Bandito Amps: The Online Mag for Tube Amp Lovers
Volume No. 4, May 2009
Volume No. 4, May 2009
Tube amp heroes An Interview with Stephen Cohrs of Trinity Amps
Ok,
here we go again for our monthly in-depth interview with a fellow tube
geek and master builder. Stephen Cohrs from Trinity Amps in
Toronto, Canada has spent some of his precious time to help Bandito
tube amp fans around the globe understand more about our tube
senoritas.
Stephen is a really easy guy to like and he'll take the time to talk to anybody wanting to contact him. He also has a fine piece of tube amp mojo tone hot off the bench he calls the Trinity Triwatt amp head. I like the name but when I said it fast and it sounded like twatt, I quickly changed my pronunciation to T-watt. It's a must do for Bandito readers to visit Trinity's website (www.trinityamps.com) and listen to some of the fab sound clips of this new amp. It's the bomba roja mihos. See and read more about the Triwatt on the What's New page.
Now, in honor of our guest lecturer from the sportsman's paradise known as Canada, the Bandito salutes you with these words of wisdom from a north country traveler of some serious poetic fame, Robert Zimmerman aka. Bob Dylan:
"If you're travelin' in the north country fair. Where the wind hits heavy on the borderline. Remember me to one who lives there. She once was a true love of mine."
Stephen; Please answer the following questions for the readers of Bandito amps on-line tube amp magazine:
1. How did you get started in the business of building specialty tube guitar amps? Who were the amp builders that inspired you the most?
SC I have always had a keen interest in music. As a youngster, I learned brass instruments, playing in various bands. I initially learned to play the guitar using other people’s instruments because I couldn’t afford one of my own. Being a “lefty” that meant I had to learn by playing but I had to learn left-handed, upside down and backwards. (Wow! sounds like one of the after video shoot parties at the Banditos!)
My father was an inspiration to me because he made everything including his own mono-block tube amps and huge speaker cabinets for mono, and later stereo hi-fi. I began by building basic speakers and amps in the early 70’s, mostly for friends so I could make some money to afford my own equipment. In the 80’s, I graduated to building more sophisticated audio components including spectrum analyzers, power level indicators, hi power - low distortion MOSFET amps, Pre Amps and Active Filters. These were all built from “scratch,” etching circuit boards, fabricating chassis and building cabinets and audio racks. Many of these were sold to finance my the “next” project.
When my son, was a young teenager, he wanted an electric guitar and that’s where it all began for us. That guitar has never left his hands and he has become an accomplished player - his heroes include Hendrix, Page, Clapton and Gilmour (not bad Dad!). He clearly needed better gear so our first and last commercial purchase was a Marshall 2203 - 100W and matching 412. After we regained our hearing, and common sense, I decided to focus my attention on low power tube amps.
With the help of my father-in-law, a HAM operator who learned about tubes in the 40’s and 50’s and built the town’s first televisions, we set out to build a tube amp. After considerable research on the Internet, the Trinity Amps Deluxe was born - A true point-to-point effort using terminal strips that worked perfectly first time! The next amp was inspired by Mark Sampson’s early work on the Lightning built using a Hammond reverb amp that was successfully converted into our prototype by reusing the existing eyelet board. It was such a sonic success, that it was quickly sold and we started taking orders for more.
So, even though the first amp we owned was a classic Marshall design, the first one we built was a Fender Tweed. But the one that really kicked our company us off was the early Mark Sampson design.
2. What are the three (3) most important parts or manufacturing techniques that you believe affect the tone of a tube amplifier?
Design aside, the number one component in my mind is the iron (transformers). When we developed our 18 Watt, we tried out auditioned many Output Transformers; and after several test sessions we picked the best sounding one out of several manufacturers. Yes, in this case, it happened to be the most expensive one, but this is really not an area you want to scrimp on. All the designs utilize interleaved windings to optimize frequency response, special grades of steel laminates are sound tested by professional musicians before we choose the final design. Interestingly, it is not always the most expensive design/build that proves to be the best sounding item.
