Members shredhead666 Posted August 5, 2006 Members Share Posted August 5, 2006 I'll post my impressions for anyone interested here tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Dave_Mc_2 Posted August 5, 2006 Members Share Posted August 5, 2006 cool. I've tried most (or more accurately, about half of the current tube models) of the H&K's, but haven't tried that one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members collisster Posted August 5, 2006 Members Share Posted August 5, 2006 what is the matrix like? I know it isn't tube Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members shredhead666 Posted August 6, 2006 Author Members Share Posted August 6, 2006 Unfortunately my Voodoo Witchdoctor is in the shop (shot filter caps) and I had a gig this weekend. So a good buddy of mine let me borrow his H&K Trilogy to get me through the night. This is a very cool looking amp imo, with that plexiglass faceplate logo that lights up from blue LEDs. It's engineered REMARKABLY well I think. The little things that normally bug you about an amp (channel popping when switching, standby switch pops, etc...) simply aren't present with this head. H&K is great about making sure the small details are taken care of apparently. The features on this head are just awesome - it's got a great effects loop that's 100% transparent, the lead channel is OUTSTANDING for use as a solo boost, and it's got this really sweet sounding upper-mid bite on the crunch channel when you engaged the boost button. The crunch channel is just awesome. With the boost button off, it gets a very convincing AC/DC kinda classic rock sound - very low gain, around JCM800 territory. When you hit the boost button, you get into more modern rock sounds - very much like new Aerosmith or Buck Cherry. It's really a great channel that you can shape to cover a LOT of territory. Incidentally *YES* it does clean up incredibly well when you roll back your guitar's volume knob. It's very sensitive to dynamic picking as well. I love this channel. Then there's the lead channel. It's decidedly darker and less British sounding than the crunch channel. It's pretty much your woofy, farty Mesa kind of tone. Not very good for rhythm work IMO, but works DAMN good for leads. It sounds massive for single-note playing but it's too much mush for rhythm playing imo. The lead channel has a 2nd gain knob to throw you into 5150 "Robo gain". This I've found is basically only useful for making lots of noise and feedback, lol. The clean channel I think is great when you have the sparkle button engaged, but sounds really crappy without it - like the clean on a Mesa Rectifier. The clean is definitely a head's and shoulders above every other "rock amp" clean sound I've heard, but certainly nothing spectacular like the clean of a Fender twin. As a side note - I didn't use it with the H&K cab they mate it with because I'm not a fan of how it sounds through that cab. I used the Trilogy through my bassier Mesa cab, as it seems overly bright and dry like a VHT when you run it through smaller cabs. Overall I got MANY compliments on the sound, and many people said it looked metal as hell and completely menacing with that crazy black styling w/ blue light up logo... lol. Overall I really like this head, but there's certain qualities about the overall sound that I like about my Witchdoctor that aren't present in this head. It can get a smidge fizzy - which my witchdoctor doesn't, and while I really dig the voicing of the mids on the crunch channel it sounds decidedly thinner than the witchdoctor also. These are probably things I could deal with if I had more time to tweak it I think. The controls are very sensitive and allow for a good deal of flexibility. Overall for a fully MIDI-capable 3-channel head with TONS of tweaking and boosting options, it's remarkably easy to get a good sound very quickly and easily without having to twiddle knobs much at all. I very much like this head. Now I want to hear what the Triamp sounds like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members michal888 Posted August 6, 2006 Members Share Posted August 6, 2006 Originally posted by shredhead666 Unfortunately my Voodoo Witchdoctor is in the shop (shot filter caps) and I had a gig this weekend. So a good buddy of mine let me borrow his H&K Trilogy to get me through the night. This is a very cool looking amp imo, with that plexiglass faceplate logo that lights up from blue LEDs. It's engineered REMARKABLY well I think. The little things that normally bug you about an amp (channel popping when switching, standby switch pops, etc...) simply aren't present with this head. H&K is great about making sure the small details are taken care of apparently. The features on this head are just awesome - it's got a great effects loop that's 100% transparent, the lead channel is OUTSTANDING for use as a solo boost, and it's got this really sweet sounding upper-mid bite on the crunch channel when you engaged the boost button. The crunch channel is just awesome. With the boost button off, it gets a very convincing AC/DC kinda classic rock sound - very low gain, around JCM800 territory. When you hit the boost button, you get into more modern rock sounds - very much like new Aerosmith or Buck Cherry. It's really a great channel that you can shape to cover a LOT of territory. Incidentally *YES* it does clean up incredibly well when you roll back your guitar's volume knob. It's very sensitive to dynamic picking as well. I love this channel. Then there's the lead channel. It's decidedly darker and less British sounding than the crunch channel. It's pretty much your woofy, farty Mesa kind of tone. Not very good for rhythm work IMO, but works DAMN good for leads. It sounds massive for single-note playing but it's too much mush for rhythm playing imo. The lead channel has a 2nd gain knob to throw you into 5150 "Robo gain". This I've found is basically only useful for making lots of noise and feedback, lol. The clean channel I think is great when you have the sparkle button engaged, but sounds really crappy without it - like the clean on a Mesa Rectifier. The clean is definitely a head's and shoulders above every other "rock amp" clean sound I've heard, but certainly nothing spectacular like the clean of a Fender twin. As a side note - I didn't use it with the H&K cab they mate it with because I'm not a fan of how it sounds through that cab. I used the Trilogy through my bassier Mesa cab, as it seems overly bright and dry like a VHT when you run it through smaller cabs. Overall I got MANY compliments on the sound, and many people said it looked metal as hell and completely menacing with that crazy black styling w/ blue light up logo... lol. Overall I really like this head, but there's certain qualities about the overall sound that I like about my Witchdoctor that aren't present in this head. It can get a smidge fizzy - which my witchdoctor doesn't, and while I really dig the voicing of the mids on the crunch channel it sounds decidedly thinner than the witchdoctor also. These are probably things I could deal with if I had more time to tweak it I think. The controls are very sensitive and allow for a good deal of flexibility. Overall for a fully MIDI-capable 3-channel head with TONS of tweaking and boosting options, it's remarkably easy to get a good sound very quickly and easily without having to twiddle knobs much at all. I very much like this head. Now I want to hear what the Triamp sounds like. cool review. thanks:thu: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members dangles_ct Posted August 6, 2006 Members Share Posted August 6, 2006 Paul, Glad you enjoyed the amp man. People always nut up over it when I play it out too, because it looks so sweet on stage! I need to try it out with your Mesa cab sometime, because my H&K cab is SUPER tight and bright. How did the gig go? Cheers, Mike:evil: P.S. Told you it was bad filter caps! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members shredhead666 Posted August 7, 2006 Author Members Share Posted August 7, 2006 Originally posted by dangles_ct Paul, Glad you enjoyed the amp man. People always nut up over it when I play it out too, because it looks so sweet on stage! I need to try it out with your Mesa cab sometime, because my H&K cab is SUPER tight and bright. How did the gig go? Cheers, Mike:evil: P.S. Told you it was bad filter caps! Gig was okay... apparently it happened to be move-in, move-out day for the apartments there so many people were out of town. Thanks again for letting me use that amp, I enjoyed it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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