Tech 21 Tri-AC

Pretty easy to get a good sound out of this; turn some knobs, click the corresponding channel button twice, and that's it.

That said, I do have a bit of trouble balancing the levels between channels sometimes. Seems like the "california" mode is either not loud enough, or too loud, relative to the other channels. Not really a "sound" issue, I guess.

I use this in a small variety of settings: Direct to a recorder, direct to PA, direct into the front of a Tech21 T60 amp set to flat EQ, and into the front of my rack (into a patch with flat EQ).

In all cases, the sound is slightly different, and always good. Seriously, I've been playing for 30 years, and have played through a fair variety of amps. This device is as good an "amp" as any of them, from a sound-quality perspective. I'm not a huge fan of the "fender" setting, but the brit and california settings are great.

Direct to the recorder, it delivers a more credible "amp" sound than does my PSA-1, or for that matter the T60 on DI. Direct to PA, same thing. Plugged into the front of the T60, I get the best results. For some reason, putting a compressor in front of it (T21 Comptortion) does wild things to the clean sound as well as the "lead" sound I use. Sounds good at any volume, too, and makes me want to keep playing.

I recently put this in my gig bag and stopped gigging for awhile. I was doing some recording at home, using my PSA-1 as the main guitar sound source, and had started to think that I didn't like guitar playing much anymore. Kind of boring, and lifeless. I pulled the Tri-AC out of the bag and plugged it in, and it was like a breath of fresh air.

Of course, it's not perfect. No amp is. So it gets a 9.

I can certainly depend on mine, since it sees light use. About the most danger this thing is ever in is one of my kids spilling orange juice on it or something, which never happens (my kids don't drink orange juice).

I would use it on a gig without a backup. In fact, I've done so many times. Never a problem there.

I've had good success with Tech 21's tech support personnel. They seem knowledgeable and friendly. I had to order a replacement front knob for my PSA-1 once, and all went as expected.

Since the music I play is inspired in large part by the sound of my gear, and I select gear based on how well it supports the type of music I play, I'd say that yes, this is a pretty good match.

If it were stolen or lost, it would most likely mean that the thief would have also noticed the recording equipment, mics, computers, leather office chair, and sweet LCD monitor in the vicinity, and also stolen those. In that case, I'm not likely to even notice the missing Tri-AC for some time. But once I did, I would probably go get another one.

I compared this to some other products when I evaluated it, and decided that digital modeling is not for me. Every one of those things sounds like you're playing a recording of a guitar, which I don't care for. So I went with this, because it not only sounds good, but it feels like a real amp when you play through it.

Simple as heck to change patches and edit. The only issue is to copy a sound, you need to match the knobs using the blinking leds, and then call up the one you want to change, and edit that to match.

I'm the odd man out here on the reviews I've seen. I like the Brit channel. The california is too crunchy with an emg or hotrails.
I agree with some that you need a speaker simulator if you plan on going through a pa and not a power engine or other amp/guitar speaker combo. Through a speaker simulator I can run through anything from a 2 way 15 pa cabinet to a full 3 way stacked PA with consistent sound.
It's more playable than a digital box with more nuances and touchy feeley type than the popular digital modelers I've used for years.
The complaints about gain are valid however, using a good compressor in front of it wakes up the brit channel nicely. It gets a good Marshallesque tone. If you are an engl fan like me, you'll want a botique distortion pedal in front of it. Overall for a simple setup it's a very nice box and it does what it claims. It also takes stompboxes in front of it very well unlike most modelers.
My main setup with the Tri a.c is as follows:
ESP with EMG 81-85, Route 66 (modded) comp/od, Tech 21 Tri A.C., Art Tube MP (as tube line driver), Alesis Quadraverb, Behringer Vamp 2 as Speaker simulator only, Ashley Crossover cutting highs and sub lows,
Stewart Pa 1400 amp into Modded JBL 15 and Horn Trap.
Live use cabinet, custom double Meyer ms 12 and horn box.

Without the cabinet simulator, it sounded very very nice through any of my double 12 or 4x12 guitar cabs.

If you are using hot passive pickups you may not like it as you may have to lower your volume to clean up the tone which may affect your guitars tone.

You could probably run over it with a tank. Ok. a car :).
Would I use it without a backup, sure. I always carry a modeler in the spares case anyway. Handy for those walk up players who might need to play with you through one rig.

They're excellent.
Everything has it's limits and they are not afraid to give you a straight answer, unlike some companies.

