My Trinity OSD Kit Build

[pompeiisneaks]

My brother had one and it sounds brutal. Wouldn't wish them on anyone... Well maybe Hitler lol

Phil

[Matt J]

My brother had one and it sounds brutal. Wouldn't wish them on anyone... Well maybe Hitler lol

Phil

Haha! Yeah, he would be a great candidate for one!

I passed it finally this afternoon, after first being attacked by it on Wednesday morning. CT scan at the hospital showed it as 2 mm wide. It's actually a bit larger with a flattened edge that's serrated. I have an appointment with the urologist next week to have it examined and see if I am at risk for any future ones. Picture attached of it next to a penny for scale.

Concerning the amp, have you or anyone else had any experience with those JJ filter caps? This is the first time I've used them with any amp (they came with the kit) so I'm considering changing them out for some F&Ts if it would be a notable upgrade. I'm already at my work bench planning out the new grounding scheme.

- Matt J.

[norburybrook]

I doubt changing the filter caps would be a 'sonic' upgrade. I would imagine that the JJ caps will be as good as the F &T's.

I'd leave them alone.


Marcus

[mojotom]

The JJ should be good, maybe better quality than the FT, at least on par.

What I noticed while I was reading the pdf and test around that amp was quite a heavy filtering.
If it feels too stiff maybe try 47uF first filter cap and 22u for the others filters.

[M Fowler]

I have those JJ caps and they are good. I broke off the leads on a few of them though just trying to mount them.

[pompeiisneaks]

I've used some JJ's and had great success too. I'd not worry about them. Except the suggestion by mojotom, indeed they could be filtering a bit too much, but that's just lowering the capacitance, not changing the cap type.

~Phil

[joe6v6]

Did your kit come with those 6PS caps? I built one recently & it came with 715's. Sounds fine to me but I have nothing to copare it to, its the first ODS style amp ive built. Mine is dead quite even cranked there is no hint at all of any extrenious noise, I saw a few posts back about the transformers being sitiuated the way they are & I dont think it is an issue in this case. As a matter of fact as the kit was being put together & tested I remember Stephen testing the transformer placement using headphones. .. . Joe

[Matt J]

Did your kit come with those 6PS caps? I built one recently & it came with 715's. Sounds fine to me but I have nothing to copare it to, its the first ODS style amp ive built. Mine is dead quite even cranked there is no hint at all of any extrenious noise, I saw a few posts back about the transformers being sitiuated the way they are & I dont think it is an issue in this case. As a matter of fact as the kit was being put together & tested I remember Stephen testing the transformer placement using headphones. .. . Joe

Interesting input Joe! The mystery deepens!
Those 6PS caps where ones that I bought shortly before I got the kit and decided to use them since they are what is typically seen in a Dumble style amp. I'm not certain of the sound difference between them and the 715s.
Tomorrow I should receive a new set of higher quality preamp tubes to put in it to replace these basic JJs I use when starting up a build. I'll see what that does to the noise.

There's also the simple fact that my house is quite old and probably doesn't have the best wiring setup to begin with so there may be some buzzing or grounding issues from that. Over the years I have had some issues with noisy amps (store bought ones, not ones that I have built) acting up, especially in my work room here where I keep my music equipment. Once the cabinet arrives next week I'll try it out at my neighbor's house, which was built much more recently. If that does confirm my suspicions I may have to invest in some type of power conditioner or similar product that helps provide constant AC power without the noise or ground issues.

Thanks again for your input! I'm glad to hear from another person who built this kit!
- Matt J.

[norburybrook]

Don't worry about using JJ valves. Two of the best sounding ODS amps I've built used JJ throughout. Also the Bluesmaster uses 715 caps and they sound great. Joey Landreth said my Bluesmaster was the best sounding Dumble he'd ever played....715 caps and JJ valves

At some point you're going to have to start using new valves. Robben Ford, Larry Carlton use JJ valves in their Dumbles.


M

[Matt J]

Hey Folks!

I managed to get some more tweaking done on the OSD this past weekend. Some of the noise issues seemed to have been resolved, but there is still a major one that occurs in the clean mode.

