Rocktron Gainiac

don't get much easier than this does it?

okay kids stop on fighting and taking a piss out of each other. there's taste involved too, so everyone is right.

I use a Jackson with EMG 81, to the gainiac, through a noise gate and end with a 2 x 60 watt 6L6C poweramp. vintage 30 equipped cab.

the first thing i notice is that with all the lead channel settings on 12 o'clock it really that bad. enough gain for what i'm playing (trash metal/metalcore) and really clear sounds. even though well distorted there is still loads of definition in de sound. don't compare it to mesa cause mesa is muddy as hell. i personally don't like mesa just for that reason. i'm more into engl amps. and for 100 bucks this comes insanely close to the nice clear crisp sounds you get outta engl. don't get me wrong, i'm not saying it's the same, just saying it's got some good point that happen to weigh pretty heavy in my decision.

i can imagine though that without active pickups you'd lack some gain. just buy a booster (rocktron nitro e.g.) that should take care of the problem.

didn't break down yet

overall, if you like clear sounds: this is a good preamp for it's price. if you like muddier, loads of low end, mesa type of sound don't buy it, you'll be disappointed. and if you like a metal zone: quit bitching and buy one. it's a stupid comparisson. a mesa don't sound like a marshall either, but that doesn't make it a bad amp.

Easy to get he sound..turn the tube gain knob and set the level/EQ and there you go..

I use this for some killer Bass distortion..I like the 3 band EQ so I can scoop and turn the bottom up. I picked up a footswitch so that makes it easier. I keep the gain and about 9 o'oclock for bass and I get a good overdrive/fuzziness but not too much. I also use a NS-2 its a little noisy. The clean channel could use a mid range knob and level but that's on the Gainiac 2.

No problems so far..bought it used and looks solid enough..I put it in my gig rack so it shold be good to go. Yes I would gig w/o a backup.

I used this for my bass and I like it a lot. Gives me better distortion that the pedals i've tried. I also use this for my guitar through a Crate Powerblock into a 4x12 gutar cab and its a good 80's metal sound. Wish it had a power supply instead of the "wart" and a on/off switch.

i find the gainiac very easy to use, just set the gain where you like it and adjust the eq.

i think the sound is pretty good for a simple , one tube preamp. i play gibson flying v's,jackson king v, bc rich neck through explorer, and bc rich bich. i run from the guitar into the gainiac,an effects unit and into a '75 50w marshall and a silver 50 w jubilee and it sounds great to me. slightly noisy, but a very heavy sound through this setup.the distortion is very tight and articulate, not loose in the low end at all. i find i keep the mids about halfway and the high about 1-3 oclock.the sound is not at all like a metal zone pedal,not as much gain but more punch through in the mix. i play metal, from priest and maiden to megadeth and slayer and it works for me. i don't use the clean channel much, it is hard to balance the volume between the two channels. i leave the gain set at max and adjust with the level knob. plenty of bass response.it would get a higher rating here if you could balance the two channels easier.

i have two of them and have only changed the tube in one, no other issues.i have had one of them for several years, since not too long after they came out. i have gigged with it and had no problems at all. the other guitarist had one and didn't like his, my rig played great, his blew up,causing a few minutes of scrambling to get going again.as long as your tube is okay, i would play without a backup.

never had to deal with them. haven't had any problems.

i play mostly metal, some old rock( ufo,aerosmith) and this does great for me. i have been playing for 23 years now. i have over 30 guitars at home,lots of 4x12 cabs(marshall), 50, 100, and a 200w marshall from the 70's, a 100w jcm 800, 50w silver jubilee, a mesa boogie mk 111, and a vht pitbull ultra lead(awesome amp!).various rack and pedal stuff. if this were stolen, i would probably look for something more expensive.for the price i think this delivers a good, usable metal sound.

The is a basic preamp. Really couldn't get any easier to use. The manual is even easier......No on/off switch though -- that's a minus.

Well, here is the heart of the matter, no? This preamp unit provides basic, classic tube distortion -- smooth and warm. The description of this thing in catalogs and web stores is a little inaccurate. They make it sound like your gonna have extreme, over the top distortion.

I understand the disappointment of some. The distortion is not fuzzy and saturated. You are not going to sound like Hatebreed, Machine Head, or Dimebag (RIP), or Slipknot.

And yet, this preamp is 100% metal -- old school. Think Kill 'em All-era Metallica, old Priest, old Mercyful Fate. I know the Gainiac was not around at the time, but it sure sounds like Slayer used this preamp on Seasons in the Abyss and Decade of Aggression.

