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I built and debugged my sIII back in the winter. It was an excellent kit and Coco did a great job of supporting me and helping me work out the start up bugs.

I built it by the schematic and installed a BBQ Blue Dog Alnico speaker in it. Since day one, I have not been happy with the sound. It was much to trebly for my taste. Since I have a lot of Fenders, I've been playing them mostly.

Last weekend, I decided to have another go with it, so I changed the C1 cap to a .022 to fatten it up. Well, it fattened it up some but with my Strat in the neck position, the bass sounds muddy and not well defined. It sounds better on the other positions but I'm still not happy with it.

Should I change speakers? What other changes might I make?

I think I'm coming to the conclusion that I like cleaner sounding amps and that is my problem. Any feedback is appreciated.

Thanks
Rockable

Yes, well the 18 Watt is a little brother to the Bluesbreaker amp and I guess the idea was that it was that type of sound at a slightly lower volume people were aiming for (Listen to Clapton on the John Mayall Bluesbreakers album). I agree that the 18 Watt amp comes into it's own when driven hard and for clean sound I also agree a Fender style amp does it better. Don't feel too bad about your conclusion, I have built a number of amps that I wasn't entirely happy with the end result, some I have scrapped and used the parts in another design. If you have have made a good job of your build there is always a market for 18Watt clones out there.
Nigel

On the clean side, where are you setting the Master? The sIII is reasonably clean up to about 5-6. On a TMB there's very ittle clean.

You can also increase the grid resistor on V2 a bit and see what that does for you. It's currently at 2K7, so go up to 3K3.

The Mrshall has a distinct sound to it. Marshall is known for it's grind / crunch so maybe it's not right for you.

As legin said tho, there's a market for them if you're going to sell.

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

Based on other inputs on 18watt.com, I think I'll try a G1230H speaker and some tone tweeks before I give up on it.

Thanks for your help.

Another thought is the iron too, but I think you are using s2 correct? Bad iron can give it a raspy sound.

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

I am using S2 trannys.

Today, I installed a Hellatone 30 in my amp and it is a LOT better! That speaker tamed the shrillness and highs that i just couldn't dial down. I may keep it now. It's more like what I thought I was going to get.

Thanks, Stephen.

Good news, Not surprised that a ceramic speaker would tone down the high end. Good choice.

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

Congradulations, rockable. I have an 18 watter under my belt and did a decent amount of tweaking to it after I first fired it up. I just got some Sammi 40s for it which were a huge improvement over the Fender-like 12s I was using before.

Any plans for the next build? I've had some success turning up the 18 and getting good clean tones by rolling back on the guitar's volume knob but I question whether or not it has enough loudness to cut it in a live situation, so I'm trying for a 30 watt for my next build.

No future kits planned at this time.

Stephen, What can I do to attenuate the treble in the TMB channel some?

What if I change C3 to .0047mf?

Changing C3 will result in Increased Treble Control

For modified Treble control, try the following modification to the R-C filter around the Treble control potentiometer.

33K /250pf– more gain and treble;
47K/330pf - middle of the road;
56K/500pf – bassier slope, less gain

You might want to To Fatten Tone on TMB Channel
1. Change C1 to 0.022uF
2. Change C2 to 2.2uF -OR- change R5 to 2.7K -OR- both
3. Change R11 to 33K

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

I've got a .022 in C1 right now but I'm gonna change it to a .01 and try it. The bass is too flabby with a humbucker guitar.

I have a 500pf in C3 and a 47k in R11 right now. Should I change R11 to 56k or 33k?

What would happen if I increased the grid stopper resistors R30 & R31?

You can slowly increase the grid resistors on the power tubes. The higher the value, the more high end reduction.

Try 56K in R11.

You can also add a cut control a la Matchless.

Or put 500 pf caps from each power tube grid to ground.

If you think there's too much treble, I'd try the simple cut control experiment first and see if you can get it inot the range you want. See the Trinity 15 schematic or search the Trinity forum for Cut Control.

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

I ended up with C1 at .01 and tried several other things, including the top cut. I think I'm gonna leave it like it is and roll the highs off with my guitar tone knob. It definitely sounds a lot better since I put the Avatar in and put the .01 in.

So, Rockable, are you an 18 watt kinda guy yet? Now that you've tweaked it a bit to your tastes?

Good news is you've got a working amp you like.

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

I'm still trying to decide if I'm an 18 watt kinda guy. I am warming up to it, though. It's all good, it's just different. I'm a whole lot happier with it now than when I had the Blue Dog in it.

Funny, there was another guy over @ 18watt who wanted to brighten it up. Different Strokes.

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

That is funny! Different Strokes!