Tech 21 Trademark 30 110 Combo

I bought the Cube 30 first. Returned in a heartbeat and bought the more expensive TM30. Never looked back. This is a analog SS amp with true tube sound. Nails all of the warmth and tone of TUBES. Can't say enough about this little amp. It is the only non tube amp that I own (I own 9 amps) and it get 90% of my play time. Really considering buying it's big brother the TM60...

Absolutely incredible sounding amp. Great tube like break up. I have never experienced this on a SS amp in my life...been playing through tube amps for 15 years. I would buy another if this was stolen...

features
so i just got this amp yesterday.
its balls to the walls best solid state amp ive ever played.
it literally beats any solid state there is.

it has 1 channel
yeah its a downside but it does the job for a practice amp but its powerful enough to play a show and quiet enough to play in the middle of the night while everyones sleeping. and it still sounds just as good turned down.

the different settings for the amp is great too especially the different speaker options flat uk or british it sounds they give you such a different range of sounds.



i play it in my room and im planning on playing shows with it

the reverbs nice but i dont use it that much.

i wish i had a footswitch and atleast 2 channels and a the option for a footswitch would be nice but its worth every penny

im using a shecter hellraiser with emg 81 85s
i play mostly metal progressive but i play all kinds of music and it fits every style its very versitle and sounds amazing

its not noisy at all theres no feedback at all its very clean and every note can be heard
the clean channel is crystal for being a solid state amp

the distortion is godly for a solid state amp talk about kicking ***
this amp is better than any cheap tube amp you would buy.

havent had to call them yet just got it yesterday

havent played a show with it yet but its still pretty solid.

havent dealed with them yet.

ive been playing for about a year and a half.

if it was stolen or lost i probably would buy another one if i was low on cash but id probably try something else if i had some extra dough.

i love how its so small but so beastly it just really bothers me theres no footswitch i think that would make this little amp a little monster but the larger sizes have them.
i cant really compare it to anything else its on its own. its like nothing else.

i wish i had a mesa haha but who doesnt right?

I can't believe anyone is badmouthing this "practice" amp. It is more versatile than any "practice" amp I have ever played. Gets a 10 for what it is...a great "practice" amp. Get a TM60 w/ a power engine for gigs...OK?

OD channel...pure magic. Clean channel...very Fender like.

Not a problem...Nada.

Absolutely the best. 2nd to none.

For those who see this amp as a let down...get a life. Not enough power? It's a "practice" amp. For what it does, this amp sounds like heaven. The Cube 30? Cube 60? Had them both and returned them. The OD channel on the Cubes is not in the same league. Oh...and did anyone mention...the TM30 breaks up really nice like my tube amps...try that with a cube...Game Match Tech 21 again!

As mentioned below, you probably know the features or can see them in other posts below. As I play these days mostly in a church worship band, the best feature for me is the balanced XLR out; in fact that swung the decision for me to buy the thing

I play a variety of styles including rock, blues, country, some jazz. I play a Warnoth Tele with Fralin pickups, a Parker Fly Classic and various acoustics. I go straight into the amp, no pedals or effects at the moment. I've found this amp is able to deliver great sounds for any style I'm using at the time. However, what does sound quality mean to anyone? I always enjoy and value the reviews on this site, but we all know that this one is subjective. I've owned valve Boogies, Fenders, and Marshalls over the many years I've been playing - does this amp sound like/as good as the best of those? No, but do I expect it to? No, again. It does get pretty close though. For what I want, a low-powered, fantastically portable, versatile-sounding amp with an XLR out, I could give it a 10 - I don't think there's anything on the market to touch it. Will you get 'that' valve sound that you've got in your head - probably not, but remember this is not a valve amp

Had it over a year now and used it extensively, had no problems at all. Some posts say it's a noisy amp, mine isn't.

No need to use this one so far

Overall, this is a great sounding and versatile amp, but unlike most valve amps you can make this one sound really bad if you aren't familiar with it - I think this is down to the active EQ. If you want to try this amp, or have one and can't seem to get on with it, I went through the same thing for a month or two and nearly returned it as I was underwhelmed with the sound. As has been suggested in another post, max the Drive and slowly turn up the Level until you've got a decent sound. With low drive levels you may, as I did, get a thin and flat sound. What I do is set the EQ (mostly all at about 12 o'clock), to suit, Drive on about max, Level to suit, and use the Tweed, Clean, UK settings on the mod switch. With my guitar volume on about 8 I get a great, snappy but rich clean sound that will crunch with harder pick attack or tweak of the guitar volume - this works best with my Tele. I can then turn the guitar volume to about 3, flick the mod switch to Calif and get a fantastic overdriven sound for rhythm using any pickup selection; this has the same output volume as the clean setting, so can work mid-gig. This overdriven sound will clean up or distort according to guitar volume setting - on about 6 or 7 I can get a fluid, sustaining harmonically rich sound for solos and yes, this is still on the Clean setting on the mod switch. I have no idea why this works, but it seems to for me. This method works really well and gets over my only real gripe with this amp, namely no channel switching - at least I can do this between songs if not mid-song. Incidentally, I've given high marks for sound quality, but I really can't bear the Brit setting on any EQ setting it seems to have an unusably zizzy, fizzy and transistor sound that sounds worse than the worst solid state Marshall you've ever heard. Avoid this setting would be my advice!

