Bear wrote:... The roar of it is pretty impressive for what is supposed to be a more staid 'Wreck. Something about that makes the Brian May/AC-30 thing make more sense.
Bear
Yeah I really liked the power chord roar. As I watched DPB play there were several Brian May-ish moments. The amp really seems to like Strats and humbuckers and I'd say power chords get high marks for either rig.
DPB has a really agressive style and he really likes a lot of OD. After he played for a while he mentioned that he'd probably still want some tubescreamer help for his lead work...
I cheated a little. Since I've not had time to build up my own Rocket, I snagged Carlos' Rocket (put it on my credit card...which I promise myself I won't do again!!) out of the Classifieds section here.
His is pretty close to an original, at least it is in things that I think matter. So as soon as I can get parts and setup a work bench, I'll build RJ's hybrid of the Rocket and be able to compare them for myself!
I'm not much of a player...I really don't have time to practice as I should...but I'll see about pulling an MP3 out of each amp and posting it in the forums. I just need to break the rust off my (sorry) chops first.
guitarsnguns04 wrote:I just listened to the soundclips of that amp..nice.I would love to hear it in person. Will you be sharing any of the values of that build with us?
Just glancing at it, it's the same as what we are building, just different parts and different layout. I didn't give it a part by part inspection though, so there could be some differences.
I know this one roars more then what RJ has said his does. This thing does AC/DC type gain and more. It's got some great classic rock tones on tap, that's for sure. I'm not able to pull off any Brian May tones...but that could totally be lack of skill rather then wrong equipment.
So far I can do a TW style mild to wild with the guitar volume knob by dialing everything at 1 o'clock. Or I can do a really barking sorta Marshally thing by dialing the Treble and Bass to zero and volume WAY up, then cut controll dialed in to taste (I'm tending to like it at 1 o'clock all the time).
So even though I'm running way late compared to the other dozen plus builders in the first wave of Rocket attacks, I'll have my hybrid done in the next month for sure, and do a thurough comparison.
It's in the cab and I think I'm done... does that really ever happen?
After I got it into the cabinet I realized that I hadn't recorded my voltages so I know it has to come out at least once more, but I really like it and I'm not inclined to tweak on it at this point in time.
I plan to make some clips before this goes back to the work bench...
It has been my goal to keep that "I built this in my garage" Trainwreck vibe to this build, therefore the rough coat black finish on the cabinet seemed the perfect final touch... matching speaker cabinet is in the works.
rj
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It was April 1 of this year that I proposed building a Rocket Amp with as many of you as had an inclination... initially there were about a half dozen of you and then it grew to be a dozen, then it grew until I kinda quit seeking more builders and started the actual amp building.
Ultimately I put together 15 Rocket build packages and sent them out. With one exception, they were well received and you have seen and will continue to see most of them here on the forum. The amp packages were made up of a chassis, circuit boards, tube sockets, transformers & choke, and a couple documents - one of which was a printed copy of a gut shot of a Rocket amp. Also, available with every Rocket package that went out was one of the Lonely Raven faceplates... awesome work! The packages went all over the world and I am excited to hear how the Croatian and Australian versions will sound.
I was committed to a few things from the onset of the project...
1) I would seek your help to learn everything known about the Rocket.
2) I would ask everyone to share and post what we learned back for the forum's use.
3) I would sell parts for the initial build offering at my cost and ultimately did not intend to make any personal financial profit from the exercise.
I think we have done great at these three things...
We did learn a lot and I am very grateful to everyone who helped us. There was very little public info out there on the Rocket Amp but many indicators that it was an awesome amp. Mark Abbott and Matt Taylor had provided the best documentation that was available and this was considered to be "The Rocket" guide at the time. They had also provided some indication that these were awesome sounding amps.
In most of my initial public pleas for Rocket info there was almost no response... as if nobody really knew. One exception came in the form of a gut shot of a Rocket Amp that was discreetly provided to me. You couldn't see the power supply but the main board was clear. We were asked not to post this picture so it is still not available, although you can see the manifestation of it in Ron Worley's layout post. There is also some sort of authenticity confirmation in that it matches Allyn's recent Rocket build extremely well. This document showed some subtle difference with Mark Abbott's earlier work but also confirmed that generally his values and layout were pretty close.
As with any public project, this was tricky business at various places along the way due mostly to the fact that various powers attempted to direct the project. This was mostly a struggle between the making of a pure clone and the quest for a great Rocket based amp. I generally sidestepped that issue and focused on the amp building technology because there will never be consensus on the topic.
