We've had a lot of successful first time builders for both. the TC15 is a little more complicated that the 18 with an extra tube, contour control, MV pull switch and crunch-munch switch. It's a great amp tone wise for what you want and you can add a VRM for power control if you want.
We have four two channel version of the Marshall 18 watt amps that you might want to consider - the sIII, Plexi, TMB and the v6. All 18 watt amps incorporate Treble, Midrange, Bass, Gain [volume] and Volume [master volume]. The second channel (Normal Channel) has Tone and Volume controls. sIII - The sIII is a medium gain amp and is voiced to do the early plexi/JTM45 sound very nicely. The range of tone is from spanky clean to Marshall grind. You can get a great Clapton Bluesbreaker sound and Hendrix as well. This amp can handle Blues-Rock, Country & Reggae. The Second channel (Normal Channel) is same configuration as the Tremolo channel from the original 18 watt design but without Tremolo. Plexi - The Plexi is voiced to sound period correct for a Marshall Plexi Lead. Screaming guitar lead tones at a much lower volume. The amp can thump and grind with less compressed tone than the other 18 watt variants. The Second Channel (Normal Channel) provides way more overdrive than most 18 watt normal channels while the Plexi channel is capable of the best clean sound we have ever heard come out of an 18 watter. With a pair of greenbacks, you'll be shocked how period correct it sounds. Crank up the gain and you are in crunch tone heaven. The clean boost just adds another dimension, it nails all those old AC-DC tones dead on and has way more gain on tap if needed. Plexi MkII - Is based on the Plexi Super Lead preamp design with selected 'brown' components. This gets you very close to Eddie van Halen sound. Hot licks but with a very surprising clean tone with gain turned down. This baby can really move some air! Crank up the normal channel and it really gives up the goods! Lots of crunchy to high gain AC/DC tones for days. The TMB side cranked up is great going from clean to mean. Leave the gain low and crank the master and there is quite a lot of headroom with big fat cleans. The fat switch fattens up the TMB side and makes it a bit fuller spectrum of sound. Clip here:http://www.unimind.us/TrinityPlexi2.mp3 TMB - The TMB amp is a high gain amp that does the 80s sound very nicely. It is intended for musicians who want plenty of grind. It does ZZTop very nicely. It is both responsive and aggressive. The second channel is the Normal channel from the original 18 watt design. This amp does classic rock crunch to metal. V6 - The v6 adds switchable output tubes (EL84 / 6V6) and boost to the sIII, Plexi or TMB. The sound is close to a Fender Deluxe and an 18 watt grafted together. At low volume levels the difference isn't that noticeable between to channels but once you get into loud clean tones and beyond (crunch and full on distortion) you really notice the difference. The EL84s have more highs so the bite and crunch is more apparent with them. Overall, they are a bit clearer than the 6V6 and the EL84 defiantly have the chime thing going on. The 6V6s don't have as much treble but are smoother overall with more bass. When you turn the amp up, link the channels and use 6V6s the tone is really nice. Smooth, good compression but still plenty of clarity.
The inputs can be jumped on all of our amps.
_________________ Stephen Web: www.trinityamps.com. Facebook: facebook.com/trinityamps. Twitter: @trinityamps
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