trinityamps.com

Iron: Heyboer can make us some original Patridge clones. We'll try an OT clone and a close clone. We also need a proper PT and they can make us a matching one as well, to our specs.

We thought we'd compare it to the big-boy before we made our next move. That's in the works.

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

To provide some further details, we're using the Trinity 18W OT at the moment, and that sounds pretty good. However, we would like to have a higher-end option available for folks who don't mind spending some extra money to really nail the Hiwatt sound. The 5E3 PT in the Triwatt prototype is struggling with the load, but fortunately the huge amount of filtering you get in a Hiwatt amp is stablising it sufficiently for the time being. However, I wouldn't want to use this PT in the "production" version amp, as it makes biasing very difficult to get right.

_________________
Great tones come in small glass jars!

Today Phil & I worked on the TRIWATT again. It was a day for last minute changes and tweaks before the trip to bgroup studio. This was actually the first time I had a chance to hear the TRIWATT so Phil plugged it into an original Greenback 112 and off we went.

First off - this amp is loud. For a 20 watt amp and a 112, very loud. A more effiecient speaker boggles the mind. I was quite surprised at how loud it was and it was hanging together so well. Started of with a nice acoustic like Pink Floyd and then some hard chords where you could clearly hear the strings.

Second - This amp has crystal cleans. Even at loud, overdriven levels, the cleans manage to come through. Quite amazing. Unlike any amp I've had the opportunity to hear. Very nice. Phil commented that it could almost be used as an acoustic amp.

Third - The Overdrive control kicks some major butt. Marshallesque at times but different. Phil thought it could give a Marshall a run for it's money. The OD adds it's own flavour too. Some fullness of it's own and interestingly, even driven hard, that clean chime came throgh.

Fourth - The controls are all effective in their own right and sat mid-position which is a good thing as that provides lots of options. The presence was very subtle but effective as well. No complaints in this department.

The link channel seemed to be a favourite of the day. Possibly because we could dial in various levels of Brilliant and Normal channel and get exactly what we wanted. A useful and unique option. The Brilliant channel is - Brilliant - which I love. That will cut through the mix on stage like a knife through butter. Clean and crisp. Think David Gilmour.

We made all these observations using the Trinity Amps RS Clone 18 watt transformer, which had a nice balanced sound - top to bottom - honestly. But we had a 36 watt OT on hand and just had to try it out. We jury rigged it in and went through similar tests again with it hanging in the breeze!!

The massive OT [for a small amp] added noticable bottom end and seemed to smooth or mellow the sound. Not that the 18 watt OT was bad, but we both liked it a bit more so we made it a permanent fixture. It cleared the inside of the cabinet by 1/2" thank goodness!

So now the TRIWATT is in it's home ready for the trip to the studio and for the ears of the expert. I'm sure he will have much more to say than I.


Home Sweet Home

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

Wow that looks great!

Any gut shots?

How does the presence control in this amp differ from a Fender Tweed or a Marshall?

The unusual Presence circuit utilizes a tube to do this within the feedback circuit . It's located just after the Master Volume and just before the Phase Inverter.

I read that it was desgined to allow an extremely bright and aggressive sound to be selected at the upper end of the setting. Apparently, experienced users will confirm that this was the case with the old heads. We'll soon see.

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

Here's a few shots of the session today. No clips yet, we were too busy playing and having fun. It was a revelation to hear this against the real McCoy. I waited patiently and finally heard my fave - Rickenbacker hollowbody with the Tone Tubby Alnico. Clean and loud so daddy was proud!!

Below, Phil discusses TRIWATT circuitry with Brent and compares it to Brent's 103.



Not surprisingly, Brent wants tweaks. We remove the chassis and oblige. Snip a cap here, substitute a tube there. Results - more punch, more clarity, more volume. Perfect says Brent who then puts his magic hands and ears to work while Rob Waite plays.



Brent plays with the Overdrive and Rob likes it!! We end up playing at least 7 different guitars (Fender, Gibson, PRS, Rickenbacker, Danelectro single coil, humbuckers etc. etc.), 4 pedals, Wah and 3 cabs. There was no problem handling the multitude of inputs - very nice. The HIWATT 412 cab had fanes, the Marshall 412 cab had Greenbacks and the Trinity 212 cab Tone Tubby Alnicos. My fave was the TT of course.