If you are looking at this review, you've either got one of these but if not, you'll probably already know what the blurb says, and what the features of the TM-30 are, and if don't, then just look here:-

http://www.tech21nyc.com/tm30.html

Almost any sound you require is available, i.e. This Amp is "Wonderful for Blues", (including Woman Tone without the need for adjust your guitar knobs,) "Great for Rock", and "Excellent for Clean" all types of clean. I use an Ibanez 540s Custom (2HB, 1SC) which can produce a huge range and variety of sounds. The TM-30 really accentuates them all.

You can even try to attempt to emulate the actual some of the favourite tones of your existing valve rig. I know that may sound like so obvious, as that it what the thing is designed to do, but try this:-

Plug the output of your TM-30 into the speaker of the Valve Rig, (or combo) and then keep swapping it over. It will take a while changing knobs all the time, but it helps if you've got some sort of switching gizmo. It's not going to be exactly the same, but I have a close match to the usual settings on my Traynor combo. So I can take the TM-30 as a spare, if I've got a REALLY important gig! Or for small venues and easy transport, I can replace altogether. I really does suit my style, which is quite diverse. It even fits on my cycle pannier rack even with the guitar with a ruc-sac gig bag on me!
The distortion is a much as I use, and to fair anymore and the tone just goes. Anyone needing more would already have some kind of metal pedal to use in line anyway.

It is ???NOISY??? in the sense if I turn it up loud and don???t play anything, but what would you expect? At practise levels, I hear no hum or hiss. When plugged into a PA, there is no hiss other than already on the PA channel. I can make it hiss by setting full High and/or Reverb, but why would I want to do that on most normal use?

Haven???t had it long, but it seems really well built. Most amps I???ve used were chipboard covered in black vinyl. This has some chipboard covered in vinyl, but the back and sides, and I hope the front (speaker soundboard) is made from ply. OK, still not solid, but still an improvement!

Lloyd is just so good. Good, dependable, fine-old fashioned customer service!

I've been playing for about 20 years, have worked in a music shop and I've seen most amateur and semi-pro gear that's around. I keep up to date with most of the new stuff on a regular music shop visits.

I accept the ???Scottish??? point in one review about the price being good in the US, and that someone is making pots loads on the import. Well, what can I say? This amp is STILL good value compared with what else is on the market for the price I paid. In fact, there isn???t any amp out other like it.

I did go hunting for a practise amp to replace my Line 6 Spider II, and could only consider either a Fender Blues Junior, and another Line 6 Spider. ALL the other practise amps just don???t cut it for BOTH clean and dirty sounds. Most can do either very well (well considering we are talking about practise amps here!).

I don???t think I would have considered buying it at the RRP of ??349 initially. If I had to make the same choice now, say if I had ??350 to spend for insurance purposes, I still would consider buying/replacing it. If I got a discount on it, then fine, I definately would, but at ??350 I would most probably spend a bit more and go for a discounted Peavey Classic 30. As an alternative, the Fender Blues Junior of course is still a very good amp, despite now being made in Mexico.

I guess if you need a cheap amp to use in the studio for cool tones, this would work for you.

I bought this amp to use for practice. My gig amp is a custom Bad Cat and too heavy to carry up two flights of stairs. I thought this amp might work as it is very lightweight. Unfortunately, it sounds like crap. I returned it to Musician's Friend.

The amp arrived and the spring reverb didnt work. I returned it.

I've been playing for 20 years and own a personal museum of amps and guitars. I would not recommend this amp. I prefer the Roland Cubes for practice and the Line 6 POD XT for studio.

http://www.tech21nyc.com/tm30.html for the essencial spec.

Ask Tech21 to send you a manual and you'll have the most trustable source of information on the features...

It perfectly meets my needs...

