Rocktron Gainiac

[Sloan]

Hey,
I've got this Mesa 2:90 and it seems it's too expensive to sell on craigslist around here. I might as well get a preamp and found a Rocktron Gainiac for $80 at a store here.

My primary use will be in a southern rock/classic rock cover band and I was wondering if the gainiac has usable overdrive that can be cleaned up by using the volume control.

If anyone has any experience, please post, thanks.

 

[MatrixClaw]

I own a Gainiac II, though I've never really used it for anything short of metal. The clean channel is surprisingly good though, and I actually preferred the sound of running it into the loop of my old Mesa Mark III better than the amp's own drive.

The recording is probably pumping from the "mastering" on it, but... here's one I did a year or two ago of it:

http://profile.ultimate-guitar.com/MatrixClaw/music/play845673

That's completely direct, running Catharsis impulses.



Unfortunately, I never use mine anymore cause I bought it for a rack setup I was building, but decided racks are too damn heavy, and got rid of it, before the Gainiac even got here, so it's just been sitting in my studio rack for over a year. Really cool sounding preamp, especially for the money. I'd sell you mine for less than $80 if you're interested. I'd just rather see someone else using it than me; plus I could use the extra rack space. It's basically brand new (only used a handful of times), still have the box for it if I remember correctly

 

[kvoid]

I've heard a chameleon do beastly brootz through a 2:90 and two Mesa OS cabs.

They do a great SS clean too. I don't really know how well they'd fare for mid-gain stuff but a buddy of mine did all-out Satansouthernsludge on it and it was like a Komatsu d475a

 

[Damage, Inc.]

I've had a Chameleon for years and never used any of the distortions from it, just the FX. I even fooled around with the Prophesy a bit and couldn't get the preamp to sound the way I like. As far as the Gainiac, I found it sounded best with the gain up quite a bit and it was pretty harsh. I don't think it would work all that well for classic rock. Want to buy my Hafler T2?

 

[006]

Not trying to be a dick but... that Gainiac clip sounds pretty bad :X