Triode TW - Express Kit Build

[pleasantbullet]

I've lurked around this site for the past two years, coveting the idea of ordering parts to make one of these amps.
3 weeks ago I finally got the guts and (and funds) to order parts to start building one of these amps, in particular the Trainwreck Express.
Because I love reading the build posts from other users on this site, I decided I'd post some pics, and comments as I go.

I ordered the TW express kit from triode and it came just under 2 weeks. There was a delay because the OT were on back order and were coming in a day or two after i made my order.

I would have preferred to get Heyboer Transformers, but I'm doing this on a budget. THe triode kit seemed to me a good price, and I wanted to minimize the border taxes and shipping costs to ontario canada.

That being said, I didn't order the triode steel chassis. I wanted to stick with aluminum. So i have a 17x8x2 aluminum chassis on order right now. I'll comment later on that when it arrives.

This weekend i had some time to start. And I got the Preamp board all done. I have the power board started, and plan to finish it tonight. Next step will be doing the metal work on the chassis when that comes.

I should say that, in preparation for this kit, I built a fender champ clone. with great success. It was the perfect warm up and confidence boost.
I was weary about tackling the express, but once i fired up my champ, and was subsequently blown away buy its tone.... I've never been more excited to hear how this amp will sound.

First off i'll post a pic of the Preamp board i finished on the weekend.
You'll notice i took this pic a tad early, i missed the wire connecting the last preamp stage to the phase inverter. So later, you'll see its been corrected. I'm really impressed with the quality of the triode kit so far.

thanks for reading, i'll be back later tonight or tomorrow with more pics as i complete the power board.

cheers

-alex

[M Fowler]

One of the best Epress clones I've heard was built from those Triode kits with steel chassis and he recently completed six of these Express amps going to east coast owners.

You have a good start enjoy the build.

Mark

[eniam rognab]

looking good alex!

welcome to TAG, and enjoy your build,

are you planning your third build yet?

[xtian]

Welcome! It's always nice to see builders who care about artfully placed components and perfect soldering jobs.

[pleasantbullet]

Eniam, I'm focusing on the wreck right now.
Although, because I've been studying tube amp design for the past year.. I am hoping to use some old transformers I've collected for some sort of Frankenstein like amp. But really it depends on how this build goes.

Xtian, thanks! I appreciate that.

As I said, more pictures are here. I'm not sure if the turret layout was correct on the Triode power board. It seems to me like the bottom turret for the bias pot should have been one notch to the right. I made it work anyways. Let me know if you see what I mean.

[RJ Guitars]

Very nicely done!

Also, thanks for not using that steel chassis... not that you can't make a good amp from them, Fender and Marshall have done it for years. I was slightly saddened by Mark Fowlers comment that folks have been successful with creating good sounding Express builds in those chassis. I just hate to see any advancement of the idea of using steel for chassis because it is such a royal pain to work with... all intended as a light hearted perspective of course.

Keep the photos coming, this looks like a good build and I'll be curious how it turns out. The Triode transformers have not gotten stellar sonic reports overall but I wouldn't be surprised if someone could dial one in to rival the Heyboer and Pacific builds. Maybe this will be the one?

[pleasantbullet]

I'm glad I held out for the right chassis. Instead of using my Hammond 17x10x2.
Being Canadian I find doing these diy projects can get pricey with shipping and border crossing.

So I was pleased to find http://www.seasidechassisdesign.com
Based in nova scotia , terry builds each chassis by hand. And they're gorgeous. So heads up to any Canadian amp builders.
Terry is super prompt, fast communicatuon, and the chassis was competitively priced for being a custom size.

I'm nearly finished drilling the holes. I'm waiting on a stepped drill bit I ordered for the power tube sockets.

[M Fowler]

Sorry rj but here is what they sound like.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIl5OAp5NaE

[Mark]

Actually wouldn't a stainless steel chassis be the next step with the Trainwreck amps?

It has the same desirable properties and yet it is tougher and can be tapped.

[RJ Guitars]

Yes the magnetic properties are similar to aluminum but now you are talking about the ultimate pain... stainless really sucks to work with. Although there are lots and lots of alloys that vary, generally it's soft and gummy yet very tough... it really doesn't like to cut. It isn't as light as aluminum so I am hopeful nobody goes down that path.

As far as tapping holes, look closely at an original Trainwreck and you should see several of the self tapping screws. I've been tapping 6-32 holes in .080 and .090 inch thick aluminum for years. If you do the mechanical engineering it is amazing what the mechanical strength of a few threads in soft aluminum can be.

