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.

Features have been covered pretty well.. I also have a few of the 'add-ons' the rackmount kit, and the ARMD midi converter. (Be warned about the rackmount kit, it comes with no instructions, and you will need to take the amp chassis apart to install it.)

The amp looks sweet as hell rackmounted, btw.

This thing sounds great, IMO. Yes the EFX loop doesn't like pedals, learned that the hard way. In fact I had 2 or 3 disscussions in Email with Tech21, and they kept saying some pedals would work and others wouldn't, then of course I told them I had 4 different pedals from the big companies, and none worked. There is a way around it though, but it'll nueter the amp's volume, you have to manually lower the efx-loop send before it hits the pedals. Not fun. So, I went out and bought an Alesis rack proccessor, problem solved.

Okay on to the sounds of the amp. I have 2 Ibanez RGs, 2 6 strings and a 7 string. ALl of them have dimarzio humbuckers. Alesis Quad2 for efx, and an Ibanez TS9 for a solo-tone-boost. The amp is plugged into a cheapy 4-12 cab loaded with Eminence 125 speakers. Most of what I play falls into the thrash/death/prog metal genre.

The Tweed is pretty good for a gritty tone, but not much in the way of headroom for clean, as mentioned by everyone else. I don't use this setting much myself, unless the urge hits me to play something gritty. lol

The Brit type isn't really Marshall, but it does have the 'british' tonality. I hear some Laney influence here, which to me is a plus. I pretty much use this type for all my gain tones. The 'Queen' setting in the manual do sound very close BTW, so I'd say this amp type clean is pretty close to a Vox. Some might think this doesn't have enough gain for metal, but I think it sounds perfect. Tight, crunchy, with just enough 'sizzle'..

Cali. What to say about the Cali? I don't like Rectifier's without a boost slamming the front end, and this holds true here. Muddy and sloppy opn it's own, punishing with a TS9 in front. This type could have more gain, but it doesn't lack in bass. Clean is where I use this channel. It's surprisingly smooth clean, and you can get way more headroom out of it over the 'tweed'.

Does it nail the tones of the amps it emulates? Not really. What it does do is breath like an amp, something the digital modellers don't seem to do. When we got it in at the store, I cranked it up to check it out. The amp tech came out of his little cubby-hole and wanted to know what tubes it took. :P

Comparing it to other Tech21 gear, I'd say this falls somewhere between the Trademark 10 and Tri A.C. in gain and tonality. The TM10 does a better boogie, but it's just so damn small. lol

Well, haven't had a problem, and I don't expect one. The inside of the amp is insanely clean. Probably the best wiring and build quality I've ever seen in an amp. The cooling fan is a very nice feature, the amount of heatsinks in there inspires confidence as well.

The real test will be when I start gigging it.

They've been nothing but helpful in email(gone so far as to tell me what Celestions come in the matching cab: the 70/80). When I called to order my rackmount kit, I not only got a real live person on the phone, but he didn't even have to transfer me to someone else.

Best customer support I've ever gotten from a company, period.

I've been playing for around 13 years. Other gear is listed above. ^_^

If it was stolen? I'd hunt the fool down(especially because he'd have to take my whole rack, and that isn't light, probably wouldn't get far) and cut his hands off.

I love this amp, the only thing I'd wish for would be a better/tighter/dirtier Cali type.

I was going to buy a Laney TT50H, but their US distributor kept pushing the delivery date back, to the point where it wasn't worth waiting. At that point I decided I'd like to try Tech21, since the Trademark 10 was the best sounding little amp I'd ever heard.

In closing, I'd like to say that anyone interested in this amp should go demo one before buying it. Emulation/modelling/simulated stuff is very much a personal preference thing, some might like one amp, while others hate it.

See list below. Very feature rich.

This amp sounds awesome. No doubt about it. Now, if Tech21 could just get the levels correct. I agree with the reviewer below. There omething SERIOUSLY wrong with the effects loop levels. Too hot for pedals. Also, to the guy that said the XLR out sounded horrible. That's because the XLR level is too damn hot to run into a mixing board. At least it is on mine. WTF?? These are serious issues that T21 should have fixed before releasing this product.

