Tech 21 LM120 Owner's Manual

IMPORTANT SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS.

READ AND SAVE THESE INSTRUCTIONS.

HEED ALL WARNINGS.

This unit is powered by potentially hazardous voltage. Therefore, observe
the following safety precautions:

1.

Read and follow all instructions before using

product.

2. Do not use product near water (such as near
a bathtub, washbowl, kitchen sink, swimming
pool, in a wet basement, etc.).

3. Unit should be located so that its location or
position does not impede the flow of air through
the ventilation openings.

4. Product should be located away from heat
sources such as radiators, heat registers, or
other products, including amplifiers, that pro­duce heat.

5. Product should be connected to a power
supply only of the type described in the operat­ing instructions or as marked on the product.

6. Protect the power cord from being walked on or pinched particularly at plugs, con­venience receptacles, and the point where they exit from the unit.

7. Do not allow objects or liquids to penetrate the enclosure through openings.

8. During heavy use, chassis may get hot to the touch. Handle with care.

9. Protect unit from strong impact.

10. Unplug product before cleaning. Never spray liquid cleaners into the amp: wipe

with a clean, lint-free cloth to remove dirt and film.

11. Only use attachments/accessories specified by the manufacturer.

12. This product should be used only with a cart or stand that is recommended by the

manufacturer. When a cart is used, use caution when moving the cart/product combina­tion to avoid injury from tipping over.

13. Amplifiers may be capable of producing high volume levels that could cause per­manent hearing loss or damage, if the exposure to such levels is prolonged. Such dam­age is progressive and irreversible! If you experience any hearing loss or ringing in the
ears, consult an audiologist.

14. Unplug unit during lightning storms or when unused for long periods of
time.

15. This unit must be earth grounded. To reduce the risk of electric shock, NEVER
remove or otherwise attempt to defeat the ground pin of the power cord. If the provid­ed plug does not fit into your outlet, consult an electrician for replacement of the
obsolete outlet.

WARNING: To avoid the risk of fire, electric shock or injury, do not expose this unit
to rain or moisture. Do not remove the chassis from its cabinet, or remove metal cov­ering from chassis parts. Removing the chassis from its cabinet exposes extremely
dangerous high voltages. There are no user-serviceable parts inside. Hazardous volt­ages are present inside the chassis. Refer all servicing to qualified personnel.

CAUTION: Never modify the power cord. If original power cord becomes damaged,
frayed, or has exposed wires, replace immediately with same rating and gauge, or
higher. Replacements are commercially available or you can contact Tech 21 directly.

WARNING: Attempting to repair this unit is not recommended and may void its
warranty. NOTE: In the U.S. and Canada, servicing is performed at factory only. In
other countries, please refer repairs to the local Tech 21 authorized distributor.

FUSE

Fuse holder is located inside A/C cord receptacle. You must unplug and
remove power cord to change fuse.

Replace with similar type and

same value: 100V and 117V units: use F 6A L

230V and 240V units: use F 3.15A L

QUICK START INSTRUCTIONS

Here’s how you can get your Landmark 120 up and running before you read the rest
of the manual. By not reading the entire manual, however, you’ll miss out on how to
get the most out of your new investment!

1. Plug your instrument into the top-panel Input jack (on the left side).

2. Attach the AC cord to the amp and plug into a wall socket.

3. Be sure the Level control on the Landmark 120 is down and then turn on the amp.

4. Refer to the sample settings provided in this manual.

5. Adjust the Level control on the Landmark 120 and play your bass. If you do not hear
sound coming through the amp, check that your guitar’s volume control is turned up,
recheck your connections, and be sure your cable isn’t faulty. If there is still no sound,
refer to factory or qualified technician.

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This symbol, wherever it appears, alerts the user to the presence of uninsulated dangerous
voltage within the product’s enclosure that may be of sufficient magnitude to constitute a
risk of electric shock to persons.

This symbol, wherever it appears, alerts the user to important operating and maintenance
instructions in the accompanying literature. Read the manual.

TECH 21, THE COMPANY

Tech 21 was formed by a guitarist possessing the unusual combination of a
trained ear and electronics expertise. In 1989, B. Andrew Barta incorporated
Tech 21 and made his invention commercially available to players and studios
around the world. His highly-acclaimed SansAmp™ pioneered Tube Amplifier
Emulation in professional applications for recording direct and performing live,
and created an entirely new category of signal processing. While there have
since been many entries into this niche, SansAmp continues to maintain its
reputation as the industry standard.

