PSA - Ultimate Solid State Amp on Basschat

monquixote

I'm putting this on here so one of you can buy it and put me out of my misery. 

Often there is a thread about which Solid State amp is the awesomest and I will be heard to say the Tech21 Trademark 60 is brilliant, but it's a little bit boxy sounding because it's so small and it's really hard to get the clean and dirty channels sounding good at the same time because of the weird shared EQ. I am also often heard to mention that there is also a Trademark 120 which is a 2x12 with three channels each with independant EQ, but that it's absolutely impossible to find them. 

Well one of them has just appeared on basschat for the stupidly low price of £250

http://basschat.co.uk/topic/228941-fs-tech-21-trademark-120-guitar-amp-l250/

I want it very much, but I really don't need it, don't have the space for it and can't really justify spending the money so one of you lot please buy it and end my suffering!

Drew_TNBD

Buy it yourself!

monquixote

Drew_fx said:

Buy it yourself!

Get thee behind me satan!

StefB

I'd have it if he'd ship :-(

monquixote

I imagine it would be really cool for someone with a stereo FX rig as it's a stereo amp with stereo loop and stereo DIs on the back.

ThePrettyDamned

Get it!

I've only ever heard the 60 watter, and while the basic tone is 'fine', I agree it's a bit boxy and small sounding.  I didn't even realisze there was a 120 watter!

The Orange crush pro 60 watt combo suffers the same issue I think.

StefB

Guitarist gave this model a great review at time of release and I've fancied one ever since. Most sellers overvalue them though, unlike this chap, as they are a bit of a curio compared to the far more common TM60. Review here - http://www.tech21nyc.com/reviews/images/pdf_reviews/tm120_guitarist.pdf

Richardj

Going rate for a TM60 is around the £200 mark.  £250 for the 120 is a bit of a bargain.  As with the other TM's it is always worth checking that the effects loop send and return jacks aren't corroded as this can cause volume issues, it's an easy fix however.

bertie

its good but far from ultimate,  the RC RR1  has to be top of that list at the moment..............

monquixote

bertie said:

its good but far from ultimate,  the RC RR1  has to be top of that list at the moment..............

That seems to be an amp that everyone talks about, but no one seems to own or have tried. I'd rather have a TM120. 

They also did a TM300 which was a crazy 300 Watt head. 

ICBM

The ultimate solid-state guitar amp is a Roland JC-120.

There may be others which sound more modern or more flexible, but there's no other which is a contender for one of the top ten greatest amps of all time or defined the sound of an era.

I thought from the reference to being on Basschat this was going to be about some massive solid-state bass amp . Which if you can believe the spec, is probably this…

http://www.bugera-amps.com/en/products/BTX36000.aspx

monquixote

ICBM said:

The ultimate solid-state guitar amp is a Roland JC-120.

There may be others which sound more modern or more flexible, but there's no other which is a contender for one of the top ten greatest amps of all time or defined the sound of an era.

I thought from the reference to being on Basschat this was going to be about some massive solid-state bass amp .

While I love the JC120 I'd rather gig a TM120 as it's much lighter and versatile (The distortion on the JC120 is balls) 

ICBM

monquixote said:

While I love the JC120 I'd rather gig a TM120 as it's much lighter and versatile (The distortion on the JC120 is balls) 

I agree about the JC-120 distortion, but that's hardly the point of it . It does take pedals well, too.

I've never played a TM120, but I really don't like the TM60 at all, so I'd probably still go with the Roland and a pedal...

monquixote

The TM120 appeals to me as a guitar, cable, and one box solution (you don't even need a mic)

One of the bands I used to play with were always baffled that I'd use the JC120 (which was a "keyboard amp") with a Guvnor+ rather than the TSL and 4x12 also in the room. 

I thought it sounded much nicer. 

TTony

monquixote said:

I want it very much, 

Which is another way of saying that you'll regret it very much if you don't snap it up.

You'll not find another one closer ... And I imagine that shipping one would be a challenge ...

So just get on with it.

ThePrettyDamned

monquixote said:

The TM120 appeals to me as a guitar, cable, and one box solution (you don't even need a mic)

One of the bands I used to play with were always baffled that I'd use the JC120 (which was a "keyboard amp") with a Guvnor+ rather than the TSL and 4x12 also in the room. 

I thought it sounded much nicer. 

You could try a newer bandit as they have an emulated out, and they sound good, but I found the newer one when demo'd had more noise than the old one I have (which does still have noticeable background noise when you crank it on the drive channel unless you use a noise gate).  

But £250 for that seems quite a good deal, should make for a decent gigging solution.  And stereo!

ThePrettyDamned

@ICBM that bass amp is absolutely nuts. 

I kinda want it, just to see what 3800 watts sounds like...

ICBM

ThePrettyDamned said:

@ICBM that bass amp is absolutely nuts. 

I kinda want it, just to see what 3800 watts sounds like…

I can't find any detailed specs, but it can't be accurate either. 13A (maximum for a UK power outlet) at 230V gives a maximum power *draw* for the amp of a shade under 3KW, and the amp can't be 100% efficient even with a modern SMPS and Class D output section - I think 80-90% is about as good as it gets. In fact, it has an IEC power cable which is rated at 10A, so that limits it further, to no more than 2300W. So I would suspect that the true power output can only be in the 2KW region at best - still a lot, but not what they're claiming.

TTony

ICBM said:

So I would suspect that the true power output can only be in the 2KW region

"only" 2KW