# My Trinity 18 Watt build...



## Stratin2traynor

It seems there may be a little interest in this so I decided to post a diary of my first amp build. 

As far as experience goes, I am a diehard DIYer. That's about it. While I have used a soldering iron on occasion, I wouldn't say that I have much experience with them. I have built a couple of BYOC pedals and have modded about 5 Boss pedals with info from the internet and Monte Allums kits.

I just bought the Trinity 18 Plexi kit, transformer and choke set, and a 1x12 combo cab. Total including taxes and shipping to my door was $920.00. I already had a Greenback in a box waiting for the amp so the only other thing I had to buy was the tubes. Bought them from the tubestore.com for a reasonable price.

I would have built the cab myself and saved some money but, I thought about what I wanted (classic Marshall look) and what it would cost me to build it, not including headaches, and figured I would just dish out the cash and get the pre-made cab.

I just received my kit yesterday and started unpacking it. The cab looks absolutely phenomenal. I threw the Greenback in right away.








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Just bought a Multimeter today. I could have settled for the $24 one but instead went with the $88 idiot proof one. I bought an Extech Instruments EX420. Probably waaaaay more multimeter than I actually need but like my dad always said "better to have too much than to have not enough...osti!" (with french canadian accent)

I have to do a complete inventory of parts before I get started. I'll try to answer any questions you may have but again I have very limited experience and am not familiar with all of the lingo yet. :food-smiley-004:


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## Robert1950

I enjoy diaries like this. I'm a klutz, so at least I can live vicariously though your build.


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## ajcoholic

Just remember, if you are unsure about anything, email Stephen - he is very good to get back to you asap.

Also, the Trinity forum is excellent for questions and help.

The main thing in the beginning IMO is to ID all components and familiarise yourself with the layout.

Once you start soldering, you will want to keep going and ID'ing all the parts before hand allows uninterupted workirng.. 

Have fun!!:rockon2:

AJC


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## thechamp96

The cab looks great!! The professional workmanship really shows through. 

I bet you will have a lot of fun and learn a lot while putting this thing together. Thanks for starting this thread and I look forward to learning along with you!


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## al3d

ah..i keep seeing those little amps all over for a while now, my question is this, are they worth it?, i mean i see it's 920$, then a speaker, so we're looking at 1100$ for a "no name amp" basicaly. I've never tried those, so realy don't know how they sound or anything. So i'm just wondering if people go for those because they sound good?..or because it's a fun project?...

In any case, if i had the $$$...i'de love to build one..ahahah


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## Stratin2traynor

Did the inventory last night. There were a few items missing but after a quick email to Stephen, everything was straightened out and in the mail. 

I then started the turret board. The included Amp Builders Guide is pretty comprehensive and well laid out. I had no problem at all finding out where I should start. I got about 1/3 of the way through the turret board assembly before calling it quits for the night. So far so good (waaaaayyyyy easier than a BYOC pedal so far - components are bigger and the turret board is easy to work with. I'll post pictures of the board as soon as I'm done.


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## Stratin2traynor

Got the missing items in the mail today and finished off the turret board + leads.








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This part was pretty straight forward. Kinda like a paint by number...uhm...solder by looking at chart. The directions are very well laid out.

I then loaded up the chassis. Again, pretty straight forward. I just followed the pictures and descriptions in the manual. The one thing that slowed me down was figuring out which bolt/nut/washer to use where. But used my powers of deduction and just checked out some Gallery shots on the Trinity website and Forum and I was off to the races.

One minor issue was that two holes in the face plate were off - volume and tone for channel 1. When I say off I mean 1/32 to 1/16 of an inch off...Just enough to make it impossible to slide the two pots in to place. That was a quick fix as well - 3/8" drill bit and cordless drill straightened that out. 








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I decided to pack it in for tonight. I am now ready to wire everything into the chassis. That's gonna take awhile so I just have to wait for an evening where I have a couple of hours to kill. Until then....


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## Stratin2traynor

Just finished the tube heater wires. Tough job in a combo chassis. Imagine big hands handling little teeny weeny wires, tweezers, solder and iron... Did a continuity test with my handy multimeter and everything worked just fine. Took me about an 1 1/2 hours to get it done. Really got the hang of it by the time I got to the last tube socket (V1)...figures.

Notice the fine newbie workmanship.








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to be continued...


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## devnulljp

That sound you can hear? That's me taking notes...
Cheers.
(I hope you're going to post clips when you get it done?)


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## bagpipe

Ben, please continue to provide the updates as your amp comes together. I love the pictures and detailed descriptions. I'm thinking of taking the plunge on a Trinity Amps Tweed Deluxe kit and your posts are helping convince me that I should.

I guess you bought the cab from Trinity amps? I'm currently looking into that, as there is also a local builder who apparently builds great cabinets too. Anyone used these guys before?:
http://www.leylandsounddesign.com/


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## 1PUTTS

God I love watching other people build stuff...


