trinityamps.com

Before I embark on building an amp, is it necessary to have a Variac or some device to slowly introduce juice to the frankenstein?

I'd hate to lose my eyebrows, or even worse, a transformer.

I don't think it's necessary. You can bring the amp up safely by following Paul Ruby's first power up checklist. That's what I did on my first build and got that little amp running just fine... no smoke, no fried transformers. Also the Trinity kits come with a good power up procedure on the amp builders guide.

http://www.paulrubyamps.com/info.html#FirstPowerUp

But of course if you do have a variac by all means use it.

You might want to build a current limiter for power ups. It is basically a light bulb in series in the HOT line of the AC. If you're amp is drawing excessive curent the bulb will light up and save your amp.

There's schematics of how to build them all over. I think there's one over at 18watt.com.

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Richard Johnson
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Playing an insturment doesn't make you a musician, listening does