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First of all, Stephen...FANTASTIC job on shipping this thing. I couldn't believe how well thought out it was packed. Everything looks top notch. I won't be able to go through to make sure I have everything until tomorrow, but I'll let you know if anything seems missing.

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The day has come! The Triwatt showed up today! Took about a week after it shipped to get here from Canada. I have to say the shipping was impeccable. This thing was shipped very very well, and very very efficiently. Great job Stephen!

That said, let's check out some pictures of the unveiling :love:

What could THIS be?


Nice chassis!! Protective tape is still on there.


Footswitch for the OD channel


Bags and bags of parts...still have to go through there to make sure I got everything I need. SOZO caps came in a separate shipment, they are not shown here, because I forgot.


Back panel, and front faceplate. You can also see the iron. Judging by the weight, these things are good. They are supposedly custom wound by Heyboar to vintage Partridge specs.


And finally, where this thing will reside while I'm getting my feet wet working on it. Handy contraption!!!


I'm really excited to get started on this thing, but I won't be able to start tonight. I won't be home, but will get started wiring the tube sockets and power stuff tomorrow if all goes well.

I will be updating this thread religiously so that our fellow amp builders and techs on here can point out any flaws they see as I go along.

Again this is my first amp build, and this is apparently a pretty wild build, so I'm really hoping with patience and taking my time that I can pull it off!

--Bryan

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--Bryan

After noticing that everyone else's builds used brown/red wiring for the heaters, I questioned if black/red were correct as that's what I had in my kit. Being that it was 20awg solid core wire, I figured I'd go with it and hope for the best

Anywho, wired up the heaters. Anyone who has done this before, does this look alright? I mean, it's my first time doing it, and it took awhile, but I was focusing on the solder joints a lot to make sure I had good connections. I realize the power tube wiring could have been done better, but those were the ones I started on Got better as I went along I'm sure

I'm going to be posting a load of pictures, because I want people to tell me if they see something that stands out that needs to be fixed. So, that said...pictures!











Also, are there any connections shown that would benefit from heat shrink? Not sure when and where to use that stuff.

--Bryan

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--Bryan

Bryan you may like to take a look at some of my build Triwatt pictures from the threads, "Sly-Fi Studios TRIWATT" and "Malcolm's Triwatt". Those may give you some pointers....

The Triwatt is a challenging but very satisfying amp to build.

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Great tones come in small glass jars!

I am actually basing how I progress on your thread for "Malcolm's Amp". Great pictures!

Thanks for the reply...Do you think I should redo the heater wiring here, or does it look like it should be ok? I struggled to keep the wire twisted while getting the wire lined up to solder. The solder joints are great, just worried about the wiring here. I feel like that's such a ridiculous question, don't make fun

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--Bryan

Sorry, after you told me not to make fun. I couldn't resist. You should never have said that.

Actually, you asked a perfectly reasonable question. And the answer is that it doesn't really matter too much. You can even use flat twin pair wire (aka zip wire) and that will also work fine. In Sly-Fi Chapel's amp, I managed to twist the heater wires tighter and keep them in more of a straight line, but that was done purely for visiual reasons and not electronic ones.

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Great tones come in small glass jars!

If we took ourselves so serious all the time, life would be pretty boring wouldn't it? Thanks for the laugh

Based on your comments, I think I'll just move forward with how I have it wired up Yeah, it doesn't look as neat as some of the builds I've seen, but as long as it's functional, that's what matters to me. The rest of the lead dress I'm going to focus on making neat, so maybe it will distract the eyes from this eye sore

Thanks again Zaphod! Hoping to get some of the power/cap can/switch wiring done tonight!

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--Bryan

This reminds me of when my Triwatt kit came in. mmmmmmmmmmmmm. Makes me want to build another.

Ztevin... you are going to be so freaking happy playing that amp.

Stephen and Zaphod came up with an epic home run of an amplifier with this one. EPIC!

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dig it

Norton, thanks man! I'm just having a blast building it so far! I work slower than most of you on here though, as this is actually my first build I think I'm going to be able to pull it off though, my fingers are crossed!

Woohoo, updates!

Spent the first part of the afternoon doing the bias circuit wiring for the power section. I hope everything looks good. After I finish soldering each connection, I check the connection with the continuity setting on my multimeter just to make sure the circuit is closed at the contacts. Just peace of mind for me really. If I'm soldering a resistor or capacitor, I'll check that the contacts are seeing that resistor/capacitor as well. Again, just insurance so I'm not missing a bad solder connection later when I need to troubleshoot.

Anyway, here are the pics.


That resistor on the can cap is just sitting there. Waiting on a couple other parts before I solder it in place.


