trinityamps.com

Hi

I just finished my Lightning and first of all I want to thank Stephen for providing so much help and to share his very valuable knowledge.

I started the build nearly one year ago, when I decided that after crawling through lots of websites about DIY tubeanps, I liked the concept of the Lightning very much, the sound clips were very likable too and the very helpful guide Stephen provided, convinced me to give it a try.

Because I did a lot of soldering and general electro technical work in my former working career, the actual building just took a few days, I used my own layout where I separated the power supply and the audio part from each other and followed the advices regarding the star grounding.

Unfortunately when I finished 95% of the work I took a long break for some reasons. Just two weeks ago I realised that I had some free time and needed some distraction when my unfinished baby on the workbench smiled at me. I just needed to put the last two resistors in place, mount the OT, wire the output jacks and was ready to go.

The only thing that really went wrong was simply the PT who was faulty. He went up in smoke…….I get a new one without any hassles from the supplier, so this Wednesday was finally the great day.
I said to my self ‘all or nothing’, plugged the tubes in, put the power switch on (For testing I used a 4x10’ speaker box with celestions and my Ibanez IC300).
First I heard…nothing; the tubes were glowing, no smoke or smell showed up. Silence. I owned some tube amps before (Fender 75, Boogie DC-3) and they all were more or less humming when turned on (The MV was about 50% turned on). But this little sucker was quiet, just when I moved the MV to 80% a modest humming starts to show up.
I plugged my guitar in and I just couldn’t stop playing. That what is all about, playing and enjoying the sound.
I was and still am more than satisfied with the result. With total cost of about 260 € it is a steal, compared to the prices you have to pay in a shop.
My observations so far:
1) You have to work on the controls. They all affect each other a lot. But it’s worth it.
2) This amp is bright. But actually I like it bright.
3) This bird sings. Compared with my F75 he wins hands down regarding distortion. Even with a lot treble it still sounds pleasant. It can compete with a Boogie DC-3 easily.
4) He reacts very, very sensitive on the guitar tone controls and the pick-ups. I can change the sound from very bright to dark and bluesy just by turning the controls. A thing I hardly ever did with my other amps.
5) The 15 Watt are decent but not too loud (I play in the basement of my house so nobody complains anyway… ).
6) Compared to my commercial amps he is astounding quiet.

I have to say overall a very trouble-free and pleasant experience. I can only encourage everybody who knows where the hot part of a soldering iron is to give it a try. Its fun and the result can be very satisfying.

Today a friend who is an exceptional guitarist will come around with 2 or 3 of his favourite guitars and we will see how it sounds with different types. If any body is interested in a review on that, I can post about it next week.

Peter

Peter,

Sounds like you did a great job there. Congratulations!

The description of the amp is exactly what I would expect. The controls are interactive and greatly affect each other. They do take some getting used to so spend the time to learn how they work together. Explain this to your friend.

This is a very responsive amp and tonaly, very versatile. It will take a while to learn all about it, but you know, it will be worth it!

We're all looking forward to the next review and hopefully some clips.

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

Great job Pete! Its nice to hear your sucess story. Like you I was very happy with the Lightnig I built. Any way for you to post some pictures? I would love to see the inside & hear some comments on your build.

JOE

Hi,
just a quick note. I just bought a new Digicam, so i will most likley take next week a few pics to post them. Our testing yesterday was very satisfying. We ended up to plan some serious recording with this little monster. So i hope to post a few audioclips in the near future. Just a short comment from my co-tester: 'Forget about ampsimulation'.
More to come.

Peter

I'd like to see some inside shots & the cab as well and I'd really like to hear some clips. Let me know if you need help posting anything.

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

Amen!

_________________
PJM

http://www.diyguitarist.com

Hi,

Here is the review of the extensive testing which took place on Saturday evening.
We (A good friend and even a far better guitar player and my self were the testing crew)

We used 5 different guitars and also tried 2 basses.

1st guitar: Ibanez Artist Semi acoustic, Build around early 80s. 2 Humbuckers:
The secret star of the test. When I plugged in for the first time, I had the feeling that the guitar was breathing. The amp and the guitar were falling in Love immediately. We both agreed that this guitar was the highlight of the test. The attack and response when playing were just outstanding. We could dial sounds from pure Jazz to Heavyrock with out any problems. The Lightning produces always a very strong and direct sound, never queasy. If you own a Lightning, try a semi acoustic, I think its worth it.

