Tech 21 Trademark 300 Head

This was new - old - stock. Possibly the last year they made this model.

The head cabinet seemed superfluous, so I removed the chassis (it's an enclosed metal box with the faceplate). The rubber "feet" remove from the cabinet (head) with wood screws, then you can use the threaded cabinet mounting machine screws to mount the feet onto the bottom of the chassis, using the chassis mounting points. Seems like it was designed for this application. Makes for a much more compact unit if you don't need the image angle.

The controls on this head model are like three TM 10 units (just like the TM 120) vs the TM 60 style.

I had a TM 120 and the footswitch, which is the best design I've ever used. Really superb.

I use a Gibson Melody Maker, or Les Paul Studio.

I should say that I've used lots of Tech 21 products and so their stuff makes a lot of sense to me. I've used everything else out there too, and so finally decided that the head version offered me what I wanted for the versatility and sounds I've come to rely on.

I've used many guitars with many Tech 21 amps and can quickly get the sounds I want for Jazz; Blues; Country; Rock; and classic Soul and R&B.

The adjustable boost is a great asset (need the footswitcher) and being able to setup a processor offline, then kick it into the loop with the footswitch is great, as is having three channels.

I presently use this chassis mostly with a 1 X 12" cabinet with an 8ohm Eminence "Legend" driver (ceramic magnet). It is close to the performance of the proprietory TECH 21 drivers, but with a strange high end frequency response that requires I keep tabs on the "mid" and "high" front panel pots to keep a funny high end fragile hollowness at bay, especially for jazz sounds, but also when using distortion sounds. Not Tech 21's fault.

I'd like to get the 2 X 12" Tech 21 cabinet, but will still probably wind up using the Eminence 1 X 12 cab mostly anyways. The Tech 21 speakers don't have any funny response curves because they match them to the design of their amps.

As-is I can get the versatility I want/need, but have noticed that I must set the controls a bit differently than I have in the past with Tech 21 combo amps with their own proprietary speakers. Tech 21 stuff sounds best with Tech 21 speakers. I'm a believer in that, but sometimes ya gotta do what ya gotta do and run what ya brung.

I have never had any trouble with Tech 21 stuff, and have had tons of it.

I'm in California and they're in New York. I depend on the dealers for any help, but have never needed any. It's actually getting hard to find Tech 21 dealers that carry much Tech 21 gear anymore.

Good thing it's as reliable as a rock.

1 year warranty (it's passed now).

I have played guitar since 1960.

This is my main amp that I use for everything. I often just take the amp without the foot controller to play simple jazz gigs. It's small and silent.

I've never needed the power that's available with this head (used as a chassis now), but it's still easy to schlep even when I just need the basics at very low volume. Yet it could cover any conceivable requirement I might need. I keep the wood head cabinet out in my garage. Not sure I'll ever need it. Maybe I should get a bunch of small Tech 21 speakers like they used in the TM 10's and put them in it.

The XLR outs they put on all their amps is very useful for me when I go out to a P.A. (about once a week). It's easy enough to live with that I use it at home too, for a practice amp.

I've had several TM 10's, TM 60's, a Bronzewood; a Power Engine 60; a TM 120 2x12 combo; and numerous SansAmps and SansAmp Classic, etc.
As well as amps by Fender, Polytone, Victoria, Heritage Amplifier, Ampeg, Mesa/Boogie, etc etc etc.

This head version 300 is the best rig for my purposes and so my favorite overall. It does many things well for gigging. It may not exactly sound like the amps it tries to model (especially with my "wrong" speaker array), but I don't require modeling: just a great sound I can work with in any room. This delivers enough for me, plus.

I bought mine in 2004 From reading the reviews on here and the by reading stuff on their site i bought it without even trying it out. Its got great features i really liked the channels and the footswitch although all the lights started dying on it fairly quickly.

I was running a 84 usa strat for straight rock and a handbuilt australian tele with a lil 59r in the bridge for heavier sounds. I liked the fact the amp was veristile in its sounds but whenever i played gigs i couldnt crank the volume on it loud enough to match other amps and the tone at high volumes would become really thin.

I used it for about 50-60 gigs and toured with it and i didnt have any issues in terms of it breaking down and we were pretty rough on the road so i give it a 10 for reliability.

