Tech 21 Tri-A.C.

5 knobs. A grown-up overdrive without 50 nested digital menus. Heavenly. Editing, 2 clicks. Manual, a handful of pages. Don't even need it.

I love this pedal. I've had a ton. Boss Heavy Metal, the yellow overdrive, the orange overdrive, ibanez tube screamer, even a pearl pedal back in the day Zoom G2, Zoom 505, MXR Distortion+. I've played a zillion amps from Boogie to Crate. I have a degree in music, played on the road, done quite a bit of recording... Using this direct to the digital recorder. A little compression, a little verb. It sounds AMAZING. You can totally cop a funky rhythm sound.... a nice tubey blues... all the way up to some serious boogie overdrive. People who say it doesn't have enough fuzz.... wow. Not sure what they are looking for. This does it all for me. I give it an 8 because it's not a boogie but it's the closest thing on my budget.

I've had it 1 day. Seems solid. I watched the tour of the factory on Youtube. He talks about all their stuff being made in america and that they are serious about making stuff for serious musicians... like the new switch design that doesn't fail.... ever. Andrew Barta is a genius, hands down.

I had 2 questions. Not sure who answered them. This guy was AWESOME!!! He knew everything about every nuance of these pedals. Asked me all kinds of questions to try to get me to what pedal would suit me the best. Friendly, straight ahead.... as opposed to a few competitors. "uhhhm.... yeah.. hang on.... we'll it looks like it does that...." Thanks. I could get that far with the pdf from your site. Tech 21 should give lessons on how to treat customers. Bulletproof.

Rock, funk, blues.... Playing 25 years. All kinds of other high end gear. It comes and goes. This pedal is staying. I would buy another the same day if it were stolen. I love the simplicity and the sound. So sick of digital menus and scrolling thru stuff and forgetting what the settings are that you can't see in the display. This has none of that. It's perfect.

Seems simple enough to use, but it's a bit of a learning curve to get a decent sound out of it. It's just five knobs: drive, bass, mid, treble, and level, but they are incredibly sensitive and interact with one another in ways they wouldn't on an amp. On top of that, the knobs all act slightly different depending on which voicing you choose (Tweed, British, or California). For example, the drive knob on the British channel adds a bright boost when you turn it below noon. Prepare to be frustrated at first -- you may want to tweak the knobs the same as you'd do on an amp, but you probably won't get a good sound doing it that way. Trust your ears and take a little time to hear how each knob affects the tone on each setting. What you come up with will look odd, but it'll sound right.

The manual is short and sweet but very helpful. Tells about some hidden features of the pedal and offers some sample settings to give you an idea of how to tweak it, though these settings don't really sound at all like what they're labeled as (Metallica, Pantera, Mesa Boogie, etc.), but like all presets they're a good spot to start tweaking. When you find the tone you want, just double tap one of the three channel switches to save it. Be careful to tap quickly enough, though: if you take too long, you'll put the unit in bypass mode and lose the tweaks you just made.

It's not rocket science to use the TRI-A.C., but I can't give it a 10 because it takes so long to get a good tone out of it.

I'm using the TRI-A.C. with an EBMM JP6 and a Line 6 M13 through a Tech 21 Power Engine 60. I put the TRI-A.C. in the M13's loop so I can run distortions before it and delays and reverbs after. This is my grab-and-go rig, and for what it is, it works perfectly well. I find the British channel to be the most convincing, especially when warmed up with a compressor. With the drive nearly maxed I can get a good, thick crunch tone, and the TRI-A.C. takes pedals well, so I can boost it with one of the M13's distortion stomps. On just the British channel, I can get everything from jangly cleans to heavy chunk, but the pedal itself doesn't really have enough gain for, say, modern metal distortion.

The Tweed channel is nice too, and I have it as my clean setting on the first switch. But I don't play clean that often, and I'm not terribly picky about my clean sounds. I tweaked it for a few minutes and was able to get something adequate fairly quickly. A compressor here also helps greatly. The Mesa channel is a big disappointment, though. I haven't been able to find a usable setting on that one. It's all either mud or horrible, grating fizz. I know it's not meant to emulate something like a Dual Recto, but even as a Mark I sim it's pretty bad. Can't even find a decent crunch setting on that one. But that's fine -- the British channel was easy to dial in tones for light crunch, mid- to high-gain rock distortion, and a nice thick lead tone. You'll probably want to throw a pedal or two in front of or behind it, but it'll get the job done in a pinch all on its own. Using it with something like the M13 is just like having a full-on rig, but it all fits on a small pedal board and can go straight to the mixer.

Match this up with something like the Power Engine (highly recommended over a standard guitar amp, but use the amp's effects return if you must) and you've got all the bases covered: three channels for three different tones, whatever other effects or stomps you want to throw in, stage volume, and XLR direct out to the board from the Power Engine. Can't give it a 10 because of the Mesa channel, but it gets a solid 8.5 (rounded up to 9).

It's a metal box, metal switches, satisfying heft to it. It's just sitting on my pedal board now, and I don't plan on moving it. For that kind of use, even stomping on it all night, I can't imagine it's likely to crap out. I haven't had it long, but I trust Tech 21's reputation for making really solid gear.

Have e-mailed Tech 21 on a few different occasions to ask questions, always got a quick response that was more than helpful.

I've been playing guitar for 17 years (more than half my life). I play in a cover band, mostly heavy rock, and this pedal is a pretty good fit for me. I still prefer tube amps, but this thing is convenient as hell, so if it's a small gig or if I just don't feel like lugging a big amp around, I'll grab this instead. It's great for those times when there isn't enough room on stage for your amp. Just go ampless -- straight to the board! I like the straightforward approach Tech 21 took with this pedal. Not only does it sound better -- more natural and dynamic -- than digital modelers, but it's totally no-frills. Just three amp tones, and that's it. Get your effects somewhere else. It's really too bad about the Mesa channel, but the other two are great (the British channel is fantastic), and I like having three presets to choose from.

This can get me through just about any gig. I'd probably buy another one if I lost this one somehow, though I'd want to add one of their California character pedals or a GT-2 for more modern distortion sounds. But nothing else they make (that I'm aware of) has three programmable channels, and I need that, so I might end up waiting for the character series TRI-A.C. if this one got lost.

Bottom line: simple concept, does what it's supposed to do, sounds better than digital stuff and costs less too. You can't buy a cheap combo amp that sounds as good as this pedal, even if the Mesa channel bites.

This is one of the most simple to use units out there. DRIVE, BASS, MID, TREBLE, and LEVEL. The only thing complex (if I can call it that) is a three way switch for CALIF (California amp model, based on a Mesa/Boogie), BRIT (British amp model, based on a Marshall), and TWEED (amp model based on a Fender). There are three footswitches across the bottom, and any model set with any setting can be saved to any of the three switches. To save a setting, tweak your knobs to the sweet spot, and double tap the switch. Saved! The manual gives you some presets to start from and good instructions for how to use. Oh, and a nice LED function guides you back to your settings if you tweak away from your fave tone. It's got too many OPTIONS to be a "10" for ease of use, but I'll be damned if I can think of any better, simpler layout. How about 9.5?

It sounds completely different with different guitars. Fenders sound like Fenders and Gibsons sound like Gibsons. If you wish to use it live with an amp and want the unit to sound like it is supposed to (as well as function optimally) you MUST plug into the power amp/effects return and use the unit as your preamp section. This is how I use the unit primarily, and it sounds great, plugged into a vintage tube power amp or a solid state power section. It has an all analog signal path and the preamp reacts like tubes to when clipping. Also, it can be "pushed" with an overdrive pedal before it just like an amplifier, and each model responds accordingly. The Tweed, used clean, sounds like a pristine, glassy Fender. The Brit, used in any amount of gain, is sonically charismatic. Low gain settings incur a treble boost just like a vintage Marshall, mid gain settings are as clean or raunchy as your pickups and picking so choose, and high gain settings are chunky but articulate, creating a heavy yet beautiful wall-of-sound. I use the Tweed for cleans, the Brit at noon for a crunch overdrive sound, and the Brit maxed for my high gain sound. And I am more than satisfied with my purchase and use. BUT!
I bought this unit for the California model. I wanted a tight bottomed mid-gain Mesa/Boogie tone, and picked this unit up to achieve an analog modeled version. UNUSABLE. It's almost a fuzz. Low gain settings are a muddy joke (yes even with gentler and more articulate pickups), and the higher gain settings are only usable as a gimmicky fuzz tone. The mid EQ range is set way too low to boost for clarity. I sure hope someone can find a use for that awful Calif model, but it is not me. For this I give the sound a 9. More specifically, the Tweed I give a 9, the Brit I give an easy 10, and the Calif I would give a 4.

I bring the thing back and forth all over the area gigging weekly, and have never had a problem. Battery and standard 9V, that's nice. However, I have gotta admit, I am nervous about it getting damaged someday. It seems pretty solid, but it's no ProCo Rat. I bet it will survive the first drop and the first trample... but I wouldn't suggest using it for self-defense like some pedals. It's not a brick, it's a preamp.

I have heard wonderful wonderful tales, but have never had to ask them for help yet.

I want to give it a 10, but the Mesa model is a serious disappointment. I want to give it a 9 but there are more durable boxes out there. I'll give it an 8.5 and sleep tonight knowing I gave an accurate and fair review. This box has a plethora of VERY USABLE very organic sounds in it. All analog signal path. Very subtle, very dynamic tone. Beautiful Fender model. Astonishing Brit model. Three banks to save to, making it the GO-TO live preamp pedal. Jazz? YES. Classic rock? YES. Metal? YES. Maybe not enough gain for Nu-Metallers, but certainly enough for true metalheads. And it retains and enhances the sound of your guitar- your PICKUPS, the WOOD, and your FINGERS!

Doesn't take a scientist to figure this unit out but the controls are extremely fine; a couple of millimetres could make the difference in finding your tone. Very easy to save your settings; just double-tap a footswitch, the light blinks and you???re done. The manual is brief but helpful and clues you in to features you didn't know the Tri-Ac had.

The sound quality of the Tri-Ac is quite impressive, especially when put into the board and out through the PA (although it's not bad going through the effects return of an amp either).

With the range of tones this pedal is capable of it's difficult to give a blanket description, it's fair to say all three channels provide a responsive, organic sound that's easily tweaked to suit your taste or need. Channel switching is largely smooth and 'pop' free unless there's a huge volume disparity between the channels' volume (which there shouldn't be if set up correctly). There can be the usual line noise when using high gain/vol but nothing extreme.

Here???s a breakdown of the channels and my review of how they sound running through the PA.

Tweed (Clean) ??? using the iconic Fender tone as its starting point, this channel provides a lush, shimmery clean that can be tweaked to something dryer or more robust as needed. Very Fendery for sure...

Brit (Overdrive) ??? based on the classic Marshall, but the cut/boost feature of the tone knobs really lets you tcusomise the sound. Plenty of colour and bite, taut response, more roar than you???ll probably need. Perfectly good for leads but even better at getting me the toppy, dry, scrappy rhythm sound I like without the ???plastic??? tone I've experienced from other units. Incorporates a Bright Boost keyed to the Drive dial to emulate the Marshall tone. Any rock player will find his sound here and it'll sound mighty fine???

California (Distortion) ??? a heavier, thicker sound than the Brit, Cali uses the Mega Boogie as its model and retains the near infinite tweakability of the previous channels. I use it both for rhythm work in the heavier tunes and for most leads as it gets me the sweet, hot and fluid tone I like (somewhere around the Fast Eddie/Dave Murray/Leslie West voice). Plenty of distortion, maybe not as super-saturated as some of the people might think they need but more than enough killer gain for us sensible folk??? ;-)

Bought the Tri-Ac in the last days of 08; since then it's been used at home, casual jams and band rehersals. So far so good...it's taken a few bumps when I've forgotten its in the pack I just casually tossed on the floor but it hasn't taken a scratch and still works flawlessly. No hesitation depending on it

Limited one year warranty. Haven't used their CS yet but have read/heard good things. I did expect to get some confirmation after sending my warranty card but didn???t; not a huge deal.

Been playing 15+ years, the last nine seriously,

A few years back I was looking for a pedal I could use when playing an open stage setting that would supply preset clean, overdriven or distorted sounds as required. I ended up using a 2nd generation Jekyll & Hyde but was never satisfied with the results (but that's a different review). I just wish someone had told me about the Sans Amp Tri-Ac back then???

A cool thing about this pedal is that it contains some very useful features that are mentioned in the manual but not on the Tech 21 website. They might sell more Tri-Acs if they did but as it is, it feels good to find out the musical tool you???ve just bought contains even more that you thought it did. The 'secret' features are:

Lazy Pot : Thanks Tech 21 for this little bit of genius: like most multi-channel units, (the Digitech EX-7 being a glaring exception) the Tri-Ac remembers the settings for each channel. This is great for maintaining a consistent sound but if you???re jamming in someone???s apartment after playing a gig or rehearsal the night before, you could be in for an unpleasant surprise when you kick in a channel and get your ???Live??? volume blasting out of the speakers. Not a problem with the Lazy Pot feature which inserts a delay on the Gain and Level settings. This prevents your previously set volume from immediately jumping out and killing everyone in the room; e.g. even if you turn on with your Gain and Level at previously set maximum, there???s no sound for a moment. Then, gradually, it bleeds in and slowly climbs to its previously set level giving you plenty of time to adjust the Gain/Volume to suit your location. Simple but brilliant, nice one guys, that???s thinking like a musician.

Bright Boost ??? the Tri-Ac has a capacitor built in to the Brit setting that enhances the high end frequencies; the booster is engaged when the Drive knob is below 12 o???clock.

Comparison Mode ??? as with most multi-channel units, the Tri-Ac remembers the settings for each channel but obviously with three channels to one set of dials, the settings on the dials may not match the channel you???re currently playing. To find where the your pre-saved settings are you just select a channel and move any other dials : the channel light will blink until the dial matches the preset when it stops blinking and stays on, you???ve reached the preset.

LED auto-shut down ??? to conserve battery power, the Tri-Ac???s LEDs automatically shut themselves off after 10 seconds from the last time a dial was moved or foot switch used.

Universal Z output ??? the unbalanced output is designed to be compatible with full and limited range applications.

Speaker Simulation ??? each channel shapes the sound towards the cabinet normally associated with the amp and provides a smooth even response like that of a multi-miked cabinet

Low Battery Warning ??? when you need a new battery the red LED will become noticeably dimmer
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I don't lug amps around anymore; I get can get the same tones or better from the Tri-Ac.
During my pre-buy research I used YouTube to check out the contenders and caught a fairly long posting of a band???s live show where the guitarist was running a Tri-Ac straight into the PA without effects. The band was covering different flavours of classic rock and I was impressed by the Tri-Ac???s versatility but when the guy went into the EVH solo I was sold. Couldn???t believe what a great sound he was getting???
The second thing that pushed me towards Tech 21 was another YouTube sequence featuring a tour of the company???s factory and in-depth interview with main dude Andrew Barta. I thought any company that lets cameras into its manufacturing area must be pretty confident about their products and procedures and the man himself made a lot of sense; sounded like a musician, not someone trying to get you to buy his gear...Kudos Tech 21!

So easy, a caveman could do it.

Fairly quiet unit.
The distortion is nice, but not quite as good a tube amp.

So far...so good.
Seems sturdy.

I hear the company is quite cool.
But I've never spoken with them.

I play classic rock. This unit covers it all.

Easy to use. Period.

Basically there 3 amp simulator modes. Calif, Brit, Tweed. They are accurate simulations of mesa boogie, marshal, fender.

The control for 3 simulators are Bass, Mid, Tremble, Level and Drive. So there is no confusion on that. I like using this piece to have guitar tones in headphone mixes while not having to have an amp polluting my drum mic's. A record the amp simulator as well as the a dry signal. I've had a few a list guitar players opt for the guitar simulator because once if you record, its all digital in the box anyways. SO this box is good enough to get your tones, and textures correct.

no problems, but i take care of my stuff.

never delt with the company.

I like that it does not have a screen. that way you do NOT focus on letters, just the sound.

Update and a tip.
GET A POWER AMP NOW.

I picked up a used Alesis RA-100 Reference Amplifier for $75.
2 ch. and 2 vols. 100 watts mono into 4ohms.

WOW, so rich, thick and chocolaty. There's a 4x12 cab in my
1x12 combo wif dem heavier sample settings. Not my cup of tea, just saying ka-thunk chunk chunk is there.

The sample settings have relevance now.

I'm running SC and HB pups.

My desire was to have a very good 'bedroom amp'. Got it and no
burning up tubes. I'm looking forward to seeing how the set-up
works at band levels.

Couldn't be simpler - dial up the sound you want, assign it to one of the three channels by hitting the relevant footswitch twice quickly and then its stored. You can then tweak each setting by moving the relevant control - the quicker the LED flashes the nearer you are to the original setting, when it stops flashing you are on the original setting, then tweak... but be warned - the settings on the buttons are not relevant to the sound stored - touch the volume control at the wrong time and its possible to blow your head off - not so great for changing settings on the fly while playing live.

Sounds on the unit are endless, from beautiful and sparkling clean sounds to bee-in-a-bottle horrible fuzz. But I think some people get the wrong idea about this pedal. I originally used it with a Fender twin as a means to get three pre-set sounds (clean, overdrive and lead) but it just didn't work - I have sinced changed to a Crate PowerBlock and a Vox 2x12 cab and its the best tone I have had in over 20 years of playing through all types of lovely old valve amps. The Crate doesn't colour the pedal's settings (and sounds crap on its own, it is just a power-amp) and I just use the tone settings on the amp to adjust to different venues - this means I don't have to change any of the settings within the Tri-AC. The tones I get from this unit are just lovely, really warm and responsive, you can break-up just like a valve amp and the feedback works just like using tubes, I really don't feel like I'm using a transistor amp at all.

I have been using the Tri-AC for over a year now and was very happy until last night when during a rehearsal channel 1 stopped working, I discovered it was the small micro-switch inside that no longer works. Thats the trouble - built like a tank on the outside, big heavy-duty footswitch that presses this diddy little micro-switch inside. Hmmm...

Don't know yet - I have to contact them about this.

This is good for everything, providing you use the right set-up and are not trying to alter an amp that does perfectly well for itself. Funk, blues, jazz, doom metal, its all there - you can get a wonderful clean sound and a completely messed-up Big Muff tone out of it. Best thing about it is I no longer have to carry 3 different distortions about and engage in complicated ballet moves while switching sounds. Worse thing about it is that its just gone wrong.

Extremely easy. Editing is a piece of cake - just be careful with the knobs due to their sensitivity. Manual is pretty useful and offers several basic patches.

My setup is simple - heaviliy modified Tele through SansAmp directly to Yamaha mixing console and then to the soundcard on my PC. This unit makes even less noise than my digital guitar processor. Sure, when you raise Drive knob it may be somewhat noisy, especially on single coils pups, though by bridge Dimarzio Twang King hums moderately even on high Drive settings. Well, and I got Keith Richards sound out of it!

This stomp box looks solid, though I've been using it for onle several days.

Never dealt with them

I am a songwriter making hits for domestic pop stars. This is an absolute match for me, though, even writing pop singles I try to make good bluesy/funky demo versions. I sold my Marshall JCM amp 'cause it was too loud for my stuido apartment. If this was stolen or lost (Lord forbid!) I would definetly buy another one. I think this one is the best decision for direct recording.

Pretty easy to use very straight forward peddle. I have hear some complain that it is to complicated. That's is because they really don't understand it. In terms of controls the peddle has a three band EQ, drive, level, and modeling switch... The settings of which all be saved to three patches. People who say it is to complicated are people who don't want much in the way of options... These are people who are just as happy to simply use the factory presets on their Digitech RP... Which is fine... To each his own. But the reality is this peddle is just not for them. This peddle provides endless tonal possibilities. I have tinkered with this thing for hours and could continue to tinker for the rest of my life to come up with new tones. What frustrates people is the time that it takes to dial in a good sound.

Modeling is a myth! The reality is neither a $100 create or a $20,000 PA system are going to produce the tones that are unique to specific amps. It does not matter who the manufacturer is or what the model is.

That aside the tonal controls on this unit are interesting. A three way switch provides three tonal structures for the controls.

The best part is while the patches can be saved digitally they are a %100 analog. Not really sure how that works but cool nonetheless.

At its heart you can think of the Tri-A.C. as a three channel pre-amp out of a guitar amp. Which is great for use with single channel amps like some of these retro deals on the market because it is essential like adding two channels.

