Mesa/Boogie Triple Crown TC-100 - 100-watt Tube Head Reviews

This is one of the most versatile amps that I have ever owned. The clean is crisp and chimey just like a Fender, the blue channel voiced like your favorite vintage British amp and the red channel will melt your face off with plenty of gain on tap.

People have been saying this is a hybrid between a British and American high gain amp and I would agree with that - maybe more like 30/70 ratio. If you're looking for a Marshall sound with a Mesa label on it, this isn't it. This is a very aggressive Mesa amp, with plenty of midrange and high mid punch, but never gets fizzy/muddy. Plenty of gain available on the lo-gain channel, and the hi-gain channel absolutely crushes. A great "channel switching" amp. Very tight and fast, has great low end for anybody playing 7 strings. There's so much gain in this thing, it's just silly. It's VERY easy to dial in tones (when compared to a Mark V - which I also own). The clean channel is warm, and crisp. I would say this is amp sounds more like a Mark series amp (with more gain) than a Recto, but it's still its own unique thing when compared to those to families, and it's absolutely killer. I love it. It can get noisy as you pour on the gain (duh), so I definitely recommend having a quality noise gate for it. If you want a little extra magic, get a Mesa Boogie Tone Burst pedal for a clean boost, leave it on, and you'll just die and go to heaven.

Bought this amp in spring 2018 and wanted to share my thoughts.

This amp is incredible. As someone who looks for both vintage and modern tones, I was having trouble finding an amp that suited my needs. I'm not a big fan of amp modelers, prefer a plug and play approach with pedals instead, and I don't think there's a more versatile amp on the market.

You can get classic crunchy Brit tones along with modern high gain from this amp, and you really don't need much else. I use a few different overdrive pedals in front of the amp, but they're not really necessary (I use them for a clean boost mostly). I play a lot of classic rock (Zeppelin, Pink Floyd), prog (Dream Theater), and modern djent/metal including 8-string low tuning stuff (Lamb of God, Meshuggah, Leprous), and the amp can handle all easily. There's no flub on the bottom end when doing heavy down tuned palm muted lines, and there's a head of breath and headroom that I feel you can't get with a digital rig.

The only aspect I've struggled with is getting jangly cleans since the amp is so mid forward. Some of this might have to do with the power tubes (I use the stock EL-34s). My remedy for this has been to keep the mids all the way down on the clean channel with the gain somewhat low, and then to use my overdrive pedals as a clean boost. A nice reverb pedal helps as well. This is a fairly minor complaint, because a lot of bands that utilize those chimy clean sounds do so with a lot of digital processing.

Overall, hard to imagine most wouldn't love this amp. With the bias switch you can swap out the tubes if you're not a fan of the EL34s.

This is hands down the best amplifier on the market. Fender cleans, British-voiced channel 2 as good as any Marshall, and that classic Mesa gain that's between a Mark and Rectifier structure. Add in all the extras like midi, true plate reverb, solo boost and individual channel attenuators and you have all you need and more.

I have played and recorded with Mesa's for over a decade, including the dual rec roadster, single rec; the other guitarist in my band has used the Stiletto, Express, Mark V (currently) and recto-verb. I've owned Laney's and Hughes & Kettner, and PRS MT-15.

I hadn't owned a 100 watt head for several years, and wanted to get the best I could buy. I considered Bogner, Soldano, Diezel, and all sorts of other boutique stuff. Then I watched the Video play through's of Mesa's new flagship amp. My mind was made up and I have ZERO regrets.

This thing smokes every other amp I've owned! You get all the famed Mesa build quality, stage appeal, and then just infinite miles of TONE. I use it recording at home attenuated, and in rehearsal holy #$@! Set channel 2 to 100 watts and chug out the most awe inspiring rhythm chunk imaginable!

Not to mention all other tones are perfect. Then thrown in a ton of features like the built in cab clone.

Randall Smith really has reached the peak of tube amp design!

This amp is so versatile and sounds amazing. You can dial in any tone you want from soft rock/jazz to screaming metal tones and crystal clear cleans. The multi soak feature is also essential if you want to play at home or in any venue. A big plus is even at insane levels of gain, the unit is relatively quiet. I doubt I will be buying another amp for a very long time as this literally does anything you want.

This has so much to love! You can set up each channel then with the foot switch go from metal to Texas blues to country. The solo bust there in each of the channels. Reverb is great.