No problems yet. It's solid state. Should last forever.

Never dealt with them.

It would be a great amp, if I could use all the features. But I can't. Effects loop is worthless. Unlike the reviewer below, I'm NOT going to sell all of my boutique pedals to use this amp. Also, I can't run the XLR out straight into a mixing board because the signal is too hot. Shit, T21 really needs to address the signal issue with the effects loop and XLR out. Makes this amp worthless.

Update from my review below. Well, I've had this amp out on about a dozen gigs now......and had some time to play with it, so I thought I would update this board with my findings. The effects loop on this amp definitely does NOT play nice with floor pedals. The line level signal overdrives the floor pedals and makes your signal sound like crap. This was not apparent on other amps I owned. I also tried an Alesis Nanoverb in the loop which did not work well either....but for the opposite reason. With the Nanoverb you couldn't get the level loud enough without the sound distorting (instead of the level being too hot for the pedals). That being said, I did find that the Boss SE-50, SE-70, VF-1 series of half rack modules works quite nicely in the effects loop of this head (make sure to set the attenuation switch to line level on the back of the Boss).

See my review below. I still stand by my statement that this amp sounds as nice as any tube head I've owned (including a Mesa Triple channel Dual Rectofier). Unlike most solid state amps this sounds really sweet cranked up as well as at lower volumes. Keep in mind that I am running this into a Tech 21 2X12 cab. I understand the Tech 21 cabs have "special" speakers (I beleive they are full range). I have no idea what this thing would sound like running into say a Marshall or Bogner cab. It still peeves me that the clean channel starts distorting with the gain only turned up to three. With 300 watts there is plenty of headroom......however, the preamp clips too early. This means that even with 300 watts of power I have to crank the clean channel all the way up to get my clean volume to match the level of my dirty channels (because I have to keep the preamp down so low). This is the biggest drawback to this amp. I've seen similar complaints on reviews of the TM-120. Since the 120 uses the same basic design as this head, apparently there is a flaw in the design. I'm in a cover band......and if we had to play ANY louder than we currently do, I wouldn't have enough volume on the clean channel (unless I didn't mind hearing it clip a little).

A dozen gigs and so far so good. If you need a case for this head try DCCase company. You can pick up a nice case for about $70.00 new.

See my post below.

Been playing since the early eighties. I've owned a boatload of amps in that time. As I stated below, if it were stolen I probably would purchase the same amp again. My gear acquisition syndrome would force me to purchase something else. Maybe a Peavey 5150 or Triple X. Don't get me wrong.......It's a great head. Especially if you need a wide variety of sounds.

Mine is a 2004 Model. This amp has a ton of features. All solid state....but unlike most SS amps, it's also all analog (no digital here). There are three channels. Each of them can be set up using either the tweed, british, or california settings. Each channel has it's own discreet EQ and gain settings. This amp also has a master volume which is an absolute necessity for me. No reverb.......what the heck? Don't know what the Tech 21 designers were thinking (other than trying to emulate a Dual Recto or 5150) when they left the reverb off.....but it was a stupid decision. On the back of the amp there is a ground lift switch and a -10db/0db switch for the XLR out. There are two mono power outs for connecting up to two cabs, a tuner out, and two effects loops (one serial and one parallel. OK, some disappointment here. Notice I said the -10db switch is for the XLR out. They need an attenuator switch for the effects loops as well. I spent some amount of time trying to figure out why the clean channel was distorting, and the overdrive channels sounded like ass when using the efects loops. After speaking with an engineer at Tech 21 it turns out the effects loops are LINE LEVEL ONLY, meaning you can not use floor pedals in the loop as floor pedals are designed to take a guitar signal (not line level) and will distort badly when used in the TM-300 loops. Well damn.....wish I knew that before I dropped over a grand on this head and matching 2X12 cab! Now I have to replace my floor pedals for rack gear. Also, the tuner out has no mute switch. No problem as long as you are not using the XLR into your sound board in live situations. If you do use the XLR out then even if you turn the master volume down on the amp you'll still have full volume to the board while you are tuning. Dumb.....dumb. A very nice footswitch comes with the amp which allows you to switch back and forth between channels, activate an adjustable volume boost for solo's, and switch both effects loops on and off. Only problem is that the footswitch currently has a bug. When the amp is turned on everything is set to default to off (no boost, no effects loop, etc.) EXECPT the boost is activated on channel 2. Not a big deal once I knew that the bug was there.....but it did cause me a bit of embarrassment the first time I gigged with the amp because I almost blew the band off the stage when I switched to that channel (boost was on). Tech 21 was not aware of this bug until I insisted they attempt to duplicate the problem in their lab. John, their engineer was very helpful, and also very apologetic when he realized the problem was there. Points off for stupidly engineered effects loop, and no reverb.