I have noticed a lot of people noting that it is not for use in front of an amp. An opinion I don't share. I think the reason that people say such things is because they use it in conflict with their amp. For example if you have a two channel fender with fairly intuitive pre-amps the reality is this unit will be in conflict with the amp for no other reason then you have three pre-amps with up to three EQs all in one line. Who needs three EQ's? Of course it is going to sound like crap... You have three things all trying to do the same job.
On the other hand if you set all of your amp EQ's to flat it sounds just fine.

This peddle excels at being a pre-amp. So consider your needs. If you have a fender twin or a vox ac 30 both of which have very good pre-amps then you probably would not want to bother. But if you are using something like an Orange Tiny Terror which is a signal channel amp with no EQ then it is great. All depends on what you need. If your primary purpose is to use it as a pre-amp then you have the right peddle.

Now if your primary purpose is to use this as an OD peddle then you might want to find a different peddle. This thing is simply not a distortion peddle... it is an over drive peddle! I know it is marketed as the end all destoraion/OD peddle but not so. If you are looking for that really rich crunchy metallica type distortion this ain't your peddle. I don't care what they say in the manuel. If you are looking for a decent OD then it is good... not the best but good.



7 for OD
10 for pre-amp

It works no problems. Sturdy construction.

No experience but I hear its good.

Good peddle... Nothings perfect this ain't heaven... Shop on ebay... buy it used and save anywhere from 50-100 bucks.

Update with a heads up for how I stumbled upon great clean Marshall tones whilst sampling some tone caps for me axe with SC's. I settled on a 223J 100V. This cap allowed a useful 7/8 range then would kill volume.
Just before drop out is the sweet spot for excellent clean tone out of
fairly high gain British and California settings. If switched to a clean or bypass setting there's no sound.
The tone pot works like a vintage Tweed tube amps single tone pot.
Turn clockwise and the gain just grinds harder.

B4, I could not get a non-shrill clean tone out of the Brit mode, especially with SC's. Prior to this, decent verge of break-up tones, but I'd bypass for un-colored cleans to hear my gits tone. I couldn't get true cleans. That's history now.
This stands true running through my Fender AmpCan! That's just crazy.
I'm talking rich and full jangle, spank, and grind-age.

Maybe I am experiencing what this unit sounds like through a P.A. or
Power Engine. But I'm getting it via git voiced FDR AmpCan w/6" cone!

What may be unique is I use saturated settings to get crystal clear cleans. This thing is acting like a good tube amp! Less the sustain.

Anyway, my approach for settings now is...OK, good balls-to-the-wall setting and save. Roll back the tone knob for jazz, twang, alternative and blues. You get the idea.

Very simple. Took me a few minutes to get used to the flashing leds (they flash at a varying rate when you turn the nobs from the currently stored value).
I am in no way connect with Tech 21, and I think this is an excellent product.

It comes with 3 decent factory presets - the Tweed and California settings were excellent. I'm not such a fan of the British setting - too toppy, but that's just my taste. The sounds are excellent - I pretty much took the 1st and 3rd factory setting (clean and scooped lead), tweeked them slightly and stored them. The other one I set on California, with a slight overdrive, trying to get the 80's Scofield sound.
The sounds are excellent, but as another reviewer rightly pointed out, it's for plugging into a PA or recording console. It will not sound good with an amp. I had the original "Classic" Sansamp, used it with a (cheap) amp and never got a good sound from it. Then I bought a PA system and used it with that and it sounded great. I use the Tri-A.C. with said P.A.
The driven sounds sound like a hard driven amp, not a fuzz box, which is just what I wanted. Clean up well when the guitar volume is lowered. Excellent dynamic response. No extraneous noise.

I haven't had the Tri A.C. long, but I've had the Classic Sansamp since the early 90's and it still works fine, so I'll rate it based on that.
It certainly looks very sturdy.

Not needed them.

I'm a fusion jazz wannabee, and wanted a clean jazz tone, a thicker sustained tone, and a nasty but natural sounding, overdriven Mesa-Boogie amp sound. The Tri-A.C. performed admirably in all these categories.

It's very easy to use it,you turn right or left the knobs, after you have choosen the preamp you like,till you hear your sound and then you double click and it's saved...

it's not for use infront of the amp,one more time it's not for use infront of the amp ,one more time it's not for use infront of the amp... when i first bought i plugged it in the input of my amp(this is the way i use the classic sansamp that i also own)and the sound was awful. Oh my god i said to myself ''what the ...is this... why did they destroy the sansamp's sound...how can the classic pedal be so great and the triac soundw so awful.''then t used it in the return loop of my amp and what a relief...a great sound came out of it....it's a fanatstic pedal which it should be used only in the return of your amp...i feel pitty for those who didn't try it this way...used it as a distortion pedal... and wrote terrible things about triac. They don't have an idea about how wanderful thiw preamp sounds.if only they could here my samples then they would have hit their heads on a wall because they sold it....
and used it as a distortion pedal...

i have the classic for over 7 years and nothing bad or any malfunction ever happened ,i thing it's the same with the triac

excellent...once i ask them for further information the next day they replied to me ...

i give this preamp a 9!!!!!!!!!!!!! keep up the good work tech21

This is a pretty straight-up piece of gear. One "in" jack and one "out" jack. Three big switches. Some knobs.

Mine didn't come with a manual but I figured out the essentials in sort order. I give this a seven because some useful features aren't labeled on the unit itself. Some examples:
1. If you change a setting, the selected LED will flash. The slower it flashes, the farther it is from the "saved" setting. This is really helpful if you want to know how far you've deviated from what you had before.
2. If you hit one of the foot switches twice while changing settings, the settings will be saved under that switch.
3. If you hit a switch twice while *not* changing settings, you will bypass the effect.

I can't get over what this pedal has done for my franken-strat! It makes me want to play more guitar, which is saying something since I'm primarily a bassist and drummer. I mostly use the TriAC for recording at home. Previously I had two usable sounds: one non-descript clean tone (straight) and one barely-tolerable non-clean tone (using a Rat distortion). Nothing warm. Nothing exciting. Just "eh". I put the SansAmp into the signal chain and WOW! All *sorts* of usable sounds. Now even the most bizarre pickup settings are usable (I added phase flip and series/parallel switches to the strat last year). I LOVE what the bridge pickup sounds like.

Most reviews I've read here say nice things about the clean Tweed setting and the overdriven Cali setting and I concur. I haven't found too much use for the Brit setting yet, but I haven't needed to look that far for tones I like. I find that most sounds tend to be louder than the straight sound, even clean. While there is some noise generated from the distortion sounds, it is at a more-than-acceptable level.

FWIW, I've heard this played side-by-side with a Digitech modeling unit and a real Marshal combo and they all sounded equally good in an echo-y basement. A guitarist friend, who plays considerably better than yours truly, plugged in to my Tri AC and was blown away. He *almost* regretted getting the modeler he purchased because he felt mine sounded a little more "real".

This thing has the hallmarks of good quality: Robust jacks, heavey-duty foot switches, and thick metal chassis. I don't worry when tossing this into a gig bag.

No need thus far.

I got this particular model to fill two needs:
1. Recording at home. I am overjoyed. Everything from fat cleans, to overdriven rhythms, to sweet leads. Makes me sound good, even if I'm not especially.
2. As an amp substitute for jamming. The tri ac shines at this because it sounds really good and has three easily-customizable sounds at your disposal. Three tone settings is all you need live. Really.

There are a few features missing on this unit, namely the on/off axis and the "mod" switches. After trying the SansAmp GT2 in the store (which has these features), I decided that they weren't essential and went with the Tri AC. Live you probably wouldn't notice them and for recording you can compensate with EQ.

If you want spaceship sounds, or even chorus and reverbs, you might consider some of the modeling units out there that will run you $30 to $50 more. I wasn't too concerned about that since I typically add effects later in the recording process.

Easy to use but you do have to tailor the sounds to mach your guitar.

Very Very Good!

Tried with Power Engine 60 - Excellent

also

>>> Mackie Onyx Satellite >>> Logic Audio >>>> Yamaha MSP speakers.... fantastic sound.

Been playing 30 years and have owned all the amps that this box emulates. I've also owned POPOD, ZOOM, Roland and got rid of them all.

THIS IS NOT DESIGNED TO BE PLAYED IN THE FRONT END OF A STANDARD GUITAR COMBO. There are people giving this low ratings because they do not understand that this is a pre-amp. Run a good pre-amp through the input of a toppy guitar amp and it will sound s**t.

A BRILLIANT recording tool and all amp sounds sound good with tweaking. Add reverb, delay and FX and you will not turn this baby off!

I'm giving it a full 10 as opposed to 9 because of those who have given it low ratings because they don't understand this unit is a preamp not a distortion pedal.

Had for 4 years... rock solid. Super long battery life.

Very good, I lost manual and got PDF very quick.

Better pre than POD, Zoom, Boss, Roland.

Piece-O-cake to use, but good sound? hmmm Okay sound yes.

I do not have the manual. No response from Tech 21. doh

BTW, I'll abstain from ratings as it's new to me and I only have tried it thru. the front of my current available SS amp..

1st things 1st, I run thru an old SS Peavey Pacer. My tubers('56 Deluxe Tweed Clone, '62 Ampeg Reverberocket) are too loud for Apt., besides repairs are needed. I planned to get a full-range 12" speaker. The axes have P-90's, overwound and underwound, which typically make anything sound its best.

I've flatened the amps EQ and have tweaked away, but all I've gotten are livable clean Tweed, clean Boogie and dist. Boogie. The Marshall is at it's best with EQ maxed, if not maxed, bad shyte pops out in certain frequencies. The Marshall does not find a home on any channel as yet. From what I read, I was certain the Boogie wouldn't.

I got it used and it seems healthy.

2 weeks, no response per my Manual request via email.

I noodle mostly with blues or rock. Goin' on 3 decades of playing. I hate tone loss from effects, so I just use a little. No, I wouldn't buy again. So far, it's toy like. Maybe it would be better if I buy a BBE Sonic pedal or a this and a that?

I am tortured a bit by tone. I tweak and tweak and try to make the best of what I gotts. Previously, J-Station thru. tubes and Zoom thru. RealTube Tube Works pedal into SS amp. seemed to offer more natural dynamics. Going thru. the RealTube using a low-gain tube didn't help this unit.
So, can't find natural tones or dynamics. Wait... nope, just checked again. Actually, I just bypassed and adjusted amp settings to normal and presto, natural, clear dynamics. Just no classic amp tones.

Looks like a sick little micro wattage pure tube circuit is in my future.

This is a follow-up of my previous review. I'm on my second tri-ac and while I've contemplated selling it a couple of times, I always find something useful for it. Here's a few thoughts since my last review...

Try it with a speaker simulation for direct recording or direct-to-PA use. It fizzes like a direct box until you do that. Even the Behringer Ultra-G is an interesting mate, as is a POD with the amp models disabled. I don't care what "they" say- it needs something to tame the fizz. You can pick out the fizz in the demo recordings on their site.

While it seems to have plenty of high end, it doesn't have the same presence or clarity in the high end that a real tube amp has. Heck, some real tube amps don't have it but the good ones do. This may sound like I'm in conflict with myself on the fizz issue, but its not the same thing.

It works great for bass! Great direct bass tracks!

It works great as a backup for your amp at a show.

It works lousy as a distortion pedal in front of an amp. Try it in the effects loop instead.

Built to last. The switch mechanism is very rugged in design. You can't stomp this hard enough to break the switch- it is physically impossible. You'd have to crush the rugged metal box to break the electronic portion of the switch. Brilliant solution and they claim it is properly buffered to prevent loading or other unpleasant tonal issues.

And oh yeah, I'm not selling it. I'm keeping it. Did I mention "Try a speaker sim?"

Very easy to use.

Well, this must be my third review of Tri AC and it's getting better all the time. I have had time to compare this to digital and other analog devices and there's just nothing that comes even close. I've tried Hughes & Kettner Tubeman, Yamaha DG-Stomp etc. but Tri AC is still the winner. And that is mostly because of the super good British channel. Overdrive sound or distortion sound, it's always the British channel. I recently found out that the California channel though not very good for distortion makes an incredibly good clean sound. Far better, in my opinion, than the Tweed channel. During recordings I use all the channels, but live I now only use the British channel (od and dist) and the California channel (clean).

Yes, I would use this without backup. I play this through a tube amp, but the Tri AC is also my backup. If something happens to my amp, I just play throug the PA system.

I think this is as close to perfect as it gets. There is something about the British channel sound that I can't explain. It's so good I could play for hours and it would still sound excellent. I don't know if it's really that much like Marshall sound, but it's an outstanding sound and very much rock'n roll!

I give this an 8 because it's a thinking musicians pedal. "Well I jsut wanna rock!" OK, well the manual is only like 6 pages, read it and you'll know how to twaek this thing till infinity. Still very intuative. Double clicking to save settings is so ingenious.

I may write a proper review later but I just wanted to respond to some comments about the amp modeling:

"You cannot get metal tone out of it simply because none of those amps are meant for metal tones."

Really? Mesas and Marshalls aren't meant for metal?
There were also several reviews suggesting this pedal doesn't have enough gain...?! Well what kind of pickups are you using? I use this pedal mainly *for* it's metal capabilities ( I bypass it for my amp's clean sound, which I could never get sick of.. Sovtek mig 50). I have a Samick PRS rip-off with an EMG 85/81 set and it's got gain to spare. In fact I use it to record direct and have no problem saturating the tape with a high level. Also, a lot of metal players choose something based on a practice volume level... well, fizzy and super saturated isn't going to work well in a big room with a full band(metal zone.. ugh). But for recording this thing can DUMP so much distortion, especially on bass that it sounds terrifying!

Ok, maybe the Tweed amp won't break up as much as you need, but both British and Cali can be pushed way over the top... in fact, sometimes I gotta remember to roll off a tad bit of gain and just tweak the mids to get more 'edge'.

A friend of mine borrowed it for awhile but refused to read the manual. He plays different stuff than me: indie-rock, blues rock, lead stuff like Dinosaur Jr. and he complained it sounded artificial. Well, when it says "set your amp flat and no brite switch" they mean this! Like any tool/pedal/gear it will sound awfull you don't use it as intended! That being said, if you know how to use it, THEN you can abuse it. :) I have used this pedal to get crushing sounds out of keyboards, and on vocal tracks(hint: double track a screamy part and then run one tack thru the Cali channel with lots of gain).

Anyhow I can't say enough about this pedal. I really don't like to endorse stuff because obviouslly everyone has a different sound they are going for, but I was always unhappy with the Boss/Digitech/DOD sounds... this was super affordable for something that sounds boutique but is programable and super flexible. If you own this pedal and are a little unhappy with the sounds just keep toying with it.. it took me about 6 months to find the sweet spots but now I use it on EVERYTHING and for so many things it's not made for.. I've yet to run drums thru it mixing but I bet that would crush too.

Some mp3's featuring it: www.myspace.com/sentinelgrind

Hope this review helps!:)

Built like a tank. Switches are sturdy but I can even switch em easy by hand(for mixing). True bypass or not (I dunno) no unwanted signal gets thru for me.

dead easy to use...3 footswitch, 5 knob, no manual necessary.

it's supposed to simulate fender tweed, marshall and boogie sound. close enough, but a little muddy, and compare to sansamp gt2 it seems lack of gain. maybe an overdrive in front of it help a little to achieve heavier sound.

solidly built

this is a versatile pedal... we can use it as a stompbox distortion or use it as a preamp.

Verry easy to use and get a good sound
Manual is good. Active controls (cut or boost)

Verry real, analog sound! Fender, marshalls are super.
But you have to amplify them the way its ment to be.
Home recording/ hifi speakers= verry good.
But I own a tech 21 power engine 60. And that's the keyword for me.
I'm going to by another one so I have 120 watt. 60 watt (one power engine 60) is okay but the clean headroom is not that much.
With 120 watt is sounds awesome!
Buy them!

I think so.
I have the unit for only 6 weeks

It's the best there is.
Send them an e-mail.
The next day you have all the answers.

Tech 21 rules!

The tri-a.c. is *extremely* easy to use *if* you go along with it's intended purpose. like all sansamps it is designed to recreate the sound of a complete signal path. it is *not* a distortion/overdrive pedal, and that means that it works best when run thru a full range system, not in front of a tube amp. that doesn't mean it's the only way you can use it, but to get the best results the fastest, use a very clean amp (like a roland jc120 for example), one of tech 21's power engines, or a similar power amp/speaker set up. i have also had luck running to the FX loop return on a few tube amps.

editing couldn't be easier, this has already been covered a million times - dial in a sound, double click the switches, done.

i've been using the Tri-ac in a tech21 oriented direct system for a year or so. for the most part my signal goes directly to the house sound system without any amp on stage. i also use their GT2. a boss line selector is utilized to switch between the two pedals. the Tri-ac provides my main clean and lead tones, while the GT2 is my rhythm sound.

there are 3 Amp choices in the Tri-ac, Tweed (fender), British (Marshall) and California (mesa-boogie). i've a point off here for the California setting, which has way too much low end, in my opinion. the gain range is also not what i'd like to see... it's pretty geared towards "classic" tones. not that there's anything wrong with that, i just don't see a point in limiting the sound. this is not my only tech 21 product so i know they are capable of more gain... they just chose not to, in this case.

the Tweed setting is *very* good. i use this for all of my clean tones. it also *kills* for the "edge of breakup" overdrive sound that so many of tech 21's digital counterparts fail at.

i use the British set for my lead tones, with lots of gain, mids, and treble. with a little chorus and delay i'm set and will play until no one else cares to listen to me. it's the kind of sound that *inspires* you to keep going, and at the end of the day, that's what matters.

the tri-ac also takes pedals *very* well, i'll use fuzz pedals before it and also put modulation & delay pedals after, and i've never had a single issue.

i have never had a single problem with this pedal. ever. it's one of the reasons why i continue to use this setup - it consistently provides me with the sound i want to hear at every show, every time.

there is no better customer support than tech 21. they always respond to emails, generally within a few hours. i've even just shot the shit with them a few times. if you have a question about any one of their products, don't hesitate to email them.

the tri-ac is an integral part of my setup. it sounds good on stage and in the studio. if it were stolen or lost i would absolutely buy another.

How easy is it to get a good sound out of it?

Super Easy.
The builting presets give you enough hint about this box's capabilities.
You need to remember few points while dialling in a "good" tone. (Though, that in itself is debatable) ;)

1. The amps have inbuilt voicings that you need to respect.

2. You cannot make a tweed amp sound like a marshall or vice-versa. And neither should you try doing that on Tri-AC

3. The tweed channel is more bass and treble heavy. So be a little frugal with those. Boost mids, cut bass and treble for better tones outta Tweed.

4. British channel is very trebly. Just like the tweed it is modelled after. You need to cut down treble to get a smooth tone. You want jangly-twangy tone? Keep treble higher. Sounds very much like the Marshall Plexi.
Boost the mids and bass and cut treble to get a "nice" tone.

5. California channel is uber-bassy and very low on treble. Try to curtail bass and please boost the treble to get sweet overdriven tone of the Mesa-Boogies.

6. The EQs are active. That means above 12 o clock means boosting a frequency. Usual amps and stomp boxes have passive EQ.
Wanna get the same feel? Donot tweak any EQ knob beyond 12 o clock.

Apparantly, the voicings of these channels match the orginal amps pretty well. Ppl who crib about British being too bright or California being too dull should go and check out the original amps too.



How about Editing patches?

Again very easy.
Just play around with knobs and "double click" on any channel. The setting gets stored there.



How is the manual for it (if there is one)?

Manual is super. Infact it gives you tips to get good tones out of the box. Something that I have NEVER EVER seen in any product manual!



Do you know the firmware revision number? Has your unit been upgraded?

Now what is this thing?

Awesome.

Tweed = Fender "tweed" amps
Brisish = Marshall "Plexi" amps
California = Mesa/Boogie Mark-I amps

Thats the key.
This unit is moderate gain one.
You cannot get metal tone out of it simply because none of those amps are meant for metal tones.

You need to put a boost in front to drive the amps harder. The same you need to do here to get more "metal-friendly" tone.


Tweed sounds perfect for slightly overdriven tones. Slight haze/fuzz and it sounds cool.
British also sounds cool in this regime. Infact, for certain jobs it sounds better, due to the characteristic "ovedriven + clean" tone coming out of it.
California sound better in the moderate gain - high gain regime IMO.
At low gain settings it sounds just too muffled for my liking.