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## Stratin2traynor

Derek. I bought the cab from Trinity. It looks awesome. They did a fantastic job. I was on the fence about combo vs head and combo won the coin toss - literally. Now that I'm in the heat of battle, I kinda wish I would have stuck with a head version. I could have built (or purchased) a nice 2x12 cab to use with it and my Epi Valve Jr. Besides if all goes well I wouldn't mind trying the TC-15 as well. I don't mind having a few amp heads but combos take up way more room.


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## Budda

this is coming along nicely! 

If I have 1K and a hankering for a marshall, I'm gonna get my buddy to build me this here bad boy.

i have the hankering, just not the money (or the need).

handy thread this is, cheers


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## Stratin2traynor

Just finished wiring in the power supply. Not that difficult once I figured out that the switches and indicator lights are not polarized. All I had to do was check the Trinity website and found the info on one of the forum threads.

Turned out pretty well. I took my time.

RECOMMENDATION: Take your time!








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Now time for some pistachios and some late night TV before hitting the sack. :food-smiley-004:


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## Stratin2traynor

Well...Wired up the tube sockets last night. Took about 3 hours with some good tunes thrown in. I'm sure I could've done it much faster but I took my time and thought out the layout for the wires. Had my wife show me how to braid them. Turn out pretty neat and tidy. 

If an experienced builder has a look, let me know if I made any mistakes please. I don't want this thing to blow up when I turn it on! :bow:








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Once I had it done, I realized that I could have made the little jumper wires between pin 4 and 5 a much easier job to do. I found them to be a huge pain in the ass because the shielding on the short wire would melt when it was heated. Once I took a good look at the finished product I realized I could have removed some extra sheathing from the one heater wire and just extended it to the next pin thus connect both with one wire. 

I would go back and redo it, but...

#1 - it's done
#2 - it looks pretty good as it is
#3 - not sure if I would have enough lead at this point and don't feel like fiddle f*&^ing around with it (actually I know I would have enough lead, I'm just telling myself that I may not because experience has proven time and again that I will likely screw it up while trying to "fix it")
#4 - I can't wait to finish and crank it up :banana:

So at this point, I pretty close to being done. Just have to do the pots and input jacks. After that I have to double check the connections and do a once over before flicking the switch.


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## greco

GREAT THREAD... Thanks so much for sharing the build process and for all the fantsasitic pics.

Your work (e.g., wire dressing, etc) is very impressive.

Peace

Dave


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## greco

deleted post


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## Stratin2traynor

Ok. I'm a little pissed off now. I was literally 30 - 60 minutes from finishing the amp when I noticed that I need 5 coax cables. I had prepared 4 coax cables (one from each input jack to V1) and finished soldering them in when I glanced at the layout drawing and saw that a !5th! coax was required to go from the Gain pot to V2. Here I am with no more coax left!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So now, I have to take what will feel like a really long break until I get some more coax!


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## starjag

Stratin2traynor said:


> So now, I have to take what will feel like a really long break until I get some more coax!


Bummer :-(


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## Scottone

Stratin2traynor said:


> Ok. I'm a little pissed off now. I was literally 30 - 60 minutes from finishing the amp when I noticed that I need 5 coax cables. I had prepared 4 coax cables (one from each input jack to V1) and finished soldering them in when I glanced at the layout drawing and saw that a !5th! coax was required to go from the Gain pot to V2. Here I am with no more coax left!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
> 
> So now, I have to take what will feel like a really long break until I get some more coax!


If you want a temporary solution until you get the coax, just twist a pair of wires togther and treat the 2nd wire like the shield of the coax (i.e. just connect the one end to ground). That way, you can at least get the amp fired up and make sure everything else is ok.


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## Stratin2traynor

Thanks. That's what Stephen at Trinity Amps told me as well when I gave him my sob story. I'll probably give it a try and make sure everything is running properly. I just have to find time now.


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## Scottone

Stratin2traynor said:


> . I just have to find time now.


Thats why I stopped building amps a few years ago 

I'm really temped to get one of the Trinity Deluxe kits though..

Looks like you're doing a nice job so far...just double check every connection before you fire it up (and also the polarity of all the electrolytic caps).


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## LowWatt

Scottone said:


> Thats why I stopped building amps a few years ago
> 
> I'm really temped to get one of the Trinity Deluxe kits though..
> 
> Looks like you're doing a nice job so far...just double check every connection before you fire it up (and also the polarity of all the electrolytic caps).


I just ordered the Deluxe kit on Saturday. Can't wait to try it out. Thanks for this thread, it's helping me get hyped up for the project.


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## Stratin2traynor

Well I decided to use some left over wire a friend had and hooked up that last coax cable. Ran into a little issue when I started doing plate tests. Voltages were kinda way off. After some discussion on the Trinity Forum and a further review of the layout, I learned that I hadn't grounded the copper bus bar. 