The effort today was well worth the drive to Trenton and the bgroup studio. The opportunity to compare to a real Hiwatt made us realize how close we had really come. After we removed a cathode cap on the Normal channel to reduce gain and increase clarity, and subsituted a 12AX7 for the 12AT7 in the PI position, the result was a clean, punchy and loud amp. Brent started to smile.
The tone controls were very close in settings to the HIWATT as was the presence control.
The Pull-On overdrive control was something not on the HIWATT and when it was engaged, the control was terrrific. You can go from jangly clean to more OD than you can imagne. Even so, the sound clarity hung in there although our little PT was struggling at times! Brent spent a lot of time usingthis control. We didn't expect that as the big guy didnt have one. But it proved to be a well worthwhile addition. Just ask Brent.

Great bass response on this amp with the 36W OT. The link input was another feature that was very useful, although Brent stuck to the Normal & Bright inputs.

For me, after I heard a Hollow body Rickenbacker into the 212 Trinity Tone Tubby cab, I was convinced. This amp can do loud & clean and be taken to the edge of break-up as much as you wish. In fact, it could be so loud, that, as Phil said, my ears were ringing. This in a good sized studio (see pics) with 14 foot ceilings. What will it sound like in a club? I have no doubt it will broadcast extremely well and easily cut through the mix. In my shop? Oh My!!!

Brent will no doubt have a more to say about the adventure. Put me down for #1 Production Brent says! A new member of the bgroup Trinity family?

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

Hey all
Yea, it's me
Anyhoo, 7 pages
I guess the beginning is the way to go
Catch you at the end.

Yeah. Good place to start but now you already know the outcome.

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

Sounds like a winner Real close to the real thing with ADDED features OH BOY

OK, were you using the 6v6's or 6l6's?

Is the 36w OT the way you're going to go? Or still under consideration

Looking forward to the finalized version

6V6 were used. OT still under consideration. Need samples from suppliers.

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

There are minor differences between Hiwatts of different eras, which we have aimed to capture here. The Normal channel of the Triwatt is voiced like a Who amp, with the cathode bypass cap, which gives it a bit more gain. Gilmour's Hiwatts also have that extra gain, due to the cathode cap in the Normal channel. Brent's DR103 is from the era where the normal channel doesn't have the cathode bypass cap, so that there's a bit less gain, together with more clarity. Brent clearly prefered this approach, and also reasoned when he wants more gain, he can engage the extra "OL" boost stage - which is very true. So we went with Brent's request and snipped out the cap.

As stock Brent's amp would also have had a 12AT7 in the phase invertor position, but the previous owner(s) appear to have swapped in a 12AX7, which gives a "tougher" sound, in Brent's words. So we did the same here, and the combination of these two small changes made the Triwatt sound and feel much closer to its big daddy Hiwatt. I also just read today in a book that Stephen has, that Townshend also swapped a 12AX7 for the 12AT7 in his amps.

Those folks who prefer a softer more mellow early 70s sound will probably stick with the regular 12AT7, and possibly also the preamp cathode cap. The nice thing is that these are all easy tweaks, to voice the amp closer to their own preferences.

Actually, I think it was the other way round, IIRC. Most of the time he was alternating between the Normal and Link inputs. Which he preferred seemed to vary between different guitars, distortion and volume levels. I was also quite amazed at the grinding distortion Brent got from the OL stage, which would put many a Marshall to shame IMO.

6L6s? 6V6s all the way through, and still loud as heck! No plans for 6L6s in this amp, but with some different transformers you could run EL34s and have a full 50W/60W output, for peeling paint off walls.

It's still somewhat under consideration, although the 36W sounds *real* good. Only problem is, that there isn't a way to run a 4 ohm speaker with the Triwatt using this OT. So if we decide to stay with the 36W, it would need to be customised slightly. We want to be able to offer some different options to suit different budgets.

Same here!

