Build Your Own Clone Message Board

I want to carry your babies Bob, If i was a foxy lady, and not a bearded bum
Now, the real question: does trinity do 240 v kits for us non mercans' ??

Indeed they do

18W kits come with SoZo's and CC stock in the kits. Pots are 24mm Alpha's.

Thanks for that Chris!

Looks great! Nice and clean lead dress. I aspire to be this clean I'm thinking of building an 18W Superlite.

UPDATE 2/29/12:

To tame the output volume while maintaining the nice Marshall crunch, I bought a voltage reduction module (VRM) kit from Trinity Amps and installed it. These units install on the DC rail of the amp and let you drop the DC voltage while the AC filament heater voltage remains unaffected. They have the reputation of doing a great job of reducing the output volume without a significant amount of tone loss, which is a common complaint with external attenuators. For a cathode-biased amp like this 18W, it's a very straightforward installation, and it works exactly as advertised. I can dial down the DC voltage enough to run the preamp gain up all the way and the master volume high enough to get some nice power tube saturation, and still keep the volume to a non-lethal level! Pretty slick little modification!

Couple of photos below. The VRM consists of a MOSFET mounted against the chassis (with an insulator pad in between) to facilitate heat dissipation, a small PCB with a handful of components, and a 1M pot to control the DC voltage output. It's wired in between the standby switch and the first filter cap, and I have the control pot mounted through the back of the chassis, between the mains connector and the output impedance selector switch. The Trinity kit also came with a couple of DC blocking caps for the inputs to the first preamp tube, in case you find that the volume pot(s) on your guitar pick up some scratchiness. This can happen due to a very small amount of low voltage DC current getting back to the guitar controls through the input jacks when the voltage is cranked way down, but I haven't had to install those on mine.

Very nice build

I have got the VRM installed in a couple of my Non master volume amps too, I've been really happy with how it sounds

Yep, the Normal channel on this 18W is non-master volume, and the VRM works equally well on that. The TMB channel, despite having a master volume control, gets SO loud SO fast on the MV control that I really needed a way to tame the beast. I'm a hobby player and do most of my playing in my small (12' x 14') "man cave", and it was just too much of a good thing....

Great looking build and mod.

Like you all the arenas I play in are under 100 square feet generally and my groupies have four legs so hopefully the upcoming BYOC 18 watt kit will offer a mod such as this for us man cave rockers. Perhaps DVM can drop a few hints with the creaters of the mojo ?

Same for me I have a man cave for all the cool stuff that's been ejected from the house. Still looks like the Fillmore with your eyes shut though and the VRM helps a lot fit cheap

I've wanted to build Marshall 18w perhaps a blues breaker combo but always been put off by the too much volume thing. I'll put it back on my to do list with a vrm after my current build

Just to make sure I fully understand, you can use this in ANY amp in lieu of an attenuator and achieve the same goal of said attenuator?

There are two versions, fixed and cathode bias. Just make sure you choose the right one and you are good to go

Very nice! I think amp building is about to become a problem for me...

'Xactly. The fixed bias version is a bit more complicated installation, because there are two separate elements to control--the DC rail voltage and the output tube bias voltage. This is done with a dual ganged pot, and the PCB contains additional components for the bias voltage control.

I got my VRM kit from Trinity Amps because it was tailored to the amp kit I'd bought from them, including installation instructions specific to that amp layout. But more generic VRM kits are available, notably from Hall Amplification (see HERE--VVR3 model for fixed-bias amps, VVR model for cathode-biased). They are currently limited to use in amps of 50W or less, but I understand that a higher wattage version is in the works.

Oh my she is hot. Perfect execution there and I bet she sounds stellar. I love point to point old school. I'm conflicted between a new guitar or amp, I'm looking to build the Supro model 24 from turretboards.com. Haven't built a amp in a while and I am board with my Allen 5F1+A

Thanks, this is good to know.

This one and the tweed Champlifier in the Batcave? The VRM concept is brilliant and it's good to hear that it works so well. I have a Blackstar HT-5 in my man-loft which is great at low volumes but VRM makes building an amp very tempting. One day...