Very helpful

Ive been playing for twelve years, ive got a Badcat 30r now and run about 14 pedals into a looper for a more pure signal. I consider myself to be pretty anal when it comes to tone. I cant handle bands that have terrible tinny guitar tones or ones that sound like a farts in a box. The tech21 was not a bad amp, for smaller gigs i think it would be perfect but for me i hate guitar through in-ears and this just didnt cut it for me. My advice is if your thinking of buying one, take all your gear down the shop and try it all out at loud volumes and quiet and see what u think. I liked the theory behind it which is why i bought but i just didnt think that it stood up to the competition.

I hate to start like everybody else but here goes: I have been playing for about 22 yrs. all forms of music except country, which doesnt deserve even a capitol C, and i must say this amp is the best working mans amp on the market and maybe the best amp ever built for sound design and blending with other musicians. As far as the Complaints go, most of these: "Effects loop doesnt work" or "Sounds thin with no bottom" these are unfounded idiots who obviously dont know enough about electronics to properly set up their Amps. Most of these people will not be happy unless they can cram 300 different effects into a guitar rig so they can skip along and not really play their guitar. Thats what its all about. at some point you must be able to make music whithout a crapload of modulation, delay, Flanging, Lame Digital "Modeling" etc.
When a musician gets to the point in his musical life to be able to play a song that is not mudded up with fluff and wants to hear his own guitar in its most pure form sounding better than some brat with a "digitek" This is the amp. You must use the cabs that come with this amp. I have 2 4X12 cabs. When I set up and play next to any Marshall, Peavey, Mesa, Vox Etc. they quietly set their guitars back in their stands and listen. I have had every amp imaginable and wouldnt go back to any others. In fact I have just added a second Trademark 300 stack so I can go Stereo. So in closing, if you think this amp isnt the best amp on the market, keep practicing and put The TM 300 in the closet for a while, you will need it someday.

Manufactured February 2007
This is bar none the best amplifier ever made. This amplifier can be used for any genre of music. Country,Jazz,Blues,Blues Rock,Surf,Punk,Metal,Thrash you name it and it can do it. I mainly use this amp for extremely heavy downtuned metal. It does the job no problem.300 watt solid state beast. I have it setup for 1 clean channel,1 screaming metal channel and one channel for soloing with the gain turned down to take some of the hair off this beast. 2 effects loops, boost function for each channel, line out, tuner out, ground lift and massive footswitch to control everything. If you need any more functions on an amplifier maybe you should think about playing a different instrument.

Amp sounds are covered in the features section. I mainly use customized Les Paul Juniors with Bartolini Pickups(best pickups made but thats another review) Hamer Eclipse USA with Bartolinis, generally speaking I use guitars with a bridge pickup only with a wraparound style tailpiece. D'Addario Chromes 13-56 these guitars with this amp is "my" sound. The search is finally over. I have tried every amp, every pedal known to man and nothing comes remotely close to the Tech21 Trademark 300.This is the amp of choice for Marv Marvin of Square Marvin.

I would depend on this amp 100%. Due to Murphy's Law I would bring a backup amp with me just in case. But if you would ask me if I would need it I would say definitely not. For your information my backup amps would be Tech 21 Trademark 10's. I can get "my" sound from those little beasts as well.

Tech 21's customer support is second to none. The phone is answered by a live person not an annoying prompt system that never sends you to where you need to be. Lloyd is great and has handled my phone calls professionally and courteously whenever I have called. His recommendations are spot on and take care of my issue even if it is not related to the Tech 21 product. Tech 21 can handle their own repairs. It is ridiculously easy to remove the chassis and send it to them for service if need be and generally cheaper than having the local hack shop look at it.Honestly what more could you ask for from a manufacturer?

I believe I have answered everything in the other sections. Would definitely buy it again.Have been playing bass for a long time and started playing guitar about 3 years ago (self taught).I used to have a ton of equipment but thinned the herd because of the Trademark 300. I also own 2 Trademark 10's which also kick major ass when pumped through a power amp. If you decide to buy this amp you will need a good line level effects processor for reverb,delay etc. Lloyd recommended a Lexicon MX200. Got rid of all of my junky busted ass stompboxes and picked up the Lexicon set it on spring reverb and it is a beautiful thing.No problems no odd noises just pure balls.

Sounds great. But I see Tech 21 has suspended production of this amp. I hope that isn't because of the loudmouthed ignorance of some of you guys here.

Used at rehearsal studio.