The British channel has a wonderful feature (wich existed on the original Marshall Plexi too): the gain kobs also affects the tone. :)
Higher the gain, more thick the tone; lesser the gain, more trebly/bright/jangly the tone.

That means you set and EQ for low gain (rhythm) patch and be assured that the same EQ with higher gain will sound excellent for leads.

+ The fact that British channel is awesomely responsive to picking dynamics as well as guitar volume pot.


The California channel is not that responsive. :(
However, it makes up by giving a sweet Santana-ish overdrive.


This pedal is great for playing blues and hard-rock.


One of the beast features of this pedals is that it sounds fabulous even at max gain (something that even amps fail to do).

However, what I would've actually liked from this pedal is: more gain range.


And hey, this baby does the direct-in job really pretty well. Dunno what is the problem with ppl who said it sounds like shit when plugged direct. Most probably they dont have any idea about how to tweak and get the desired tone.




I can get Stevie Ray Vaugh and BB king's tone (somewhat similar).
Eddie Van Halen's (almost), AC/DC (spot on!), Lynyrd Skynrd (kinda spot on!), Santana (amlost spot-on!), Jimy Page (almost) .........

You get the picture. These are/were the artists using the same Fender Tweed or Marshall Plexi or Mesa/Boogie Mark-I amps in real.


The reason why am giving it 9 instead of 10 is because if you listen to the samples of Tech21 PSA-1 on their website, you realize that PSA-1 can deliver even more superior tones than TRI-AC
x-(

:((

Solidly Built.

However, I haven't had much issues till now + its been only one/two months.

If you've dealt with the company, how helpful/friendly were they?


Very much. I mailed them and they replied promplty all my queries.
Infact the person told me specifically how GT2, TRI-OD and TRI-AC are different (tonal, voicing, etc wise)

GT2 and TRI-OD are better for more modern tones.
TRI-AC is better for classic rock kind of tones.

I play Blues, Classic Rock, Rock'n'Roll, Hair Metal, Thrash metal.
Except thrash, this pedals covers everythign else pretty well.

I have one KORG AX100G too. Whcih I now use as FX bank :)


I did a comparison with few other products like:
Tech21 TRI-OD
AMT Distortion Machine
Rocktron Silver Dragon
Toadworks Deathrattle
etc

Ultimately it was combination of features + availability that prevailed.


Actually I wished initially that it should have more gain.
But then the purpose is lost!

This pedal is meant for more laid-back classic tones.

You want more hi-gain stuff?
Buy GT2 or TRI-OD or AMT distortion Machine.

Depending on your setup, it can take some moving around in your setup to get something that sounds good. I'm running into a 50 watt EL84 driven amp. i settled on running it direct in line with Compression, EQ, and Wah in front of it and Delays and Modulation after it.

Programming one of the switches couldn't be easier...tweak the pots and double click...done.

be careful how you run power into it...i daisy cahined it and it wasn't getting enough power...so i run a dedicated Power Supply.

i don't use it for nor would recommend using it as a DI.

I like the quality of the 'Tweed' and 'Brit' sounds. the 'cali' sound does not work through my set up...too muddy.

I would say if you are depending on this or any 'distortion'pedal for your main tone, then you will be unhappy. leave that up to the Amp.

'tweed' - i use this setting for a slightly driven sound. almost clean. one of it's better sounds

'brit' - i have the other two buttons on this setting. One is for my open chord/arpeggio sound. this sounds great. The other is a palm muting power chord sound...sounds good, i don't hit that much. i use my lead channel on the amp for that....

add the clean channel and this pedal is a great way to add three sounds to your setup.

be patient and tweak it slowly. i'm very impressed with the quality of the pots and a little goes a long way. I'll admit that i was a bit unhappy when i took it out of the box and plugged it in for the first time....i spent an hour really tweaking it with my amp and found some tones i'm happy with.

Very simple design
it's got a choice spot on the pedal board

I play a wide variety of music on electric guitar. i was looking for a way to add several more lead sounds to my rig with one pedal. this looked like the best bang for the buck and i think it still is. Its three pedals for the price of one.

it does what i wanted - light warm distortion and bright open chord distortion....the metal sounds are not very good with this pedal.

You can't get much easier. Almost any setting can provide a usable tone, and the controls are calibrated nicely, not too sensitive but offering plenty of range. Aside from an occasional difficulty with volume control, I rarely find myself adjusting knobs hair by hair.

Speaking of volume, the one "problem" is that changing any of the controls requires adjusting the level to match volume. It would be nice if the device could autolevel. Yes, I know that's borderline impossible, but I'll knock off a point for it anyway.

The three-patch memory system is bee-yoo-tiful. It's a lot nicer than constantly fiddling with knobs, or sacrificing analog tone to have the memory of a digital modeler. Still, it doesn't have the nigh-unlimited memory of its big brother, the PSA-1, so I'll knock off another point.

The sound is great, all-analog stuff: rich, organic, and responsive. It really does wonders for even clean tones, adding subtle warmth and size without turning the sound muddy. The distortions are rich and full, and are flexible enough to find a home in any genre of music. However, unless they've got super-hot guitars, metalheads will find this to be a poor primary distortion (too weak), but a wonderful preamp/boost/coloring unit. Also, jazz/blues people may find it too harsh to use as a DI (though it may go beautifully with an amp).

That said, it doesn't sound a whole lot like the amps it supposedly models. It's got a very unique flavor to it, so if you're looking to imitate someone else's tone, you're probably out of luck.

A quick note on which speakers/amps to use: the TriAC softens tone and adds color, so those with muddier guitars and amps may find that they need to swap their amp for hi-fi speakers. In my case, I alternate between hi-fi speakers and my amp, depending on what kind of tone I'm aiming for.

Here's my typical signal path (I got tired of complexity): Kramer Focus guitar or Ibanez BTB505 bass -> TriAC -> Sansamp Programmable Bass Driver -> KRK V4 nearfield monitors and Fender Frontman 25B bass amp. I've found that the Bass Driver can add great oomph and bite on occasion, a discovery fomented by the fact that I'm primarily a bass player.

To explain the Focus and the Frontman, I got very lucky with both and got the best of both models. I've yet to find a guitar under $500 that sounds better than my Focus (quieter and easier to play, sure, but not better-sounding) and an amp for guitar or bass under $1000 that sounds better than my Frontman (louder and more fully-featured yes, but not better-sounding). Yes, I've looked. I'm recovering from an absolutely ghastly case of GAS.

It's surprisingly light, but it seems rock solid. I'd definitely gig without backup, but I'm pretty easy on my gear so YMMV.

Never used 'em.

IMO, there are basically only two excuses not to own one of these: the Sansamp PSA-1, or a $1000+ of boutique distortion pedals. I mean, what's not to like? The TriAC is as easy to use as your average Boss stompbox, is flexible and programmable like a digital unit, and yet has pure, analog tone that sounds as good or better than any boutique distortion pedal in the same price range.

It's not perfect, sure, but it's pretty darn close.

The preset sounds are pretty good already. Depending on your guitar the sound can be a bit crisp, but this can be fixed with the equalizer. I got fantastic sound out of this box after 20 Minutes of editing. I have been using a Zoom GFX-5 and i wanted to simplify my sounds (I tend to overdo on the various effect options these multieffects have. This device is doing exactly what i expected.
Editing is straight forward
Manual is also straight forward

Set up: Gibson Nighthawk - Tuner Rocktron - TriAC - Digitech Jamman - Efx Return of a Laney Tube Combo

Low noise

All 3 amp models are great and can be used to produce a variety of really good convincing sounds.

Laney Pro Tube (only the poweramp section)

I play alternative cover rock and i'm using an clean fender sound, a crunch marshall, and a high gain mesa sound, this covers basically all i need.

its new, but it seems stable

didnt try

I'm really happy, i got what i expected and its even better.
Especially when you get lost in multieffect pedals try the TRI

Well it's pretty simple.

Take it out of the box, plug it in and be dissatisfied. Wonder what you're doing wrong and why you're getting such pathetic sound. Read the manual, try again. Re-read the manual. Mutter profanity. Try every possible combination of using with or without a DI Box, before and after an effects board, EQing the living hell out of it, compressing it, recording it and EQing it after along with compressing it, changing patch chords, and finally eliminating all links except tri-ac. Re-read manual and retry settings. Change battery and DC adapter. Realize it's a piece of crap.

Like I said, pretty simple.

This is a horrible muddy piece of poo. DO NOT believe the sound samples they have on their site, this thing sounds nothing like them. If you like cruddy distortion awash with slurred bottom end and indiscernable notes and chords, then this is the pedal for you. If not, don't waste your precious time.

Sure you can depend on it... to hold your loose papers down in a mild breeze, but that's about all this thing's good for. I wish there was a rating as such:

0-Don't think it ever worked.

Frankly a 1 seems too gracious for this abomination.

Jury is out on this one. I'll be emailing them tomorrow and sending them some sound samples of what I'm pulling out of this two hundred dollar turd. If they send me my money back or tell me it is without a doubt malfunctioning then this section might get high marks (although the marks for the reliability section are bound to suffer).

I was looking for a good tube amp simulator that could give me crunchy distortion with some bottom end. Instead I got mud, with a little mud with some more mud on top.

Oh, and a side order of mud with mud to go.

I cannot express my complete and utter disappointment with this product. I really believed it was going to give me some semblance of the tones available on the Tech 21 site. I'll never buy one of their products again. I feel cheated, ripped off and sort of dirty (not in a nice way, more like I've been subjected to a prison gang-rape only without the tender foreplay).

Where the hell did the positive reviews come from? Tech 21 employees in search of job security? Low-paid street people who are tired of selling blood and semen? Scientologists?

I was a little confused in the beginning, but caught up to it soon after. The "lazy" pots (pots react slowly after channels are switched) threw me off, but after reading the manual, I thought the idea and intent were plausible. Not sure they are practical for real life application though. No big deal really. To program channels, you click the swith twice real quick.

One thing I learned over the years by trying out all these modeling amps, processors, such as POD, Valvetronix, Zoom, etc., they are not as good as what the manufacterers want you to believe. None of the pedals quite live up to the marketing hypes that companies put out. If you go out and buy one these modeling processors thinking it will replace your vintage rigs. well.. think again. The truth is you sacrifice your tone for convenience and cost-savings. The fact of the matter is, though, sacrifices are inevitable under extenuating circumstances even if you hate to down grade your tone and musicality. For example, it's just not practical hauling 100+ lbs 100W amp rig for quick 4-5 song hit/run gigs, or for stages that require absolute volume control. ---- As in other modeling processors, Sansamp Tri AC's don't quite have the same dynamics and responsiveness to pick attack as on real tube amps. Also, sound/feel out of this pedal is a bit too compressed and grainy. Having said this, I must say Tech21 did a fair good job at emulating three very classic guitar amp tones, such as pushed tweed, marshall and recto. I actually prefer this pedal to Pod, Valvetronix, etc, for sound, convenience and cost. To me, Pod/Valvetronix/etc are like swiss army knives.. very handy with bunch of gadgets, but they are difficult to use sometimes and none of them can do the real heavy duty job. Tube amp modeling technologies still have a long long way to go, but this pedal should sound as good as other emulators if not better.

N/A

N/A

I'm happy with my purchase. This pedal by no means takes you anywhere close to the real tube amp realm, but I like this pedal for the ease of use, low cost, seemingly durability, sturdy construction and... also for fairly good tones. I do have a real tube amp live setup, which I've nearly perfected over the years, but I needed something simple/durable for quick fill-in & hit-&-run gigs and also as a backup for disastors. You really don't need 10+ amp tones folks for 95% of any gig situations.. You just need 3-4 good usable tones (dirty/solo/clean/et combined).. This pedal does just that.

Let's see... 3-band eq, drive and level control. Double click to save a preset. Couldn't be easier to use. I ordered this via internet, got the wrong manual, but that's no problem. It took some time to adjust it to my likes (in my setup) though.

This was my choice, because I wanted to get more analogish sound and I couldn't afford a real tube amp (like Mesa Rectifier). The major difference between this and MT2 I discovered at band reheasals. With Metal Zone I had to put a lot of middle frequency to the tone so that I could hear the guitar well with the other instruments. It was quite brutal to listen, especially when it was that loud. With Tri-AC my sound has enough presence (with reasonable EQ), and I can listen to it in rehearsals even without any isolation in my ears (can't find the word...). I think it hasn't got enough distortion for heavy sounds, but it's no problem if you have a booster. I use my Metal Zone for that (yeah, it's not an OD, but it works).

I use this only for distorted tones, and I like the Californian model the best. Not only because some of my idols (like John Petrucci, Die) use mainly Mesa/Boogie amps, but I personally like the tone too.

For clean and other tones I have split my signal chain. It could be confusing to explain that, so here's a diagram:
http://files.mikseri.net/pics/78914.jpg

It's metal so you can depend on it. Use it well and it shall serve you for long time. I myself have used it only for couple of weeks now, but haven't found any glitches or whatnot.

I haven't actually dealt with the company, but when I e-mailed the store where I ordered this, I got a reply in a couple of hours.

I play mainly rock and metal and for heavy sounds this matches my likes. I like to combine different elements and sounds in my music, but I use mainly this for hi-gain sounds. As I said, for alternative sounds (like clean) I have other gadgets.

This thing is easy to set up and program.Two clicks on any button and it's saved!

My setup is G&L Classic Asat > TRI-AC >Kustom KBA16 > Boss RRV-10 reverb unit > Weber C10N speaker. Clean sound all the way through.
This thing gives me any amp I want.The Fender sound I use with my bridge pickup.The Mesa sound I use with the neck pickup and man does this thing spank!I'm telling you the harmonics are just unbelievable.
If you set it up right it's gets the all tube sound you want.Then for distortion I use the Marshall and Mesa sound. Some people say that they may hear a pop when channel switching but I did and found out what the situation was. When you use the British channel for clean it is so high gain that going from Fender to British it happens. But if you use the British channel for distortion no problem. But many say they don't have any pops at all.
I guess it all in how you set it up. I called Tech21 and spoke with Lloyd who took the time out to speak with me and helped with all my questions. We even talked guitar shop for awhile.Where can you get that kind of service? Tech21 has it together for products and Excellent Customer Service!I mean yes there are great tube amps but I don't have the money to try them all out but this gives an old guitar player with a bunch of kids a chance to get some of those amps or close to those amps as I can.

Built like a tank. I would like to have another as a back-up.

Thank you Lloyd - great product!

I play mostly blues and rock.Great 60's sounds attainable with this unit.Love the memory leds and how if you move a knob all you do is turn them till they stop blinking-idiot proof!So if you try any amp sound you can always go back to your setting for that particular amp.
Been playing 20 yrs. If I lost or someone stole it I would replace it.This unit is fun to use and great for recording.

Yes, it's easy. Remember the eqs are active.

This is great. Especially the tweed and the british chanel. I dont really use the calif chanel so much, guess I'm not a Mesa man. The british chanel is just great with standard live volumes. Nice feedback and it's very good when you push it a little with od or dist unit. The tweed chanel has a good clean sound, but it sounds very bad if try to push it with an overdrive. I have used this thing a year now, so I know what I'm talking about.

Yep, I depend on it 100%.

Have not needed them.

I play all kinds of rock music and this is a perfect tool for me. The programmability is fantastic. So easy and so versatile. I would not even compare this to PODs or such things, since this is all analog sound. No matter how many features those digital sound modules have, they still sound weak and lifeless and like a piece of shit. Some may like the digital processors, but I hate them, because I have tried them.

It is very easy to get a great sound of this thing. It replicates three legendary amps. Replicates. Not simulates. It sounds great. Ths manual is pretty stinking awesome. it tells you the basics of what happens with the sansamp and presents it vividly. plus, in the back of the manual there are diagrams of settings you can make for the sansamp such as pantera, fender, marshall, EVH, mesa, metallica, bluesy. And it has a few blank diagrams to allow you to pencil in your own custom settings.

I'm running it through the FX loop of a Marshall AVT-150H Halfstack. I use it currently only as a support pre-amp. IT IS GREAT. I play a Gibson Epiphone Les Paul Custom Black Beauty. I'm hoping however to add a Tele to this setup soon. I've used it by itself many times through PA systems and it stills surpasses my expectations. The effects are awesome when run with my half stack. however there is a certain gain/ volume ratio that when breached can produce loads of feedback on overdrive settings. but that's just something that you need to monitor. I play jazz, big band, swing, rock, roll, nu-metal, but mainly christian. This unit allows to me to very closely resemble the effects of artists like Tomlin, Crowder, audioa, thirdday, and many more. Yet at the same time i can put my own twist of flavor on it that makes it my own sound. The three amps, Marshall, Fender, Mesa, are great. the dynamics of those amps are completely captured in this unit. you can adjust the gain level to make them clean or raging with the twist of that knob. The only amp i rarely use is the Mesa due to it's milky/bassy nature. the marshall and fender amps are great and i use those a whole lot because of their flexibility.

Thus far the construction and quality of this unit has been untarnished. The battery conservation of this unit isn't the best in the world, but it doesn't suck the life out of every 9V you put in there. I can live with it. I currently use it every weekend and throughout each week without a backup and i love it. the only backup i bring is a spare 9V.

Haven't had to! that's the way it should be.

I've already listed a few of my influences. I'll list them in their entirity. Dc talk, david crowder, lots of counrty such as Alabama, tim mcgraw, joe nichols, kenny chesney, alan jackson,j. buffet, and others, Chris tomlin, matt redman, hillsong, audio a, third day, ten shekel shirt, anberlin, creed, montgomery gentry, jars of clay, delirious, switchfoot, newsboys, a little bit of Jet, three doors down. Basically Jazz, blues, blues rock, country, christian alt., christian p&w, pop, mod. rock, class. rock, soft rock, big band, swing, christian pop. I've been playing guitar for nearly 4 years. I own a Epi Les Paul Custom Black Beauty, Jackson DX-10D dinky reverse(discon. 2001), a Sigma Acoustic, Marshall AVT-150H 1/2 stack, Zoom II, Behringer V-Amp2, Rogue 30W.
if i this thing were stolen i'd call the police quickly and report an assault w/ waterpistol. I'd totally smack the person who took it. I would certainly buy another one. I love the tone finder setting(as you get closer to your set level , bass for instance, the l.e.d flashes quicker as you get closer to stored level then stays on a constant signal when you've reached your level.) i was looking for a tube overdrive sound pedal to enhance my marshall at the time and this was way better than alternatives. I wish that it had a built-in pizza oven but one can't have everything. it most certainly helps me make the music i am privileged to play for Jesus Christ. excellent investment if you can get it for less than $150. I'm a student and i was willing to save up enough from my 12hr.-week job to pay for this baby.

N?o e t?o facil de usar como um pedalzinho comum, mas tambem e bem mais facil de usar do que aquelas pedaleiras digitais emormes. Fazer a edic?o das programac?es e simples, n?o tem misterio.

A minha experiencia fez aparecer 2 TriAC na minha frente. Ligando a guitarra direto no TriAC eu achei o som um pouco fraco. Dai tive a ideia de ligar a guitarra em meu TubeScreammer TS-5 Mod 808. Percebi que este e um dos sons mais legais de Overdrive que ja ouvi na vida. Guitarra + TS-808 + TriAC + Amplificador. A simulac?o TWEED (Fender) e simplesmente fantastica, tanto limpa quanto combinada com o TS-808. A simulac?o BRIT (Marshall) aditivda pelo TS-808 produz uma distorc?o fantastica !!! A simulac?o CALIF (Mesa-Boogie) achei forte demais, mas e legal tambem.

E pau pra toda obra. Hard Rock.

Nunca tive problemas. Tks.

Ja entrou pra ficar na minha pedaleira.

Okay here is my experience with the Tri-A.C. so far. Is it easy to get a good sound out of this pedal, well yes and no. The controls are familiar, but in my experience these solid-state modeling devices sometimes have to be set in very odd ways to get the tone you are after. The tone you want is probably in there, you just don't get there setting the controls the way you are used to. That is fine. What other device that is capable of so many different sounds could do this with with so few controls? I give it a five to caution new users to dig in and find their tone because it is probably in there.

While the sans-amp stuff is the only thing that I have found to substitute for a real tube amp let me caution potential buyers and new users that the Tri-A.C. is capable of some very non-tube like bad tones. Its not the fault of this product. As I state above, when you get flexability you give up good tone right out of the box. Your good tone is another mans nails on a chalkboard. Don't be lazy and find your sound. Get to know each model, its inherent characteristics etc, understand what the controls do at extreams as I have found many of the best sounds for me by sometimes minimizing as many as two of the five knobs and maxing out others. These are probably not settings you would think to use right away. When I first plugged it in I was dissapointed, now I LOVE this thing! Its worth the work so sit down and spend a few hours really getting to know this device.

