Help trouble shooting new Rocket? (pics added)

[CapnCrunch]

Hey I finished wiring up a Rocket last night. I just finished going through start up and checked all the voltages. I was hoping it would fire off with no issues, but the voltages are off. I haven't plugged a guitar into it yet. Most everything is a little high but some of the pre-amp voltages seem really high.

Can anyone help me understand why this might be, and what I likely need to do to fix it? Here are the voltages:

V1a Plate=155, Cathode=2.2
V1b Plate=98, Cathode=.65
V2a Plate=200, Cathode=155, Grid=156
V3a Plate=165, Cathode=47.7, Grid=30.8
V3b Plate=185, Cathode=47.7, Grid=32
V4/5 Plate=293, Cathode=9.2, Screen=292
V6/7 Plate=294, Cathode=9.1, Screen=292

Recto Plates=251/252 Cathodes=301

B+1=301
B+2=292
B+3=222
B+4=197
B+5=193

According to the Rocket documents, the plate voltage for V1a (pin 1) should by about 119V mine is 155. V2a grid and cathode should be 119,118 respectively. My grid and cathode are 156, 155. My voltages on V3b are also higher then expected.

I tried to attach the excel Rocket voltage chart but couldn't for some reason.......

I'm pretty much a novice at this, so any help would be greatly appreciated.

I will post a few pics when I find my camera......

[rbryerton]

Plug it in and play; how does it sound?

My B+ 1 thru 5 voltages are the same as yours (+- 2 volts or so) and it sounds killer...

[Structo]

Which transformers did you end up using?

I don't think your voltages are too high.

Try some different tubes. They can swing the voltage up to 15v sometimes.

[CapnCrunch]

Well, I plugged my guitar in and no joy. You could hear the guitar but a lot of nasty distortion also (with the volume at 8:00). There however was no hum. So, I pulled the board out and pulled the pots out and removed the star washers so the Pot lugs made contact with the chassis. Put everything back in. Now the nasty distortion is gone, but I have some hum.

The other issue is that the amp has about a quarter of the volume it should have. With a Les Paul, there is no break up with amp volume dimed, and the amp is about as loud as a Fender champ. It's not even close to the volume of my AC15 clone. Hmmmmmmmmm?

[rbryerton]

Post some close-up/high res pics when you get a chance....

Validate the correctness of your wiring & component connections, and double-check your resistor values.

Dimed w/humbuckers, you should get moderate overdrive (think heavier AC/DC type drive) and it s/b LOUD

[CapnCrunch]

Here are a couple. I don't know how some guys get them so clear. I had to bump the resolution down on my camera to get them to load to this site.

[CapnCrunch]

Another....

[CapnCrunch]

last ones

[M Fowler]

I can't get the pictures to download lately not sure what is up either this site or my CPU.

But I went over each wire the best I could see and didn't find anything wrong with the wiring and of course can't see if your under board B+ wires are right.

I suspect there is bad solder on some of the joints that is causing your lake of power problem.

Mark

[CapnCrunch]

So. After I pulled the board I had a moderate amount of hum. I went back and re-flowed most of the joints and added a jumper to ground at the end of the ground bus.

The amp is now dead quiet. It has better volume but still not there. I'm guessing it's putting out about 10 to 12 watts. It's now almost exactly the same volume as my tweed deluxe. It sounds really good, but is still lacking something.

I know that some say this is supposed to be a clean amp, but I've heard many clips of clones (and one original Rocket posted by Ken Volpe) that show the Rocket can Rock if you really push it. With the volume all the way up, this amp now is just on the edge of some overdrive with my Les Paul. Like I say, it sounds really good, but its still not right. I think I'll leave it alone and look at all the wiring and connections again tomorrow. Maybe I'll see something I missed.

Last issue. You can feel the power tubes radiating heat from about 3 feet away. I don't think they are red plating, but holy cow are they hot(like a hot wood stove). I guess I should have said from the get go that I built this amp with the traditional values per the schematic and layout in the files section. I used 100R screen resistor for the el84's, and I'd like to tweak this thing into shape with them, but I'm thinking I may jump them up to at least 470R. As for the transformers, I used the Heyboer set, HTS 5199 PT and Heyboer Dynaco 470 mod OT.