Ibanez RGT 220A Prestige > (Morley Little Alligator - sometimes) > Trademark 30

clean setting: Drive 0, Calif, Clean, US Speaker, Bass +1, Middle Flat, Treble Flat. Really natural sound, deep and balanced basses, not invasive mids and singing highs. It is a sort of neoclassic sound (Surely I don't mean a neoclassic shred sound, at last for the clean setting), veeeery beautiful...

distorted setting: Drive Max, Calif, Hi-Gain, US Speaker, Bass +1, Middle -1.5, Treble -1.5. Awesome!! Let me repeat: this is a really awesome sound. Truly expressive, liquid when I want it to be liqiud (fast legatos, sweeps, tapping) solid when I want it to be solid (fast alternate picking passages, muted notes)... It really fits my playing style, but I am conscious that this impression can be completely different depending on the player...

Please notice I exclusively use the Calif model paired with the US speaker... those seeking for a Mesa sound will be completely satisfied... Just to be clear: my Mesa V-Twin is taking dust now, and believe me, I really loved it...

I absolutely don't like the Brit model, but no surprise, I don't like the Marshall sound... The Tweed model is usable expecially on low Drive settings: similar to the Calif model, but with added clarity.

I admit the reverb sounds really good, but I think spring reverbs sound innatural, and I generally prefer a dry sound, so I don't use it for most of the times... Take into account that I play the TM30 in a large room so I have a natural reverberation for free...

On the noise question... I don't notice any noise, nothing with the clean sound, nothing with the distorted sound. However I use it as a practice amp and my level setting never goes further than 9.00 o'clock, and usually is even lower...

No problems until now...

I repeat I had no problems, but they where really kind and helpful in asking my questions...

If it had another channel with completely indipendent controls (I mean both the character section and the eq) it would be perfect for me...

I plan to buy a TRI A.C. to have more flexibility, even if I am a bit sceptical about the exact reprobucibility of my TM30 distorted setting on the TRI A.C. (less controls on the TRI A.C.)... If the "TRI A.C. pluggeg into the TM30 return" set-up will leave me usatisfied I will use an A/B box to switch between the TRI A.C. and the TM 30 preamp: I really can't renounce to that sound...

Active EQ along with 27 combinations through 3 three way switches - add REALLY GREAT REVERB and as master volume and gain......if you can't find a good sound in here you aren't really trying.....unfortunately the active eq means that it's real easy to dial in a bad sound too...

Well...here's the thing...I have finally come to peace with the fact that this thing really isn't a guitar amp at all....it's a powered stompbox with a speaker. The reason I say that is because "transparency" isn't a word you could use for this thing. There is always a lot of coloration happening. Additionally, as mentioned elsewhere, there is a frizzie krizzie noise that exists when distortion trails away and when i focus on it it drives me mad....that being said, if you ignore it, this thing is a great RECORDING and creative tool...and fun for getting neil young skronk noise all the day long.....could be used for a small gig but I would be nervous about it having too much personality and not enough transparency for live applications.

Not an abundance of features, but covers my needs for a practice amp. Just one channel, but easy to switch sounds (see below). I like the built-in reverb. I can't really think of any features that I'm missing, but then I tend to prefer simple setups.

I've been playing through this amp with a Strat-style guitar, with Fender Noiseless singlecoils.

You can get a good amount of useable tones with minimum tweaking. The three 3-way buttons that allow you to select amp, gain, and speaker simulation makes it easy to get the sound I want very quick. It's so easy that there's really no need for a 2nd channel unless you want to switch sounds on the turn of a dime.

It's not noisy at the levels I play at (master volume on 10 o'clock when playing clean or 7-8 o'clock with distortion).

One thing I've noticed, is that the amp really responds to my right- and left-hand dynamics. Same goes for pickup selection. With such a small amp, you almost expect it to sound the same no matter how you play, but that is not the case here!

I think the clean sounds are a notch or two better than the distorted ones. But IMO it floors the Roland Cube, which a lot of people rave about.

I've only had it for three weeks.

As others have said, Tech 21's customer support is excellent - I've e-mailed them a couple of times with general questions.

If there's any other amp that is as good as this one for the same price or less, I'd like to see it! As mentioned, I would rate this much higher than the Cube. I've also compared it to a Vox Valvetronix AD30VT. The TM-30 won, thanks to it's superior hi-gain tones and ease of use.

Documented in other reviews. SansAmp type pre-amp layout.

As a practice amp it is OK, just.

A bit dissapointed as I own a TM60 which is a good working amp.

This is nowhere near as good. You cannot gig with this as it is nowhere near as loud as you think. I play in a blues trio Ac' Guitar, Harmonica and Lead guitar (gibson 336)no bass and drums, when the monitors were turned up I couldn't hear this amp without foldback!

