Rocket Done Tonight

[Allynmey]

here you go....

[Allynmey]

Mark, It sounds good! Best clean amp I've played. I can run the volume at 1 o'clock with the guitar volume on 10 (Tele) and it's still clean! I taled to the owner of two of them and we compared sounds, voltages, and settings. He said it was the same as his.

[gregarious]

Wow (is an understatement) - photo essay par excellence!

Allyn, the .0047 is a mica cap?

Mark, It sounds good! Best clean amp I've played. I can run the volume at 1 o'clock with the guitar volume on 10 (Tele) and it's still clean! I taled to the owner of two of them and we compared sounds, voltages, and settings. He said it was the same as his.

Bring on the clips!

[Allynmey]

No, an older CDE Polyester like the originals. I stay as close to the originals as possible in parts that pass signal.

[geetarpicker]

Allyn,

Very impressive!

GK

[Mark]

Dear Allyn

That is interesting, the prototype I built many years ago had a good clean sound but when it was turned up, and was quite dirty sounding, much like RJ amp. It sounds like a transformer thing again.

Thanks again for the photo's that is a beautiful build, how do you do it?

[bnwitt]

Allyn,
where are you gettin the perf board and flea clips?

[geetarpicker]

Yep, as you mentioned that wire isn't colored all the way through and is actually white inside. The stuff I got from NTE is solid color all the way through. Now that really matters

GK

[Allynmey]

Allyn,
where are you gettin the perf board and flea clips?

I've been hunting for years to get a little store pile of it. I'm just about out of the brown stuff. I still have a little of the beige stuff. Both are correct for TW's

[RJ Guitars]

Dear Allyn

That is interesting, the prototype I built many years ago had a good clean sound but when it was turned up, and was quite dirty sounding, much like RJ amp. It sounds like a transformer thing again.

Thanks again for the photo's that is a beautiful build, how do you do it?

My amp cleaned it up a bit further when I went to a quality open back speaker cabinet with two vintage 30's. Now I start to get a little hair at 9:00, then that sweet "Queenish" sorta tone at noon... Also, I don't know how different our pots behave but mine gets really loud in a hurry although it continues to sound cool all the way out, it never does go into fuzz out...

I agree on the clean tone, it is an amazing clean sounding amp... kinda of a real Fenderish sorta tone only better.

Nice build Allyn, the one that I think we've all been waiting for! Will you give us any voltage info?

I'm curious how close we are in addition to thinking about Mark's comment about the transformers. I'm using the Heyboer 5200 and maybe that is the ticket or the curse depending upon if you want some hair on your sound or not.

rj

[gearhead]

Great job Allyn!

Technique question on the 8 socket resistors (2x4) that stand straight up; how do you get them soldered to the connecting wires so precisely? Looks like the wire is suspended in the middle of the looped resistor leads, smack in the middle of pooled-then-cooled solder?

[Allynmey]

Great job Allyn!

Technique question on the 8 socket resistors (2x4) that stand straight up; how do you get them soldered to the connecting wires so precisely? Looks like the wire is suspended in the middle of the looped resistor leads, smack in the middle of pooled-then-cooled solder?

It's a single wire. Move the insulation spaced for each connection and solder.

[Fischerman]

Just got back from vacation and saw this. Beautiful amp!

[angelodp]

Hey Allyn, can you clue us into what tubes you are using and perhaps what tubes you have tried and the results please.

best Ange

[Allynmey]

For tubes, most new stuff I tried (jj, EH, etc.) sound oK but could be better. I have a matched quad of 70's russian military tubes in their now and they sound beautiful for cleans. Dirty sounds I don't like too much with them. I want to try some Valvo's, Telefunken, and Amperex to see if the dirty sound smooths out. The pre's I've tried a few different things. New stuff...not so good. V1 right now I have a Brimar, V2 a Tungsram, and a Valvo in V3. It sounds fantastic. Like I said before. These amps are made to stay clean. I compared the sound with two peoples amps (real wrecks) and it is the same. It is of some importance to note that one of the guys has modded his real Rocket to the higher taps and higher cathode resistor to get more "Girth" out of his amp. The other chooses to keep his stock for the incredible jangley cleans.