Tech 21 Trademark 10

A 10-watt Amplifier/Direct Recording Device

by Emile Menasché
July 17, 2000

Summing it Up

The Trademark 10 packs an array of good sounds and professional features in a compact, easy-to-operate package. Though primarily designed as a direct recording device, it goes one better than your typical preamp by providing a power amp and speaker. Our only real complaint -- the absence of a dedicated speaker-defeat switch -- pales next to the amp's upside as a responsive, good sounding analog alternative to both digital modeling preamps and to costlier (and often less versatile) mini tube amps.

Tech 21 broke some serious taboos when it introduced the original SansAmp more than a decade ago. There were direct recording devices on the market before it, but the SansAmp was among the first to do a reasonably credible job of emulating all the elements that make up a tube amp's tone: preamp and power-amp drive, speaker coloration, and even mic placement. Few products enjoy a long shelf life in this industry, but the original SansAmp (now dubbed the SansAmp Classic) survives, as do its many offspring.

The Trademark 10 is the latest descendent of the line. Smaller than the Trademark 60 and with a front-end section based on the GT-2 preamp, it uses solid-state F.E.T. analog circuitry to emulate the performance of the three major tube amp food groups -- Fender, Marshall, and Mesa/Boogie.

Quick setup

If you're into instant gratification, you'll love the Trademark 10's control layout. The front panel combines traditional knobs (Drive; active Low, Mid, and High EQ controls; Reverb; and Level), with a bank of Character switches that determine the overall flavor of the tone.

Here lies the heart of the Trademark 10's appeal: Depending on the position of the Character switches, the Trademark behaves like a number of different amps, each with its own tonal personality, gain structure, and dynamic response. (Unfortunately, although there are three amp types offered, the Trademark 10 does not let you select between them via footswitch.)

(Click for a close-up)

Amp Mod Speaker
Calif: high-gain setting based on a Mesa/Boogie Hot: Adds gain, heavy compression, makes the tone somewhat brighter. Can get out of control if pushed too hard. U.S. (based on Electro-Voice speaker): Adds lows and highs without boosting upper mids. Good for clean comping and thrash sounds.
British: medium to high gain setting based on a Marshall amp Hi Gain: Adds gain and moderate compression and makes the tone somewhat fatter. Versatile setting for all three amp mods. U.K (based on Celestion "green back") Beefy sound with ample low and upper mids. Works especially well for rock and blues.
Tweed: low to medium gain setting based on a Fender amp Clean: Relatively uncompressed. Depending on the Amp setting, can range from clean to distorted with a broad tonal spectrum. Flat (No coloration): Sometimes the 8" speaker sounds its size at this setting, but I also found Flat useful for toning down some of the distorted tones (especially with the Calif mod); also good for creating spacious rhythm sounds

The manual provides some useful settings to get you started (see sonic preview), but it's pretty easy to get a feel for how to dial up some tones of your own. Some of the best results come by mixing and matching character settings. For example, you can dial up a beefy overdriven tone that works nicely for blues and roots rock by pushing the Drive to the max and setting the switches to Tweed, Hi Gain, and U.K. respectively. Conversely, using a moderate amount of drive with the Calif amp set to Clean will produce a fat, Robben Ford-like lead tone.

Tweaker's Delight

The Trademark 10 does a nice job of balancing two opposing objectives -- ease of use and sonic flexibility. If the Mod controls are a good avenue to quick sound changes, the EQ lets you contour that sound to an impressively anal-retentive degree. The EQ comes after the gain stage, so pulling midrange won't rip the heart out of your distortion. (If you're a traditionalist who likes the way a tone control can shape distortion, this may not appeal to you.) Small amounts of boost and cut generally sounded best to my ear, but if you're into radical EQ you'll be happy to know that the circuit handled my wackiest settings without overloading -- or becoming anemic.

Unlike most amps, the Trademark's Drive control does not mute the sound when set to zero. In fact, I was impressed by the range -- and smooth curve -- of this knob, which made it easy to hit the bull's-eye with all the guitars I tested. Since the tone is not much affected by the power amp section, the Trademark 10's sound is consistent at a variety of volume settings.

Ins and Outs

In both construction and design, the Trademark shows excellent attention to detail. It's small but isn't hampered by the toy-like assembly that taints many amps of its size and price range. Here, the details matter: The layout is clean, and the circuitry is quiet, with nary a rattle or buzz in earshot. Even the built-in reverb sounds pretty good.

For a little amp, the Trademark 10 certainly offers plenty of interfacing options, including an XLR out with ground lift, a mono effects loop, an extension speaker out, and a stereo headphone out. Although you can use a dummy plug in the headphones jack to defeat the internal speaker, I would have liked to see a speaker-defeat switch on an amp that is designed -- at least in part -- for direct recording. (Tech 21 says they eschewed the speaker-defeat switch to keep the operation as simple as possible --evidently, people have been known to send amps in for service when the only thing "wrong" was a muted speaker.)

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