After developing a full line of SansAmp models, Tech 21 expanded its offerings
to include effect pedals; a compact, battery operable MIDI footcontroller, the

MIDI Mouse;

as well as “traditional” style amplifiers for guitar and bass. Each
product is thoughtfully and respectfully designed by B. Andrew Barta himself
with the player in mind.

Our goal is to provide you with flexible, versatile tools to cultivate, control,
refine and redefine your own individual sound. Tech 21 takes great pride in
delivering consistent professional quality sound, studio to studio, club to club,
arena to arena.

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LANDMARK BASS SERIES, AN OVERVIEW

The 100% analog Landmark Bass Amplifier Series reconfigures the preamp
format of our exceptionally popular SansAmp Bass Driver DI pedal into self­contained head and combo amplifiers in various wattages. These configura­tions also offer you an entire sound spectrum of the most coveted traditional
and modern bass amp systems, including mega overdriven tones that usually
require a complex mass of gear --most of which weren’t designed for bass in
the first place.

Each Landmark bass amp delivers a truckload of professional bass rigs from
one source. Each offers such styles as Fender®,SVT®, King Crimson and
King’s X, to name a few --and does so even at low volume. The interactive
controls give you access to specific tone shaping characteristics to create
your own custom sounds as well.

For studio and live applications, our SansAmp Tube Amplifier Emulation
technology enables you to go straight into the mixer of a recorder or PA
system via the XLR Direct Output.

As is typical with all Tech 21 products, the Landmark 120 is a versatile,
multi-functional, super cost-effective package suitable for any player’s
repertoire.

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FRONT PANEL

The Landmark 120 is designed with active controls, which cut and boost, rather than
traditional passive controls which only cut. This gives you a much larger range of
adjustability and, ultimately, more variety.

It should be noted that you need not necessarily set everything at max to achieve maxi­mum results. As you experiment and become familiar with the controls’ interrelation­ships, you’ll easily be able to customize your own sounds.

DRIVE

Adjusts the overall amount of gain and overdrive, similar to when the output section
of a tube amp is being pushed.

PRESENCE

Brings out the upper harmonic content and attack. For a smoother high end and for
clean settings, decrease to taste.

BLEND

Allows you to blend the direct instrument signal with SansAmp Tube Amplifier
Emulation circuitry. In most cases, you will probably have this set at maximum (100%
SansAmp). For certain applications, however, such as an ultra-transparent sound or for
use with piezo pickup-equipped instruments, you may want to blend-in the direct signal
to achieve your desired sound. While the SansAmp Tube Amplifier Emulation circuitry is
bypassed when

Blend

is at minimum, the

Bass, Mid, Treble,

and

Level

controls remain

active.

BASS, MID and TREBLE

These active controls cut or boost ±12dB from unity gain at 12 o’clock.
Bass is 80 Hz. Mid is 1kHz. Treble is 3.2kHz.

LEVEL

Adjusts the overall volume. It also affects the XLR Direct Output, allowing you to block
the signal to the audience or recording console when you want to tune or unplug your
bass.

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TOP PANEL

INPUT

Faithful to the original designs of traditional tube amplifiers, this 1/4” input is high
impedance 1MOhm. A typical low sensitivity input is not needed due to the trimmable
Drive control.

SANSAMP™ DIRECT OUT

For recording in a home studio or pro facility, the SansAmp XLR output is like having a
built-in direct box. The SansAmp circuitry not only captures the warm, rich, natural har­monics and sweet overdrive characteristics inherent to tube amplifiers, its speaker
emulation encompasses all aspects of multiply-miked tube amp rigs. You can plug
straight into the board and get the same sound that comes out of the Landmark 120
speaker directly onto tape.

The mic level, -20dBu output is matched to the output volume of the speakers, as deter­mined by the setting of the Level control. If you were to place a microphone in front of
the speakers, the volume level of the XLR Direct Out would be approximately the same.

If you need to consider family and neighbors, you can defeat the internal speakers by
plugging a dummy cable into the Speaker jack.

Be sure the dummy plug is not

connected to ground in any way or damage may occur.