Soooooo...I fix that little problem and Voila! The plate voltages are still a little low (as far as I can tell - which isn't much so I'm waiting for a response from Stephen on the forum) but it works! 

Plugged in my guitar and got some great all on 10 crunch tones (cause I put all the knobs on 10!). Only had the chance to do that for a few minutes until I had to shut it down cause I was also in the middle of cooking dinner. Anyways, fired it up again tonight and was able to test all of the channels albeit at low volumes (kids were in bed). 

The only gripe I have at this point is that the input jacks seem to be a little small (narrow) because I can't fit my Planet Waves cables in them! So I'll have to figure something out for that little issue.

Anyways, here are some pics of the finished chassis. I'll post pics of the cab and all when I am "done".








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## Stratin2traynor

Well I still may have some minor voltage issues to deal with. I'll have to sit down and test the areas Stephen recommended. Despite the voltage issues, it sounds great. Had it cranked yesterday afternoon and ran all of my guitars through it. Sounded great with everyone. I can get AC/DC crunch in about 1/2 second. I introduced a few pedals into the mix and decided that it does in fact like pedals - a lot. 

Can't decide what guitar I like the most through it. Strat or LP. Quite frankly it loves both. 

Once I iron out the voltage issue (if there is one at all - coulda been user error on my part), I'll post pics of the finished product with an axe or two.

:banana:


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## Stratin2traynor

Thanks Paul. I'll keep that in mind. Hopefully I don't electrocute myself. I just want to make sure everything is as it should be electronically to avoid premature death (both me and the amp). Tone wise it's bang on the money.


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## Bob Rock

Are you going to post some sound clips. Would love hear what it sounds like.
Thanks


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## Emohawk

Very cool thread! I've built a Trinity sIII head, a Trinity Deluxe combo & I also built a 2204 head recently (sourced the parts myself for that one). Nothing more satisfying than playing through an amp you built yourself!

I will say wiring the tube sockets in the Trinity Deluxe chassis was a major pain. It's pretty tight in there. The end result was well worth it though. I would expect the 18w combo chassis is a bit more roomy, but I haven't built one so I can't really say.

Looking forward to seeing the end result!


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## LowWatt

Emohawk said:


> Very cool thread! I've built a Trinity sIII head, a Trinity Deluxe combo & I also built a 2204 head recently (sourced the parts myself for that one). Nothing more satisfying than playing through an amp you built yourself!
> 
> I will say wiring the tube sockets in the Trinity Deluxe chassis was a major pain. It's pretty tight in there. The end result was well worth it though. I would expect the 18w combo chassis is a bit more roomy, but I haven't built one so I can't really say.
> 
> Looking forward to seeing the end result!


Just finished my Tweed Deluxe. Very happy with the results. It was my first build and vey much a learning experience, but I didn't find it too difficult or cramped. How hard is the SIII build in comparison?


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## Stratin2traynor

I can't really compare the two other than from the pictures. I can't imagine the SIII being much more difficult. There are just more parts! I found the build relatively easy for my novice hands. I just forgot to hook up one ground wire. After that was done, it worked great.


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## mrmatt1972

Thanks for the great thread. I've been curious about what it would take to build a kit like this. If you can post some sound files with your finished photos that would be much appreciated. Hearing a mortal play the amp, rather than Lawrence Bethune, might be a better way to judge the sound... 

In total how many hours did you put into it?


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## Stratin2traynor

To be honest with you, I don't really know how many hours for sure. Probably around 10 but maybe less. It was relatively easy. Had to learn a few things about how to test components and I bought myself a pretty decent multimeter. 

As for sound files - I don't really know how to record them in a way that #1 displays the characteristics of the amp and more importantly #2 doesn't display how much I suck!

When I figure that out, I will post some clips. 

I don't really have anything with which to record the amp. I've tried with a M-Audio Black Box and a mic but that didn't work.


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## Budda

got a buddy who could help you out on the recording front?


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## LowWatt

No clips yet, but here is a gutshot of my Trinity Tweed Deluxe. I'll start my own thread on it once I've spent a little more time with it.


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## greco

LowWatt said:


> No clips yet, but here is a gutshot of my Trinity Tweed Deluxe. I'll start my own thread on it once I've spent a little more time with it.


Nice work LowWatt..congratulations !!

I just love these neked shots

Dave


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## Stratin2traynor

Ka-ching!!!!!!!!!!! Just hit the send button on my Paypal account (now drained). Stephen at Trinity will be sending me my second kit....TC-15 Head with VRM.

This time instead of buying the cab from Trinity, I'm going to try my hand at building one - head cab and 2x12. Should be fun. Once I get the kit I'll post my progress.


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## Tybone

TC-15 is a Great amp. Also, I have the VRM on my Trinity 18 and it is very very good when you want cranked amp feel at lower volumes.


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