trinityamps.com

OK, today I'm done with the Lightning for a while. I'm going to use it and see how it goes. There are some things I may or may not do...here we go.

First picture shows how I mounted the trannies. I ordered a #2 chassis from Nik at Ceri@tone, but he shipped me a #1. There's no way I was sending it back so I ended up mounting the power tranny at right angles to the normal setup. In order to put it the normal way, I would have to fabricate a plate.

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Inside, you see I kinda left the PT wiring sloppy. I may change it, but the amp is quiet as a mouse until the I turn the volume up above 3/4 with the master on full. Then there is a hum. Again, I'll try it for a while.



Detail of wiring for cut control. Since it goes across the PI just like the Master I just jumped to it.



The Master is not very progressive, its action is in the first 1/3 of the turn. I think Matchless must have picked 1M to make sure it's completely out of the circuit when on full. I may go to a 250KA with a switch to take it out of the circuit when not being used.

The Trinity cab is gorgeous, but the top rear panel hits the chassis hard. I'm going to move it down.





Panels are just HP color prints, laminated at Office Max for $2. Of course putting the names of the controls on the bottom makes them invisible when standing. Oh well.





Amp sounds pretty great in the house (but it's fiercely loud!!!). I'm going to take it out Thursday to see what it does in a band situation.

P.

Hey! It looks really nice!

I especially like the looks for those trannies! Where'd ya get 'em?! ;) More importantly, how do they sound? Sorry about the OT wire coloring not matching the table on my site. My tranny guy got confuzzled and messed that up, but you do have the right trannies. The Lightning has so much going on inside, it is quite a bit more rotund than the 18 Watt tranny.

How does the 210 configuration sound in the Lightning? There aren't a lot of good 10s on the market, so I'm glad to see BBQ making some really great ones.

I like the glossy look of the plates. I originally ordered mine in black gloss, but BNP sent me matte. I may reorder them sometime just because I think the would look cool as almost a black mirror thing. I posted a Corel Draw file for Lightning plates a while back. They fit Trinity's cab and Nik's chassis perfectly, so if you would like to have some made by BNP, 90% of the work is hiding in a thread somewhere on this forum.

Just as an FYI, I have a couple of Nik's #2 chassis in stock in aluminum.

Back to your hum problem. Did you grind the powder paint away at every ground point? I recently helped a friend with a Ceri@tone steel chassis and that was his problem. A few minutes with my Dremel tool, and he was all quiet.

Anyway, it looks really good! And, the more I play my Lightning, the more I like it. Right now, it is the good cop in my good cop / bad cop amp scenario, but it sure can get nasty when I want it to :)

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--s2
www.s2amps.com
www.category5amps.com

Looks good, I ordered the #1 and got the #2, but I also ordered the black steel one and got the more expensive alum silver one.. I was going to cut the tranny wholes to except the 30 watt trannies anyway, so it's ok.

How are 10s in this amp? Great. Before my Trinity cabinet came, I had the chassis propped up on a milk crate and was plugged into my Bassman cab with 2-12" Jensens. I like the small cab with 10s better. There is plenty of bass available, and a nice presence to the amp. Ted BBQ is another one of the good guys. I really like dealing with people, not international conglomerates.

With the tone controls real low, the amp has a nice midrange, raising the bass to 3 or 4 and the treble to 5 or 6 and you get the coolest jangle. It's got a great "edgy" tone to it.

The trannies are great. It wasn't hard to figure out the wiring. I wired my speakers in series to take advantage of the full windings on the OT. Let me tell you, this amp has an easy sustain that is exceptional.

I recommended both you and Stephen Cohrs to a fellow who calls himself "The Good Texan" on the TDPRI, and I see he has ordered some stuff from both of you.

I could be interested in one of those Aluminum chassis. You can e-mail me and let me know the deal.

P.

Paul, the chassis should really 'poke' into the cutout on that back; I think moving i down might solve it. Maybe I should make dimension the cutout larger?

