# My Trinity TC-15 amp - you guys dont know what youre missing!



## ajcoholic

I have had a few threads here describing my experience over the last year and a half about building some of the amp kits from Trinity AMps ( www.trinityamps.com - located in Toronto). I have to say, of the three models I have built - the 15 watter, the 18 watt Marshall clone and the 5E3 Deluxe - it is the 15 (a Matchless lightning "inspired" amp) that I have fallen in complete love with. I have played it for over a year now and it is THE tone monster I have been after for years.

Last year they came out with a two channel 15 watter, with the 2nd channel being EF86 based (more drive). I knew I would eventually have to build one, and this past week I did! The Trinity TC-15 is the same as the original 15, with the extra channel. I ended up building a combo cabinet for my original 15 (easier to cart to rehersals and jams), and built a head cab for the TC-15 which I will use primarily for home and gigging with my 4x12 cabinet.

The kit is very well layed out, and although its not the simplest wiring to do if you have no experience, it is totally doable for one with some patience and a will to succeed.

ANyhow, I just cant believe that more Canadian guitarists are not talking about such high quality and awesome sounding amps...? My TC-15 totally BLOWS my Fender, Orange and MArshall amps out of the water (and cost a lot less!) They sell completed amps for those who cant solder/assemble but the real costs savings is in building your own...

ANyhow, here are a few pics of the guts after completeion, and the finished product... (the head is pearwood and claro walnut).

AJC


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## Stratin2traynor

Man that's a sweet looking amp. You did a fantastic job with that build. LOVE the look of the custom cab. Hats off to you.


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## Guest

Gorgeous head shell you built. So many amps, so little time (and money...)


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## ajcoholic

iaresee said:


> Gorgeous head shell you built. So many amps, so little time (and money...)


Yes, there are a lot - but honestly, with two of STephen's 15 watters I am done searching for "my" perfect tone. I love the 18 watter and the Deluxe as well (the 18 watter has a fine marshall tone, and the deluxe is awesome for that trademark blues tone), but for me and the type/style of music my band plays the 15 along with my effects board can do it all.

I find the 18 W and 5E3 do not take effects as well as the 15 watter does (not bad, just not as well in my opinion - I leave my 15 watter on chimy clean and use a tube screamer for milder OD tones, and my Plexitube pedal for harder/crunchier stuff). Just about covers it all!

We play a wide mix of stuff in our set list from older stuff like the Hollies and Beatles to 70's rock (Skynyrd, Grand Funk, etc) to 80's stuff like the Cars and then a lot of Tom Petty, Tragically hip, etc in the mix - and even some Sabbath, Kiss, etc... Like I said a WIDE variety. 

Being able to go from a crystal clear chimy clean to a searing hard rock tone with one amp and a few effects is awesome. I have been on the hunt for "the" amp for a while. Spent a lot of $$ in vain and also tried various effects untill I settled on what I have now. Its always easy after the fact... maybe someone else can learn from my experience and save some cash 

AJC


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## Greg Ellis

Can we see the back of the head?

I'm curious about ventilation (don't see any in the pics).


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## ajcoholic

Greg Ellis said:


> Can we see the back of the head?
> 
> I'm curious about ventilation (don't see any in the pics).


Certainly...










It was on constantly from 8pm last night when we did our soundcheck, to 2:05 am when we shut down. As all of my wooden cased heads, the case gets warm but the ventilation seems adequate for keeping things under control.

The new TC15 is a standard "tubes up" style amp chassis. The original 15 is like the lightning, ie, hanging down with the tubes upside down. The purpose of this was reportedly to keep the EL84's hot - supposed to sound better when they get really warm. I dont know if it makes any difference either way...

AJC


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## µ¿ z3®ø™

that is a seriously pretty amp. well done.
Ur 'tone report' seems to indicate that Ur TC-15 has similar timbral characteristics as my, much more expensive, 15 year old matchless DC30. 
yet another data point for me that indicates that the trinity amps are worth looking onto.


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## Gibson Guy

Wow, that's an impressive job you did. And thanks for letting us know about it. I'd never heard of them before. I'll be checking them out now.


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## Guest

Out of curiosity: what happens if you run signals to both input channels at the same time? Good things? Bad things? Nothing?


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## ajcoholic

iaresee said:


> Out of curiosity: what happens if you run signals to both input channels at the same time? Good things? Bad things? Nothing?


I havent tried it yet... I know I have (and you can) jumper the two sides on my 18 watt'r, and the tweed deluxe. I'd imagine maybe you can on this too?

Last night's gig I was playing again from 9pm to 2:30pm - with the last of the three sets near an hour and 40 minutes! (packed bar, people were dancing and we didnt want to dissapoint). I didnt get too much time to fool around seeing as how I just finished the amp FRiday before the gig.

