Six power tubes. Nine preamp tubes. Six channels. MIDI control. Onboard noise gate. Switchable effects loop. Enhanced Red Box speaker-emulated DI output. Master insert jacks. Built-in TSC tube status monitoring. A total of 42 different voicings. Fifty, 100, or 150 watts of output power. To say the Hughes & Kettner Triamp MKIII is a flexible, full-featured guitar amp is a major understatement!
The Triamp MKIII starts with six channels, each tuned to a particular voicing: California Clean, British Clean, British Lead, Brown Sound, High Gain, and Modern High Gain. Each channel has its own set of gain, volume, and EQ controls. On the back end, you have six power tube sockets that you can load, in pairs, with just about any octal tube: 6L6, EL34, 5881, KT66, KT77, KT88. So you could install two 6L6s, two EL34s, and two KT88s (or whatever combination you want). Then, using three front-panel switches, you can independently turn pairs of power tubes on and off; this means you can match the exact power tubes (as well as tone, response, and feel) to each preamp channel. And, you can combine two different types of power tubes (say, EL34 and KT66) for completely new “hybrid” amp tones. It’s mind-boggling, and it really works. You can even change power tubes on the fly, while the amp is powered up!
When you combine all those preamp voicings with the power tube possibilities, you get one monster of a tone machine. Then, add in all of the rest of the Triamp MKIII’s features, and you get an amp that is simply unrivaled in flexibility. Best of all, I couldn’t find a combination that sounded less than wonderful. The hardest part is choosing which one you want to use!
For the studio, the Triamp MKIII would cover pretty much any tone, for any genre. And onstage, you can either tweak your tone to perfection or assemble a mass of incredible tones that you can incorporate into your set list. It’s a total beast!