Where to begin? Well, I've had the TC-100 for just over a month now and I love it. I spent a year researching countless amp heads before I whole heartedly decided to pull the trigger on this great peice of gear. I've owned Fender & Marshall amps as well as played through many others (all great by the way), however the TC-100 really stands out with it's ability to balance great tone and versatility. The channel one provides a rich buttery clean tone with awesome clarity, channel two is nice and crunchy and channel three will drive you for days. Also, the power and tone of this amp is scalable with the size of the space you are playing in. With the Multi-Soak Power Attenuation feature, I can still experience awesome tone from all three channels at lower output volumes even through a 4x12 cab in my home studio at 11:00 at night with out annoying the neighbors (I think). Or, if you get a gig in a large venue (or feel like annoying the neighbors), crank up the wattage on the amp's channels and let it shake the walls! The recording versatility is impressive as well. Aside from the obvious method of micing up your cabinet, you can record a direct signal from the amp head or take advantage of it's own built in cab simulator straight into your console or digital audio workstation. All in all, it gets 100 thumbs up and a huge thanks to Sweetwater for their excellent service!

Iv'e played for many years but could never afford a Valve Amp. WOW, it's like a different person playing my guitars. I got out my old MIM Strat dialed in the Mesa TC-100 from the manual on the clean channel, no pedals yet, going though 2 Orange 2x12 Cabs with V-30 and Creamback 12H-75 in each cab and to my amazement there was that Hendrix tone iv'e been trying to get. I haven't tried my US Strat yet. There are so many sounds i can get and different ways to get them. The cleans are crisp. The Multi-Soak Power Attenuation is a great option. On channel 2 you can get a clean sound by using the Multi-Soak in a lower power setting or use it at 100 Watts and get what ever you desire. Channel 3 using a LP with hot pick-ups WOW!!. All the crunch and chunk you can need, Metallica,Pantera and ect... The Reverb is great. Haven't even turned reverb to full, there's plenty. I haven't tried my pedals yet. Enjoying dialing in new sounds from the 3 Channels. There's still the F/X Loop!! There's still much more to explore with this great Mesa T-100. I'll be updating as i try the MIDI and Effects Loop and add some pedals. The foot switch is great. Nice long Cable. Look up some video's on this Mesa Boogie TC-100. Thanks to Jeff Bohan for leading me to the Mesa Boogie. Great choice!

With this amp, you can dial in just about any tone you want very easily. I am playing it through a 1980's era Marshall 1960A cab and continue to be amazed at the crystal clarity of the sound. The clean channel blows me away with its headroom, but the lo and hi gain channels also have fantastic clarity. From Les Pauls with PAF's to EMG 81/85's, and a 91 Ibanez with Seymour JB/Jazz/Hot Rails to my 84 Destroyer with DiMarzio's, I keep hearing myself say how much I love how this guitar sounds through this amp! I have had many amps over the past 30 years, but the TC100 is quite possibly the last one I will buy. It does everything.
I set the amp up with a Line 6 HXFX for midi channel changing and to add some effects. It works beautifully.
The amp does have the power soak, which seems to work well, but the amp sounds best on 100w and loud!
And it is very loud! Well done, Mesa.

The TC 100 is more Amp than most of us will ever need. I am coming from a 35 year run with Soldano and Marshal amps. I have always been attracted to the Mesa Boogie tones. But I have never pulled the trigger, until now. My TC100 has everything I want from a amp. You can have it dialed in fast. The three channels with the included channel, reverb and effect switch board you are good to go. The cab clone direct out works pretty good as well. Love it

This amp is what I've always wanted leads to sound and feel like! The tones are incredible, from harmonically rich cleans, to a woody, vintage Hendrix-esque character with immense dynamic range with drive switch on channel one engaged; channel two has these searing yet smooth lead sounds that have tremendous depth and 3-dimensionality with the reverb past 11; and of course the raging-hot saturation and "liquid" sustain of the red channel. The sounds are literally as good as I can imagine any clean-to-lead tones, but the FEEL of the amp is just as remarkable. If you've played Boogies before, you know they can play somewhat stiff (especially my beloved Rectifiers!), but this amp has this seductively smooth feel to it across all channels and settings that never gets old. I think this amp is Mesa's response to some of the boutique European makes like Elmwood, Bogner, and Diezel--those amps make you feel like a shred maestro instantly. This amp does that too, but frankly the sounds are far more graceful, real, and compelling than those amps for my tastes. Did I mention the luscious reverb? Totally luscious, I run it on all three channels. Never run the tight mode on channels 2 or 3, I want the leads nice and fat, and this amp just doesn't do heavy riffing as well as a Rectifier so I keep it dialed for the most transcendent lead settings it can conjure. There's a slight underlying darkness to the overall tone as well, I should mention, and I play an alder body guitar with bright pickups. However in my experience this is a characteristic common to any amp that has enough compression to lend such an exquisitely smooth feel to it. In any case it only took me a couple days to get the sounds dialed and one could always swap some tubes to achieve a more open sound.

Lastly, I recommend removing the casters from any speaker cabinets used with this amp as it made a huge difference for me (it's also recommended in the owner's manual). The amp gains a lot substance in both feel and sound by doing so, and all the frequencies seemed to "settle" in together in a well-balanced continuum once the speakers were grounded.