Number two is tubes - the difference in sound is very noticeable and one of the great things about tube amps is that you can move them around and replace them to find the sound you like best. Some new tubes just sound brittle and grainy (?) whereas and others are smooth and clean. Fortunately, we have seen the quality and sound of new tubes improving over the years so the tube renaissance is a real bonus for all of us. Again, you tend to get what you pay for so some of our amps do use NOS tubes - but they have to be real authentic NOS to be reliable. For example, we use Amperex Bugle Boy EF86 (Holly Pepperoni Bat Boy!)
Third is lead dressing. Noise, feedback and hum are not only annoying, but the resulting harmonics can kill the sound of a good amp. Poor lead dress contributes to this as well as long-term reliability so we build very clean, well dressed amps closely following our tried and tested layouts. Every design is based on has a prototype build that we work on with the professional musicians and studios such as bgroupmusic.com until we get the sound exactly right. Then we send it out on a gig or two and listen to it in a live setting. Larry Bethune has been a formidable tester for all or our products and is featured on the majority of our web site clips. His detailed feedback and input on tone has been invaluable to us. Plus he’s an awesome player too! (Amen to that brother)
As a last point, and not to be overlooked, coupling capacitors can make a sonic difference as well. We So for example, we do like to use the SOZO mustard caps in certain applications such as the 18 watt where we use and supply them as standard issue.
3. I see from visiting your website, that you use the term "low wattage" designs in the description of your amps. What is it about the low wattage designs that you prefer?
Typical musicians we work with are gigging in small venues, recording studios or mike their gear, so working with low power amps allows them to get the tone they want without hearing loss! The highest power amp we make is less than 40 watts; our amps are and typically in the 15 -25 amp range. Only on one occasion have we have been asked to double the power. Wattage (more power) does not necessarily translate into volume,. and you also need to multiply power output tenfold, for a doubling of volume level. For example, our TRIWATT design is almost as loud as our 40 watt amp even in its 20 watt base configuration with 6V6 power tubes. So don’t underestimate a "low power" amp - you can still get a lot of volume from a good one.
4. What would you recommend to a person buying a tube amplifier for the first time to help them pick the right amp?
Ignore the bells and whistles and get a good quality low power, 5-15 watt tube amp. Get one that can handle pedals well as there are plenty of effects like overdrive that you can add on if you really need them. Do some internet research and “You Tube” a little as well. If I was going to recommend an amp you wanted to spring for one option feature it would probably be , I would recommend either a usable Master volume control or Reverb. And besides, I expect you will be practicing a lot and having a high power amp is not much use for that. Over time, you will find you can make even the simplest amp sound great, but it takes a lot of work and practice which is where my company has already done the R and D for the players.
When you do get that first amp, turn those little knobs on the amp and guitar without any regard to what you think looks normal and judge only based on tone. Use your ears, not your eyes and expect to:
* spend some time finding the sweet spot where you can make it distort or play clean using playing technique alone.
* use the volume and tone on your guitar to shape the sound.
* spend some time finding pedals that work with the amp inputs....or maybe not.
5. Do your customers buy direct from your company or from a music store outlet?
All of our business is currently through by word- of- mouth and and through the internet with minimal advertising. We have been fortunate to have some very notable customers who have commented on Trinity Amps in books, publications and liner notes of CDs. A lot of business comes from these and the many recommendations on many open forums - the best kind. We have looked into retail channels but to keep our products affordable, we’ve opted to for now we avoid skip the middle man and sell direct to our customers. (Stop the presses. Trinity can now proudly say they made the pages of the wildly popular Banditoamps too!)
6. Is it hard to find good, top of the line parts for building your amps? Is there a particular transformer company that you like the best?
There are a lot of low quality, low price parts out there. Even though imitations are available, we use only name brand, genuine parts like SOZO, Mallory, Cliff, Switchcraft, Alpha, JJ, Belton, Carling, Lorlin, Belden and we now use 600V rated 20 gauge solid core wire. What we can’t buy off the shelf, we contract or make, such as the custom chassis and cabinets.
Transformers account for a large percentage of the total cost of parts so this is an cost area where some companies can cut corners - but we don’t. We have found that the such low cost parts transformers generally result in are also low sonic quality - especially true when it comes to iron. We have a great relationship with Heyboer who provides us with prototypes to our specifications using their manufacturing expertise and experience of over 50 years. Working with them has been a pleasure. They are located in Michigan and are our exclusive supplier for all our iron. (Wonder if you can get a steal on a Chrysler along with that Heyboer tranny?)