But, it survived two hard nights of playing without incident 

Now I can take more time to explore the EF86 channel (awesome crunch so far!) and maybe try jumpering as well...

What I can say, is that this "little" 15 watts of power, set at about 1/4 on the volume and played through my 4x12 can EASILY power you in a bar type setting (we do play the guitars/bass/drums through the PA as well, but mainly rely on the cabs for the bulk of our sound). 

The thing is, I wish more fellow Canadian guitar players would realise what a gem we have in this company, Trinity amps. Its located right here in Toronto, ON and STephen, the owner, has the BEST service I have received from any company. Their amp designs are just plain and simple tone machines.... and you should at least take a look at one IMO if you are looking for a high quality, all tube amp. 

AJC


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## Greg Ellis

So, no channel-switching built into the amp, right?

You just use an external AB footswitch to jump between clean and dirty sounds?


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## ajcoholic

Yes, thats correct...

AJC


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## coco

iaresee said:


> Out of curiosity: what happens if you run signals to both input channels at the same time? Good things? Bad things? Nothing?


It all works. More gain, more push, more complex sound. Wonderful IMO. Channel switching eh??

Thanks to Andrew for a great post.


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## Greg Ellis

So an ABY pedal would give you easy access to all three sounds. Nice!


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## Stratin2traynor

I've listened to the sound clips on the Trinity site and find that the guitar recordings sound kind of anemic. Any chance you could record something using a 4x12 or even a 2x12?


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## Guest

Greg Ellis said:


> So an ABY pedal would give you easy access to all three sounds. Nice!


That's just what I was thinking. Clean, crunch, clean + crunch?

ajcoholic: if you're doing clips any chance you can do a jumpered clip? I'd love to hear that.


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## Mooh

Sounds great, and it's the reason for the old-fashioned two amp set up, one or the other or both at the same time. I've started to go back to that setup.

Peace, Mooh.


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## coco

coco said:


> It all works. More gain, more push, more complex sound. Wonderful IMO. Channel switching eh??
> 
> Thanks to Andrew for a great post.


Well, retain both channels with all inputs and only an A-B-Y channel switcher would do.


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## ajcoholic

Well, unfortunately I am computer-challanged and I have no knowledge how to put up sound clips on the computer...I wish I could.

I also think that you will never hear the sound the way it really is from a clip running through crappy desktop speakers like I have. 

I wish you can try my amp out and see for yourself! Its golden man, just amazing.

The rythm guitar player in my band uses an Orange rockerverb 50 head - he paid $2600 for it. He just purchased a TC-15 kit same time as I did, and we are making his up now. I imagine his Orange will soon be collecting dust sitting unused as mine has been.

AJC


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## Stratin2traynor

What kind of music do you normally play? I listened to some clips of a Matchless Independent through a 4x12? on YouTube it sounded great. I'm just wondering if this is in the same sorta ballpark. The guy testing it was playing some Gov't Mule.

Ooops. I reread your previous posts. What about the Warren Haynes Gov't Mule type sound???


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## ajcoholic

Stratin2traynor said:


> What kind of music do you normally play? I listened to some clips of a Matchless Independent through a 4x12? on YouTube it sounded great. I'm just wondering if this is in the same sorta ballpark. The guy testing it was playing some Gov't Mule.
> 
> Ooops. I reread your previous posts. What about the Warren Haynes Gov't Mule type sound???


I am not too familiar with Gov't Mule - sorry!

AJC


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## J-Rock

Hey everyone. 

I have just finished building a TC-15 combo. While the chassis is still bare (I hope to work with coco to get the prototype cabinet built over the next couple of weeks), I have been playing it through an extension cab I have, a 1x15 Traynor.

This amp has all the sounds I could ask for being a dyed in the wool metal head, :rockon2: with tastes from Metallica through modern stuff like Disturbed, Alexisonfire, through the Chili Peppers, for clean sound etc. And this amp delivers. I can get a clean sound out of this thing, which rivals any I have heard, with a chime-like tonality, which I would swear was running through some chorus and perhaps even touch of reverb.

The version of the TC-15 I have built has the optional switchable Master Volume, which allows me to get some serious distortion with a set of humbuckers to play some thrash without asking the wife and kids to leave the house. Then when I switch the MV, it's out of the circuit and I can crack it loud for the distortion or keep it low for that jangly clean sound I mentioned.

Additionally, the Output Transformer "Crunch and Munch" switch allows two more combinations of sounds, switching between the 5K and 8K taps of the OT. Still haven't tried this in all permutations, but I plan to...

So, in summary, between the 2 channels, Master Volume, Crunch and Munch switch, this is one versatile amp at a good price, especially if you want to build it yourself, which I did as my first ever serious electronics project!!! The documentation was so good that mine fired up first time and no trouble shooting was required beyond one cold solder on the channel 2 volume pot.