Sorry rj but here is what they sound like.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIl5OAp5NaE

I hear some good stuff... but what I hear is somewhat limited by my laptop... I'm forwarding the link to my work system with a better sound system and optional headphones.

I am not sure what the recording settings are but I don't hear enough thickness if that makes sense - like the mid tones are not being picked up and the cleans sounded a little brittle... not sure we are hearing everything that is there though... do you know differently? It is clearly very Wreckish in behavior and the player is really good. Would love to hear the amp live, I certainly hear the potential there, just not sure the recording brings it all out... I'll listen again on the better system.

[RJ Guitars]

OK, I listened and I could still hear the scooped out mids and still wasn't altogether satisfied with the depth of the tone. It does have some sweet spots that lack nothing but in the overall sound I just couldn't identify what was missing. I looked at another link where Mo demos the same amp and gets those same scooped out mids... then he said something about "this is the 24 watt version and the same amp is available in 18 or 36 watt versions". All of sudden the light came on and it started to make sense -- 24 watts is probably a pair of 6V6GT's (very optimistic power rating) or maybe some similar funky Russian tube.

The sounds I am hearing in that demo is to me the sound of the classic 6V6GT Express. It sounds really good but when you put in a set of EL-34's you cross over into tone Nirvana. I don't know if we have many clips out there of the 6V6GT wreck but this is what I would expect? I could've guessed altogether wrong on the tube compliment but if I do have it right it matches my preconceived notions very well.

[pleasantbullet]

I was at a bit of a stand still waiting for my stepped drill bit to arrive for the Power tube sockets. It came yesterday and i got back at it.

I made a mis-judgment with the transformer layout when i drilled the majority of the holes out last week on the chassis.

The classic tone PT, has 2 extra wires for 240vac operation. And then another 2 extra wires for the lower voltage option for the B+.
That being said, It requires two holes/grommets for the wires to fit thru..... I drilled one hole. Never-the-less, I found a work around, and I'm actually pleased with how it looks.
If you look at the steel chassic pic that triode has on their site, you'll see how the holes should have been drilled.

After that I decided I'd start wire things up, then i realized i had about 5" of solder left on my roll!! gah. I had just about enough to solder the speaker jacks, but ran out before i got to the impedance selector switch..

After I ran out of solder. I put the circuit boards in to see how everything would fit. And as I suspected, the filter caps are pretty tight. I'm going to have to shave a chunk off the power board to make a bit of room for the capacitor pyramid to fit nicely. Other than that, I think everything is going swell. Thats right, swell.

Tonight I'll be equipped with an endless amount of solder, and Bulleit Bourbon as I get to most exciting part.

I dont want to rush it... but i'd love to bring the express to band practice sunday.

[RJ Guitars]

You are making some good progress. You might get a little bit of AC hum from your output tranny because it's not on the same centerline with your power tranny. I built several this way myself until I got out a set of headphones and dialed in the sweet spot for transformer alignment... turns out KF had it figured out already. There is a small sweet spot with both trannies on the same centerline although the size of the sweet spot seems to vary just a bit with each tranny set.

In the units I built with the misalignment it is negligible but audible in a quiet room. You'll be able to identify this pretty quickly because the transformers couple immediately when you hit the power switch. Doesn't matter if you have the standby switch on or not or if you have any tubes in the amp. It's direct coupling from the PT to the OT. The good news is that what you hear never changes - that is it doesn't get louder when you turn the volume up. If it's just an annoying little hum in a quiet room, you'll never hear it at band practice.

I'm hoping for you to blister some ears for the band on Sunday... in a good way of course!

[M Fowler]

Having built a lot of these amps when using cap stack I move that tone board all the way over even up against the side of the chassis to allow more cap stack room.

Also, usually end up cutting part of the bias board around the switches.

I punched all my holes in a new Express yesterday to use Pacific transformers from Rocking Class for evaluation.

[pleasantbullet]

Thanks RJ, I'll double check how well aligned they are when I get home.

Maybe its the angle of the camera shot, that makes them look off, but I drew up my layout in CAD at work, printed it off, taped it to the chassis, and marked the holes accordingly. So the location of the screw holes should have centered them enough.

Still worth looking at, If anything I could take out the OT, and make the holes slots, and align it better.

Its nice to have these valuable pointers as i go.