Just a "progress" pic as I finished up the resistors before starting the bias circuit.


Not sure what happened to this picture, but I've had a couple pics that this has happened to...Oh well. Just a shot of me trying to be neat with the capacitor/resistor


Bright/Normal volume controls, and the Overdrive push/pull pot next to them


Not as neat as I would like, but with that many wires around there, it's a bear to keep tidy! The switch in the middle of the picture is the bias switch so you can go from 6V6/KT66


And one more from the top down


Next is to begin wiring the power transformer/can caps. Don't know if I'll do anymore today or not. I've inhaled enough solder fumes right now!

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--Bryan

It may be a good idea to first wire up the control pots while you've got free and uninhibited access to them. Then continue with the transformers and caps, etc.

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Great tones come in small glass jars!

Ok, I officially need some guidance now.

Zaphod, took your advice and wired the controls up before I started on the Power side...Worked out great, thanks for the tip!

Once I did that, I moved onto the power wiring and got that all done based on a mix between the layout and Zaphod's "Malcolm" thread. Then I got to the part in the guide that had you check the that the power switch was wired right, so I plugged it in to check the pilot light. With the switch in the "Off" position based on the front panel, the light immediately came on when plugging the power cord in. So I moved the switch to "Standby" and it went off. Curiosity got the best of me, and I decided to measure one of the HV leads, with the switch in the off position. Immediately upon firing it up, the HV lead went to ~350 volts...in the "Off" position.

Can someone look at my power switch and see if it's just backwards or if I have bigger problems? I'm sure it's just a mistake in the wiring, but from everything I could see, I followed everything correctly

Pics below.

Controls all wired up!


And another shot of the controls


Shot of the center taps grounded...


And a shot of my power wiring...Frustrated... (Blue lead going to "Hot" and black w/white lead going to "Neutral")


Another shot of power wiring...


Any help is greatly appreciated.

--Bryan

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--Bryan

After viewing some more builds, it appeared I had the switch wired upside down, as I suspected. Turned it over, rewired it, and now when I plug the power wire in, and the switch is "Off", it stays OFF. Switching to stand by gave me 3.5VAC on each side of the V1 heater, so I think it's good. Still turned 350VAC at the HV leads, though I guess that's expected...Nothing is hooked up to those yet though...That's a project for once I get this board built. About halfway done with that now, but am taking a break for the evening.

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--Bryan

I find it helpful to check continuity on the lugs through the switch contacts with an ohmmeter to understand how the contacts need to be connected. So in Standby, only one pair of lugs should show continuity. That pair takes the incoming AC supply. in the ON position the second set of lugs will also show continuity, which the rectified high-voltage connects to. So in the ON position, both sets of lugs/contacts have continuity, while in Standby only one pair does.

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Great tones come in small glass jars!

I have way better pictures, but didn't feel like downloading them from the camera. I am missing a couple of caps that are on their way to me as we speak. Once those come in, I'll wire some leads to the board, and it's time to plop that thing into the chassis and do some final wiring and initial testing!

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--Bryan

At this point I strongly recommend making all connections to link wires on the board, to turrets above the board. You will see this done in my own Triwatt build pictures, especially the Sly-Fi Chapel amp. It's a trick I learnt from studying pictures of how Hiwatt's founder and chief designer, Dave Reeves, used to build his amps. It makes the amp far more serviceable.

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Great tones come in small glass jars!

Are you talking about the jumper wires that are explained as underneath? If so, I actually did those underneath. Think I should move them?

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--Bryan

I wouldn't move them if they are already installed. Just triple check that they are right so you won't have to try and get at them later, "IF" you need to trouble shoot a problem.Slow and steady- you're doing fine

The idea is not to have any solder joints made underneath the board. The link wires may pass above the board, or below the board and wrap around to turrets above the board at each end. The link wires are wrapped around the base of a turret at each end. If you don't do this and you ever want to check your solder joints, it's going to be a total beyatch getting to them.

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Great tones come in small glass jars!

Yup! What he said....

On that note, looks like I should redo them before I get the board in...because it's ready to go in RIGHT NOW I just finished wiring up my inputs...what a pain in the ass THAT was I even made a template out of cardboard to wire them on before putting them in.

I'll redo the "underboard" wiring right now

Thanks fellas!

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--Bryan

That's why I thought I better warn you real soon! Look closely at my build pictures to see how it's done.

Yes, it really is. I build the input jacks into a little self-contained structure with the ground bus wires providing rigidity. Then I connect the shielded wires onto the jacks, before installing them into the chassis.

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Great tones come in small glass jars!