Mesa Triple Crown Opinions

Had the combo for many years, only complaint was the V-30 it came with made the amp too bright and brittle so I replaced it with a creamback and it was a major upgrade, the versatility of the 3 channels was great for gigging, a boost function would have been nice as I don't use pedals but I made it work. Never played a badlander to compare but it's a great combination of Marshall and mark tightness to me. Great amp,
 
Wasn't this amp an evolution of the Electra Dyne? I tried a TC once and liked it but not long enough to really know it. I know I loved the Electro Dyne.
 
Had to look it up. Says it was based on the Zinky-era Fender Tone Master amp from the 90s and tweaked to get modded Marshally with a Trooch clean
 
Mike Oxhuge said:
Wasn't this amp an evolution of the Electra Dyne? I tried a TC once and liked it but not long enough to really know it. I know I loved the Electro Dyne.
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I think it is the evolution of the Royal Atlantic. Which I owned, and sold as it didn't wow me.

The Electradyne is a much better sounding amp imho.

I would buy a Badlander over a TC any day, all day.
 
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angelspade said:
I owned the head for about a month...I found it bland and generally unremarkable in just about every aspect...vanilla.
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I agree with this. I had a TC100 around launch for a few years. Almost like a Mark/Recto blend tonally with some Marshall in there. However, it sounded bland with any Mesa Cab or IR I tried. It came across that way in any demos I listened to as well. I did like it better with an Orange 4x12 w/V30s I had at the time. Also preferred the stock el34s over 6L6s. It wasn't as tight or moved as much air as my Mark IV & V, even with the Tight mode engaged. It's cool for what is though, and if it gets a feature refresh I might revisit it in the future.

Also had a Badlander 100. That amp felt tighter to me than the TC, but it didn't saturate like a Mark, so things felt off. Also liked it best with stock el34s over 6L6s. I think I read about some guys trying different pot values for various things, but I didn't go that far on mine. The RI Rectos and general Rev G availability don't have me wanting another.

Bottom line is If you want a Mark, get a Mark. Don't settle for something else.
 
It's not a bad amp at all. Definitely a Marshall-ish tone with a hint of what I'm told is Hiwatt. While it has a ton of gain, it's only useable up to a certain point. I didn't hate it, but didn't really fall in love with it either, so I sold it. Doesn't really sound like authentic Marshall to my ears, but that's not to say it's bad. It has a tight switch which I really appreciated. I had one in a very unusual gray tolex.

Doesn't sound at all like the Mark series to my ears.
 
The TC100 tight mode is basically a tube screamer circuit on the front end input that you can toggle in and out. The red and blue channels are plate fed tone stack, 3 and 4 gain stages and very mid focused, that to me is complex and 3d sounding, however it is a little smaller sounding and lacks a little bit of low end punch over a lot of amps because there isn't any feedback controls in the power amp, the presence is a treble cut in the tone stack. Both channels clean up really well because of the dual gained, gain pot. The circuit kind of reminds me more of a cameron aldrich. The clean channel is very close to a fender twin and sounds great. I think it's a very cool sounding amp. I want to mod one with, feedback, presence and depth. Amp has around 400ish volts on the plates, and has a reactive load built in that sounds really good. The Electra Dyne is more closer to a modded Marshall 800 and a fender clean.
 
BABMusic said:
It's not a bad amp at all. Definitely a Marshall-ish tone with a hint of what I'm told is Hiwatt. While it has a ton of gain, it's only useable up to a certain point. I didn't hate it, but didn't really fall in love with it either, so I sold it. Doesn't really sound like authentic Marshall to my ears, but that's not to say it's bad. It has a tight switch which I really appreciated. I had one in a very unusual gray tolex.

Doesn't sound at all like the Mark series to my ears.
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Similar to my thoughts...Not bad...Not good...Just a very "average" tone. It's probably one of Mesa's worst sellers for a reason.
 
marvcus said:
Had to look it up. Says it was based on the Zinky-era Fender Tone Master amp from the 90s and tweaked to get modded Marshally with a Trooch clean
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Interesting, if that's true that makes a ton of sense because I love both amps and think they are criminally underrated
 
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