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Its been almost a month since I submitted it, but Harmony Central still hasn't posted my sIII review. Sooo, I'm posting it here.
Features:
I bought my 18-watt sIII head as a kit from Trinity. Decided that I wanted to build it myself. I completed my build in February of 2006, and have been playing it for over a year and a half now. I also built a 2x12 cabinet with one Tone Tubby Hempcone Alnico, and one Ceramic. My speaker cabinet has 3 inputs so I can use either the alnico, the ceramic, or both at the same time. Which is nice for recording situations. Don't let the 7 on features fool you. Less is more when it comes to features on a hand-wired tube amp. In my opinion, a 7 is THE perfect score in this regard. No bells and whistles. Just like the 1960s 18-watt Marshall bluesbreaker it's based on. Beauty in simplicity.
The TMB channel (treb/mid/bass) has 5 knobs: Bass, mids, Treble, Volume and Master. The second channel has 2 knobs: tone and volume. Both channels have a high and a low input. I use an A/B/Y pedal to bounce between the two channels. Lead sounds on the TMB, and rhythm on the other. I use it in my basement studio and at local venues with my band. 18-watts is the perfect wattage. Its low enough to nicely overdrive the tubes without destroying your hearing, and high enough to cut through the mix with your band. If you need more, your entire band should probably bring it down a notch. Especially since most respectable venues mic your amp anyways!
(7/10 rating)
Sound Quality
If you are looking into buying an 18-watt, its because you want a Marshall Plexi sound at reasonable volumes. A noble pursuit! And this amp delivers IN SPADES. I play a 1968 Gibson ES335. With my volume knob(s) up all the way, there is not alot of clean headroom to be had. The volume range from 0-2 is a nice, bright, warm clean sound. 2-4 is rhythm guitar crunch from heaven. Anything over 4 gets into grinding, full-bore Marshall plexi territory... searing lead tones. The best part?? When I drop my volume down to ~4-5, it cleans up beautifully. What more could you possibly want?? When plugged into the low output jack, the sound is basically the same, but quieter, and my guitar cleans-up ~7.
The TMB channel is slightly more flexible tonewise, and allows you to dial in more dirt. Which is why I use this for lead tones. I like to crank up the master volume and vary the volume pot. This gives it a fatter, thicker tone than cranking the volume and varying the master. Again, you can get sweet, bright sounding cleans, but only at relatively low volumes. But that's not a bad thing! You buy an 18-watt because you want crunchy, overdriven sounds at lower volumes! If you need lots of clean headroom, look for 30watts+.
(10/10 rating)
Reliability
Like I said, I've been playing this amp very regularly for over a year and a half. I have had absolutely not a single problem with this amp. I built it myself, so I know it is ruggedly built and would easily withstand the road (if I was ever to actually tour!)
My band plays local gigs mainly. I don't gig with a backup, but if I was in a touring band, I'd love to have a back-up! But as with most hand-wired point-to-point amps, there really isn't much that can go wrong. I'm glad I built it myself, because in a bind, I could probably go in there with a soldering iron and fix it myself! I highly recommend building your amp. This was my first build and I don't have a strong background in electronics. If you need advice, the 18watt.com forum is very useful. As is Trinity Amps (see below)
(Rating 10/10)
Customer Support
This is the first Harmony Central review I have written. And I am writing it mainly for this section. Stephen Cohrs is the guy behind Trinity Amps. I read TONS about amp building before deciding on an 18-watter. Then I read tons more, and decided to go with Trinity. And it was the best decision I could have possibly made. Stephen is the most stand-up guy in the business. I honestly can't say enough good about him. He makes incredible amps, has VERY reasonable prices, and he stands behind his amps 110%.
I ordered my transformers from a U.S. supplier (the same supplier Stephen buys from). Mine never showed up. Either they got lost in the mail, or the guy genuinely forgot to send them. Stephen loaned me a pair of his transformers at NO CHARGE until things got worked out! He barely knew me and I walked out with $150 worth of transformers on my own recogniscence!!
Then... during my build I was getting some noise and buzz (on account of MY poor wiring skills!), Stephen had me over to his operation and spent at least an hour going over my amp at no-charge. He fixed up a few cold solder joints and gave me a ton of suggestions. I left there with no noise/buzz and a killer sounding amp. An amp that has sounded incredible since that day a year and a half ago.
And most recently... I had a gig this past thursday. At some point on the way home after the gig, my amp must have shifted in the van. The impedence selector switch must have got bumped hard, because it basically broke open leaving my amp out of commission. I emailed Stephen to ask if I could buy a switch from him. He invited me to his home that evening, sold me the switch for next to nothing, and installed it in less than 10 minutes. All this on his own time! And at no charge! If I took the amp in somewhere, I'm sure they would have charged me at least an hour of labour + parts + markup.
I've never had customer service like this ever. Stephen runs a top-notch operation and clearly loves making amps. In a perfect world, every instrument and amp company would operate like this. A 10-rating is simply not high enough.
(10/10 rating)
Overall Rating
I have been playing 13 years. I own my Trinity sIII, a 60-watt Fender Deville, a 1968 Gibson ES335, a Gibson Les Paul Jr. Lite Special, and a Takamine acoustic. My sIII is tied with my 335 as my favorite piece of gear. If it was lost or stolen, I'd put a bounty on the guy's head, then I would buy another within the hour. Actually, I would seriously consider one of Stephen's new builds (TC-15) which is a 15-watter voiced like a Matchless DC30 and a Vox AC30. I just tried one out and it sounds killer (!)
Bottom line. You will NOT be disapointed if you go with Trinity.
(10/10 rating)
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