true opinion on the triaxis

[masque]

I have owned a triaxis and a 20/20 for over 6 years now...and have used them mostly in the live application. however, recently I have been working to make this rig my primary studio rig.....with mixed results...i am curious to know what you guys on this board think about the triaxis and 20/20? what modes do you use most often etc...if some of you have dialed in great tones especially "classic rock" tones I would love to hear about some of the stuff you did to achieve it. Thanks in advance!

 

[sombra]

I hate classic rock and vintage sounds.
I love dream theater so I like my guitar extremely heavy or pristine clean.
I use my triaxis with 2.90.
The best rig in the world.
To my needs of course.
With this rig I can make any sound I want,from classic rock ,blues,metal,pop etc.
20.20 is very good but the modes on 2.90 really add some air to my triaxis tones.
So try 2.90 and compare to 20.20.
2.90 was created for triaxis,so they are the best .
luck

 

[masque]

I hate classic rock and vintage sounds.
I love dream theater so I like my guitar extremely heavy or pristine clean.
I use my triaxis with 2.90.
The best rig in the world.
To my needs of course.
With this rig I can make any sound I want,from classic rock ,blues,metal,pop etc.
20.20 is very good but the modes on 2.90 really add some air to my triaxis tones.
So try 2.90 and compare to 20.20.
2.90 was created for triaxis,so they are the best .
luck

i love petrucci's sounds as well but I don't want that all that all the time....i am very comfortable programming the triaixis but just looking for more input from folks on here that seem to be as tone crazy as me. my best buddy has a 290 with his triaixis and it is incredible....it's on my list to get one but **** they are so loud it's hard to get what you need out of it in a home stuido environment without getting real loud and I'm not sure if I want to invest in a hotplate or not......i am mostly just curious to see what others do with their programming on a triaixs.....what modes they prefer etc.

 

[sombra]

gh

 

[sombra]

2.90 half mode.
You dont need to play at earthquake volumes.
Just use the half mode.
It s nonsense asking people what modes they prefer cause each person will prefer one so all of them are prefered .
Today I dont like petrucci tones cause hes using rectifiers.
I prefer mark series so triaxis is my paradise.
Like I said, I can make tones from pop,blues,rock,metal with triaxis.
But only with 2.90 you will find new tones of it.
I guess with 20.20,because you dont have 2.90 modes,your triaxis never will be fully working.
But your ears are your ears
Beside sound I love 2.90 visual.
What can I do I love the sounds and the visual of these babyes !
luck

 

[fatboy135]

I use a TA with a 20/20 because it gives to me the classical overdriven tube sound, not looking for trash metal players, like rock tones, the heritage of the mark series, the 20/20 gives me a classical british rock tone with the tubes so hot, the 2:90 is not on my way

 

[dufe36]

2:90 and Triaxis can deliver whatever you need: classic or modern, it's simply a prefect match. I mean I play in a band where I have to play top 40 stuff, it does it all, from AC/DC to Godsmack. I mean what else do you need? Yes it is insanely loud, play half mode, period. You can't go wrong with this, to me, it's the ultimate weapon. I'm not into Petrucci and stuff, so I don't care about his sound, he probably has a 20k rackmount kit and I don't. All I'm saying is I'm not into thrash or death metal stuff and the Triaxis coupled with the 2:90 just does it all: a little tweak and bam, heaven! I use the modes depending on which guitar I'm using: with my LP, I don't really need the "deep" voicing, but I'll use it with my Ibanez (more thin sounding guitar), this preamp/amp combination gives me the opportunity to tweak endlessly to achieve what I want. I guess when you get older, you become picky about tone, this combo allows me to sound better, to work better with my gear. A quality amp will tell the truth on the quality of your gear and will help you to become a better musician. It's not about playing thrash or metal or classic, it's about getting great tone in whatever style you're playing.

 

[fatboy135]

Triaxis can deliver whatever you need

that is the best thing that I had hear for many days
totally true, triaxis is the most versatile preamp
but be careful that doesn´t means that it is the best.
You could play a lot of styles but if you only want a style you will need some extra stereoids, due the the TA wasn´t desing thinking in one style only.
For example I discover that for blues and crunch you could connect a TS9 just in front of the TA selece the Rhythm green with hi-gain and then pump with the stompbox.
There are a lot of people that discovers that TA is not his preamp, well the TA is the most generic preamp I ever met and the trouble gets an easily solution, research on your tone with the TA and of course get extra esteroids with some pedals, of course with this setup you wil have the best palette for you tone

 

[eagle]

I had the triaxis 20 20 combo for two years and compared it to my road king and a mark 3 and 4 and it didn't sound like any of them realy.I think the 20 20 power amp is probably the worsed I have owned .
I can get more accurate mark sounds out of a formula ,and the triaxis recto sounds are way to fizzy .
Go and buy a GT trio for classic fender and a Engl 570 or SE3+ for the rest, oh and a VHT power amp (sorry Mesa).