Very noisy also.

I must admit I should have realised that thiss is 30 SS watts.

OK.Not a gigging combo.

Good.

Very dissapointed as I could have bought a Fender Blues Junior for this price and at least I could have gigged with it. I don't know why they released this amp as it doesn't fill any gap in the market. The TM60 is a great amp for the price this isn't.

Clean sound is not loud enough, cannot jam with a band in a rehearsal room.

I traded this in after 6 months and lost more than I expected. Traded up to a Rivera Clubster 25 1x10" combo....... amazing but a lot more cash. No comparison.

Was a big mistake buying this, also overpriced in UK.

I like the variety of sounds that can be coaxed out of this amp. Mainly I use a Fender type of sound (Amp: Tweed, Mod: Clean, Speaker: US) and a Marshall type of sound (Amp: British, Mod: Clean or Hi Gain, Speaker: UK), but mixing & matching can come up with lots of good sounds.

There's no ability to run a footswitch to it, though. As a practice amp, it's one of the best I've played, but as a performing amp it leaves something to be desired.

I'm using a fat Strat, playing classic rock. It works well for that. However, obviously there's not much low end. So, when I used to play it in a band, I cheat I ran the XLR direct out into a spare input on my keyboard amp with its 15" speaker. That way, both the keyboard amp and the internal speaker produce sound. Boom, instant fullness.

I prefer the general tone and feel of this amp to any other solid-state amp I've played (Valvestate, Transtube, Dynatouch, etc.) except the Trademark 60. The 10 rating is given in comparison to the TM30's peers: SS, non-modeling amps.

I teach at a high school where we have two Trademark 10s and two Trademark 60s. Tons of high school students play through them every day and the only trouble I had with one was a power transformer going bad after the amp was severely abused. Based on my experience with them so far, Tech 21 makes very reliable gear.

Have not dealt with them. Repairs were well out of warranty.

This is an excellent, excellent practice/jam/very small gig amp. The only thing more I could ask for is floor control.

This amp has a wide variety of sounds. With all the versatility, I only wish you could purchase an xtra footswitch to be able to switch sounds. I would have pad xtra cash for this as even during recording I'd like to be able to change channels. I like to record in a similar way I'd perform so as to avoid that 'fake' vibe of changing sounds by stopping the recording and opening up another track. Otherwise the user interface on this thing is simple and well laid out.

Also, the cab and minimalist design of this is just awesome in my opinion. It baffles (in a good way) whether it's a vintage or modern product. I almost kept this (see sound comments below) just because it's so well designed.

Finally great output and headphone out.

Bummer. I was so looking forward to this amp for recording as my tube mesa and fenders have to be cranked to get 'the sound.' I really don't want to give this thing a mediocre review as it's such a well designed product but I must...

First of all, I have to agree with other reviewers that this little thing is WAY, WAY too noisy. I primarly bought this for recording, and it makes my 30 year old fender seem like it's quiet! I thought solid-state meant quiet?? The problem is that it hisses right in the sweet spot of your hearing spectrum and it cuts through not only during playing but in the recording as well. Yes, I did try the ground switch, plugged it into different plugs in different room (we have super clean conditioned power in the studio.) Many times, I play quietly with my amp cranked to get a rich and tense sound and this thing hissed and hummed ruining every nuance.

As for tone: (I'll admit first that I'm a spoiled tube brat.) Remember that first time that mean bully on the playground coaxed you into putting a 9-volt on your tongue? Well this thing sounds exactly like how that feels: sweetly metallic. This 'metallicity' pervades all the settings, rendering you with a 9-volt flashback-headache after 15-minutes.

Finally in terms of overdrive: if you can somehow, analytically put aside the harsh metallic quality, the distortion sounds kind of OK when you're plucking the strings like a gorilla. However as soon as the sound starts to fade, there's a much too noticable 'seam' in the sound from distorted to clean as if the overdrive is almost swithing off as the signal dies down. A very bad thing if you like to sustain notes and leave nuanced empty spaces while playing. But of course that emptiness will be filled with the hissing and humming anyway!


I really wanted to like this amp, did I say a million times how well it's designed and how pretty it is?

The reverb sounds great, though...

Very well built. did I mention how well designed and how pretty it is? I'm glad it has metal input jacks and isn't built like a toy like other comparable modeling amps like the vox's.

even before I bought this thing, I emailed tech 21 to find out if or when they would make a footswitch to change sounds on this. Nice explanantion from them, but their suggestion was to just buy one of their overdrive pedals... huh.