I love the sounds I've found but I have to explain my somewhat unique approach. A must for using these devices (for me and IMHO) is using a seperate cabinet modeler when going direct, I used a very cheap one from behringer called the ultra-g. I really don't think this or any other solid-state modeling device I've heard so far sounds convincing without one, it gets a 9 because of this. This is because the speaker model that they put on the output of these devices is designed to work when run though actual guitar speakers, so it is really hi-fi so as to not sound like a speaker run though a speaker. While the idea is a good one, for me it is too ambitious. They should just sell a seperate speaker emulator, or have a switch. Guitar amps don't sound hi-fi to me and by running the Tri-A.C. either though a seperate speaker cab emulator or though an actual guitar cab via a power amp the sound is amazing.

This thing really feels so much like the tube amps I've played over the years, but its so much more flexiable in sound. Even though there are only three models on this thing because the tone controls are so powerful you can get what feels like an infinite number of different tones. Remember, you have to really dig for them. Everyone says the clean tone is just okay, and the the slight breakup is no good. Maybe without a speaker model run after it, but with it I think it sounds great. There is something very Vox AC30 ish to me about it (even though it is modeled on a fender), which is good as I like the AC30 tone. I can't tell you what a difference playing this is versus playing a regular solid-state amp in feel is. It, like the better digital modelers, somehow captures the feel of a tube amp as well as the sound. What I never liked about the digital modelers is when I tried to take them out live there was this high-end digital harshness that I could not get rid of, even when run though the power-amp section of a real tube amp. I have seen other bands playing with digital amps and experienced this same quality in the sound. The Tri-A.C. does not exhibit that same quality. I think analog has just the right roll-off if you will.

Does it sound exactly like tubes? I don't know and don't care, it sounds good. Forget for a moment that tubes exist, and forget about the amps this thing is supposed to ape, and see if you can find your tones in it. That is what I did and I have found so far I can. Besides, the price is no comparison and you can plug this into any cheap tranny power-amp and speaker cab and be ready to go, again if you are going to run direct to a PA use a speaker emulater after it for a more realistic tone. The price/performance ratio is just amazing. You can buy these for the price of re-tubing your tube amp, something you will have the pleasure of doing every 6 to 12 months if you are playing regularly.

Right now my signal chain runs like this: boss TU-2 (Tuner)->Sans-Amp Tri-A.C. (preamp/distortions)->Wasabi Chorus-Trem (modulation FX)->Boss DD-20 (delays)->Boss RV-5 (reverbs)->Power Amp section of B-52 200LGA w/B-52 4x12 cabinet.

Its surprisingly lightweight but seems sturdy enough.

Have not had the pleasure

I have been playing for almost 20 years. If you are like me and started playing in the 80s you are just in amazement at what is available for musicians today. I've had this idea recently of getting a rig together that would combine the power of what was until recently only available in racks or in muti-fx pedalboards - like programability and multiple effects in one unit - with the convinience, modularity, and flexability of stomp-boxes, my own custom multi-fx pedalboard if you will. This pedal is the only one I know of that does what it does. It is an analog preamp (plenty of digital ones around today) but it has multiple memories and it is a pedal. This means that I can run my signal chain the way it is meant to be run right from my guitar into my pedals and into my amp, no effects loops necessary. I can easily run my delays, reverbs and modulation devices after my gain stage because they all sit on the floor. I think this pedal and the sans-amp technology is going to change my whole approach to equipment as now I am looking to buy a power-engine 60 to replace my reverend hellhound. It just makes so much sense, and Tri-A.C. does not try to do everything like the digital pre-amps do. I use the effects that I like but get to use three different gain stages that all sound and feel great. I can also still use any distortion boxes with the Tri A.C. because it sounds good being pushed, just like a valve amp would. I think you get the most out of this technology if you approach it on its own instead of as a model of anything and just see if it is useful for getting the sounds you want.

Very easy to create a good sound. You have basically a hi-gain Marshall, hi-gain Mesa, and a Fender sound stuffed into this box. Very easy to store settings but make sure you memorize where the settings are.

The sound is very good. I suggest running some kind of EQ behind it to have more control over the tone but played through a decent PA, it sounds wonderful! The Fender clean is a little boomy but I like to turn the mids and drive up more anyways to get a good CCR/Fogerty sound. The Marshall settings are convincing with less drive and more volume and the Mesa sounds are great all around.

For the bass players looking into this, I suggest the RBI pedal instead. This will work OK if you're on a tight budget but the Bass pedal works MUCH better for the fat-string players.

Very reliable for the 6 months I've had it. I've never heard of Tech 21 products breaking down unless you're putting too much current through it (aka get a power adapter with the correct mA rating).

Nice website and I've always gotten a quick response for any of my inquiries.

Very good product and well worth the money. A great improvement to the tone of this box would be to add an EQ to the signal but very good on its own. I wish it had the DI output the RBI and direct boxes have but other than that, excellent.

I had to add an addendum to my review which appears below. I was being an idiot when I said I wished this box had an effects loop. The way this works as a stompbox preamp, whatever you put between it and the power amp you're using is essentialling "in the effects loop". An effects loop is post-preamp/pre-power-amp, to the best of my knowledge. So with this box, you put distortion and the like in front (my Russian Big Muff goes first) and modulation f/x after (a Rocktron Short Timer will soon be my delay, coming right after the Tri AC). In my set up, my pedal board has an Ernie Ball volume pedal, a Big Muff, the Tri AC, and as mentioned, soon a delay. This goes to a mixer, into a Hafler P3000 power amp (150w/channel) which feeds a Raezer's Edge bass cab and a GK bass cab. Boiling it down, the Short Timer delay will go between the Tri AC and the power amp. This is like putting it in the effects loop of a combo or head.

I found it in the second hand section of a small guitar shop, and I knew it was cheap for what it was. I already had a GTII and liked the look of three stomp options.
Took me half an hour to figure out whether it worked or not and the guy in the shop was clueless. With no instructions to go by, the wild guess of hitting the button twice to record a tone was just plain lucky.
After that I bought it and have never had any trouble other than flat batteries.
Oh, ease of use? This can sound as good as three amps that would weigh in at 150lbs, yet it's pocketable.

People who put this into a guitar amp just don't understand the concept and haven't learned French.
My slight regret is that I had heard a SansAmp *before* I spent thousands of pounds and some years looking for the perfect amp and didn't buy one *then*. I guess it was a necessary process and I love my amps anyway.
Sometimes, when I want to change my TriAC settings, I sit down with my Univalve and an AB pedal and I tweak the TriAC thru an acoustic amp till it sounds close. So side by side, next to a good valve amp I find it's not quite there, not quite as good, or I haven't found that tone in it. But that's a helluva a valve head I'm using and the pedal gets close enough that another instrument sounding behind it would make the difference academic.

Worked fine when bought second hand, and never a problem so far apart from erratic behaviour on low batteries. Carry spares, or use a PSU, and it's great. It's meant for standing on.

No idea.

I do sort of jazzy bluesy sort of noodling, and build layers on a looper live. I start clean and as the layers build I use more drive until I do my best impression of a meltdown.

I'm quite simple with pedals, and am only just starting to understand modulation. I take a sort of blues approach, guitar, lead, amp, play: the TriAC is fantastic for this. I assume it would be as good with effects too.

I've been playing over a quarter of a century, and I have a 20 watt Boogie Studio Caliber, a THD Univalve, an old Sundown 100W head, a Fender hot rod Deluxe, and a Laney LC15R; With the TriAC I'd use my AER acoustic amp if a PA's not available.
I tend to play with a Spirit Steinberger, though sometimes with my MusicMan Axis Sport or my Variax. I have an 70s Epiphone too... which needs dusting.

I think the pedal's near perfect, is better than a Boogie, really - or least better than the little Boogie I have, since the TriAC's clean sounds are better, but it can still scream. Moreover one can't carry an amp in the gigbag pocket: If there's a PA available this is soooooo handy.

I found it a tad difficult. I suspect that some of the folks who reviewed it badly did not fully understand how to "tweak" it and/or did not have a manual. It is not straitforward at all. The difficulty I think is that the programming is digital but the knobs are analog. So when you switch to a different patch, it might have some gain/volume/EQ settings which are not stored in the knobs--they're stored digitally. Also, the pots are all extremely sensitive--we're talking Boogie sensitive--and behave differently depending on the cabinet simulation. After playing with it for half an hour, I found I could get a HUGE range of sounds, and many excellent clean sounds, which is great for me. Any failure to get a sound you want from this box is a failure in understanding the programming and/or in realizing that it will take some time to get what you're looking for, as there are many variables. I use this into a mixer which feeds a Hafler P300 (150w/channel) which feeds two nice bass cabs. What you feed this into is another of many variables. Not the easiest stompbox to figure out.

See set-up above. Using it with a Squier Tele with Fender noiseless pups. Sounds supremely pristine. Can get fat, bouncy clean tones to tight, crunchy overdrive. I tried numerous preamps before this one, everything from a Rane acoustic preamp to a Carvin Quad X, a Digitech GSP5, a Digitech Twin Tube, a Crate, and several others others. This is far and away, heads above the rest, the nicest one I've tried. Really classy. Sexy you might say. Though it's not the easiest thing to figure out, it's still simple as could be, 3 sturdy buttons to choose from 3 sounds--which can all be completely and totally different from each other. Really pro sound, really hi-fi.

I would imagine no problems with this at all. It's built sturdy enough for accident-prone people like me %-) Solid metal casing, big old-school knobs, heavy-duty stomp buttons. Of course I can't say for sure. Hard to say not knowing.

I contacted Tech 21 once when I bought a MIDI Mouse, on which I broke the battery cover within minutes of opening the box. I called...and got a real person right away, a person who was totally accomodating, and even admitted the design of those particular battery cover was bad, and sent me a knew one the same day. That's a working musician's kind of service.

I play jazz, blues, rock, jazz rock, funk, yada yada. No metal, hardcore, whatever. This thing is too good to be true as far as I'm concerned. Like having 24 amps in your briefcase, and it sounds analog too, nice and warm. Bouncy, with balls. Yes. As noted, this is the nicest guitar pre I've ever tried, and I've owned many. I've been playing for more than 20 years. I mostly play bass, and was looking for a simple box to plug my Squier Affinity-Series Tele (a really nice axe) into. Right on the money. The only thing I wouldn't mind seeing on it is an effects loop. But then, with my set up, I can put effects in the insert of the channel the Tri AC is on, and also it wouldn't be as simple with a loop. Simple is good. Wouldn't want it to be easier to program because then you wouldn't be able to get the HUGE array of tones you can get from it.

This is more easy to use than other Sans Amp pedals I've tried since it's operable from a toe-tap, but it would be easier to use if the knobs would automatically relocate to their proper levels when toe-tapping to different saved configurations.

I love it. Definitely preferable to the GT2 which sounds flat to me. Worlds better than the Pod. And, yes, you can use this thing with headphones.

On the downside, the Marshall setting is a little noisy for certain configurations, while the Fender setting easily overloads in other configurations.

working fine.

Lloyd has always been available to answer questions.

I like it. Great value.

The Tri-A.C is very easy to use. It's as simple as setting the amp type, level, gain and EQ. Moving any setting does result in some major changes in sound. Saving a program couldn?t be easier, just double click the switch and your settings are saved. There are basically three independent channels. Tech 21 also found a clever way to determine the value of any pot. Just turn a pot and an LED indicator lets you know you are getting closer to the original setting by flashing faster. When you hit the exact location the LED becomes solid.

I'm not sure why some many reviewers are saying it takes a considerable amount of time to develop really good sounds. I had this thing producting great sound in a few minutes. My guess is that other people are not using the stomp box as intended. It is not your everyday distortion pedal. Thinking of this stomp box as a distortion pedal will get you nowhere and just slapping this in front of an amp/combo will probably not satisfying. Plug it directly into a recording console, full range PA or a Tech 21 Power Engine (this is what I use) and prepare to be blown away.

I have at least a dozen electric guitar and to my surprise, after find a settings I like for a strat, I went and tried a couple of other guitars and everyone of them sounded great and it did not require much tweaking. It really brought to life some guitars that I had in my ?just okay? collection. I just can?t believe this stomp box has such a usable range. I?ve gone from a ES175, Parker Fly, Joe Pass Epiphone, Strat and a few $300 dollar Korean guitars and this box makes all of them sound good.

I own a number of modelers including the original pod, a few Zoom processors, and a VOX Tone Lab. I also have a number of software modelers including Amplitude and Isotope Trash. For ease of use and sound, the Tri A.C. was either on par or much better then the aforementioned devices.

The Fender sound with clean setting is just beautiful. It is clear, well balanced, punchy and well defined. The Marshall sounds are just plain inspiring and fun. The Mesa is just that, a thick wall of sound with infinite sustain. All three amps have great presence and really cut through a mix when required.

There is minimal noise from the device; my fenders that hum at high gain still hum. I typically utilize a noise gate anyway.

Looks solid. I have a GT2 and have never had a problem.

I've not used them.

I?ve also owned a number of amps in my time, Marshall, Peavy, Polytone, Fenders, Sun and I would have gladly given them up for the configuration I?m running now.

I would like to qualify that I currently running the Tri A.C. with a Power Engine 60. I can?t recommend enough the PE60. Just make sure you understand that it requires that you provide a preamp such as the Tri A.C.


I love this setup, I?ve been playing for over thirty years, it is a good time to be alive, this technology is unbelievable.

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

It was incredibly easy to get a good sound. In fact, the 3 patches it came with were great to start with. Editing was easy, but due to the sensitivity of the pedal, it takes some thought.

I'm using this with a Fender Thinline Tele and a Gibson LP Melody Maker through a Carvin 100 watt acoustic amp/mini-p.a. Although this setup is idiosyncratic to say the least, it lets me keep an acoustic, an electric and a bass all plugged in and ready at the same time. Also, since it's a ported cabinet, it is capable of some sick lows that belie its small size. With the Tri-A.C. it sounds fantastic.
Noise is not a problem, and I can get a great emulation of pretty much any amp I would care to have. The distortions are mostly warm and can be musically affected with your guitars volume and tone. The Marshall sounds are not so warm, but then again, neither are Marshalls. However, with the tone rolled back, a woman tone can be produced easily.

I would depend on it, based on reputation and solid construction. I would gig without a backup (as most people don't usually have backup effects).

N/A

I play modal music in open tunings, but like to get heavy sometimes. I've been playing 22 years, and have had a plethora of guitars and basses. The Tri -A.C. has been a pleasure to use, as it delivered exactly what I needed - realistic simulations of a Fender, a Marshall, and a Boogie. If you can't get a good sound out of this, the problem is either the rest of your equipment or your hands & ears.

I am techincally retarded so I really appreciate the simplicity of this unit. Good instructions and good sound as a di and really good sound driving a small combo amp.

I've used it with an 80s strat a seventies telly and a new yamaha pacifica. depending on the gig either a hughs and ketner 60 wat solid state or a Marshall jcm900 combo. No exess noise effects have greate presence but sound natural. I dont really try to get the exact tone of other artists but i have noticed that the tweed setting can get me a sound very much like brian setser (And thats from a strat! The "Brit mode sounds a little papery, the california mode has more muscle.

I have used it as my only effect with good results.

Just some dials and three footswitches-- mad easy, once you look at the (short and easy to understad) manual. It takes some fussing to dial up the right EQ as it's active and if you mess with one of the frequencies it changes a lot of things. Live, it's easy to go into bypass by mistake (by hitting the switch for the patch that's on), and that's a bit of a drag. The only other tricky bit is that the knobs usually don't reflect the position of the sound you've got-- but hey, to motorize those knobs they'd have to charge a lot more dough.

I run a bunch of pedals into it and then into a direct box straight to the house sound (I use a splitter to go out to a keyboard amp as a moniter. It's quiet on the clean settings (I use a Warr guitar, and I think the active pickups and good cables help a lot) but not so much on distorted ones-- but I bet it's quieter than miking a marshall. I think running it into the front end of an amp would sound awful, but it's a simulator, and it's not really for that.
If you were trying to use this box to get the sounds of all the classic amps Tech 21 claims you can, then you'd likely be frustrated. It's a lot better than some other amp simulators (and I dig that it's analogue rather than digital-- bottom end is way different), but it sure doesn't sound like a fender, for example. Nor does it have nearly enough gain to get into real boogie territory. However, what it does really well is get you an awesome sound that's all your own. So, duplicating classic sounds ain't gonna happen, but getting your own ripping tone might, if you spend enough time with it. that's a tradeoff I'm happy to make.

Seems pretty robust. I use AC power, which helps. The switches are kind of cool-- they're unlike the sort of switch I seem to break a lot.

I really dig this bad boy. It has just the right level of complexity-- no bells and whistles or cheesy digital add-ons, but it's totally programmable and you can set it up to get three very different and monstrous tones. It's easy to use live, and has neato studio applications (like all of Tech 21's stuff). Plus, it's about the smallest amp simulator you'll find with footswitches-- when your pedalboard space is at a premium, this is a real plus. Even though I'm constantly tweaking my rig, I won't be replacing this for a long, long time.

its just like using a regular guitar amp it has factory presets but you will want to spend time playing with it and tweaking it out how many times did you buy a guitar amp out of the box not mess with the eq and play straight through and make a decision as to wheather or not it sucked the manual is quite clear this is not a distortion pedal!!!! it is three preamps that will remeber their settings really cool if you cant use this you should play an acoustic

my set up varies alot i play a 335 into an ampeg j12 with various pedals my amp breaks alot being that it is very old so this is mainly for use with a fender princeton 65 solid state it is of coutrse ran directly into the power ampLIKE THA MANUAL CLEARLY SAYS tha amp models sound good its very trebly but nothing that cant be fixed with a little time spent working out an eq thats right for your axe,amp,speaker,pedal arrangement all of these things will make a difference heres the real deal after purchasing my tri ac and getting it dialed in i went to my buddies house who has a real marshall stack 8x12 the whole shebang played em back to back guit for guit played with eqs and everything its a damn good replica it makes a lot of sound to push out of 1 crappy 12 the only real difference is 8 12s pushes a hell of a lot of air a bad speaker will make a huge difference i plugged into a 500 watt pa head and whalla tru marshall so if you are wondering why your little combo still sound little its cuz it is this hing is about tone great for recording the fender tone was good just work that eq and the boogie is super gainy but sounds really good in low gain but thats how i like it most guys want the gain all i can really say is make sure you use this thing as an offboard pre amp and not a stomp box i use pedals with it and they all sound good small stone phase shifter boss dd3 digital delay reverb not to much luck on the distortion pedal dfront yet but still have only had it for a few weeks and i work full time part of the thing is i used pedals befor to get a sound that i can get with the box without pedals my dod250 is really fore my ampeg which i wont use the tri ac with cuz it dont have no power amp in my big muff is coming together but then again that thing is hard to tame in any situation i have seen other reviews say they used tube screamers o0n the tweed mode so i have faith all in all really kick ass

have not had it long seems solidly built twech 21 has a good reputation

good web site never dealt with them instruction manuals are clear as bells

it does exactly what it says it does my advice to any one having problems is to troubleshoot their set up put all stomp boxes in front of tri ac wah pedals too modulation pedals flangers chorus etc after tri ac plug directly into power amp not on board preamp (or effects return if your amp has no power in) if you only have one input set all your eqs to 12 oclock and turn your level knob on the triac way down as to not kill your amp and last but not least if your speaker sucks then so will everytrhing coming out of it this box is a masterpiece

No problems setting this pedal up within minutes of plugging in. Manual is very clear and well written. Very convenient and flexible programming options (you can setup 3 Fender patches, or 2 Boogie + 1 Marshall setting in any order for example).

I was looking for mainly a direct recording solution when I decided to give the Tri-A.C. a try. Used a PRS CE24 and Clapton strat direct into BR-8 as well as through front end and power section of a Peavey Classic 30 and an older Lab Series L5. I was disappointed with the sound quality regardless of guitar or amp used along with the Tri-AC. I could only describe the sound as flat and lifeless. Played with the settings for a couple of weeks, but just couldn't polish the turd. Not what I was hoping for at all. I've owned several Fender/Marshall and Boogies over the years and didn't find this pedal even came close to copying their sound or feel.

Unit seems well built. No worries about gigging without a backup.