Dudes. as far the comments about the effects loop on this amp not working with most pedals. Effect loops are designed to operate at LINE level, and most pedals want to see an INSTRUMENT level. LINE level is like what your PA or recording mixing board puts out - isn't trying to run say, your whole band mix through a pedal a dumbass thing to do? GET A CLUE! The impedence doesn't match, the levels are way too hot, OF COURSE it sounds like crap. But this is operator error - this isn't the amps fault. You are supposed to stick a line level device in the loop.

If the FX loop switching was noisy, or wonky, or you could hear a pop when switching, something like that, that would be a fair criticism. But as far as I can see in your feedback, there is nothing wrong with the Trademark 300's effects loop changing your brain couldn't cure.

Now maybe there are some amps that are designed to auto sense the load of a pedal when you stick it in the effects loop, and to compensate electronically for that. If so, you're lucky, that;s a additional feature. But slagging Tech 21 for your own dumbass uinderstanding of equipment is extremely unfair, particularly if this leads to them cancelling production a quality product.

Can you tell this pisses me off?

i have the trademark 300 and it definitely gives me what i need. the british sound doesnt push enough low end i find...but when i put the boss oc-2 in the mix not to bring it down the octave but setting it so it gives a bit more low end it sounds great.

I only have an epiphone les paul nothing special....but the sound that comes from this amp is remarkable. i bought it based on the reviews and because i wanted something that will have more than one distortion and a clean channel. since im playing at a church and in my own band i needed really heavy distortion and a more clean slap in the face distortion. this thing really delivers that. alot of ppl have been saying that the clean channel <<tweed>> gets really distorted at high volumes but i have not had that problem...and there is very little noise...i didnt expect that much from it cus it was cheap...but you get alot more tone for what you pay for. and im running it thru a behringer ultrastack bg412f...sounds really nice and alot cheaper then the tech21 cab.

i havent had it long enough....

havent had to deal with them and hopefully i wont ahve to for a while

i havent been playing a very long time...only a couple years. but i know enough to say that this amp really kicks some teeth in. i have a mesa boogie bottle rocket, boss me-50, boss cs-3 and oc-2 octave....they all work fine and dandy.

this is like head version of the sansamp GT2, which i LOVE. U NEED to use the tech21 cabinet though, otherwise it just won't sound right.

This amp sounds great! once again, u NEED to use the tech21 matching 2x12 or 4x12 to really get the most out of this amp. The special design speakers are what lets this amp sound so good. Any other cab might muddy it up? Is it a conspiracy to get u to use only their cabs? No, it's just that amp emulation requires that u use the least amount of extra coloring in order to let true sound of the amp come through. If u use their cabs with this amp, you'll see what I mean. The distortion is awesome! The cleans are not as impressive, but still good. I like this amp alot. Most tube amp enthusiasts won't agree, but I feel its just as good as a lot of tube amps I've played.

its solid state, so it's more reliable than tube amps

the effects loop is flawed; as we all know, but I dont use it anyway. Other than that, this amp is great.

This is a VERY versatile amp for all styles of music. Though it is a dirty ROCK amp mainly. This thing crunches like a Marshall JCM (I compared the 2 side by side) However; the cool thing about this amp is that there are NO TUBES to replace! This is a 3 channel amp via Triple rec. or Peavey XXX, and comes with it's own floor pedal (at no additional charge-(TAKE A CLUE LINE 6!)with independent channel switching, and FX loop switch, but the cool thing about this amp, is the boost button on the footswitch which increases your volume up to 9 db, I believe without changing your tone.FX loops on this amp is it's greatest downfall! Pedals do not work(but FX loops aren't for most pedals anyway!), however my Digitech Studio 5000 rack processor does not work here either!hmmm? The 3 channels are California=Mesa Boogie Rectifier(Sounds not much like Triple Rec, but has it's own voicing instead that is muddier, and more bogged down sounding than the Rectifiers, but still has it's own brand of tonal attraction) British=Marshall(This amp DEFINATELY crunches, and chunks like a JCM!!!Don't let anyone tell you any different! They are almost identical!!!Tweed=Fender (This amp pulls off a really decent job at recreating classic fender tones, but lacks the reverb!!!(NO reverb=another fault of this amp!)However, with a chorus pedal, you should have no trouble getting that classic Fender tone. This amp is 300 watts, and has plenty enough power for everything from garage-stadium! However; it was hard to find the ideal speaker cab to handle this monster. The amp runs 150 watts RMS at 16 ohms, 200 watts RMS at 8 0hns, and 300 watts RMS at 4 ohms. So best cabinet options =Marhall 1960,Peavey 5150, or Triple XXX cabs(Celestion loaded Tech 21 cabs available, but are pricier than other cabs mentioned!) The thing i love is that this amp sags like a tube amp, but is solid state!!Tube snobs beware!!!This amp will make you a believer! Amp also has direct XLR, but this feature is terrible! This amp would be the ideal "perfect 10" amp if not for the FX loop problems, no reverb, and poor XLR sound! So i give it an "8"