This Boogie (and I have 5 Boogies now) is my favourite. The three channels are all good and are actually 6 channels. The reason I say this is most Boogies either love a Stratocaster single coil tone or an LP tone. This amp with a flick of a switch on all Channels makes it LP or Stratocaster ready. In my opinion no other boogie does that. For the Stratocaster it gives me everything form a clean Mark Knopfler type sound to a raging Plexi and the LP side gives me a darker clean tone all the way up to Petrucci singing leads.

Best Boogie ever. I love it

This amp is clearly a step, or two, above other amps for classic rock. The clean channel is to die for. The crunch channel has the most superb tone for rock and roll rythm that I have ever heard. The Lead channel...WOW...so articulate that you can hear every note with sustain that lasts forever. And of course the midi works perfectly. I use my Line 6 Helix to control everything and it works flawlessly. I didn't think my band mates would even be able to tell, but they were simply blown away by the roar of this thing. If you are like me and looking for the best sound you can have, this is it.

I have owned many Mesa Boogie amps over the past 30 years from the Mark III, Mark IV, Roadster, Mark V, Royal Atlantic RA100, TC-50 and now the TC-100. I still have most of my amps (except for the MKIII and the MKIV).

To start I also have the TC-50 that I bought not too long ago. I was so pleased with it I decided to get the TC-100. I do love the TC-50 which is also a great amp for those looking for a 50W version. Both the TC-50 and the TC-100 share the same preamp but the 50W version does not have the power soak feature. I also have several other Mesa amps including two RA100's so I have plenty of amps to compare the TC-100 with. I am currently using a Mesa Vertical 212 cabinet with this amp. I have also run the amp with a pair of the vertical 212 cabs and that is an experience to behold that far exceeds a single 412 cab. The TC series will work with a wide array of speakers from V30, Celestion Cream backs, as well as EV.

I am blown away with this amp especially at the 100W power setting. This amp delivers a well balanced tone on all three channels and can be dialed in to your desires from Metal down to pristine cleans, blues and other styles of guitar playing. It is quite responsive to your input and has plenty of sustaining power to keep you on your feet. The amp is tuned quite well such that it does not defeat harmonics from the guitar unlike another amp I can think of that I also have in my arsenal (Roadster, still a great amp though).

How it compares to the TC-50 when set to the 50W power setting, it is almost identical. I was quite impressed with that. Where the differences come in to play is when the TC-100 is at its 100W setting. The tone is rich and full bodied. The clean channel has to be one of my favorites to date, set to normal mode it is just amazing in texture and tonal characteristics you almost forget this amp comes stock with EL34 tubes. Bottom end is crisp and bold, top end chime is clear and the midrange is how you set it. Set the clean channel to drive mode and the amp sings of classic rock. It has a nice edge to its crunchy tone, push the gain on this and the clean channel begins to roar like nothing else I have ever heard. The RA100 almost touches on this but the TC-100 just delivers the goods so well.

Lo gain channel is also full of surprises. Very much like the TC-50, the lo gain channel of the TC-100 has that iconic tone you hear in many recordings but that is coming from a different amp originating from the UK (Marshall, Vox, and Orange). Still there is more to this channel than meets the eye. Tone controls are straight forward and intuitive. Very easy to dial in your sound. This channel can range from classic rock all the way to metal if you so desire to use it that way.

Hi gain channel adds more depth of distortion by adding an additional gain stage. It has similar characteristics to the Mesa DR and Mark series of amplifiers, almost a blend of the two in its characteristic.

Midi function: I am not versed in using midi controls at this point in time, however the footswitch controller is a midi control itself, not programmable but preset to function with the TC series amplifiers. I have had great success daisy chaining the TC-100 and the TC-50 so I can use one footswitch to control both amps in a stereo setup.

FX loop: probably one of the better loops I have experience with. The TC-50 is also really good too. For best results the effects in use should be line level compliant as is the case with most amplifiers these days but I have had some good results using pedals that would be more suitable on the front end than in the loop.

This has got to be one of the most versatile amps I have yet to own. With the power soak feature, capability to use three different types of power tubes EL34, 6V6 and 6L6. This alone broadens the tonal pallet and characteristics that many amps currently on the market do not provide.

This is one amp I think you should consider for your next amp. It combines new technology with vintage and modern characteristics that is so much fun to experience. I just cannot stop playing though this amp once I start. I am really considering getting another to compete a stereo rig.

I'm kind of hard to impress to a 5-star level, but when this amp came out as a 50w, I called Mesa Boogie and asked them if they had plans for a 100w version. I'm glad they changed their answer! This amp has an amazing clean channel, and the gain channels offer a lot of variation as well. Most of the time I've plugged in with a LP Traditional or a LP Standard, and there's a lot of great rock tones covering all the right decades, plus some more modern tones as well. I also played a strat through it and remembered I'm not much of a strat-lover, but it really shined the light on the differences as an amp should. It's a great change-up from the rest of Mesa's line, and IMO, a keeper. Also...**VERY** easy to dial up.