Q: Are there no gut shots of a REAL Rocket?

[rooster]

I have seen the gut shot photos of a clone of a Rocket, and I saw where a few who say they have seen a real one sign off on the clone. ...But is there no gut shot picture of a REAL Rocket?

Some people have suggested that Ken made maybe 20 of these amps total, maybe less, I have no idea. Can it be that one has never come up for sale creating a need to display the build quality of the amp?

Anybody?

[M Fowler]

Not much on gut shots for Rockets or Liverpools in the TW Files section but someone recently posted Rocket gut shot for new production John Marks version.

[rooster]

That would be nice to see, Mark. Does anybody have a link or a saved copy?
And while we're here, how many Rockets do you think Ken actually made?

......OH! I see. Thank you, Mark!

[rooster]

Woah, what is with the two chokes? Is this the same amp or did he build one with the choke inside? Oh, I see the bolt for the inside choke near the rectifier. That's kinda odd, what do you make of that? Is this how the original Rockets were made - a split choke? Also, is that a rubber bumper between the PT and OT?

Also, seeing the Orange Drops, why are others here on TAG saying that Ken used different caps (polypropylene) in this build? The clone pictures I have seen are not Orange Drops.

[rp]

Woah, what is with the two chokes?

I'd ask this about any amp, much more so a TW. I'm guessing 2 different amp picts?

Also, seeing the Orange Drops, why are others here on TAG saying that Ken used different caps (polypropylene) in this build? The clone pictures I have seen are not Orange Drops.

As I have a Rocket build on the back burner I'd really like to hear more on this before I order and solder. Just about all the clone Rocket picts I've seen on TAG are OD polyester (6PS or older Mallorys) like the Expresses or LPs. So the caps in a Rocket are a free-for-all???

[martin manning]

Woah, what is with the two chokes? Is this the same amp or did he build one with the choke inside? Oh, I see the bolt for the inside choke near the rectifier. That's kinda odd, what do you make of that? Is this how the original Rockets were made - a split choke?

One choke, more likely. Looks like the transformer inside the chassis is for the rectifier filament.

[rp]

Always pays to look closely! Silly me, and Rooster too!

Still, understandable oversight on our part. This is a commercial venture for good money, you'd figure he'd source a proper PT rather than just kludge it - I wouldn't do it if I were building for a pal for no profit.

[martin manning]

As I recall there were just a few Rockets built, and I can imagine that KF may have accommodated the vacuum rectifier in just that way using on-hand PT's. Then, if you're going to make a clone, and everything matters, then you have to do it that way!

[rp]

Savvy point, Martin. And clear thinking for so early in the AM.

[rooster]

Yeah, I follow your logic, Martin. There is only one guy who has posted on this forum, 2-Tone, who had a real Rocket. He refused to post any internal shots but it would be nice to hear from him about now.

So let me conclude a few things from the JM build.

1) Ken built the Liverpool before the Rocket, the Liverpool PT did not have the 5V rectifier tap.

2) When he built the Rocket, he used the Liverpool PT and added a 5V tranny.

3) The Rocket used the same Orange Drop caps that were used in the Express and Liverpool.

Am I wrong to think that JM, sharing a history with Ken, and now being authorized by the Fischer family to build Trainwreck amps, must be considered at least an authority on the physical side of the circuits? That his builds perfectly reflect what Ken built, regardless the sonic results? Somebody correct me here if I'm wrong.

All this being said, I would like to know where did people on this forum, a forum hinged on the appreciation of Trainwreck Tone and determined to ascertain the facts of the Trainwreck circuits, come up with a Rocket build using polypropylene caps? WTF.

[Plexified]

Apparently the origional Trainwreck Rocket named Soundcheck is on the bench where he builds these to compare to .

Clients seem to get varients on wrecks all the time depending on their circumstances or personalization requests so alot could be possible concerning variety .

I personally would love to see inside the Trem Rocket as well as hear her sing !

As a side note for pondering ... Being this amp used a separate filament transformer , keep in mind you have an option of running this on 120volts separate from the power transformer . Here you could use a variac to adjust voltages throughout the amp without damaging your tubes ( cathode stripping) . Could variac the pre amp only or the power amp only or both . Factor in a solid state rectifier plug ( octal for the tube socket ) and you have quite a bit of variety to experiment with . David

[Blackburn]

Yeah, I follow your logic, Martin. There is only one guy who has posted on this forum, 2-Tone, who had a real Rocket. He refused to post any internal shots but it would be nice to hear from him about now.

So let me conclude a few things from the JM build.

1) Ken built the Liverpool before the Rocket, the Liverpool PT did not have the 5V rectifier tap.

2) When he built the Rocket, he used the Liverpool PT and added a 5V tranny.

3) The Rocket used the same Orange Drop caps that were used in the Express and Liverpool.

Am I wrong to think that JM, sharing a history with Ken, and now being authorized by the Fischer family to build Trainwreck amps, must be considered at least an authority on the physical side of the circuits? That his builds perfectly reflect what Ken built, regardless the sonic results? Somebody correct me here if I'm wrong.

All this being said, I would like to know where did people on this forum, a forum hinged on the appreciation of Trainwreck Tone and determined to ascertain the facts of the Trainwreck circuits, come up with a Rocket build using polypropylene caps? WTF.

Rooster, the first TW, which was a Liverpool, was built in 1983. The Express followed shortly after in the mid 80s. The first Rocket was built in 1990. The Rocket thread in the files section leads you to believe non metallized Panasonic polypropylenes being used in the PI section and Allyn suggests his build is an exact replica of a real one. The JM build would lead to confusion since he's obviously using PVC or 6PS .047uf caps. I'm lead to believe that Ken may not have used the same caps in all the Rocket amps or if he did, they're all the Panasonics, which are out of production now and have been replaced with slightly different colored metallized versions, and JM is using what he has on hand which are either NOS PVCs, 6PS or new production. I conversed with 2tone a while back and asked about this very topic and he said he thought he remembered his Rocket having polyester caps in it and was going to check. I never heard back from him.

I'd say you're probably right on the money regarding the PT, although at that point, the LP and Express PT were the same and were mostly made by Pacific.

Here are pics of Allyn's...

https://tubeamparchive.com/viewtopic.php?t=22424

[rp]

the origional Trainwreck Rocket named Soundcheck

That's a funny name for a girl, must be Slavic or something.

[Blackburn]

Trainwreck Rocket named Soundcheck

That's a funny name for a girl, must be Slavic or something.

Yer funny.

Actually, wasn't the name 'Reality Check'?

[rp]

Trainwreck Rocket named Soundcheck

That's a funny name for a girl, must be Slavic or something.

Yer funny.

Actually, wasn't the name 'Reality Check'?

Ok, so, now he named it after an airhead.