a Power Engine 60 powered speaker from Tech 21, to take most advantage of the TRI-A.C.
For the undecided potential buyer of this unit, I suggest the following order of priorities in using it live:

1. To one or two Power Engine 60 or any other transparent powered speaker cabinet;
2. Through a solid state clean power amp, driving a cabinet loaded with flat response speakers (not Vintage 30s or G-12T75, or any other guitar oriented speaker);
3. Through the FX return (power amp section) of a solid state head or conbo;
4. Through the FX return of a tube amp head or combo;
5. To the front input of a SS head or combo (preamp EQ set as flat as possible);
6. Finally, to the front input of a tube head or combo (preamp EQ set as flat as possible but that's hardly imaginable).

Hope this helped.

One final note, for those who might think I am suspectly defending this product: I am in no way affiliated with Tech 21 NYC.

This is not an "easy" unit to use. Don't expect to plug it in to your amp and get great sounds right off the bat. The controls are very sensitive, and you have to really use your ear. Here is my opinion if you are running into a combo amplifier or a head/cabinet:

Before messing with the TRI-A.C., get a good sound with your guitar going into the amp (i.e., put the unit on bypass so no lights are on either of the three channels). This is good for a few reasons.
First, if you have a good, clean tube amp, there will be times you will just want a clean tone and will not use the SansAmp at all - in these cases, you will bypass the unit. You want to know that when you bypass the unit and are not using the SansAmp, you will be able to fall back on a good clean tone. Secondly, this will allow you to replicate sounds that you program. What I mean by this is that you will be able to work from the same pallette every time (as I said before, the knobs on the SansAmp are sensitive).

Okay, once you find good settings for your guitar with the unit on bypass (with all pickup positions), jot this number down. Hopefully, the only thing that will change is that in a show, all the settings on your eq, presence, gain, etc., will be the same (but in a show, the master volume on the amp will be higher).

Now, and only now, are you ready to really get into the SansAmp TRI-A.C.. Basically, you can save three sounds, each of which are assigned to one of the three silver footpedal taps. I've found and saved three sounds already - one is great, and two are very good. I bought the unit today @ Sam Ash.

Heed this: Start with all levels on Sans Amp @ Zero and slowly raise them - see what they add or take away to the sound. While you do this, keep flipping the pickup positions in your guitar to see how they react with the knob. Eventually you'll find your sound if you pay attention to the sound that comes out of your amplifier as you fiddle with the knobs. Cut some, raise some - now you're a home run.

Also in the "ease of use" category, I want to point out that the pedal taps are kind of close together. This led to some slight difficulty in being able to tap the button I wanted to as I was swaying to the music. Eventually you'll realize that the only way to use this unit is from directly in front of it, otherwise the angle of your foot will accidentally tap the wrong button -- you'll see. However, relatively easy to get used to.

A promising unit, however, not easy to use. Hence, I award it a 4.

**NOTE: The way in which the lights flash (in such a cool, silent analog way) to aid you in determining what knob settings represent the preset is very intuitive. A perfect system.

Setup:
Fender Stratocaster Jimmie Vaughn - Pearl White --> Monster Cable --> SansAmp TRI-A.C. --> Fender M-80 amplifier (soon to be a vintage 1971 Fender Twin Reverb - maybe two days - Thanks TJ!!)

Pretty noisy with the single coil strat, but that would happen with any distortion/overdrive/gain pedal, so no real surprises there. Wonder what it would sound w/ like a Humbucker??? Noticeably lower, probably.

The California (Mesa Boogie) sounds very good. The Tweed sounds a bit bright, so you have to compensate. The Marshall sounds a bit hot and bright as well, but maybe that was just my ears. All I can say is the Mesa Boogie sound is standout so far. Don't get me wrong, the other amp channels that you can select sound good too (but not on factory settings I thought).

Being that this is an analog unit - it sounds really good. Compared to my POD 2.0, the SansAmp TRI-A.C. has a much, much better sound to it. I've had the POD since 2001 and still haven't found a good setting on it for live applications (recording sound quality is pretty good with the POD though). What I'm saying is that I can certainly here the presence and texture of this thing, whereas the POD always sounded very wet and skinny (even with the effects on bypass), and the heavier amp models never really moved air through my Fender M-80 like the SansAmp TRI-A.C. did today in my living room.