2nd guitar: Roland GR303, used usually with the GR300, 2 Humbuckers :
This is a quiet unusual one. She is heavy as a rock has a neck thru body construction and is not easy to play. But I seldom heard a tone that is that thick and powerful. With this one and a Lightning you end up playing like Carlos Santana. Apart from a very nice clean sound with was round and very rich, we mamaged after a short while of turning the controls around to get a endless sustain which put every Boogie to shame. As long as you touch the sides the tone was standing without ever fading away. It was almost like playing cello. My friend who played two different Boogies (Mark1 and DC-3) in his musical career, was more than imprested.

3rd guitar: Steinberger Spirtit Pro, very handy guitar for a fair Price 2 Humbuckers / 1 Single Coil:
This was surprisingly the disappointment of the bunch. This guitar is very easy to play and give a very wide range of sounds with the modern multieffekts (Korg, Zoom etc). So we were surprised when we started to play. The sound was dull, very sludgy. We couldn’t get this one to sound decent in any way. In our view it’s simply that this guitar has no body and the pickups are somehow on the cheap side. The Lightning showed without any mercy that this guitar is not made to be played life, it is for practicing at home with earphones. To sound a guitar needs body and wood. The Lightning loves guitars with a good body and shows you without any doubt when a guitar is lacking in themes of pickups and/or building.
4th guitar: Harley Benton HBT2000, build in Vietnam, Telecaster but with a neck thru body construction. 2 singlecoils:
This guitar is a steal for what it does. Its costs here 200 € and put most even 6 times more expensive Telecasters copies or even the originals to shame. We started to playing around, added a little reverb and a very soft chorus and it sounds like heaven. The Lightning produced a bright, sparkling sound, with out any dead spots. My friend was playing a tune where he constantly changed from deep sounding chords to very bright arpeggios and the sounds were rolling thru the room as if there were alive. After that we started to get dirty and ended up with a sound that reassembled the sound Jimmy Page used on the first LedZep LP. If you ever wanted to play ‘Communication Breakdown’, ‘Dazed and Confused’ or even ‘How many more Times’ and sound like Jimmy himself then this guitar and a Lightning will do it.

5th Ibanez Icemann IC300, build 1982, 2 Humbuckers. This guitar is loud and powerfull. Plug it into a Lightning and you are ready to rock. It sounds like a LesPaul with lots of extra treble. The Lightning is capable to produce these extra trebles without ever sounding annoying. Just one tune on the guitar control and you can change from dark to screaming bright. The tone is very lively and so much fun to play that we decided to start some recordings in the near future.

Many words for a thing you should hear, I know, but I will do some recordings in the near future, so I hope I can provide a few clips.
The overall comments from my co-tester:
This amp is like a mirror; you get up in the morning and take a look. And there is nothing which will hide anything you see. This amp is brutal honest about the quality of your guitar and you’re playing. If the guitar is bad it will sound bad. If you play not straight to the point everybody will hear it, there is no hiding and no sugar-coating. But the sound is amazing. The amp produces crispy heights and dark rolling sound without any delays. The attack is the fastest every experienced. Just look at the strings and the tone is right there.

And now the pics:




Here is our test stack with two of our favorites.



A closeup of the 'monster'. I didnt focus on look that much...



Here are the guts. You see the power-section is seperated from the rest. I will be glad to answer any question about it.

Keep on rocking.

Peter

Totally excellent, outstanding review. Thank you very much for that and the pictures of your build. You guys really put it through it's paces.

If you ever post clips, that would be awesome.

I'm going to suggest one thing. Sometime, replace those orange drop coupling caps with Mallory 150s. They will improve the sound of this amp. But , it sounds like a winner in all respects.

I see how you did the cap section. Something like my original one. Also noticed you put the grid resistors for V1 on the jacks. As long as there is not additional interference or hum - right on!

What iron did you use. I've never seen those before?

Thanks!

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

Hi

About the iron:

The PT is a 'Allpurpose Tubetransformator' sold by a local Tubeshop. Good value for the money(50 €). The only downside was the blowout of the first i had. But the second one is now working without any flaws.

The OT and the choke is from a German company called 'Engel' they build a lot of diverent PTs and OTs. I bought both on Ebay for just 25€, i think they cost about 70 € when purchased regularly. The OT has 8K and 10k on the input, and he has 4, 8. 16 and 100 Ohm on the outputs. So he is very versatile. And when listened to the result i think he is worth every cent. Type is GA10-1. They have a webside 'hsgm.com'. The choke is called ND-100. They have now a OT which meets exactly the 4 K Ot mentioned in the original schematic (GA-35).

I am now looking for a good digital recorder. Hope to record in about 2 or 3 weeks some clips.

About the V1 thing: Well the amp is quiet, but if you use a faulty or not so good cable you instantly get a lot more noise. We actually were joking around that we could use the Lightning as a cable-tester.

Peter

Why the big long loops of twisted pair for the heaters?

Good question, no reason at all. Dont know what i had in mind when i was doing it......