Tech 21 Trademark 10

Bought this for in-home play/practice and for digital recording. I like the fact that it will work as a Sans-Amp in recording applications. I'm not crazy about the 8" speaker, but it does sound better than I expected it would. The folks at Tech 21 say they play theirs out of an 8-ohm 4x12 cabinet all the time, so I'll probably end up getting a 1x12 cab for this one.

The amp has an amazing tonal range, with lots of useful tonal profiles. I use it with a '73 Les Paul Gold Top, a 2000 Fender Strat Roadhouse, and a Larivee L-09 with a Fishman. Works great for all of them. My son plays his PRS through it. Even gets decent thrash tones out of it.

Wish it was a little louder in the clean category, but for 10 watts, what can you expect? In clean mode, I tip the amp up to face me, and it's fine. Pound for pound, it's the most versatile amp I've ever used.

So far, perfect.

I contacted their customer support before I bought the amp. I made it clear I'm not a customer, but wanted answers to technical questions before I bought. They were responsive and like talking amps with old amp-gearhead friends. Not corporate punks or career boys. After I bought, I found their advice to on the mark, and exchanged an email or two with questions after purchase. Still, the best customer response I've ever seen. My son, who plays out of a Fender Blues DeVille is considering throwing it over for a new Tech 21 product. Their support and the sound of their amp inspires that kind of confidence.

I've been playing for 35 years, and played in H.S. and college bands around Kent, Ohio in the 70's - the Volume Era. Used Ampeg V-4, Marshall Stack, Peavey 100 6x12, Traynor 8x10, Kustom, etc. Now I'm in California in a tight housing development and just the speaker hum from the V-4 would bring the police. The Tech 21 is a great way to get big tone/feel for practice and recording. It's a flashback to my youth. At this price, it's a must-have.

I purchased the Trademark 10 about 5 months ago. I live in a relatively small apartment, so having an amp that could model (and send out a signal via XLR out) a variety of larger combo and head sounds was important. Probably the best quality of this amp is the fact that it has a SansAmp included within. There is active cut and boosting by 12db for Low, Mid, and Treble. There's a reverb and a three by three matrix for adjusting Amp Type, Gain, and Speaker type. It's pretty extensively configured considering this amp is a "practice amp."

THe major problem I have with the sound of this Amp is that the cut and boosts, while nice add a ton of noise to the signal. Now, obviously, inherent in any signal boost is going to be a some kind of noise boost, but at the higher gain values, it's too much. What this means in practice is that the boost/cut knobs really work much more effectively as only cut knobs. With that said, the tones that come out are great. I'd say the Fender modeled tones are comprable to a Silverface Deluxe. I have limited familiarity with the Marshall and Mesa amps so I can't comment on how well the modeling is there. The noise makes me say -1.

Absolutely no reliability issues. I have dropped it, nearly ripped plugs out (accidentaly) and there have been no problems.

Haven't dealt with the Customer Support.

I have been playing on and off for about 10 years. I own several guitars (Gibson ES-175, Fender Tele (with changed pickups), Ibanez Flying V copy, etc.) and for those of you who don't want to lay down $2000+ for a set of Marshall, Mesa-Boogie or Fender Amps, this is a great buy. It's the kind of amp that will allow you to grow better as a player; you won't find yourself limited two years down the road by the tones it offers. If you are going to spend money on a practice amp, spend your money on this amp! If it were lost or stolen, I'd buy another--no doubt. The only wish I had, as I mentioned above, is that the boosting wasn't so noisy.

This is actually my third posting for this amp.
I have really enjoyed this amp although I began to ecounter a buzzing problem after about 1 1/2 years use.
It came on slowley and it is probably because I like to pplay with allot of bass.
Anyway if anyone else has experinced this problem it is the chassis buzzing against the cabinet.
I tried a few things and found weatherstripping to work the best to stop the buzz.
Just stick around the outside of the chassis and retighten it snugly and then tighten again about two weeks later.
Dont look inside the chassis or you will feel cheated!
IT STILL SOUNDS GREAT THOUGH!

Oh hell, you all know what features this amp has, and I won't comment further! This is the best little amp I've ever encountered; it makes Peavey Rages' wet thier pants in fear!

