Rocktron Gainiac

I am using two normal BC Rich Humbuckers, sounds heavy. I play Death Metal with some Thrash/Speed Metal Influences, fits perfectly. The amp isn't really noisy, it's just okay for metal. The gainiac can make a lot of different metal sounds, thanks to the scoop function. I've read the other reviews. Well, I think these people don't know how to use the gainiac. Turn up the Scoop Button and it will sound heavy. It's as easy as that. Well if you are what i call a "All-Around-Rock"-Guitarist and you have 5 equalizers 3 different cabs 3 amps 15 effects and even much more of this crap then forget the gainiac. This is not for gay guitarist who want to be able to produce a variety of sounds. It's for metal, if you're not a mettaler forget it. I play it with an Behringer 400 Watt cab and it definitively sounds heavy. THE GAINIAC IS ABLE TO PRODUCE THE ATOMIC METAL SOUNDS IT PROMISED.

I think it was made in 2002. The Gainiac is a tube metal amp, it was made for all kind of heavy rock from the early Black Sabbath stuff to strong modern metal sound like Malevolent Creation (or Death Metal like this). It has two channels. The Amp has a Button to switch between the channels and several buttons for the amount of low and high tones. This amp has a Scoop Function, this function allows you to switch between old sounds an newer ones, you just have to turn the button. It's easy to use but there is everything you need.

Well it's a metal amp.
Metal means drink, rock and f***
It was made for it and it will stay a long time by my side.

Never had problems with the amp, don't know

It's a metal amp it has a brutal, agressive, primitve, ruthless, beautyfull distorsion. Buy it if you like to rock!
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Excuse my bad english, i'm from Germany

I play a washburn dime 333, bc rich nj series warlock, fender custom shop strat, and fender american strat. it has quite a lot of hum when the dirty channel is on and you're not playing - i guess that's just the absurd gain it produces. it sounds great for a really crunchy distortion sound, but the clean channel is nothing spectacular. The 'scoop' feature does give it quite a bit of diversity at the turn of a knob. it would certainly sound good enuff for a live application where 'hi-fidelity' audio doesn't exist. The clean channel did produce just a bit of distortion if both eq knobs were full-on. Overall, no, it can't compete with a nearly-$2,000 triple rectifier, or a tri-axis rackmount, but for under 200 bucks, what can ya expect, ya know?

Bought the amp about four years ago, used it up until this past summer. Very basic features - clean channel just has an eq, dirty channel has the usual - gain amt, level, and eq w/ unique "scoop" control, works like a backwards midrange knob on crack. It has a really sweet distortion sound when you crank the gain and volume - i used it through a 1300-watt qsc power amp and fender cabs. Has a doorbell-style on/off footswitch for the distortion channel. It's nice for the money, but overall it's pretty middle-of the road. I traded up to the sansamp psa-1 b/c i wanted to be able to change the sound on the fly, so midi now lets me do that.

A++++ It may not be the best preamp ever made, but in four years, i didn't have a single problem with it - not even a dead tube (which, by the way, never glowed the way tubes usually do - makes me wonder if it really does much..). I would and have used it to play out w/ no backup. Feel free to beat the hell outta this thing. Crank it for 40 days and 40 nights, and it'll prolly just grin and ask for more.

another A++++ While i didn't deal with the company concerning this particular produce (had a question regarding my intellifex and midimate controller), the gentleman i spoke to was incredible. He knew both products inside and out and was friendly as could be. i must have been on the phone for half an hour learning the things the manual doesn't explain clearly. I never had to deal with repair, so i can't comment on that. But i can say i wish all customer support departments operated like that.

I'm in my 9th year playing now - rack includes nady wireless, samson power conditioner, korg dtr-1 tuner, rocktron intellifex, sansamp psa-1, qsc rmx1450 power amp, and 2 fender ge412 cabs. I can't say i was sad to see the gainiac leave my setup because the sansamp is absolutely phenominal, but it sure was good to me while i had it. I love its ease of use and crunch, but it just wasn't professional enuff for me. I can't say i really compared it to anything, because you can't find another preamp that cheap unless you're talking stompboxes. On the whole, this is perfect for a starter rack setup. And as far as this bickering goes, nobody claimed it was the best the world had to offer. but for the folks using digital modeling like digitech's floor processors and the like, i gotta say, those will turn any sound into an over-produced mess. you need quality in the rest of your setup to make this thing sound good. For the tens of preamps i've played, scores of combo amps, and who knows how many setups, this thing is definitely worth the cash if you're goin for economical. Now if you were satriani, petrucci or malmsteen and you bought this unit, i'd kick you. a 6 for mediocrity, which is more than you can expect for the price.

This thing is as simple as it gets.The manual does'nt really show you more than reading the knobs.This is the perfect preamp if you are looking for a 80's distortion sound.

