Page 10 - Triwatt Custom Lead Amp Builder's Guide

Custom TRIWATT Lead Description

The TRIWATT was designed by Trinity Amps to capture the classic HIWATT sound
without the usual classic ear-bleeding volume levels. It is closely based on an early '70s style
Hiwatt DR, but utilising either 6V6 or KT66 power tubes for more usable power output.
Furthermore, it has the 3-input configuration used by David Gilmour of Pink Floyd, plus an
Overdrive stage, as found in early '80's “Biacrown era” Hiwatt Lead amps.
Bright channel - perfect right out of the gate. The entire travel of gain knob yields usable
tones. Bright is AMAZING from zero to dimed, with lots of subtle colours in between. This
channel really cuts through the mix.
Normal channel - has usable gain from the bottom all the way to the top, and lots of
subtle shades of clean and semi-clean from around 10 o'clock to 3 o'clock. This channel is
important because it's where most people will probably spend most of their time. The tone,
is big and more detailed.
Link - is like jumping the two channels on a 4-holer. There are infinite shades of tone
possible by blending the two channels' volume controls. The actual "sound" of the link
inputs is subtly more scooped-mid and sparkly, giving one set of knob settings two slightly
different tones.
Tone Controls - Treble, Middle, Bass, Presence - these are less like "boost/cut" knobs and
more like “real” tone controls. They do a lot to the tone in a very subtle way. With
Fenders/Marshalls extreme settings can get painful. TRIWATT never gets painful. Presence
in particular is very authentic - rather than boosting a high treble, it opens up or extends the
top end of the tone to add “air” to the sound. TRIWATT EQ knobs are in very similar
places when compared to original Hiwatt amps, dialed in to similar tones.
Master Volume - turning the master down isn't a tone killer like in some amps. The tone is
not compromised when the master is under around 11 o'clock. IF you set the OD up
appropriately (see below), even with the MV way down - 7 or 8 o' clock, it still sounds huge.
This control sounds big, quiet, and it it sounds big loud!
Overdrive - This control may be the reason someone who owns arguably a Hylight-era
Hiwatt 4-holer, would want the TRIWATT. This is where the TRIWATT "art" lives – a .
Pull out the Overdrive control and you get the extra gain stage of a Biacrown era Hiwatt
Lead amp (push the knob in and it's out of the circuit). This gain stage naturally gives you
more gain and more distortion, as well as more compression. So, for rhythms as well as
leads, it's incredible! The way it works, is that when the Overdrive stage is engaged by pulling
the Overdrive knob, the stage's drive/gain level is set by the Normal and Bright volume
controls, and the stage's outout level is set by means of the Overdrive knob. So it's possible
to set the stage to provide a lot of extra gain but at the same volume level as when its not
engaged. But there are more possibilities. If you have to play lead, bring up the
bright/normal gain stage and starve the overdrive gain and the tone comes forward is more
dynamic and bigger. Turning up the Overdrive, with an LP and humbuckers reveals big
metal tones, yet rolling back the guitar volume and playing more gently yields delicate,
transparent, sparkling cleans with the Overdrive still on. And you can imagine all the shades
in between!!!

TrinityAmps TRIWATT Builders Guide Ver. 2.31.docx
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