_________________
Great tones come in small glass jars!

My facebook status now reads: Holy Trinity Amps "TRIWATT" Batman!!!

Oh Boy!! Where to start?! I'm still buzzing from the afternoon with the Triwatt even though it ended 10 hours ago!!

OK, a couple of things up front...

Guys and gals, we are VERY lucky to have Stephen and Phil collaborating on this amp. Individually each one of these guys is a formidable talent, but together LOOK OUT - they are yin and yang, totally different approaches, but very complimentary skill sets. IMO, this amp wouldn't be the same if they both weren't involved... What a privilege to be the first person outside of the "inner sanctum" to have the opportunity to hear this thing...

Second... this amp is THE ONE. Seriously. You're ALL going to want it. It's amazing. I'll get into a detailed description of the tone below, but let's just say it's utopia for the clean guys AND it's utopia for the gain guys...

Third... I'm sorry about the clips. I suck. I'm REALLY sorry. I was SO caught up in this thing, I couldn't tear myself away to boot up my computer or set up a microphone! Yeah, it's THAT good. I wish I had recorded though - some UNBELIEVABLE tones today... I hereby pledge to record obscene numbers of clips the next time I have the Triwatt in my studio!!

Fourth... Production Triwatt #1 is mine!!!!! And if you think you're going to get it, you're going to have to fight me for it!!! LOL!

Enough business, let's talk Triwatt...

For the record, v1 of the amp today was fantastic. It really sounded good. But for me there are two things that make a Hiwatt a Hiwatt... or in this case a Triwatt a Hiwatt! There's gotta be lots of clean headroom that gradually turns into tight authoritative grind, and it's gotta have that "tough" quality that I've grown to love in every Hiwatt I've ever encountered. What's "tough" you ask? It's clean, but instead of "sparkle" or "spank", it sounds a bit compressed and "fast" ie the tone doesn't bloom, its attack is fast and sharp - the word I would use is it "cracks". Anyway, v1 had crazy amounts of gain, like CRAZY amounts! Don't get me wrong, I LOVE gain, like I have CRAZY LOVE for gain, but I felt the amp was missing some clean headroom. It also wasn't "fast" enough...

A little snip-snip, and swap-swap, and WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Man, v2 sounded like a crackin' Hiwatt... with some extras... more on that in a moment... To the specifics...

The bright channel was perfect right out of the gate. I like amps where the entire travel of gain knob yeilds usable tones. Bright was AMAZING from zero to dimed with lots of subtle colours in between.

Normal - v1 had usable gain for me until about 2 o'clock. Past that I didn't find the gain all that usable and it sounded uncharacteristically Hiwatt to me. After the cap was snipped out, v2 was perfect - FANTASTIC tones from the bottom all the way to the top, and again, lots of cool subtle shades of clean and semi-clean from around 10 o'clock to 3 o'clock. This channel is REALLY important because I think this is where most people will spend most of their time. Not only did the mod make the gain more usable, but it also opened up the tone, made it subjectively bigger, and perhaps even more detailed. Quite remarkable the difference actually and changed "like" to "love" for me...

Link - this is like jumpering the two channels on a 4-holer and works as advertised. I jumper the channels often with my DR103, and this input on the Triwatt didn't disappoint. There are infinite shades possible by blending the two channels. One thing that I noticed which was cool and important to me is that the actual "sound" of the inputs is different. For instance, theoretically if you turn the bright gain knob to zero and turn the normal gain up, then whether you are plugged into the normal input or the link input, it should be the same... it's not. We noticed the normal input has a bigger, open, more forward sound than the link input which is subtly more scooped-mid and sparkly as a result. This is VERY cool as it gives one set of knob settings two slightly different tones...

Treble, Middle, Bass, Presence - on my DR103 these are less like "boost/cut" knobs and more like "tone" knobs. They do A LOT to the tone, but in a very subtle way. With Fenders/Marshalls extreme settings can get painful. Hiwatt just never gets painful in the same way with extreme settings. Presence in particular is VERY authentic on the Triwatt - rather than boosting a high treble kind of thing, it seems to just open up or extend the top end of the tone without throwing gobs of pain in. With v1 of the amp, I was finding that my EQ knobs on the Triwatt were in very different places than on my DR103 when the tones were similar. After the "magic" v2 mod, interestingly, the EQ knobs were in VERY similar places on both amps dialed in to similar tones.