And I imagine the classic rock and blues crowd might also appreciate the Gainiac.

I have not had the chance to use it with a tube power amp so I cannot comment on that aspect. We all know how important role power amp tubes play in distortion, so it is quite possible that the Gainiac is a different beast with an all tube power amp.

One last thing: If your a metalhead like me, your first instict would be to suck out all the mids. You can, but I don't think this provides the best sound -- the sound gets really thin when one does this (although this can be compensated for by cutting the lows some and getting rid of the highs. I like the SCOOP control to be at about 12 o'clock. Again, I like to cut all the highs -- this unit has a twangy, nasily quality that can be annoying. This a unit you will have to spend some time to tweak to your taste.

If you've only been using solid state metal pedals, the Gainiac will be quite a different sound for you. But this is old style metal distortion and this unit is way cool.

It should be fine in a rack. I can't imagine it not working.

Excellent through email.

You can get these units used in ebay for more that half the retail price, so you can't go wrong. But understand this unit provides an older style of distortion than what you may be used to.

Deluxe Fender Fat Strat > DOD Death Metal > Keeley Comp > Boss DS-1 > Behringer mixer > Gainiac (in effects loop) > QSC RMX 850 power amp.

Deluxe Fender Fat Strat > DOD Death Metal > Keeley Comp > Boss DS-1 > Behringer mixer > Gainiac > Fender Blues Jr.


I should start by saying that I bought it used. The distortion was muddy, the mid-sweep knob didn't do much, the thing sounded really digital and nasty in general. A new Groove Tubes 12AX7A greatly improved the sound quality, so if you buy it used you might want to get a new tube before writing a review ;)

I don't have high output pickups, so I use the mixer to drive the Gainiac. It is no Mesa Mark IV, but it gets the job done. I can get a good rock and punk sound with it. It can get pretty brutal, but not quite full-out Dimebag f***ing hostile brutal. I leave the metal (not that I play much of it) up to the DOD Death Metal pedal. Ok for blues, I would rather just overdrive my Blues Jr. to tell you the truth.

I can get a nice lead Trey Anastasio tone out of it with the mid sweep in the right position. Think Stash. Which leads me to: sustain.
After I put in the new tube, the sustain went through the roof. With the Keeley Comp I can get a silly ammount of sustain.

There is a bit of noise on the distortion channel (to be expected), but not that much.
Channel switching is quiet.
The clean channel is nothing to write home about.

Anything else... hmm... oh yeah, try it before you buy it.

It looks sturdy enough. Steel box and all. I have only had it for a week, so I am not going to rate it numerically.

Haven't contacted them directly. I noticed they don't have a manual available on their site. Not that I need one to explain how it works. I was hoping it included a circuit schematic. oh well.

If you don't have a lot of money to spend on a Mesa or Marshall this is a nice compromise. Don't get me wrong, you get what you pay for: this thing isn't going to sound like a $2,000 stack, but it gets the job done for us amateurs. Oh yeah, for the love of god don't pay $225 dollars for this. I always see them on ebay for $50 to $100. MusiciansFriend.com has them for $199 and they occasionally have a blem for $169 (which has a warranty). I don't work for them or anything, it's just a good deal.

"@#$*& Wow!!" That's all I can say what it did to my crappy Solid State head!

CONFIG: Ibanez RG500 (w/SH-30 "Dimebuckers" bridge position)-> Dunlop Crybaby -> Behringer V-Amp PRO -> Rocktron Xpression -> Gainiac -> Randall RG80ES head -> 1 Randall Cab + 1 homemade cab.

Until I can get a nice Mesa setup, this is it. I planned on getting an EQ for my rack setup, but ever since getting this I don't think I need it anymore!!

The variety is the Scoop knob. It's the magic of this thing. With the above setup, I use a Rectified setting on the V-Amp Pro. When I turn the Scoop all the way to +30, I get ALMOST an exact duplicate of the Pantera sound if not exactly it. Even though I have the Dimebuckers, I don't think it really matters what pickups you use.
(note: I'm not looking for the Pantera sound, but it's nice to know I make it if I want to. ^_^ )

The best tone I've ever heard (IMHO) is the guitar tone of Lamb of God's "As the Palaces Burn" CD. They use a Mesa Mark IV. I can somewhat get close to that sound with a little of my own personal addition (I gotta get one of those Mark IV's!!)

