Tube Amp Archive

sliberty wrote:I am big fan of transparent speakers with a Rocket. I use a 2x12 loaded with an EVM 12L and a JBL K-120. Killer sounding.

Snap! Used a single K-120 for years then switched to a EVM12L - best speaker on the planet

I can see I'll have to build another Rocket. What a beautiful amp.

Thanks Mark! @stretch: hadn't heard the plain white paper thing before. Thanks for the tip! I've built guitars in the past and always used wet-n-dry up to 2000 or so then rubbing compound for gloss. Mostly I haven't used polyurethane unless its satin and then left it 'as sprayed' but with light sand...

Thanks for the hints Tom. I've got plenty of old denim lying around so might attack it with my least favourite jeans. I was rubbing the box with steelwool between coats and was a bit surprised it ended up so glossy. Kinda thought satin is what it did by default. :? Indeed a 'shotgun stock' finish wo...

The cabinet finish is something called 'Furniture Oil' - Basically Danish Oil I think but without any stain. The best Homebase UK could do :) The shots are from my phone and it looks better in real life however I'm not super happy. Main issue is it needed grain filler. So its not glassy smooth . I'm...

I figured the resistors aren't dissipating much so won't fry anything. Yep, OK. Having repaired amps over the years my concern would be if something goes wrong elsewhere and current there jumps. Repair/replace or even a visual check might mean lifting that board. It's just a nit. Very nice work ove...

Heater wiring proves Satan exists. It's a fact. As far as tight twisting goes I'm not sure it's necessary. If I recall Soldano doesn't even twist his heater wires and just runs two straight lines close to the chassis because it's easier. For less pain it might be an idea to use teflon coated wire. T...

Nicely done. Very tidy, even by TAG OCD standards. Nice walnut too, and the closely matching perf board. The PS board in particular looks to be a design improvement. Wondering about the wisdom of putting the resistor chain on the underside, which presumably is where they hide. Any reasoning behind ...

Thanks! I think mine used the JTM45 blank from Modulus as well. I vaguely remember cutting cutting a board down to fit the TW format - can't recall which one it was. Good luck with your build!

Rest of the build was pretty routine. Here's the results.

Lovely little amp - quiet by itself but with a lot of go. Was really pleased when it was done.. now to find somewhere to crank it up

Face plates were mirrored versions of standard 18 watt ones from Modulus Amplification. No big surprises but I should have got custom ones so the bezel was in the right place.

Well the less said about putting the wings back on the inside of the chassis the better. I remember it took a couple of attempts and involved a rivet gun. Otherwise wiring things up wasn't too painful.

Despite the circumstances the metal work was finished kinda... except for the fact that the wings were missing and this was going to be a tubes down combo.

Bought some nice phenolic board and made the following...

Parts are from Ampmaker, Modulus Amplification and RS components - not sure where I got the F&T caps.

Metal work is hard when you only have a kitchen in a second story flat... but being an optimist I pushed ahead...