Demeter TGA-3 100

Well, if it's good enough for the likes of Bonnie Raitt & Sonny Landreath (sp?)...What else is there to say? I love that the three-channels are ALL usable in their own regard.

CHANNEL ONE - Boogie-like clean (depending upon the power tubes being used...EL-34 or 6-L6s). Analogue delay + Chorus = Heaven Tone

CHANNEL TWO - Marshall-like crunch (I use a Sparkle Drive to boost this for a slightly-dirty Solo sound).

CHANNEL THREE - MATCHLESS-like overdrive, although some may disagree but since I've owned two of these Demeters now...it's ONLY MY OPINION...An almost violin-sounding tone.

I like to use this amp for venues where the sound can reverberate around a tad (small bars are okay but too confining)...I rotate between a TYLER Landau-Strat, ANDERSON Classic-Tele & A DC Les Paul w/Sadowskys (Dimarzio-made). So depending on what "tones" need to be covered- -the Demeter takes the sound of each instrument & accentuates those characteristics...very cool indeed!

Ch.1 is CHIMEY...Ch. 2 is CRUNCHY...Ch. 3 is BLISTERING...

So far so good +10 yr. old amp...DEMETER folks are Customer Service+!
(James D. himself will speak to you...rare these days.)

No repairs...numerous discussions- -after owning two amps & four pedals & Lord-only-knows how many stupid 'amp' questions.

+35 yrs. Musucuan...I also play bass too (Demeter's bass pre-amp is my next purchase!) & so I am familar w/Demeter's commitment to TONE is a lifetime pursuit & endeavor!

All that said- -these are not cheap & extremely hard to find used! So if you pay new retail- - be prepared to shell out the $$$...

This is a follow up to my review of 08/24/1997 I still love this amp it does everything I'd ever want an amp to do. I still only use the FX loop in mono other than that all the features get used, it covers a lot of ground tonally with it's 3 channels and I believe the best FX loop I've ever had the pleasure to use.

I'm still using the same guitars with a few additions like a custom Strat with Barden p'ups and a Steinberger style custom guitar with a moses neck. For straight ahead rock riffing in the style of ZZTop AC/DC et al, to singing harmonics ala Eric Johnson and Van Halen 1 and 2 it can't be beat. If it had an eBay rating it would be +++++ :o) The clean tones have to be dialed in a little more carefully, but in all fairness I don't use the amp for super clean jazz or country stuff though it is more than capable. This amp is still quiet after all these years, though it can sometimes pick up noise from long leads for the FX which is most likely normal for any type of gear.

I have been using this amp and this amp alone for years. It's been across Canada and the U.S.A countless times, one time bouncing around in a Thule box wrapped up in a towel!! Though the toroidal transformer bolt came loose so that it was dangling inside the chassis, it was abused on that trip though and it was an easy fix, so not a biggy. In the 5 years since the last review I have not replaced any pre amp tubes and have only replaced the power tubes once. Still using Svetlana EL-34 as well. The amp only gets used in 50 watt mode so only the inner tubes get worked I switch them around every year or 2 Probably why they have lasted so long! This amp doesn't need balanced tubes though they wouldn't hurt. With the output balance adjust it's very easy to negate any hum from the output section you can use a screwdriver or coin to set this. I only need to touch it if I swap or change power tubes. This amp gets used and gigged heavily and has been great!!

I met James Demeter @ a NAMM show and he was more than a gentleman with me. Plus when my tranformer came loose he talked me through the repair on the phone as I was freaking out as I had a gig to head to and no time to bring the amp to a tech. Being a rare bird that the TGA-3-100 is a schematic would help for any big repairs. Any tech worth his salt could repair the amp if anything major went wrong though. I do find it hard to find info anywhere on this amp probably as it's so rare.

Recently I have been shopping for a new amp as my TGA-3 is just getting to be to much of a rare bird to be taking it out to the cockroach tavern for 4 - 50 minute sets and getting smoked and spilt beer on. I have been in contact with the company itself trying to get info on the new TGA-2 I would hope that the TGA-2 would be a worthy successor to the TGA-3 as my TGA-3-100 has spoiled me rotten to the core. Man I wish I could get a replacement...ha good luck! Anything else for me will probably be a compromise.

This amp is probably the most versatile amp that I have ever heard , With three channels (swichable by footswich or by a midi swicher ie Bradshaw or a Patchmate) , Stereo FX loops , It is like having three amps in one. The yellow channel is a Fender amp type of clean sound and it has a separate eq sec from the rest of the amp. Bright switch,gain, master vol, treb,mid,bass and fx send. the green and red channel have shared eq with the green ch having an switch labeled edge or lead I leave mine on edge as I use the red ch as my burn setup.The red ch also has two swiches labeled norm- deep which is very useful for pleasing your soundman as the amp can be very bright when playing loud, there is also a switch labeled hot -hotter I only use the hot setting because it still is almost to hot but in a good way the hotter setting I find just adds noise.My amp has a bias switch for 6550,5881 or EL34 tubes I have only used the EL34 type and love the sound the brand is Svetlana.I don't think that you can get a more toneful , versatile and loud amp anywhere. Mine is a head and I run it into either a 1x12 or 2x12 and I have had no problem burying my Drummer(he uses dbl bass) at1\4 volume stand back it cranks.It does have a stereo fx loop which sounds great with another amp but all the sound guys Ihave run into always mix me in mono anyways so i use it only in the bedroom when I want to blow my mind.

From shimmering clean, to captain crunch with endless controlled feedback this amp does it all .It has a toroidal transformer and I think that has a lot to do with how quiet it is even with the amount of gain it is capable of. It sounds good with all of my of my electrics but being more sensitive to pickups with more clean output ie Bill Lawrence L90B'sBarden etc:

The amp has been fairly reliable in the past it has fallen off a stage from about 5 ft this has happened TWICE!!! freaked me out that it worked without a hiccup both times didn't even break a tube.you can depend on it for sure.

The warranty is what I believe to be a year . When my amp was about 7 months old .We had a power surge and the amp failed , I talked to James Demeter on the phone and we tried to diagnose the prob with no luck,I brought the head to a local tech( I live in Canada and it is a big hassle to send over the border) He found that the output transformer had blown , recontacted JD and they wanted me to send the amp back to the factory instead of sending us a new piece, UPS red$300 ripoff later it was at the fac in 2 days but the amp spent almost 3 months waiting to be repaired And then sent it back UPSred $300 again and charged it to my credit card without my knowledge WOW! I wish I had a schematic that would make my tech's job easier if it ever blew again. I feel that it was not all James Demeter's fault that the service was so poor apparently they had never had a transformer go before but it still cost me $600and another $100 long distance charges . The intent was there but the execution was not I felt like I was being jerked off with a chesse grater.

I would buy this product again , I love the versatility ,headroom and solid construction . I know that I am the the only guy that has one up here pretty darned exclusive.I checked out a 5150 ,Mesa mk1V it has more useable features than the Mesa and as much or more gain than the 5150 but with much less noise . Even with my bad experience with the transformer I use a power conditioner now, James Demeter makes one hellraiser of an amp. It is expensive but worth it.