I Currently use several guitars with this amp. Ernie Ball Axis SS, Jackson DR-3, and prototype Lace Strat. I run the head into a Tech 21 2X12 tweed cab, which sounds good, even at very high volumes. I'm in a cover band that gigs close to every weekend. We cover styles from Crosby Stills and Nash through Metallica and Blink, so I needed an amp that can deliver a wide array of sounds. I agree with the points made by the reviewer below that the California channel sounds too pretty, and doesn't have enough low end chunk. Still.....I like "pretty", and use it quite a bit. The British channel sounds great to my ear. I've owned both Marshalls and Mesa's and although the sound of this amp isn't a dead ringer for either, it's very close. Both channels have a good amount of gain, but I'm a gainiac.....and wouldn't mind a little more (which might take care of the "chunk" problem on the California channel). The tweed channel has a spectacular clean sound. Very chimey and sparkly....but it sounds bad when overdriven and it overdives too easily. Anyway, I only use the tweed channel clean. Thanks to the 300 watts this amp is rated at, it has lots of headroom on the clean channel. You can crank it and it still stays pretty clean....unlike my Mesa. Very low noise on all channels. Some other reviewers have complained about the XLR out sound. Hmmmmm.....I haven't had any issues with the sound from the XLR out. I run it to the board all of the time and I love it. Sounds very close to the sound coming out the amp speakers.

Well jury is still out on this. When I opened the box the first thing I noticed was that the transformer was loose and moved back and forth about 1/2 an inch inside the cabinet, causing a noticeable "thunk" when I moved it around. Called Tech 21 and asked them if I would void the warranty if I opened it up to tighten the transformer. They gave me the OK to do so. While I opened it up I took note of a few things. The wiring job was immaculate. Almost a work of art. Everything was tied up neat and tidy. I was disappointed to find that the back cover was secured with wood screws, instead of standard threaded screws and inserts. I suppose Tech 21 figured no one would ever need to open the damn thing up because it's tube-less, and decided that using woods screws on particle board would be OK. Hmmmmm.....I dunno. Certainly didn't give me any warm fuzzies. The transformer was easy to tighten down. The amp actually slides right out of the head cabinet, and is rackmountable with ears that are available from Tech 21. Pretty cool. I currently use a Tech 21 TRI-AC as a backup.....but feel pretty good that this amp will go the long haul with no problems. I'll update this board if I find out differently.

Well....I have split feelings on this. It only took 2 phone calls for me to be talking to one of the guys who engineered the amp. How many companies will offer you that type of service? Lloyd has always been the best, answering my questions, and working with me with other Tech 21 products I have owned......however, this time I felt slightly "put out". Initially I had special ordered a custom fit case for the head through DC-Case company. Because the head hadn't arrived yet I had to use the dimensions off the web site, which I found later to be incorrect. Don't know if the dimensions changed in the production run, or the web designer made a mistake, but two out of the three dimensions were incorrect. When I called Lloyd at Tech 21 to complain that the dimensions were wrong on their website (which cost me about $100) he said "Gee that's too bad......we'll have to find a way to make it up to you. Don't know how we'll do that, but we'll find a way". I think he was just placating me. When I discovered the channel 2 boost bug I called Tech 21. They were going to "lab out the problem" and attempt to duplicate it. John (the engineer I was dealing with) thought the floorboard might be the problem. I asked if Tech 21 could send a new floorboard to me in advance of my sending the "bad" board back, since I was a gigging musician and couldn't go without a floorboard for two weeks. "Sure", was the answer. The only problem was that they weren't willing to cross ship me another board (in advance) unless I authorized them to charge $125.00 to my credit card. Hmmmm. I guess this is how they were going to "make it up" to me.

