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Originally Posted by Out of Phase  Hello all, I'm going to look at a used Hughes & Kettner 100 watt Tri amp this weekend. I've never played on one and I've
heard mixed reviews. Just wanted to go into it with a little research under my belt. Anybody got anything to say about them, good or bad? What are their strengths and weakness'? How much would you pay for a used one? He said its about 6 years old. Thanks! |
I can help you out firsthand with this. I owned an EL-34 Triamp (Mk 1 - no backlit blue logo) for a year and a half and a Duotone for a few months. If you're looking at buying this head, see if the seller has the EL-34 or 6l6 version of the head (the Mk 1s actually had two different versions, I believe the Mk II is just the EL-34s).
If you don't mind a) the maintenance (there are 13 tubes IIRC in that head), b) the weight (because of all those tubes and the big transformers, you're dealing with a heavier amp than many and since there is so much going on, the amp head has bigger dimensions than your usual amp heads) and the c) volume (it's a 100w tubes and there's no mistaking that when you plug in) - you'll love it.
It's a cover bands dream amp, honestly. 1A is a sparkly, beautiful clean channel - in fact, it's one of the best cleans I've ever heard out of an EL-34 based amp, it will surprise a lot of people. 1B has a warmer and darker voicing, at higher volumes it would very lightly overdrive - I liken it to a non-TB Vox. 2A was one of my favorites - I used to call it the Joe Walsh overdrive channel. It got that really clear, but crunchy and open sounding plexi-ish overdrive. 2B was one of my least favorite channels and it was a pain to dial in, so I just skipped it. 3A had a pretty good higher gain sound, but 3B really takes it - it's a great high gain channel for both rhythm and lead. I would liken it to any other high gain channel out there, it definitely has its own thing going on: it's really not like any VHT, Boogie or modded Marshall I've heard.
I sold my Triamp because it was too much amp for me. I'm the kind of guy that needs to use every single option on an amp to really feel I'm getting use out of it and with the Triamp I found myself on 1A, 2A and 3B more than anything else. With those channels alone it's a phenomenal amp. It's an extremely versatile amp, so if there are a lot of tones you want to cover and you want to do it with a loud and authoritative tube tone, you're not going to get much better IMHO. The Duotone's simplicity drew me towards it (it's pretty much a stripped down amp with the 1A and 3B channels), but when I got a deal I couldn't pass up (a trade for a Bogner Shiva) - I ended up trading it off.
If you want some idea as to what the amp sounds like, check out Fuel's "Sunburn" record. If you don't know the band, here are a few links that will give you an idea of their tone:
"Sunburn"
YouTube - Fuel - Sunburn
"Shimmer"
YouTube - Fuel-Shimmer
For a Mk1 Triamp, I spent $1050 for it used and they don't seem to have gone up in value over the years, so I'd look to pay around 1k for it. I've seen some folks try to get $1500 for it and for a Mk 1 Triamp they're never going to find a buyer at that price - they're simply not popular enough. Since they're not that popular, the Triamp is one of the best deals on the used market. It's a professional, top quality tube amp that should last a long time. A few well known bands have picked up on it (Fuel was simply the first that I'm aware of): Three Days Grace, 3 Doors Down (although they use the newer Mk IIs - some minor differences), and Saosin have also used them.