Gotta a question about owning 2 different clones?

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

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procos
Posts: 14
Joined: Mon Mar 15, 2010 11:12 pm

Gotta a question about owning 2 different clones?

Post by procos »

I am pretty new to the Trainwreck game. I have been reading about them for close to 10 years over at TGP. I recently finally took the plunge and had a guy build me one. He doesn't like to have his name brought up and likes to stay low key so I have to respect his wishes and not mention his name. However his amp smokes. I had him build me a Rocket, after playing a friends, and it is everything I hoped for. Basically a way better sounding AC30 with much more clarity and bite. I am completely satisfied with the amp and will never sell it. It even had him draw a Spartan on the front cab since I went to Michigan State. I am probably going to have him build me a Liverpool soon as well. I have played one of his Express builds and didn't like it. The feedback was way to uncontrollable for me so that is a model I am not interested in.

The main reason for this thread is to ask your opinion. Do you think it would be silly for me to have another respected builder from this forum build me another Rocket? I love my "Spartan" but I know these amps can vary from amp to amp so I thought it might be cool to have another guy build me another one. I guess it could be overkill but thought I might get another builders take and see how much they vary. I contacted the other builder however and he charges $600 more than the guy I got my other Rocket from so I am not sure I want to pull the trigger. I have called him to discuss it but haven't heard back yet. I am sure he'll call this week and I can run my questions by him but just thought I'd ask you guys first.

All thoughts are appreciated. BTW I am not really intersted in building my own since building an amp isn't something that really interests me.

Thanks,

Chuck
Bear
Posts: 333
Joined: Tue Mar 29, 2005 4:38 am

Re: Gotta a question about owning 2 different clones?

Post by Bear »

Express and Liverpool amps will be more in the territory of unique snowflakes. For Rockets, if the same components are used and the layout isn't too radically different, you might not be able to tell the difference blind. If you've got a Dyanco type output transformer in your current amp, going over to a Liverpool type in the new amp (or vice versa) is probably going to get you more variation than the pair of hands wiring it up, all other things being equal. (Of course, all other things are equal only in idle discussion.)

You might consider getting something a bit more different still, like a Rocket with a pair of Octal output tubes of some sort.
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RJ Guitars
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Re: Gotta a question about owning 2 different clones?

Post by RJ Guitars »

In Ken Fischers Trainwreck sales brochure he mentions that 9 out of 10 AC-30 owners preferred the sound of his Rocket over their original. That's a hard specification to quantify but it is in the context of the Rocket being the ultimate form of an AC-30.

Bear has it right. The Rocket is stable and predictable amp. You can do stuff to change what it does and make it a different amp but if it's a closely cloned copy of a Rocket, it probably won't sound immensely different than what you got.

The Express and Liverpool on the other hand are each a different sort of woman and not always the well behaved kind.

rj
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Zippy
Posts: 2052
Joined: Tue Apr 25, 2006 11:18 pm

Re: Gotta a question about owning 2 different clones?

Post by Zippy »

Bear wrote:You might consider getting something a bit more different still, like a Rocket with a pair of Octal output tubes of some sort.
+1 for the KT66 Rocket!
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