trinityamps.com

Working a few evenings this past week on my TC15, I realised I had a chance - if I worked efficiently - to get it done to play out Friday and Saturday (last night and tonight) at a bar gig my band was playing.

I actually finished up the wiring Thursday night, but I was short a few resistors. Although Stephen shipped them out asap, they didnt arrive in time, but I managed to get them from the local community college which used to have an electronics tech program and still has a lot of parts. Lucky!

I managed to wire them in and got it running! The amp's channel two sounds remarkably like my original 15 - the EF86 side, well, it has a lot of crunch for sure. I ended up gigging the amp for 4 hours last night without issue - trial by fire I guess! Sounds GREAT running through my Orange 4x12 cabinet. For effects, I am running a Janglebox compression/sustainer, an Ibanez TS808 and a Tone bone plexitube for overdrives, a boss chorus and MXR phase 90, and a boss delay. The TC15 (as well as the 15) take pedals just so damn nice!

ANyhow, I made a nice cab for it from some swiss pearwood I had, and a piece of figured claro walnut for the face.

I put my oringinal Trinity 15 watter into a combo cabinet (quick orange tolex job) with a Celestion V30 speaker. Now I can use my new TC15 head for gigging and take the combo to rehersals when I dont want to haul around a cabinet!

Sorry, I didnt feel like stopping to take pics along the way - I was working too fast and in "the build zone" to bother. But here are some pics after it was done...

I like that TC15 cabinet... that looks sharp.

You make beautifull cabinets. Woodworking skills goes a long way to making the kits look amazing. I'm thinking about asking a friend to help me make my Deluxe's into heads. Although I'm not sure if I want one to be a 1-12 combo. Lots of options.....

9 hours to build a TC15 puts me to shame. That figured claro walnut is amazing.
Looking forward to more comments on the TC15 after tonights gig. Go easy on the EF86 channel and it cleans up nicely.

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

Stephen,
Well, first off, I have to say the amp survived two nights of nearly continuous playing... last night we played three sets totalling about 4 hours.

The TC15 is just an amazing little amp - what more can I say? It isnt a "new thing" with me since I have so much time on my original 15 now, and the TC15 is just that much better. I didnt play around too much with the EF86 channel due to time issues this weekend (I diont like to experiment with tones and such at the gig if you can understand that..) Now I can explore channel 1 and I know next time we play in April, I will definitely have my A/B box hooked up and use it.

Even when I have the overdrive on set to farily heavy gain tone, I still get the sweet, sweet chime out of the TC15 - its almost like a bit of chorus is there. If you guys dont know what I am talking about, you HAVE to at least listen to someone elses 15 watter... amazing.

ANyhow, what more can I say? But thank you for an AMAZING product!!

AJC

Great to get that sort of feedback from a Gig as well!! I know what you mean when you hear that chime through the heavy playing.

That's also a testament to the OT that hangs in there to faithfully reproduce the tonal characteristics of the design, whether "Crunching" or "Munching".

Thanks for all the feedback. I updated and posted the layouts as well.

Another posting by AJC is here:


http://guitarscanada.com/Board/showthre ... #post97958

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

All the good stuff I've been reading about the TC15.... maybe there will be one in my future I've certainly been thinking about it.... just gotta finish paying for my last couple toys and finish up the amp projects I'm already working on.

I can attest to the TC-15 sound. I just built a combo kit and got a change to bang on it a bit for the first time this weekend. Smokin'.

With the two channels, the switchable Master Volume, the Crunch and Munch switch, the rig can get any sound I am looking for from chimey clean, to Slayer metal and everything in between. I think I've only scratched the surface of the sonic ocean possible with this amp.

With the Master volume, I can get that distortion with out the volume, but from what I have heard so far, when I to get to run it full bore, there will be another myriad sounds.

I'd recommend the TC-15 to anyone! I would also recommend building it yourself, not only for the cost savings, but for the knowledge!!

JP

Well,
Things didnt go quite as planess this past week with the 2nd TC-15. I had left my friend and co-guitarist Danny to work on his kit at home.... later on in the week, he expressed some frustration and I went to see his work. As soon as I saw it I said WOAH! Stopped him before he could do any more... he tried to wire up the transformers and started on the tube sockets. Unfortunately, I saw immediately that there were many cold or poorly soldered joints, some components on the board were in wrong positions and some tube sockets were wired up incorectly.

Yesterday he gave me everything, and today I spent the whole afternoon undoing what he had done wrong, and then finishing up the tube sockets, tone/volume wiring and the jacks.

Fired it up and everything works great! I played it a bit tonight and will get it into the walnut cabinet I made up before returning it to him.

I have to say, I am generally a firm believer in promoting DIY to people and rarely try and discourage anyone. However, this was a bit of a reality check for me. I guess I dont realise that not everyone has the skills to solder, ID parts and wire up things correctly, and this is definitely NOT for every one.

That being said, I would still not discourage anyone from attempting to build a kit for themselves. But I do have a better understanding how some builders get themselves into trouble that is difficult to diagnose at a later date.

If I didnt step in and fix and finish this kit, it would have never worked. Even with one missed or misplaced wire, an amp wont work. But with 5 or 6 parts in the wrong spot and wires running to the incorrect tube socket pins I think parts would have gotten smoked on this one...

Good thing Danny is a good friend and I dont mind spending a free day workring on an amp - even if it isnt mine.

Now, we can both use our new TC15's when we gig!

AJC

I know some people practice their soldering skills before starting their first build. Sounds like good advice for a beginner. It's lucky you were able to rescue the project, so a big thank-you!

Anxious to hear how the twin TC-15s work out when you gig.

Congrats on your 6th Trinity build!

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

Stephen,
I played the amp today for a few hours to make sure everything was working ok - which it was. Danny will be happy with it for sure. As for gigging both the TC15's, we play again two nights in mid April. If any of you are in the Kirkland Lake area... (heh heh, I doubt it though!) check us out at the Bellevue Tavern on the 18/19th.

I will be interested how his TC15 takes the overdrives he uses - Fulltone 2 and some Keeley pedals. I of course use my TS808 and Tonebone Plexitube.

We both play through Orange 4x12 cabinets with C30's. Some day I hope to make my own 4x12 with a quartet of tubbies.... but not quite yet.

I finally ended up taking my Orange R30 to the music store on consignment... with two 15's, the 18 and the Deluxe it wasnt getting ANY use...

AJC