Hughes & Kettner Triamp: Holy Shit!

[buffa d]

I almost bought a Trilogy head a year ago, which is an AWESOME head as well. I really liked it

The reason I didn't buy it was that I bought the AxeFx instead
I just need a new 2x12 cab to go with it..

 

[Bevo]

Pretty good review here..

 

[HighGain510]

The TriAmp MKII I just sold (sorry Nick! ) was pretty nice overall, if I had more space to crank it I probably would have held onto it. I did get to blast it a few times and it sounded pretty cool. If I had bought it @ $3K+, not sure I would have been floored, but since I got it for $2K and sold it for a little bit less, I broke even and felt like I got to play with a cool amp for a bit. It wasn't a religious experience or anything lol, just another nice-sounding tube amp.

 

[ShadyDavey]

German innit

H&K really should be more popular. Peavey and ENGL dominate where I'm from

I'm not sure about the MKI but the MKII has 9 preamp tubes

Aye, they're far more popular here too - that's not going to stop me grabbing an H&K as/when I have the readies however

The solid state amps have positive feedback circuitry designed by Jurgen Rath and for the money they are outrageously good...quite fancying an Attax Combo then replacing the speaker with an Eminence Governer....

 

[neoclassical]

I gave two different MkI's a try and never got on with them. One was used and going for an insanely good price ~$700USD IIRC. Too bad too, you don't see a high end amp for next to nothing often.

 

[technomancer]

The TriAmp MKII I just sold (sorry Nick! ) was pretty nice overall, if I had more space to crank it I probably would have held onto it. I did get to blast it a few times and it sounded pretty cool. If I had bought it @ $3K+, not sure I would have been floored, but since I got it for $2K and sold it for a little bit less, I broke even and felt like I got to play with a cool amp for a bit. It wasn't a religious experience or anything lol, just another nice-sounding tube amp.

I am still regretting not buying this when you moved it

 

[budda]

I almost sold my JSX for a Mk1, ended up backing out as I wasn't ready to part with it.

Now I need it gone and it's still here, under the roadster

 

[liquidcow]

Very interesting to read this. I've got a H&K VC cab and it's great. I was taking a bit of a risk buying it as when I bought it there were no reviews or info besides promo material to be found anywhere, nobody seemed to know anything about this cab. It was worth it though, it is great and I agree that H&K need better marketing as hardly anyone seems to know about them...

I'm very interested in trying out the Switchblade TSC, I've heard great things about it. I'm not one to trust YouTube vids and such for listening so I'd rather try one out in person. I'd be very reluctant to get rid of my Mesa for it, though some say it's better (namely people who aren't fond of Dual Recs though).

 

[zimbloth]

Yeah Budda you really dropped the ball lol, this thing in my opinion is in a whole other stratosphere than a JSX. The fact you can get those for so cheap is criminal. I can't think of a better amp you can get used for even $1000 more than what these seem to go for. If the new ones are new and improved, then I definitely think it's worth the pricetag. Sometimes you really do get what you pay (and of course sometimes you don't, there are several expensive amps out there that I think are junk).

The TriAmp MKII I just sold (sorry Nick! ) was pretty nice overall, if I had more space to crank it I probably would have held onto it. I did get to blast it a few times and it sounded pretty cool. If I had bought it @ $3K+, not sure I would have been floored, but since I got it for $2K and sold it for a little bit less, I broke even and felt like I got to play with a cool amp for a bit. It wasn't a religious experience or anything lol, just another nice-sounding tube amp.

I could not disagree with you more The MK1 I played was absolutely incredible, definitely not just another nice tube amp. Perhaps it was because I got to spend a lot of time with it cranked through one of the awesome new Diezel FL cabs, and I had just biased it to optimal levels with great tubes. I don't know what it would sound like other setups.

 

[Sonicboom]

That's it!!! Just confirmed it, my TriAmp MK1 is all that aaand a bag of chips
I popped in an old quad of 5881's and lo and behold. A bit stiff(but since when's that not a good thing), but it's a lot more aggressive! In a metal Cleans are more Fendery, smoother midrange and just frikkin amazing!
Now i have to pony up the bucks to get her re-biassed.
I don't know if the MK2's can also be loaded with 6l6/5881's but i know one thing! The Mk1's are sleeper amps! Now i wanna put my other two greenbacks in and hear what it sound like now, cause the el34's sound too rock(y) with them.

Anyone else here have the original TC412?

 

[etiam]

Hey, kiddos. Happy to see this kind of thread popping up. Hope you'll tolerate my anecdotal rambling, as this is a topic close to my heart. If you want to skip the story and just get the mini-review, scroll down.