OK bitch session over. I will say that all of my other experiences with Tech 21 have been pleasant, and even after this experience they are still better to deal with than most companies. Lloyd is the best, and I liked the fact that they put me directly in touch with an engineer when I had problems. Points off for charging me for an advance exchange on a "faulty" floorboard when the issue was their fault, and for the posting incorrect dimensions on the web-site.

Well....I'd be lying to you if I didn't mention that I walked away from this purchase slightly disappointed.

Been playing about 20 years. Owned just about everything in that period of time. Mesas, Marshalls, Fenders, tube, solid state, heads, combos, you name it. If lost or stolen I think I would go with a 5150 II. Don't get me wrong, it's a great amp, I just never buy the same amp twice, and the California channel could be a tad more brutal for my taste. It needs a mute switch for the tuner, a reverb, and a way to attenuate the loop level. With those improvements this amp would be killer. All in all, it sounds as good as any tube amp I've owned. If you need an amp that can deliver a wide array of tones you should consider this one.

Features have been listed...

3 Channels all are the same configuration, but you can dial in different settings and thus create 3 different sound options. In theory you could dial in 3 settings of the SAME channel. Why you would want to is beyond me. But that is how it is set up, which is kind of cool.

The XLR out is attractive, to a POINT. It is a good idea but it sounds really, really bad.

Okay.

Tweed (Clean) is very nice at times. But if you crank it to overdrive it a bit it creates a bit of a fuzzy distortion that sits more like overtones than actual overdrive. It sits on the sound like oil on water, not quite mixing properly. I dont like it. But for straight clean it is very nice.

British. Hmmm. Only sounds good maxed out. The rest is a bit weak and lacks the punch of British amps - Marshall etc. In fact, it actually sounds very little like a Marshall. It is a little bit creamy which is nice, but doesnt emulate the Brit valve sound at all.

California. This was the most disappointing. It is just too... Pretty. It doesnt get dirty enough. It lacks REAL bottom end and does not have the warmth that the boogies maintain even though they are crunching really hard. Its hard to explain. With good dual rectifier tone you hear every string and every overtone. With the TM300 you just hear a crunchy sound. It lacks depth and it lacks character.

However, the versatility and flexability is second to none for the price you will pay for the head. Bang for buck the TM300 is very good. Compared to the amps it seeks to emulate... It comes nowhere near close to the actual tones of the more expensive, but often less configurable units. It is a trade off between convenience and cost.

Now. When I was trying the Tech 21 TM300 I was looking for something for my home studio to help me do direct recording at low volumes. Given the TM300 is built on the GT2 technology I thought it would be okay... However, when outputting the XLR out to a Mackie desk to some Sen headphones... It sounded just terrible. It is not useful as a direct recording unit as the direct out sounds really thin and nasal compared to the speaker sound.

I am rating it a seven based on flexability rather than pure tonal quality. For a guy in a cover band that needs MANY amp tones, this is a good place to start but because you can only dial in three at a time I am not sure how strong this theory is in reality.

Probably good. Tech21 arent fools. It looks well made. I didnt buy the unit, but did test it extensively.

No idea.

I have been playing for 15 years and have owned various Soldano (SLO100 and X99), Marshall (JCM 800 and 900) and Mesa Boogie (Calibre 50 and Dual Rectifier) amplifiers. I have also looked deeply into the different modelling amps and though the Tech 21 gear is neither valve nor digital, feel I have a good perspective on that which it is not, and that which it seeks to recreate.

Firstly. The Trademark 300 sounds NOTHING like a Boogie or a classic Marshall Stack (I am talking the JCM 800 era because in my opinion that is the last great amp head marshall have made).