[CapnCrunch]

I suspect there is bad solder on some of the joints that is causing your lake of power problem.

Mark

This is the first time I've built an amp with turrets. If this were an eyelet board, I'd go back and de-solder, (and suck the old solder out). Then re-solder all the joints. I don't know how to do that with turrets. Is there a trick? I have no idea how to get the solder off of them. I don't think I'll build another amp, using them.....

[passfan]

So. After I pulled the board I had a moderate amount of hum. I went back and re-flowed most of the joints and added a jumper to ground at the end of the ground bus.

The amp is now dead quiet. It has better volume but still not there. I'm guessing it's putting out about 10 to 12 watts. It's now almost exactly the same volume as my tweed deluxe. It sounds really good, but is still lacking something.

I know that some say this is supposed to be a clean amp, but I've heard many clips of clones (and one original Rocket posted by Ken Volpe) that show the Rocket can Rock if you really push it. With the volume all the way up, this amp now is just on the edge of some overdrive with my Les Paul. Like I say, it sounds really good, but its still not right. I think I'll leave it alone and look at all the wiring and connections again tomorrow. Maybe I'll see something I missed.

Last issue. You can feel the power tubes radiating heat from about 3 feet away. I don't think they are red plating, but holy cow are they hot(like a hot wood stove). I guess I should have said from the get go that I built this amp with the traditional values per the schematic and layout in the files section. I used 100R screen resistor for the el84's, and I'd like to tweak this thing into shape with them, but I'm thinking I may jump them up to at least 470R. As for the transformers, I used the Heyboer set, HTS 5199 PT and Heyboer Dynaco 470 mod OT.

Sometimes I'd give up a little power just for that. Your wiring looks neat and I commend you . Before you pull the card again I wonder if you've checked out your tubes. Just because they may be new doesn't mean they'll work properly. I had 4 brand new Saratovs and two were bad... hummed bad but were really distorted and had to dime the volume to hear anything. Popped in an old vintage set of Baldwins (call me crazy) and it was the sweetest thing you ever heard. I discovered it because I installed a 1 ohm bias resistor off each tube socket and found the two on the left pulling 117ma apiece and the two on the right pulling nothing. A couple of people have had sets that didn't work properly as well , changed them out and everything was fine. They just wouldn't take the 100 ohms screen resistors.

[passfan]

I suspect there is bad solder on some of the joints that is causing your lake of power problem.

Mark

This is the first time I've built an amp with turrets. If this were an eyelet board, I'd go back and de-solder, (and suck the old solder out). Then re-solder all the joints. I don't know how to do that with turrets. Is there a trick? I have no idea how to get the solder off of them. I don't think I'll build another amp, using them.....

You should be able to suck solder off the turret. When it gets hot enough it will pool at the bottom.

[M Fowler]

The A-470-S OT looks to be wired correctly without the UL taps.

I am still wondering about the pot grounding, appears to be PEC with ground lugs and you once had the star washers in but took them out? That should have been a better connection with the star washers in but as long as there all wired to a ground lug on the chassis it should be fine.

You do not have any wires going through the pot terminals that are too long and touching the pot body right? It happens so that is why I always ask. Are the output jacks very secure to the chassis with star washers?

Replace tubes but I would have thought you would have tried that first so I didn't mention. There is something either grounding out when it shouldn't or something that should go to ground that isn't.

That amp should be loud as heck and clean.

Mark

[passfan]

The A-470-S OT looks to be wired correctly without the UL taps.

I am still wondering about the pot grounding, appears to be PEC with ground lugs and you once had the star washers in but took them out? That should have been a better connection with the star washers in but as long as there all wired to a ground lug on the chassis it should be fine.

You do not have any wires going through the pot terminals that are too long and touching the pot body right? It happens so that is why I always ask. Are the output jacks very secure to the chassis with star washers?



That amp should be loud as heck and clean.

Mark

I too have had ground problems in the pot area. I assumed that he corrected that that when his hum dissapeared but I probably shouldn't have (star washers should provide a better ground, that could be a clue) I did away with the trainwreck grounding scheme and used the one off the "Astroid" layout instead and it sounds a lot better. I have a slight hum from my heaters and I suspect it could be because I'm loading the crap out of my PT trying to get it to sag, but no other problems, and it's loud as all crap.