The best sound can be achieved by plugging straight into the Gainiac. I go through the gainiac first,then it goes to a mitsubishi stereo graphic equalizer, and then to my QSC power amp.This produces a metal tone that is better than any digital amp modeler.My QSC pumps 300 watts at 4ohms, you can't get any louder. Also the gainiac runs best at full distortion and full level.The eq on this sucks, so I would use another equalizer. It does'nt have very much midrange so boost it and fine tune it, and barely add any bass or treble when using the gainac. If you anything about tone, don't touch the scoop control, it will make your sound hollow. It is very important to change the tube that it comes with, it is a cheap russian tube. The best tube to use is a groove tube 12AX7.If you are going to use a gainaic, you might as well buy a Hush super c, because this preamp can get noisy.

The gainiac is very reliable. I run it cranked all the time, and it has never failed.

I mostly play thrash/death metal type stuff.The gainiac has provided all the gain I crave. Bottom line,if you can't a serious metal tone out of the gainiac, then you are probably a shitty guitarist. Remember , a great guitarist can sound good on anything..

pretty straight ahead interface

by it self, this is not an off the wall sort of distortion like limp bizkit or korn. sorry kids...if you want to sound like them, you're going to have to either save up for your own mesa/boogie triple rectifier (a double will do just as well live) or do what you can with a line6 toy, which can be really cool.
but james hit the nail on the head in his review. this item is basically faslely advertized! (not really, but is definetly misleading.) trying to sell these things to metal heads at gc was impossible, and i don't blame them for not buying them. the only one that i personally sold was to a guy who wanted an accessory for his triple rectafier---and holy Sh*t!!!
for a really cool tone, plug this sucker into a super distorted triple rec and have the ganiac on the clean channel. you'll hear what i mean. if you don't have a mesa amp readily available, try it out on some pedals and stuff you have. these things aren't too expensive, and i've found some amazing sounds when coupled with some other device. after all, isn't that the whole fun of accessories in the first place?!

spend some time tinkering with this thing, i wish i would have bought one while i worked at gc.

Well it works like an amp so i dont think anyone could have a problem.

The reason i am posting this review is to defend the gainiac. I am talking to these "handicapped" (thats how we call bad guitarists in Greece) guitarists that wrote bad reviews for Gainiac: Open your eyes idiots. it says tube preamp on it!!!!!!!!! Do u know what a tube preamp is? I suppose you dont know, else you would not post this crap reviews. Gainiac will not make you sound like Pantera or Machine Head for example, neither your crappy little amps that you play gainiac on. To make this bitch work you need a decent Fx processor a good power amp and cabs. If you are not having the above dont even consider bying Gainiac, stick to your Metal zones and the rest of your crappy gear and play power chords for the rest of your life(since you are not capable of playing anything else) Apart from that the guitar is another important factor when it comes to tone! If you have a shitty guitar Gainiac will not make it sound better! OOOOOHHH!!! I am feeling much better now! Gainiac is a very good preamp for the price i paid (300Euros) It delivers a great range of tones from ultra clean to distorted! The clean channel is versatile enough from playing spark clean chords to crunchy blues licks. THe distortion channel varies from overdriven sounds to those 80's metal sounds. Motorhead, Ozzy, early Metallica, Judas Priest etc. tones can be achieved with a little tweaking on the knobs.

I use Gainiac for practice at home mostly and i am not planning to gig it, since with my band i play hardcore metal and use the Voodoo Valve or the Art DST 80/80 which have tremendous gain and deliver a wider variety of tones However if i didnt have these two i would depend on it, no questions asked!

Dont know never dealt with them. However rockron is a serious company and its customer support as far as i know is very professional.!!!

In conclusion i must say that Rocktron should not have advertised Gainiac as delivering very heavy distortion that would satisfy even the most brutal players. If you like the 80's metal tones then this amp will do for you. However if you are into pantera/machine head kind of sound dont buy it. If you fit in this category try the Voodoo valve the ART dst 80/80 or (if you find any used ones) Rocktron piranha! This monsters provide all the gain you want!!!!! My Gear is 76 reissue Gibson Explorer, Gainiac, Voodoo Valve, ART DST 80/80, rocktron velocity 120 power amp and Marshall 4x12 cab. I play for seven years and i am into metal (mostly thrash metal) and when i want these 80's tones i play with the gainiac while when i want to sound heavier the voodoo valve or the dst do the job perfect!!!! Keep on picking and watch out what you buy!!!! Expensive gear will not make you better quitarists!

Well Ive read all the reviews people have posted and there really seems to be quite a divide in opinion.

It's called the "ganiac" like a play on "maniac" suggesting the preamp has insane/intense amounts of gain but most reviewers seem to agree it doesnt have as much gain as the name implies

Some reviewers like the gain so give it a 10 however the others whose expectations werent met give it a 1 or 3 People who defend it like to say its analog "no digital" well thats true-however it has only 1 12ax7 so the only way it could produce any overdrive gain is if it is heavily assisted by transistors or IC's (chips)or in otherwords solid state so in actuality this is a hybrid preamp not a "tube pre-amp"

So what does this thing really sound like???
I'm very curious how about somebody posting some sound files? lets hear it!!

two channels- clean and doitee apparently like yer cat'z litter box ya gotta "scoop" it

apparently most people own this for the most one week so how can anybody comment on its reliability??

