Starting Rocket build. Resistor, capacitor, wire questions?

[George61]

I am starting to acquire parts to build the Rocket that is posted on this website. I am getting the chassis, transformers, circuit board, and cabinet from rj audio research.

My first problem is the Mallory electrolytic capacitors. Judging by the price they would appear to made out of solid gold. How critical are the Mallory's? Sprauge Atom's are much cheaper.

No one has Mallory PVC caps in stock and Mouser lists them as obsolete. Are Sozo's OK?

Is any 300 volt, pvc insulated, 20 gage, solid core wire OK? McMaster-Carr has every color known to man, cheap.

I like metal film resistors. Are they OK or will I destroy the 'Mojo' of my amp?

I started to build an 18W Lite IIb when I stumbled upon this website and the Rocket looks like a much nicer project, although a Lite IIb could be built for half of the price.

I am fairly new to DIY audio and I have already built a Ceriatone 36w EF86 guitar amp. I am near completion on a 2 channel stereo Elliott Sound Products P27 solid state guitar amp. I have built several home stereo components. This is getting to be an addiction.

Thanks in advance to anyone who replies.

Solder on,
George

[statorvane]

Is any 300 volt, pvc insulated, 20 gage, solid core wire OK? McMaster-Carr has every color known to man, cheap.

I think you will want around 600 volts. The Teflon stuff is nice as it doesn't melt when soldering. I prefer the stranded wire - not as prone to breaking as the solid core variety. I'm pretty sure McMaster-Carr has something like that.

[dreric]

I am starting to acquire parts to build the Rocket that is posted on this website. I am getting the chassis, transformers, circuit board, and cabinet from rj audio research.

My first problem is the Mallory electrolytic capacitors. Judging by the price they would appear to made out of solid gold. How critical are the Mallory's? Sprauge Atom's are much cheaper.

No one has Mallory PVC caps in stock and Mouser lists them as obsolete. Are Sozo's OK?

Is any 300 volt, pvc insulated, 20 gage, solid core wire OK? McMaster-Carr has every color known to man, cheap.

I like metal film resistors. Are they OK or will I destroy the 'Mojo' of my amp?

I started to build an 18W Lite IIb when I stumbled upon this website and the Rocket looks like a much nicer project, although a Lite IIb could be built for half of the price.

I am fairly new to DIY audio and I have already built a Ceriatone 36w EF86 guitar amp. I am near completion on a 2 channel stereo Elliott Sound Products P27 solid state guitar amp. I have built several home stereo components. This is getting to be an addiction.

Thanks in advance to anyone who replies.

Solder on,
George

I'm no "rocket scientist" but here's what I know, perhaps it will stimulate more responses.

Parts from RJ............. a wise choice, RJ is the man! Allynmey is also and excellent choice of supplier.

I'd suggest that you teach yourself the search function. For example rocket + Mallory should generate a lot of responses.

The Mallory caps are what Ken Fischer used, therefore they are the grail, some insist that they can hear the difference. They are good caps.

The issue with the sprague atoms is the size. I did a Liverpool build last year and they would not fit into the space, the stack of two caps was too high. F&T are smaller and are very good caps. JJ has started making radials and people like their stuff. AES should have specs and dimension for you to compare.

The orange Mallory are steeped in deep in mystery, and they are pretty much unobtainable. As for the sozos, once again search. The nice thing about the Rocket is that it only has a half dozen caps in the signal path. If you mount the cap in the hole of the turret and wrap the wires around the shafts it's easy to swap and compare until you find what you like.

I used the 20 gauge wire for my builds but in the 600 volt. 300 is fine, it's what Ken used but many opt for the 600 as it's more common in other designs. Trainwrecks are sensitive to lead dress the layouts should be followed carefully, neatness counts. Trainwreck's don't like Teflon wire.

I'm not sure of the affect of metal films.

