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Anyone here ever just plugged right into a Tech 21 Power Engine 60? Thoughts?
Is like to hear one myself but none of the shops near me stock Tech 21 amps, only the pedals.
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06-27-2013 05:36 PM
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Purely as an experiment, I just tried this with mine. Set to the same volume that is quite sufficient with an outboard preamp of some sort (Mustang Floor, Roland GT-8, Line6 Pod, etc.), there's barely any volume at all. IMO, cranking it wouldn't be the best direction to take either. I'm assuming that the Power Engine was designed to see some respectable output signal to begin with, and a guitar going direct apparently just won't cut it.
Originally Posted by barrymclark
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Kind of what I suspected. Thanks foro giving it a swing. Maybe one day, there will be the kind of preamp pedal I'm looking for to put before such a thing then the PE60 would make sense as a purchase. For now, the Mambo and/or Henriksen seem to be the best combo candidates. Originally Posted by ooglybong
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Not only you should not have volume but it will probably sound very sterile and you'll have no eq / reverb...
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A power engine with a Tech 21 Blonde in front of it is a nice combo. I had a chance to pick one up cheap a while back, and I wish I could've grabbed it.
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Yup. Just as I expected, but purely as a public service, I performed the experiment. It wasn't pretty. Originally Posted by jorgemg1984
BTW, there is onboard "EQ" on the Power Engine (labeled High, Mid, and Low) although it's designed (per the manual) as more of a 'compensational' EQ system for rooms, preamp differences, etc. rather than as a typical preamp tone stack. After all, there's no preamp, only a power amp—ergo, not so great-sounding when plugged straight in. Yeah, sterile's good word for it. Puny, too.Last edited by ooglybong; 06-28-2013 at 01:03 PM.
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I've only had it for a while, but, so far, the Power Engine seems to be a really nice 'blank slate' for further tweakage via your choice of preamp system. IMO. Just do some research, pick your preamp and have a go at it. If your preamp accommodates it, get two and you've got a nice, light-weight stereo setup (which I eventually did). Originally Posted by barrymclark
They don't need to be expensive to start out either. I got both of mine, used and mint, for only $200 each over a couple of months (although having only one was absolutely fine). Put, say, a Line6 Pod (used?) on top of it and you'd probably have a great-sounding system without blowing lotsa money. Jim Soloway has been having remarkable success with his Pod, and, IIRC, he's offered to share some of his patches for great jazz tones.
Tech 21 also has an entire line of SansAmp "Character Series" pedals which would probably be just the ticket for mating with the Power Engines. The Blonde model emulates Fender amps. Here's the Tech 21 page...
TECH 21 - CHARACTER SERIES
...and a glowing review from Jazz Times on the Blonde.
Jazz Instruments: Tech 21 SansAmp Character Series Pedals ? Jazz Articles
Fun with Guitar, Amps & Gizmos, eh?
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I have the Tech21 Classic pedal the the PSA1 rack.
Each of these are designed to emulate various famous amps. I get nice sounds out of both but I am not an expert in all the different amps, I have mainly owned Fender amps 80's and 90's models. Now I have a blues junior and an ulbrick.
The sansamp gear was purchased to use as DI into PC and Mixer.
I wonder if the character series pedals would be more useful.
For one, each pedal is specific to a brand (fender, vox , etc), so you have a reference point just using the pedal.
In addition to each character pedal being specific to brand, would they provide more tweaking while staying within the brand style. In other words do the older sansamp units not have the scope of variation that the character series pedals do.
I also wonder if the new character series pedals sound better than the older units.
From memory when the character series came out they were marketed as being the same sansamp technology only made to be specific amp brand emulations.
Has anyone compared the old and new sansamp pedals.
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A cheap alternative to Tech21 Character pedals?
Joyo is putting out pedals that are supposed to be cheaper versions of the Character pedals. For example:
Tech21 Blonde - $169 (MusiciansFriend)
Joyo JF-14 American Sound - $32 (Amazon)
Worth a flutter?
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Not cheap but the Barb EQ is AWESOME.
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I have viewed some videos on the Joyo pedals, to my ears the Tech 21 character pedals sound nicer ( hard to find the right words to be descriptive ). To be fair there are a lot more Tech21 videos so comparing demos may not be fair.
