Rocket-ish build

[Markusv]

Hi to all on this wonderful forum, especially the Rocket builders

A while ago I obtained a chassis and tranny's from a company called Judybox

So finally I settled on building a Rocket variant with 6l6's

Tranny specs:
PT
320-260-0-260-320
6.3
5.0
Bias supply

OT
30 watt'ish thing- doesn't look spectacular but hey- it was almost free


The chassis is a solid affair in steel

I run this amp with:
320V taps
5u4 rectifier
500R 20 watt wirewound instead of choke( 2x 1K parrallel because I did not have the right size resistor and I thought 1K may be too much)
Pretty much standard after that except I dropped the last PS dropping resistor value by half

8 and 16 ohm taps although I am not sure of the true reflected impedance for 2x 6L6

The Power tubes are currently cathode biased with a variable 240R resistor/pot combo but I think I can go lower (this is just a ballpark setting and certainly not optimal I`m sure)

Preliminary findings:
Spooky quiet- The first time I switched it on, I freaked because I thought I had no speaker connected.
The amp makes me smile like a fool. The fatness of the big bottles and my lineup of pre's (RCA 12ax7's and a Philips 7025) seem to work really well together. The 6L6's are old chinese tubes I pulled from a twin. I have a hunch I could do better, but I'm not sure I would be able to handle better tone!
There is a shimmer especially at clean settings and I love the interaction especially between the Treble and the Cut
The bass control is a bit weird- unresponsive except at extreme settings, and I'm not sure the tone stack is correctly wired
BTW I wired the first tube as a Normal/Parrallel input and I am glad I did
Parallel is really fat and it seems to boost mids a bit

I have not had a chance to really crank her but I will report back. Currently I am fooling around with the gain on about 10 o'clock and using guitar volume adjustment

I want to thank everyone who replied to my previous Rocket inquiries. Especially RJ who was very helpful

I have no digital camera right now, but I will try and post pics when I do
I plan on installing this chassis in a hardwood combo cabinet with 2x12
Not sure what speakers yet- currently I play her through a 1x 12 semi open cab with Private Jack built from plans on the ax84 site

Best regards,

Markus V

[stubbyfex]

Hello!
I like 6L6 tubes in my express. They have lots of bass response.
If you want to know the impedance of the output transformer, here is a link that tells you exactly how to measure it.

http://www.radioremembered.org/outimp.htm

[Markusv]

Stubbyfex

Thanks for that one

I have contacted the manufacturer in the meantime, but this is useful nevertheless!

Markus V