I’ve built two Trinity amp kits. The Triwatt and their 18 watt SIII. Trinity’s customer support, quality of parts and documentation are second to none. I’ve also built the Tube Depot 5e3 and their 18 watt Marshall style amp and modded it with a filter choke and switchable solid state/ tube rectifier. The Tube Depot 5e3 is a PCB design. The board is great. Thick, Double sided, plated through holes and wide traces. I just mounted it in a hard cab and gave it to my son, so now I’m looking at the Trinity 5e3.
I really would like to build a trinity TC15, but they don't offer the kit any longer. Maybe I'll do their 5e3...I love that amp - you can see my video on the Mojotone build here: ua-cam.com/video/XHQjrecFyek/v-deo.html
This the first time in a music related video I have watched that anyone respected the quality of parts being used and not going the cheap route. Good going.
Great video, but I have to ask, what Rush song is that music loop from? It sounds like it could be Grace Under Pressure/Power Windows/Hold Your Fire era but I'm just not sure. It's killin' me!
I’ve built 6 amp kits from another manufacturer and have a couple of questions: Is this a Tube Depot kit with a Mojotone cabinet? Are the trannys Heyboer?
Excellent video. I just ordered the tube depot 18 watt head. This definitely gives great insight into what I'm getting myself into. I've built an amp before but nothing this crazy
Tip for soldering to the back of the pots. Crank your iron heat up. You won’t need to leave it on the joint long before the solder flows. Damage to pots usually happens because of the length of time you apply heat. Also, scratch up the back of the pot at the point where you are going to solder.
Having done a few of these types of builds where you select a vendor because XYZ, but follow the schematic of another source, one thing you MUST have dialed in is what YOUR build will be. If you are going to merge designs or options, you need to make a single schematic and a single layout to follow. Otherwise, you will spend much of your time re-engineering and re-doing what you have already done. Having the build done on paper and in your head before you do the build will greatly smooth the progress you make. I built this exact same amp in about 8 hours total time from box opening to playing it over two days. I used the BYOC schematic and layout for my build with a kit that I sourced from Mable Audio ( China ). As for wiring a bus bar on the back of the pots, that to me is bad practice. The back of the pot IS NOT an ideal spot to create a bus from. The base of the pot is already grounded to the chassis, and the backing can come loose and become intermittent. There should only be ONE grounding bus that has a solid mechanical ground connection that the pots and other signal grounds will go to. This eliminates potential ground loops ( of which using the back of the pot can create). Your build looks great and I hope you build many more!!!!
Great feedback...thanks! I agree with you totally re: grounding to the POT housing. I did not do that on my 2nd build (Trinity Tweed Deluxe). That 2nd amp has become my current favorite! I think I need to sell one of my "factory" amps so I can hand-build another one!
Nice work and thanks for the tip about the Cliff jacks. I expect Mojo to ship this kit to me shortly. I’ve already ordered better tube sockets, looks like I need input and output jacks and grommets for V1 too. I am going with a ground scheme like Allen and Psionic, to chassis points rather that the pot ground bus for a lower noise floor. I’ve built a 5E3 kit and still use to after 20 years- and you’re right, it’s a fun build and a great amp to have.
So if you had it to do again would you use a Tube Depot kit? If not, what would you buy seperate to improve components from the outset? I've heard similar sentiment about the quality of components from Mojotone, although most were generally happy with them.
I would probably try a Tube Depot kit, but Trinity is definitely worth a look...great quality components and MUCH better documentation than either Mojotone or Tube Depot...
I just built a JTM 45 from MOJOTONE and did the same thing you did and used MOJOTONE and Tube Depot documentation and got mixed up due to slight differences. Great video!
Thanks for the feedback! It would be really nice if Mojotone provided as detailed documentation as Tube Depot, but still it's a great learning experience!
The secret to soldering onto the back of those pots is to first use something to scrape-away the oxide coating, then use a Solder-Flux pen to coat it with Solder-Flux, then you need to use a fair bit of heat when soldering, that's because the chassis acts like a big heat-sink.
My build turned out quite nice. I battled an oscilation when I crank the mv but after extensive tweaking and reading I found out its basically something that's quite normal due to the amount of gain. I was diming the vol and attenuating with an lpad so I'm not surprised.. I used the ceriatone tmb layout and love it. Hammond transformers, and some middle of the road caps with an f&t can cap. Installed a pussy trimmer from the chupacabra , an easy mod. I dont hear much dif at low vol tho.. overall, it's a great plexi that's easy to lug to jams. Your video was a good reference for a lot of the build.
No particular reason, other than that the round nose pliers were smaller and easier to maneuver in tight spaces. If I only needed to hold a wire in place while soldering, they worked well...