Very quick answers to e-mail questions at http://www.tech21nyc.com/

I had this pedal for about 2 weeks before giving up on it and trading it in on something else. It's easy to use and well built, but just not the type of sound I am looking for. I enjoy everything from ambient (Brian Eno, Sigur Ros) to Hendrix, Neil Young and Tool and would like to find a recording preamp that can cover that type of ground. I'm very fussy bitch when it comes to tone and will switch to something with tubes next time around (probably Mesa's V-Twin pedal). I've been playing about 25 years now and have gone through my share of guitars and amps.

very easy to use--select amp mod. e.q. settings and tap a button twice--very easy the e.q. is very sensitive though

i am using this w/ a epi les paul std. and a '67 ampeg gemini 1 at home--incredible--the boogie mod is sweet i can get a great delirious? sound w/ it it is very liquid sounding i also like the marshall sound great harmonics the fender is very close to my friends '63 reverb (minus the reverb)

live--my plan was to use this straight into the board and skip an amp
it sounded horrible i think this might be because of two factors

#1--i don't think this thing really has speaker modeling like some people say it does and that makes a huge difference

#2--it could be crappy D.I. boxes--they also make a huge difference
i have since purchased abehringer D.I. with speaker modeling--i hven't tried it yet and will tell you my results later

i really wish this thing had reverb also but no biggie--again--in front of a GOOD amp this beats all--period

it seems sturdy enough i can't afford back ups like some of you people--but i also don't beat the crap outta my gear for no reason like some of the dummies you read about

don't know the salesman was nice though

it' pretty cool i mean seriously it's analog try to get better tone you just need a goog D.I. most likely YES i would buy it again
love God
seth

Well let's see. The pedal is REALLY easy. Few buttons. Very "auto-explanative", but the buttons are extremely sensitive, so it may be necessary a lot of pacience and time to achieve a good sound, but definitely worth it.

I'm using an Ibanez S with Ducan pickups. The Amp is a study Amp: Fender Frontman 25R (Looking for a new one... a big one this time ehehe). Well, the guitar is pretty good and this thing did miracles to my sound. Unfortunately I'm using TriAc before the Amp's Preamp and this is quite wrong (another reason to look for another amp, with loop). I was looking for a Vai/Satch sound... both clean and dirty and with other effects (Delay, Chorus, Wah) it's close enough for me.

Definitely! I don't like to gig without a backup, but yes, I would go without one. To be honest, since I've bought it I only use w/o backup. Every Tech 21 product I've owned surely built "like a tank".

Man... I sent a lot of e-mails about SansAmp and TriAc (owned both of them) And that guy, Lloyd is really cool! He certainly knows what he's talking about and never miss the question. You send an email and two, maybe three days before, you have an REAL GOOD answer.

1. I like to play Vai/Satch, some Heavy Metal (Metallica, Iron, Pantera) and some Rock'n'Roll (Van Halen, Guns'n'Roses). This is a good aquisition to my set. Oh! I'm considering to buy another one to have 6 effects (4 dirty, 2 clean).

2. I'm playing for 9 years. I've owned a lot of distortion pedals, digitech and zoom pedalboards and it was ok to me. But this one is "THE" distortion pedal now. I'm using it with a Dunlop CryBaby (willing to pick a Boss Wah... PW isn't?), Boss GE-7 Equalizer (one for booster and one for fine-eq) and a Zoom 508 Delay and 508 Modulation (Don't laugh... But it's fine for now. Maybe I'll look the Line-6 floor pedals).

3. Definetely kill the fucking bastard and then, buy it again! Hum... well.. second tought, maybe, just for curiosity, take a look at the Line 6 Distortion Modeler.

4. I love the sound and the look. It's well built (inside and outside). I just think it could be 4 presets instead of three, and maybe a led display to write preset names. This would be really cool.

5. Yes... as mentioned before, I compare it with the Line 6 Distortion Modeler, but I like Tech 21 products. I've checked some MesaBoogie Pedals and Meteoro Doctor Drive Pedal, but this is way better since you can simulate amps... and three of them at the same time.

6. As I've said before, maybe a display to write effect names (but this is just for apprearence, so not really necessary), but to be close to perfect: 4 presets!!!

7. Hell yeah! It helps me A LOT!

8. Hum... yes! If you want to share ideas, presets or know more, feel free to contact me!

I found the TRI-AC extremely easy to program the sounds that I was looking to achieve with very little difficulty. I am very familiar with Tech 21 products and have used a Trademark 60 for several years. Finding the tonal nuances that I like was a "piece of cake.

I just read a lot of reviews here and noticed that all of the less than great reviews are from people that were using it as a distorsion pedal in front of the preamp of their rigs. I have never found much use for using a fantastic preamp in front of of amp with a built in preamp. I have to admit that because I already use a Trademark 60 I don't really need a preamp in front of that awesome preamp. My thoughts about that are that if you need to use a preamp in front of your preamp then get a Tech 21 amp and stop wasting your money on a whole bunch of stomp boxes. Just buy a Tech 21amp. I happen to love the Trademark 60 but use my TRI-AC with a Passport 150 as my main stage rig and may add a SANSAMP Classic to another channel to give me that really classic tube tone which isn't quite there with the TRI-AC but it is close enough without all of the weight of transformers and cost of replacing premium quality vacuum tubes. My TRI-AC coupled with my Passport 150 is an awesome sounding rig for my style of music which is blues/southern rock. I have always been a jamband type player. I learned back in the 70's that if you are going to be on stage you should play your ass off.

The sound quality is excellent with the TRI-AC. Very quiet operation and excellent tanal subtlties that very closely mimic a tube amp. My Trademark 60 is absolutely the finest solid state amp for achieving a tube sound without the weight and high cost of tube maintenance but the TRI-AC is excellent especially through my Fender Passport PA. I often play at campouts with my musician friends and we use my Passport with the battery so we can play amplified out if the woods. LOL I recently purchased a battery powered amp from Crate that I have since traded in because I could not get the sound I wanted from it. I purchased the small version of the Fender Passport and use it for my main rug with a TRI-AC as my preamp. It performs flawlessly and gives me the sounds I are my trademark. If Tech 21 made a dual channel SANSAMP or even a three cahnnel version I would buy it in a heartbeat but for now the TRI-AC is what I use most often. Originally I purchased it because I play in some really old honky tonks that have lots of old florescent light fixtures and my Trademark 60 is too noisy because of the poor wiring in those place but the TRI-AC is almost silent with very little RF noise and I can have my sound and run direct to the PA. :-)

I have not had any problems what so ever with the TRI-AC as with my other Tech 21 products. They are very well designed and crafted with the working musician in mind. :-) What more could you ask for except for being fairly priced which is true of all of their products.

I have had very problems with my Tech 21 problems but the few that I did have were quickly taken care of by a very knowledgeable staff. Most of the problems I encountered were easily corrected by me just using suggestions by Lloyd at Tech 21. The one problem that I had will be corrected as soon as I get my Killer Wah sent to the Factory. Lloyd listened to it over the phone and said send it in and immediately gave me a RGA number. The best customer support I have ever had.

I would have to say that as a mind bending preamp this unit rates a 10 in every category. Tech 21 rates a 10 for designing equipment with us working musicians in mind. It is easy to tell that it is a company founded by musicians for musicians.

Real working musicians equipment. Built top take the rigors of the road and fairly priced.
Excellent sound quality and excellent features. Simply the products available for the working musician. This is my opinion of course. My sound comes from Tech 21 products and will until I am too old and weak to play anymore. Incidenatlly my 16 year old son is my Bass player and he loves using my TRI-AC so I guess I will have to get him a Bass Driver. :-)

i played through the unit only for 5 minutes so i cannot write too much about it but maybe it can be helpful for someone...
the stuff is pretty easy to use, so i think i give a nine.

anyhow i tweaked the knobs it sounded good. if i set the treble and the bass to 10 and the mid to 0 on my fender roc-pro amp it sound stupid but with the sansamp it was okay.
i played with an olp guitar and a hughes and kettner combo.
but i woul dlike to tri it with a pa poweramp through my 412 peavey box.

it was okay for that 5 minutes, hehe!

Lloyd ath tech21 is very helpful. i can give a 10. he always replied to my mails fast.

If you can use an amp...

Seriously though, you have to be careful with the drive knob because if your level knob is set to high and you crank that baby -- feedback central! But that to me is a testament to how useful the controls on this unit really are. They actually do something! What a novelty. I have to knock off a point or two because you can blow your speaker if you're not careful -- even with the lazy pots.

As I read through the reviews this product has gotten, I must say that most of the bad reviews in the sound quality category were given by people using the TRI-AC for a purpose other than it was intended for. This product is a preamplier that is all analog in it's signal path (IE NOT a digital modeller). It is designed to be used as a direct recording device, or a preamp into a power amp, PA or powered speaker cab. To place it in front of a combo amp as you would a OD/Distortion stompbox is going to sound like crap. I wonder if these folks wondered why there was a "Tweed" setting?

Personally, I use mine as intended by plugging it into a Tech 21 Power Engine 60 watt power amplifier. For gigging, I use the XLR out of the PE60 direct to the house board and then I use the PE60 for my stage monitor. This combination works like a charm! The sound quality of this SansAmp is outstanding, even the "tinny" British (Marshall style) character setting. If you read the manual, you will see that this setting engages a bright boost capacitor (just like the Marshall Plexi) that increases treble response at low drive settings. The best sounds for this setting happen when you set the drive past the 12:00 o'clock point, and then use you guitars volume knob to control the output level, or you can just dial down the level control on the Tri-AC. I use the volume knob on my guitar which gives me tremendous control over my sound. You can also use the tone knobs on your guitar. The Tweed (Fender) settings are excellent, although I must say that I had to reduce the treble response on the default setting by just a bit. But then I am playing a Fender Strat with a set of Fat 50's PUPs in it so that doesn't surprise me much. The California setting (Mesa Boogie) is also excellent, and I find that my Fat Strat Texas Special just loves this character switch setting. Overall, the sound quality of this unit is better than any modeller out there and I've tried the Line 6 POD, Digitech RP & GNETX Series, Johnson J-Station, Korg's REMS stuff and the Behringer V-Amp among others. For convenience and truly warm, responsive analog tone -- with the convenience of saving 3 "presets" -- this unit is unrivaled IMHO. Add a Digitech Digiverb (pretty darn good for a digital reverb) or a Electro-Harmonix Holy Grail (also very good) and you're set with three great sound amps with reverb.

I've had this unit for about 3 months now, and I have giged several times plus dragging it to practice 1-2 times per week. It fits into the back of my PE60 and away I go. Gets knocked around a bit, but keeps on going so far. Benefit of the doubt...

I have called these folks and they are very knowledgable and no nonsense about their products. I got my answer, plus some suggestions and I didn't have to navigate a long phone menu!

This unit is the answer to a lot of my gigging hassles. Sounds great, easy to carry around and provides 3 great amps sounds which is all I need. If it were stolen, I would immediately get a new one without hesitation. For those who ripped the Tri-AC, give it another shot using it the way it was intended before you apss final judgement. Or not.

very easy.....more you care about your tone, the better tone your'll get

i just got it today, i was in needed of a pre amp pedal for live..i didnlt even herad of tech21....i had my eye on the v-twins..but my friend told me to check this shit out. i tried it with the preset of (mesa) at the shop, thru my emg81 pickups, i knew this is the one. this wasn't just that thick sound i've been looking for, the tone was so rich,yet not too creamy..it really shows the full protentl of active emg...i bought it right away without checking the fender and brits....it was that good....i've always wanted that metallica sound...i'm sure i can get it with this. the sound is very tight alone, definely need a reverb or chous unit.

looks and feels fucking reliable as it can be...much better then ass shape, red, podxt.....yes, i got this just for playing gig that thick live sound.

never

i play mostly metal music.i'm a big fan of active pickups...the clarty of it......so i use all emg81 puckups on my esp, jackson, and gibson custom...i've being useing podxt, to mixer , recording with pro tools....i've been playing for 7 years...i'm a song writer, gears i have a lot, for use in the studio. if it was lost, i would buy it again....i did that with podxt....pod is good for wirteing an album, cause you have all these shit to fuck with....but pod never gave me this stack of metal sound that i wanted.....i also love both brit, and fender clean tone.....it really shows off active emg....so if you use emg....gotta check this shit out......i've been useing pod for too long.....i just rediscovered the power and roughness of analoge.....some times pod can sound like your playing cd.....i wish the TRI-AC had a master vol, or an seprate overdive..maybe some reverb?.....it dinfinly make me spent much more time on my guitar....it's good stuff

3 footswitches to configure, 3 (sensitive) tone controls, and three amp 'models,' each of which needs to be considered for their individual merits before making a decision as to where and how to assign them, i.e., which amp model to use for your relative clean, mid crunch and solo settings (which is how a lot of players will use the unit). Don't know of any other pedal that offers this versatility in a compact box. Battery compartment for quick replacement. EDITING IS AS EASY AS READING THE ONE RELEVANT SENTENCE IN THE WELL-WRITTEN MANUAL. Just being able to slip it into a guitar case pocket warrants an 11 really!

Quiet operation, BUT there is a bit of a pop between channel switching, but I never became aware of it during my first gig with it the other night.

I WAS SKEPTICAL ABOUT PLUGGING DIRECT INTO A PA, BUT PROVIDING THE PA IS SUBSTANTIAL, THE TRI-AC SOUNDS MORE THAN GOOD ENOUGH USED THIS WAY. CONTRARY TO MY PRECONCEPTION, I THINK POSSIBLY THE CALIFORNIA SETTING LENDS ITSELF BETTER TO CHUNKY POWER CHORDS AND THE BRITISH SETTING FOR SOLOS. This is not how I had it configured for its debut the other night, and found solos to lack treble bite, even with the treble setting on that channel at full. After the show, I jammed with the oner using the california setting as a general crunch sound and it sounded bloody great! Certainly better than any amp I could have carted in with me - this little box gave me wall to wall speaker sound (THANKS TO A GOOD PA). Next time I use it, I'll probably give the British channel the solo duties and have the C channel for dirty chords, hopefully this will be a better bet.

I think I would, but then again, I can't afford NOT to.

I think, given its size, ease of use, three separate footswitches and individual setting for each (which so many of us want!), adequate sound quality (given a decent PA) and apparent ruggedness, I'd say a 10 is in order here. It accomplishes what I hoped it would do, and well enough for me to consider going the PA route at subsequent gigs.

It's very easy to program and the slow pots, while adding to the effort needed to tweak it, work great. The manual was adequate.

I'm using my Tri-A.C. in the effects loop of a Boss GT-3 which is then run through a four-track unit and out to headphones. The guitar I'm using with it is a cheap Tele copy. (I'm just a bedroom jammer)

I reviewed this unit here several years ago after trying it for a few hours and wrote that it wasn't comparable to the GT-3's COSM amp sims.

The fact that I've been using it for my drive tones instead of the GT-3's COSM sims for the last few years should tell you something, though the GT-3's COSM sims aren't anything to write home about. Just the Brit and Cali though, the Tweed doesn't do anything for me but that's with the Gain Knob at full. (which is how I use it for my drive tones)

While I still don't like the sound of the Tri-A.C. by itself, (direct to the four-track) once I add some reverb or delay it's not too bad.

I do find the EQ to be unusable, for boosting at least. And if the Level Knob is set above parity it doesn't sound good to me. Both of these problems are a disappointment because that makes the programmabilty of this unit that much less useful. (and not liking or using the Tweed setting as well)

I do wish it had the abilty to produce more gain but I do like alot of gain and using a cheap Tele with it's single coils doesn't help any. The Tri-A.C can be noisy, but the aforementioned (cheap guitar's single coils and having the Gain Knob maxed) probably doesn't help.

I tried the Tri-A.C with an old Carvin keyboard amp (SS Head with 2 15" or 18" speakers in a closed back cabinet) for the hell of it and, besides having a tendency to feedback, I thought it sounded pretty damn good!

One thing I like is the fact that it cleans up well when you roll back the volume knob on the guitar. (and without losing the overall volume output which is great. Is that normal?)

It's been running fine for over 2 years though it stays in one spot and I only use it a few hours a week. (as I said, I'm just a recreational player)

The build quality seems to be solid and the battery life is phenomenal! I changed the battery (9-volt) just once so far which means I'm getting over 100 hours. Just remember to unplug the guitar cord because that's the only way to disengage the power since there's no on/off switch.

I've never dealt with them, so no opinion here.

I sort of came upon the Tri-A.C. when I saw it at a Mars Music store during their going out of business sale.

I had heard some goods things about it and figured, at that price, I'd give it a try.

I've been playing guitar for over 20 years and like to play SRV blues, Satana/Beck fusion style guitar. The Tri-A.C. does a decent job of giving me the drive sounds to play these. (a little more gain and sustain would be nice)

If it were lost or stolen I'd probably try looking for a GT-2 or a Tri-OD, (for more gain) or give a Visual Sounds Jekyl and Hyde or a Nady TD-1 a try.

I love the looks, programmability, build quality, battery life, and general drive tone that the Tri-A.C. yields. (using the Brit and Cali) Also the fact that it cleans up well when the guitar's volume is turned down.

I hate the lack of gain, (I like a lot though) the (IMO) unusable EQ, and the Tweed setting. (with gain maxed)

If you do try the Tri-A.C. I'd suggest you set the Level at parity (12 o'clock for me) and the EQ knobs at neutral. (12 o'clock for all 3) Then set the Gain for the amount you like. (try it maxed and back of your guitar's volume to control the amount of gain) This seems to give the best tone, for my set up at least.

I was hoping I wouldn't have to do this but I may buy a cheap drive pedal (TS7) or EQ (Dano) to put in front of
the Tri-A.C for more gain and to sculpt the tone a little better, if I don't try something else.

Very simple. No brainer. Editing on the fly is a breeze.
Fender, Marshall, Vox &, Boogie are the sound options. You
are not limited. You could concievably have it set up for
3 Fender channels if you desired or any combination of 4
sound options into 3 presets.

Here is where I lose my mind looking at SOME of the PRIOR reviews.
This unit is made to go direct to a PA, or mixing console or, into
the EFFECTS RETURN of a guitar amplifier. No wonder it sounds like crap when you plug this Pre-amp into another Pre-amp. The unit WILL sound exactly like crap. No doubt about it !!!

I use mine, one of the the ways it is intended to be set up. Into a Tech 21 Power Engine 60 with a Boss RV-3 reverb delay. It is very important that REVERB, comes AFTER an overdrive or distortion patch
unless, you need to or, want to use / experiment with that "echo in
a tin can" sound.

It's only noisey if your a gain freak and peg the gain setting to full on. A Boss NS-2 noise suppressor in line will fix that real quick.

You want a Fender, buy a Fender. You want a Marshall, buy a Marshall.
You want a Boogie, buy a Boogie BUT,.... For $149.00, you can have a unit that will come very close to all three. The key (as in most devices of this nature is to TWEAK). Take your time. Many of these are not plug and play. Sometimes, just putting a stompbox EQ after a unbit like this will give you more or, better tonal options.

I've had very good experiances with Tech 21 products.

Lloyd Schwartz is the man over there. Great customer relations. Most any repair is like $25 bucks. They want their product out there and being seen. I also have a Trademark 60, and a CompTortion pedal.

I don't work for them or Boss.

I play out almost every Friday and Saturday with my band. We do everything from mid 60's to modern and classic stuff in between. I do not use the TRI-AC with my band. I only use it on open mic / jam nights because it is such a simple setup. You get the best of three amps with not a lot to drag around. I keep saying that, in most situations I've encountered, LESS is sometimes definately MORE. I've been playing out live since 1992 although I started playing in 1964.

OK, look at the sample settings and spend an hour with this thing (the first 30 minutes of which you will spend discovering that the "brit" setting is useless at any EQ setting - simply too tinny - exactly the thing I didn't want in a pedal). So, if you skip the "brit" channel and move on to the "tweed"(Fenderish) and "california" (Boogie-ish) channels you will be spending your time wisely. The EQ's are meant to be sensitive and they are almost infinitely tweakable. Find a sound/level you like and lock it in with two clicks of the channel's footswitch. Once locked in, the setting remains and if you change the settings, a light flashes to show you how far you have varied from the saved setting. MUCH easier than it sounds, but you do need to invest some time. You don't get as much flexibility as with a Boss GT of course, but you don't have to spend endless hours matching volume levels on patches either. Simple is better.

