New Rocket (with mods) in progress

[rfgordon]

Here's a Rocket I'm working on for a guy. I'm adding a middle control and Dana's VVR3 circuit, along with a half power switch to take out two of the EL84s. As you can see, I've used Edcor iron. I'm going to test to see how it sounds both with and without the UL taps. I may make that switchable.

I dig that surf green. I think it looks cool. I'm gonna make one for myself in green and blonde.

[angelodp]

Thats real nice. I have a Rocket with a VVR as well. Could you post the com pleted build, I am interested to see how you handle the VVR wiring. Are you planning to use the extra caps and resistors that some used with the VVR to counter any DC on the Volume pot.

How about a Mint green Strat to go with!

Ange

[M Fowler]

rfgordon,

I like the looks of that amp .

Where are those boards from they look a lot better than those yellow tag boards I got from AES.

[Structo]

Mark,
I think he got the boards at AES.

They have some blank ones that you can install eyelets or turrets.

http://www.tubesandmore.com/scripts/fox ... m=P-HTUR-A

http://www.tubesandmore.com/scripts/fox ... 2=TAGBOARD

I bought a couple of those before.

[M Fowler]

Tom,

Oh yeah I did see those before thanks.

[rfgordon]

I got the boards from CEDist, the other side of AES. They come with the two rows of turrets, and I got extras and the staking tool to put in others i needed.

As for the VVR, the previous amp I built with it--first one with VVR-- I first scaled the whole amp, but didn't like it. I liked it better with just the PI and power tubes scaled, which negates having to worry about DC on any pots or on the input.

The client wants frequent photos of progress, so I'm taking lots of pics, which I'll post.

[RJ Guitars]

Rich,

I like what you have done with the transformer placement. I've often thought that the traditional Wreck layout really forces the trannies to be too close to each other, although it doesn't seem to have prevented good results...

The Rocket circuit seems to be really forgiving so no doubt you'll get some great sounds out of this build.

Nice looking work and as always, looking forward to the clips.

rj

[rfgordon]

I have a new recording gizmo, the Zoom (Samson) R16. I need to get a plain USB cable so I can transfer files to my computer, and I hope to get that going by the time I finish this build.

This will be the fifth amp I've built around the Rocket topology. It's so classic--with minor variations its 5F6A Bassman, Vox AC30, Plexi, Matchless Spitfire and others. The sensitivity of the cathode follower, IMHO, makes this basic design extremely musical and expressive in the hands of the right guitar player.

Since I live in Virginia and have to ship this amp to Montana, I'm probably going to put a brace under the PT. If you look closely at the pic of the tubeside of the chassis, you can see I've bolted an L-shaped brace next to the OT to stiffen the chassis. I'll add shipping blocks between the tops of the trannies and the inside of the cab as well. I've seen too many posts of what can happen at the hands of the shipping companies!