I really wanted to keep this amp as it had the near perfect options for my practice / recording setup. I returned it to today and am on the search for something that doesn't sound so metallic and isn't so noisy.

It's clear that tech 21 put a lot of thought into this thing. I just can't get over how bad it sounds. I was my bad: I noticed a (slightly) harsh and metallic quality on the website and attributed this to the mp3 file. In real-life however the bad tone was 10x more real than what some of the otherwise nice sound-clips only hint at...

Did I mention how well designed an pretty this this thing is?

The features are pretty well known, but for those not familiar, it offers three amp types (Tweed, British, California), three gain modifications (Clean, Hi-Gain, Hot), and three speaker types (Flat, UK, US). The amp types are intended to conform to Fender, Marshall, and the California customs. The gain switch positions interject tube-simulated overdrive, although I don't perceive much difference between the Hi-Gain and Hot positions. (Tech 21--do I have a dirty switch?) In any event, with the Drive knob cranked, one can get as much distortion as one's likely to want in an amp of this size and volume. The speaker positions interject somewhat more low midrange as one goes from clean to US.

As others have pointed out, there's no channel switching, so with gigging, you either pick a tone you like and live with it (that's usually OK for me) or reconcile yourself to walking over and flipping a bunch of switches and readjusting gain levels.

The amp also has level ("drive") and master volume controls, active 3-band EQ, spring reverb, XLR out, 30W, 10" speaker in a 15 lb. total package. All wishes for more and bigger should keep this in mind. If you value ease of moving much, this is spectacular. Next to this, my Blues Jr. feels like a tank.

It doesn't have any digital effects, but as this is not a digital amp, I'd rate that a plus.

The amp is intended to be very versatile, but it has its limits. The only clean sounds are in the tweed setting, which is where I end up using it the most.

I've been through a zillion practice amps, and I figured I'd take the plunge and go with this, partly because I'm very satisfied with a Trademark 60 I've had for a few years. I was going to give this a 6, mostly because the clean sound sounded limp, until I discovered a trick. Old Fender amps don't have master volume controls. I have a late 60s Vibrolux Reverb, the gold standard to me, and it sounds great, but once the volume knob goes past about 3, one just gets more overdrive.

The trick to get the Trademark 30 to sound more like a Fender is to treat it the same way. Crank the master volume all the way up (only backing it off later to protect cohabitannts and neighbors), put the speaker switch on UK, put the mod switch on Hi-Gain (or Hot, on mine it doesn't matter much), and with the amp switch on Tweed, use the drive control like a Fender volume control. It'll start overdriving at around 3, but the fullness comes back that's totally missing in the Tech 21 manual's suggested "clean rhythm" sound.

I don't use the distortion settings much, largely because of the absence of easy channel switching.

I haven't done any recording or live playing (with the XLR), so I can't speak to that, but I'm really glad to have the capability, knowing I could tote this thing to a gig and just plug it into a PA.

This has been fine so far, including having to ship it to Canada. I have had reliability problems with the Trademark 60, but thanks to the helpful customer service, those have been taken care of. I'd take it to a gig, but if you're in the habit of cautiously bringing a spare, as am I, I'd stick with it.

I'm not sure if my mod switch is defective, with little difference between "hi gain" and "hot" positions, but it's not a big problem.

I'll second all of the other reviews. Tech 21 will get back to you via email in a day or two with an answer to any question, including that bizarre solution to squirt capacitor cleaner into the send and receive jacks, as someone mentioned below. I had to fix a problem with the Trademark 60 the same way.

Having figured out how to get it to sound somewhat like an old Fender, I'd stick with it. We all dream of the perfect practice amp. This isn't it, but with the features in a small and lightweight package, this may be about as good as it gets. It is kind of expensive for a practice amp, but really does a nice job.

No complete review (I own the Trademark 10), but an important piece of information for those who complain about cold, harsh, tight or metallic overall sound: Do try pure nickel wound strings (like Fender 150s) instead of nickel plated steel wound strings. The sound will change completely: To real vintage warmth.

Features described in detail by others and on Tech 21's website. "8" rating is because it's a single-channel amp. Could only be more versatile if it was a dual-channel switching amp. But you can get a tremendous range of sounds out of this amp.

While not exactly a "feature," a bonus is the 4-ohm output, which means that you CAN plug it in to just about any other commonly-available guitar cabinet. Just for giggles, I plugged it into a 6x10 Traynor cabinet (5.3 ohms) and that took care of any "lack of bottom" issues. Naturally, power output is less going into higher-impedance cabinets, but depending on speaker configuration and efficiency, you should still get plenty of volume.