Sharing everything we've learned. In a round about way, by building a hybrid Rocket myself, it has fueled the desire by others to build the pure clone and ultimately the forum is winning. The forum now has not just several hybrid builds, BOM's, schematics, and layouts but also some great documentation on the traditional Rocket. Tongue in cheek - we had nobody step up and claim to be Rocket savvy when I first ask for help and now we seem to have a whole forum of Rocket Experts!
Additionally, I have and will provide all the help and info anyone wants from my own build. Pictures are posted and additional info is waiting for your request.
I took a beating a couple times (which happens on forums) for my build ideas so I tried to only post the ones that I was willing to take the heat for. In the end I'm extremely pleased with my amp and the bruises are minimal in light of of the final amp I've built. So if something is missing from my build info, it's not intentional to hide info, it was probably because I was trying to keep the beatings to a minimum... ask for what you need and I'll send it out.
I have no trouble in saying that I did not draw a financial profit on this effort - my wife has pointed that out to me each month as we review our finances. The good news is that I was able not to loose much cash either. I did benefit by establishing contacts and accounts at a few parts houses and that is something that will be a benefit for the future.
I stopped promoting Rocket packages when I had enough to cover the cost of the parts fabrication and procurement for the parts I already had purchased. Eventually I asked the machine shop for a some additional chassis' and I bought enough transformer and choke sets to build another half dozen Rocket amps but never got around to promoting them... This is in the $$ loss column for me but on the other hand I haven't decided whether to build these or sell them off. If I do sell them, it will be for the same cost as those original 15 that went out and this will again reflect my cost and uphold my non-profit commitment. I'll post them in the AmpGarage for sale items first and then if they don't sell, EBAY or whatever it takes?
Now I have finished up my own build and I'm assisting others in their build efforts. The Rocket crew had some experienced vets, some first time builders, and everything in between.
Before I close I must say that Eric - Lonely Raven was one determined workhorse in this effort. His faceplate work was phenomenal and you will be seeing those faceplates in a lot of Rocket amps for the future. I have over a dozen Rocket faceplates that I'll make available to the forum for Rocket builders after the balance of the Rocket packages have been accommodated.
Sorry for the long winded story... but I wanted to get everything said and done so I can move on to help others finish there Rocket Amps and then I'm off to other projects.
Thank you very much AmpGarage forum for allowing us to work through this and helping us with this project. It really required the cumulative efforts of all the contributors and builders to make this work. For those that were a positive support double thanks!! For those that were antagonists... well you served your purpose too. Ultimately we have some really cool amps and I am looking forward to the upcoming "Rocket Clip Fest"...
rj,
just a quick thank you for your efforts and spearheading this project. It wouldnt have happened with out your hard work and desire. You should be commended. I will be doing my rocket as my next project to start asap. Thanks again for starting something and hanging in there to see it through! Great work...Thank you!
I'm looking forward to building up my hybrid! As soon as I can afford it, I'm probably going to VVR it as well. I've mucked up my ears enough over the years. LOL
Lonely Raven wrote:
So even though I'm running way late compared to the other dozen plus builders in the first wave of Rocket attacks, I'll have my hybrid done in the next month for sure, and do a thurough comparison.
Eric-
With my recent move and several builds ahead of the rocket, I can safely say that I will be dead last building it... and I am taking a different path anyway, going 100% traditional on the whole thing with the Panasonic caps, Metal 50R resistor and one of Allyn's chassis (to get the capture nuts), etc....
Hello all !!
I am finally getting around to ordering my parts
I am looking over the BOM and I see the Panasonic caps are not listed
does anyone have the mouser part # ??
also do I need to purchase the chassis cover as listed on the BOM ??
I was included in the group buy so I am not sure if the chassis supplied will accept the cover listed in the BOM
last thing (pretty small) I can't locate the power cord strain relief using the provided part #
wow that was fast !!!
thanks
wonder if I can get them from mouser ??
or should I place an order from Digi-key ??
if so is there any thing else I need to order from Digi-key ??
dansamp wrote:wow that was fast !!!
thanks
wonder if I can get them from mouser ??
or should I place an order from Digi-key ??
if so is there any thing else I need to order from Digi-key ??
Dan..........
Dan send me a PM... I've got chassis covers but I want to make sure we are talking about the same thing.
