NPD! Triaxis

[Dave L]

It´s (almost) a new preamp day for me, I have a Triaxis in the mail that I´ll pick up later. I´ve always been curious about these. I used to have both a Studio pre and a Quad, and I´ve also done some recording with a mark III and borrowed a IV for a few months, so I´ve always liked the Boogie tones but haven´t had one for many years and for some reason never even tried the Triaxis.

I´m hoping it will handle the clean tones recently vacated by my trusty old Rivera I just sold and bring another flavor of gain tones to complement the mostly Marshall-ish tones I get out of my MTS stuff. If it´s similar at all to the old preamps and heads I´m sure it´ll do just fine!

 

[McLeanAB]

I've had two Triaxis Preamps over the last couple of years... eventually sold them both as I found the high gain stuff to be frustrating, but fun as well. However, I recall the cleans being most excellent!

Congrats and keep us posted on how you like it!

 

[Dave L]

Frustrating, as in hard to dial in? Yeah, I suspect it´ll be just as finicky as the other Boogies and we´ll see how that dynamic voicing thing approximates the graphic EQ. It´s such a touchy thing to get it right.

But anyhoo, I got a great deal on it so it would be easy to pass it on if I don´t like it enough. Not like the Hafler Triple Giant I bought out of curiosity a while back and apparently can´t find a taker for

 

[JTyson]

I gigged with one for 2 years, I ran it with a Marshall dual monoblock pwr amp. The switching jacks would switch the voicing A/B settings on the power amp for cleans and gain. Worked well, never had an issue with it. The cleans were really good and the high gain was kinda between the MK's and the DR's, although it was supposidly voiced like the DR's. It was really versatile, but the high gain tones were never really blowing my doors off. In a gigging situation though, it worked well and did what it should. Its a good preamp.

 

[Dave L]

Yeah, if your signature is any indication you definitely seem to prefer the modded Marshall school of high gain I´m sort of in-between, and even if I´d choose a Marshall-ish tone every time if I had to pick one crunch sound I do like the Boogie style too. At least the mark style, never cared much for the Rectos.

 

[JTyson]

Yeah, if your signature is any indication you definitely seem to prefer the modded Marshall school of high gain I´m sort of in-between, and even if I´d choose a Marshall-ish tone every time if I had to pick one crunch sound I do like the Boogie style too. At least the mark style, never cared much for the Rectos.

Agreed..
I'm still lusting after a IIC Petrucci, I went through a Dual Rec thing for a bit, but never really got them where I wanted them. The new IIC may do for me what the MK III's that I had and the DR's could not quite pull off
I do seem to lean towards Marshall screamers
Ive kept all of them I ever had through the years

 

[Dave L]

Yeah, I spend most of my time on two Marshall-type modules (one more vintage 1959 SL style and one 3+ style) loaded up in a Lynchbox, which in itself is a pretty Marshall-ish 100w platform with EL34s, so that´s my bread and butter. But there´s something with those II/III/IV tones I find myself jonesing for from time to time, and I hope and think the Triaxis gets close enough.

 

[NewWorldMan]

The Triaxis is hands down my favorite preamp. Lead 1 Red on a non-Fat V2 with the TX4 (Recto) board is one of my favorite dirty sounds. I never use the Dynamic Voice control, though. I'd opt for an external EQ. The DV is too limited.

 

[Dave L]

This doesn´t have the recto board, though, so it´s the hot british mode instead.

The dynamic voicing is the biggest concern I have with it, prior to actually playing it But I´d imagine that they have it pretty much covered, even if that center slider is super crucial.

 

[rsm]

Congrats & enjoy!

I dig mine (with phat mod) purchased from another member here several years ago. Not using it currently, but since Mesa isn't making any more, I'm keeping it. I dig my E530 preamp, but the TriAxis has a great range of tones, lots of patch storage, MIDI control...

when I used it last, it was paired with a Torpedo CAB as the amp in the insert loop of my G-System. There were too many options with that combination LOL. I had several TriAxis patches that I reused with several CAB patches each; with a clean TriAxis patch, just vary the CAB patch for as many different sounds as you needed. Very powerful combination IMO

 

[NewWorldMan]

This doesn´t have the recto board, though, so it´s the hot british mode instead.

The dynamic voicing is the biggest concern I have with it, prior to actually playing it But I´d imagine that they have it pretty much covered, even if that center slider is super crucial.

I use the rack EQ with it now, but before I got that, I used the Mesa 5 Band EQ pedal with it. That worked pretty well too. Gets you in the ballpark of the actual Mark amp style EQ. If you use the DV, I'd keep it subtle, otherwise it starts to get very scooped and bass heavy in a hurry.