7. Do you take special orders on amps? That is, can a customer call and ask for a little more of this and a little less of that when ordering an amp from Trinity Amps?
Ideally, customers take them as built but yes, to a degree we do tweak amps to match customers’ requests and we have a number of recipes! For One example, we mix and & match channels in the 18 watt design. The Normal channel can be original normal, original tremolo voice or Plexi voice, and we also will clean up or dirty down the amp as desired, thicken or thin- out the sound as well. Some of this can also be achieved using our various boost options we already include and of course swapping tubes with different gain ratings and tone where it makes sense. We also have made design modifications to simplify a build but it’s a challenge to keep costs down and have a professional looking one-off product so we can only go so far.
8. Do you make repairs or modifications on amps at your shop? Where is your company located? What is the best way to contact Trinity Amps?
We rarely need to, but we do service our own amps. We have helped out gigging musicians from time to time on an emergency basis. We are located in Toronto, Canada and the best way to initially contact us is by email. We are happy to talk to prospective customers following an initial contact by email stating their desires and we do get out and meet musicians on a regular basis. Sometimes we get players coming in to try out some of our amps and speaker cabs. When you run a small company, you tend to spend a lot of time building and designing, and you don’t get out as much as you would like to. (Just ask my wife!)
9. I see that you offer the Do-It-Yourself crowd the choice of buying an amp kit from you. Do you get a lot of people wanting to build their own amp?
In fact, DIY amp building is has become quite popular these days as an affordable way for guitarists to own their dream amp. So it does account for a significant portion of our sales. In this business, to keep the cost of parts low, you need to make volume purchases. One way to accomplish that is to offer kits. Many first time builders have successfully built even the complicated kits like the TC-15. It does take patience and the ability to follow instructions - and not rush the home build. What differentiates our kits from others is parts quality, fit, extensive documentation and support - plus the competitive pricing. We have email support and an active forum with almost 800 members for helping customers. We found that past builders are great for helping out new builders and we found we can count on them for a lot of help on the forum.
10. What is the recommended "safe" distance a do-it-yourselfer should stand back from a home built amp the first time they turn it on?! Ouch!!
If after diligently following the 60 plus pages of the builders manual, customers still feel uncomfortable, we recommend a 1 meter physical separation from the amp as well as goggles and hearing protection! Just Kidding! (pie to the 3rd power equals nuclear meltdown Banito!)
11. If you have any other comments for the Bandito readers, go for it.........
Trinity Amps has been building Amps, supplying kits and finishing custom cabinets since 2004. Our hand built amps are enjoyed by some very notable musicians. We received credit on the Tragically Hip CDs "World Container” and “We Are the Same” and we were honorably mentioned by Billy Gibbons (of ZZTop) in his book "Rock & Roll Gearhead" and also in Tone Quest Magazine. We were the first Canadian distributor of Tone Tubby loudspeakers and we have our own custom transformers built in the USA by Heyboer to Vintage specifications. At the same time we pride ourselves on providing the highest quality products at very affordable prices.
Trinity Amps started as a family operation and the name “Trinity” comes from Father (me), Son (whose guitar started it all) and the “Holy Ghost” of tubes - Gramps! We’ve had a lot of help from friends along the way (hello banditoheads) and we have recently expanded our roster to include design, build, and shop and kit packaging help while still maintaining the family approach.
Our current products include custom-built amps and kits for a Tweed Deluxe Fender type amp; four different 18 Watt Marshall type models; the TC-15 two Two Cchannel VOX/Matchless type amp based on our original 15 watt amp; and the new TRIWATT which delivers vintage HIWATT tone at less than ear- splitting sound levels. We cover a lot of sound stages with those models and we are now working on the Tramp - a versatile but basic, small practice amp in the 2-5 watt range. It would be the one we’d recommend to a person buying a tube amplifier for the first time or for an easy first build or to "get to know" what playing a tubie is all about. Cheers to all the great Bandito readers!!
