trinityamps.com

Hi All:
If anyone happens to own one each of these amps could you give me some comparisons between the 2. I bought a Deluxe from Stephen last summer and feel it is the best sounding amp I have ever played for my style of noodling - blues, older R&B, older rockish stuff. Tele w/ Lawrence pups, no effects at all, except for the guitar vol knob. The GAS thing may be rearing its head again however. Thanks in advance.
Gord

IMO nothing beats a Marshall 18W type amp for the style of music you play. But neither is the better one. They do the same thing, but somewhat differently. It's like the Deluxe and the 18W are cousins in the amp world. The TC15 has more of a Vox vibe. Again great for blues, but also 60s pop, like the Beatles, or rock like Queen, jangly stuff like Tom Petty or U2, as well as lot of modern Indy bands. HTH

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Great tones come in small glass jars!

The nice thing about the TC-15 is it's versatility. The interactive tone controls and the EF-86 channel give you a very wide range of tones. The 18 watt sounds like a Marshall; the TC-15 can take you all over the sonic spectrum once you learn how to set it up. The 18 watt is easy to play out of the box; you have to learn the TC-15. I think you can get Marshalleque sounds out of the 15, but you cant get VOxis sounds out of the 18. The TC-15 loves single coils BTW.

So, in conclusion, if you want to cover more sound stage, between the Deluxe & the 15, you have a lot covered.

You should try one out.

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

With the TC 15, you can cop a GREAT fat, overdriven sound from the EF86 side, and working the master volume and channel volume. I find the Deluxe much less "clean" a sound, ie, it gets muddier when you start to drive it and the notes (to me) dont sound as clear... if that makes sense. The 15 can get a lot crunchier without losing the definition.

I have the Deluxe, the sIII and the 15 and TC15. If I had to pick one, it would be the TC15. Does a much wider array of tones. The 18 is less versatile IMO but still a great amp, with the Deluxe being less again of a versatile amp. Not saying they all dont sound great in their own way... just that the 15 is more capable of getting a wider variety of tones from crystal clear and chimy, to a very nice overdrive. I think the 15 also takes pedals the best.

AJC

I'd like to chime in here, as an owner of both the TC-15 and the Trinity Deluxe. I have them both in combo form, with a single 12" Alnico TT speaker. I fully agree with all that AJC and Stephen have written here about the 15 (plus the good description of the 15 on the Trinity website). But I'd like to add a few things about the Deluxe.

It is true the Deluxe can easily be overdriven on either channel with huge amounts of midrange. That is sometimes very cool. But I find I like it more often - both with a single coil Tele and a LP with Z90 (type of P90) pickups - dialed in to a cleaner sound. Yes, it is quite possible to clean up the Deluxe, since the two channels work interactively by design, more than any other amp I've ever used. I normally plug into the bright channel, even with the Tele, because to my ears the normal misses the high end I like. Then, adjusting the normal channel (with no cable inserted there) to the upper end of its range 10-12), the midrange is cut, significantly. I run the bright volume usually between 2 and 6, set the normal volume to between 10 and 12, and use my wired in VRM to control overall volume - like a master volume.

My amp with those settings sounds rich and operates with some crunch when the notes are played hard - a great blues amp - but sounds clean enough when picking or strumming with moderate force. I should add that I have a NOS RCA for rectifier, which softens the sound a bit, less edgy than a JJ rectifier which puts out more voltage to the other tubes. If I want more overall volume, I turn up the VRM, or connect to an external speaker cab with two 12's.

With the midrange dialed down in this manner, I find that the Deluxe sounds great with pedals. I mostly use a minimal number though - almost always a Keeley compressor (great device that does not color the sound, very clean!) and a Boss BD-2 (modded by Keeley) when I want quick and easy overdrive without having to alter the amp settings. To my ears, the Deluxe set cleaner this way with the BD-2 switched on is a wonderful sound, better than the muddier sound of the Deluxe with no pedals, with the midrange cooking away in the more "normal" settings.

