A New Rocket-ish build

[rawnster]

Beautiful. Are you going to bring it next week to practice??? Me wanna hear it....

Sorry David, the owner was antsy to get it, so I shipped it out this morning.

[RJ Guitars]

Awesome work Ron. I would be curious if anyone else has used a MM output tranny for a Rocket before? My original Rocket uses a special wound 5.2K Heyboer Liverpool tranny and it has a little extra bottom end as well... I have nick named her the "Fat Bottom Girl" because of the obvious connection to the AC-30.

Thanks for sharing the great idea and especially the high quality photographs.

rj

[rawnster]

Awesome work Ron. I would be curious if anyone else has used a MM output tranny for a Rocket before? My original Rocket uses a special wound 5.2K Heyboer Liverpool tranny and it has a little extra bottom end as well... I have nick named her the "Fat Bottom Girl" because of the obvious connection to the AC-30.

Thanks for sharing the great idea and especially the high quality photographs.

rj

Thanks RJ. The MM Wodon OT (Vox AC30 replacement) sounds fantastic. At around a 4k primary, it's got a ton of balls. It's thicker and crunchier sounding than any Heyboer or Pacific I've used on other Rocket builds. I'll definitely use it again. I've bought quite a bit of MM stuff. So I've gotten the price down to where it's relatively the same cost as a Pacific OT.

[wiredturtle]

just as a nod to Rawnster, this amp running at 16ohms into an open back scripty tophat king royale cab (G12H30 and Greenback) has that familiar
piano like "Kerrang" in the low mids and gritchy snarl like my King Royale at
medium volume. The breakup comes quickly with filtertrons on my SSLVO
but it doesnt compress, rather stays open and punchy.
Totally different story through a closeback 212 at 4ohm, almost makes my
blonde bassman feel puny. the notes are tight from the lows up to the upper mids with a nice smooth top end, dynamics not sacrificing.

In the current small combo 1x12 cab the greenback 8ohm'r keeps its characterist woodiness but the cab size limits its potential so rather you
just get a massive punch from your guitar if you turn the volume up past the
first quarter turn. I particularly dig how interactive the treble and presence
are and small movements are very noticeable with my sugarpine tele sporting a tvjones p90 in the neck and dynasonic in the bridge.

dont let this dudes modesty hide what he creates. You've seen the asthetics but the end user needs to speak into the end results of his builds. Its much more than mad scientist with a good ear. the skills have grown into something quite viable. Glad he's making our Blondeshell amps, word is spreading.

[sunkidd]

I've seen and heard rawnster's creations and I think he's giving TopHat's Brian Gerhart a run for his money! How does a person get that kind of talent on his own? ....

[RJ Guitars]

Can we get a look at the final product now? I am curious how these turned out?

thanks,

rj

[wiredturtle]

I think the switch flipped when he got the two rock and his inner neatnick wanted complete order inside that chassis. That of course with a keen obsession for tone that stems from our enlightened years as tophat owners.

rj.. this is it (the amp label belongs on my Blondeshell amp chassis that Rawnster puts together for my company) it should be called the
Top'wreck30... catchy eh?

[img:600:720]http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos- ... 4665_n.jpg[/img]

[surfsup]

rawnster that does indeed look like a nice build. I have a couple questions:

Each of the v1 v2 v3 bussbars look grounded to the chassis separately but it's hard to tell from the photos, could you confirm?

I was thinking about splitting up the PT/OT on my rocket build. Did you do the headphone trick? I noticed the laminates are not 90 degrees to each other.

[NickC]

[img:400:300]https://tubeamparchive.com/files/thumbs/t_e_198.jpg[/img]

Absolutely gorgeous! A work of art!

It almost seems a shame to conceal it in a chassis. Meticulous and beautiful work

[rawnster]

rawnster that does indeed look like a nice build. I have a couple questions:

Each of the v1 v2 v3 bussbars look grounded to the chassis separately but it's hard to tell from the photos, could you confirm?

I was thinking about splitting up the PT/OT on my rocket build. Did you do the headphone trick? I noticed the laminates are not 90 degrees to each other.

yeah, I grounded each b+ node along with it's adjoining connections to their own "star" ground. This particular tranny layout is more of a Hiwatt thing.

The trannies were far enough apart that I didn't need to do the headphone trick. I definitely do that trick though on a more traditional trainwreck tranny layout.

[rawnster]

Absolutely gorgeous! A work of art!

It almost seems a shame to conceal it in a chassis. Meticulous and beautiful work

Thanks Nick, much appreciated.

[wiredturtle]

just an update.. my Rawnster "T-wreck" has finally begun to bloom. these Sozos have opened up nicely. I did swap in some sprague vitamin Q caps for the master volume mod rawnster said I could put in, but this build Rawn is just unfreakin believable with both my nocturne billy brain and Clinch EP pre in front for my rutters tele. Just beyond words man.. well done.

So glad I was NOT able to sell it during a hard season of no cash.. cuz she's still mine! got rid of the 1x12 cab w/ a greenback, put it in one of my head cabs and wired up the tophat w/ a g12h20 and g12-65 heritage in 16ohm

[rawnster]

just an update.. my Rawnster "T-wreck" has finally begun to bloom. these Sozos have opened up nicely. I did swap in some sprague vitamin Q caps for the master volume mod rawnster said I could put in, but this build Rawn is just unfreakin believable with both my nocturne billy brain and Clinch EP pre in front for my rutters tele. Just beyond words man.. well done.

So glad I was NOT able to sell it during a hard season of no cash.. cuz she's still mine! got rid of the 1x12 cab w/ a greenback, put it in one of my head cabs and wired up the tophat w/ a g12h20 and g12-65 heritage in 16ohm

Hey wiredturtle, I'm glad it's starting to bloom for you. Just need to add water and little fertilizer, and she'll blossom like crazy. Good thing you didn't sell it, for I remember that amp as being one of the "good ones".