1:50 - "where are the screws the mount the power transformer?" Exactly the question I was asking myself with the Mojotone 800 kit I just finished. Lots of missing hardware. And the question I've been asking myself as I build the Tube Depot JTM 45+. Missing the SPDT switch and fuse holders. Frustrating to have to wait on missing parts. Or to go to the hardware store to buy more machine screws etc.
Actually, I soon discovered the screws were part of the transformer and I only needed the nuts (which were included)..It would be great if Mojo's documentation was more complete...all the parts I needed were there...it just took some time to figure out where everything went...thanks for watching!...and commenting!
@@ptphillips v1,the first tube is the preamp for the normal channel so it will change the tone and breakup there. v3 which is quite weird,is the preamp for the tremolo channel, and v3 is the pi.
I didn't need to, but since I had one, I did look at some of the signals through the preamp stage, phase inverter and output,...just cuz it was interesting to me.
If it is taking 20 seconds to melt soldier onto a torrent you don't have enough wattage or your tip is too small. Shouldn't take but around 5 seconds. You don't want to use needle point tip for surface mount components on torrent boards or terminal strips. Need a spade type tip and 35 watt soldiering iron.
Tube depot isn't Mojotone... Videos like this are going to scare away Mojotone customers from trying a build. The Mojotone kits come with the chassis holes pre-drilled in the cabinet.
I’ve built two Trinity amp kits. The Triwatt and their 18 watt SIII. Trinity’s customer support, quality of parts and documentation are second to none. I’ve also built the Tube Depot 5e3 and their 18 watt Marshall style amp and modded it with a filter choke and switchable solid state/ tube rectifier. The Tube Depot 5e3 is a PCB design. The board is great. Thick, Double sided, plated through holes and wide traces. I just mounted it in a hard cab and gave it to my son, so now I’m looking at the Trinity 5e3.
I really would like to build a trinity TC15, but they don't offer the kit any longer. Maybe I'll do their 5e3...I love that amp - you can see my video on the Mojotone build here: ua-cam.com/video/XHQjrecFyek/v-deo.html
This the first time in a music related video I have watched that anyone respected the quality of parts being used and not going the cheap route. Good going.
Thanks! I really appreciate the feedback! Quality matters!
Nice build...
I was toying with one of the Mojotone Princeton Reverb kits.
Phil
Appreciate the video...it's been helping me get through my first build the last couple of days
Thanks! Glad you're finding it useful! Good luck with your build...
Great video, but I have to ask, what Rush song is that music loop from? It sounds like it could be Grace Under Pressure/Power Windows/Hold Your Fire era but I'm just not sure. It's killin' me!
Just finished my tubedepot 18w kit and it's a keeper. Already played one gig with it. Definitely a fun experience
I’ve built 6 amp kits from another manufacturer and have a couple of questions:
Is this a Tube Depot kit with a Mojotone cabinet?
Are the trannys Heyboer?
Excellent video. I just ordered the tube depot 18 watt head. This definitely gives great insight into what I'm getting myself into. I've built an amp before but nothing this crazy
Thanks! Tube Depot is awesome! Great folks! Good luck with your build - I think you'll enjoy it!
@@carmeltones7697 you're welcome and thanks. Hope your amp is treating you well.
Wait till you graduate from the copies and start designing your own circuits, layouts and hand picking parts...that's when the real fun begins.
I have a 1972 Sunn S-1200 double rectifier with 4 KT-88s that I am going to play with after I assemble this one for hands on experience.
@@lancesecrest7577 Very cool! This gonna be a mod project or a refurbish?
Tip for soldering to the back of the pots.
Crank your iron heat up. You won’t need to leave it on the joint long before the solder flows. Damage to pots usually happens because of the length of time you apply heat. Also, scratch up the back of the pot at the point where you are going to solder.
Good advice! Thanks!
Having done a few of these types of builds where you select a vendor because XYZ, but follow the schematic of another source, one thing you MUST have dialed in is what YOUR build will be. If you are going to merge designs or options, you need to make a single schematic and a single layout to follow. Otherwise, you will spend much of your time re-engineering and re-doing what you have already done. Having the build done on paper and in your head before you do the build will greatly smooth the progress you make. I built this exact same amp in about 8 hours total time from box opening to playing it over two days. I used the BYOC schematic and layout for my build with a kit that I sourced from Mable Audio ( China ).
As for wiring a bus bar on the back of the pots, that to me is bad practice. The back of the pot IS NOT an ideal spot to create a bus from. The base of the pot is already grounded to the chassis, and the backing can come loose and become intermittent. There should only be ONE grounding bus that has a solid mechanical ground connection that the pots and other signal grounds will go to. This eliminates potential ground loops ( of which using the back of the pot can create).
Your build looks great and I hope you build many more!!!!