If you want to say that I am being fickle because it is so much cheaper than a Dual Rectifier Boogie or a real vintage AC30 then fine, but when you name channels after very definite tones I believe they should be at least relative to those tones, and the TM300 does NOT deliver in this regard.

I am NOT a valve addict. I love my Yamaha DG212 digital amp combo. It rocks hard and has great versatility. The TM300 just lacks something... I think basically the sounds have very little soul. I really wanted to like this amp because it would have solved my home recording issues and maybe even replaced some of my old valve heads if it had lived up to the reviews I have read in the music press. However. It does not live up the hype and I left it in the shop. I am buying a Tonelab (VOX) for direct recording and keeping the Dual Rectifier Boogie for live.

I play lead guitar in a band called Loud. We play a range of music covering all the bases between blues and metal. The amp has three channels and i've found a sound i like in each of the three preamps. Thick blackface chunk, plexi/JCM800 sizzle, massive low end rectifier style crunch, yeah, it's all in there... very loud (i can't turn it past halfway) very usefull adjustable boost function

I'm playing an all mahogany Carvin DC127 and one thing i love about the amp is that it responds very well to playing nuances and changes in feel.... you back off your volume knob and the amp cleans up well. It responds equally well to humbuckers and single coils and two weeks into owning it, i'm still finding new sounds in this amp. This amp really is like owning a small collection of tube amps.

Well, i've only had it for two weeks, but it looks very sturdy and seems built for the long haul.

I wouldn't know

I shopped around for quite a while before settling on this amp. I knew i wanted a 3 channel head, with plenty of power, a wide range of sounds and an affordable price. The modern and aggressive styling of this head was also a big plus.If anything happened to this amp, i'd rob the liquor store to go get another one and wait impatiently until it showed up.... This amp is alive and it's a monster.... Overall, i couldn't be more pleased with it.

I am guessing it was made in early 2003. Either I am playing jazz in a trio or I am playing rock in a band. Either way, this amp does the job. Three channels that can be set to do anything. The footswitch controls both FX loops, three channels and the boost. SansAmp DI out.

300watts @ 4ohms
200watts @ 8ohms
150watts @ 16ohms

100% solid state, no digital or tubes.

I play a Parker NiteFly and a Carvin mainly. Stock pickups in each. As I have stated above, either I play in a Jazz trio or in a Rock group. It is not noisy. More quiet than the tube amps I have had. It does have a cooling fan though, but once playing you can't hear it.

Each channel has a 3-way switch (Fender/Marshall/Mesa). From there you just tween the active tone knobs and drive. It really does act like a tube amp. The added bonus is the "boost" fuction that realy helps cut though the music during solos.

If you want the overdrive to be brutal, it will be brutal. The Marshall and Mesa settings have a lot of drive. Does it sound exactly like the amps listed? No. Does it sound good? O yes!

I have gigged without a backup before. Usually I bring my Trademark 60 in case of a problem. The cooling fan would be the big thing that would worry me, but I have never had a problem.

No servicing.

Called them many times on issues with the Trademark 60 and to get manuals for this amp. There is a licenced dealer in town, but I have never had an issue yet.

I got this amp used for $450. The only thing wrong was the carrying handle was missing, which I fixed. For $450 this thing is a steal. I'd try to buy another one if I lost it. I love the flexiblity and lack of reverb unit built in. I dislike the cooling fan. I have the Tech 21 Trademark 60 which is great. I have 5 amps total. This is the most flexible one. I needed an amp that could do it all. I needed an amp that had the power to play large venues. This think is LOUD. Running it at 16 ohms, I have never had the master volume over 5-6.

Great support. Very flexible. Very loud. Very reliable. It's not a tube amp, but in most cases is better, especially compared to other amps under the $800 range. For $450, you can't touch it.