Of course the youngsters aren't going to think this amp is loud enough to gig with. And if you play in a full-bore, slammin' rock band, it's not. Nothing short of a two-twelve 50W tube or 100w SS amp or more will be.

But if you're aspirations are of a slightly more mature (elderly? fuddy-duddy?) nature, this amp has plenty of volume. I recently played mine on the main festival stage at a local event called "Hampton Bay Days" with two other electric guitarists (one using a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe, the other using a Crate V30 AND a Peavey Classic 30), two acoustic guitarists, a keyboard player, percussionist, drummer, bassist, trumpet and tenor sax. It was a big stage, so we were pretty spread out, which no doubt helped, but I had no trouble hearing myself with the amp turned up about half way on the master level control. And this was with the amp on the stage, not on a stand. Don't know how the FOH engineer felt, but the monitor guy loved it.

The amp is a little boxy-sounding, compared to a larger amp. How could it not be? It's an open-backed cabinet, barely large enough to contain the 10" speaker. There's no way to get a full, thumpin' bottom end out of a package this tiny. If that's what you want, why are you lookin' at a tiny combo amp? The notion of this in a 1x12 configuration is pretty intriguing, but OTOH, they already have the Trademark 60 for that. FWIW, I think this is a more useful unit that the TM10, but still just as portable. I like it the way it is.

So if one gets realistic, and evaluates the amp on it's own merits instead of how it compares to a 4x12 triple recto, one can't help but be impressed. For blues or classic rock, the amp has plenty of body, and plenty of volume if you have a drummer that listens at all to the rest of the band. And when you combine that with the size and weight (or lack thereof), it's really attractive for the casual pick-up gig, open mic or jam session.

There's a host of sounds you can approximate convincingly with this amp. The sound I like works pretty well with all my guitars, and responds well to the guitar volume control, to go from clean to loud & distorted enough for feedback effects. I'm currently using the British amp, the Clean mod and the US speaker, with the gain a little over half way, and the EQ adjusted to how I'm hearing at the moment.

While I haven't recorded with this amp yet, I have run the direct out thru the mixer and listened on the monitors, and for some reason, the direct sound is closer to the speaker sound with this than it is with my TM10. In any case, I've gotten some sounds I'm really happy with using the TM10 direct, and expect I'll get equally satisfactory results with the TM30.

I've compared this directly with a Roland BC-30 and a Tech 21 Trademark 60. In my garage, the TM60 can be noticably louder, but only if cranked higher than the level I gig at. The BC-30 is not necessarily louder, but it has more bottom. It's also honkier. The TM 30 keeps up remarkably well for it's tiny size, and while not as robust on the bottom end, it's by no means thin or tinny.

I haven't had this long enough to have a worthwhile comment in this regard. Every other Tech 21 product I've had (three others) has been very reliable. So in anticipation of similar reliability I'll guess "9."

Tech 21 has the best customer service I've ever encountered anywhere, anytime, for anything.

I only needed them once in 7 years, but I can't imagine Lloyd helping me out in any more expedient fashion. Helped me diagnose a problem, and even sent me some parts (free), even though the amp was long out of warranty.

Read any of the Tech 21 reviews, and you'll see the gist is that almost everyone has had positive customer service experiences with Tech 21.

I've been playing for 30+ years, have gone thru numerous amps both tube and solid state in search of great tone and reliability (I play and teach full-time). Tech 21 stuff has become my "go-to" manufacturer, 'cuz everything of theirs that I've used or come across works, as advertised, every time. I like the tone of my TM60 better than any amp I ever owned, and have logged better than 500 gigs with it with only one minor problem.

The TM30 is different, but just as good in it's own way. As a rehearsal, recording, and "casual use" amp, it's perfect for me. It's pretty much a "find one sound and go" kinda amp, but that's usually the way I roll anyway. If you need a couple dozen different sounds on tap, and want effects, obviously you need to look elsewhere.

The big appeal to me is the portability combined with good volume and tone.

It does have all the features one would hope for at this price range. The nice thing is the DI out through the headphone jack or xlr. It uses the sansamp for direct recording.

First off, it sounds like a practice amp. Not real big on how it sounds out the cab. It seems to be loaded at the mid frequencies (tech 21 states a 10db boost at 4K). I use an eq pedal anyway so I just cut there to get it close to what I like. The tweed setting sounds damn good to me. Especially when you add a nice analog chorus to the loop. This amp is great for a practice amp. Just does not do it for me out the cab for anything else.
Now on to the direct out..............EXCELLENT! sounds fantastic in the cans too. This thing is fantastic for direct recording. It is worth the price paid and more just for that alone. I would imagine if you ran a powerengine or two ooff of this it may really come alive. Wish I had one lying around to try.