That so much real TONE could be crammed into such a small package is absolutely amazing. I tried this little bugger out at the local music store because I'm thinking about buying a diffrent Tech-21 product, and I wanted to get a general idea of what passes for tone with these guys. Needless to say, they passed the test.
It's like this; I am absolutely DONE with digital preamplification! NO MORE!!! And by the way; if you absolutely MUST have a digital modeling device, save yourself a HEAP of money and buy a used Digitech RP-2000 off of Ebay. In the digital realm, that unit is un-freakin' TOUCHED. Of course, you WILL need the brains that God gave a mule( or more ) to properly EQ the thing and set up patches, but no other device( yes, that means ROLAND, BOSS, LINE-SUX; er..."6" I mean, or even the hallowed Rocktron ) comes close to matching the sounds of a Rectum-Frier, a Mush-all JCM 900, or a Fender Twins' clean sounds, PER-I-OD! And let's face facts, shall we? The digitial realm is STILL operating in 24-BIT MODE!!! Yeah, there are a FEW items out there that are now up to 32-bit...but PAHLEEEZE; until digital can do dual 128-bit or more, you're NOT gonna' get a real tube sound or model!!!
As for ME...I want warmth and colossal CRUNCH. I want robust and rounded clean tones that are warm and full...and I DO NOT want to f*** with inconsistent, tempermental, and NOISY little globs of GLOWING GLASS that became technologically obsolete BEFORE "Leave it to Beaver" went off the air!!!!
Don't get me wrong; there IS a place for a well-made tube amp...it's called "The Recording Studio". Or, if you are a rich and famous rock star with an army of roadies that can take care of your gear whilst you sip Moet' White Star and do lines off some groupies a$$, then by all means; GO ALL-TUBE!!! As for me, I'll take low maintenance and consistency please...

Anyway...
This little amp is just a BEAST! I couldn't believe the rich, harmonic CRUNCH coming out of this little thing! And the tone controls are absolutely killer; a little twist in any direction really animates the tone. Kind of like an old British Trident mixing console... I can totally see why so many guitarists( and bassists too ) swear by Tech-21; they have analog D-O-W-N.
The only negative remark I can make about the tone is that when the speaker emulation is set to "Flat" or none, it doesn't sound very good on ANY of the mods. But since you don't HAVE to turn it off, then I guess it's not really much of a problem now is it?!?!?
The reverb is o.k. I guess, but I'm not much of a reverb kind of guy. And lets face it; you're not buying an amp with an 8" speaker for the "amazing reverb" now are you???
Every kid who is learning electric guitar should get one of these as a MANDATORY purchase/first amp/practice amp because it is a LOT more fun to practice and learn if your tone sounds like your heroes and is pleasing to the ear.

Tech 21 stuff is built like a brick sh*thouse. Enough said.

They answer thier e-mail within a day; whaddaya' want anyway???

A killer little amp that's great for bedroom jammin' and home recording. Best sounding 8" speaker amp I've ever heard. Would also be a great backup amp to keep handy just in case your regular stage amp shoots crap in the middle of a gig.

Made in 2003, bought from ZZounds. This is an awesome sounding studio amplifier/live preamp, unfortunately it doesn't fit the bill for my needs. 1 channel, an effects loop, a headphone jack, speaker out and direct out. It's all analog circuitry that does an incredible job of emulating the classic tube sounds from the best amps.

This amp rocks. I'm totally blown away by this little amp. It's amazing how good this thing sounds. For the music I play (clean, gritty blues, some rock, rare hard rock) this amp is very good, but maybe too much. I had the opportunity to do a side-by-side between this amp and a ROland Cube 30 and this amp totally blows the Cube 30 away on authentic tube sounds. The ability to choose the amp, mod and speaker makes this amp extremely versatile and very useable. The cube 30 by comparison is very clean, a little sterile (can get some useable sounds). The TM10 accurately captures that 'krang' that comes from a tube amp driven really hard (actually, it's a little hard NOT to get that sound from this amp). I did notice a bit of noise when the amp was on the hi-gain and hot settings, but it wasn't intolerable.

I have not idea about this, since I only had the amp for 24 hours, but it looked ok.

No idea about tech21nyc.com, but ZZounds took it back with no questions.

This amp is amazing. I can't believe they can get the sounds they get without having any tubes inside. In the end I didn't keep it but instead went with the Cube 30 (Roland) because of it's versatility -- it has an acoustic setting which sounds amazing with my FAAS-equipped guitar, and because the Cube 30 is louder and stays clean at loud volumes. The TM10 sounded great right from the getgo, but as others have said, if you crank up the volume the speaker tends to fart-out and the housing will rattle a little bit -- that's not so hot.

