H&K Triamp Mk III... looks very interesting (to me)...

[Red_Label]

I used to have a Mk I and it was a beast. Wish I still had it in fact.

And last spring I had a Grandmeister and dug that too. I remember thinking, "I wish they'd make this Grandmeister in a 50 or 100 watt version". Well... it appears that my wish has been granted!

 

[gtrwun]

Amp sounds good. I've always been interested in H&K, but never owned one.

 

[Red_Label]

Amp sounds good. I've always been interested in H&K, but never owned one.

I've owned two (as mentioned) and loved both. I sold the Triamp because I had quit my gigging band and thought it was overkill to have such a beast for bedroom use. And I sold the Grandmeister because I was going old school with a pair of single channel, handwired PTP Ceriatone amps at the time. But I swore when I sold it, that I'd eventually end-up with another because I was so impressed with that little amp. The Bogners, VHT, and other boutique tube heads that I've owned had NOTHING on the little Grandmeister in versatility and tone. If it was lacking, it was in low-end grunt (though I didn't really feel like it didn't hit hard enough). This new Triamp will no doubt have more than enough concussive grunt!

 

[tak]

I've owned several H+K products over the years. I played an Access Pre / H+K power amp for several years, and owned a Triamp, and a few other of their various tube heads. I had pretty good luck with almost everything except the Triamp MK I - it had a few different issues. I recently purchased the first H+K product I've owned in a while, a Coreblade. I had owned it for only about a month when it developed a serious issue that does not allow me to save more than one preset. I've tried to contact H+K support numerous times and have yet to receive a response from any of my attempts. Needless to say, it will be the last product I ever purchase from them.

 

[Red_Label]

I've owned several H+K products over the years. I played an Access Pre / H+K power amp for several years, and owned a Triamp, and a few other of their various tube heads. I had pretty good luck with almost everything except the Triamp MK I - it had a few different issues. I recently purchased the first H+K product I've owned in a while, a Coreblade. I had owned it for only about a month when it developed a serious issue that does not allow me to save more than one preset. I've tried to contact H+K support numerous times and have yet to receive a response from any of my attempts. Needless to say, it will be the last product I ever purchase from them.

Well, that sucks. And that is the problem with these new programmable amps. In fact, when I bought my Grandmeister I was VERY wary of a breakdown. I played it a lot and gigged it, but didn't really have it long enough to judge if it was dead-reliable. I would have never gigged it without a backup for sure. But I was talking to my local dealer (who happens to be a long-time friend and lurker here) and he said that they've had no Tubemeisters or Grandmeisters come back yet. In my case, I would likely buy the new Triamp from them (if I elect to buy one) and that always gives me a good endpoint for tech support. Something to be said for SIMPLE amps though... as they have their own very good amp tech and I know that when I have issues I can take stuff for him to fix. But I suspect that the Triamp Mk III is such a complicated, PCB laden beast that he wouldn't be able to get far in troubleshooting one of those by himself.

 

[tak]

Yeah, I'm actually shocked at the lack of any response from H+K. I had good luck with their products for a couple of decades of various products. But the total lack of any response to dozens of support requests really changes things for me.

 

[Red_Label]

That blows man. As an IT guy for the past two decades... I feel your pain. Maybe they'll see this thread, get their crap together, and reach out to you! (Might as well daydream... right?)

 

[tak]

That blows man. As an IT guy for the past two decades... I feel your pain. Maybe they'll see this thread, get their crap together, and reach out to you! (Might as well daydream... right?)

Hah, I'm an IT guy too, and I watch our parent company treat their customers like shit all the time and it drives me crazy!

 

[bish0p34]

I've owned several H+K products over the years. I played an Access Pre / H+K power amp for several years, and owned a Triamp, and a few other of their various tube heads. I had pretty good luck with almost everything except the Triamp MK I - it had a few different issues. I recently purchased the first H+K product I've owned in a while, a Coreblade. I had owned it for only about a month when it developed a serious issue that does not allow me to save more than one preset. I've tried to contact H+K support numerous times and have yet to receive a response from any of my attempts. Needless to say, it will be the last product I ever purchase from them.

Get in touch with them through their FB page. They're always very prompt and courteous. They've even fixed amps out of warranty, and the problems were my fault. They've been great to me over the years.