Take care of your stuff man!

I emailed them the day I bought it wondering why I had a black grille cloth. They emailed me back the next day. I have one of the first 250 made.

For a practice amp it sounds fine (especially the tweed setting). Direct for recording (and I would imagine to pa would be nice) it really takes the cake. I jam out on this all the time with the cans on just cause it sounds that good. I chose this amp cause I needed a practice amp and it had the most features without 1000 effects and 1000 amps and 1000 cabs.....etc all smashed into 1000 banks(I am sure you get my drift. It has what you really need in a practice amp plus it sounds great when running it in the studio (I own and operate a studio).

I hate to lowball, or mediumball, this thing with only a few other reviews, but I gotta share. I really wanted to like this amp, based on the soundclips at the site and the glowing reviews, but to me this amp, at its worst, sounded noisy, harsh, metallic, (those may be good for some, I suppose) and small. My amp of comparison is an old hybrid combo with a 12AX7 tube in the preamp (that has been to the shop too many times, thus the need for a new amp). Never thought I would be one of those tube purists, but maybe that's what I have unknowingly become.

One email to customer service was lost in their spam detector, apparently, no biggie. Also, I think they should go ahead and post the pdf's of their manuals on the website, since they have them (why should I have to ask for them?).

Documented in previous reviews.

Very nice recordable tones from XLR DI. Even with pedals in front of clean settings produced good results. Unfortunately the volume produced from this combo is unlikely to compete even with a quiet drummer. It is a great bedroom amp and as mentioned great for recording. I should have remembered that 30 Solid State watts are not as loud as a valve combo of this rating. I still think you could take this to a gig and if you have good monitors should sound amazing!

I think the speaker dulls the sound a bit.

4 ohm extension cab out, hmmm... pity it wasn't 8.

First combo arrived with reverb not working. Combo replaced next day.

Own other T21 products, email them and they get back very quick.

This is a geat little amp, well built but...... way too expensive in UK... almost twice the price of US model. Someone is making a lot of money importing as this weighs so little. I would have been more happy with the LE model at this price. Low rating because of price... not Tech 21's fault.

However if you do not own any other amp simulators for recording this might be well worth buying as a Sans Amp/Tri-Ac is expensive in UK.

Would give it more marks but I'm Scottish and like Value For Money.

listed in previous review, not alot of features but you do get a few different amp sounds.

judging it as a practice amp, I like it, it sounds good. the tweed/clean is clear not too chimey. no sparkle like Fenders can, the british can get a good overdrive and the california sounds the british with more bottom. I use a '52 RI tele, a US tele that I mod with a Gibson 490 series at the neck and a deltone at the bridge, a les paul, Tokai strat, Rick 350v63. they all sound good from this amp, humbuckers are benefits alot more from this little amp and it fun to play, amp is not noisy at all.

one slight issue when I first got it, I got the black cloth grill so it is among the first 250 Tech 21 produced. I play it practically everyday but still too early to tell but then I don't abuse my amps.

when I first got it the sound would not come out from the speaker, like it stayed trapped in a bag or something, hard to describe but call Tech 21 and a gentleman name Llyod had me sprayed some contact cleaner in the send in/out at the back panel and presto the amp openned up the sound came pouring out of speaker and no issue since. I am sure I will not have any more issue with it.

I recommend this as a practice amp, I compare this to a Vox AD15VT. the Vox is warmer sounding and more open, the trademark is tighter and not as loud. I actually A/B them together and I enjoy this setup. and this baby is made is the good ol' US of NJ. :}
this is a good practce amp if something happened to it I go for the trademark 60.

One more thing--it appears that easy speaker swapping in this combo is practically out of the question. The current speaker sounds great, but you guys out there like me that like to mod things could be disappointed.

This is Tech 21's technical info. on their Special Design speaker in response to my e-mail inquiry.

Dear Mike,
The 10" driver in the Trademark 30 is a ceramic version of our custom Alnico used in the limited edition (which was a tonal approximation of the Vox 12" Alnico blue). The SPL is roughly 97 dB. The response is basically flat from 50 hz to 1.5K. There is a wide 10dB peak centered at 4K (from 1.5K to 7K). This gives the speaker a nice, smooth presence without sounding "honky".