You can then use

headphones through your mixer.

For live gigs, you can use this output to go direct into a PA system or to chain with our
own

Bass Power Engine 60™

powered

extension cabinets, in mono or stereo. (See
sample Hook-up Diagrams and refer to “Optional Accessories” in the Specifications for
more information.)

GROUND LIFT

Connects or disconnects the ground circuits between the XLR Direct Out of the
Landmark 120 and the mixer. We recommend starting with the ground lifted. If neces­sary, connect the ground by pushing the button in.

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EFFECT LOOP

The Effect Loop allows you to connect external effects between the pre-amp and power
amp section of the Landmark 120. Connect the input of your effect to Send; output of
your effect to Return. We recommend that time-based (i.e., chorus or delay) effects be
inserted in the Effect Loop and external distortion, wah and compression be placed
between your guitar and the Landmark 120’s top panel Input.

Be aware that you can also use the Send as an alternate 1/4" direct out, should an XLR
input not be available on your recorder.

SPEAKER (300 watts RMS @ 16 Ohms)

CAUTION: DO NOT CONNECT THIS OUTPUT TO SPEAKER SIMULA­TORS OR LOAD BOXES THAT MAY BE CONNECTED TO GROUND or
damage may occur to the amp or other equipment.

By incorporating Tech 21’s exclusive technology with our custom-designed Eminence®
Neodymium 15” speaker, the Landmark 120 gives you the speaker cabinet configura­tion associated with each tube amp style.

If you want to use an external speaker cabinet, simply plug in the speaker cable from
the external cabinet. This will defeat the internal speaker. Do not use speakers rated
less than 16 Ohms, as it could cause undesirable distortion or potentially overheat the
amp. Speakers rated at a higher value could result in loss of power.

Note: The

Landmark 120 speaker is specifically designed to complement our specialized circuitry.
Therefore, using standard commercial speakers may result in a significant change of
the sound. For more information, please contact Tech 21’s technical support depart­ment.

Matching 1x12 Bass Power Engine 60 is available. For more information, refer to
“Optional Accessories” in the Specifications.

HEADPHONE

CAUTION: DO NOT CONNECT ANY GROUNDED DEVICES TO THIS
OUTPUT or damage may occur to the amp or other equipment.

Headphone output overrides speaker for undisturbed (and non-disturbing) practicing.

NOTEWORTHY NOTES & CONSIDERATIONS

Basses with active electronics have inherently higher output and therefore tend to gen­erate more noise. To compensate, lower the volume on your bass and use flat tone set­tings or decrease the Drive, Presence and Treble controls on the Landmark 120 to
achieve your desired sound.

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LANDMARK 120 SPECIFICATIONS

Note: With on-going product development and improvements, specifications and/or

the cosmetic appearance of this unit may change without prior notice.

Model Number: LM120

Input Impedance: 1MOhm
Nominal Input Level: -10dBu
Optimal Output Load: 16 Ohms
Power Output: 120W
Effect Loop Input Impedance: 1MOhm
Effect Loop Input Level: approx. -6dBu*
Effect Loop Output Impedance: 1KOhm
Effect Loop Output Level: approx. -20dBu*
XLR Output Level: approx. -20dBu*

*Measured using a -10dB 400Hz test signal with all amp controls flat (12 o’clock).

Maximum Power Consumption: 240W
AC Input Power (factory set): 100V, 117V, 230V, 240V
Cycles: 50/60 Hz

NOTE: Each unit constructed for specific voltages. AC power cannot be switched.

Speaker: Tech 21 Model #2115-BN / 300W - 16 Ohms

Custom Eminence® Neodymium 15”

Dimensions: 20.25”w x 22”h x 15.5”d
Weight: 48 lbs.

Optional Accessories:

•Black vinyl cover

with silver embroidered logo.

•

Bass Power Engine 60: For running in stereo or for more volume, this
matching 1x12 cabinet provides 60 watts of transparent power without
any additional coloration to the sound. This multi-function cab can also be
used as a pre-amp amplifier, as well as a personal monitoring system.

Replacement parts (i.e., knobs, grill panel, speaker, logo plate, handle, etc.) are
available through your authorized dealer, distributor or directly from Tech 21.

®

Registered trademarks of their respective companies.

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