I use Ibanez JEM DBK 7 with Breed pickups, and Fender Heartfield Talon with Seymour Duncan SH-13 Dimebucker! I Like this amps preamp, but I have a Digitech GNX4, and unfortunately, it can only be run into the Power section of the amp either through the front or via the FX return, So the Tech 21 Sans-Amp pre-amp is bypassed. Disregarding the GNX4...when running straight through this amp it is best for HARD music. I really hear NO difference between this amp and a Marshall JCM. (NOTE: You MUST CRANK this amp to get the full benefit/Just like a Marshall.) Be warned that this amp SUCKS at low volumes, unless you are using external effects. My GNX4 and Studio 5000 sound GREAT at low bedroom volumes through this amp!

This amp is EXTREMELY well built, and sturdy!!! Very well thought out, and has thermal voltage protection. Have had mine a year, and NO PROBLEMS.

These guys are on it!!! You actually talk to guys that build the amps,NOT some telephone techie or sales rep! These guys are VERY opinionated, but really nice, and most importantly VERY helpful!

I have been playing for 15 years, and played EVERY kind of amp that you can think of on my quest, and in my decision for a new amp. The only other "non tube" amps I enjoyed as much as this one were the Line 6 HD 147, and the Vetta.(but then you have to update software, which is as big a pain as tubes!) If you don't mind the hassle of tubes, I say go ahead and go for the Triple Rectifier, Triple X, 5150,or VHT and Rivera if you can afford the best tube amps! but if you want the absolute closest thing to a tube amp without having to deal with "tube trouble" this amp is it! The attractive thing about this amp is that it costs a substantial amount less than the forementioned, and rocks as hard as them all!(You can buy 2 of these heads, and run a stereo setup for the price of one of the others!) So as far as bang for the buck this amp is unsurpassed!

Has all the features you could possibly want. No reverb though. Three channels, boost, footswitchable effects loop, etc. The effects loop is worthless as other have stated below.

Very dry sounding. No bottom end. Sounds like a $129 solid state amp. Ran it into multiple cabs thinking that maybe it was my cabs fault. No help. My Tri-OD running into a cheap Peavey amp sounds WAAAAY better than this thing. The clean is pathetic. It distorts even with the gain turned all the way down (and it's NOT a good distortion). The drive channels are OK.....but not NEARLY enough gain, and no bottom end to speak of. Owned it for a month, and sold it on eBay for a $200 loss. I wanted to like this amp. I really did. But it is just horrible sounding. Might be good for classic rock. Doesn't even come close to approaching a modern sound though.

Seems dependable. Didn't really own it long enough to comment.

Not bad. I got through to them pretty quickly on the phone. Emails are answered within 24 hours. Problem is, the amp sounds so bad they really can't do anything to help you.

Been playing for 18 years. All styles....although hard rock and metal has always been my mainstay. Stay away from this piece of shit. For the same money you can have a Peavey XXX (which is what I replaced this with). The Triple XXX really rips......blows this peice of shit right out of the water.

First, English is not my major language, so sorry about some possible unintentional lingual comedy, or just have a good laugh with them...

When I bought this amp, all seemed to be good and usefull for my needs, and they mostly are. Main problem is, like few of reviewers has noticed, effects loop does not work with every stompbox in market. Damn! I own about ten of different pedals and boxes... Luckily only pedal that's working correctly through loop is my Boss RV-5 (dig. rev.). Lucky because amp does not have reverb at all, which is kind of bizarre, and also lucky because I like to use modulation effects before distortion, which maybe makes me a little bizarre... Through the effects loop, some of the pedals dont't work at all and for ex. DOD stereo chorus sounds like the someone's playing in the basement.

But when it comes to other features, they're all usefull and working just as I need them to. 3 channels, 300 W, boost & XLR output are just like made for my needs and footswitch is just awesome! Boost function is clever: you can boost all channels by one step or you can boost just one channel at a time so when you switch to other channel, boost goes of.

I also think this head looks one of the coolest I've ever seen! It's like from 50's scifi movie properties... Or 50-60's car front panel. Nice!