I just bought this amp from www.bmusic.com.au (excellent service) I'd never heard one before and i just went off reviews and people from the u.s who had heard it..im the 2nd person in aus to get one.. I played my first gig last night and it was pretty versatile i played stuff from hard rock to punk to clean melodic emo stuff and it suited them all and i didnt even have much time for tweakig i just plugged in and fiddled for like 10 mins and i got a really good sound. Its got 3 Channels, mesa,marsh and tweed.. all are pretty unique no matter wat the tool with the bad review said i dunno about his amp but my mesa/calif channel was heaps different from the marshall. it has effects loops and headphone jack etc.. The BOOST button is the best thing ever, boosts 9Db for solo's i used it heaps :D

I Use a '84 fender strat with the original pickups and i used to play through a 100 watt marshall valvestate. I was a bit wary letting that go cause i was so used to the crunchy distortion but now i think it rocks! The amp was humming a bit when i cranked the gain, but it wasnt the amp i think it was because of a shotty lead in my effects box. I cranked the clean right up and there was no distortion there so that was good and i had the distortion down low and up loud and it essentially was the same..the good thing about the amp is you set your sounds in each individual channel and then you can turn the master volume (which controls all channels) right down but it keeps the same sound. The calif setting rocks hard you can get massive lows or highs it depends what your into but i can guarantee you will get a good tone on this amp.

Only had it for a few days so i cant say much but its massively solid :)

I emailed tech 21 a few times before i bought the amp, being in the usa it took a few days for them to reply but they were always informative and pretty helpful. The warranty on the amp is a year.

I've been playing for 7 years and ive used Peavey's and Marshalls mostly, i played a deville once but i didnt like it. I Play the tech 21 through an ENGL quad box and it sounds phat. If it were lost or stolen id have to save up again (*cries*) but id definatly buy a new one. I didnt compare before i bought it but now i think it got a better sound then my marshall and even then the boogie and engl heads i tried out. It definatly kicked ass against the line 6 flextone II's shitty distortion tones.

This amp is definatly something which will change your playing. I was sick of my marshalls 1 Distortion tone, i wanted to have different tones for different songs for just variety and this amp did that, i changed from calif to british for heavy to punk and it changed the bands sound. The clean sound is also very bright and pretty, i added a slight chorus to it and it sounded gorgeous :)

This has all the features I need. Others have listed them already, so I won't bother with this section.

Wow, this amp sounds amazing, especially since it's solid state! It responds much like a tube amp. The tweed clean setting sounds great. The british setting has a nice crunch and works great for blues as well. The california setting is what I use the most since I'm in a metalcore band. It pumps out a huge wall of distortion. I play through two 4x12's and it sounds VERY thick. This amp is so versatile. With my guitar though it can be a bit muddy, but I'm positive it's my pickups (duncan design). I'm about to replace them though, and that will certainly make this amp shine even brighter. I highly recommend this amp. It has tone, that's for sure!

When I first received this head, I connected everything, and when I went to turn it on....nothing. No sound. No lights. I could hear the fan spinning inside though. I contacted Tech 21 about this through email. They called me the next day and walked me through on how to fix it. One of the connections inside of the amp came off during shipping. It works like a charm now. I'm still a bit worried if that connector will come off again though. If my amp doesn't work in the future, at least I'll know what's wrong. Other than that, everything seems reliable.

Tech 21 has the very best customer service. I've emailed them at least 3 or 4 times now, and each reply has answered my questions thoroughly. Like I said above, they even called me up and walked me through on how to fix my amp without me having to send it back. Very fast and friendly customer support.

I've had this amp for only a few weeks now, but it has lived up to my expectations. It has everything I need. I'm about to go rack, and that is another cool thing about this amp. It's rackmountable! Just send in an order (with $19.95) and they'll send you the kit. I'm so glad I bought this amp, and I will definitely get another if this were to get stolen (and that better not happen). It has everything I could ever want or need. Go buy one!

I play music between large range with 16 year experience: funk, rock, metal, alternative, blues. This amp's for me and what I've searched for years! Three different channells is enough to choose from between many different sound types. 300 watts is totally enough for anything... Floorboard is very simple and convenient, especially the boost and two efectsloops, only minus is a lack of reverb.

I mainly use Les Paul & Strato with DiMarzio Tone Zone-bridge pickups. I've tested this amp face to face with 5150, and it's very similar. I just love that Marshall-type sound (British-position), it's so tight and what a high gain! For example like in Alice In Chains "We Die Young", and even more, like Fear Factory etc. Clean channel is very warm and smooth, up to Vaughan-style raw blues and 60's pop. You can also find many different sound variations from California-position, Korn/Slipknot-type muddy and crunching Mesa-roar.