Great feedback...thanks! I agree with you totally re: grounding to the POT housing. I did not do that on my 2nd build (Trinity Tweed Deluxe). That 2nd amp has become my current favorite! I think I need to sell one of my "factory" amps so I can hand-build another one!
Nice work and thanks for the tip about the Cliff jacks. I expect Mojo to ship this kit to me shortly. I’ve already ordered better tube sockets, looks like I need input and output jacks and grommets for V1 too.
I am going with a ground scheme like Allen and Psionic, to chassis points rather that the pot ground bus for a lower noise floor.
I’ve built a 5E3 kit and still use to after 20 years- and you’re right, it’s a fun build and a great amp to have.
So if you had it to do again would you use a Tube Depot kit? If not, what would you buy seperate to improve components from the outset? I've heard similar sentiment about the quality of components from Mojotone, although most were generally happy with them.
I would probably try a Tube Depot kit, but Trinity is definitely worth a look...great quality components and MUCH better documentation than either Mojotone or Tube Depot...
I just built a JTM 45 from MOJOTONE and did the same thing you did and used MOJOTONE and Tube Depot documentation and got mixed up due to slight differences. Great video!
Thanks for the feedback! It would be really nice if Mojotone provided as detailed documentation as Tube Depot, but still it's a great learning experience!
Im looking at doing one of Trinity amps 18w tmb kits. Love the video! Cant wait to do mine.
The secret to soldering onto the back of those pots is to first use something to scrape-away the oxide coating, then use a Solder-Flux pen to coat it with Solder-Flux, then you need to use a fair bit of heat when soldering, that's because the chassis acts like a big heat-sink.
good advice...the first thing I do is clean them with acetone and scratch them up a bit so solder has something to flow into
I'm going to do a tmb scratch build. This will be a nice reference. Is this the tremolo or tmb ?
Mine is the Tremolo version...you're on the right track though by doing the TMB...I don't use the tremolo. I may see if I can convert mine to a TMB!
So far I've been looking at layout diagrams for tmb. Mojo tone seems to use the same board as yours . Some dont
My build turned out quite nice. I battled an oscilation when I crank the mv but after extensive tweaking and reading I found out its basically something that's quite normal due to the amount of gain. I was diming the vol and attenuating with an lpad so I'm not surprised..
I used the ceriatone tmb layout and love it. Hammond transformers, and some middle of the road caps with an f&t can cap. Installed a pussy trimmer from the chupacabra , an easy mod. I dont hear much dif at low vol tho.. overall, it's a great plexi that's easy to lug to jams. Your video was a good reference for a lot of the build.
Good work did you add some resistors to the PPMV? and if you did what value?
Thanks! No additional resistors were added. I simply replaced the 2 existing 470K resistors with the dual-ganged 500K pot...
+++congratulations this was so cool+++
Interesting build video. Could you please explain in which instances you used the round nosed pliers (blue) and needle nosed pliers (red) ?
No particular reason, other than that the round nose pliers were smaller and easier to maneuver in tight spaces. If I only needed to hold a wire in place while soldering, they worked well...
@@carmeltones7697 OK. Thanks very much !
1:50 - "where are the screws the mount the power transformer?" Exactly the question I was asking myself with the Mojotone 800 kit I just finished. Lots of missing hardware. And the question I've been asking myself as I build the Tube Depot JTM 45+. Missing the SPDT switch and fuse holders. Frustrating to have to wait on missing parts. Or to go to the hardware store to buy more machine screws etc.
Actually, I soon discovered the screws were part of the transformer and I only needed the nuts (which were included)..It would be great if Mojo's documentation was more complete...all the parts I needed were there...it just took some time to figure out where everything went...thanks for watching!...and commenting!
hi, this amp will sound great with mullard i63 tubes at least at v1,i have a 1974x from 2005
I'd love to try that out! This is still the favorite amp in my collection!
@@ptphillips v1,the first tube is the preamp for the normal channel so it will change the tone and breakup there. v3 which is quite weird,is the preamp for the tremolo channel, and v3 is the pi.
Nice i m building a deluxe reverb
Did you ever need an oscilloscope for the build?
I didn't need to, but since I had one, I did look at some of the signals through the preamp stage, phase inverter and output,...just cuz it was interesting to me.
If it is taking 20 seconds to melt soldier onto a torrent you don't have enough wattage or your tip is too small. Shouldn't take but around 5 seconds. You don't want to use needle point tip for surface mount components on torrent boards or terminal strips. Need a spade type tip and 35 watt soldiering iron.
A larger tip would have definitely helped...thanks for the feedback...and thank for watching!
Phillips Amps rock.
beautiful job with the build Camel Toe- but no demonstration??wtf
Tube depot isn't Mojotone... Videos like this are going to scare away Mojotone customers from trying a build. The Mojotone kits come with the chassis holes pre-drilled in the cabinet.