If you would like to experiment with speakers, there are two very critical things to keep in mind. Number one, the amplifier is packed so tightly, that only a speaker with the four spoke basket will fit. Jensen-style baskets will not work. Number two, this is a 10" speaker, so there is a definite limit to how much bottom you are going to get. We have tried using higher wattage 10s to try to tighten up the bass, but not without a loss. It basically worked, but was roughly half the volume of the original speaker and sounded muffled on the top.

A technical correction to my post below. On a solid state amp you can mismatch speakers "upward" i.e., put a higher Ohm speaker on a lower load amp but NOT vice-versa (just the opposite of a tube amp). In fact it may run the amp cooler and prolong life.
However your wattage will drop by maybe around 25%, but your output volume will drop only about 10%. So it looks like speaker options can be explored more than I indicated.

This review is for the newly released Trademark 30, Tech 21's upgrade to the Trademark 10, but NOT their previous wood cab Limited Edition reviewed under its own category.
Feature set is identical to the Trademark 10, except it is a 30W RMS amp into a 4 Ohm Special Design Tech 21 speaker. Includes XLR line out with ground lift, external speaker jack, effects loop, headphone jack, and like the Trademark 10 and GT2 pedal, 3 amp types, 3 levels of clean/distortion, and 3 cab types.
Why the "7" rating. Because I was hoping (i.e., expected) Tech 21 to design a slightly bigger cab around the 10" speaker and more powerful amp. This would have made the sound larger with more depth. Instead they shoehorned the 10" speaker into the Trademark 10's exact same cabinet. They also to my dismay got more mileage out of their power amp design by using a 4 Ohm speaker. Not a problem except that if you want to experiment with different 10's, you're limited to various Weber alternatives, which they even offer as an option. I wanted to try a Jensen Neo, but no 4 Ohm option, or a Tone Tubby--again no 4 Ohm option.
Also the feature rating goes down a notch or two, because small (and some not so small) amps with lots of good features are offered in this crowded price range. For $40 less, you can get the 30 Watt 10" Vox Valvetronix (Guitar Player Pick Award), and I can tell you because I own its 50W brother, that this is one versatile, great sounding amplifier. $280 for this amp is really pushing it considering its fast-becoming-outdated feature set.
Having said all this, I can also vouch however for the Trademark's excellent build quality and cosmetics--right down to the beefy leather handle--very classy job indeed.

I'm going to review this strictly on it's Tweed" setting since that is the sound I keep gravitating to for myself, both on this and the T10. If any 10 owners out there can attest, I was awfully difficult to get a decent clean setting on the 10 at any reasonable volume. Well that problem is pretty much gone. The 30W amplifier and the 10" speaker give a lot more headroom to this baby and you now have a lot more useable range with the Drive and EQ controls. This thing will really let lead notes hang out there and sing with so much sustain that it is complete overkill to leave my Barber TonePress on, which I usually do with my other amps. (If you don't have one of these by the way, check out its reviews here on Harmony--then get one yourself.)
Even with the cab being as small as it is, this thing is surprisingly loud and full sounding--enough to keep pace with my Traynor all-tube 20W and my VOX AD50VT. Keep pace volume-wise anyway. The tone is a very very good tube-like sound that Tech 21 has always been respected for, and I'd be proud to just bring this little guy to a sit-in with other club-level amps. But when I carefully A/B it against the full-tube Traynor and some of the more versatile sounds I can get with the VOX Valvetronix (both with 12" speakers and bigger cabs), the T30--though big and loud can sound by comparison more constrained a bit in it's complex harmonics and detail, which I suspect is the speaker/cab's fault more than anything. This is real nuance however that should be expected considering that the main benefit of the T30 is its greater portability. Nonetheless, it hangs right there with the higher-end 12 inch'rs.
I suspect it will also record nicely direct, since I often resorted to the T10 for lead tracks with excellent results.

Haven't had it long enough, but I owned the Trademark 10 (identical packaging) and it was solid as a rock. Did blow a power amp in it once though under warranty, but I believe that was from using a guitar cable to run a remote speaker. That's a definite no-no. Live and learn.

Excellent response and communication from Tech 21. They are at the top of the short list of broad-product line manufacturers in terms of customer support IMO.

Although the size of this thing ever so slightly compromises the big tone that could have been possible, it's size is what makes it so perfect for a portable grab-n-go amp for sit-ins, rehearsals, and small club gigs. For this purpose alone I rate it a 10, that is if it's your sound to begin with, but I'm going to ding it for lack of some additional effects being offered by other manufacturers in this price range, like VOX, since if you want the versatility, you have to drag pedals along with the Trademark, and that defeats the simple grab-n-go concept. Could have been a little bit bigger too. Factoring in the relatively steep price, it's an 8.