I play mainly Hard rock. I go from clean bell like tones to very heavy but not mushy thunder and a few steps between. I also use echo like Pink Floyd or U2. The tri Ac works fine as the inital preamp right there on the floor where I need it.

It is replacing 2, that's TWO V-amp 2 units.

If it were stolen I'd buy another.

Unlike the modelers it does not get in the way. Modelers get frustrating after awhile and affect making music in a distracting way. It reintroduces that analog feel that modelers just can't really reproduce.

What do I wish it had? Realistically?
1) An adjustable pad on the input to match it to hot passive guitars.
2) A real super gain channel like an Engl (maybe another version guys?)
3) A separate cabinet emulator for various 2x12 and 4x12 combinations
one could purchase later.

Not too easy to get your tone. give it a few hours. Knobs are really sensitive and this opens a wide choice of sounds.

As said before and never enough, this pedal sucks big time on the front of the amp. I had it connected to my cube60 on the amp's input for a year or so. then pluged it to the effect return of a laney lv300. Incredible. this pedal simply came to life. i was very disapointed with it and was considering getting a tube amp to get the tone I was looking for. the distortions are very hot with nice harmonics. a true full body sound with the apropriate amount of mids. even the mesa chanel which was pure mudd now is kicking ass distortion, excelent for leads. all 3 chanel deliver enough for me. this thing increases my will to play which is a very good thing in terms of equipment.

strong!

Been playing for 8 years, metal rock and some blues. Its really good for metal which is where i spend most of my playing. although I think a boster will make the distortion more modern. Try it with a tele and i'm sure you can go all way you want to. If you want a good tone and dont have enought money to be spending arround on a tube amp, you'll be pleased hearing youself play with this thing.

Pretty easy to dial in all the different sounds you want. And the pedal came with a very useful manual that described things simply and accurately. The manual also included a helpful settings guide to dial in various popular sounds (ie.- Van Halen, Metallica, Fender Bassman, Fender Deluxe Reverb, etc.). Much easier than dealing with hundreds of dials and intructions on a multi-effects unit. Then just step on the buttons to turn on/switch a preset and again to bypass. Only one slight difficulty- setting each preset so that the overall volumes are equivalent to each other, as there is no master volume. But not a big deal.

Overall, some excellent sounds here- very tube-like reaction and warm, responsive feel. I played the Tri-AC through a solid state Peavey and a tube Crate Palamino. The pedal sounded kind of thin and very edgy in the clean solid state channel. When fed through the overdrive channel (either with high or low gain), it sounded good. In the tube amp, it sounded better in the clean channel and awesome in the overdrive channel with gain at high or low. I don't quite get how some of the people in previous reviews felt the pedal sounded muddy. If anything, the problem I encountered was too much treble and edge. But it was resolved by dialing around.
My favorite sound on the pedal came from the slightly cranked "Tweed" mode, which gave you a fat full, but ringing Fender Blackface Twin tone. It's an awesome, tubelike tone. Very complex. It sounded good by itself or combined with gain from the amp. Then I liked the low setting on the "British" mode- very nice, edgy cranked Fender Bassman tone. Increase the gain and you can get a Van Halen sound from this mode also. I don't love the "California" mode. It's kind of grainy sounding and not real smooth. When cranked up, you can approach a hard metal tone, but that's all it's good for.

I've only had this pedal for a couple days- ordered it online from Musician's Friend. It's seems pretty tough and reliable. It's a black steel box with heavy duty switches. But I'm convervative- I never gig without a backup.

Haven't had to deal with Tech 21, although I've read some very good reviews about their customer service.

I've been playing for 17 years. I play mostly bluesy rock, hard rock, and contemporary worship music for church. I was trying to decide between getting a multi-effects pedal with a zillion options or a simpler multi-use pedal with fewer sounds. Because I didn't want to spend every waking hour reading a thick programming manual and feel like all the effects on a Digitech RP 350 get kind of toy-like and not very pragmatic, i ordered the Tri-AC with the option to take Musician's Friend up on it's great 45 day return policy. At this point, I'm really leaning to keeping this pedal. The three presents are enough variety and combined with the varied amp settings, give you many options. The tone is warm, tubelike, and responsive- especially the great Fender Twin tones on the Tweed Channel- makes my Carvin strat sound chunky and glassy at the same time. I'll add my other effects separately. Sometimes, less is more.