Les Paul DC -> Tri-AC - Fender Hot Rod Deluxe (or Deluxe 90). I use the "tweed" on one setting for clean/slight crunch. Use "california" for crunch rhythm on setting two. Use "california" set at higher volume for solos. Of course, you have to set the sounds the way you like them. My tweed setting is very clean for rhythm and clean solos, but can be pushed into a wonderful light crunch by increasing pick attack. The California settings are great for distorted rhythm and have nice sustain for soloing. I have used some rather expensive digital pedals and the Tri-AC's analog sound is much better.

Built very solidly - I bought the power supply but always keep a battery handy, as the power supply appears rather fragile. If this pedal failed on a gig, I would use my HRD amp's drive channel (but not by choice).

You call them , they answer. They seem a bit surprised to receive the call, and then find someone to help you and they do help you. No interactive web based support. Don't think there's a dealer support network as with some manufacturers, but I don't care. Tech 21 products perform as advertised.

Been playing 30+ years and have had several digital pedals. The Tri-Ac beats them all if you just need a couple of good sounds. If you spend a little time with this thing, you will be pleased. There are good sounds inside!

I gotta give tech21 alot of praise for the ease of use... seriously, it doesn't get any easier... jut turn the knobs and the knobs got alot of range... HOWEVER

HOLY CRAP!! worst sounding thing I've ever used in my entire life! Actually, forgive me the Digitech RP2000 was the worst thing ever and this thing is second. The clean sounds pretty darn good but only with the level low. The british is pathetically thin and way too "treble-y". The california channel is totally the biggest bummer 'cause it is real hollow sounding. I was hoping this pedal would solve my desire for fender cleans and mesa distortions... but alas my heart is broken and I got 150$ of crap sitting in my box. Wondering what I'm running it through? A fender 50's reissue strat and a marshall something. The fender is utter garbage although everything sounds decent on the clean channel. So my friend brought over his fernandes with humbuckers in it so I could try that out... and the setup was terrible also and I noticed no major improvements. So single coils and strat... no good.
I'm way curious as to how this thing sounds going straight into a PA... I'm also wondering why the actual amp (trademark series) sounds so great and this pedal sounds so stupid. I found that the clean sounds best when I run it through my parallel effects loop...
Shouls anyone have any suggestions on how I can get better tones, let me know...

great so far

n/a

I believe this thing might sound better in a PA due to everyone else's entries but if you some sick distortion coming out of a pedal that competes with Mesa or Marshall, save up $100 more and get a ToneBone (British model) by Radial... sick...sick...sick... totally amazing tone...
Or buy a Rivera Quiana and you'll get amazing over-the-top distortion that quite easily rivals and in my opinion beats Mesa and you'll also get some very... (clears throat) VERY pure cleans that perfect the whole blackface-tweed range... I love that man rivera:o) He's like an amp building genius that builds amps to perfectly saisfy my cravings for luscious tone

works well .. the sounds you get out of this are really close
to miked amps.. the 3 on/off volumes for the 3 different types
is a good idea.. not worth the trouble miking a 4x12 cabinet with a maxed out amp.. get this instead and save lots of earplugs-noise..

sound very good..not too noisy and doesn't pick up from arount it's surroundings
like computers, consoles and amps...

this is where it gets bad..you see, i bought mine used.. and it had some scratchy pots..but i put up with it for a couple of years... lately, it's been getting worse, so i decided to clean the pots myself..

heck, i'm a guitar tech..i can do it myself...but was i wrong..
when you open the unit, you see the circuit board..but you can't take it out
for access to the potentiometers (pots).. you have to de-solder 6 contacts for each of the input and output connectors because these prevent you to take them out of the box.. these are different than of the MXR's because with the new MXR dunlops, you can unscrew the input's nut and the insert slides out..not with the tri-ac.. the inputs' nipple stick out through the hole even if you have remove the nut..

so, i tried this myself..and i succeeded..even though if i screwed it up, i'd break some circuits/contacts because they are soooo tiny in there...

there is also the adaptor input to de-solder.. 3 contacts..piece of cake...

l was now then able to pull the circuit board out after removing the Pots' top screws..the whole thing pulled out easily..

i cleaned the pots with a silicone based contact cleaner..set to last a long time without scratchy pots...

i removed the on/off footswitch, well..i had un-scewed it thinking it was part of the circuit board but it wasn't..it's independent ..so it pushes on a contact on the circuit board..

i proceeded to put the pedal back together (very tricky because you have 2 loose input and output connectors and one dc connector) , making sure i put the input/output's 6 legs in their holes in the circuit board, soldered them with a 15 watts soldering iron..i never use something stronger to prevent burning components.. soldered the 3 contacts for the dc input..

but then, this is where i screwed up... i had forgotten to put the footswitch back on the front panel..remember that this one is independent.. damn!!
i missed this one because the pedal was always facing down..

i proceeded in un-soldering the contacts again..but i had left the dc connector there because it seemed easy to remove the circuit with this one here..heck..it's only 1/16th" into it's cavity...well.. when i tried to pull the circuit out of the casing again, i.. stupidly .. pulled a bit too hard and proceeded to break circuit at the dc input's side..and some circuit came with it..

needless to add that i tried to fix this thing but it's hard to fix something when you have revenge on your mind...

yes..i am to blame but i don't take 100% of the blame.. because the damn pots became so scratchy, it HAD to be cleaned... and if they would have used the same type of input-output connectors like the MXR re-issues ( i won't go to the older REAL connectorswhich were the best but these companies have to save money somewhere) , this would have NEVER happened..heck..i just cleaned my MXR micro-amp in 2 minutes .. i don't remember the last time i broke something like this...

so.. the tri-ac is now somewhere in a green plastic bag in a dump..because i never keep artifacts of my lack of judgement..but TECH 21 lacked judgement also when they designed something like this that is extremely hard to service,,even for a guitar tech like me..!!!.

bottom line is..yes.. is it reliable, But for the scratchy pots, send it back to them..heck..i'd like to see them clean the pots themselves..

i haven't contacted them because i really doubt they could fix something that has hit a wall a couple of times.. ( i lost patience trying to fix the big boo boo i made myself..).. they'd probably call me a bozo..which i was at the time..

i play hard rock..a little jazz..i also have been trying to make my own type of music myself and i;m good at it.. i guess..but i'm not eddie VH..

i will not buy another one..

i wish this thing would have been designed by techs who FIX things.. who doesn't make a maze out of the products..

Intuitive is what I would describe ease of use as. It is set up like an amplifier, and you just set up your channels. I use it as such. Unit into Carvin poswer amp into cab. Nothing simpler. Manual good also, basic settings to start with.

Les Paul into Tri-AC, then to Aphex Exciter > Chorus > Delay > Power amp > Cabinet. Basically, the Tri-AC is the head unit of my amp. I Think the sound is impressive, and it runs into a tube power amp, so the sound is big, warm and is versitle. I only need the 3 sounds, more is overkill. With jus a couple of good effects, I can sound like what I want to.

Solid metal construction, should last forever.

Have never used it. Web site is great.

9 Overall. My sound is simple, aggressive, and exactlly what I want.

I was real surprised at how good it sounded vs. how much I paid for the unit. I plugged straight into the PA with a compressor before and tube reverb/delay after. It was great. I am very much an amp guy and I am seriously considering switching to preamp through PA. Does it sound like a tube amp? Kinda. For $150.00 you can't really beat the sounds. I think it beats the pod and the boss units. I really never use the $400.00 dollars worth of effects that those offer. I need clean, dirty and lead. That's what you can get with this unit. It allows you to pick a decent variety of sounds and then gives you 3 channels to program them into. If you want 3 screaming lead channels you can do it. If you need a few crunchs to chose from you can do that as well. The clean stuff is less impressive than the overdrive but still sounds good enough to fool most folks. This thing really isn't a for the one looking for hundreds of different sounds but it has alright eq shaping so you can make the three amp models sound more like six. I'm not sure if I'd use this plugged into a combo amp as an overdrive pedal. There are plenty of nicer ones out there for that. When playing it through my multi-tracker at home it didn't sound near as good as it did live through a good house system. I was definatly surprised. I figured a cheap pedal would sound like crap, but I had to get something for this gig. I didn't want to spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars on a POD or GT-6, so I got this one. If your into simple sounds that are good for bar gigs and places that 60watt tube amps are too loud, then you may want to try this. All that said, I think I'm going to sell some of my amps and buy a tube preamp to use like I used this one.

I truly never thought I'd buy and enjoy a non-tube preamp. This is somewhat versitile but not enough to warrant a great rating. It has one 1/4" input and one 1/4" output. No effects loop. Takes a 9v battery or standard 9v wall adapter. You can choose 3 amp types. One gain knob, Bass Mid and Treble knobs and level knob.

So far so good. Seems fairly rugged.

N/A

Been playin' for 7 years or so. I usually play through tube combos. They sound great and are unbeatable in my book. But I will use this unit for a few more gigs to get a better feel for it. If it was stolen or lost I would buy a tube preamp. But this unit helped me realize it's possible to get good tone without lugging an amp around.
For the price I couldn't imagine it having anymore features. For the first time I could actually hear everything on stage super clear and could adjust boost levels for leads with such ease, without overpower my band. I may be a convert but I need to give a few months.

First of all it is pretty easy to use.
Just read the manual and do what it says and there should be little effort to get a good sound. I beleive you can get manuals from tech 21 or teh website they have if you need them.

Ok heres where this shines.It sounds like blues,or rock or whatever you need it to do.
Ive read some of the below reviews. I have dealt with this company for a good 5 years now and their products compete with anything else on the market. To give ratings of 1 or 2 for this device is more than just an opinion as it deters musicians from giving it a try and may hurt the company in a way it doesnt deserve.We musicians are looking for more products like these. IT is a professional product for amateur and pro musicians who need seperate types of distortion sounds from a single pedal.You can set up your distortion and it remembers your settings..three of them! I repeat...from a single pedal.
If you cant carry three types of amps with you to a gig..try this.Its the next best thing. You may or may not like its sound that is personal but berating it as a piece of junk is bordering slander.
It is a pedal and doesnt sound "just like" a marshall stack...
how could it?...no pedal ever could because you need a 2 4/12 cabs with a 100 watt output to get that sound live.
THe tri-ac sounds better than most digital buzz saw distortions as it uses mosfets in its analog circuit.
Analog does sound better..or more organic to my ears.
I especially liked it with a tubescreamer used as a boost in front of it. It was made for live use and does that well.
A plastic 90's arion pedal may deserve a 1 but not this solidly made musicians tool.Take thought while reading reviews...some are fair, others sound like heat of the moment rants.
IT works just fine for me for blues,Indie,and medium rock...check out the website for tone samples..they are accurate.
Ive owned a gt-2(makes a super reverb sound mean like a mesa) the tri-od is good too. ..these two other pedals may give you a touch more super modern heavy metal high gain if thats your thing..its not really mine lately.
Ive played alot of there other stuff too including the double drive. Good stuff.

so far so good.

incredible...Ive dealt alot with them. Very well spoken and clear.
THey are musicians and get it. Had to return another product I bought broken on the internet(yeh I got burnt) THey fixed it for a low price and returned it within days.

I play a vintage strat..a 60's fender pro reverb and mostly analog effects.

this pedal is a piece of garbage. very easy to use and program, but the sounds were horrible! thin, brittle, and feedback-laden.

i was using tri-a.c. with my tom delonge strat and fender tele. this thing doesn't work well with humbuckers or single coils.

i only used it for a week before sending it back to american musical supply, but it worked really well for that week.

never had to deal with them.

don't buy this thing. that's the best advice i can give you. i don't know if i just got a bad one, or it just didn't work with my setup, but it was the worst distortion pedal i've ever owned in my 17 years of playing. i'll just stick with my boss metal zone thank you very much.

I wrote a bad review yesterday under the same name, and i realized the reason why the machine was sounding so crappy.

i was recording direct, going straight from the tri-a.c., into my preamp and then into my soundcard. this was one of the main purposes designed for this machine, but i've realized for my setup, it just sounded horrible.

i tried plugging in straight into my kenwood 100w stereo, and the sound is a LOT better. much more present, and it sounds pretty damn good! i put a mic up to my speaker, and the recorded tone sounds much better from the results i got Direct Injecting.

my recording setup is as follows: PC --->> Soundblaster LIve--> audio buddy preamp ---> input source.

plugging the unit straight into this setup caused the muddiest, cruddiest sound i've heard. maybe it's cuz i have a crappy soundcard, or maybe it's bad cables. but this unit sounds much better straight into a stereo or a PA system. if your direct recording sounds really bad, try doing what i did.

i LOVE this box now. it sounds hella good. the mesa channel sounds ballsy and has a nice thick distortion now. everything sounds much better. i'm so happy :D

couple the tri-a.c. with the Tech21 power engine or PA system, and you've got a killer setup for live or recording. you can't beat a mic on the grill of a speaker for recording, IMO.

excellent box! disregard my earlier review completely.

i've had a helluva time getting a good sound out of this thing. i mean it seems simple enough, bass, mids, treb, gain and volume, but i just can't seem to get a good sound. i've tweaked it a lot but to no avail. the manual is good. saving patches is extremely easy.

this is where i just am dissapointed with this box. i'm going direct into my audio buddy preamp from the TRI-a.c., going from audio buddy to sound blaster live soundcard, out thru my headphones or stereo system. i use a dual humbucker music yo, cheap guitar but not horrible or anything. noise is not a problem, but i just can't get a good sound out of it. i've tried all the channels and tweaked for many hours for several days. i don't know what the problem is. the distortion on the mesa and marshall channels just sound buzzy and flat, and ... the thing just doesn't sound good at all. i was expecting some adequate performance out of this box, but right now i'm geting better distortion recording my peavey 10w practice amp with a mic. the thing just sounds bad so far.

i'm sure it will be functional for a long time. sturdy metal.. etc.

no experience

i like rock and emo stuff, like incubus, taking back sunday, brand new, coheed and cambria, chevelle, i like that story of hte year song, stuff like that. i've been playing about 5 years, never had any nice gear, but have played through some pretty nice stuff. all i have is a peavey practice amp, 10w solid state from the 80's. i wanted this box cuz of the mesa channel, i wanted that thick heavy distortion that mesas put out. this thing just does not deliver any sounds that seem adequate. it just doesn't sound very good at all. very stale and lifeless, buzzy and flat. i don't get what the problem is, because i know very experienced people have loved this box and its sounds.

i don't get it... i wanted to like it, but it just doesn't sound good. i'll definitely have to try it in another scenario, like thru a PA system before i pass judgment, but as of now, i'm very dissapointed with this machine. i'll probably write another review in like several months, after i try out all the possiblities.

definitely try it before you buy it, wish i had

This pedal is amazing. It's easy to use and very user friendly. I do agree with other reviews on the thread about being patient on trying to get a good sound, but I tweaked with the plexi preset settings and beefed up the tweed. It sounds fantastic. No noise whatsoever. I was able to get a good vintage marshall sound(reminiscent of old Clapton bluesbreakers/allman bros. type tone). The manual is clear and concise. Editing is a piece of cake.

I use a fender 65 deluxe reverb reissue. I have a late 80's strat with lace sensors and a bastardized tele with a vintage neck strat pickup. I use an A/B switch to separate the TRI A.C. to the normal channel on the amp. I run it flat on the normal channel. It does sound good. I use the vibrato channel of the amp for a clean tone. The TRI A.C nails that Santana tone no problem. Also, it can emulate that thick les paul tone that Al DiMeola has without splitting the audience's ear drums. I am not a vintage snob but I prefer an overdriven tube amp. So far, I am sold with the TRI A.C. because I can get vintage tone out of a little box. This is my first tech21 product. I am quite impressed with the sound. Tone is something you experiment with. Again, it doesn't compensate for lack of skill in playing. I find it funny that there are people out that that buy a product such as this and clutter it with digital crap.

It's black and metal..used it on a few gigs...can't say yet...the ultimate test would be running it through those new bose speaker systems. I am still lugging my deluxe because nothing can replace that tube sound.

haven't dealt with them yet

I had been playing for almost 15 years. I play classical,country, rock, blues and jazz...This product is versatile...using it with my deluxe is a joy. It is a working musician's tool. I get some controlled feedback stuff and chicken-pickin' tone from this thing. I love the simplicity of the TRI A.C. I didn't compare it with other "digital" products. I didn't bother at all. If you are a close-minded vintage tube snob or a 4X12 speaker cab freak that needs 100 watt white noise that has a delusional rock star attitude, this pedal is not for you. Just go run to your mommy and have her buy you a set of gap jeans and straight feathered haircut from her gay haridresser and maybe you can pass for IGGY pop. If Iggy found out, he'll probably kick your butt. I wish I had Junior Brown's chops...nuff said.

This is the worst pedal I've owned, bar none. I had problems with every facet and feature of this pedal. None of the recommended settings are anywhere near quality sounds. Recording straight into the computer was a nightmare since the level coming from the pedal was too high and the sound was thin. Plugging through the effects loops of both my amps got me ear shattering squeals on both (and yes, I checked to make sure everything was set up correctly). The tweed sounded ok, but not worth the trouble. The British setting just boosted the treble on an already treble heavy pedal, the California setting was terrible since the built in compression/limiter or whatever the hell it was was dropping the volume of the signal to soften the initial impact of each pick strike. I was trying to play some fast palm muted stuff, and it sounded like someone was running the volume up and down in time with my chords! Also, the only way to get it to sound anywhere near decent is to EQ your amp totally flat...which means your sound is ruined if you turn off the pedal. Programming is no problem, very easy, but there is something terribly wrong with the way this pedal operates!

See above...it's way too harsh, volume is too tricky, EQing will get you very limited improvements to the overall sound. This is a gimmick pedal with no real value. Shame on Tech21 for creating such an inferior product!

I have no idea if it will hold up...I'm getting rid of the damn thing ASAP.

Don't know don't care...I'll never be dealing with Tech21 again since I'll never purchase another of their products.

I play speed/thrash/death. This pedal is not a "match" since it's a terrible fucking pedal.
Been playing 14 years. I own a Boss MT2, Boss DD-5, Boss CH-1, Boss V-Wah, Radial Tonebone Hot British Distortion, and play them all into a Peavey Transtube Supreme and a Kustom Quad65 into a 4X12 loaded with Celestion G12H-80's.
If it were stolen, I'd feel really sorry for the guy who took it...but then I'd cheer up since I'd never have to look at or listen to it ever again!
Anything I wish it had? Yeah, decent sound, a purpose higher than a paperweight, etc.

DO NOT waste your hard-earned cash on this trash! You will regret it...unless you're tone deaf or something.

No problems here. Spend five minutes on the manual... The programing may look a little complicated at first, but it gets pretty quick and easy with time.
Finding a good tone takes a lot of time and that's why it gets a 9.

My usual setup is a PRS trought many effects and a Fender Hot Rod 4x10 amp which I love. I run the Tri AC right into te PA, as a substitute to my amp. I play most Southern Rock, Blues and some Funk and Soul stuff. I bougth the Tri AC basically for four reasons: 1) home recording 2) To use as a back-up at gigs (plugged into the PA) 3) to use on rehearsals direct into the board 4) Use as a bass pre amp (didn't try it yet, so...)
I've been using it for about a month now and it's doing the job perfectly well so far. I'm just concerned about a pretty annoying non-stop noise that comes from the unit.
The clean Fender (tweed mode) tone is very good, but don't turn the drive knob over 8 o'clock or you will sound like crap. I use a Tube Screamer on the clean Fender tone for blues and classic rock. Works fine for me.
Both Marshall (Brit mode) and Mesa Boogie (Calif mode) crunched tones are very good and the sound is very close to the real thing. I don't really use them very much but it's great to have this variety of tones at your disposal.
As mentioned above, you'll need to spend some tweaking time with this babe to get a nice tone. I suggest starting with the presets and paitiently do a lot of experimentation. The knobs are VERY sentitive and sometimes it becomes a real pain in the ass. You need at least a couple of hours to find something close to YOUR TONE.
The three-channel programming is great 'cause you can store any tone from any mode as you like. It's nice to have tree different amps at you feet.
I don't usually run it tru the power amp of my Hot Rod, though it sounds very nice that way. But I just need the Tri AC for the reasons above and my review is based on that.
It doesn't get a 10 because of the noise and the bad crunched Fender tone. Actually, I would give a 8.50 for the sound quality.

Looks very reliable. Too soon to tell...

I live in Brazil. Don't know about Tech 21 customer support here and hope I never need them.