Trinity Amps
Toronto, Canada
Web site: www.trinityamps.com
Email: stephen@trinityamps.com
Fax 613-475-2069
Stephen is a really easy guy to like and he'll take the time to talk to anybody wanting to contact him. He also has a fine piece of tube amp mojo tone hot off the bench he calls the Trinity Triwatt amp head. I like the name but when I said it fast and it sounded like twatt, I quickly changed my pronunciation to T-watt. It's a must do for Bandito readers to visit Trinity's website (www.trinityamps.com) and listen to some of the fab sound clips of this new amp. It's the bomba roja mihos. See and read more about the Triwatt on the What's New page.
Now, in honor of our guest lecturer from the sportsman's paradise known as Canada, the Bandito salutes you with these words of wisdom from a north country traveler of some serious poetic fame, Robert Zimmerman aka. Bob Dylan:
"If you're travelin' in the north country fair. Where the wind hits heavy on the borderline. Remember me to one who lives there. She once was a true love of mine."
Stephen; Please answer the following questions for the readers of Bandito amps on-line tube amp magazine:
1. How did you get started in the business of building specialty tube guitar amps? Who were the amp builders that inspired you the most?
SC I have always had a keen interest in music. As a youngster, I learned brass instruments, playing in various bands. I initially learned to play the guitar using other people’s instruments because I couldn’t afford one of my own. Being a “lefty” that meant I had to learn by playing but I had to learn left-handed, upside down and backwards. (Wow! sounds like one of the after video shoot parties at the Banditos!)
My father was an inspiration to me because he made everything including his own mono-block tube amps and huge speaker cabinets for mono, and later stereo hi-fi. I began by building basic speakers and amps in the early 70’s, mostly for friends so I could make some money to afford my own equipment. In the 80’s, I graduated to building more sophisticated audio components including spectrum analyzers, power level indicators, hi power - low distortion MOSFET amps, Pre Amps and Active Filters. These were all built from “scratch,” etching circuit boards, fabricating chassis and building cabinets and audio racks. Many of these were sold to finance my the “next” project.
When my son, was a young teenager, he wanted an electric guitar and that’s where it all began for us. That guitar has never left his hands and he has become an accomplished player - his heroes include Hendrix, Page, Clapton and Gilmour (not bad Dad!). He clearly needed better gear so our first and last commercial purchase was a Marshall 2203 - 100W and matching 412. After we regained our hearing, and common sense, I decided to focus my attention on low power tube amps.
With the help of my father-in-law, a HAM operator who learned about tubes in the 40’s and 50’s and built the town’s first televisions, we set out to build a tube amp. After considerable research on the Internet, the Trinity Amps Deluxe was born - A true point-to-point effort using terminal strips that worked perfectly first time! The next amp was inspired by Mark Sampson’s early work on the Lightning built using a Hammond reverb amp that was successfully converted into our prototype by reusing the existing eyelet board. It was such a sonic success, that it was quickly sold and we started taking orders for more.
So, even though the first amp we owned was a classic Marshall design, the first one we built was a Fender Tweed. But the one that really kicked our company us off was the early Mark Sampson design.
2. What are the three (3) most important parts or manufacturing techniques that you believe affect the tone of a tube amplifier?
Design aside, the number one component in my mind is the iron (transformers). When we developed our 18 Watt, we tried out auditioned many Output Transformers; and after several test sessions we picked the best sounding one out of several manufacturers. Yes, in this case, it happened to be the most expensive one, but this is really not an area you want to scrimp on. All the designs utilize interleaved windings to optimize frequency response, special grades of steel laminates are sound tested by professional musicians before we choose the final design. Interestingly, it is not always the most expensive design/build that proves to be the best sounding item.
Number two is tubes - the difference in sound is very noticeable and one of the great things about tube amps is that you can move them around and replace them to find the sound you like best. Some new tubes just sound brittle and grainy (?) whereas and others are smooth and clean. Fortunately, we have seen the quality and sound of new tubes improving over the years so the tube renaissance is a real bonus for all of us. Again, you tend to get what you pay for so some of our amps do use NOS tubes - but they have to be real authentic NOS to be reliable. For example, we use Amperex Bugle Boy EF86 (Holly Pepperoni Bat Boy!)
