trinityamps.com

Been lurking forever and debating the minutiae of every single detail before taking the plunge. Basically, I want to build a nice, Marshall style kit that would be the perfect change of pace to my Fender style Allen Old Flame.

After a lot of thought at the various Trinity 28 watters, I think the sIII is for me. I like the notion of the low gain JTM-45 type TMB channel paired with the classic 18 watt trem channel (without the trem, of course). The boost on the TMB seems gravy. When I think of what I like about Marshall tone, I absolutely love the edge of clean and distorted tones on "The Song Remains the Same" soundtrack just as much as the Rangemaster into JTM tones on the Beano album. sIII seems to give the best shot at those. That said, the description with regard to the Plexi almost tips the scales (TMB channel with more gain than the sIII, "original plexi" type other channel). I don't know. Whichever one, when mated with my Les Paul, would get closer to "Frampton Comes Alive" or "The Song Remains the Same" would be the one for me. If that's not the sIII, and is the Plexi, somebody please tell me!

Because I'm greedy, I figure I'll order with the v6 option. I understand the tube switching won't be footswitchable in a kit, but the feature seems cool enough to justify a little extra soldering, a couple extra tubes and $20.

Trinity transformers seem like a no-brainer. I just assume I'll order them when I order the kit.

That leaves the cabinet. Well, head cabinet for that matter. Do I have to order it all in one fell swoop or can it be ordered to trail the kit? I assume this may impact shipping fees and the 5% kit customer discount. Basically, I'm wishy-washy. I can't decide between a classic Marshall look and something crazy like those awesome looking red heads I see in the gallery. Even with the classic Marshall black, I'm unsure of the details.

1) Which black do you order for the "standard" or "classic" Marshall look? Is it the levant or the elephant? I'm simply not an expert on vinyl coverings. Which one is the Marshall-ish one?

2) I see black heads in the Gallery with gold piping and white piping (plus one cool one that only has the whilte outline and the gold everywhere else). For an 18 watter, which is "standard"? For what it's worth, the white and gold combo looked the best to me. Is that even an option or was it some sort of one-off?

3) I don't think grillcloth is an issue for a head cab, so that's one less detail!

4) Marshall strap handle seems the way to go. Any reason not to do that?

5) I assume the vent grill in the black is gold for the 18...

Sorry for all the rather odd questions. After all, it's just a cabinet. But if I'm building an 18 watt type head, I figure it should look Marshall-y! My Old Flame looks pleasingly blackface (except the purple light!).


Finally, if there's any reason to talk me into a Plexi v6 instead of a sIII v6, please tell me now.

Robert

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Go Buckeyes!

You will absolutely love the sIII. It sounds really good with a Rangemaster in front.

The differences between all the 18 versions amount to a small handful of components and an hours work. Order what your gut tells and build her up! Down the road if you want to make changes...... No big deal!!
Stew

I believe the options listed in the cabinets section are included in the price so as long as you stay within the offered pipings, tolex and whatnot then it shouldn't cost you extra.

I didn't care too much for the exact replica look and I liked the smoother look of the Mesa wrinkle tolex so I went with that. along with white and gold piping. As far as the amp looking "Marshally", since you are building it you get to pick exactly how you want it to look! then again I think the folks at Marshall did a damn fine job with the aesthetics of their amps, you really can't go wrong with the classic Marshall look!

I've ordered the 18W Plexi but I figured I'd pay a little extra and ordered the parts for the sIII just in case I change my mind! Now I just can't wait to receive the parts and start building!

Now next question for me is if I buy or build my speaker cabinet...

I was really more concerned with wondering if I had to do the order all at once since I'm not 100% certain with regard to the head. Go all retro? Modify slightly? Or do a really cool red one with white piping? While I'm unsure of that, it would be cool to at least get rolling on the chassis.

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Go Buckeyes!

Or like this

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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

I'm partial to Stephen's Gold and White piping. It sounds better . If you can't decide, get two.

Order later is not a problem, discount still applies but shipping will just cost more. As to detail, Elephant was for later Marshall amps. Levant is classic early Marshall. Mostly black but lots of`others to tempt you!

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

Yes, I'm already imagining my BYOC Triboost blasting into one!

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Go Buckeyes!

Sending you an email in a few moments...

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Go Buckeyes!

Yeah, on the gallery page, the last two heads pictured are a pair of Triwatts. One is in a really rough looking tolex (gussing it must be the "elephant"). The other is in that Mesa wrinkle stuff. The Mesa looking one looks awesome. If I ever build a Triwatt, it's going to look like that!




Drat, I left that bit out of my email to Trinity. I want to order an sIII. I guess I need to ask for a quote on the parts for Plexi, just in case.

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Go Buckeyes!

I'm with you 100% on that "Mesa" style tolex. My 2204 build is in a Trinity small-box cab with that stuff & it looks killer. It's in the gallery also - kirby-2204 or something like that.

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SG + Brit tube head = Nirvana

Oh yes, I remember that one. That one stands out as an interesting combo of vintage (old school black with gold piping) and modern (Mesa tolex and the fact that it's a 2204 and not some sort of Plexi). Really cool.


The more I gape at those pics, the more the red tolex and white piping jumps out at me. I'm usually fairly traditional, but the red "qualifies" in my mind since I recall my brother-in-law playing clubs for years with a Marshall 50 watt halfstack featuring a red head. Plus, as cheesy as it sounds, as an American, red and white seems like a nice homage to our friends up there in the Great White North building these amps and kits.

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Go Buckeyes!

Check out the exterior picture of Brent's Triwatt in the Triwatt forum. That is *the* authentic original style tolex for a Hiwatt amp - hence also for a Triwatt.

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Great tones come in small glass jars!

I'm assuming you mean the one in the "Sly-Fi Studios TRIWATT" thread. That one looks like it may have the same rough covering as the one shown as the very last entry on the Trinity Gallery Head page. Is that stuff "black elephant"?

Is the Fender-ish tolex the "levant"?

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Go Buckeyes!

Go to the gallery, tolex pics are at the end of kits and parts

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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 for the tip. It all FINALLY makes sense. I've looked at the gallery page for Heads and the one for Combos dozens of times, but I hadn't really bothered with the Artist or Kit pages. Serves me right. I couldn't figure out why there wasn't some sort of info on the Trinity page. I guess there was all along.

As I sat here on my lunch hour, I had just decided a few minutes ago to poke around the Mojo site, since they sell tolex. I thought I'd get some inkling there. No longer necessary.

Again, thank you.

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Go Buckeyes!

Sent the important email!

Will go with a sIII v6 Head Kit in red levant with white and gold piping (ala the black “neonfront” and purple “ProudFront" heads in the Gallery). The added complexity in the build is a small price to pay for having the option of switching between 6V6 and EL84 tubes. The red levant with white tolex just grew on me, but I like the horizontal gold stripe and the two upper pieces that tie in with the plexi panel.

Now all I need to do is pay, wait for the arrival and then do a whole lot of soldering.

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Go Buckeyes!

FYI I have a couple of mods for this version, to get the 6V6s to sing a little more

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Great tones come in small glass jars!

Oh please, do tell!

I haven't even placed the actual order yet (waiting for PayPal invoice, probably Monday), bu I want to know as much as I can before starting.

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Go Buckeyes!