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I've been acquiring parts for a TC-15 for the past few months. Bought the chassis, faceplate, and transformers from Coco. Other components - tolex, grill cloth, etc. - were from various sources (including some I had in my parts bin). Speakers are Avatar HellaTones (G12H30 and Vintage 30). Wood and various other hardware came from the local Lowe's store.

I've had the completed chassis hooked to to a single 10" speaker for two weeks while I built the cabinets, and the amp sounded excellent - lots of "sparkle" and punch - but nowhere near what I knew it would do through a larger cab. I finished up the whole thing last night, and was able to give it a perfunctory test, but today at church was the real "road test". It was a 7-piece group (acoustic guitar, bass, drums, 2 electrics, and 2 keys), so we were able to play everything from straight-ahead rock to laid-back worship music. All I can say is WOW! This amp is just wonderful! It sings; it sustains; it whispers; it shouts; it howls; it feeds back in the most pleasing way. This really is an outstanding amp - one of the top two most musically-satisfying amps I've owned (out of dozens and dozens).

Monte

Pics and a little description:

This is the first few parts orders. Transformers, grill cloth, Tolex, piping, Garolite circuit board material, various components, and sheet metal. I had originally intended to make my own chassis, but my tiny sheet metal brake just wasn't up to the task, and the one at the local high school welding shop was a piece of junk, so I ended up ordering a chassis and faceplate from Stephen at Trinity Amps.


Just a couple of pine boxes from common lumber at Lowe's. I used a 1/2 inch finger joint jig and a Craftsman router to make the basic boxes, then added bracework from 1x2 inch stock. The edges were cut with a 1/2 inch round-over bit, and then the whole thing was filled and sanded. I really don't like sanding ....

After what seemed like weeks of applying Tolex (but was really just two days), I attached the grill cloth & piping (another job I really don't enjoy), installed the rest of the hardware, put in the speakers & chassis, and fired it up.


The finished product: My own Trinity TC-15 amp.

This amp was worth every splinter, soldering burn, cut, bruise, swollen hands, sleepless hours mentally going over the next step, and drop of blood and sweat that went into building it. It is, quite simply, an outstanding amp.

If I had it to do over again, I'd probably still do my own cabinets, but I wouldn't try to buy the parts piecemeal; I'd just order a kit from Stephen at trinityamps.com.

If someone wants to build a professional-grade amplifier, you can't do better than Trinity's kits. If you're lacking the space or tools to build one, just order an amp from Stephen. You'll be glad you did!

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Monte

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Deric®

Looks way old school! Classic. I really like the sound of the TC-15 with a V30. How's about some clips of your speaker combination?

As for posting pictures, you can use the BB code "Img" button above the main text box in the "Post a reply" page. Mouse over the button to see how to complete the tag. Make sure you add the closing tag too.

J

Wow! Great job!

Looks great! Nice job. Really glad you like it.


To post a picture, enter the full path to the picture e.g. http://mysite.verizon.net/res0p21f/sixs ... -Front.jpg and then put [img]before%20and[/img] after

that should do it.

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

very

Coco, love that cab

How about a couple of 15's

I have the TC-15 and it is one of the coolest sounding amps I have. Mine has not been used for a while and you've just reminded me that it needs to be front and center more often. How do you feel about your speaker choices? Sometime I think that having a pair of 50 watt speakers might be so good. I have several cabs and usual just use one 12 that is less than 50 watts.

Very cool looking cabs!

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If it's too loud, you're too old.

Hank,

The combination of the G12H30 and Vintage 30 works really well with the TC-15, with both single coils and humbuckers. They cover the spectrum from rich and full lows to chimey, sparkly highs.

I spent some time looking around at lots of different cab designs before I decided on what to do for the TC-15. They turned out pretty nice.

Monte

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Monte

After work today, I took the TC-15 to the local music store I frequent. We're friends with the owners and they've been asking me about it, so I took it down to let them see and hear it. Everyone "oohed and ahhed" over the cosmetics, and then several guys (player/teachers from the store and customers) played through it using a Tele, Les Paul Standard, SG, and Strat. I let 'em crank it up, twiddle the knobs, and generally just put it through its paces.

Everyone was impressed .... *very* impressed. One of the gigging guitarists has a love affair with his M@rsh@11 hand-wired 20-watt, and he initially commented that the TC-15 didn't have the depth or output of his amp, so I put it into Standby, switched the V2 cathode bypass cap back in, flipped the Crunch/Munch switch, took it out of Standby, and cranked it up. Then he said "Wow! There it is!" A little later he wondered what it would sound like through a Marshall 4x12 cab, so we plugged one in (dunno the model), but he was surprised that it sounded much better through my 2x12.

All in all, everybody commented at how great it sounds and looks, and asked a lot of questions about building amps. I spread the word about Trinity Amps, and I'm trying to talk a few of the younger guys into ordering kits and letting me coach them through building them.

The saddest part about building an amp is that once you've finished it, you no longer have an amp to build.

I suppose I should put a VRM in mine now.

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Monte

Yeah, it's always fun to show off your stuff and get instant feedback. I daresay you can get those Marshall tones out of a 15 if you play with it long enough. The bonus is you can get a lot more out of the 15 than you can with a lot of amps.

Glad it all worked out and sure hope you can get some more 15's going up in the PNW.



Hey it was built by mwbtele not me. Nice job too!

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