Rock Block 1W Tube Amp (like Z-Vex Nano) with 12AU7, 12AX7 & 12AT7 Tubes £248 delivered

jaymenon · September 2023

Based in Bolton (Greater Manchester) £248 delivered (by Royal Mail Special Delivery)
(also happy to use Royal Mail Tracked 48 if you wish, but it only offers £150 insurance cover)

Comes with a Hammond (USA) 12AU7 / and Groove Tubes 12AX7 pair of tubes.
Also an extra 12AT7 (ECC81) to experiment with even lower output wattage.

The Rock Block is a 1 watt vacuum tube guitar amplifier that can also be used as a distortion pedal.

Overdriven output tube distortion at a volume that is perfect for in-home use or recording.

SPEAKER jack that can drive a 4-16 ohm speaker cab and

OUTPUT TO AMP jack that can drive another guitar amp.

Even when used as a distortion pedal, the signal goes through the output tube and output transformer to an internal dummy speaker load.

- all-tube Class A single-ended triode signal path, which is the most desirable for that classic warm rock guitar sound.

- Gain, Volume and Tone knobs and a separate Volume knob for the output that drives another amp when the Rock Block is used as a distortion pedal.

- 3-way Boost and Bass switches, a Power switch, and a Bypass stompswitch

- The Boost switch comes before V1a of the preamp valve (the gain control which comes in between V1a and V1b) and so acts like a boost pedal in front of the amp

- 3 way voice switch on the left side (when used as a pedal)

Centre: Vintage Sound

Front: Modern sound

Back: Metal sound

External 12V DC is supplied to the Rock Block with a universal external regulated switched power supply. The internal supply is a proprietary design that converts the 12V DC to 320V DC. This supply is so efficient that very little heat is generated, and a noisy fan is not needed. The filaments of the tubes are driven directly with the regulated 12V DC supply.

- Tube-swapping, especially the output tube can provide different distortion sounds and volume levels. The recommended output tubes for the Rock Block are the ECC82/ECC802/12AU7, ECC99 or ECC81/12AT7.

- ECC99 / 12BH7 provides 0.7 watts of clean power and 1.5 watts maximum power.

- 12AU7 provides 0.4 watts clean power and 1 watt maximum power.

- 12AT7 provides 0.12 watts clean power and 0.8 watts maximum power.

The Rock Block is only 3 3/4" by 5 3/4", about the size of an effects pedal, and weighs about 2 pounds.

Brett Kingman Review:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_2OAG7xwwg

Sound On Sound Magazine Review

https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/surprise-sound-rock-block

Pictures

https://i.imgur.com/ptUtWag.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/yVQ81At.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/1dzYpzc.jpg