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After tweaking the amp a little more, and with the Tone Tubby ceramic San Rafael 10" speaker installed, here are my impressions of how the Tramp sounds.

In Tweed mode it goes from cleans to a nice breakup, similar to a Tweed Champ or Princeton. To do the Tweed thing you would normally turn the MV all the way up, since Tweed amps don't have an MV, and then adjust playing volume with the Volume/Gain control. The overall tone is a little dark (or "woolly"), exactly as you would expect with a Tweed. Perfect for some smoky blues. I also found myself going for the Neil Young chords, as not surprisingly it nails his tweed tones. Les Paul players may prefer to use the front-panel fat/thin switch on the thin setting, and the Treble and Bass controls also come in very useful here. i really like the San Rafael speaker's nice balanced tone.

In 'tude mode, the amp engages a higher gain range, with a brighter edge on the tone. Rolling the Volume/Gain control back still yields some great chimey cleans. Gradually increasing the Volume/Gain control takes the it past a gentle breakup and into Marshall territory, and even some way further towards Mesa land. With all of the controls dimed (including the tone pots) it's total filth, with the San Rafael also contributing to the breakup. You can also dial down the MV control without losing tone. You can get nice bedroom playing levels by using the MV and Power Control (VVR) together. The VVR can yield some nice brown tones as well, when its turned down.

This is still a work in progress, but I sense we're getting close now. So now it's a matter of getting feedback from more different players. Stephen tells me that Lawrence tried it yesterday, and preferred the brighter Jensen alnico speaker. So we have some differences in taste here, which is a good thing.

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Great tones come in small glass jars!

Lawrence was around Monday. We had a good tonal workout about 2 hours long.

First off, he likes it and thinks it has a place in the Trinity Amps lineup. Likes the way he could play the MV & VRM to get a brown, quiet sound. Likes the Fat /Thin sound.
Wasn't BF clean not Marshall either but at times, close to his Mesa. Killed Sweet Home Alabama clean / loud tone. Nice clean pickings too even with a hard pick attack on a strat. LP, easy to get Tom Petty sounds and some pretty heavy rock. Very roots / grunge capable.

He found he was adding treble & dropping bass (180 degrees opposite). Mostly to compensate for a 10" TT speaker. He though it could use some more sparkle in the top end.
We talked about scooping mids more (possibly to compensate for a 10" speaker) . i.e. change the setting to drop about 3db in the mid range. I worked it our that if the mid control was set to 15% / 90% (7.5K/43K) you'd get a 3 db scoop .
Bass control is pretty subtle. 10" TT was dark and thick OK for some sound but he preferred the Jensen Alnico. So after several swaps, we left it in. Also Jensen is 6 db more efficient so very loud.

We're going to try again on Wed I think, with the scooping & see if we can nail it.

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

Lawrence was around again today. I fitted the midrange with a pot so we could play with it in real time and measure the best resistance. I also installed the custom Heyboer OT for this round.

We set the midrange back to stock usign the pot and compared it to determine the effect of the new OT. What a difference! The Heyboer was open, clear, harmonic and sparkly. It could not have been better. Strat was clean and csisp and jangle. Les Paul was thick, rich with great harmonics.

The new Heyboer OT is another real winner!!

Then I started to adjust the midrange pot and while Lawrence played we listened until we found a sweet spot we liked. After several attempts, we always went back to almost stock. 20K / 30K split on the pot. So that was a minor scoop increase of about 2 db. Stock design was 25K/25K.

In typical fashion, I said, let max it & lets minimize it. Not expecting much, just to see...well, minimum was nothing special, but max was unbelievable! It certainly brings up the midrange AND some treble. This gave the amp a real Fender 'quack' with a Strat. Snappy, tough. Awesome.
With the Les Paul Lawrence thought it was perfect. 'Every LP player would want that tone'. On really complex chords, the sound was rich with harmonics, yet very clear, not mushy or sloppy. Articulate and clear - on the 'tude setting even with the fat switch in.

It was great to hear so many classic riffs sound so much like the original - a testament to Lawrence's playing and the Tramp.

We had a lot of fun today and it was a real learning experience. On Monday he liked the Tramp, today, he loves it.

On to the Studio. Brent, get ready!

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

Oh, I forgot, Lawrence also said it would make a fine studio amp!

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

Still waiting to send you money for one.
Are there any drawings or dimensions for the Tramp combo cab?
Deluxe and cab arrived Tuesday, you do mighty fine work Stephen

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Fantasy Noise is what my shop of dreams is called and was the only way to beat my addiction, like many here I suffer from G.A.S.


Tele's make the best noise

Thanks. I was hoping you'd like that cab. Enjoy the build.

As fpr the Tramp. This weekend the chassi mechanicals will be finalized. the cricuit is done. Lots of testing on the Tramp has shaken out plenty of design changes. The amp is more than the sum of the parts!!

Final BOM will be done this weekend as well and then pricing.

I received the latest OT from Heyboer I affectionately call the Tramp 'Fat Stack'. 1/4" more laminations than the first one for less loss; more bass.
That should wrap it up.

Current cabinet is smaller than the Tweed Deluxe at 18"w X 16"h X 9.5"d . 3/4" Pine, finger jointed, slant front. Probaly will put a larger slant on them than the first one.

Standard issue for 10" speaker but hope to be able to accommodate a 12"

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

Kit Pricing & Details here: Tramp Kit Details

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

Million $ question.....can a 'head' kit be ordered (I'm not a 'combo' guy )??

I guess the only diff would be faceplates/stenciling??

Keith

For a million dollars, I'll build anything for you!

I spent a couple of hours moving parts around on the computer and full size layout drawings & chassis drawings etc., etc. and I can fit it all in including KT66 size tube as well!

So the million dollar answer is yes.

It's very ambitious to create such a versatile amp & chassis. Next step is to get the chassis made up.

No more requests please!!

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