Rocktron Or Not?

[Sieger]

Hi folks!

/I’m new here btw so before I start, I really must say that you’ll all rock and I actually spent some days in reading what’s going on here… I learnt a whole lot! Excuse my poor English!/

So its time for some “serious” recording and since I don’t have much gear (not to say none) I've started searching for some cheap pre and dists… I actually thought about Rocktron Gainiac 2 and Rocktron Silver Dragon dist… Now before you start blamin’ me for my lame choice let me tell you that I’m from Bulgaria and there are very few brands imported here… (nothing exotic!!! sad but true) I surely don’t like Boss’s distortions since I’ve played through Metal Zone and DS-1 and don’t really think that they will make any use. And my questions are:
1. Do someone of you have any impressions to share from Silver Dragon or Gainiac 2…
2. If you have something other in mind could you perhaps share it with my n00b-ass

Thank you in advance! Cheers!

 

[006]

The Gainiac is anything BUT gainy. It's more like an old Marshall, not in terms of tone, but in terms of the amount of gain. My friend nearly bought one until he played it in the store. It was cranked to "11" on the gain knob and it was still not even anything like what you *need* to play metal with. I have never heard of the Silver Dragon though, so I can't comment on that.

~006

 

[006]

Also, before anyone says it, yes the tube was brand new in the Gainiac, and it was running into a brand new out of the box Mesa Simul 2:90 power amp into a Mesa Traditional 4x12 with v30's. Here is a customer review from Musician's Friend:

It's sitting in the closet collecting dust. It's nothing more than a glorified distortion pedal. First of all, it's only one tube (a low quality one), how much of a "Gainiac" are you gonna be with one tube? It more like a weak overdrive. It has a cheapo external power supply, NO POWER BUTTON (forget something Rocktron?), and no footswitch. If you're looking for GAIN, look somewhere else. This is a low quality preamp.

Now, with all reviews, they should be taken with a grain of salt for the most part, but his description of how it sounds is identical to my experience in that store. It just does NOT have enough gain on it to do metal. You are much better off by getting a combo or something on eBay. Like a Peavey 5150, XXX combo...those can be had for about $400US used on eBay all the time. The Gainiac is $200US, so I'm assuming you already have enough for it, why not save another $300 or so and get a real tube amp combo? Or a 5150 head for the same price if you already have a cab?

~006

 

[Sieger]

Hmmm... I see! It was only the single tube that was bothering me but it seems that is more to it. The 5150 is maybe the best I can afford but the shipping and the other taxes would perhaps make the price twice higher! God I'm in deep sh*t

 

[Fredrik-Ablaze]

Try to find a used Rocktron Chamelion or something, they kick so much ass and I've even recorded albums with mine.

 

[Sieger]

And what about VooDu Valve? It seems to be more reasonable... Chamelion is an option! Thanks guys!

 

[Fredrik-Ablaze]

Vooduvalve is like the Chamelions meaner cousin, same layout with an extra 12AX7, sounds pretty much the same though

 

[Lopes]

I've had a Voodu Valve for years, you can get some pretty sick sounds out of them, but you have to tweak settings (and there are a lot of them) for ages to get something really great. I've also got a Chameleon 2000 that I use live which is pretty good, but not nearly as tweakable as the Voodu Valve or the old Chameleon On-Line, but still light years ahead of the Gainiac. The sound is better with the Voodu Valve, but the switching from clean to distorted isn't that good.

However, I only record with my Peavey 6505, with the Voodu Valve for the occasional lead, as the Peavey slays both the Voodu Valve and the Chameleon.

 

[LynchpiN]

I'll buy a 5150 or a Triple XXX soon, is there any major tone difference between the combos and the head? (never tried the head, only the combo)

I'm about to get a head, but if there's no circuit difference between them I'll have the combo, for live applications.

I'm aware that tube heads and combos tend to be quite different, just want to make sure that this rule also applies to 5150's.

 

[Nitronium Blood]

Hi folks!

/I’m new here btw so before I start, I really must say that you’ll all rock and I actually spent some days in reading what’s going on here… I learnt a whole lot! Excuse my poor English!/

So its time for some “serious” recording and since I don’t have much gear (not to say none) I've started searching for some cheap pre and dists… I actually thought about Rocktron Gainiac 2 and Rocktron Silver Dragon dist… Now before you start blamin’ me for my lame choice let me tell you that I’m from Bulgaria and there are very few brands imported here… (nothing exotic!!! sad but true) I surely don’t like Boss’s distortions since I’ve played through Metal Zone and DS-1 and don’t really think that they will make any use. And my questions are:
1. Do someone of you have any impressions to share from Silver Dragon or Gainiac 2…
2. If you have something other in mind could you perhaps share it with my n00b-ass

Thank you in advance! Cheers!

Dave Mustaine uses Rocktron Prophecy.

See if that one is available.