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Since I have had such a problem with the Fender Blues Deluxe Reissue, in such the few Hrs I have played it. I am afraid I just can't bond with it, so I am thinking real hard about trading it off. I am looking at a Tech 21 T60, and I am wondering is anyone here as played one. I f so I would like to read your comments on it, are what you think of the trade. I hear the reverb on the Tech is not that great. I have tried to listen to demo's on the net,but have not found a decent one. Most everyone want to run it with a lot of gain to make as dirty as they can. I want to hear it as clean as it can be, I don,t mind a little growl.
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02-04-2012 10:22 PM
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I bought one used a few years ago. It has some intermittent problems.
The variety of sounds you can get from the thing is impressive. It will play very clean if that's what you want. It's light weight and small. There are charts that show the settings to get a Benson sound, Hendrix, BB, and they're close. It's not very loud for a sixty watt amp. It's a good amp as a spare as it does so much but it's not the best at anything. I don't know what the Blues Deluxe is like but I do have a Blues Deville and it sounds much better for a Wes sound or blues.
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>>> has some intermittent problems
What intermittent problems?
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My Fender amp in the 10hrs I have played it , bought it new has been a pain. already blown to out put tubes. And never had turn up over 1 at that most used twice to record with. Butting heads with Fender and with the extra warranty purchase from Guitar Center still cost me $110.00. I am on fix income at my age can't afford to mess with it. What intermittent problems you talking about. And Thank You for responding.
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How do you know that you burned out the output tubes?
A bad tube(s) could be the tubes not necessarily the amp. I have owned several Fender amps including a Hot Rod Deluxe / DeVille (similar to the Blues Deluxe) and never had any problems with those Fender amps or any others I've owned.
Fender amps come standard with a five year warranty so I think they're pretty confident about the reliability of their amps.Last edited by Double 07; 02-04-2012 at 11:47 PM.
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It's lost power and made horrible noises doing so. I try to fix it but can't get it to repeat on the bench. It is an older one so I can't complain. They are usually thought reliable. Sorry about your Fender. Hope they get it fixed.
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>>> It's lost power and made horrible noises doing so.
>>> can't get it to repeat on the bench
There is a classic known problem that produces this effect. It is possible that your problem comes form some other source, but if you do not mind to indulge me:
One of the jacks in the effects loop is a switching jack. With no cables in the effects loop it switches to bypass the loop and pass the signal through.
The contact is marginal in this jack and even the slightest bit of dust, corrosion, or alien micro expedition spaceship exhaust residue can cause the bypass to fail intermittently. It will drop power and sometimes make some faint distorted sounds. A whack on the amp will stop it for between 2 minutes and two months.
If this is your problem you can open the amp and clean up the jack (and bend the contact so it is a bit more aggressive).
OR
Put in a new switching jack.
OR
Put a patch cord from the input to the output of the effects loop.
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In my opinion, the TM 60 is a very good sounding and very dependable amp.
Chris
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The last two Fenders I have had done about the same thing, My deville finally got so it would not only blow tubes it lost a speaker. I traded it on this new Blues Deluxe Reissue. I am lucky I guess, my favorite amp was a Marshall Bluesbreaker 212 I own. but for reasons of my daughter hospital stay a few years ago I sold it . I can't afford one now. Its suppose to be fixed but thats what they said about the Deville. And Fender would not take it they made send to a place in San Antonio. I play a mostly bass I use to play more guitar, but it seems there is more need for bass players around here.
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Anyway I don't want to talk about the Fender, I would like to find out all I can about Tech 21 60 if I could. Fender does make some fine amps, and I have played some. My favorite if I could afford it would be the Twin with the 15 in it. I hope I haven't upset anyone. I just thought the T60 would work until my income got better.
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Fender amps have always been very reliable for me and most guys I've known who've used them. The Fender Forum is a great place to get answers about Fender products. Alot of really knowledgeable guys about Fender products hang out there and will share their knowledge with you if you just ask. If you have decent skills with circuits they can even tell you how to repair it. Right here: FDP - Forum
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The Fender Forum won't take my email address for some reason, it rejects it. I don't know why. But I am not a computer whiz either.
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Oh okay. Well it's a great resource with lots of Fender enthusiasts, extremely knowledgeable people over there sharing their knowledge. Guys and gals who will get you up and running on tube amps. Even how to repair or mod if you're good with a soldering iron, great resource.
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The tech 21 is nice, you can take a decent sound out of it and it's light. But it's not very loud and the eq controls are a complete chaos - if you change one button evreything sounds too different... and the bass control acts as a volume controls also - if you want less bass it will also give you less volume.
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I am not going to buy are trade for nothing, I don't check out first. So do you think the Tech 21 would be a bad trade.
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I don't know - just my experience with the amp... A friend of mine gigs a lot with it and he is thinking about getting an EQ pedal to avoid the issues I mentioned.
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This was mine some years ago. Too bad I sold it!
