Carol-Ann Triptik - The Straight Goods, Please

['63-Strat]

Honestly it sounds like it'd be right up your alley. I always take opinions from people who's playing I don't know online with a huge grain of salt. Despite lots of debate to the contrary online, the reality is if really dislike someone's playing and tone in real life, I certainly don't care what their opinion is of a piece of gear I'm interested in. I wouldn't ask someone's opinion on which car drives best that routinely slams into their own garage etc either you know what I mean? So it's the same online. Many (but certainly not all) owners of guitar gear can't play for shit but are still passionate about their hobby and post as if they're an expert, it is what it is.

There are many sound guys, engineers,producers, techs, etc.. that suck or do not even play but have a great ear for tone. Allot of these guys are responsible for the tone of players you may consider to have great tone. The player is not even responsible for his tone in some cases.I take opinions from people I know have a good referrence for comparison. Just because they cannot play well does not mean they do not know a great amp when they plug into it. Nothing personal here either. Sorry I missed your last concert at Madison Square Gardens. I really tried to get tickets but they sold out in like two minutes.

Sounds like you took something really personally

I was talking specifically about the OP's post of why you get such varying opinions on gear and that's clear from my post. Of course you only quoted part of my post, which puts things in a completely different context than the butt-hurt you're showing. Carry on

 

[rlord1974]

Oh dear........is this where we're headed.........again?!

 

[Shiny_Surface]

Sounds like you took something really personally

Very obvious.

 

[ptgold]

OP...I have no real life experience with the Triptik, my only "experience" with it comes through the AXEII. However, I can tell you that for sure its one of my top 3 favorite amps on there.

Its definitely in the modded marshall district. Like if they took a JCM800 and modified it for lower mids and more bottom. Its alot like a Jubillee I think.

You can definitely get the both great crunch and lead sounds out of it. You can also make it as dark or as bright as you want it too since the Mid knob works really well. Its definitely a super smooth amp though, like others said...there isnt any of that usual Marshall sizzle. I like that however.

IMO if you like modded marshalls, you'll love this amp. The only reason I could find someone might not like this is very subjective, like if you prefer a different voicing or something. For example even if someone didnt like an SLO due to different tastes, they cant deny that its a great amp.

 

[halfnote]

Did you get one?
I've been gigging and tracking a Trip R for a while now. Here's my .02

Cons
It's not a bedroom amp. The gain channels need to move some air to sound the way they should.
"Not sure this is actually a con as much a characteristic of cathode biased high gainers"

That's really it for me. I just use pedals into the clean channel for living room wanking, which it takes very well.

Pro's
Great clean channel that takes pedals with the best of them.
Mine has a Footswitchable effects loop which is huge for me
It has a very thick tone yet cuts through the mix like a knife. The other guitarist in one of my bands plays a 100 watt half stack. I play the 35 watt CA through 2 greenbacks and I barely get the volume up halfway before he can not be heard at all.
Size and portability are a huge plus
Alan is a pleasure to deal with
The noise floor is very low as many have mentioned.

I could go on and on. If I seem to be gushing it is deserved. Having owned just about every high gain flavor of the month and industry standard I can say without hesitation that for my ear the trip r is the best at what it does. It suits many styles. I play in a hard rock original band, a funk rock original band, and a cover band. I can and get by all night going strait into the amp if I want.
My other amps are a Mesa mark iv wide body combo and a Matchless Clubman 35.
The clubman is in the same arena as the CA but definitely has it's own thing going on, that three dimensional timbre that matchless amps seem to have cornered the market on.

Really looking forward to playing somewhere that I can run these two in stereo!

 

[rlord1974]

Thanks for the comments, as well as the thread resurrection!

I'm actually leaning more towards an OD3 at this point, as I currently don't have a 6L6-driven amp and am quite anxious to get one. Plus, I have heard there is a lot of common ground between the Triptik and OD3. Hopefully that is not a fallacy.......

 

[jharpersj]

I would also think about a Tucana 3, I have a triptik and the tuc 3 and they are killer.

 

[rlord1974]

Tuc 3 is KT88's, right? If so, I'd steer clear for no other reason than I already have a 20th Shiva running those output tubes. I'm really aiming at the OD3 because of the 6L6s......

 

[jharpersj]

It is KT88's but having owned a shiva anniv they don't sound similar tho ! Alan does not make a bad amp, what kinda tones are you going for ? that might help. If I laid them out tone wise I would say all have killer fat warm cleans, great efx loop and all that, but tonally I would say From the most "classic" sounding to the most "modern" sounding they go OD3->Tucana 3 - > triptik. As you move from the OD3 to the triptik basically you are increasing gain and have a tighter bass, but then also a tad less wide sound. Currently I mostly gig my Tucana 3 (covers and originals) but if I had to just keep one I would keep the triptik. I hope to do some vids for Alan in the near future ! Feel free to PM me and we can chat on the phone. Alan and I have been good friends for a long time and I have probably tried/gigged every amp he has made.

 

[robertkoa]

Hey , if someone asks about an Amp I think its really cool when people talk about the Amp and compare it to
other Amps.

When people start questioning the motives behind the question or the sub motivations behind what verbs he used or ........I get kinda bored.

Now my motivations and secondary and tertiary intentions are I want to hear mostly about Amps on an Amp thread ...

I'm not the OP .

 

[moronmountain]

I knew Inca (Rick) was going to lay it down with an informative post.

And Rick, true too that you're coming from some pretty high-flutin' amps, no? CAA, Cameron, etc?

No Doubt MO!
I've owned them all, Bogner, Soldano, Cameron
Friedman, CAA, VHT, Engl, Diezel, Wizard, Landry
just to name a few and I Loved everyone for different
reasons!!! But as Far as Noise for High Gainers
at Stage Volumes, the Diezel and Carol-Ann have
been the Quietest....Hands Down!!
That say's allot in the World of High Gain.
Wish I could've kept them all, I still want a
Bogner 20th XTC and I LOVED my Custom Audio's
but I like trying different amps...It's sort of my thing.
The D-Moll and Triptik 100 are a Killer Combination,
Trust Me on that Brutha!!

Quieter than VHT/Fryette? That's saying something, because my UL doesn't make ANY noise, even at fairly high volume on the lead channel unless I push the edge switch in, and I don't ............ At any rate, the Carol Ann sound really cool in the clip, and the characteristics you described are what I like in an amp..... However, I don't do the "Marshall" mid range thing anymore. I mean I think it would be killer for jamming or doing covers, but it wouldn't get what I like for the original stuff.

 

[sjk]

Posted this earlier in the Carol Ann forum.

Picked up a used 2012 built Triptik 50 over at TGP for an insane price for what this amp is. Killer clean and both vintage and modern gain modes are great. I'm stuck on the vintage side and to me the vintage gain mode is like a killer Marshall. Blown away by it quite frankly! Quite surprised by the level of gain even on vintage mode, I'm not even close to maxing it out. For comparison sake on the vintage side think Friedman BE levels of gain and then some.

After getting this amp and the Friedman a yr ago I've come to realize that despite the fact they are not Marshalls and all the amp flipping and hording I've gone thru the last couple yrs the Marshall sound is where it's at for me. Now it is time for a mass sell off of VHT, Mesa, Bogner, and Soldano amps!

I'll eventually post a cruddy youtube vid of the amp myself but in the meantime this clip is pretty good but in the room sound is even better