Your thoughts on the Hughes & Kettner Triamp MkII

[ZEEGLER]

No one really talks about these. I've seen a few YouTube videos, and they sound pretty good from what I can tell.
Anyone played or owned one of these? What's the scoop? Any issues?

 

[tonedog]

I think I used to see Brett Garsed demo that at NAMM and it sounded killer.

 

[DanTravis62]

I love the mark I triamp, think it's kind of underrated

The mark II and III are quite a bit more scooped and modern, which puts it out of my tastes, but people seem to like them

 

[ZEEGLER]

I love the mark I triamp, think it's kind of underrated

The mark II and III are quite a bit more scooped and modern, which puts it out of my tastes, but people seem to like them

Yeah, in the demo I just saw, channel 3 was very modern recto-ish sounding to me.

 

[DanTravis62]

Yeah, in the demo I just saw, channel 3 was very modern recto-ish sounding to me.

yep, its scooped and recto-ish, and has a shit-ton of gain

Thats a good comparison

lots of modern style players like agufish seem to jive with them

 

[VHTStark]

I used a MKII for close to 10 years in a punk/hardcore band.

It really liked it. Ch2A does a good "hot 800" tone that is tight and punchy. 3A was similar to the highest gain channel on the Duotone....so again modded Marshall territory. 3B gave me Recto and Uber vibes. A bit leaner than both, but no fizz and fairly tight.

Feel matters to me and I found the MKII very easy to play.

Would I own one again? For the price a Mk1 or Mk2 sells for, absolutely!! They are alot of amp for the price.

The downsides: Amp has an overall "hi-fi" tonality that some may not like. It's top end and upper mids sit different IMO. So if you own a fleet of great amps, it isn't going to replace them. But maybe it could be a good, well priced "do all" amp for gigs and jams.

And this is for the MKII....I never played a mkIII but a friend owned one and took it back within a week.

 

[ZEEGLER]

I used a MKII for close to 10 years in a punk/hardcore band.

It really liked it. Ch2A does a good "hot 800" tone that is tight and punchy. 3A was similar to the highest gain channel on the Duotone....so again modded Marshall territory. 3B gave me Recto and Uber vibes. A bit leaner than both, but no fizz and fairly tight.

Feel matters to me and I found the MKII very easy to play.

Would I own one again? For the price a Mk1 or Mk2 sells for, absolutely!! They are alot of amp for the price.

The downsides: Amp has an overall "hi-fi" tonality that some may not like. It's top end and upper mids sit different IMO. So if you own a fleet of great amps, it isn't going to replace them. But maybe it could be a good, well priced "do all" amp for gigs and jams.

And this is for the MKII....I never played a mkIII but a friend owned one and took it back within a week.

I agree that feel is paramount.

Any reliability issues?

 

[VHTStark]

I agree that feel is paramount.

Any reliability issues?

Absolutely zero. I sold it to a friend who still has it (sold in 2019). All he has ever done is change the power tubes.

To this day I would take my old mkii over any Rev G dual Rec I ever owned. May be a Sacrilegious Rig-Talk comment, but ah well....

 

[Al Chapo]

I played a mkii for years, easily the longest I've gigged a single amp, I loved it. My biggest use was the 3b channel, it does a great recto sound without the fizz. The cleans are really good if not a bit sterile. Channel 2 was my least favourite, but I liked it at medium gain with p90s. For the used price, you'd be hard pressed to find better bang for your buck. It slays with 7 strings/low tuning and the modern sound imo.

Any reliability issues?

Mine was terrible, but that was due to an airhead putting a huge fuse where it shouldn't be causing a multitude of issues over the years, so it's not fair to pin it on h&k. I will say though, their customer service turned me right off the brand. If you have issues, good luck finding a tech to fix it. At 1k cad or whatever I'd probably grab another.