I haven't had a chance to test the clean channel at high volumes because I don't even use it at all. (I don't even use the Tube Gain knob halfway up since my V-Amp Pro does the changing between distortion and clean, so I gotta keep the Tube Gain knob low on the Gainiac. That seems to be a personal settings problem for me.)

Again, with any distortion setup for a Solid State rig, adding this Pre-Amp is almost as close to a tube setup as getting a REAL tube head.

Oh yeah, turning up the distortion to full on both the V-Amp Pro and the Gainiac sounds like (insert bad word here).

As stated previously: **IT IS A PRE-AMP**

Don't expect anything close to good distortion by itself. It's all wonky and flat...a big no-no.

The best feature: the "Scoop" knob.

Other features: you should know by now. If not, go to rocktron.com

I actually bought mine used from eBay. I'm not sure if it has the stock Audio Glassic tube since I plan not opening it till I get a Mesa Boogie 12AX7. Before I bid, I asked the seller how old it was: 5 years. That should tell you something!! It is in mint condition though, and I hope to keep it that way.

I'm glad I got it used, but would defintely by it brand new if it did break. I plan on replacing the tube once a year as recommended by a friend.

Haven't dealt with them. I hope not, since you can have a super bad or super good experience with ANY company.

I highly recommend this to ANY Solid State setups who are looking to take a step into the tube world, but don't have $1500 sitting around. I don't know why I didn't get one of these things in the past!

I really don't know what to compare it to since Rocktron seems to be the only one to make this kind of rack preamp.

It'd be nice if they came out with one that had 5 12AX7's in it! Maybe then you should be getting a Mesa Tri-Axis anyway??

A uneducated person could figure the use of this "PRE-AMP" out> It is that easy.

Well here is my two cents worth, I will give where credit is do. And be very aunust. I used to play hard rock / metal. I lean more towards the hard rock side. So I am into tone more than that solid state metallic thin sounding shit. I like some solid state amp but there are some shitty ones out there. I am using a pro-audio B-52 lg 100a stealth series head which is one of the best sounding solid state[which has no tubes in it by the way] heads out there for the money on an ok budget. I used the gainiac inconjuction with the head plugged in the send and recieve loop, and man let me tell you I have a marshall head, I was so amazed at the tone I couldnt believe it, the tone are very marshall like. Every thing is nice and warm,to the clean channels and the two gain channels.I was really impressed. I plugged it the other way, My guitar straight in the "PRE-AMP" and then into the front of my amp and let me tell you a big difference, it sounded like shit, So since this is a "PRE-AMP" it is supposed to be used inconjuction with the send and recieve input jacks located on the back of your amp, The clean channels are crystal clear no noise smooth, warm, and bright, whatever is your flavor? It is there. If you are one the metal head warriors, this is not a stand alone distortin unit. It will not produce death, metal sounds alone. If you have a solidstate effects unit with distortion, lets say A "Digitech rp-12" you will get those death metal type tones for sure, You have to place it in front of the effects, or behind it, meaning the order it is plugged into, depending what amp you have. You have to quit whining and play with it.

I could depend on this, I actually have two of these , one I bought on ebay for 70.00 and the other was free as a gift because the person did not know how to use it properly and went out out and bought a six hundered dollar processor afterwards, I showed him, my tones are way cleaner and defined rather than his $600.00 noisey processor that cant keep up with mine.

Yes I have dealt with this company, and the are very freindly up there at battlecreek MI. No problems

I would definately recommend this pre-amp, It does kick ass if used properly, Us typical men always wanting to stick it in the first hole we see before doing some foreplay and seeing what sounds and feels good. But I repeat "THIS IS NOT A STAND ALONE DISTORTION" This is a guitar "PRE-AMP".It sounds 100 times better if it is used with a proceessor or a distortin unit.I think the other reviews that are giving it a bad name are guys that probly are not using it right, or dont have the right descent equipment.

when i first got this model i tried it in many different ways to see what kinds of sounds i would get, the first way i tried was just with the gainiac itself it sounds like krapp of course cuz its a preamp not an effects unit kids remember that when you start to say how krappy it sounds. 2nd was through just my amp and i have a fender m-80 a very vintage amp that if you know what sound you want with some other hardware put into it it kicks ass, now when i did that it sounded ok but too twangy.3rd i put it though everything and that would be running in order bbe 362 sonic maximizer-digitech gsp 21 pro legend-rocktron gainiac-m-80 head for power. Now when i did it this way the first time it was still twangy even through my gsp and everything else so i just used the clean tone with my gsp distortion for use of just the tube power and HOLY SHIT!!!!! it made my clean tones crystal clean and my distortion on my gsp so crunchy it beats the krapp its almost as close to some dual recto sounds i was stunned so if you wanna get some kick ass sounds just use that gainiac for the tube power and run it clean through you other effects and you will find that this thing is not as bad as everyone says.

