anyone try an EF86 in a rocket?

[Funkalicousgroove]

Just out of curiousity, have any of you experimented with using an EF86 Pentode in the 1st stage of a rocket instead of half of a 12ax7? I was thinking that this may give it a cool early AC30 vibe-Any thoughts?

[Fretts]

No I haven't. But the way I understand it, you'd have to make some other adjustments because the EF86 puts out so much signal that it usually replaces several 12ax7's functions in a guitar amp. You might need to eliminate a preamp stage or else pad it way down before it goes to another stage.

[toddyjoe]

The early AC-30/4 that used the EF86 did not have the Top Boost circuit. Vox switched to ECC83/12AX7 preamps because of the microphonic problems with the pentode input. The Top Boost circuit was designed to compensate with extra gain when the non-EF86 amps were not as desirable as the gainy EF86 models.

I would think you could use an EF86 in a Rocket to get an early AC-30/4 vibe if you eliminate the Top Boost aspects of the Rocket. It could be a completely different beast after those changes though. Post any results here!