Slightly noticed going from tweed to bypass you get a momentary (say .28 seconds) wah-wah sound. Really no big deal.

So overall, sound is good to very good. I give it a 7 (a very high mark, mind you) simply because the M-80 is not a top rate amplifier and my strat's pickups may need to be changed. Therefore, I feel the actual sound of the SansAmp TRI-A.C. may have been compromised.

I wouldn't say "built like a tank" (that seems to be so common in Harmony Central). It is lighter than it looks, but that is not a bad thing. Zero flaws in workmanship evident on the exterior, labeling, screws or finish - good sign. Sticker says made in USA - another good sign. Knobs are sturdy and really rotate much further to the right and left than is immediately apparent. LED's move a little in their spaces. Inpug and output jacks are shiny and sturdy. Pedal pots (or whatever you would call the silver buttons) are sturdy and have a relatively stout recoil action which is I like. Not hard to push down like a wah-wah pedal.

All that being said, I wouldn't want to drop it, get it crushed between a speaker cabinet and a cymbal stand, or spill whiskey on it. I don't want to find out whether this piece can withstand that type of abuse. It is definitely not flimsy though.

No idea about customer support, but the Tech21nyc.com website is pretty informative. Although I did notice that they had a review of this model posted, but the print was too small to read, so that sucked.

In today's market of boutique pedals that come from somewhere in Europe that nobody has that are always on order and are super-expensive, it was refreshing to just walk into a local music store and pick up a nice piece. The SansAmp TRI-A.C. is a good value: three channels of good analog overdrive/distortion which actually sounds good and is user programmable for $160 brand new. It sounds very good also - I keep thinking about the MesaBoogie (Calif.)

Not only does this thing sound good, it looks good. No, it looks great. The design is elegant, yet rugged. For some reason, it brings this image into my mind as I look at it: A relatively new army recruit in the Vietnam War era with a shaved head who has been assigned to do military and electronics communications arrives to his first day of specialized training, and at his workspace is a type of machine that has the same type of simple elegant functional layout as the SansAmp knobs and labeling. The relatively new recruit thinks to himself that he does not see quality like this in the civilian world. Yeah, so that's the image I get in my head.

there is no Power cord or battery included. I didn't like that


Overall rating: Keeping in mind the price I paid, I'd give it a 8.

The Tech 21 Tri-AC is user friendly to the "nth" degree. Editing patches is a breeze. You do not have to be a "techie". The manuel must have been written in America, as I can actually understand it and everything is where it should be. I bought my unit slightly used off of e-bay, so I do not know if it has been upgraded. With that said, I am very pleased with the sounds that I am getting now.

I plug my Godin LGX into the Tri-AC. From there, it goes into a digital delay unit. From there, it goes into a Bose PAS system. The sound is awesome. I am very pleased.

The unit is not noisy at all.

I am using this unit on gigs, without a backup, now. It works and I am going to stick with it. Of course, I hope that it will be dependable. It looks as sturdy as the Line 6 amp modeling units and far more sturdy than other units on the market.

I have no experience dealing with Tech 21. However, I have seen good reports on this site, and that makes me feel confident that if I have a problem, we'll get it worked out.

I have to check out the upgrade issue.

I play lead guitar in a cover band. Most of our focus is on country and pop from the 30's through the 70's.

I have been a working (part-time) entertainer for over 30 years.

Based on my short-term experience, I would buy another unit, if I lost this one. I wish that it had a master volume on it, but there is nothing that I hate about it. My favorite feature is the ease of use and effectiveness.

As stated earlier, I tried a Line 6 Amp Modeling unit. It had way more bells and whistles than what I needed. The three channels are enough for my musical needs and it works more like a real guitar amp this way.

I think that the retail price makes this unit a true contender in the world of amp modeling units. It's a good quality piece of equipment, it's does what it's supposed to do, and has a cost of ownership advantage over the competition.

As everyone else has read, this is a very easy pedal to use. Editing is simple, wish that you could rearrange settings from one bank to another, but you have to start out on the one that you want and edit that one.

