Its Alive!!!! New Rocket build, first impressions

[Gargoyle]

Firstly many thanks to RJ for the trannys, and Mark, Richie and others for the informative posts that led to my decisions on parts.

Ok, I started with the Ceriatone basic boards and chassis, ended up with the standard Sozo caps, other than these parts and the Heyboer Trannys everything else is pretty run of the mill.
As for tubes, I settled for a RCA in V1, Sylvania in V2 and EI in V3. Power tubes are Saratovs and the 5ar4 is a nice sylvania fatboy.
I only have the one cab which is a Vox open back with 2 Eminence private Jacks. But if you shove a large pillow in the back it doubles as a closed back
This thing has the most chimey clean sound up to about 9 o'clock on the volume, fantastic with a Strat or Tele. Once you get above that the volume doesn't really increase greatly but the hair really starts to come out.
Didn't really dig the Les Paul on clean but when you get to around 11oclock on the loud knob it really shows its worth.
It doesn't clean up as well as the Express clone with the volume knob but not to bad.

As for pedals I tried a Plum Crazy effects Squawk (treble booster) now this really kicks some a$$. I found if I set the volume to around 11 oclock and back the volume of the guitar off slightly I can get a good blues tone and then kick the booster into get a hard rock thing happening. Easy to get a Brian May type tone.
Also tried an Earthquaker Devices Crimson Drive with it, to be honest it sounded bloody awful.. I think boost pedals may be the weapon of choice.

I found having the tone controls around neutral and the cut slightly off full to be right for me. I would be interested to hear of what settings and pedals you guys have found to work well, particularly a plexi type pedal.
What a great allrounder of an amplifier...
Thanks again for all the assistance gents..


Happy New Year
Mick

[crafty1]

Hey Mick,

Nice work mate. Good to see a fellow Aussie getting into the Rocket vibe.
I am currently building a Rocket/Z wreck amp as well going for the high/low B+ voltage thing.

Just curious to know as to what PT you used. I also contacted RJ about some Rocket PT's. He was extremely helpful but wasn't able to source a PT for 240v mains - ( 250/280v @ 300ma ).

With this build i am using Heybeor iron i got rom Tonesluts over 18 months ago. PT being the 5199ex which is the express/Liverpool 260/300v PT with the 5v filament wires, OT is the dual primary "experimenters" type with the 4300/5200 ohm taps.

I figure that with the higher B+ from the 300v side of things that a quartet of 7189 Saratovs will handle this nicely.

When you get a chance chuck some pics of your build on the forum.

All the best.

Rich

[M Fowler]

Mick,

Glad you got the amp done and are enjoying it.

Mark

[Gargoyle]

Thanks Guys.
Crafty, I used the 5199 Heyboer (120/240) PT and the HTS 8093 (dynaco 470 type) from RJ. I installed the 260/300v switch as well.
I found initially I am preferring the 260 as it seems to have better clarity and tightened up the bottom end. I'm led to believe that the Sozos take some time to settle in and I'm still messing with speakers and boxes though so that may change.
I'll see if i can get some pics up soon.
Mick

[RJ Guitars]

Sounds like it went together well for you. Excellent!

If you can get them will you share some photos and maybe even some clips?

Enjoy that rascal.

rj

[Beerman]

Crafty,

Hi.

Another Melburnian here. I'm in the middle of a 'Rockster' build at the moment, it'd be good to get together and compare notes when we're done.

Let me know if you're interested.

Cheers

graham

[M Fowler]

Mick wrote:

It doesn't clean up as well as the Express clone with the volume knob but not to bad.

You could try lower gain preamp tubes and see how that works to clean it up otherwise lower the V1 220k plate load resistor to 120 or so for less gain.

Mark

[crafty1]

Hey Graham,

No probs at all. I will keep you posted on my developments. Should have my build up and running hopefully by the end of the week. ( That is if i get my delivery of 7189 tubes this week?)

I am looking to experiment switching between the 4.3k and 5.2k primaries on the OT. I have seen a clip on Youtube of a rocket clone using the Liverpool OT, sounded pretty damn good.
The only problem with doing this type of switch mod means that there will be extra wire and a switch between the OT and the power tubes. I have read on other posts in TAG that it is recommended to keep the OT primary wires as short as possible - not sure if this applies to the rocket?
Maybe some of the good folk in the TAG forum can jump in here and verify this?

I'll put some pics up when it is up and running.

Cheers,

Rich

[Beerman]

Cool.

I'm a bit further off than that... I expect I'll be at least a couple of weeks - probably more like a month.

Have got a few bits and pieces done, but really need to get a bunch of prep work done for field trips that will have me away for most of the next three weeks.

[Gargoyle]

Mick wrote:

It doesn't clean up as well as the Express clone with the volume knob but not to bad.

You could try lower gain preamp tubes and see how that works to clean it up otherwise lower the V1 220k plate load resistor to 120 or so for less gain.

Mark

Ahh Mark, cheers mate.... I have a couple of nice 5751's and some 12at7's I might give them a go.

[M Fowler]

The 5751s would be perfect for this.

[amplifiednation]

where are the pics?

[Gargoyle]

I have some pics coming as soon as I find the cable that connects the camera to the PC sigh....
Mark,
I tried the 5751 and it did clean up better, however I prefer the overdriven sound of the 12ax7 in V1 so I am gonna stick with that. Thanks again for your suggestions mate.

[M Fowler]

Well then put the 5751 in V2 and try that.

Oh and put the treble and bass pots full on and use the cut control as the tone control and see how you like that tone and report back!

Mark

[Gargoyle]

Mark,
Will do mate, I'll post the results