Baffled by Rocket tonestack wiring

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

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Smokebreak
Posts: 1391
Joined: Tue Dec 18, 2012 5:53 pm
Location: Texas

Baffled by Rocket tonestack wiring

Post by Smokebreak »

I am at a total loss for understanding why the Rocket's bass pot is not wired like all the other pots. We can look at the Express for reference. It looks backwards to me. When I was building my Zrocket, I noticed the discrepancy in layouts, and in pics, and first thought it was an anti-log, then came to the conclusion that since the wiper arrow comes in from the left side, it must be "upside down", and needed to be wired opposite of convention pot wiring. Then I looked back at the Express, and it has the same left-side-wiper thing, but it is wired like "normal"....top lug is the "in"(3) , middle wiper(2), bottom lug is "out"(1). The Rocket's bass pot lugs are reversed though with this thinking. What am I missing?
[img:1843:823]http://www.whiteghostshivers.com/images ... titled.png[/img]
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M Fowler
Posts: 14034
Joined: Wed Jan 16, 2008 2:19 am
Location: Walcott ND

Re: Baffled by Rocket tonestack wiring

Post by M Fowler »

Both layouts are correct.

The treble pot is wired 123 and the bass pot is wired 321. For the TW Rocket look at an AC30 and you will see the same wiring.

Many different sources have documented the Express wiring is correct not only Ampgarage.

Mark
Smokebreak
Posts: 1391
Joined: Tue Dec 18, 2012 5:53 pm
Location: Texas

Re: Baffled by Rocket tonestack wiring

Post by Smokebreak »

Thanks Mark. I'm not doubting the historical accuracy of the layout wirings in either amp and the Express' obviously matches the schem. It's the Rocket's (or AC30TB) bass pot that is incongruous with the schematics. My thought was that the schematic for bass pot for Rocket/AC30 was "backwards" . I started looking up some VOX history, and I see this is old news :oops:
Apparently the early TBs were wired backwards, and interestingly enough the VOX CC(custom/classic) was a nod to this " error", as there is a switch in that amp to change between the 2 wirings. At least that's how I'm seeing it.
Heres some reading on the topic for those in my shoes:
http://music-electronics-forum.com/t23644/
http://ampgarage.com/forum/viewtopic.ph ... 0f2ad52fac
http://www.vintageamps.com/plexiboard/v ... 91&start=0
Thanks again for pointing me in the right direction and sorry, meant to post in tech discussions
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