Master Volume - I'm one of those guys that believes optimum tone is achieved with the Master Volume wide open. So, the first thing I do when I audition a new amp is turn that baby clockwise until it won't go any farther! The unfortunate reality of the DR103 is that sometimes I have to run the master at 12 o'clock or <shudder> less because the amp is just so damn loud!! The good news is that on the DR103, turning the master down ISN'T a tone killer like it is on a lot of other amps. I'm happy to report that the Triwatt is the same - while I would still tend to run it wide open most of the time, I didn't feel the size of the tone was really compromised until the master got under around 11 o'clock. For all you bedroom slingers, I'd highly recommend the VRM. This amp is LOUD. Really, really, really GOOD loud, but loud nonetheless. Especially with the Tone Tubbys.... more on that later...

OK... the piece de resistance (that's supposed to be french but I don't have the special accent characters!! LOL!)... the reason we all came to this party.... drum roll please... overdrive. I'll say it again - OVERDRIVE. As in the overdrive knob. This is THE DEAL. And this knob is the reason why a guy like me who owns arguably the most desirable Hiwatt there is (Hylight-era Hiwatt DR103 4-holer) would want the Triwatt. Wow. WOW. I fell so hard in love with this feature, I think it's worth the cost of the whole amp. This is where the Triwatt "art" lives. So, here's the deal: bright/normal give you one gain stage, and pull the overdrive knob out and it gives you an extra gain stage (push the knob in and it's out of the circuit). Now, I know what you're thinking boys and girls - let's gain up bright/normal and then gain up overdrive for even more drive!!! That's what I was thinking, and that's what Phil was thinking too! It certainly works, and I suggest you spend much of your remaining life span here, but no, this is not where the "art" lives. For me, what makes this amp SOOOOOOOOO special is the tones that come from "starving" the first gain stage (keep bright/normal really low - like around 7 o'clock) and then gaining up the overdrive knob. Frankly I intend to spend ALL of my remaining life span here!!! LOL! Ok, so here's why it's so cool - the overdrive gain stage basically gives you a smoother, darker, and COMPRESSED version of the bright/normal stage. So, for rhythms, it's INCREDIBLE! If you have to play lead, bring up the bright/normal gain stage and starve the overdrive gain and the tone comes forward is more dynamic and bigger. And you can imagine all the shades in between!!! I'm not saying this lightly, but this added feature makes the Triwatt better than a Hiwatt. Seriously.

What else? Guitars. We tried most of the guitars in my studio. The Triwatt handled them all with aplomb. Tele, Strat, 2 Danos, Ric, Les Paul with P90's for the single coils, and Les Paul, SG, and my Seymour Duncan hot-rodded Fender Cyclone for 'buckers. The standout guitar with the Triwatt for me today was my new PRS Mira in both 'bucker and single mode, but every guitar sounded GREAT.

Cabs - the 70's Fane Hiwatt cab sounded fantastic as expected and really adds to the Hiwatt mojo. But the Trinity 2x12 with TTA's was CRAZY! Really, REALLY good. Those tubbies are so efficient, man that cab was LOUD!!! LOL! But really focused, detailed AND euphoric all at the same time. Maybe the best cab of the day. This is my little editorial here, not necessarily the opinion of the management, but as cool as the TT "bomb" is, you gotta hear two TTA's... I don't think the "bomb" can compare! Greenbacks in my Marshall were cool too. Stephen and Phil liked them a lot - I liked the tone, but felt the bottom end was farting out a little too early for my tastes. Also tried my Orange 2x12 with V30s - meh, a little too modern for the Triwatt methinks...

And finally, no Hiwatt/Triwatt testing would be complete without trying a few pedals (Gilmour's Hiwatt tone was largely pedals)!! Hiwatts are known for taking a lot of pedals really well. The Triwatt didn't disappoint, but I think it prefers a pedal with a more modern voicing. My TS9 Tube Screamer and my Bad Monkey sounded a little murky with the Triwatt. I much preferred a Boss Blues Driver which with a lot of amps I find too bright. The Cry Baby wah was KILLER too!!

