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Just finished my 18W combo. Wow what a great amp...It's got low noise Mullards for V1 and V2 and a match/balanced EHX PI tube...I originally started off with EHX power tubes but moved on to JJs. The JJs have more clarity and the bass is much more prominent and much tighter/fatter. I am not going to go into detail about the amp cause you guys know how amazing these amps sound.

Anyways Stephen let me try out this new speaker he got from Tone Tubby..... the San Rafael! It is ceramic speaker coming in either 12" or 10" and either 8 or 16 ohms. My 12" 8R just rocks. The speaker has much nice clarity, at lower volumes when the amp is clean I can really hear the strings (haha), they sound so clear and the dynamics are just so nice.

At first I thought the speaker was a bit harsh (it wasnt soft like AlNiCo that I usually use). After the speaker and caps started to break in though things really opened up. I still retain this amazing clarity with nice top end bite all they while things stay smooth not piercing at all. Bass is very much solid and fat just how I like it. I attribute this to the JJs, the style of amp and the ceramic speaker.

My issue I have had with ceramics is they sound a bit nasty and "too together" at higher volumes, not the San Rafael. At higher volumes when things get "dirty" the speaker shines. Things are smooth, tight and clear. The tube recto acts very nicely with the speaker to produce a bit of a softer tone, kinda reminded me of an AlNiCo speaker. The speaker has lots of punch too, kinda pops at ya. I imagine my tele helps with the pop too .

Anyways playing the amp a TON, still finding new sounds. Love the speaker, check it out, they are cheaper than most TTs too btw which is nice.

I am going to try to upload some sound clips over the holidays.

Gotta post a few pics ...




(Old power tubes still in, JJs in now!)

Chris...

Good to read your review Chris. Thanks. At $100 this is a very competitively priced speaker. We thought it would be good in an 18 watt style amp.

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

I envy your work environment. I'm still on the kitchen table That looks like an amazing pedalboard too. ....Thou shall not covet, thou shall not covet....

Thanks!

Stephen are these speakers being made in the US or have they moved off shore or something to cut costs?

Still Made in USA.

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

That sounds like it's a pretty cool speaker.

With a good 18W amp, you find that the FX pedals start gathering dust. At least that's what happened in my case.

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Great tones come in small glass jars!

That's need to know Stephen.

I agree Zaphod. I mainly have so many because I love building them. There is only about eight that I use on a regular basis.

Ha, I barely use one now Just a Germanium Rangemaster tweaked for more saturation and mid boost, which I sometimes use for lead breaks. The rest of the time an 18W amp gives me everything I want.

What are these low-noise Mullards? Are they NOS or current production GT...??

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Great tones come in small glass jars!

Just current production Tried out a bunch of tubes and settled with them in the end. Nice balanced sound.

They are nice enough.

So how does this San Raf compare to the other TT ceramic ??
Might want to try mixing now, this could be interesting.
Though i'm not a mix and match guy, i still think it is interesting.

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".....black sabbath....i...i don't even think there was anything before black sabbth...i...i..ummm"
- ozzy.

: )

What's up with the $100.00 speaker???

Still available Coco?

Yes, we bought a couple to try them out. kurtlives was the first player to really test it. It's a lightweight ceramic same hemp cone, smaller magnet and intended to compete with the 25 watt range speakers out there, like the Celestions.

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