The features are real simple, you have your bottom for lows top for highs the level for the volume your tube gain which i wish could be more gain and last but not least the all important scoop and i wish there was a scoop for the clean channel too.

well so far so good we will see another year, rocktron is outta battle creek, mi and i was born and raised here in michigan and we build things to last and im sure this little thing well but i would change the tube like once a year or if you are a working musician like me then i would change it like every 6 months.

well i dont really need to get ahold of them at this time but if i ever did im sure i would get a fast response the seem very very pro.

overall i relize that the rocktron gainiac is good to use for just the tube power if you are runnin it with other signal processors and i would buy a back up if i had too or just buy a different tube preamp and just use the tube power. I mainly like it for the 12AX7 Glassic Tube. I cant really compare this to anything else because no matter how old new or different of the product someone out there is always gonna make something that is not good to others sound really good and you will wonder how that musician does it and as a guitarist you should be able to make any magic happen on any amp or guitar and that is real musicianship. I chose this product cuz i really like the rocktron products i used a intellifex a couple of years ago for my guitar then moved it up for vocals and just all the bands that i know that use rocktron.

Its a simple preamp, turn up the bootom, scoop the mid to -30, and turn up the top. Set the gain and level accordingly. It has a great sound that will get better when I retube and bias my poweramp, and replace my 4x12 cab (its time to upgrade from the 1972 hand me down).

It is also easy to retube the Gainiac. I replaced the tube it came with (New Tube? 12ax7/7025) with a Mesa Boogie spax7. It has slightly more gain, a clearer sound, but unfortunately seems to have introdced a bit of midrange back into the tone. I'm going to try a Sovtek like the ROcktron support guy I talked to reccomended or maybe a new Groove Tube 12ax7 Mullard.
The clean channel had a warmer/darker sound with the old tube. The Boogie tube has made it a little brighter.

THIS UNIT IS MEANT TO BE USED AS A PREAMP! DO NOT PLUG IT INTO THE INPUT OF YOUR AMP. PLUG IT INTO THE POWER SECTION OF THE EFFECTS LOOP. -I think this is why its been given bad reviews.

Ibanez RG550 or Kramer V - Ibanez FC10 Dist (used for a slight boost to really saturate the sound - Gainiac preamp - Digitech DSP128 - Ibanez Harnonizer HD1000 - BBE 402 Sonic Maximizer - Marshall JCM900 2100 amp head (poweramp section) - MGI Gilsonite 4x12cab.

It sounds great, but not as good as the one I tried with my guitar and a Marshall 4x12 cab. When I retube and bias the poweramp section and pick up a 1960A 4x12 cab I'm sure it will truly kick *ss.

The one I tried at my local store was my RG550 - Gainiac - ADA power amp - Marshall 1960A cab.

I'll give it an 8 now but once I sort out tubes and cabs it will be a 10.

Mine is used but looks built to last. I would use it without a back up, but I have the JCM900 head's preamp section just in case.

They were great to deal with. I fired off an email and had a response the next day. I'm going to bother them again soon. I'd like to be able to scoop the mids out a little more. I'm sure they know of a capacitor I could solder in ala a hot rodded marshall to get this.

I play metal like King Diamond, Slayer. It is a good match. I've been playing since ~1988.
I love the mid scoop, but it could go slightly farther down because of the mid introduced by the new tube and the sonic maximizer. I would buy one again if it were stolen.

It tooks a little time 'til a get the sound the I want. This Preamp has only five potis in the gain channel, so it is easy to handle.

Hey, the sound is really great. I like the distortion. That's Metal. I use the Gainiac withe a Epiphone Les Paul and a Rockinger Destroyer Humbucker and with a Jackson RR with a SH-8 Invader. Im play it through a Marshall top and a Laney Cabinet. It sounds great.

n/a

I've never had problems with my Rocktron Products so I've never contacted the company.

I've play Metal some years ago. It's a good match.
If it were stolen I'm sure that i would buy it again.
It remains me a bit at the MT-2 from Boss but the sound is better especially the clean sound. I think that's the tube inside.
The price is very low and it's sound great if you play metal