I've owned Tech 21 SansAmp for over 10 years and it still works exactly like new one, lived through tough times, played with it in many gigs in many dirty hellholes. I think it's bomb-proof or something, waiting for nuclear war... This Trademark 300 looks like a modern tank and seems to be very reliable and "bomb-proof" as well, especially there's no tubes in to worry about. Solid as a rock.

If this amp were stolen from me, I'd definitely buy a new one. I highly recommend! One thing is to mention: you may not found your desired sound just by plugging in, you maybe have to search and tune for a while, but believe me, it's there!

This amp is straight to the point, everything you need, nothing you don't. the controls are simple and effective. you can scoop or boost anything making it a breeze to dial in "your" sound. the 3 channels make it easy to have any number of tones availible at the push of a button, and the boost function is VERY well thought out.

The sound on this amp is up to par with any amp that i have played through, the clean "tweed" is the best clean channel i have ever heard. and the distortion is thick and rich. from smooth jazz to heavy metal chunk, this amp will do it.

This amp is built like a tank. looks to be protected from all sides. if there is a problem, the parts are interchangeable, , i.e. power suppiles, and the patch cable for the footswich. this amp will stand up to your playing.

The guys at Tech 21 were awesome to work with, their customer service was a major selling point, they will wotk hard to fix any problem or to answer any question. if you don't believe me, e-mail them.

this amp is perfect for anyone looking for a BIG sound, tone and volume (300 watts, wow this thing can get loud... but it sound great quiet as well) this amp is capable of giving you tons of awesome tones, no fake "Boxy" sounding amp models, like so many stompboxes and processors give you. if you are on a quest to find your sound this amp could be the one that shapes it. try it, you'll buy it.

Ok, this amp is not versitile at all. The boogie and marshall sounds are essentially the same, except that the boogie sound is more muddy sounding. It has enough features so I give it a 7.

LIke I said, the marshall and boogie sounds are essentially the same. Also, they sound -NOTHING- repeat, -NOTHING- like the amps they emulate. You can most DEFINATELY tell a difference. My Marshall has a smooth, loose sound, and the Tech 21 has a not so smooth, tight sound no matter what. The clean is so so. Overall, the amp sounds very good for a solidstate, but it sounds like a high end solidstate.

I've gone through several Tech 21 amps and they tend to be unreliable.

no opinion.

i picked up this amp after some pretty heavy research into guitar heads in the $750 range. i looked at JCM 800, 900 and the JCM 2000, peavey 5150, and many others, including the dual recifier. i was very very iffy about buying this tech 21. its a brand new 300 watt amp, but its solid state. however, when i plugged it in, i was amazed at the sound quality and just overall punch this thing had. it definately doesnt sound like a solid state amp when turned up. it reacts exactly like a tube amp, and its the closest thing to it i believe.

i play emocore music (basically some beautiful clean harmonies with emphasis on clarity and vocals, with outbursts of really heavy rock, hardcore). this meant that i needed an amp with an amazing clean channel and another channel with some heavy gain. on the JCM 800/900 i could definately appreciate the gain they tried putting into their amps, but this tech 21 can sound exactly like those amps, all the way up to a JCM 2000 modern hi-gain sound with heavy gain. the 'california' setting allows it to sound honestly exactly like a dual rectifier, and a 5150. now i know you think im trying to sell you the amp by now, but this amp seriously can sound EXACTLY like those amps. well not completely, but you wouldnt be able to tell the difference if you were blindfolded.

this amp is 300 watts, and i used to have an ampeg 100 watt tube head, and i turned it up all the way and it still wasnt loud enough for our crappy practice area. on this one, i have to turn it up to 7, but ive turned it up all the way and its more than enough, guaranteed.

i use a epiphone g-400 deluxe. so basically it is an epiphone, yes, but it has alcino-v humbuckers in it. when you turn it up loud though, a fuzz exists, but its not that bad compared to some other amps i was looking at (peavey). the EQ on all 3 channels is extremely sensitive, you can actually tell a difference if you turn it 2 notches. amazing.

