I've been hacking up my Lightning clone to Rocket specs and frankly I'm just going round in circles. Somehow I think it would be better to go back to the Lightning, flog it on ebay and start again with another chassis and a turret BOARD!
Any opinions on the Rocket vs AC30 vs Lightning? Is the sound worth it?
What I've managed to come up with loses the AC30 mojo and replaces it with a sort of "doinky" treble (yes I'm using a strat) - not good.
keithrick wrote:I would check your layout and values. I built a Rocket and it sounds incredible.
Edit: I would run some decent tubes in your Trainwreck based amps. Don't skimp there!
Layout is probably impossible because it's true PTP ala Matchless. As a Lightning it got to the "hey that's not bad" stage. The switch to Rocket values has been a degradation in tone - at least in my opinion.
Decent tubes? I've got a JJ in poll position, EH in 2 and 3 and Sovetek EL84's. Same as it was before.
What would you define as "decent tubes"? Winged C? Tung Sol? Groove? NOS?
Man... it sounds like you have time on your hands. I don't.
I never quite got the "build an amp then convert it to something else" thing. Yeah, I convert "something else" into amps all the time but I do it ONCE each. It sucks to get everything tidy, squared away and tight and then to rip it up an do it over. I dread having to remove a circuit board because sometimes it's necessary to access fasteners under the board for instance I barely have enough time to do it ONCE much less do it TWICE.
Save a Lightning, build a Rocket. From scratch. Just my opinion 'cuz parts are worth less than my time.
NOS for sure you'll find great tone with these. Not many bargains to had, but you can get some good deals. Talk to the Sarge for some good deals.
New prod is a weed out process. But I have found that the New Sensor Tung Sol 12AX7s are really good, and so far their new Mullard 12AX7s and EL84s have been pretty darn good. The best bang for the buck in new prod EL84s I've seen/heard are the Sovtek EL84M (Military version). I was skeptical until I tried some. Way different and much better than the regular Sovteks.
CaseyJones wrote:Man... it sounds like you have time on your hands. I don't.
I never quite got the "build an amp then convert it to something else" thing. Yeah, I convert "something else" into amps all the time but I do it ONCE each. It sucks to get everything tidy, squared away and tight and then to rip it up an do it over. I dread having to remove a circuit board because sometimes it's necessary to access fasteners under the board for instance I barely have enough time to do it ONCE much less do it TWICE.
Save a Lightning, build a Rocket. From scratch. Just my opinion 'cuz parts are worth less than my time.
Ha ha ha! if only it were true! My projects take forever (usually)
Yes I'm rapidly coming to the conclusion that backing out the Rocket mods and flogging the Lightning on ebay is the way to solve the problem.
I'm definitely in the build then play category. Endless tweaking? Ick!
I will try getting some "quality" toobs though - thanks for the pointers Dart.
if only it were true! My projects take forever (usually) 
