18W Footswitchable Dual Channel Dual Cascade Head Build

[ForcedFire]

Here's my new amp I just built:

The idea is a 2 channel amp with relays to select either channel A or B, channel A feeding channel B, or Chanel B feeding Channel A, all with only a 2 button footswitch. I used a Trinity amps 18W kit and added my relay board and an extra power transformer for the relay and LED channel indicators. The relays and LEDs draw about a quarter of an amp (~250mA) worst case scenario (the board has 4 static states depending on the footswitch selection) and I didn't want to strain the amps power transformer.

I also added some other little mods: Master drive, TMB volume boost, expander (doesn't seem to do much), and I have another switch for diode clipping I haven't hooked up yet.


A picture's worth 1000 words


NAS_18W0001 by LITEFORCE, on Flickr


NAS_18W0008 by LITEFORCE, on Flickr


NAS_18W0004 by LITEFORCE, on Flickr


NAS_18W0003 by LITEFORCE, on Flickr


NAS_18W0002 by LITEFORCE, on Flickr

[ForcedFire]

NAS_18W0006 by LITEFORCE, on Flickr


NAS_18W0007 by LITEFORCE, on Flickr


NAS_18W0001_1 by LITEFORCE, on Flickr

Hey, I've even got a video for you YouTube - 18W Dual Channel Dual Cascade Footswitchable Guitar Amp Head Prototype Test

[frankeg]

Wow, That is quite an ambitious build! Nice work. How does it sound?

[Giaime]

How did you do the front panel? Looks nice!

[ForcedFire]

Thanks guys, it was a bit ambitious but totally worth it. I'm REALLY happy with it. Kind of like the amp I always wanted but could never get. I know master volumes aren't 'cool' but I don't mind preamp distortion when I'm practicing. It can get really really over the top distortion with a lot of control over the tone and gain since there are 4 tone controls and 4 volumes when it's all cascaded. The clean sound is fantastic as well, I have the TV channel wired up like the Trinity amps sIII boost model and I really like it. I'm dying to try it through a nice 4x12 cab.

The front panel is done with a laser. The material is 2 layer ABS I think, black on the back, then gold. I drew my panel in a CAD program and then sent it to a laser engraver. Where the writing is, the laser cuts through the gold but not the black. For the control pots and switches the laser burns through both layers.

[ForcedFire]

Whoa boy, got the custom head cab I ordered from Trinity. Check this badboy out!

[frankeg]

Looks sweet!!! Here's one I did a few years ago. Happy playing...