Great product, IMHO.

J-Rock


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## ajcoholic

I wouldnt personally go as far as to say the TC15 has enough gain to play metal - not mine anyhow. The "stock" channel (like my original single channel 15) has a lovely crunch to it, and the EF86 side has a great overdriven tone - what I would say is a superb classic to harder rock tone IMO.

I use my plexitube overdrive pedal (from tonebone) to puch me into hard and heavy territory... 

The EF86 channel with a milder OD pedal like my TS808 is just heavenly!

Thats the beauty of the amp IMO, with a few pedals, and the tones on tap from the amp itself you can play pretty much anything.

I was just AB'ing my Trinity 15 against my Trinity 18 watter (sIII with plexi mods) and as much as I think the 18 watter sounds great, the 15 is THAT much better for me. 

AJC


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## Stratin2traynor

ajcoholic said:


> I wouldnt personally go as far as to say the TC15 has enough gain to play metal - not mine anyhow. The "stock" channel (like my original single channel 15) has a lovely crunch to it, and the EF86 side has a great overdriven tone - what I would say is a superb classic to harder rock tone IMO.
> 
> I use my plexitube overdrive pedal (from tonebone) to puch me into hard and heavy territory...
> 
> The EF86 channel with a milder OD pedal like my TS808 is just heavenly!
> 
> Thats the beauty of the amp IMO, with a few pedals, and the tones on tap from the amp itself you can play pretty much anything.
> 
> I was just AB'ing my Trinity 15 against my Trinity 18 watter (sIII with plexi mods) and as much as I think the 18 watter sounds great, the 15 is THAT much better for me.
> 
> AJC


What speakers are you using with the TC-15? You mentioned a 4x12 earlier but what's in it?


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## ajcoholic

Stratin2traynor said:


> What speakers are you using with the TC-15? You mentioned a 4x12 earlier but what's in it?


My Orange straight front 4x12 has 4 Celestion Vintage 30's. Its stock, closed back. It has tons of bottom end. Very sweet sounding cabinet.

I also play through a 1x12 open back with a single G12H-30 and my home built closed back 2x12 with a Tone tuby Alnico and a TT ceramic. That cab sounds VERY good as well, a little brighter and very crisp.

Some day when I get some more $$ I want to buy two more tone tubbies, and make a 4x12 with two ceramics and two alnicos.

Really, the trinity 15 watter sounds great through anything I play it through.

AJC


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## Stratin2traynor

Vintage 30's and Tone Tubby's. Love 'em both. I have a Tone Tubby Ceramic in my DRRI. Sounds awesome. I'm starting to gas for one of these TC15's.


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## J-Rock

Hey AJC.

Do you have the Master volume on your 15? I was cranking mine last night and with a Tokai Les Paul and my Gibson Explorer,which has some pretty hot pickups, I could get a pretty good Sabbath sounds with the Master engaged and the channel 2 volume on boom. 

Played a bit of Crazy Train, some old Metallica and I'd say, as my 15 stands, I wouldn't be far from enough gain to get those singing pinch harmonics Rhodes would've played; or even that pinch harmonic nut Zakk Wylde. I might play with some tube combinations to get more, but frankly, I have a Marshall for that tone, I wanted to illustrate the versatility of the TC-15.

Anyway, great amp, lots of sound options!!!:smile:

J-Rock


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## ajcoholic

Yes, my TC 15 has the master volume. I dont use it though - I prefer to get my real crunch from my Tonebone Plexitube. You can coax some awesome overdriven tones (but still not enough for modern hard rock or metal IMO - but then its not sold as a high gain amp anyhow) out of the amp at decent volumes with the master volume though - I just prefer to leave the amp itself more on the clean side and push it with pedals.

The EF86 channel is freaking HEAVEN on tap... seriously, my tubescreamer or the plexi set on the milder OD through that EF86 channel gives the absolute creamiest rich overdrive you have ever heard.

This amp should be bought by everyone who plays guitar... 

AJC

PS I just finished up the 2nd TC 15 kit I built with my guitarist (rythm( in my band... he called me tonight and asked if I want to buy his Orange rocker 50 head! LOL! I know what he is going through, after I played my 15 for a while my rocker 30 went up for sale.


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## bogoboy

*Trinity Amps*

I built one for my son last summer (18 watt combo). Stephen helped me through the ENTIRE process (I knew / know nothing about about electronics!!). The amp sounds excellent. The amp is as loud as a 100 watt Fender Twin (I know they are two totally different sounding amps). Stephen's service is UNSURPASSED!


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## bagpipe

bogoboy said:


> The amp sounds excellent. The amp is as loud as a 100 watt Fender Twin


I'm sure they are great amps, but I have to question this statement. My experience with Fender Twins is that they're slightly less loud than a nuclear explosion, but not by much.


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