Experiment with the interactive volumes if you have a Deluxe and haven't yet discovered this. Though it is fully documented in Stephen's written instructions that accompany the amp, and in the forum.

I agree the TC-15 is a Voxey sound, crisper, more articulate, janglier, shimmering, at least in many of its settings. Yes, it can get fat and it overdrives in wonderful ways. Jumping the 12AX7 and EF86 channels does create some interesting and complex sounds, if you don't overdo the gains. I think Lawrence's TC-15 clips on the Trinity site are unsurpassed for showing what it can sound like (though few of us can play like Larry!). It is indeed very versatile, though neither it nor the Deluxe was engineered to be as clean as a silverface Fender. I was able to clean it up a bit, at least in the earlier preamp stages of amplification, by subbing a 5751 in place of the V1 12AX7. With my Deluxe and TC-15, I am happy as a clam - I sold my early vintage model Mesa Boogie Mark I after I built these two Trinity amps. I don't miss it at all.

I often play these two amps with an ABY footswitch (Startouch), so I can get the best of both worlds - one or the other, or both together.

Isn't it nice to have so many good choices? Thanks to Stephen and all the other knowledgeable tone gurus who contribute so much on the Forum.

Play on.
Jim

Yes, and I hate to say one is "better" than the other... as they are are awesome amps.

what tone you are going for, and what kind of music you play is the deciding factor for me. Gigging in a "classic rock & pop" cover band, I find the TC15 to be the most versatile for me (along with a few OD's, delay and a chorus) .

But others may prefer the 18, etc. It all depends!

One other thing, I find the speakers and cab you use contributes a HUGE amount to the tone. I have a number of 1x12, 2x12 and 4x12 cabs all different configs and with various speakers. They all sound so different!

AJC

Thought I would bump this one for help with a question that I have right now.

I've got a Trinity Tweed Deluxe 112 combo that I built and love. When I play it with my band, it is a little under the volume I need (that Eminence Red Fang speaker in it is as efficient as they come too - 103db @ 1w!!!) and the distortion comes in just a little too soon (even with the appropriately replaced V1 tube and my gutar volume rolled back). No problem there, it's a great grab and go jam amp, it's just not right for this band.

Now on to the question :
I just picked up a gorgeous 2x12 cabinet (with TT Da Bomb setup and the option to pick either speaker individually) off of Stephen. I'd like to pick up a Vox/matchless inspired head to go with it. Considering that I use a lot off pedals for my sound and a very light amount of grit to my clean sound is fine with this band, am I fine with a TC-15 or should I go for the TC-30 and have wattage to spare?

The 30 is supposed to be a completely different animal - I have been down this road myself...

I think the 15 is just loud enough to play in a smaller to medium sized bar without having to crank it up say past 1/2 or just under.

If you want a superb amp with a louder voice and more clean headroom maybe look at the Triwatt. I have been gigging my tc 15 for about 2 years now, and the triwatt since march/april of this year (about 6 weekend gigs so far). The triwatt has a lot more oomph but the tc15 has a different voice and I will start using both now with my Radial headbone head switcher. Playing covers, its nice to have a wide array of tones....

However, haveing to pick one amp for playing only bar gigs.... I think the nod would go to the triwatt but only slightly. But I miss the EF86 sound!

AJC

Interesting. I'm just talking to Stephen now about the possibility of a 30w TC that is switchable to 15w.

I love the Hiwatt sound, a Hiwatt was my main amp for about my first 8 years of playing, but I'm really after something in a Vox/Matchless vein these days.

My band doesn't do anything other than small/medium, so if a switchable 30w/15w isn't possible, I think I'll go for the 15w. As long as it can get me that little bit extra headroom and volume over my Trinity Deluxe, that should be enough. I just really like the idea of having both the 30w and 15w versions available in the same head. With the cab Stephen built me that allows me to run the speakers as a pair or individually, I'd have every set up I could ever need in one head/cab.