the clean channel doesnt distort at high volumes, the 'tweed' function allows it to sound just like a fender, its honestly amazing, i was so suprised. but you can turn the gain up to get a bluesy crunch, a lot like stevie ray.

i think this thing is gonna last for a long long time. i talked to the guy at tech 21 and he makes sure every amp is just right and the warranty will take care of any defects. 6 months.

yeah as i just said, i called the tech 21 people for some questions on the amp, and i was immidiately put through to the head guy. its crazy how they focus on the customer, i guarantee that wouldnt be the same if you tried calling a different company.

this is the best amp i have ever heard (for the price range) it honestly beats all marshalls i played with and mesas. yeah, maybe the distortion isnt as crystally amazing as those amps, but all the guitarists i know cant even tell the difference. the clean channel alone beats the marshall and mesa by a really long shot. the combination of 3 channels, with a boost and effects loop and 300 watts is orgasmic. i love this.

For starters, this is 3 amps in one. 3 seperate pre-amps (footswitchable) with so many tonal combinations its sick. All in all this amp is remarkable with the killer looks, amazing tone and balls of solid steel. Not to mention you could power 4 4x12 cabs with it's massive 300 watt V-8 under the hood. And to top it off it comes with a smart 3 channel footswitch, with switching for fx loops 1 and 2 as well as an intelligent boost switch. I do like to be origional, but I'm sure everyone will own one of these soon. Oh well. If you want to hear what the amp can do, check out "boiling" and "meds" at www.mindlockdown.com and hear for yourself.

The "california" style preamp is destined to send Mesa Boogie tech back to the drawing board! The bass response on tight palm mutes are dangerous. Over all tone control on this amp is unheard of. I thought you had to spend thousands for this good of sound quality, I was wrong. The "british" style preamp is killer enough to make the brit's blush. I was tempted to open up the amp and make sure there weren't tubes in it. And the "tweed" style preamp, I use for my clean channel and is the most beautiful sounding clean I've heard. I had to lay to rest 3 effects pedals once I got this beast because the sound quality of the distortion on the head blew them away!

I've already brutalized this thing from the get go. No problems yet!

I haven't had any problems, but have called Tech 21 a time or 2 and the response is top notch. No holding for hours or anything and all questions were answered.

All in all Tech 21 is a winner. Anyone who knows of the Sans Amp, knows that Tech 21 puts out top notch gear.

Peace.
T - Mind Lockdown

The head is brand new. Made in 2002 or 2003. I play all kinds of music.... Mainly covergigs. Jazz, Pop, Rock & even Heavy and this is the best Head I have ever playd with. Trademark 300 has three channels and great EQ:s in every channel. It has 300W power so if you want to disturb your neighbours, this is the amp for you. There are also two effectloops which you can also adjust with the Tech 21-footswitch. It's a transistorhead.

I have the Musicman Luke - guitar and the Engl 4x12 Vintage - cabinet. The sound that I can make with these equipment and a shit load of effects is unbelieveble. There are no backgroundnoises at all. The clean sound is probably the best I have ever heard and it kicks ass even to tubeamps. There are two different great distortions which can be adjusted with the gain. Every channel has a great gain.

I can't really say anything about the reliability, becouse I have had the head for about a month now. But it's really heavy and covered from all sides very well, So I think it's as tough as it seems.

The warranty is 6 months, but I don't know anything about the customer support.

I have been playing for over 10 years. As I mentioned earlier I have the Musicman Luke-guitar (with EMG aktive pickups) the Jackson PC-3-guitar, Engl 4X12 Vintage-cabinet, before me on the floor I have Korg AX1000G-multieffect, Boss PW-10-wah, Line 6 FM4 Filter modeler and Bespeco volumepedal. The sound and the power of this amp is unbeliavable and there are no other amps I would rather purchase. I tried some Marshall-heads and some other tubeamps, but this one was just so incredible I had to have it. And when I'm carrying it, I don't have worry about the tubes, becouse there aren't any.