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Looks Cool
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Gary,
i know it's been a while since anyone posted here, but i'm new to the forum and if you're still interested about this guy, i own a Trademark 60 and depending on the occasion, it's my preferred amp. It's light, well built, warm and punchy!
i don't play "jazz" but i do love jazz tone. i own four different archtops and they all sound beautiful through this amp. i think the trademark 60 when dialed in goes head to head with all the boutique stuff. Yes - it has a learning curve but that's because it's so versatile. the knobs are very sensitive and you have to know that when you're tweaking your sound.
also, i only use the clean channel...i don't even mess with the overdrive/distortion. that's what pedals are for. i don't know how loud people expect a 60 watt amp to be but i've played to 200-300 person audiences without putting the amp through the PA and not had problems with it. however, when sound guys are available i prefer mics! it's got the direct sansamp XLR out which Tech 21 is famous for, but i prefer the old fashioned mic on the speaker. i just bought another eastman last week, a T146SMD and it sounds great through my Trademark 60.
i also own a vox ac15c1 (modded) and a ZT Lunchbox. i use the lunchbox for most rehearsals and home practice.
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I see this is an old post, but I wanted to offer some thoughts on the amp you asked about, rather than other amps.
I played a TECH 21 Trademark 60 for about 8 years on jazz gigs ranging from solo/duo to big band, as well as rock, blues and GB gigs. Before that I mainly used a 66 Pro Reverb, but I wanted something with 1x12 as a back up & steady for smaller jazz gigs - bars, restaurants & cocktail/wedding gigs. I ended using it most of the time because lugging around 2x12 became a pain in the neck. Usually I played a 1957 ES-175 straight into amp with an alesis nanoverb in the effects loop for delay. Also used SRV strat w/ TS-9 and vox wah pedal in effects loop.
The 1st channel got great Fender tones- you could get nice tweed to blackface sound. The reverb was great too. I a/b'ed it with the pro reverb to set a very close tone on the tech21 with the ES-175. The first channel was awesome for what I wanted to get out of an amp.
The 2nd channel focused on vox, marshall & mesa tones - which I wasn't really looking for. It nailed the Brian May Queen tone, but I didn't get many requests for "we will rock you" on a jazz gigs...
My biggest complaint on this amp is that there is no way to switch channels from a blackface fender clean tone to an overdriven tweed sound. Since Channel1=fender & Channel2=marshall etc, the only way to do that was by manually dialing up the new setting for the alternate tone. On the bandstand that just doesn't work. This is why I used the TS-9 for dirt. Big mistake for them in my opinion, but that is based on my own preference in tones & flexibility on the gig. This was not a deal breaker for me, I did gig with it for quite a while.
TECH21 is very reliable, never had any problem with it - built solid. With big bands I used the direct out, sounded great. Ok, this next bit is unbelievable but true: I let a friend borrow the TECH21 while I was out of town. While he was playing it, his house was actually struck by lightning and he returned the amp which was no longer functioning. I put a call into TECH21, replaced the fuse and it came back to life without a problem as though nothing happened. I continued to gig with it for 3 years or so until purchasing a Princeton Reverb Reissue. Sold the amp for about what I paid for it.
Back in about 1999-2003, alot of players were using these amps in boston/ny area. I heard a Sheryl Bailey gig where she had one and ended up trying them out. You can get great jazz tones out of this amp. Definitely worth checking out, it may be a good amp for you. Good luck.
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nice insight. i agree about channel two. i've never messed with it. i get my overdrive from a Spaceman Aphelion and Dr. Scientist Elements which i run through the front of the amp. i don't use the effects loop. it's interesting that you would end up going back with fender, i find my trademark to have "superior" tone to the fenders i've tried. it certainly is more accommodating to the varied tones of individual guitars. another interesting note, is playing classical through this thing. at one point i owned two different SWR amps, the Strawberry and California Blonde, for my classical and i honestly like the sound of classical through the Tech 21 better! as far as gigging goes i just dont' think you can beat the pricepoint and portability of the Trademark 60. granted it's nice to have various amps...just like guitars.
over and out.
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Have a look here too:
Tech 21 Trademark 60 -- any (previous) users here?
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After trying the PRRI, I found it a better fit for what I am hearing now and the tone I'm after. I like the clean tube sound & being able to push it to get a bit of break up... kind of like when a horn player overblows/blasts out a phrase. Right now it's set up with rebiased JJs and the stock 10inch speaker. I may try a new baffle w/ 12inch after a while, but so far its the one.
Originally Posted by J. Murrieta
I didn't mention it but I was also a previous owner of an old polytone minibrute w/ a 15inch speaker. As a kid I figured Joe Pass has (had) one so anything polytone must be great. That didn't work out for me. It was either all low end or bright, I never found the sweet spot in that one.
I do agree with you that TECH21 is the best for the price point & portability. That's cool to hear that Classical guitar sounds good thru it too.
Good luck.
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that's funny because i actually owned very briefly a polytone mini brute 3 last year. i think it was an 80s model. i actually ended up trading it for my ZT Lunchbox...which i love.
i bought the Polytone on my birthday thinking i had finally arrived. the honeymoon lasted for about a week and then i was back on my Trademark, and AC15C1. i had the same problem you did. too bright, even with a 15" speaker. it also did NOT take pedals well. although, i'm really glad to have played/owned one briefly.Last edited by J. Murrieta; 10-25-2012 at 03:46 PM.
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Funny, Rosenwinkel recorded most of his career with a 15 Polytone and a load of pedals.. why did you thought yours did not take pedals well? Originally Posted by J. Murrieta
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