OK, I've probably forgotten something - a lot to take in today! - but I'll chime back in if I remember something important. Thanks to Stephen and Phil for bringing the amp to the studio, and thanks to my buddy Rob Waite for rocking the house while the other 3 of us stood around pontificating and stroking our chin beards!! LOL!

What a great day! What a SPECIAL amp! And I'll say it again... seriously, this is THE ONE. It's not a Hiwatt clone. It IS a Hiwatt... and a very, very, VERY cool one at that. Infinite shades of fantastic clean, and semi-clean tones - all with that fast, Hiwatt toughness. And tight, compressed, ballsy grind that makes a Marshall want to go to the gym!! Distorted tones are very rich in harmonic content also. Boy oh boy, I can't wait for all of you in Trinity-land to hear this thing...

Hope this helps.

_________________
Brent Bodrug
Producer-Engineer/Songwriter

www.slyfichapel.com

Just so we're clear here, with the mod there's still INSANE amounts of gain on tap!! Especially with the 2 gain stages. It's not like we went from a Mesa Rectifier to a Fender Twin. IMO, the mod just made ALL the gain usable and gave the gain knob a little more travel in the clean regions for more subtle shades of clean.

And I don't know if I'd use the words "soft" or "mellow" to describe the resultant tone after the mod. Modded or not, this thing is a MONSTER!!!

_________________
Brent Bodrug
Producer-Engineer/Songwriter

www.slyfichapel.com

A big "THANK YOU" to Stephen, Phil, Brent and Rob! A truly great result.
Count me in as a future TRIWAT buyer/player

Happy 2009 and healthy picking

Floyd

Brent, thanks for the awesome review. As usual, you put it so eloquently. It's great that after months of collaborative work, it actually meets your expectations. It can only get better.

As for the OTs, the 36W was great but I have contacted Heyboer about the real Partridge clones to match our application. I'll get two different build samples and we'll have to give it another try. Sorry!
Also working with another possible custom OT/PT supplier.

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

So the VRM worked well on the prototype?

Great news, especially if the 6v6's were so loud. I can only imagine what it's going to be like with 6l6's, or why anyone would need them

Great work guys!!!!

Guys, if this Partridge clone makes this thing sound any better, our collective heads are going to explode!!! Uh, yeah Stephen, that would be a real drag to have to spend a day listening again... NOT!!!!

No VRM on the Triwatt prototype, although there was a hole there for one... But I did hear the VRM on an 18W Plexi Stephen built recently and it was GREAT... not only for volume's sake, but also as a creative tone tool... Even though I was initially pushing for a higher watt version of the amp, now that I've heard it, I don't think there's any point - it's plenty loud and big sounding for 90% of applications, and if anyone needed more than the Triwatt offers, it'd probably be best just to try and track down a real DR103... my two cents anyway...

_________________
Brent Bodrug
Producer-Engineer/Songwriter

www.slyfichapel.com

We're probably not putting in a VRM to start but will maybe try one out. It will need to be a special one because this amp is fixed bais.

Besides, with that special OD control, if you need that gain/distortion at a lower level, just turn the master down & crank up the OD. We never tried that out Brent!

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

Actually I did try it Stephen!! The last part of the session (when we were trying the souped up Fender, the Ric and comparing the Dano's) I had the master down around noon and was experimenting with starving the first gain stage and dialing up overdrive. There was also that stretch where Rob was playing that pretty arpeggiated thing and it was really harmonically rich and was feeding back a bit while he was playing - during that stretch I was messing with master low, first gain stage up and down and overdrive high...

I think the VRM would be super cool on this thing, but certainly not necessary as turning down the MV isn't a tonesuckr!! I know for production Triwatt #1 no VRM will be necessary!!!

_________________
Brent Bodrug
Producer-Engineer/Songwriter

www.slyfichapel.com

I must have been dreaming of sugar plums or something else when you did that! Typical that you'd be thorough. My Bad.

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