My Rocket

[sliberty]

I finished my Rocket some time ago, but was plagued by a mechanically induced crackle noise. Long story short, it turned out to be a bad MOV. I clipped it out of the circuit and all is well.

This clip is just some clean-ish chording. The playing is nothing special, but to my ear, the amp is. I like the chime and swirl of this amp a lot.

http://main.sliberty.com/misc/rocket%20 ... chords.mp3

Recorded as follows: VOS Les Paul Special straight into the amp. VVR on 7. Speakers are Fane (1xStudio 12L, and 1xMedusa 150). Recorded on an M-Audio Microtrack 24/96 with no editing done to the recording.

And below are some photos. You'll notice that I used a mixture of orange drops and Mallory 150 signal caps (whatever I had on hand), and I used the MUCH cheaper Xicon radial filter caps instead of the rather pricey Mallory or Sprague axial caps.

I still have to clean up the unused trannie leads. Someday....I always procrastinate on that step.

Steve

[Colossal]

Your lips move but I can't hear what you're sayin'
When I was a child..I had a fever
My hands felt just like two balloons


Nicely done Steve! Great choice for the clip and good work on the amp!

[Structo]

I have a question about these Express clones you guys build.

Why aren't the heater wires twisted very tightly?

Is that something that Ken did so you copy it for authenticity or is there a electrical reason behind the loose twist?

[sliberty]

Tom,

I can only speak for myself. I follow the way KF did his layout in hopes of not making any serious lead dress errors that would ruin the amp. In other amps that I build, I do twist the heaters tightly, but in anything TrainWreck, I stick with tradition.

Steve

[M Fowler]

Ken used the lazy loop heater wiring rather that twisting them tight.

[philmanatee]

It sounds great Steve! Phil

[paulster]

The wires are far enough from the preamp tube sockets that tight twisting won't make much difference.

Bear in mind that induction follows an inverse-square law anyway, so if you double the distance you get a 1/4 of the effect.

The only time the wires are actually close are when the individual runs go to pins 4/5 and 9, and these are done exactly the same as you would with tightly twisted pairs anyway, so no a lot to be gained.

[dartanion]

As well, the filament wires need not be wound together at all, only running parallel to each other. I have built most of my Rocket type builds without twisting the filament leads together at all and these are very quiet builds. Lead dress on a Rocket is a less crucial than an express or liverpool.

Your build looks and sounds great Steve. Hope you are enjoying those Fanes.

[sst4270]

Looks good Steve.