trinityamps.com

Hello all,
I've just completed my first Lightning amp (I've built a Tweed Deluxe, Vibrolux, and Champ, as well as a reverb unit); however, the volume is extremely low overall. Any suggestions as to where to look? When I say very low, the Champ blows it out of the water.
Thanks,
Darcy

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"Let's hope this one turns out pretty darn good!" -- Paul McCartney

Hello Darcy - It would probably be a good idea to sit down with the lay out and trace the entire circuit making sure of every wire connection and every resistor & capicitor value and marking it off as you go. Specific places I would look would be the jumper wire from pin 3 to pin 3 of the EL84 power tubes, if this wire is missing or not connected properly you will only get half power, also double check the value of the 120 Ohm 10-15 watt resistor to ground from the same pin. Also I would look closley at the under board connection from the 220k (make sure of resistor values) grid resistors and make sure it ends up grounded at the 22uf capicitor at the end of the board. Also check your voltages with the charts in this post on Trinity talk viewtopic.php?t=151
Post your voltages for others to look at. . . . JOE

Let us know what you find - also posting a pic may be helpful !

Also check that the jumpers on V1 & V2 are in place. These and the 100K between 1&6 on V2 are easily overlooked.

I always highlight with a marker on the layout diagram, all the connections as a last check.

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

Thanks for the tips guys. I got it working and it sounds delicious! Turned out to be just a stupid mistake at the phase inverter where I had the 1K2 resister switched with the 1M resister. I got it playing, and at first, I found that the bass was really flabby. Then I read over some of the posts on this forum and decided to change the .001 cap on pin 1 of P1 to a 500pf cap (I had a .002 on there before). What a difference! Very voxy, and tonnes of clean headroom.

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"Let's hope this one turns out pretty darn good!" -- Paul McCartney

Good job. Congratulations What schematic / layout did you use to build it?

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

Thanks! I used the Lightning layout on the Ceri@tone website, in conjunction with the AC30 layout on Hoffman's page. I used a Tweed Deluxe board and chassis for the job (though I had to add another 12ax7 hole). Tight space, but it has worked out so far. I'll post photos when I'm done.
Currently, I'm using a BBQ Ceramic Blue Dog. Has anyone tried the Alnico Blue Dog in a Lightning? How do these compare?
Thanks,
Darcy

_________________
"Let's hope this one turns out pretty darn good!" -- Paul McCartney

I would be interested to see how your 'final' layout compares to ours. Have you seen it in our "Links" section under "Lightning Project"?

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