 

[shredhead7]

I have a V1 with the midi and Recto mod. I've had it since 1999 and I still love it. I have many other amps, so it doesn't get a ton of use, but when I go back to it, I always end up loving it. The cleans are extraordinary, I would recommend running a compressor in the loop just for the cleans. That is the way that JP ran it back in the day. I set mine up the same way that he did, meaning the only thing in the loop is the compressor.

Like all Mesa's the eq takes some work, in that the bass is really hot and they get flubby quick. The dynamic voice (the graphic eq) is touchy, but 3 seems to be the magic number. With the gain and drive at 8 on the lead 2 channels, adjust eq so that the bass is never more than 4.5 and always less than the mid and treble and you're good to go. It doesn't have a ton of gain, like a recto. It is thick, but not fills the room thick. It is voiced after the quad and Mark series, which is great. The recto mod and fat mods really are not very good. Too thin, too hot and just searing, but not in a good way. Lead 2 are all flavors of the same color, but for me Lead 2 green is where it's at, though yellow is a good variation.

There are some old websites that still have patches on them, but I found the best to be the JP tour rig pics from a few years back. If you go to his youtube video demoing the rig, you can get a screen capture of his settings. His rhythm tone is the Ld2 red, which works great at stage volume, but is pretty thin and buzzy at bedroom levels. His lead settings LD2 Yellow, work well at any volume. Lastly, the thing that I love most about the Triaxis is the dynamics. It is very responsive to rolling your volume down and will damn near clean up to twin reverb levels, while still having a Mesa roar, when you roll back up. Lastly, pair it with a stereo tube power amp and a nice stereo rack delay for maximum effect.

 

[shredhead7]

This doesn´t have the recto board, though, so it´s the hot british mode instead.

The dynamic voicing is the biggest concern I have with it, prior to actually playing it But I´d imagine that they have it pretty much covered, even if that center slider is super crucial.

I use the rack EQ with it now, but before I got that, I used the Mesa 5 Band EQ pedal with it. That worked pretty well too. Gets you in the ballpark of the actual Mark amp style EQ. If you use the DV, I'd keep it subtle, otherwise it starts to get very scooped and bass heavy in a hurry.

I have thought about going this route, are you using it in the loop, or just running it in series after the Triaxis?

 

[NewWorldMan]

I have thought about going this route, are you using it in the loop, or just running it in series after the Triaxis?

I've done both before, currently using rack EQs in the loop of the Triaxis preamps I have. Makes it easy for me to just activate the loop when I want the EQ on for either of them. I don't gig with mine, so it's kept in a larger rack for home/studio use with a Mesa Strategy 400 and all that jazz.

 

[Tone Monster]

Owned several through the years...nice pres with the right power amp. IMO the non phat mod versions are where its at. Great sound. I owned 2 at once and ran the Lead 1 red in conjunction with the Lead 2 yellow.

 

[NewWorldMan]

Owned several through the years...nice pres with the right power amp. IMO the non phat mod versions are where its at. Great sound. I owned 2 at once and ran the Lead 1 red in conjunction with the Lead 2 yellow.

Agreed on all counts, though I'd venture to say we're both Hetfield fans based on the gear choice and how they were/are used... If I only use 1, then I tend to gravitate towards Lead 1 Red.

 

[LanierP]

Love mine and the cleans are stellar. Great with my 2:90, even better with the heavy as shit 395! Mine does have an issue with the volume jumping up quite a bit when switching from lead 2 red to the green clean. Last for maybe half a second. Not sure why and no one else seems to have had this issue. Other than that, it is a great unit I'm sure you'll enjoy!

 

[tazzboy]

Yeah I just got a phone call today from the music store that order a new Triaxis from and Mesa Boogie is just now finishing up building it and is going to ship next week.

got my fingers crossed.

 

[Tone Monster]

Owned several through the years...nice pres with the right power amp. IMO the non phat mod versions are where its at. Great sound. I owned 2 at once and ran the Lead 1 red in conjunction with the Lead 2 yellow.

Agreed on all counts, though I'd venture to say we're both Hetfield fans based on the gear choice and how they were/are used... If I only use 1, then I tend to gravitate towards Lead 1 Red.

 

[Tone Monster]

Yeah I just got a phone call today from the music store that order a new Triaxis from and Mesa Boogie is just now finishing up building it and is going to ship next week.

got my fingers crossed.

They still make them?