I'm really concerned about getting the perfect tone and don't really like gear that promisses to simulate tube amp sounds with realism. All those digital crap gear that emulates tube amps can be very useful for practice or home recording, but the're useless in the "real world", mainly If you need a good Blues tone.
However the Sansamp products can do the job very well. They sound is acceptable and can be close enough to a tube amp to fool some of the most experienced. But don't expect to get "that" feeling of playing trought a tube amp with this unit. If you really want that, save money and buy a nice tube amp.
This unit does a pretty nice job as a backup if you already have a tube amp and it's fine for ocasions when you really don't need (or want) to carry a lot of weight, like in some rehearsals or even in small gigs were nobody in the audience gives a shit about your tone.
If it was stolen or lost I would probably buy another SansAmp product.
A master volume knob could be very useful...

As others have said you need to spend some time on this. For instance if you need more treble sometimes it is better to roll back the bass a little. This unit also requires a balanced sheilded guitar lead. If you use your unbalanced 2 core it will be noisy. Use the manuals presets to start and you are away.

Very Good. I owned Marshalls back in the 80's and ended up selling them for a Peavey Special simply because lugging the Marshall to gigs 3 times a week became too much. On the Brit setting this unit sounds better than my old Marshall. I started with the Plexi setting and changed settings until I found what I wanted and saved it. The mid tone control really changes the sound alot. The Fender sound is very strat like even with my Ibanez Artist (humbuckers). The Mesa settings were all too over the top metal for me but I found a great clean Brian Adams type sound that I like. The last amp I owned was a Roland BC-60 which was basicly a copy of Tech 21 tradmark 60. It good but the sansamp is better. I also like the Vox setting alot. It is a Brian May type. The fact that you can have three settings at your feet and plug directly into the PA for a brilliant tone is testamont to technology and Tech 21.

Very solidly built with external powersupply. Runs on a battery or any standard BOSS power supply.

Never had to use

I play all styles of music. Covers etc. I have been playing for 22yrs and own a small PA. I plug this into my A&H GL2200 then send it to am RCF300a powered speaker. Highly recommended.

This pedal is quite easy to get a good sound out of. Very intuitive, and there is not really a need for a manual except to know how to program it.

My setup goes: Les Paul>Fender PT-10>Boss-CS-3>Tri A.C.>Boss-CE-3>Korg Dynamic Echo>Music Man HD130 and 4x12 cabinet. I was using a Rat 2 prior to the Tri A.C., but I found it to be too noisy (i.e. feedback) and too muddy when I did chord work---no matter what setting I put it on. Therefore, I had the desire for a cleaner distortion tone [oxymoron, I know] where chords and notes would be more distinct. As well, I love the clean tone of my Music Man, but also have a deep love for the gain channel of a Marshall. The Tri A.C. has fulfilled my desire for cleanliness and that Marshall sound. From AC/DC to Van Halen this is it. The Tweed setting is good, rather bassy though. The Brit setting is right on in my book. The Cali setting is okay, but it has a hissy sound that is kind of weak, but I guess if you are into Metallica or Linkin Park it could be excellent.

I have used this at practice a few times now and at one show. Very solid, I may keep my Rat 2 in my chain for a while, but this pedal alone does not need a backup.

I play math/instrumental/prog rock, this pedal is nice when I want a good dirty tone or want to explore the realm of metal. I recently got this pedal off of Ebay, but for the short amount of time I have had it I am truly happy with my purchase. It has a lot of options available that I really like. Anything that you can program and set and not have to worry about losing the setting for is awesome in my book. I have been playing for 12 years, and there are two things I have learned: 1) No pedal will ever come close to the sound of a gain channel on any amp and 2) The Tri A.C. comes close enough, and for he amount of money I paid it was well worth it.

The ease of use is amazing its just turn and push anyone can get the tone their looking for instantly. It come with a manual that has some decent starter ideas.

The sound quality, not all its cracked up to be. It has good tones in the roots of the tri ac but the noise and lack of true tone was disapointing. I've played for only six years but having owned a Marshall and a Peavy classic 50 I know that the pedal did not live up to the cost or tone of the amps. The tones of all three settings Fender, Marshall, and Mesa were close but to the point that you felt like you had the amp there with you. Musically it sounded dead.

Its built like a tank. You can trust that it won't break but is that really such a good thing after you here it.

I never had to deal with tech 21 but them seem to provide good waranties and plenty of ways to reach them via the web of phone or mail.

overall for jazz its to noisey, for blues theres not enough tone, and the only one ray of light was the mesa sound that while noisy actually provided some intresting tones. But I must stress the fact that for $150 you could buy two decent or even a lot cheaper pedal that would serve you just as well

Pretty easy to get a good sound out of this pedal, if you're after specific sounds. More on this later. As far as the interface is concerned, very easy. Turn the knobs, step twice on the switch you want your sound assigned to, and you're off. The manual is typical Tech21; Easy.

I didn't much care for the Fender-type sounds; They seem pretty tinny. However, I've only been using this device for one day. On a clean setting, they sound kind of weak, and on a distorted setting, they sound kind of overdone. I was able to get kind of a quasi-acoustic sound that would work in some settings.

The Marshall setting was very nice. Worth the price of the pedal just for this sound and variations on it. It works great for leads, and for rhythm parts where you don't need or want too much dirt. I really like this mode. One other thing about this mode is that (at least on my guitar) switching from a full-throttle bridge pickup setting at full volume to a middle-pickup setting at a reduced volume results in a really nice clean sound, all from the same patch! I've yet to hear a tube amp do this as effectively as this pedal does.

The Boogie-type setting is pretty impressive too. Lots of balls here. Kind of like a MarkIII or MarkIV. Works great for leads... Artificial harmonics have that kind of tube-like "whine" to them that I like. I accidentally got a clean sound out of this too. Not a bad one, either.

The trick with this device is definitely not to over-do the adjustments on the knobs. They're really sensitive, and not much movement results in a substantial change to the sound.

I'm giving this a high rating on the virtues of the Marshall and Boogie settings, and its apparent high level of flexibility. Still pondering the Fender setting. Will report back later when I've had more time to muck around with it.

I own 5 pieces of Tech21 gear: PSA-1, GT-2, TM60, CompTortion, and this. The only trouble I've ever had with any of them was the PSA-1: It was acting strangely when I edited patches and then switched to other patches without saving. On the advice of a tech support person from Tech21, I pulled out on one of the knobs to make sure it wasn't shorting against the faceplate (As if that would help; the knob is plastic!) and pulled the guts of the pot clear out of the unit. I promptly received a free replacement pot from Tech21 and was up and running soon after. All in all, pretty reliable stuff if you take care of it. Maybe not as butch as, say, Boss equipment, but butch enough. This particular piece seems well-made. The case is an aluminum extrusion and tightly bolted together. I would gig without a backup.

See above; I hosed up my PSA-1 based on their advice, and when I e-mailed them about it to tell them what I'd done, they sent me a new pot. They were cool about it.

This is a honemoon review, I'm still new to the Tri-AC. But, I'm familiar with Tech21 gear, and so a honemoon review with their gear for me is not exactly new territory. I play various styles (prog rock, metal, jazz, nu-metal-funk, country hip-hop, prog-rap, ragtime, and Bob Seger), and this device fits some of them. It seems like it's going to be an inspirational piece of gear. If it was lost or stolen, I would be upset, because it will probably be in a pedalboard along with the 8 other pedals I own, and it will be a while before I can replace them all. Doh!

Very easy to use. Manual very informative.......gets you started with some examples, but you're better off tweaking to your satisfaction. Dialing in a sound then saving is very easy.

Awesome. It sounds like a real amp head. I jammed a couple of weeks ago on my friends Marshall TSL2000 and was so jealous after practice. I had been reading the reviews for the tri-a.c. and finally came into some money to finally purchase one. I'm running this directly into a zoom mrs-4 digital multi-track recorder. THIS PEDAL HAS MADE ME A BETTER PLAYER.

You will be playing with this for hours once you find your sound. The best part is that I can now plug into the PA and not worry about trying to save $2,000 for a half stack. Adding reverb keeps it from sounding thin and gives it room to breathe.

Had to give it an eight here only because California setting is very bassy and Brit is too trebly. Takes tweaking, but even real amps take time to dial in to your satisfaction.

Brand new, so we'll see. Not worried though, the tech 21 guys are very helpful. See below "Customer Support."

Easy to deal with. I asked numerous questions about the tri-a.c. and other tech 21 products and they responded very quickly and informatively. I know that if something goes wrong they'll be there to help out.

Progession led me to the point of needing an amp with balls and I just don't know how people can afford gear without going into debt. I love music as much as the next guy, but you've got to be responsible. Unless you're the next Aerosmith and you can justify the crazy expenses. To become a better player takes time and dedicated practice, so save yourself the $$$, buy a tri-a.c. and rock on. I'm sold on tech 21 products and would defintely by another if/when necessary.

Takes a bit of time to dial in sounds as the pots are VERY SENSITIVE but completely worth it. I use seymour duncans in an epi les paul standard and have to take frequent breaks from the headphones as it sounds like I'm jamming in front of a full-stack (Think what a tiger and a bear growl would sound like combined) Scares the fuck out of me when really cranked, but proud to represent it as my sound, Thanks Tech 21.

What are you waiting for? For around $150 bucks it's a steal.

easy. Impossibly easy. I don't know why people say this thing is hard to use, but I've heard that from a couple of people now. you get 10 decibles of boost or cut, On a traditional amplifier you don't have the ability to boost frequencies so if you want to model it more vintage like you simply don't turn the knobs above twelve. Don't scoop the mids, it robs tone from any piece of equipment and this is no different.

Brilliant tones. The marshall covers everything that came after the change to the brighter sound. It can do the jimi hendrix tones and van halen as well. I've actually got a fairly good eric johnson sound out of it as well. If you torque the gain all the way up you'll get those guns and roses tones. It has a tad more gain than Marshalls I've played. The California sounds like a mix of the Mark IV and the Dual Rectifier. It's got a good midrange that you can play with to find just that right mix of mid and treble. I've actually emulated my soldano with this puppy and this setting.

Perhaps the best of all is the ultra realistic tweed setting. It captures that early fender sound very well and manages to roll the sound of the twin, bassman, tweed deluxe, and the deluxe reverb all in one.

I've run this through a couple of amps now at various open mic gigs and it slices through the mix so easily that it scares me. I didn't know a 150 dollar piece of gear could be this good.

Beginning guitarists- buy yourself this and a fender princeton and you will have good tone and decent volume for practice. and it'll be under 500 bucks for that and the guitar.

My only issues is that when the battery gets low the tri-ac kinda craps out on the trail of the notes so when I'm over on the other side of the stage and can't see the LED's real well I can't tell if the battery is dying until the end of notes set in. It really makes it sound unprofessional if your equipment craps out just slightly so the sound quality is on the edge of crap.

I would gig with this without a backup. I bought the ac adapter recently, but I've been told the batteries last for 100 hours and in some cases more. For 100 bucks it wouldn't hurt to have 2 of these things. I had some issues with batteries dying, but I'm not well known for buying new batteries, Instead I'm just ghetto charging old batteries until the bulge so much that they will no longer fit in a slot. I do this with a 9 volt adapter my friend made me. I call it ghetto charging cause you have to be careful or the battery will explode. In the ghetto you got to be careful or you'll get shot.

The thing is built like a Brick shithouse with twenty foot concrete walls and cieling built around it. When I hold it in my hand the metal and superbly tight joints make it feel expensive. The switches are excellent quality as well, better than the switches on most of my other gear anyways.

Better than behringer thats for damn sure. I haven't had to use them though.

I play Rock, Jazz, some metal, Blues, classical, well basically whatever I can play... This thing covers absolutely all the bases I'm pretty sure this'll get stolen eventually so I'm gonna buy two of them. I compared this with all of the low end solid state amplifiers I could find, my Fender deluxe 90, my Flextone III xl, my jtm-45. In the store I compared it with the Behringer V-amp, Pod Pro, Pod xt, Digitech Genesis 3, gnx2-4, and the Rocktron Gainiac.

Personally the only ones that came close were the Pod xt and the Flextone III Xl that I own. The podxt is overpriced so I went with this.

It's very simple to operate, I reccomend it for any beginners I know because it's cheap, and I bet in about 10 years it'll be worth something on the vintage market.

The sam ash I bought mine at told me that they can't keep them in stock. John, the guy that always helps me out gave me this thing even though it was an order that came in for someone else.

It gets another 9 here because I was looking for something with rackmount ability.

Simple. Only beef...When in "manual mode" (tweaking a preset) and you select a preset to compare to, you have to adjust each of the dials to unlock them to monitor your manual settings.

Honeymoon review. I gotta say I really like the tones I'm getting from this direct to PC (running through a PreSonus TubePre). The 3 settings really do radically alter the tones enough for anyone to find something they like. The Brit settings deliver good mid range crunch with a tight low end, Calif settings have a little more oomph in the lows, Tweed settings have that "flabby in a good way" low end and gritty highs. One addition missing from many other Tech21/Sansamp pedals that I love is the Mid Range control, thanks guys! Also...works great for bass! A great addition to a great line of products.

Seems solid...only time will tell.

I've dealt with the company in the past and they are great.

Gotta say, Tech 21 is an inovative company and really stands alone in the "analog modeling" category. I wish more stores carried their product lines, I had to drive all over the place to find one of these. I feel this offers a better feel and overall tone than the Yamaha DG line and the Line 6 Flextone line (minus the effects of course). Tech 21 needs to offer an "analog" modulation pedal, bet it would sell like crazy. For those that own the Trademark 60 and wonder if you'll be able to get the same tones, you'll come close (AND have the addition of a mid range control).

The pedal is very easy to operate.I have had this pedal for 3 years and have used Sansamp's products since 1995(GT2). You don't need to remember excessive buttons.Within half an hour I was creating tones that would be more time consuming on other pedals. One must be aware of the sensitivity of the knobs when setting up a sound. Volume increases can make you stand out. For best results I always have a volume pedal.

I play in a duo with an ex guit student whereby we both go straight to the PA. The sounds are truly great. We both use Les Pauls as our guitars of choice and the overdrives,lead settings are a standout. I have noticed that general tweaking is needed when we use our strats. Usually it is just beefing up the mids. When working with a band,a guitar amp is necessary but i find that knocking off the "colour" on the amp and using the controls on the Tri AC will give the desired results. It will never replace your Marshall or Fender twin but it is the next best thing.

Tough as a tank. The metal casing makes the pedal reliable. Battery life is also quite economical. I replace the batteries about 4 times a year.

NA. I have been lucky that both pedals have given me nothing but sweet tones.Tech 21 site looks informative and helpful.

I play standard rock/pop/dance covers with the duo and originals/covers with the band. I have been playing for 20 years and have tried a variety of different products to get a decent sound. I feel that I have found that product that gives me the sound that i want. it also works well with bass and a great sound enhancer with a guitar synth. If I can share a story with you all. I first encountered Tech 21 products at a gig in which i walked into in the summer of 94 in Sydney Aus.The guitarist was an American dude playing a beaten up tele and i was amazed at his sound from a relatively weak signal guitar. After talking to the guy for a good half hour I was told about his tele test. He would go to a guitar store with a weak signal guitar and try the pedals . The pedals that gave him the most color and range were the pedals that mattered. There you go mates....the tele test

Getting a good sound out of it might be kind of tricky, unless you are very familiar with active controls (which both cut and boost from the unity gain). Any small change in your dialing will yield a significant tonal change, not as with digital crap like BOSS, ZOOM, etc. So be patient and experiment, do not hurry and do not feel discouraged if no good sound comes alive from the very beginning.
It also depends of the quality of the gear placed before and after the unit in the sound chain. As the manual points-out, "low quality digital effects placed after the TRI-A.C. may degrade your sound". I bet they would!
Editing patches is simple in your bedroom yet a pain in the ass on-stage, because first you have to turn the knob until led stops flashing to get to the saved setting and only then you can modify it. I am shure it's difficult to make adjustments mid-song.
The manual is brilliant: simple and accurate, these guys must be gigging guitar players!
The unit hasn't been upgraded.

I'm using it with an Ibanez RG 470 left-handed, with a Seymour Duncan TB-6 in the bridge and, either I go direct in, or I go in the front end of a Marshall Valvestate 100 or in the FX return of a Marshall JCM 600 head. I'm not a fan of FX, I just like the plain shred.
The unit is not more noisy than other similar products, yet there's a quite annoying 'pop' that can be heared when you go from the Mesa high gain channel to the Tweed clean channel. You have to live with that!
The unit sounds best when into the FX return of an amp! If you get into the front end of the amp, the sound is going to be a bit uncontrollable, because of the preamp section of the amp, which will add its own colour. I get the best results with it in the FX return of my all tube Marshall 600 head. Tech 21 suggest to use a solid state power section, otherwise it will yield too much compression! I didn't try it through a SS power amp, I cannot comment!
It also sounds awesome direct to PC or stereo!!!
The tweed channel is lacking presence a bit, the tone is pretty hollow,
you have to max the level if you want to keep up with the other higer gain amp models.
The British channel is reminiscent of the older Marshall tube amps, the plexi era, while the Calif. channel (Mesa Boogie) is designated for high gain soloing and/or shredding. I am based on this channel.

The unit has a sturdy metal chassis, I use it without any back-up.
You can count on the workmanship of Tech 21 NYC!

Amazing customer support!
They always e-mail back on the spot!
I used to have another TRI-A.C. before, it get broken and they replaced it with a brand new one, although it had voided warranty! This is a 10!
Thank you again Tech 21 NYC, Mr. Lloyd Schwartz, John Bednar and your repair shop in Budapest, Hungary!

I'm playing hard/heavy rock with a touch of progressive since 8 years now, I used a crappy BOSS Metal Zone before, but I would replace this baby in a heartbeat, if damaged or stolen!
There's nothing I hate about it, while I mostly like it's character, the quality of the voicings and the accurate response to my playing.
I wish it hat some sort of master volume, because playing with it in the FX return of an amp with no master volume is kind of difficult on-stage.

This is pretty straightforward, but not necessarily easy. The tone controls are amazingly effective which make tweaking a little challenging for dopes like me raised on DOD and BOSS. The "lazy pot" feature is a little goofy, and the fact that the knob posisitions don't necessarily indicate settings is frustrating even thought my DG Stomp pretty much works the same way (think I'd be used to it by now!)It's all worth the trouble though, because having three set channels in one pedal is great. What can be easier than stomping on a button? Tech 21 manuals are great - probably best I've seen. They give you the lowdown without being to technical, but technical enough.

Usually I like reading reviews from people who have owned things for awhile - gives us time to really find the potential in the stuff we own. On the other hand it's the first day or two of use that we can really notice the difference a piece of gear makes... So here's my day-old review of the TRI-AC.

First thing I did was run the tri-ac into my little Behringer Eurorack and put on headphones. Couldn't get a good sound - very dull like other reviewers who have tried running this thing into the front end of an amp. Don't know if the problem was the headphones or the mixer - I'll spend some more time with this tonight because I KNOW it wasn't the tri-ac. For headphones my DG Stomp sounds better so far...

Next I put the Tri-AC in front of my Tech21 Power Engine (60w power amp/speaker, no preamp) which is pretty much like "going direct". I put a Jekyll & Hyde (think Tubescreamer) in front of the Tri-AC and put my Yamaha DG Stomp (multi-FX modeler) behind it. It took 5 minutes, but I got some excellent sounds. I was afraid the Tri-AC wouldn't like the DG Stomp but not so! I found great sounds with the Stomp's preamp modeler & speaker sims both on and off. The Tri-AC gives a great tonal foundation which can be built upon. The effects actually were more noticable (in a good way) with the Tri-AC, and the Tweed channel responds very well when driven by the J&H Overdrive.

I'm about as happy as can be with the Tweed channel. I don't like Marshall sounds but the Brit "VOX" settings are super. I wish the California channel had some more agressive ooomph to it - maybe does at higher volumes.

Tech 21 stuff is great - tough as nails. That's one of the reasons I picked this up. I HAVE to gig without a backup. I still haven't been able to get the money tree in my yard to bloom.

Very cool people, not rude (weird, they're from NY) and not slimey-sales types. They know they've got good stuff, so they can be cool. Always fast email responses to me.

I really like this pedal. I needed a good tone foundation for going direct. My DG Stomp is very nice but doesn't give the "Fendery" clean I like to start with. The TRI-AC does this for me, plus gives me instant access to a couple other tones... I wouldn't use it all alone (heck, how do play without a touch of reverb) but I can easily see it will be the foundation of my "ampless" setup. Can't beat it for the money. Your back will love it too.

