trinityamps.com

Hi all -

Just finished up an sIII 18W head kit and wanted to post a build report back for everyone. Stephen's kit was excellent, and reasonably easy to follow presuming you've read the instructions and take your time. Great work Stephen.

The amp sounds amazing. I will say this amp is the LOUDEST 18 watts I've ever heard. All the posts I've seen about guys worried it won't keep up with a drummer? Man, no worries here. I'm very happy with the tone, though I may tweak a few things here or there to dial it in a bit. I think I need to add a metal plate to the cabinet in order to 'close' the chassis when mounted to reduce a bit of RF I'm getting from a local broadcast (this is typical for my house with amps). I'm also considering swapping out some of the carbon comps for metal films to reduce hiss, and maybe mod some values to tighten up the bass (may be my cabinet as well). Any recommendations on bass mods? I see a few in the builders guide as well. FYI, I'm using JJ tubes across the board and playing into a mojo vertical 2x12 loaded with a Hellatone G12H30 and a Hellatone Vintage 30.

Here's a few pics:

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/jwExBnJUa1CJeqRsRkIR9Q?feat=directlink
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/FqLPc2qx2yw1sI-fhvLSpg?feat=directlink
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/oeBnMMpnQEKunGMnOBzTwA?feat=directlink
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/DwLD9B5Lo8Wg77H1znc8Tg?feat=directlink
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Hnm3z8rC2m_SlgsGhcIx1w?feat=directlink
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/xOUKhx3wuS_hzYIM_Si6ug?feat=directlink

And my voltages. These seem to be in line with the references, anybody see anything I should be concerned about?

Line 119.3V AC
B+ 358V DC

V1
1 140.0
3 0.976
6 143.2
8 0.919

V2
1 166.4
3 1.549
6 262
8 169

V3
1 195
2 35.5
3 73.2
6 196

V4 / V5
3 11.7
7 348
9 342

- Jay

Nice looking job. I love the breathing room in that chassis with a standard 18w - so easy to do a clean & tidy job. Even with V6 version there's plenty of room in there.

As for the CC's, I haven't noticed it's especially noisy. Gets a bit hissy with the boost engaged, but not TOO bad otherwise. Throwing a few metal films on the higher value resistors will make a difference I'm sure. As to the impact on tone, well, that's a discussion...

I haven't modded mine, other than to convert it to a V6. It gave me an excuse to re-do the lead dress, which I wanted to do anyway. It was my first build so there were a few things that needed tweaking in there.

_________________
SG + Brit tube head = Nirvana

The sIII is a great amp. I've been playing mine about 1 1/2 years now. Congrats on a good looking biuld.

Only mod to mine is a 100 uf cathode bypass cap in the power section; vice the 220 original value. It's subtle but noticable. I'm playing through a pair of Wber 1225 (green backs) in an open back trinity ext cab.