In terms of the "addiction"................ I don't know what you're talking about. Really, it's not a problem, well for me it's not a problem.............. really, I could stop "tube rolling", solder sniffing and obsessing over capacitor ESR at any time. I like these things, really. Look, my marriage was in trouble long before I cloned a Dumble. I'm not an addict I LIKE building amps, I could stop whenever I want .............

Eric

[redshark]

I had built 2 amps, an express and a rocket. Both with good results. I used F&T for the express and Mallory TC series for the rocket.
Not sure if I should blame it on the filter caps but I prefer the rocket so much and since I had the oportunity to hear a real one I had witness how close I got to the real thing. Both amps I have good tubes and parts the closest to the real thing as I could but I had seriously started thinking about buying a set of Mallory TC's for the express. Not sure if I will but I might. Not saying my express doesn't do what is supposed to do but I have a feeling it could be improved.
Good luck with your build!!

[amplifiednation]

Wrecks don't like Teflon?

[dreric]

Wrecks don't like Teflon?

Especially Express's and Liverpools, Rockets are more forgiving. I've read numerous times that the lack of physical insulation (vibration absorption) in Teflon wire can be factor in noise issues.

The other issue, and many will disagree, is stranded wire. I've never seen solid core Teflon? Wrecks have a lot lead runs that stay in place better with solid core.

Eric

[George61]

Thanks for the replies. RJ has the complete kit so I will buy everything from him. I figure that will be safe. I don't have enough money to buy everything at once but if I skip eating between now and labor day I can get everything except the cabinet and tubes so that is enough to get started.

I will pay praticular attention to lead dress. My Ceriatone was my first vacuum tube, hard wired project and I didn't even know what lead dress was. I considered the project a success because the amp works and I didn't get electrocuted but I've heard sound clips of the same amp that sound better than mine. The one 36W EF86 that I heard that sold me on the project did not have Ceriatone transformers. I really, really like the EF86 channel but I need to get the high end tamed down a bit.

I've never seen solid core Teflon?

Apex Jr. has it. Sonic Craft has teflon Neotech UPOCC (Ultra-Pure Ohno Continuous Cast) solid. From looking at magnified sections of different wires there might be something to UPOCC. Apparently ordinary wire can have hundreds of crystals per foot but Professor Ohno has developed a method to cast a single crystal that is 125 meters long. I'm sure that ultra-high quality wire is going in the wrong direction. From my guitar amp experience it seems that EL84's are brighter (can you say fizz?) than other tubes and getting that under control is the secret to getting them to sound good. Sonic Craft also has cotton insulated Jupiter wire (solid), it doesn't get any more old school than that. Sonic Craft also has beeswax paper Jupiter condensers. If they weren't so freaking expensive I would be tempted to give them a try.

[dreric]

Apex Jr. has it. Sonic Craft has teflon Neotech UPOCC (Ultra-Pure Ohno Continuous Cast) solid. From looking at magnified sections of different wires there might be something to UPOCC. Apparently ordinary wire can have hundreds of crystals per foot but Professor Ohno has developed a method to cast a single crystal that is 125 meters long. I'm sure that ultra-high quality wire is going in the wrong direction. From my guitar amp experience it seems that EL84's are brighter (can you say fizz?) than other tubes and getting that under control is the secret to getting them to sound good. Sonic Craft also has cotton insulated Jupiter wire (solid), it doesn't get any more old school than that. Sonic Craft also has beeswax paper Jupiter condensers. If they weren't so freaking expensive I would be tempted to give them a try.

For me, a big part of the fun is "hobby" is to mix and match components and parts. I have a peculiar affinity for old resistors for reasons I can't really explain. I personally am not so interested in making and amp that sounds exactly like another amp as I am doing my own take on an amp.

The Rocket is the most forgiving Trainwreck to experimentation. That said, it's important to note that a routine Trainwreck help request is "I did it my way and now it doesn't sound right". In other words, they seem to sound best when one follows the recipe.

Ironically, little from the world of high end audio translates to a good guitar amp.

Eric

[surfsup]

Are Sozo's OK?



Surprised no one commented on that! Yea they might be okay. They should rename them from sozo to mojo!