Third is lead dressing. Noise, feedback and hum are not only annoying, but the resulting harmonics can kill the sound of a good amp. Poor lead dress contributes to this as well as long-term reliability so we build very clean, well dressed amps closely following our tried and tested layouts. Every design is based on has a prototype build that we work on with the professional musicians and studios such as bgroupmusic.com until we get the sound exactly right. Then we send it out on a gig or two and listen to it in a live setting. Larry Bethune has been a formidable tester for all or our products and is featured on the majority of our web site clips. His detailed feedback and input on tone has been invaluable to us. Plus he’s an awesome player too! (Amen to that brother)
As a last point, and not to be overlooked, coupling capacitors can make a sonic difference as well. We So for example, we do like to use the SOZO mustard caps in certain applications such as the 18 watt where we use and supply them as standard issue.
3. I see from visiting your website, that you use the term "low wattage" designs in the description of your amps. What is it about the low wattage designs that you prefer?
Typical musicians we work with are gigging in small venues, recording studios or mike their gear, so working with low power amps allows them to get the tone they want without hearing loss! The highest power amp we make is less than 40 watts; our amps are and typically in the 15 -25 amp range. Only on one occasion have we have been asked to double the power. Wattage (more power) does not necessarily translate into volume,. and you also need to multiply power output tenfold, for a doubling of volume level. For example, our TRIWATT design is almost as loud as our 40 watt amp even in its 20 watt base configuration with 6V6 power tubes. So don’t underestimate a "low power" amp - you can still get a lot of volume from a good one.
4. What would you recommend to a person buying a tube amplifier for the first time to help them pick the right amp?
Ignore the bells and whistles and get a good quality low power, 5-15 watt tube amp. Get one that can handle pedals well as there are plenty of effects like overdrive that you can add on if you really need them. Do some internet research and “You Tube” a little as well. If I was going to recommend an amp you wanted to spring for one option feature it would probably be , I would recommend either a usable Master volume control or Reverb. And besides, I expect you will be practicing a lot and having a high power amp is not much use for that. Over time, you will find you can make even the simplest amp sound great, but it takes a lot of work and practice which is where my company has already done the R and D for the players.
When you do get that first amp, turn those little knobs on the amp and guitar without any regard to what you think looks normal and judge only based on tone. Use your ears, not your eyes and expect to:
* spend some time finding the sweet spot where you can make it distort or play clean using playing technique alone.
* use the volume and tone on your guitar to shape the sound.
* spend some time finding pedals that work with the amp inputs....or maybe not.
5. Do your customers buy direct from your company or from a music store outlet?
All of our business is currently through by word- of- mouth and and through the internet with minimal advertising. We have been fortunate to have some very notable customers who have commented on Trinity Amps in books, publications and liner notes of CDs. A lot of business comes from these and the many recommendations on many open forums - the best kind. We have looked into retail channels but to keep our products affordable, we’ve opted to for now we avoid skip the middle man and sell direct to our customers. (Stop the presses. Trinity can now proudly say they made the pages of the wildly popular Banditoamps too!)
6. Is it hard to find good, top of the line parts for building your amps? Is there a particular transformer company that you like the best?
There are a lot of low quality, low price parts out there. Even though imitations are available, we use only name brand, genuine parts like SOZO, Mallory, Cliff, Switchcraft, Alpha, JJ, Belton, Carling, Lorlin, Belden and we now use 600V rated 20 gauge solid core wire. What we can’t buy off the shelf, we contract or make, such as the custom chassis and cabinets.
Transformers account for a large percentage of the total cost of parts so this is an cost area where some companies can cut corners - but we don’t. We have found that the such low cost parts transformers generally result in are also low sonic quality - especially true when it comes to iron. We have a great relationship with Heyboer who provides us with prototypes to our specifications using their manufacturing expertise and experience of over 50 years. Working with them has been a pleasure. They are located in Michigan and are our exclusive supplier for all our iron. (Wonder if you can get a steal on a Chrysler along with that Heyboer tranny?)
7. Do you take special orders on amps? That is, can a customer call and ask for a little more of this and a little less of that when ordering an amp from Trinity Amps?
Ideally, customers take them as built but yes, to a degree we do tweak amps to match customers’ requests and we have a number of recipes! For One example, we mix and & match channels in the 18 watt design. The Normal channel can be original normal, original tremolo voice or Plexi voice, and we also will clean up or dirty down the amp as desired, thicken or thin- out the sound as well. Some of this can also be achieved using our various boost options we already include and of course swapping tubes with different gain ratings and tone where it makes sense. We also have made design modifications to simplify a build but it’s a challenge to keep costs down and have a professional looking one-off product so we can only go so far.