My intention was to find an amp that I could easily tote to jams, that was lightweight, loud, had good sounds and some versatility. The TM10 certainly is lightweight, has incredible sounds, but it doesn't get loud enough with it's 10 watts -- if the amp did get louder, like maybe had 20 watts, I would have swung the other way, forgoeing the acoustic simulator and the digital (average) effects, but in the end that's what made me go with the Roland.

I wasn't looking for a studio amp but got the TM10 because a reviewer on the Cube 30 page said to check it out, after panning the Cube 30. I have the Pod 2.0 to solve my recording needs and I know I can get similar sounds (though, I doubt quite as rich and tube-like as the TM10). I need an amp that won't break my back, sounds decent, is loud enough for bass and drums and has some tweakability. For my purposes the TM10 didn't cut it, thought I might get one in the future.

This amp has a long list of features. The basics are that it's a solid state 10 watt amp, 8" speaker. It uses Tech 21's Sansamp technology to provide three different amp models; Fender, Marshall, and Mesa Boogie. For each amp model, you also get three drive settnigs; clean, overdrive, and hot (which emulates an extra tube in the power amp section). And then you get three speaker models; flat, UK, and USA. Also has drive, master volume, three band active EQ, reverb, effects loop, headphone output, and direct out. Quite a lot for a small box. Oh, and an added neat trick. Hook a simple mixer into the effects loop, and you can play along with a CD or drum machine (great feature in a practice amp).

Well, with all those setting options, there is plenty to choose from here. Fender setting offers lovely smooth, clean tones, but the overdrive is a little wimpy (like actual Fender amps). The Marshall channel is stunning; awesome crunch and depth. I'm not a big fan of the Boogie channel, but then I don't particularly like the Boogie sound anyway. Reverb is great. The active EQ means you need a deft hand on the controls to dial in a sound, but in return you get a broad palette. My only criticism would be that even with the Drive set to the minimum, on the clean setting the Marshall and Boogie channels still break up too easily. The Fender channel is the only one that gives good clean sound. But it gives VERY good clean sound. For a 10 watt amp with an 8 inch speaker, it's brilliant.

Well, I've had it for six months without a problem. Seems pretty solid.

I have to rate Tech 21 very highly here. I've e-mailed them with a couple of questions, and they've always responded the same day.

I play at home in my spare room. I wanted an amp with killer tone that wouldn't shatter windows or summon cops, and this baby fits the bill. It has a great range of killer tones. After I got this I sold a Fender Stage 100 DSP and a Marshall MG 15DFX - I just didn't need them any more, because this amp does everything they could and then some. I don't think you'll find a better amp for the size. It's kind of pricy (retails for about $250) compared to the solid state competition, but it's worth it. Knock $50 off the price and clean up the Marshall channel and you've got a 10. As it is, this amp rates a solid 9.

Gain Bass Mid Treble Reverb Master and the three three-position switches for amp style, gain quality, and speaker quality. Out back are the fx loop, headphone out, speaker out, and di w/ground lift.
The controls are more than sufficient for what I do. The reverb is good enough.
It would be nice to have channel switching, but after learning how to keep the volume high and gain lower, I don't desire it so much now.
This amp has been used for playing alone at home and for some backup guitar tracks on various recordings.
If a pre-teen sees the amp, they take it for being old on looks alone. Must be the color scheme and style of knobs.

A P90 or two Duncan '59's go through the amp. It handles both of them very well. The amp definitely uses what it is given, but does not alter the qualities of the pups. If the P90 is picked hard and all it gets all twangy and crisp.
The amp is clean. It must be the cables that add in hiss.

After using the amp out of the house to practice (and be loud), I discovered that the gain control way low while the master is cranked is a great setting.
I use the calif/clean/us settings and now have a way to have a slightly dirty sound that could be pushed with a pedal to get things interesting.
I will try this amp setting in the future and not worry about blowing the speaker. I swapped the factory speaker with a heavier Eminence. I have to boost the highs, but don't get as much low-end rattle like I used to.

One reverb tank tie-down snapped. I'd use this at a show if I were crunched for space. I'd maybe plug it into a cabinet if one were available, but I wouldn't be ashamed to use it all by itself. I'd place it as close to the drummer as possible, but that's it.

