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Hi all, possibly a stupid question I know...
I've always wanted a HIWATT and have been tossing up between getting a vintage 504 (if I can ever find an affordable one!) a Reeves, a Ceri@tone or a TRIWATT. Dammit, there's too many options!!!

The Triwatt appeals to me since it's a lot lighter than a Reeves or an original, and a bit cheaper as well. The thing is, I want something that I can use for a variety of purposes:
1. Post punky/rockabilly type stuff - Jesus Lizard/Shellac type tones
2. Drone stuff - Robert Fripp's 'No Pussyfooting' style - needs lots of low end
3. Grindcore - using a baritone guitar with EMG 81s - playing in a band with no bass player and a very loud drummer, so again need lots of low end and clarity.

I know HIWATTs aren't typically known as metal amps, but I've seen them put to very good use by two excellent grind/hardcore bands in Melbourne, Australia - Agents of Abhorrence and Extortion. Both these bands have far better guitar sounds and are much clearer in the mix than heaps of bands I've seen using Marshalls. Mesas or 5150s.
My concern is, those bands use custom 50s and 100s. And I'm uncertain that a 22 watt Triwatt is really gonna cut it in this regard. I certainly have tried with a Peavey Classic 4x10 before and it just couldn't get the volumes needed to get over a blastbeating drummer!
Any experience using these for metal? And how they sound?

Can a Triwatt do metal?

It sounds like you're looking for the ability to go extreme and aggressive?

Triwatt has more low end than any guitar amp I've ever played through. It's got all the punch and urgency of the Hiwatt, but for all it's aggressiveness it's still capable of being very smooth. The onboard overdrive is capable of pretty ridiculous preamp saturation. It's not like a mesa, but if you're going into the jumper-ed input and cascade both input level's the gain is pretty extreme. And if the onboard overdrive isn't your thing... bring on the pedals.

The Triwatt can swing the lowest lows up to the highest highs so easily that even extreme pedals are a piece of cake.

Is it loud enough?
Are you going for clean loud?
Clean loud, maybe not. But don't let 22 watts fool you. It's a very loud amp that will sit right there with anything in the 50 watt area. The oversized transformers have a HUGE impact on this amp's ability to push out a ton of sound. And don't forget that you can drop in KT 66's or 6l6's for a bit more clean headroom... With some reasonably efficient speakers, I'm comfortable in saying that the Triwatt would make any of the newish mass produced amps wilt in embarrassment..... and that it can hang with the tweakiest "boutique" amp out there as far as complexity and tone quality.

It's a great amp, and extremely versatile... Which is to say that It's not any one kind of amp... other than a really good sounding one.

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dig it

Norton. Great description. Talk about G.A.S.!!!

norton

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Stephen
Web: www.trinityamps.com. Facebook: facebook.com/trinityamps. Twitter: @trinityamps

Hell, yes, the Triwatt will do metal. It has both the high end and big low end frequency response. Engage the Overdrive stage and it will give way more gain than a regular Hiwatt, with a distinctive edgy grind. For even more dirt, throw a Proco Rat or H&K Warp7 pedal in front. The power stage is tight, fast and snappy. Just what you need for metal. It's loud with the 6V6s, but with the 40W KT66 option and some good efficient speakers, it's way loud, and with an even bigger sound.

In the words of pro player Lawrence Bethune, from a review of the prototype Triwatt (with 6V6s), on posting.php?mode=quote&f=14&p=13447

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Great tones come in small glass jars!