New toy

[keithb]

Picked this up a few days ago (had to round out that order of strings to get free shipping )

For those who aren't familiar with Tech21, they do "amp modelling" but not the same way that Line6, Behringer, etc do modelling. Rather than using DSP to try to emulate an amp, they use analog circuitry to emulate the amp. The Tri-AC has 3 amp "models" - Fender, Marshall, and Boogie

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

Quick review (I'll do a more in depth one later...)

Build quality feels good - all metal, nice weight to it, I'm not afraid to step on it
Controls are simple: gain, amp style, EQ and level
Sounds good, with obvious potential. I find it's easier to get a "real" sound out of this thing than my PODxt. That said, there's something weird about the highs that I'm wrestling with a bit. The EQ is active and very sensitive, so it may be that I just need to play with it more.

It's way smaller than I thought it would be, which is a plus - I've attached a pic next to a pedal that should be pretty familiar to everyone so you can get an idea of the size

Sorry 'bout the pics - looks like the gf has my camera today....

 

[Shannon]

Very nice! I have the Trademark 300 head.

 

[Ancestor]

Hmm, don't know about the tri-ac, but I used to have the tri-od and that pedal kicked ass. I ran it right into the power section. Wonderful.

 

[Briggs]

looks like you have a old version or someone put different knobs on it.

nice pedal

 

[rummy]

I had the old GT2. I couldn't get it to sound good plugged it in front of my amp. I had the same "weird" issue where it sounded too brittle or too compressed. I guess it was targeted more for recording than live. Hope the Tri AC can do live better than GT2.

 

[Leon]

neat!

[aside]

how does the SD-1 sound with your Nomad?

[/aside]

 

[keithb]

neat!

[aside]

how does the SD-1 sound with your Nomad?

[/aside]

I've always liked the sound of Channel 2 in vintage mode with an OD out front. The SD-1 works well, although I haven't had a chance to A/B it with a TS, which would be the other standard choice.

 

[Leon]

I've always liked the sound of Channel 2 in vintage mode with an OD out front. The SD-1 works well, although I haven't had a chance to A/B it with a TS, which would be the other standard choice.

cool. so, are you going to run this Tri-AC through channel 2 or through channel 1? i used to run my fx/modeller pedal (ART XtremePlus) through the second channel, using a light distortion type to get a nice beefy sound. this was before i got my JJ's, however, which turned my channel 3 from luke warm to firey and tight.

 

[keithb]

I run the Tri-AC through a Mosvalve 1160 power amp into an Avatar 2x12.

The setup for the band I use that rig with is usually:
Guitar -> wah -> SD-1 -> Tri-AC -> EQ -> Chorus -> Power amp