rocket?

Express, Liverpool, Rocket, Dirty Little Monster, etc.

Moderators: pompeiisneaks, Colossal

Post Reply
castor
Posts: 121
Joined: Wed Aug 30, 2006 3:17 pm
Location: Italy

rocket?

Post by castor »

Hi to everyone.

Somewhere I read about a Rocket amp. can someone explain me the differences between a rocket and a 'pool? (I have my express clone as reference and some audio files in this site about a pool clone in my mind)
Could be interesting to build a rocket clone after my express clone.

stefano
User avatar
UR12
Posts: 1570
Joined: Mon Nov 28, 2005 7:22 pm

Re: rocket?

Post by UR12 »

castor wrote:Hi to everyone.

Somewhere I read about a Rocket amp. can someone explain me the differences between a rocket and a 'pool? (I have my express clone as reference and some audio files in this site about a pool clone in my mind)
Could be interesting to build a rocket clone after my express clone.

stefano
Differences between the Rocket and Pool' circuit wise is that the Rocket has a tube rectifier and uses a choke and the pool doesn't. They share the same power amp section (4 el84s) but the preamp sections are completly different. The Rocket only has 4 controls Vol, Treble, Bass and Hi cut. I think the Rocket is more of Ken's take on a Vox style amp as a lot of the component values comes from the AC30 and the Hi-cut control is an exact ripoff.

There are a few of us guys getting ready to do a group build on the Rocket amp if your interested. I already have a Liverpool and IMHO the Rocket is going to have to be a great sounding amp to sound better than the Pool.
Clyde
Posts: 178
Joined: Wed Feb 28, 2007 3:21 pm

Re: rocket?

Post by Clyde »

Hi UR12,
I'm very interested but can't find much info on the Rocket. The only thing I have is the page from Mark Abbot and there really isn't much difference between the AC30 and his findings. Is there any other info concerning the Rocket? I have my transformers mounted (MM AC30 set) and am just ready to start the board after I wire the filaments (argh!). I will be using an EF86 for a normal channel, no tone stack. Please tell me anything else I should know. Thanks.
User avatar
UR12
Posts: 1570
Joined: Mon Nov 28, 2005 7:22 pm

Re: rocket?

Post by UR12 »

Clyde wrote:Hi UR12,
I'm very interested but can't find much info on the Rocket. The only thing I have is the page from Mark Abbot and there really isn't much difference between the AC30 and his findings. Is there any other info concerning the Rocket? I have my transformers mounted (MM AC30 set) and am just ready to start the board after I wire the filaments (argh!). I will be using an EF86 for a normal channel, no tone stack. Please tell me anything else I should know. Thanks.

There is a preamp board layout is in the files section for the Rocket. Since the Liverpool and the Rocket share the same power amp section I would assume that the power board would also be like the Liverpool. The Rocket also uses a tube rectifier and the diodes would be omitted from the power supply board. The Rocket uses a choke instead of the 10 watt 1k resistor. I've never seen a gutshot of a Rocket so these are just asumptions on my part.

No tone stack and EF86 sounds interesting. Are you planning on two channels? Are you building the AC30 or the Rocket?
Clyde
Posts: 178
Joined: Wed Feb 28, 2007 3:21 pm

Re: rocket?

Post by Clyde »

UR12,
Yes, I'll be building 2 channels, top boost w/tone stack and EF86 w/out. I'm not sure what I'll be building as the Rocket isn't really much more than a tweaked AC30 so I'll probably do my own thing and I have a pretty standard layout I use for all my amps. Here's what the EF86 channel with no stack sounds like. Thanks for your help.
http://www3.telus.net/bgill1/Lou%20Cust ... el%201.mp3
User avatar
UR12
Posts: 1570
Joined: Mon Nov 28, 2005 7:22 pm

Re: rocket?

Post by UR12 »

Clyde wrote:UR12,
Yes, I'll be building 2 channels, top boost w/tone stack and EF86 w/out. I'm not sure what I'll be building as the Rocket isn't really much more than a tweaked AC30 so I'll probably do my own thing and I have a pretty standard layout I use for all my amps. Here's what the EF86 channel with no stack sounds like. Thanks for your help.
http://www3.telus.net/bgill1/Lou%20Cust ... el%201.mp3
Sounds cool!! Keep us updated on how it turns out. I want to get a true clone of the Rocket built so I can see for myself what one of these amps sounds like. I finally have all of the parts gathered up and myself and Pureoldsound will be starting our builds very soon. If anyone else wants to get in on a Rocket group build and share ideas let me know. I'll start a new thread on the Rocket group build.
pureoldsound
Posts: 140
Joined: Sun Sep 10, 2006 7:49 pm

Re: rocket?

Post by pureoldsound »

Clyde wrote:UR12,
Yes, I'll be building 2 channels, top boost w/tone stack and EF86 w/out. I'm not sure what I'll be building as the Rocket isn't really much more than a tweaked AC30 so I'll probably do my own thing and I have a pretty standard layout I use for all my amps. Here's what the EF86 channel with no stack sounds like. Thanks for your help.
http://www3.telus.net/bgill1/Lou%20Cust ... el%201.mp3
Nice playing, and great sound......
Post Reply