trinityamps.com

Hi All.

I'm a new builder in Toronto.

I have never built an amp, but have built my share of other toys, so I'm sure I will be able to sort this out with your support.

So far, I've built: Canoes, Kayaks, Mahogany Runabout, Acoustic Guitars, mandolin, and an electric guitar for my daughter (Christmas).



Now I need something for her to play the Electric Guitar through (Birthday).

I've chosen the Trinity Tweed Deluxe kit with the Tone Tubby Alnico speaker. While I am waiting for that to arrive I am getting started on building the cabinet.

So here are my first questions (of many):

I am OK with the woodwork for building the cabinet, but the covering will be a new adventure for me.

Does someone have an bill or materials for everything I need to purchase for an authentic "Tweed" amp?

- Tweed fabric? (how much)
- Speaker fabric? (how much? What type?)
- Handle
- Feet?
- anything else?

The one source I have seen on this forum is Mojotone. Is that the best place?

Is that where I'll find the best guidance on covering the cabinet?

Thanks.

Ok, let me get this straight. You are building a Trinity Tweed for your daughter?

Let me tell you this one thing. I've been playing for as long as I can remember - stopped counting at thirty years, have thousands of gigs logged. No longer my living, but it has been, on and off. Played all kinds of amps, always looking, as we all do. Kind of didn't really get much better, for a long time - just kind of stayed the same sort of player.

Since I built my 5E3, my playing has suddenly started to move forward again in ways I just can't explain. The amp's beautiful sound and response - I expect the great feel of the amp comes from the combination of a simple tube rectifier and a straightforward RC filtering network - it's beyond my ability to describe - beautiful natural compression, but it's tight and fast, so everything you play is revealed fully, so you can really hear it and fix things. It feels like the thing is breathing with your playing - the electrical meets the human-musical in such an interesting way. Not like any other amp I've ever played. Gosh but I wish I'd had this amp three decades ago. It is just the best darned thing - good for you, and good for her. What brought you to this kit?

I have some pretty good in-process photos of my own cabinet build and finishing, especially in applying and finishing the tweed, which turned out far better than I expected; maybe I'll pull it together into a thread. I did collect a few good tips here and there, and they helped me. But I needed help - I doubt you will ...

Mojotone was the only dealer I could find who was supplying tweed, and it seemed expensive when I ordered it, but not when it arrived - it's just beautiful stuff. I will try to put up some photos. I also got very nice handles and feet from Mojotone, and those parts were inexpensive and very high quality, and it all shipped fairly quickly. A very pleasant transaction.

Have a great time, man.

Thanks, Quill.

You asked: What brought me to the Tweed?

Hmmm... I did a lot of research on the web... I don't know squat about electronics and amps, but I seem to be drawn to building replicas of "vintage" stuff.

Attached is a picture of my "major" mid-life crisis:

Having built the boats and guitars, I recognize the value of a great forum community. I am a moderator on the Glen-L boatbuilding forum.

I guess it was the passion of the Tweed builders like yourself that first caught my eye. But it was the quality of this forum that "sold" me on Trinity Amps and the Tweed.


I did all the dovetails for the cabinet last night. I have the basic shape done.


This will be good.

Judging by the look of that boat you built, I don't think you will have trouble building the cabinet.

Have you thought about not covering the wood with vinyl but rather apply a nice finish to it which would enhance the grain of the wood? Seeing the deck of the boat in the picture gave me that idea.

Vinyl offers a good protection for an amp that is moved around a lot or for a gigging musician but if your daughter uses it mostly in your home you could do without it. With your woodworking ability and finishing experience, I'm sure the results would be exceptional.

On the other hand, you might be looking for the traditional tweed covering yellowed by a few coats of shellac.

Whatever your do, please keep us posted. I'd love to see the results.

Thanks for the kind words. I'm going with traditional tweed and shellac.... "all in" for the vintage look.

PS... can anyone point me to an "order list" for tweed fabric, grill cloth, cabinet hardware, etc?

Some of the parts I got from Mojotone, and their part numbers:

9045000r
Fender Style Raised Brown Leather Handle (w/ Hardware)
$15.00
(careful with this one - see below)

9000001
Large Rubber Feet (4 pack), 3/4" Tall
$6.00

8300001
Fender Style Tweed Brown Stripe Coated / 64'' W
$29.00/yd

I didn't list grillcloth, because I didn't use what seems to be the more common grillcloth - while looking for the one that everyone else seems to use, and which is most commonly pictured on the originals, and which I never did find (I think it's the "oxblood with gold stripe", on the Mojotone webpage), I found something else I preferred.

The handle. The one I listed for you there looks great, but it is not strong. It seems you need to keep the handle fasteners spread as widely as possible, to ease the bend in the handle at that point. And I beefed up the fasteners on mine;




- but I'm still not sure about it. I wish I could stand the look of the stronger handle (Mojotone's "Large Brown Leather Handle", #5220006), which people who have better sense than I do tend to use. 'Cause it's way better.

And I'd just about rather stab out my eyeballs with a pencil than look up part numbers - kind of a work-related psychosis - so I hope you appreciate my effort! I endured this almost unspeakable suffering only because you're building the amp for your girl. If it was for you - forget it!