 

[bish0p34]

I used to have a Mk I and it was a beast. Wish I still had it in fact.

And last spring I had a Grandmeister and dug that too. I remember thinking, "I wish they'd make this Grandmeister in a 50 or 100 watt version". Well... it appears that my wish has been granted!

The Triamp MKIII really isn't the Grandmeister in a bigger form. The Switchblade and the Coreblade are actually what you'd want. It's where they got the idea for the Grandmeister from. They're also a lot cheaper the Triamp, which is $4k.

I'm excited to see the MKIII. I imagine it's going to be fantastic. I have a MKII, and it's the best amp I've ever played. Sadly it just collects dust. I use my Tubemeisters or Switchblade combo for all my shows now. 100 watts is just too loud for small bars.

 

[jsp]

Those high gain tones in the clip sound pretty awful to me

 

[gtr31]

I used to have a Mk I and it was a beast. Wish I still had it in fact.

And last spring I had a Grandmeister and dug that too. I remember thinking, "I wish they'd make this Grandmeister in a 50 or 100 watt version". Well... it appears that my wish has been granted!

Hey Red Label how does the grandmeister do for the modern rock ,is the Ultra channel able to get a good Modern HG, for say Dropped D Shinedown type stuff??

 

[university81]

9 preamp tubes and 6 power amp tubes wowzer

curious to hear the next demo, that's a hell of a lot of features, never a fan of the neon blue lighting, but i've got a h&k statesman el34 head that i still own that sounds great for the money, certainly make some good products

 

[WizardSouth-JP]

I've played a MKII that was pretty ridiculous. The MKIII looks pretty impressive, would love to hear one. Amp prices are costing as much as decent used cars in the late 80's early 90's

 

[SFW]

I really loved the tones I got from my TriAmp MkI. Having said that, I got really good at taking it apart to fix. I replaced so many resisters in that amp, it wasn't even funny. They sound great when they work. It's just keeping them running that's a pain in the ass.

 

[Red_Label]

I used to have a Mk I and it was a beast. Wish I still had it in fact.

And last spring I had a Grandmeister and dug that too. I remember thinking, "I wish they'd make this Grandmeister in a 50 or 100 watt version". Well... it appears that my wish has been granted!

Hey Red Label how does the grandmeister do for the modern rock ,is the Ultra channel able to get a good Modern HG, for say Dropped D Shinedown type stuff??

I thought that the Grandmeister KILLED for modern stuff. The Ultra channel is THE OD channel to live on in that amp IMO. So much thicker and beefier sounding than the other two OD channels. I am not a huge high-gain guy, so I usually just set the preamp gain on the Grand to anywhere from nearly all the way off, to about 12:00 at the highest.

 

[Red_Label]

I really loved the tones I got from my TriAmp MkI. Having said that, I got really good at taking it apart to fix. I replaced so many resisters in that amp, it wasn't even funny. They sound great when they work. It's just keeping them running that's a pain in the ass.

I hauled mine all over my region for gigs every weekend. LOTS of outdoors stuff, in the middle of nowhere with dust everywhere. Never even had a single failure of any kind. Never even replaced a single tube. Had it for a couple of years. It did live in a very nice road case though. The amp weighed 96# in the case! It was STUPID heavy!

 

[bish0p34]

I really loved the tones I got from my TriAmp MkI. Having said that, I got really good at taking it apart to fix. I replaced so many resisters in that amp, it wasn't even funny. They sound great when they work. It's just keeping them running that's a pain in the ass.

I have the MKII and ran it on the original tubes for 5-6 years. It broke down on me once, and it turned out to be my fault. Fantastic sounding amp! Still the best I've heard.

 

[the4thlast1]

Bass FLUB , you guys dont hear it in these clips?

I had a MK II for a while, was a cool very powerful open sounding amp, lots of headroom. Was also a bit flubby on the lows and got a good amount of distortion from the power section which I dont really prefer.

Sheesh I didnt really plan on bashing the amp I guess it came out that way though. I bet it would work great for most styles of music but there are better options for heavy rock or metal IMO.

 

[daveziemba]

Looks good -
When it goes down
You'll need nasa to fix it