In the beginning of my quest, after digging deep enough, I read about these amps, thought they sounded pretty sweet, and quickly managed to find (and play) a Duo-Tone that was being sold with the corresponding Custom Class cabinet (Greenback loaded). I liked pretty much everything about it, including the deal he was offering relative to the Tri-Amp price, except that the Duo-Tone didn't seem to get quite heavy enough. I don't really think the Duo-Tone can fully emulate the third channel of the Tri-Amp. Yes, the Tri-Amp is technically a three channel amp, but having a/b modes or each channel pretty nearly legitimates it as a six channel amp, and those top channels can't be matched by the Duo-Tone.

I started checking out some other amps, since I figured the Tri-Amp would be too far out of my price range, and started reading great things about the Framus Cobra. So, I found another one of those to go check out, but was fairly disappointed. Yes, that amp is wildly powerful and pretty flexible, but the distortion was a little too boxy and clinically granulated. A bit too modern, not quite warm enough. I flirted with a few other amp companies, but only Peavey and Engl were consistently good, while Genz-Benz, Krank, and a few others were consistently bad. Bogner had some pretty sweet stuff, but I didn't get the range of focus I needed (i.e. Ueberschall fantastic for distortion, not so much for cleans, Alchemist sweet on cleans, insufficiently loud for ultra-distortion).

Now, on the way back from this Framus trip, I swung by a Sam Ash and found, surprise, a Hughes & Kettner Tube 100 half-stack, which actually had distortion that sounded more ballsy than the Duo-Tone had. This Tube 100 is a now-discontinued version that wasn't on the same level at all, in terms of build quality, as the Duo-Tone, but it had this really exceptional warmth and depth that totally reinvigorated my interest in the Tri-Amp (i.e. if the Tube 100 can get that sound, surely the Tri-Amp, the alleged most flexible tube amp out there, could also get that sound).

That same day, I found an MKII listed used for $1399 from Florida. Long story short and a few issues (shipping, tube breakage, sticky plexi, etc.) later, I pulled the trigger, retubed it with Mullard EL34s, and this thing is a monster:

- It's capable of incredible gain, but isn't runaway crazy and retains a superb amount of definition with complex voicings.

- The clean tone is legitimately very good and highly dynamic. Not quite Fender quality, but no high-gain tube amp is that clear or organic (that I've found). However, I play a significant amount of clean material and this was still satisfactory.

- The second channel ranges from blues crunch through classic rock and just about anything Marshall can do, just better, in my opinion. Fuller and less shrill.

- The EQ is responsive and each channel has dedicated shaping features that allow for six unique tones or more subtle usage, almost like having a built-in boost.

- Other neat features: the built-in Red Box allows for direct out, the footpedal is MIDI-capable, and there's a half-power switch on the back.

- The only things it doesn't have that I would like is built-in reverb or maybe a noise gate, but so far these hasn't been issues.

I have not compared this to the MKI, but as mentioned before, this second version addressed some issues from the first run and gave it that super-sweet but tonally irrelevant light-up feature. The neon lights can break if you are traveling a lot, but so what, the rest of this amp is extremely solid and built of high quality materials. It's also incredibly large and nearly 50 pounds, so be prepared to shell out some money for the right-sized travel case.

And I'll hush up for now. If any of you are curious, I'll be happy to expound further. Might be easier to compare this to some other amps out there people may have played.

So-- TL: DR:

H&K=most choice.


EDIT: Regarding tubes, this is designed for El34s, but can be biased for 6L6s. I haven't too much experience with H&K cabinets, aside from the Custom Class with the Greenbacks, but I liked that one a lot. I would not pay $1699 for one new, though, especially not with the V30s the Tri-Amp cabinets now come with. Statesman class cabinets are supposedly pretty good--made to German specs out of the country--but I wouldn't pay more than $250 for a Player's Class cabinet.

 

[newamerikangospel]

I have always loved H&K. The price tag is what really puts me off (which is weird, since I love Framus ). The warp X I played blew me away when I played one several years back. Sounded like the better parts of a mark IV and a recto, with a smoother tone stack. H&K had some QA issues a while back (like Framus) and I think they lost US representation a while back (like.... framus!). So the price tag, plus the QA issues, divided by direct shipping back to H&K caused "regular" players, and even some endorsed artists, to go with someone else. I think this was about 7-8 years ago.

As for the Triamp, good amp, just not quite where I was wanting to go. It does stand out from the crowd (tonewise), so I can imagine it putting your jaw to the floor.

