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Hi all! I want to thank Stephen and everyone else who has posted in the forum. I spent a lot of time reading before starting my build. A special shout out to Snowy! You build post is required reading! Stephen, between your instructions and Snowy's post my Tramp appears to have no problems on start up! I used a dim bulb tester on start up. Initial voltage checks appear ok and the amp is "QUIET"! No hum or squeal. I used a infrared thermometer to check for heat and everything is running cool. Except for the nice warm tubes! I plugged my guitar in and we have sound! Whoohoo! I had to quit at that point so I'll check her out further later today. I'm using a 8'' speaker in a Kustom tube 12 combo for the start up so I really don't know how she sounds yet. I'll post a cpl pics later too, but I shamelessly copied Snowy as much as possible. Stephen thank you for steering me toward the Tramp instead of the 18 watt. It was a blast to build! Probably habit forming! Now I have to finish that head cab ASAP.

Thanks again!

Thanks for the post. We're always thrilled when another amp successfully fires up with no problems. Looking forward to pictures and extended user report.

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

Congrats on the new Tramp build and thanks very much for the favourable mention of my build thread, building and documenting that amp was a wonderful and fun experience for me and it does make me feel good to find out it has been useful to others, wow I just realised it was 2 years ago now, where did the time go?

I hope you get as much enjoyment from your new amp as my Tramp continues to give me.

Snowy

Thanks for the help Snowy! Maybe you or someone else can help. I have barely had time to play the amp due to other life issues but I decided to mod the impedance switch for El34 use following your thread. Before the mod it sounded good and loud! Now after the mod I have very little volume and it's very fizzy! So I swapped out the new EL34 for the original 6V6 hoping it was a bad tube. Same result. Oh, the amp is quiet and only fizzy when the guitar is strummed. Other than undoing the mod and running the 2.5k tap to the plate I don't see what I did wrong. Any ideas? I will attach pics and wait for rescue!

I know the mod works iF wired correctly bout it Is a biT of a tough mod. I can't tell from the pics if it is wired Ok. I assume you have a schematic for it.
While it is an elegant solution, We don't actually do it that way anymore. We do it with a Toggle switch.

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

Thanks for the reply Stephen. Good news! I found the problem. It was a bad patch cord from amp to cab. I mowed the grass after posting the plea for help. Always seems to help to walk away and clear your mind while mulling over a problem. I realized that I used a cord I just recently found in a closet. Decided to retry with a known good cord. She works and sounds great again! I think if I had it to do over again I'd go the separate switch too. Next build! This thing is actually quite loud with a 12" speaker when cranked!

Great news to hear. Yes, with a EL34, with gain up and fat, it's a rocker!

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

You know what, I had the same thing happen to me, I thought my Output Tranny was going South, but it was the same thing you found, a bad cable. I got caught out a bit as I had purchased two new speaker leads, one to use and one as backup and "assumed" they were new and hence "good", that is until I had a look inside the connectors. Here's my posting when it happened to me.

viewtopic.php?f=16&t=3256

Glad to here you got it sorted.

Happens with input cables too. It happened to me today. Cable was noisy and since you build amps, you figure it's the amp! But it was the cable and one I had rebuilt.

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

It's even worse when you cable is good and you forget to plug it in. I built a stompbox once and couldn't figure out why I had no sound with the pedal engaged or off. Amp was on. Pedal had a battery. Cable from guitar to pedal was fine. Other cable was plugged into the pedal output. D'oh! Forgot to plug that cable into the amp.

What an idiot! I was ready to throw the thing against a wall before I realized my mistake.

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Go Buckeyes!

We've all made those mistakes

It's always a pain when you can't get your amp/pedal working then you realize you don't have tubes/ICs in....

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http://pdfelectronics.com

Or the amp isn't turned on!!

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