 

[dufe36]

Hey fatboy,

I'm not saying it's the best thing, I'm saying it is for me, I can play whatever I want with it. If you play SRV stuff, you might not be impressed by it, if you play Slipknot stuff, I'm not sure it will do it all. If you are a gig man like I am, playing almost on demand with about anyone you could meet, this thing works great for me and does it all. I don't want to nail SRV or Petrucci's tone, I think it's worthless trying to sound like another guy (that's my opinion, not judging anyone here) so I settled for something that I could use in any environment and especially something that I could tweak to get some decent tones. To me, it's the ultimate weapon but for others, it might not, depending on your taste or the style you're in. It's always a matter of taste, no amp/preamp is the truth in my opinion, you need several of those if you want to get close the "perfect" sound (one for clean, one for crunch, one for in your face distortion - you get the point). Again, the meaning of the word perfect isn't the same for every guitar player and tastes are not arguables. All in all, I think it's a pretty good preamp/amp combo, well made and it's easy to work with. It's also a budget issue, I'd love to own a Bogner, a VHT or ENGL but I had to make a choice, a versatile choice, and the Triaxis is perfect FOR ME.

 

[eagle]

I aggree that its quite a good allrounder but It's not as real sounding as the amps it's ment to replicate, time for a mark 2 realy .
Why don't Mesa put the preamp of a Road king in a 2U box with midi channel change . I'd buy it.

 

[straitouttahell]

I aggree that its quite a good allrounder but It's not as real sounding as the amps it's ment to replicate

I kind of agree with that. I have never played a IIc+, but the comparison between TA and the Quad was embarassing.

The tone was almost the same, but the TA had this kind of PODish compressed feel under my fingers that the Quad simply doesn't have.

 

[fatboy135]

It's always a matter of taste, no amp/preamp is the truth in my opinion, you need several of those if you want to get close the "perfect" sound

It's also a budget issue

I'd love to own a Bogner, a VHT or ENGL but I had to make a choice, a versatile choice, and the Triaxis is perfect FOR ME.

totally agree

I had the triaxis 20 20 combo for two years and compared it to my road king and a mark 3 and 4 and it didn't sound like any of them realy.I think the 20 20 power amp is probably the worsed I have owned .
I can get more accurate mark sounds out of a formula ,and the triaxis recto sounds are way to fizzy .

It's always a matter of taste

 

[dufe36]

Eagle,

To me, Triaxis is not a replicator, it's a tone generator. When I bought it, I looked at the manual for like 3 minutes and I didn't care much what amp it does replicate. I wanted to achieve my own thing. I had the luck of owning 2 other Mesa products before my current setup and I like how they built their gear, I like what I can achieve with it without spending months of tweakage. I've been playing for a little more than 20 years, I've owned shitty stuff most of those 20 sumtin years, you could imagine when I bought my first Mesa, about 4 years ago, it was quite a difference from what I had previously owned and I "fell in love" with that company, because it gave me the opportunity to achieve newer things, to surpass myself and force me to play a lot better. All the Mesa stuff I owned was good (Mark IV and Stiletto Deuce) but I felt I wasn't versatile enough, and I also needed something that I could program at home when it's quiet and not in a rush, and then use it live without spending time adjusting it on stage. I found that combination in the Triaxis and it works for me. When Line6 came in the music business, I bought the AX212 and it served me well for a couple of years, I mean it was no trouble: you go on stage, you plug in the floorboard and you are ready to roll. I never used those "amp emulations", the minute I got it, I started tweaking it to get to what I thought was good. I think you have to spend time understanding and learning from the gear you buy, I don't know for you guys but I will never make up from all the money spent on guitars and amps, even if I keep on gigging until I die (which I hope will happen!) so whenever I buy stuff, I take the time to learn from it, to explore every possible aspect before saying it's crap. And possibly the things I found were junk were like heaven to somebody else. Since 4 years, I can say that I am a better musician and that I sound a whole lot better and bigger, and Mesa is all part of my learning curve. I just think they make great stuff, dependable and well made. What I'm trying to say is, I don't buy an amp to "replicate" a guitar player or a specific sound, I buy it to achieve my own thing, to be a better player. When you gig a lot, like I do, you need to be open and versatile, you have to get close sounding to the stuff you play, but I will never try to replicate. It's just me, I'm not judging anybody here. That's why I like my current rig so much.