This is my first amp which has enough power. :)

I use my own made Les Paul-style guitar, which is my main tool, and Strato-style guitar with DiMarzio ToneZone pickups at the bridge. In Les Paul there's DiMarzio Al Di Meola-model at the neck. In Strato in the middle and neck there's handwound singlecoil pickups by Finnish guitar maker Matti Nevalainen (Flying Finn Guitars), which are hot and have tons of character!

I mainly play heavier rock kind of music. Hate to compare my bands music to anything, but maybe something between Alice In Chains, Tool, Entombed or even The Cult, The Doors or Jane's Addiction. Alternative metal spiced up with rockin groove and slightly psychedelia.

I skip explaining all of the channel types, because there's so much written about them here. So I just tell my own opinion about them.

My favourite channel is the "British". With my Les Paul the sound is very thight and juicy when using plenty of gain. I love that sound and it's attack and response, but I wish more juiciness in lover levels of gain, it's too dry and "kicky" and makes playability a little clumsy. Or I haven't learn to play in 18 years... ;) Anyway, maybe there could be place for presence knob, because when recording via XLR I want to avoid that "swarm of flys" effect what you might get when using too much distortion. But it's not that bad at all, actually when I first plugged in, I was amazed and excited, but you can always ask for more, thought... I give this 9.

"California" channel is little too muddy and there's problem hearing single strings (specially high ones) when playing chords with higher gain levels. But this either isn't bad at all. You can get very wide variety of BRUTAL tones just adjusting the eq, specially mids. It's actually INSANE in some levels if that's what you're looking for. There's a low end more than enough. I agree with some reviewers, that this channel is somehow too "clean". It needs more that Rectifier's roughness, or something... Yet this is Tech 21, not Mesa/Marshall/Fender, I'm aware what I pay for. Give this 8.

Last comes channel "Tweed". I think this is somehow weakest one of all three. It's not clean enough and with higher gain the sound is somehow plastic and artificial. Actually one reviewer wrote perfect description: mixing oil and water. That's it! Or maybe it's that, that I havent ever liked to play with Fender-style sound, thought I like to listen to it. To get the desirable clean sound, I have to turn channel level almost to the top. It's a kind of silly when the other channels are in 3 or 4. However it works, but near the limit, thanks to 300 wats... This channel works better with my Strato than Les Paul and does it very well with a clean sound, that's what I love about the "Tweed". One of the main reasons may are those incredible singlecoils I have in my Strato. At it's best, it's very warm, transparent and open, at it's worst, see above. I'll give this 6, with my Strato 9.

With my band, we use Zoom digital 8-tracker to record new ideas and whole songs. Simply plug head to the tracker input, using XLR of course. And there it is. I think the sound is very natural, unless if you don't want natural feedfack which I sometimes desire, but generally no complains about that. So do think the rest of the band and people who'd been forced to listen our demos, including studioprofessionals and musicians. Simply, it sounds good!

I also use my good old SansAmp Classic with RV-5 through AB-box and plug it into effect loop 2 send-jack, if I remember correctly. I use this one mostly on solos to get wider mild reverb sound. I know I could use only RV-5 through the loop to get the reverb, but I just love the smooth sound of SansAmp in solos. One interesting thing with this setup is that you can adjust the amount of effect with "effect mix"-knob, and when loop 2 is switched on, you can mix sound between SansAmp and TM-head. Two sounds in same time, not bad! I really don't kno

No complains, unless if I don't count that the input jack nut got loosen and now it's lost. I've waited about 6 months to get that part from my local dealer, but maybe there's something to do with that fact, that there's ocean called Atlantic between the dealer and manufacturer, and just one nut... Maybe it is sailing somewhere in Bahamas right now and don't wanna come to cold Skandinavia...

As I wrote before, I have SansAmp Classic. It's been in use for about 10 years, and only thing that's a bit rebelling is the main toggle.

For that price, I'm almost sure you can't get better wholeness than this?! Sure it has it's little, or to someone not just little, bugs, it's quite perfect for me right now. We're about to begin to do shows and I'm more confident with this amp as I would be with somewhat sensitive tube heads. Of course, if I were a big rock star with tons of money, or something like that, I'd get the real thing.

TM-300 is like a cake without frosting and it's a matter of imagination what you can get out of it. And that's very consoling challenge at least for my kind of person. Of course, it works like a abacus without any accessories too.

I highly recommend to at least give it a try! It's a little tank and beats up the most of those digitally modelling amps.