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I have been looking to build an amp for a while. After reading all the great posts and feedback from this forum I decided to order a Triwatt. I can't say enough about how wonderful Stephens craftsmen ship and customer service have been. The cab is beautiful it nails that classic hiwatt look. The components are all high quality and securely packed. A careless post man got a hold of it at some point and the chassis got damaged. I let Stephen now and he took care of it immediately. Thank you so much for all your help Stephen. I would not hesitate to order from him again.

After unexpectedly moving I have finally found some time to start on the build. This is my first amp build so if you see anything goofy please let me know. I have built a couple pedals and am a profession luthier who has been looking to build an amp for the past 5 years. I'm pretty good with a soldiering iron and can get pretty anal on details.
Here is my current progress. I have all the tube sockets wired up and all the caps and resistors in. I'm pretty happy with how it's coming. Thanks a lot to zaphod for his build picks they have been very helpful.
I'll have some more time on Thursday to work on it. I can't wait.

I can't comment on how it goes together but I can say that is a very nice and professional looking build.

I'm about to embark on my 18 watt build and I sure hope it turns out as neat as yours is.

How many hours do you have in the build so far?

Skip Jack

Thank you so much.

I probably have about 12-15 hours into it. I'm taking it nice and slow as it is my first I really want it to come out nice.

Good luck skip jack on you 18 watt. I was torn between one of those and the Triwatt. The Triwatt obviously won in the end. (Big Townshend and Gilmour fan) I still think I will do an 18 watt at some point.

Looks excellent. Keep it up and I'm sure you will have a winner there!

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

Its evident ur really good at soldering. How many seconds are you typically heating before solder flow?

The many hours u spent seams so minimal to me. I've read the instructions 3 times and hopefully in about 3-4 weeks I will finally have some time to start my build. I'm not as nervous as I was once I got the kit as I understand the parts a lot better but I'm concerned about the soldering.

Any tips would be much appreciated.

Skip Jack

Work looks awesome. Love the crisp corners on the wires.

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Go Buckeyes!

Check this post out ... viewtopic.php?f=12&t=1261

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

That's a lot of great advice. Far better than I could have put it. Keep your tip clean, make sure you get good flow, tin your wires, and take your time. Make sure to be comfortable familiar with your iron. Practice a lot on scrap parts to get comfortable. This might seem obvious but make sure the iron is up to temp. beforw you try to soldier. Good luck skip jack.

Thanks too for all the kind words.

No progress on the build since the last pic.

I have been spending a lot of time looking at tubes for it. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated. I think after all the searching I have been doing I would like to try some NOS tubes.
So here is what I'm thinking so far. I'm very open to changing it though.

Brimar 6v6g(coke bottle) or 6v6gt From what I have read it seems these give a great el34 kinda sound.
NOS Mullard 12at7 People also seem to like these a lot.
NOS JAN GE 12ax7 ??
I don't have much experience with NOS tubes so any advice would be great. Thanks.

Build looks great - I still can't get my OD channel squeal-free so if anything watch that. actually.. now that you mention it, maybe I better swap some different pre-amp tubes and see if that helps

We have used Tung Sol AX7, NOS GE AT7, and JJ 6v6. Or Tung Sol 6V6

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

I've got EH in there right now - I have a definitely good pair of Tung Sols in another amp. Really like the feel they gave the amp

So I just finished the power up steps and it lives!!!! It sounds awesome. The cleans are so dynamic and rich. I love it!!! Only thing is the presence knob doesnt's seem to do any thing or maybe it's very subtle. I will get some pictures up soon. The other issue when you turn the Treble knob all the way up it cuts out. I figure it's just the pot is damaged or something.
Here are the numbers
V1-P1 144 P2 0 P3 1.157 P6 122 P7 0 P8 .95
V2-P1 169 P2 -15 P3 1.26 P6 98 P7 -17 P8 .749
V3-P1 263 P2 63 P3 68 P6 183 P7 0 P8 1.46
V4-P1 257 P2 68 P3 71 P6 253 P7 60 P8 71
V5-P1 0 P3 438 P4 403 P5 -42 P5 -42 P8 24
V6-P1 0 P3 437 P4 406 P5 -42 P5 -42 P8 20
Bias for tp1-19.6 and tp2 22 With 6v6's in it.
V2 pin 2 and 7 are negative not quite sure what that means.
Also on v5 and v6 pin8 are both in the twenties.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Quick update:
For the bias switch I have it switched towards the Power trannys that is the right position for 6v6's?
No problems at all with the overdrive it sounds great!!!
I retouched the connections for the presence control and I think it's working it's just subtle.

Did some more poking around and answered my own question. My bias switch was set for kt66's. With it switched the other way the bias range is 13-27ma. The V2 pin2 is .5 but the pin7 is still -12.5. Every thing looks good and seems to check out ok. Also for V5 and V6 pin8 are still high at 23.3 and 19.9.

I can't get enough of this thing it sounds so amazing. My wife hates pedals and last night I plugged my Univox Superfuzz clone into the Triwatt and she looked up and said that sounds amazing. I told her it was a pedal and she said "I know it sounds great!!" It really nails every thing I was hoping the amp to do. The the Superfuzz and my Gibson les paul special nails that live at leeds sound. Love it!!!

Pins two and seven in 12AX7s typically have no DC component excepting the phase inverter. In this case everything seems to be fine and normal in your Amp.

I don't really know why you're getting -12 V on pin seven that's pretty strange because of feeding from the positive plate voltage. Could just be the measurement.

The presence control is subtle but check if it is wired correctly.

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