8. Do you make repairs or modifications on amps at your shop? Where is your company located? What is the best way to contact Trinity Amps?
We rarely need to, but we do service our own amps. We have helped out gigging musicians from time to time on an emergency basis. We are located in Toronto, Canada and the best way to initially contact us is by email. We are happy to talk to prospective customers following an initial contact by email stating their desires and we do get out and meet musicians on a regular basis. Sometimes we get players coming in to try out some of our amps and speaker cabs. When you run a small company, you tend to spend a lot of time building and designing, and you don’t get out as much as you would like to. (Just ask my wife!)
9. I see that you offer the Do-It-Yourself crowd the choice of buying an amp kit from you. Do you get a lot of people wanting to build their own amp?
In fact, DIY amp building is has become quite popular these days as an affordable way for guitarists to own their dream amp. So it does account for a significant portion of our sales. In this business, to keep the cost of parts low, you need to make volume purchases. One way to accomplish that is to offer kits. Many first time builders have successfully built even the complicated kits like the TC-15. It does take patience and the ability to follow instructions - and not rush the home build. What differentiates our kits from others is parts quality, fit, extensive documentation and support - plus the competitive pricing. We have email support and an active forum with almost 800 members for helping customers. We found that past builders are great for helping out new builders and we found we can count on them for a lot of help on the forum.
10. What is the recommended "safe" distance a do-it-yourselfer should stand back from a home built amp the first time they turn it on?! Ouch!!
If after diligently following the 60 plus pages of the builders manual, customers still feel uncomfortable, we recommend a 1 meter physical separation from the amp as well as goggles and hearing protection! Just Kidding! (pie to the 3rd power equals nuclear meltdown Banito!)
11. If you have any other comments for the Bandito readers, go for it.........
Trinity Amps has been building Amps, supplying kits and finishing custom cabinets since 2004. Our hand built amps are enjoyed by some very notable musicians. We received credit on the Tragically Hip CDs "World Container” and “We Are the Same” and we were honorably mentioned by Billy Gibbons (of ZZTop) in his book "Rock & Roll Gearhead" and also in Tone Quest Magazine. We were the first Canadian distributor of Tone Tubby loudspeakers and we have our own custom transformers built in the USA by Heyboer to Vintage specifications. At the same time we pride ourselves on providing the highest quality products at very affordable prices.
Trinity Amps started as a family operation and the name “Trinity” comes from Father (me), Son (whose guitar started it all) and the “Holy Ghost” of tubes - Gramps! We’ve had a lot of help from friends along the way (hello banditoheads) and we have recently expanded our roster to include design, build, and shop and kit packaging help while still maintaining the family approach.
Our current products include custom-built amps and kits for a Tweed Deluxe Fender type amp; four different 18 Watt Marshall type models; the TC-15 two Two Cchannel VOX/Matchless type amp based on our original 15 watt amp; and the new TRIWATT which delivers vintage HIWATT tone at less than ear- splitting sound levels. We cover a lot of sound stages with those models and we are now working on the Tramp - a versatile but basic, small practice amp in the 2-5 watt range. It would be the one we’d recommend to a person buying a tube amplifier for the first time or for an easy first build or to "get to know" what playing a tubie is all about. Cheers to all the great Bandito readers!!
Trinity Amps
Toronto, Canada
Web site: www.trinityamps.com
Email: stephen@trinityamps.com
Fax 613-475-2069
Hi, my name is Stephen and I get paid to make custom tube amps. Betcha wish you could make amps for a living? Yes, Stephen, we all wish we had the mojo magic like you dude. (Is it true that Neil Young has a condo in Toronto? Hum, maybe I was thinking of George Bush)
Here are some of Trinity's best and brightest. The custom Tweed Deluxe tone clone in her tiger striped evening gown, and the ever popular 1974X 18 watt Marshall two channel bedroom screamer (wow, don't get that caught in your zipper Sancho!!)
Tune in again next month for another episode of "Little Sancho gets the girl"
Olay amigos!