I haven't changed any of the grounding points yet, nor rotated the OT. I did change the wiring of the trim pot so that, when from the back, full clockwise on the control sends the most signal to V2 and vice versa. I also changed the tantalum presence cap from 1uf to 2.2uf to make the presence pot more interactive.

I also started plugging the amp into a different socket in my workroom in case the one I was using was a little faulty due to the older wiring in my house and contributing to the hum.

V1 appeared to be a little noisy, so I replaced it with an Electro Harmonix 12AX7, this did cut down on the noise some. As it stands, things are fine in the OD mode, with no more hiss, buzz, or hum, than you would expect in an OD circuit. However, just running in the clean channel leaves things quite noisy. If it matters any, the sound and scope of the noise changes as you run your hand over the top of the chassis. Also, the noise increases dramatically in PAB mode or when the R/J switch is in the rock position. It makes playing in the clean mode with either PAB or Rock on basically impossible due to the noise. I've tried it with my Strat and Les Paul and get the same results.

I've taken some more photos, and attached a PDF of the layout of the relays from Trinity's website. If there are any issues I may be overlooking, whether a ground point, or wires running where they shouldn't, please feel free to let me know!

Thanks again every one for your help and advice on this! I really appreciate it!
- Matt J.

[Matt J]

More shots of the relays and PAB wiring.

It was certainly nice to fire up the soldering iron again and get to work on things after my kidney stone spell, even though the doctor said I do have a few more in my kidneys that will have to be passed.

[Matt J]

Oh, and I just noticed looking at those pictures that I wired the bright switch wrong too. I'll have to fix that when I get home!

- Matt J.

[norburybrook]

Matt,

Shouldn't be noisy on the clean setting in rock mode. Switching to Jazz mode cuts a lot of gain so that's natural it would quieten the hiss.

Sorry I can't be of more help.

M

[Matt J]

Hey everyone!

Just wanted to give a little update on the Trinity OSD. My kidney stone issues have subsided (for now) so I've had a little more time to tweak it.

I finished everything up and it is now in its 1x12 cabinet with a Celestion G12-65 speaker. Adjusting the leads to make them a little more tidy has certainly decreased the noise to normal levels. I do think my house may be part of the culprit. I tried it at a relative's home, which was recently built with modern wiring and did not notice some of the hum that has been plaguing this amp and some others. Seeing that my house was built in the 1940s and has had only limited updates to the wiring this really doesn't surprise me.

The stock design with low plates seemed a little muffled, or flat, to me. So, I've been slowly replacing some of the circuitry to high plates specs, closer to what is on #102. The 250kA Overdrive trim and ratio pots have been replaced with 100kB, which seem a little better at getting the OD sound in focus. There always seemed to be either too much gain or two little with the original controls. I added in some metal films in the clean section to help the cleans stand out a little more at higher volumes, especially when you have 6V6s in the power seciton. I also like how the PAB is a bit more subtle now and doesn't jump out at you as much as it did in the original configuration.

Right now I'm letting it get some quality burn in time through my dummy load.

Overall, it is an interesting amp and one I have enjoyed building. Though, it really isn't what I've been looking for so I am probably going to try to sell it. Someone can either keep it as stock or rewire it to their own tastes. Some of that $$ will go towards some medical bills, the rest towards my #183 build I've slowly putting parts together for during the last few months. I

I'll try to post more pics later this weekend when I get the chance.

- Matt J.

[Matt J]

Ok folks! I'm officially calling this one done... My kidney stones have been on the quiet side lately, so I've finished up a few more things on it.

Right now it is getting some burn in time through a dummy load to give a final check over the internal components.

Upgrading it to high plate specs brought out more character in the amp, IMHO. The PAB is very subtle now, and only jumps out a lot when you have the equal down low.

It's now in its red 1x12 combo I also got from Trinity. It's build less like an ODS cabinet and more like a Hiwatt or Matchless unit.

It's a fun amp, and was very interesting to build, but it's just not quite right for what I'm looking for. From all of the various clones and models I have tried, those based on #183 seem to work the best with me, so I'm going to sell this one to help fund more NOS and high quality parts for my #183 build. As soon as I finish burning it in and doing a final components check, will list it on Reverb soon, and in the For Sale section here, with a discount for TAG members.

Now for the photos (and please excuse how messy my work bench is!
- Matt J.

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