I think that it is easy to accidentally go into bypass mode by hitting the same button twice. You just have to be more deliberate about hitting it solidly once.

I run this unit with a proco rat and modded ts-9 before it, and if I'm using the unit with driven sounds, I'll put the boss me-50 after to get reverbs, chorus, compression. To get a good heavy sound, I'll reverse the me-50 and tri-ac so that I'm not running reverb into a distortion. This then all goes directly into the PA.

The unit is not noisy. Distorted settings are naturally noisy as we are using high gain, but it's not any worse than an amp on overdrive.

I'll tell you what settings I like, rather than berate all the ways you can make something sound bad. For clean, the tweed setting and especially the california sound good. My personal favorite is clean setting using california. Sounds really warm and full of body. I use the tweed channel for overdriven sounds. Honestly, I can't argue that people can get the SRV sound especailly with the ts-9 as a boost! It's got the same bite, same twang. I don't play country, but I'm sure you could use his sound to do that kind of stuff very well. The brit channel is pretty good as a more mellow distortion (less twang and bite than the tweed). If I want some really hardy overdrive, I end up using the proco rat through the california channel set on clean. Sounds EXCELLENT that way.

The absolute best part of the sound is that I can play really good clean blues and jazz through the california setting and hear it through a PA! The me-50 gives me a good stereo reverb and chorus. I really feel that it is a good replacement for lugging an amp around. I usually just use my modded peavey classic 30 for clean, and this is an adequate substitute.

I'm giving this a 10 not because it can do anything, but because it's got settings that are worth having and enough to replace an amp for what I use it for.

I don't beat my gear up or anything. But I wouldn't say by any means that this is a flimsy product.

I like to play jazz, blues, R&B, and some good old classic rock/ hard rock. I mostly play blues and R&B gospel music in a black church, so we like the old fasioned sounds. If you want something that sounds weird and synthed out, just use the me-50. Like I said before, to get really warm overdrive, I use the rat through the california channel, and for a hard sound (like tool or such) I use the distortions off the me-50. I've been playing for 10 years or so. The only other gear I haven't mentioned yet is that I am playing a modded fender strat (rewired and with pearly gates pickups for humbucker perks), a roland micro-cube (fun little thing), and ernie ball volume (redundant from the me-50).

I think this unit is appropriate for people who are looking for good clean sounds, overdriven fender sounds, or are looking for an easy way to go direct. I don't think it really does well making WARM tube distortions, but it makes good versions of distortions. I think it makes more the sound of an amp miked from far away, as amps always sound warmer when you're standing near them. I'm not one to rate products, but there seems to be much argument about this product. I'm giving it a 9 because I wish it could be warmer. It still has somewhat a mid-scooped sound, and I think what I really would need is another tone control between the mid and bass knobs. Maybe the bass is just set at too low a frequency.

Overall, I'm mostly glad that this thing makes it so I only have to carry my guitar and a backpack with the three/ four pedals I use rather than carring an amp as well.

1- Very easy to get a good sound!!!
2 - Editing patches are very easy!!!
3 - The manual is well explainned, and easy to understand

Guitar : Ibanez Rg570 with EMG 81 & EMG 85 pickups
Pedals :
Jim Dunlop's 535q Wah Wah, Digitech Whammy, Boss Compressor, SansAmp TriAC, Boss SuperChorus CH-1, Boss Digital Delay DD-3...
Amp : Warm Music G208 (it makes my setup sounds GREAT!!!)
My favorite artists are : Iron Maiden, Helloween, Van Hallen and I can play like then easy with this set-up!!

1 - SansAmp TriAC gives me everything I want. There's no distortion like this one.
2 - I can use this without a backup and it continues sounding great!

1- No customer support better than this one

1 - HEAVY METAL - Triac is perfect for it!!!
2 - I've been playing for 12 years
3 - I would buy other one if I was stolen!!!
4 - I love all the features on it
5 - Compared to Boss Distortion but this ones is BOOSTED!!!!! I've chosen this one because, it can sound great ALONE, and better with another good pedals...
6 - I wish it had 4 pedals
7 - It helps me composing and recording