You build looks beautiful and I agree about grinding the 'oxide' off the steel chassis to get a better ground contact.

Play it for a while!

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

You know, when I built my 1X12, I initially started the cab with MDF. I ended up redoing it in Birch....because the thing was getting real heavy...But I still have the completed cab out in the garage....all I'd have to do is slap some tolex on it, and put a grilled baffle on it.

I might try to find a pair of tens and do a 2X10. Dave @ avatar has some celestion 10s on deep discount for 19 bucks a pop....

I wonder....


well, sorry for the borderline hijack! Beautiful looking amp, Paul!! With any luck, I'm right behind you!

-F

I third the motion on grinding down the paint.

If it's what I think it is, the black paint will not be too conductive to begin with...

I built my 18 lite in a steel hammond...and at all ground point, I took out the dremel and ground completely through the paint to get to steel.

Paul;

Sweet looking build man! Thanks for sharing!!!

CR ><>

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WoodCross Amps

http://www.geocities.com/woodcrossamps/

Nice work!

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PJM

http://www.diyguitarist.com

Looks great!

Don't fool yourself though......it's never over.

I'm considering a 4x10 cab with the head after I build it. What do you think?

Yeah, and then there's all those mods that people come up with...

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PJM

http://www.diyguitarist.com

Frank,

Have you loaded speaks in your MDF cabinet? I'm wondering how such a cabinet would sound. I used to build Hi-Fi speakers with MDF covered in leather back before the market became so crowded (and good speakers became so cheap). The objective was to make the cabinet as dead as humanly possible. MDF is a very dead sounding material, so it is perfect for taking the cabinet out of the discrete mathematics equation.

Usually in guitar cabinets, you want just the opposite--lots of resonance.

I wonder too...

_________________
--s2
www.s2amps.com
www.category5amps.com

First things first....if I could reach through the monitor and smack you for saying 'discrete mathematics' I would do so, without hesitation....regardless whether or not you are the father of my trannies!

Seriously, I haven't done a thing with the MDF cab. I first started building the cab with MDF, but it truly was a pain in the ass....very heavy, the sawdust was very fine and nasty...and I couldn't seem to get a screw to hold without some cracking....so I scrapped the idea and said "I might as well do Birch ply, since that's what everyone else does anyway. Turns out, the Birch ply wasn't any more expensive than the MDF.

The cab is essentially 4 sides, with all cleats already installed...so I'd really have to build a baffle, tolex it and put a back on it....not that much work really...but I'd hate to invest the time and money into getting the cab up and running if it won't sound right.

Here are the speakers that Dave's selling for cheap:

http://www.avatarspeakers.com/celestion%20blowout.htm

Go down and look for the G10D-25 They're about 20 bucks a pop....might be worth a try.

-F[/url]

HA! Since you are so sensitive, I won't taunt you with the grade I made in DM!

Anywho, when I read between the lines on those speakers, I see "The fartiest sounding bass you have ever heard in your life and don't you dare overdrive me 'cause I can't handle the OD!" I think that magnet should receive all the spam in the world for enlargement products, because... DAMN! That thing is tiny!!!

Seriously, email Dave and see what he has to say about them. He is a straight-up guy who will tell you whether they are worth messing with or not.

_________________
--s2
www.s2amps.com
www.category5amps.com

Boy, I'd like to find some MDF the same price as my 13 Ply Russian birch! I guess if you butt joint the corners and cleat them, it's pretty straight forward, but if you finger joint the corners - now that's a different story. I made many Hi-Fi cabs out of MDF and it was perfect for that. Turns out wood is better for live music. I remember a thread on this subject ...

viewtopic.php?t=4

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

Stephen,

I didn't use 13 ply birch...I used the more lowe's/homedepot available stuff, which is probably some variety of 7 ply....

at that point, the cost is the same....hell, the birch is cheaper...

-F