Very easy to use. A little touchy on the tone controls. Editing is simple. It would be better if it had a nonprogrammed master volume -- the master volume is part of the programmed patch, preventing you from making a quick volume boost without resaving. Kind of a pain when playing live, because you wouldn't have the chance to reprogram.

I run this with a Fender Strat, Tele, and '73 SG. Great on all, but best on Tele.

I'm fond of the Boogie models.

Marshall have a little too much spit, and not as much punch, to my ears. Fender sounds are pretty good, if a little "soft" to my ears. Not real spanky. More like a Bassman than a Twin.

The unit is a bit noisy on high gain settings, especially with a Blues Driver in front.

I'm putting it into a Peavey Bandit 65, and then into a Carvin 4x12. Lots of air moving!

Dependable so far.

I never gig without SOME backup . . .

I play alt rock, jazz, and other styles.

This is a great product, and I'd highly recommend it. It compares favorably with the POD and is light years ahead of the GT-2 (which I own, as well).

Love the punch of the tones. Could do without the noise, and would love an overall master volume (I have to put it into the FRONT of the amp, rather than the power amp in, which is something of a compromise).

Never recorded with it, but imagine it'd be quite nice.

Wish you could switch out speaker emulation for live work.

I can't give it a 10 because that would be perfect. There has to be some discretion here but this pedal has to be the easiest processor to get a good sound out of.

10. I plugged my Parker NiteFly into the TRI-A.C., Digitech RP20, and Fender Blues DeVille 212 directly into the front end of my combo amp and everything sounded perfect. I couldn't be happier. SansAmp really knows what amp modelling is all about.

I haven't had to deal with it yet but this pedal is built like a tank.

I have already talked to one of the company's tech support reps several times and he answered all of my questions very well.

I just joined a new local band recently and I play Lead Guitar and sing. We do a pretty good variety from Country to Classic Rock and Blues and most everything in between. I wasn't happy with the Overdrive sound that I was getting on stage but this pedal took care of all that.

The Tri-AC is very easy to use. Comes with a manual that provides settings for certain "sounds", i.e. Metallica, SRV, Van Halen. etc., but you can also set your own tones.

I must say, this is the sound I have been looking for my entire guitar playing life. I played a rackmount Sansamp in the studio, which made me want a Tech 21 product. So I chose the Tri AC because it was less expensive than the rackmount, but MY GOD! The tone is equal to the more expensive models. It sounds great with my Tele, but absolutely shines with my Rickenbacker 650d.

I've only had it a month, but it is very durable with a metal casing. Knobs seem very stable and input/output jacks are very solid.

n/a

As I said before, this is the sound I've always searched for. I mainly play rock/radio-friendly music like Sister Hazel, Candlebox, Live but both the clean settings and heavy gain settings are extrodinary. It hits everything in between as well. The distortion is just plain PRISTINE. I cannot say enough good about this unit. I've had Boss preamps, Quadraverbs, Midiverbs, Danelectro distortion pedals, pretty much everything. This pedal is more than just for distortion, it is a tone factory as well.

Very easy to use and edit. Read manual once. Foot switches are close together but you could use bare foot no problem.

Marshall Plexi is the best. Did not have use for fender. Mesa good for beef. I set it as 1) cleanish Marshall. 2) Plexi Marshall. 3) Mesa high gain. Quiet use. no effects. used through carver power amp bridged @ about 130 watts with a 10 inch fender 1270 monitor. Marshall sounds are the best as said up front. Does not react as well as an amp when you roll the guitar volume back but when the volume is full picking dynamics are there. Better than POD in tone but if you have a POD you can get a close Marshall sound if you use compression effect.

only had it 10 days but looks like it will last a while.

They emailed me right away when I asked if the amp I have is compatable.

I ended up returning it. @ 150 I thought I could get a used Marshall. I did. I found an 80's 20watt one for less than 100 bucks and bought a good distortion pedal and spent the same amount. Having a real amp with a celestion speaker is better to me. I'd buy one again though if I needed it. If it had reverb it would have been better too. I say try it. It's real good and sounds great.

It is pretty easy to get good sounds from this unit once you are familiar with how it works. Despite the apparent simplicity of the controls, there is a *lot* of control. Its deceptively simple and one could give up on getting a certain sound if they'd not spent the requisite amount of time experimenting. For example, I found that I wasn't wild about the Tweed setting for a cleanish tone. I might have concluded that there was no good clean sounds, and I'd have been wrong. On the California setting, I found just what I was looking for. Be prepared to spend at least an hour to get comfortable with it. Your settings for home use will also likely need to be adjusted when you change to a different output system.

The manual is brief, but it explains the operation in detail and there isn't more you could ask for.

Some might be inclined to rate the ease-of-use as lower simply because it may take some time to find 'the sound', but I don't view this as a limitation of the ease of use as much as a testament to the flexibility of the unit.

Other reviews have mentioned this, and I'll concur: The tone controls are VERY SENSITIVE. Although you have to turn the tone controls a good bit to 'unlock' them from the preset location, after doing so, they seem to provide a very fine control. The difference between 'too much' and 'just right' is often just a couple degrees of the control, rather than going from '5' to '6' on a numbered dial.

I used the Tri-AC both through my ADA microfet and home speakers at the house and through my PA rig at the band room. I didn't try it through an amp or guitar cabinet, but I am sure that in front of an amp is the wrong place for this unit. Even setting the amp EQ to 'neutral' position will probably not work since most amps are incapable of a flat sound.

Although there are only 3 settings of Tweed, British and California, there are TONS of different sounds in those 3 settings, and they aren't always obvious. I didn't expect California to have good clean and in-between sounds, but it does.

The example settings didn't really do much for me, but it was easy to get some 'trademark' sounds from it. The Vox example didn't remind me of a Vox, but I think it may have been more of a Brian May sound than the Beatles. On the British channel, I was able to nail the 'Liverpool' sound without any trouble. My bandmates agreed as we played "Day Tripper" that it nailed that sound. I got great Marshally type sounds as well as non-scooped modern sounds with equal ease.

I couldn't get a match for the typical 'rectified' setting on other units, but its doing you a favor in that regard. With the bass jacked and the treble jacked, you create a sound that is great in the bedroom, but useless in a band. All the super low end conflicts with the bass guitar and bass drum while the highs conflict with the cymbals, leaving nothing but the scooped middle for guitar. I don't view this as a fault, but others may.

This is the best direct sound I've ever heard. It doesn't sound exactly like a real cabinet sounds, but it sounds at least as good as a typical mic'd cabinet sounds without all the headache. I think everyone will like some sort of minimal effects for ambience added to this or any other dry direct guitar sound. You don't need to swamp it with effects, but a hint of ambient reverb will probably do wonders. I'm going to try the Electro Harmonix Holy Grail I think. I used an old ART Pro-Verb to provide a very light reverb.

Even with the gain cranked, the unit is not terribly noisy. It doesn't have anything like the hiss of the digital multi-fx crowd. My bassist bought a Behringer Bass V-amp and we were both trying our new toys. He quickly became frustrated with the hiss of that unit unless he turned the treble all the way down. He liked the Tri-AC for bass too and will be returning the Behringer.

This unit will likely *be* my backup, but it appears fairly reliable. Metal casing seems quite rugged.

I would never gig without a backup plan of some sort. I see people say silly things like "I bought the gold protection plan from the dealer" or some such so that they don't need a backup, but when you're at a gig and something doesn't work, you're out of business without a backup.

At $149 new, it would be worth it to have an extra one of these. Other than the PSA-1, I don't see why they even sell the other Sansamp products.

I've sent Tech 21 emails on various occasions and they have always been quick, courteous and helpful.

I bought this because my band (www.needlessmusic.com) is experimenting with a very size-reduced rig for playing smaller venues. We play a variety of rock covers using our full rig, but we want to play restaurants and such where subwoofers, 412 cabinets and full drum setups just won't fly. The idea was to be able to set up the whole bane in 15 minutes and play. This was my idea for a guitar rig that would fit in the guitar case.

This unit is a fantastic value because it can solve so many problems for a guitarist or bassist. It can get so many sounds that it would work for almost any kind of music. I don't know about nu-metal, but for every other kind of rock, country, etc... I think this can get you in the ballpark. It even works for bass! My bass player seemed to dig it a lot and now he's getting one.

Is it the same as playing a tube amp? no. Is it convincing? yes. It doesn't clean up the way a tube amp does, but its so flexible that I'll give it a pass on that fact. I build tube guitar amps (www.dobermanamps.com) and I am very picky about my tone. I love my Doberman DMP-30 amp, but no way could I get the amp and cabinet into my guitar case and take it to a gig. :) Of course I'll keep playing my tube amp, but this is a really usefool tool.

If Tech 21 produced something like this with a basic effects unit (than can be bypassed), they'd kill digitech. This unit is already programmable and has every tone in the book. For $300 with effects, they'd never have to make another product. Hell, $500. Barring that, I wish it would spit out MIDI channel changes so you could slave it to an effect... I will probably buy a PSA-1 for that feature.

I compared this directly to the tones in the Behringer Bass V-Amp (which includes guitar models) and the Johnson J-Station and it is much more 'real' sounding. Those units both have great effects, but for raw tone, this kills them.

This is a FANTASTIC VALUE if you're serious about tone and need something for recording, a backup, or just an ultra lightweight gig rig.

Don't give up if you don't get the sound you're after immediately. Take a step back and consider the big picture. Are you playing it through a flat system? Have you experimented for at least an hour with it? Sometimes turning the knobs like you would on an amp take you from one sound that isn't quite right to another that isn't quite right with the perfect sound inbetween. Adjust slowly and carefully.

One final point: I didn't initially realize this unit was programmable and I've overlooked it for years. Well, its obviously programmable but on top of that, you can configure the 3 footswitch channels any way you want. You can have a tweed, british and california, but you can also have all three be different california channels, or any combination you want. If you don't like the tweed channel, don't use it. Use that switch for something else. I'm suitably impressed.

As easy to use as a guitar amp, with similar results. EQ is far more sensitive than a real amp, allowing use with a wide range of sound systems, guitar amps to PAs. This makes it sensitive to tweaking, but once you have your sound, it's easy to save in one of the three memory locations.

This is on par with the line6 modelling amps, and better than any other ones I have tried. The 3 amp models are suggestions only, and each give a wide range of tone. This pedal also works well as a bass preamp for recording, using the presets in the manual. If you are used to playing with reverb, this pedal might sound a little weird when auditioning, but add some reverb or delay, and you've got your sound.

Dependable, gig-able, and the battery is supposed to last for 100 hours.

never dealt with them.

I use this pedal with my '68 bassman, and for direct recording. It is the centerpiece of a pedalboard replacing my Line6. I just got sick of digital and needed a change. It sounds better for recording than through my bassman, (which still sounds great). I use it exclusively for guitars while recording, and it provides great tones which everyone thinks are amp sounds.

Very easy to use, just geta good sound and tap the pedal twice to save.

This thing is awsome! I play blues, mild to heavy rock, and full out metal and it handles it all. I have an ESP and an Ibanez RG going into a Crate GFX212. Ever since I got this I can't play without it. The Marshall setting just ROCKS! I can't get the Mesa sound to get good rythyms but it has godd leads. And The Fender setting is crap unless you want a good clean sound.The EQ is very touchy, it took me a few hours to get it locked in perfect. It seems that the highs are too high, they're killing my ears and when I turn them down things get muddy. I think this can be solved with a graphic eq. I'm amazed at how quiet this thing is compared to my Crate(the hiss is gone). I turn up the clean channel to 5 with the pedal and it is quieter than the Crate distortion on 2 (not sound level, HISS). I get great response out of my setup now.

Seems very strong. I'm very hard on my stuff but I think it will last years. Just be careful, it goes through batteries fast.

Never dealt with 'em.

I have only been playing for 3 years but I know that special tone when I hear it and this has it. Many other guitar players have heard this and love it, two of these players have been playing for over 15 years. I'm tired of people only looking at one company's products (Boss). Yeah they are built nice but evey Boss pedal I have played with feels like a toy. The Medal Zone and Amp Factory don't have nothin' on this pedal!

Never needed more than a quick glance through the manual, it's really easy to use. Getting a good sound out of it takes some experimenting and the setting suggestions are a good starting point.

Using a les paul smartwood and a 1979 Ibanez st300 with dimarzio pickups into a Peavey Transtube head (not a great stand-alone head but a great workhorse for pedals and preamps). This pedal is very flexible and even better when you have the eq from my head to fine tune everything a little more. Marshall, Mesa boogie, 5150, and Fender amp sounds are all pretty accessible. This is one of the best sounding amp modeling units I've ever played. Very natural sounding, but a little noisy at high volume.

It's built solid, metal chasis and switches. Haven't had it long enough to have problems with it but I think it's safe to bet on.

Never had to deal with them

I've played about 10 years- Metal, fusion, jazz, guitar oriented stuff. This thing sounds great for about every sound I need. More natural sounding than most pedals out there. Not quite as good as having all the amps you're imitating, but very user friendly. I'd buy it again if I had to replace it.

Hah? If you can't use it why the hell you're buying it? Only wall switch is easier to use. Manual is very good since it is simple, too.
Mine has S/N # 755***. Don't know if it is the first series or upgrade.

I play no-name Tele (unusual mahogany body), LP-copy with JB and '59 Seymours, 1997 Rickenbacker and '83 Standard Strat into TRI-A.C. then ZOOM GFX-4 into either Fender Deluxe 112 Plus or TORQUE solid-state combo. For the recording I DI my guitars just through TRI-A.C. into Roland VS-880 expanded. The box is almost silent with all my setup, unless the drive is pushed too high!
The clean setting with a tweed selected is great! Be careful with 'Brit'. It may sound way high (see manual for that). Tweaking with EQ is a tricky stuff when 'Calif' aka Mesa is selected. Anyway, you can always find a right sound for you if you are not in a hurry!
When using TRI-A.C. in front of the amp make your amp EQ absolutely flat, otherwise you'll be complaining a harsh sound. In this case don't expect a great sound in a bypass mode. But you have 3 FX sounds to choose from!
Again, DI'd this box sounds the best!

Don't know yet. Seems very well made.

Never had to deal with the manufacturer, thanks God!
Their site is very informative, though.

I play for about 20 years, mostly blues, classic rock, some hard rock, too. This box suits my needs 100%. If it is stolen or lost (wchich is unlikely, I baby my stuff), I'd buy this again with no doubt. If it had an active (preamp) bypass this thing immediately becomes a bestseller.

See Previous review

See Previous review

Had it for a while now and it is still working wonderfully !

I just wanted to report that I called Tech 21 regarding power supplies and not only did they answer my question - which was can a Boss adapter safely power my TRI AC, but they answered extremely friendly. The answer, by the way, is yes.

Great as a back up amp, or direct to the PA. You cannot lose with this thing. If you sound bad, don't blame the TRI AC, look at your hands !

You'd have to be an idiot not to understand how to work it. Dial in a tone, quickly hit a button twice, badabing badaboom...you're jammin. I quickly read the manual, but was tweakin' (the pedal!) before I finished it. The presets are decent starting points, but you can make it sound much more fat in seconds.

I run LOTS of stuff-synth strat>synth unit>boss comp>morley vai wah>boss blues od>digitech wammy>tech21>rocktron replifex>rocktron pwramp, and it gets a little hissy on my lead setting (cali w/ pretty high gain). Like any real amp, the further I'm away from it, the less it's noisy. I get a slightly dist clean (SRV), marshall kind-o-dirty(AC/DC), and cali-super lead (Santana), and it feels like butter. I record direct w/ it into my Roland vs1680. Sounds gorgeous.

AC connection got wierd on me ONCE when it was SUPER humid outside. We're talkin' thick freakin' air. Luckily I had a 9v backup battery (don't leave home w/out 'em!). I jiggled the connection, and it was fine the next day. No problems ever since.

Never talked to 'em. No need to.

I've been playing 20+ yrs, and my styles are all over. I would buy another one if this one disappeared. I suppose the buttons could be further apart, but then it probably wouldn't fit in my giant pedalboard. It's supplied me w/ nothing but inspiration. It's not a real tube amp, no..but way more reliable. If you're playing out a lot like me, why haul around tons of fragile tube amps when this thing puts 3 of 'em in one box? If you have roadies, take out the big stuff. Besides, most people in an audience don't give a crap about "pure tube tone".

This thing is extremely easy to use. I opened the manual to see how to save my settings, then put the manual away. The manual does give some good sample settings, if your interested.

I am using this through a desk into Nuendo. It is very quiet. The different characters (tweed, British, and Cali) all perform as advertised. You can't get an exact match to an amp. You can hardly get two vox ac-30's to sound exactly the same. What this pedal does EXTREMELY well is capture the essence of these amp styles.

Tech21 stuff is of good construct. I have the BDDI, the bassCompactor, etc. so I expect no trouble with the TRI-A.C.

I emailed them once for one of the nuts that hold the input jack in place on my BDDI, they sent me an entire sleeve of them along with a letter ofthanks for using their product. Before I vought the TRI-A.C. I called and spoke with an engineer. He was extremely helpful, not rushing me, not making me feel like I was wasting my time.

|I would replace this instantly if it were stolen. I looked at digital amp sims, but they sounded like crap to me. the TRI-A.C. definitly helps me make music. Try one before you buy that POD!

The 3 pre-set switches are why I bought this. Very easy to use. Manual is good, but not much to really go into detail about.. the unit is a no-brainer.

Tweed - Very good Fender tones. Especially if you use a single coils. High output humbuckers don't really do well with this setting,IMHO.

British - Very good Marshall tones. I put this up against my Marshall and it was very close in sound. Feel is obviously different and that's someting you just can't describe, but for recording and band situations, it does the job.

California - Matches my Boogie to a T. I also use the California to get some good Fender and Vox overdrive tones.

I've run mine into a JC120, Marshall, mixer, recorder, cheap stereo, PC speakers... With tweaking, it can sound great with all of those. Someone down below said it was razor sharp and poor with a Roland JC120. It can be, but I'm guessing he had the Roland BRIGHT switch on or had the amp's treble cranked. Mine sounds great with a JC120. And should it matter, I do have much experience with tube amps and getting a good tone.

The unit is pretty heavy duty. I would gig without a back-up. However, I use the unit as my live back-up and I also have a Sansamp Original should things go really bad.

I've only dealt with them once about 10 years ago with my Sansamp Original. They were great and very prompt.

For the money, the Tri-AC is a great unit. Obviously a lot depends on the rest of your set-up and what you plan on using it for, but I have found the Tri-AC to be very versatile and fits the bill for me pervectly.

It is damn easy to program, very well-thought and very straight forward.
The trick to get a good sound out of it is NOT TO USE IT IN FRONT OF A GUITAR AMP. This is a direct recording device NOT ANOTHER DISTORTION PEDAL. For dist/od pedal try the TRI-OD instead.

I usually plug it straight into my computer or stereo. Don't put it infront of your guitar amp or you'll be dearly disappointed. I'm not sure about the FX loop (should be better) but I doubt will get you better results than direct.

Be prepared to tweak a lot and keep in mind that the EQs are very powerful. Make small changes at a time.

So....
British Mode: Fucking great. Easily a 10 and the best model out of the three. Playing with the gain is actually two amps. Low Gain is Plexi like and full gain is JCM800 territory. Increasing the gain sounds like a totally different amp (I read it first in the manual but would not believe - but it's true). Very warm and tubey mode.

Tweed Mode: Pretty good cleans at low gain but high gain is ear-piercing, harsh and almost unusable. But for cleans it should get an 8

California: This one is very tricky. The EQs are very effective in this mode so be patient. I had completely disregarded this mode in the beginning. If you expect the tons of gain and huge chunk of a Recto you'll be disappointed (too smooth - not over the top gain). But I found a sweet spot good for heavy rock and I like it. I'll give it a 7 for this mode though.

IN ANY CASE JUST REMEMBER TO USE IT DIRECT NOT IN FRONT OF YOUR AMP.

Don't know. Looks solid though.

Let me tell you this, if the California mode was better (more Recto-like) and if there was on option for switching off the speaker emulation (or a blend/mix knob would be even better) this would be one of the best money can buy.
I play for about 10 years. My GNX-1 amp models are like a toy compared to this but still this one needs a little work for reaching perfection.
Tech21 should make it clearer that this is a Direct recording device and not a pedal for guitar amps. I bought it as another distortion pedal and I had to experiment to make it sound good. Give it time, the good sounds are there but still there is room for improvement and Tri-AC 2.