New Prototype

[dartanion]

Hey Fellars,

I've been playing around with this amp now for a few weeks and am digging it. Normster came up with this one, so the credit goes to him for the idea. It's basically a Rocket with a Simple Reverb circuit, plus a few tweaks for my tastes.

It's a very versatile amp that loves a good OD pedal...GeekMacDaddy's British Ball Breaker sounds freakin' incredible with these.

I like this one so much that it may become a production amp (with Norm's blessing of course). I will certainly tidy things up a bit and may try some different tanks to get the verb dialed in, but it's pretty darn good as is.

I'm thinking of calling it the "Torpedo", but haven't settled on that yet.

Enjoy!

[drhulsey]

No problems with the tank in that position
Good lookin' amp

[Ron Worley]

Dart-

What does the "brite switch" do if this is a Rocket based amp? I presume that the "presence" knob position is your Verb intensity?

Much like the effects loop discussion, does the insertion of reverb in the preamp drastically affect the sound? I know this is not an Express, so maybe this is not a big deal...

What kind of PS filter caps are you using (can really tell in the pic)??

I can't tell where your tank I/O wires plug into the chassis either....

Sorry for all the questions....

[dartanion]

Controls are V, T, B, Rev, Cut.

The bright switch in mine is the switchable bypass cap on the second gain stage.

I haven't noticed any oddities with the reverb performance as the signal feeding it isn't heavily clipped. It also doesn't effect the tone much at all. I've played Norms Rocket, Rerverb Rocket, and my own Reverb Rocket, and I don't hear much difference between the reverb and non reverb units. I am now just working on getting the appropriate range with the intensity control. The RCA jacks are right between the transformer and the socket, so they are hard to see.

The filter caps are United Chemicon and Nichicon 105 degree, 450V. Great performance at decent prices.

I'm going to try and get clips made soon.

[Normster]

Much like the effects loop discussion, does the insertion of reverb in the preamp drastically affect the sound?

Unlike the Express, the Rocket doesn't use NFB so that leaves the bottom of the PI open to insert the reverb signal. The reverb control is also wired so that there is never more than 100k reference to ground for the PI, and with the reverb "off" it pretty much bypasses the reverb so it's like a straight-up Rocket. As Darin said, with the reverb turned down, there's little or no difference in tone between a Rocket and a Rocket w/reverb.