I also wonder if the cheaper components will not last or hold their quality?
I actually own the Barb EQ, the flip switch is meant to change the sound between fender and marshall.
I assume this is meant to go between guitar and amp, not emulating amps but EQing the signal.
Having said that I should experiment more, haven't tried using it in front of the classic pedal.
My feeling is that I will probably purchase a Tech 21 Liverpool.
Dialing Vox sounds out of the Classic pedal is not easy, especially when you haven't owned any Vox amps. The knobs and dials are generic they don't specify particular amp brands.
This will be my first character series purchase and hopefully will spend some time comparing it to the classic pedal to see if the specific character series pedals are not only more user friendly but achieve more specific sounds within the amp line they represent.
I will also get an Electro harmonic headphone amp for late night practice and looping fun.
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I have the Liverpool pedal. Honestly, I bought it more to simply explore new sounds (rather than gig out with [but I definitely would]) and it does the trick. Cool sounds, and it definitely goes for a directional set of Vox-like flavors. Very amp-like, IMO. Be sure to try the settings they recommend in the manual. Lots of variety from a single pedal from cleaner Beatle-esque to more Queen-like sounds. Nice. Originally Posted by theot71
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Thanks ooglybong,
I have never used a character pedal.
Having viewed youtube videos I get the impression that as you turn the character dial clock wise you get into distorted sounds, you cannot get a clean sound when the character knob is dialed past 12 o'clock.
I am hoping that the drive knob can be used to clean up the sound.
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Between the two knobs, yes, you will find clean tones. With both set low, you should be good—Vox clean, not Fender clean, but clean nonetheless (along with many other great tones besides). Originally Posted by theot71
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The Power Engine has an isolation transformer on the inputs and will load down the signal of a passive guitar pickup. If you wish to use the PE as an amp without a preamp, you need to use either an active guitar or plug into a buffered pedal like a Boss TU2 before plugging into the PE.
The Character Series drive control will adjust the gain content along with the Character control. The controls are very interactive.
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You arecall right - you cannot plug a guitar straight into a Power Engine.
Another cheap option to do this is to get the Yamaha DS60-112 which has been discontinued for a while now - pretty much exactly the same except for the colours and the Yamaha only has a jack input - no XLR which the Tech 21 has - but same size, same power, same design - could have been built at the same factory for all we know.
Front a pair of these powered extension speakers to a high quality effects pedal and job done. With a S/H pair you can go to town and buy the best front end you can afford and have a set up like one of those big Johnson amps orvthe old Cyber Fender ones - but without the huge weight or size. I have a DG Stomp and a pair of DS60s - a really silent set up with a ton of sounds in stereo. A bit like Allan Holdsworth's set up but a lot less of everything!
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A similar product but I can assure you it was not built here in our factory. Originally Posted by ChrisDowning
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OK - just an observation that these seem to be the same amp. Nowadays out here in the real World we just don't know who is really building equipment in their own facility, or overseas, or just assembling the parts that arrive back at home in kit form. Tech 21s products are top rate and nobody would argue with the quality of the build. But as a guy who got caught out buying an amp that was UK built and then seeing it value dive to half the price as the brand sourced the 'same' product from China, you can see why we get a bit jaded.
The Power Engine and Yamaha DS60 are exactly the same spec and exactly the same dimensions. Perhaps you can help with the back story?
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The Power Engine was designed and built in the US. I won't say they "copied" us but the DS60 is a similar product. Not that a powered guitar cab is that new. Boogie did this with their Satellite cabs and Fender had powered guitar cabs back in the 60's. You can't avoid China when it comes to electronic's these days as many components are only made there. A manufacturer should have the country of origin marked on their product. We design, assemble and test every unit we make here in our US factory
Our tech looked at the schematic for the PE60. It has no isolation transformer on the inputs, the power amp is different as well as some other things. Not the same unit but close. It's also discontinued.
I guess a little research is the best thing for a consumer to do before purchasing. Of course if you are considering a tube amp that sells for $399 in the US or 369 euros it's pretty much a given that it will have been made in China.
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