There have been no problems to date.

I've had this amp almost four years. It's a great practice amp and it makes good noise for recording. I am happy to have discovered the great low gain/high master setting.
Tech 21 put out some great things at lower prices. I see more bands using their bass driver box in live settings, but haven't seen the TM60 or 120 (or 300) on stage anywhere. The TM10 is a great amp to have at home. It's light, versatile, easy to handle, and reliable. I keep that plastic cover on when I'm not using it and I keep the amp in its shipping box. I want it around for a long time.

XLR output. Geat for recording. small size. optional gig bag is great. different selections for amp type, speaker type, and gain type.

I use an old single coil "Audition" brand guitar (sold at woolworths in the 60s/70s). Pedals used: Frantone Creme Puff, Z-Vex Machine, Tech 21 XXl, Line 6 distortion modeler, Line 6 delay modeler, Line 6 modulation modeler. I play clean "surf" guitar and fuzzed-out Jesus and Mary Chain noise.
The settinings i like best are the "Tweed" amp, "U.K." speaker, "Clean" Gain. I don't like the other amp, speaker,and gain settings. I keep the setting clean with a tiny touch of amp overdive and get my main overdrive and fuzz from pedals. the sound is great! Over the years I've use Peavey Decade, Roland Cube and other small amps. This is by far the best small amp I've ever used. Al the other small amp sound thin and small. the Trademark 10 has a surprisingly big, full, deep sound. Great spring reverb. the overdive/distortions it can make make are extreme, but i just don't like them. I like a clean sound or a fuzz box sound. I don't really care that i don't like the other settings because I'm glad that I only need one great setting and I love the sound I get from this amp. I'd give it a 10 based on the one setting I love. but since i don't like the other settings I'll give it an 8

Seems sturdy and strong. has never broken down but it has never left the house. I use it for recording.

I've never needed support.

see comments above.

No need to repeat what's been said. This is a high quality recording and practice amp with simple controls that produce a wide specturm of color. And it's one of the very few this size with a real spring reverb. Comes with a plastic cover that looks like a shower cap for a robot, but there's a slick gig bag available as well.

It's amazing what kind of variety of tones you can get from three switches and six knobs. The amp doesn't have any of the built-in modulatuion effects you find on a Line 6, but I think the analog-derived sounds are much more natural. I use this with everything from a big jazz box to my Strat and it delivers. There's even enough volume for jams in small rooms.

Haven't had any problems with any Tech 21 gear yet.

For the intended use- recording and rehearsal- this simply can't be beat. It's cheaper than the original SansAmp pedal and still gets most of the sounds. Some guys use it on stage and run the DI out into the PA, which really speaks for itself. I'm thinking of carrying it on gigs for a spare to be used that way. If we had a bigger PA, I might not even bother with a bigger amp! I'd replace it in a heartbeat if I lost it.

It's a bit pricey for the size and volume, but given the featureas it's still a pretty good value.

This is a follow-up to my review of 3/22/2001.

Until recently, I had only ever used this amp for practice and recording. But a few weeks back I got the opportunity to play out with it twice in a small combo format.

The first night I played my James Trussart Strat with Joe Barden pickups into a Banzai Fireball II overdrive pedal into the TM10 on a loud clean setting (Tweed/Clean/US). The guys I jammed with were all impressed with the tone of my little rig and couldn't believe that it wasn't a tube amp and that it was so light and compact.

A few nights later, we were going to do an acoustic set, so I decided that instead of relying on a someone else with a dodgy PA to get my sound, I would take my Larrivee Parlor with a Fishman Rare Earth soundhole pickup and play it through the TM10. "What?!", you cry, "a flat-top through an electric guitar amp?!" Thanks to the amp's excellent EQ, I was able to get a nice, punchy acoustic sound with the Tweed/Clean/US setting I had used the other time out. Talk about versatility! Since then, I've been experimenting with the Larrivee/Trademark combination at home and have been having a total blast! With dirtier settings, I can get the most awesome controlled feedback I have ever experienced, something I will definitely use in my home studio recordings.

Don't you just love it when you buy a piece of gear and it not only inspires you to use it heavily for its designated purpose but also opens the door for applications you never thought of before?

I LOVE THE TRADEMARK 10!