 

[eagle]

I don't care if it can replicate spacific amps or not either, I know from my 25years playing that I use only four basic tones and the triaxis can't do three of them.(but I can get my tones from the list of amps its is surposed to replicate) .My rig now still can't do one of them as well as I would like and this consists of a Roadking head a GTtrio an Engl570 and a Gmajor .Ironicly the tone Ican't get is in my rocket reverb that lives by my coutch ,and if my triaxis had been half as good as it is I would be still be useing it.
Compared to other Mesa gear there is somthing sinthetic about triaxis regardless of how you set it or what you use it with.It just isn't as alive feeling to play through,I'm no enginer but I suspect that compromises to the audio side have been made in order to control all the parameters with midi .Lets have a 2U preamp with a lonestar channel 1 ,mark4 channel 2 recto channel 3 and roadking modern channel 4 ,with only midi to swtch between each

 

[Timbre Wolf]

I would love to hear about some of the stuff you did to achieve it.

Retube 8)

 

[masque]

I would love to hear about some of the stuff you did to achieve it.

Retube 8)

been there and done that with great results after reading your thread a few months ago. I'm really just curious to see how many folks out there really use ALL the modes on the TA. I mean if you are a metal guy then it's easy as pie to dial in great metal tones on any of the lead 2 modes....but how many folks use the lead 1 modes with great success? While I love the lead 2 modes much of my writing and recording lend itself to needing more "classic" distortion. I have been able to dial in very nice results on lead 1 modes but not without alot of trial and error. I am not a novice in regards to handling my gear...i'm a gear freak and a tone freak....so I'm not lost in what I am doing I am just looking for other opinions and ideas as I live in a rural part of KY and the nearest Boogie dealer is 100 miles away...as a result me and one of my best friends are the only two people I actually know that own any Boogie equipment much less an item as versitile as the TA.....just looking to hear what other TA owners get out of theirs........

the guy that earlier said it was nonsense to discuss what other like is wrong in my opinion.....i try to use all of the modes on my TA but the fact of the matter is that I always gravitate towards 3 of them (lead 1 red, lead 2 yellow and rhythm green)...i'm devleoping a fondness for lead 2 green right now.....so thats the purpose of the discussion. i left it kind of open ended to hopefully get some interesting points of view.

 

[sombra]

the guy that earlier said it was nonsense to discuss what other like is wrong in my opinion.....

Because you didnt understand what i am trying to say .

I never said that its nonsense discussing what other like, I said its nonsense asking WHICH mode other like because there are a thousand triaxis owners so each mode will have someone who prefer it.
So each mode is the best for someone.
Got it ?

But discussing WHY someone prefer a mode is a totally different question.
Got it now ?

 

[Timbre Wolf]

I'm really just curious to see how many folks out there really use ALL the modes on the TA.

I've changed the character of my Triaxis to suit my taste, and consider it a different instrument than the stock unit. Especially since I use 12AT7, 5751 and 12BZ7 tubes instead of all 12AX7. So it is difficult to compare settings and modes.

I still use most of the modes, though some just rarely. I tend towards the clean side of things, and in the lead modes I usually set presets to hover around the clean-to-breakup zone, with the continuous controller set to bring up the overdrive for soaring leads. I prefer Lead 1 green for cleaner Fenderesque flavors, Lead 1 yellow (brighter/rougher than green) for U2/Edge inspired cleans through Fuzzface-like leads Lead 2 yellow for Marshallesque drive, Rhythm Green for fat, surfy cleans, Rhythm yellow for chimey jangle (Tele) and tight rhythm (Strat), and usually stay away from the more metal type tones.

There is no tone that I'll consciously avoid, per-se, but some I keep coming back to more often than others.

I've had my Triaxis for something like 13 years (first year they were available), and I am always evolving my presets - which entails lots of tweaking. Sometimes I get TTFS (triaxis tweaker's-finger syndrome) and have to take a break by simply jamming until I drool. I am grateful that, over the years, I've never been let down by my Triaxis. But I still regularly back up the data, because there is a huge capital investment of my time wrapped up in that 1-space unit.

If you want to talk about settings within a particular mode, I can talk about my settings - just ask. Remember the caveat that I have a different Triaxis than most, though.

- Thom

 

[JAZZGEAR]

I use a TA with a 20/20 because it gives to me the classical overdriven tube sound, not looking for trash metal players, like rock tones, the heritage of the mark series, the 20/20 gives me a classical british rock tone with the tubes so hot, the 2:90 is not on my way

I have both power amps ...after going back and forth between the two, I realized I needed them both.....the reasons included but were not limited to:

1. Portability (weight) - used with a 4 space rack
- Furman
- G force
- Triaxis
- 20/20

Bang! Light and versatile and plentiful for small to medium sized rooms (un-mic'd)

2. With the 20/20 I couldn't really get true MK IV sounds (or any other Marks for that matter)...but did get great unique sounds nonetheless. So, I needed the 2:90 for those sounds and the bigger gigs.


So today, I have them both, use the 20/20 as shown above and the 2:90 as part of a larger rig in a Mesa 8 Space Shock rack.

And I agree with what another poster stated, at half power you should be OK and btw the 20/20 is just as loud as the 2:90 (if not louder...)[/list]