However, I will happily spend hours editing pictures about how I did my tweed and post them later.

Oh boy.

Quill... you over delivered...

I didn't need part numbers (but thanks).

How many yards of the tweed did you use? one? two?

I'll look at the handles... I'll probably go with the beefier.

Since you have a soft spot for daughters... here she is singing a little Dylan on a guitar I built her.... http://s241.photobucket.com/albums/ff7/brucemdow/?action=view&current=SANY0443.mp4

(Moderators - feel free to smack me if I'm too off topic)

That boat is unreal Bruce! FYI for all you Canadians , I use Steamco for a lot of cabinet supplies because it is Canadian!http://www.steamcomusic.com/catalog/grill-cloth

Make great cabs as well. I get my head cabs and combos from Stephen and all other cabs from steamco. Kev and Brent at Steamco are great to deal with.
Currently working with them for 210 and a 4x8 with 2 tool free ports in the back to simulate an open or closed back as well as some where in the middle.
The vents actually came abou to be able to adjust the Emminence Reignmaker and Maverik FDM speakers. I adopted them on my cabs to work as ports.

http://www.voltageamps.ca/Voltage_Guita ... _home.html

Many pics and one I really like is a B&W of Murray Pulver from DOC Watson as I own the Egnater in the pic.
I am removing the Celestions that it came loaded with. Thinking of going to a single 12" alnico wgs blackhawk or black & blue. Detuned cab and lighter to lug around. Internals are never plugged in.
They are 1 x Custom-Voiced Egnater Celestion Elite-80 Speaker and 1 x Celestion Vintage-30
Anyone looking for used speakers, they will be going up for sale.

I love that boat and I have helped build a couple of Glen-L boats over the years

_________________
Fantasy Noise is what my shop of dreams is called and was the only way to beat my addiction, like many here I suffer from G.A.S.


Tele's make the best noise

G-Log.

Thanks for the info about Steamco. Unfortunately, I placed my Mojo order last night.

Daughter's Birthday is June 11.

If I can hold schedule, she'll have a nice tweed cabinet, a speaker, and a pile of parts.

What is it they say???? "Some Assembly Required"..... Oh well... "it's the thought that counts"...

But seriously... how many hours should I allow for Kit and Chassis assembly?

Time to complete ... a tricky question. Some seem to get theirs done in practically minutes, but then some complain about having to chase down noises and funny voltages. I set aside an entire week of evenings, went very slowly and placed every component and every wire just exactly so - particularly signal wires, which I wanted running with as close to mil-spec bends as I could manage, and as flat against the chassis as I could get them, and running at neat right angles wherever they crossed. Unnecessary? Possibly. My 5E3 is absolutely dead-silent, cranked up to full volume - with a cheap Strat copy! With a Les Paul? Can't hardly tell it's on. A well-spent ten or twelve hours, I'd say. But I don't really know enough to say whether there's a connection between the neat wiring and the clear, silent operation or not.

I put up a thread showing how the tweed went for me - it's in here somewhere. Don't know if it'll help or not. Maybe it'll help someone to avoid my mistakes.

<edit>After thinking about it a bit, I'd say my build probably took me about 20 hours.

Thanks, Quill.

I was just looking for rough order of magnitude... 20 hours versus 2 hours versus 200 hours.

When I get the kit, I will follow several "build blogs"

I have ordered the VRM, and plan to install it from the outset.

"stay tuned".

As a first build , budget the whole weekend + . Tone Tubbys should be here today or tomorrow. Kit is ready to ship.

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

For what it is worth, here are the "naked" pictures of the cabinet. Excuse the photo quality... I took these with my phone.

Now all I need is the guts, and the covering..... Waiting on the postman for both of those.

Bruce, your cabinet looks great.

I am going to run the risk of possibly pissing you off by giving you a hint you surely do not need. Who doesn't hate that? All the same, this is a hint I didn't need, either, but still ran into trouble. And it's hard to tell from the angle of the cab in the second photo, but ... the back panels look pretty tight to the cabinet.

I left a generous 1/16" gap between the edges of the back panels and the cabinet, to allow for the tweed. Before gluing, I checked with two layers of fabric, all the way around each edge, and it was fine, and I added a bit for glue and finishing, but when I checked the covered back panels against the bare cabinet, there was not enough room - and out came the chisel. A real pain in the neck.

Maybe I needed to leave a full 1/8" gap? I wanted the panels really snug, to eliminate any possibility of buzzing, but I don't think they needed to be so closely fit. Anyway, just something to check and double-check, before you cover the back panels. Nice to get it right at this stage, where you can still trim the boards down, if you need to.

Just trying to help!

Thanks, Quill.

I see your point.

I have plenty of gap "width-wise" on the back panels for two layers of fabric.

I set the depth on the cleats with a 3/8" spacer. Given that the back panels are 1/4", that leaves me 1/8". I hope that allows enough for two layers of fabric, while still having the back panels slightly recessed to the sides.

If I did not leave enough for that, I'll break out the router and chisel.


(You never have to ask permission to offer me hints, warnings, or guidance.... I appreciate and welcome all advice)