 

[budda]

Nick I ended up with a Roadster - I'd say I did ok

 

[TMM]

H&K is kind of hit & miss, IMHO. The TriAmps are nice, but I found them lacking in the low end. The Warp-X has enormous low-end, but lacks some of the definition. The Switchblade sounded like a decent but generic amp to me... nothing special.

All that said, I've never had the chance to try a TriAmp through a G12K-100-filled cab, so maybe that makes the difference.

 

[Coobanez]

A store near me has one that they've had for at least 3 years, used, and it's currently onsale for about $800 (I bet I could get it even lower since I know the store on a personal level and they know me, and they haven't been able to get rid of it even at sale prices of $650!). I demo'd it through the multiple cabs, found it very cool. It's the EL34 version though, is this one you claim such amazement the 6l6 version Nick, or was there only an EL34 version? I may jump on this in the near future, but funds decieve me at the moment

 

[Fred the Shred]

The TriAmp MkI was a huge disappointment to me, mainly due to the subpar effects loop and somewhat "cold" tones, a sort of tube jack of all trades, master of none. A tube swap helped the tones in terms of overall warmth, but I still preferred the old and trusty Tube 100 I had around.

The second version is more like it, but I still don't feel it is the thing for me - they did solve the inconsistent behavior regarding the fx loop, and I felt the amp's voicings were greatly improved upon, yet it still lacks some dynamic subtleties I'd like in it, although the high gain part is very good indeed.

 

[Minoin]

I've had the same experience with Hughes & Kettner as Zimbloth. Got a Trilogy Head a few years ago and man..
The thing with these amps is that you can seriously hear the tubes. Just that sparkling, crispy, dreamy tubesound.
Eventually I sold it for a ENGL and a TriAxis, but it is really a winner.

H&K stays unpopular here in Europe (Holland)! You can easily buy 2 TriAmp's instead of one Dual Rectifier...

 

[liquidcow]

I have always loved H&K. The price tag is what really puts me off (which is weird, since I love Framus ). The warp X I played blew me away when I played one several years back. Sounded like the better parts of a mark IV and a recto, with a smoother tone stack. H&K had some QA issues a while back (like Framus) and I think they lost US representation a while back (like.... framus!). So the price tag, plus the QA issues, divided by direct shipping back to H&K caused "regular" players, and even some endorsed artists, to go with someone else. I think this was about 7-8 years ago.

As for the Triamp, good amp, just not quite where I was wanting to go. It does stand out from the crowd (tonewise), so I can imagine it putting your jaw to the floor.

Price is an interesting thing, as Minion has just said, over here in Europe and the UK, H&K is a fair bit cheaper than Mesa Boogie. It's why I'm surprised more people over here don't use them instead.

 

[zimbloth]

Cool stories guys, good to read. I don't know why I never heard much about these amps before. Brilliant amps!

H&K is kind of hit & miss, IMHO. The TriAmps are nice, but I found them lacking in the low end. The Warp-X has enormous low-end, but lacks some of the definition. The Switchblade sounded like a decent but generic amp to me... nothing special.

All that said, I've never had the chance to try a TriAmp through a G12K-100-filled cab, so maybe that makes the difference.

You definitely played through one that was defective or used a crummy cab, because the one I played had insane amounts of low end, MASSIVE. Juicy, punchy, warm, and huge bottom end. And this was with the bass setting on 11-12 o'clock.

If I end up being accepted as a dealer for H&K sometime, I'll show you

 

[zimbloth]

Welp, after being floored by this amplifier last weekend, I called Hughes & Kettner on Monday and inquired about becoming a dealer. I just had about a 4 hour meeting with them it looks like I'm in! They even gave me one of their awesome new "Coreblade" tube heads to try for free for a while until I get stock in

I'm super thrilled, these amps are amazing and I'm excited to try out the other models they have to offer. I'll be spending a SHITLOAD of time with this Coreblade over the next week, I'll post some pics/clips or something.

In the meantime, check out some of the crazy features this thing has. It's marketed as a metal amp but its super versatile. It has nutty features like a 'Tube Safety Control' which not only protects against tube failures, but also enables you to mix 4 different kinds of power tubes and it will automatically bias it properly for each tube! He mentioned you could take out the tubes as youre playing and it would still keep on ticking, even when down to just 1 tube (though obviously at reduced power/tone).

Also it has a built in noise gate that actually works, built-in fx that run in parallel so it does not degrade your tone, MIDI/USB functionality, all sorts of craziness. Of course #1 is tone, and I'll give it a whirl and see if it's the real deal, but feature-wise I've never seen anything with more to offer. Fucking badass

You can check out the brochure for the Coreblade here.