The Gainiac is a straight up tube preamp. It has Tube gain, output
volume, scoop control, low and high EQ, a clean channel with low and high EQ controls and a foot switch. The foot switch was extra but worth the money. The sound is quite good. I have no problem getting a tight crunch equal to the sounds of Iron Maiden to Megadeth.

The clean channel coupled with my FX board sounds really nice. I can get any sound I need with a rich TUBE compliment. It is easy to setup. I don't need a million crunch settings so I set it and forget it. NO on/off switch is a drag.

Run this unit through the FX loop if at all possible. Going through the front of your amp is double preamping your amp. It won't sound good. This unit is best used with a power amp after all its a preamp!!!!!!!!!

Sound quailty starts at the guitar, to the cords, then the FX,
the amps, the speakers to your ears. The shortfall of any system is the weakest link. Eliminate the weakest link and the sound quality
of any system takes a quantum leap.

I am using all top notch gear. Marshall, Peavey, Acoustic amps.
Ampeg 412 cabs. Rocktron Ganiac, Digitech RP1, BBE 362 and the MOST important Monster Cables, thats it. I can tell you that changing the cables in my system made a dramatic difference. Everything in my setup sounds excellent INCLUDING the Gainiac.

It stands to reason, devices are patched through cables
and if the cables aren't top notch your sound will take a dive.
Any good recording studio has Monster Cable. If you think using
home made cables or run of the mill connections will yield good
sound forget it. Do you think Monster could boast if their cables were a hoax?

THINK, did you ever try to jump a car using bad or small jumper cables. Try jumping a car using lamp cord!!! Why should your sound system be any different. BUY good cables.

It is solid.

Never used them.

Like I said we play hard rock and the Gainiac fairs well with this style of music. I have always favored the TUBE distortion over the processed digital sound and this unit works just fine.

As I said before, I don't need a million distortion sounds onstage
just a few patches on the Digitech RP1 gets me through for clean and dirty work. Set and forget, thats what I'm talking about.

Just a word for the wise, if your looking for that certain sound your guitar hero has, study his rig and duplicate it. If you want your own sound pick and choose your gear as needed. There is a ton of good gear out there. Make sure your cables are top notch.

I HAVE TO DEFEND THIS PREAMP...IT SOUND AWESOME AND IF YOU ARE NOT GETTING TONE YOU DO NOT KNOW HOW TO USE A AMP...I WANTED A TUBE SOUND FOR MY MARSHAL MG-80cd AND THIS PREAMP DELIVERS...MAKES ALL OTHER SOLID STATE AMPS SOUND LIKE SHYYITT.....I HAVE A EDDY VAN HALEN KRAMER AND A JACKSON FUSION AND THIS UNIT GIVES ME A STRAIGHT UP SOLID TUBE TONE...I HAVE OWNED ALOT OF DOD AND BOSS DS-1 DISTORTION UNITS AND THIS UNIT LEAVES THEM IN THE DUST I LOVE IT...BUY ONE !!! THE GUYS THAT SAY THIS UNIT SUCKS PROBABLE CANT WIPE THERE OWN ASSES IF IT WAS PLANTED RIGHT IN FRON OF THEM!!! GAINIAC RULES

Very straight forward design all buttons and knobs

HAVENT BLOWN IT UP YET

BEEN PLAYING FOR TEN YEARS NOW AND I HAVE A BASS GUITAR ALONG WITH THE ERNIE BALL MUSIC MAN, JACKAON FUSION, AND EVH KRAMER...I LOVE ITS TONE TUBES ARE THE ONLY WAY TO GO FOR ROCK TONE....IF SOMEBODY STOLE IT ID KICK THERE AZZ!!!

Piece of cake -- simple 2 channel preamp -- knobs, no digital readouts, simple connections

I see that this preamp is getting bad reviews. It is Rocktron's own fault, but not because they made a bad product. The Gainiac is a good preamp. It is the way they advertise. In the Musician's Friend catalog they advertise this preamp as being able to produce tones for "psycho-nuclear modern metal". I've also seen "enough gain for the most hardcore metal heads".

This is very misleading. Let's start with what the Gainiac is: a simple old-fashioned tube preamp. Having said that, here is the problem: the distortion you get from the Gainiac is an old-fashioned tube sound. The Gainiac gives you straight tube tone. No more , no less. It is almost like Rocktron made this product 2 decades too late. In the 1980's, the Gainiac would have been the shit!! Tube amps back then didn't have a lot of saturated, over the top ,fuzzy crunch. It was a warmer, natural sound -- exactly like the Gainiac. Solid state distortion was frowned upon because it sounded lifeless and sterile and "artificial"

But times have changed! We now have tube amps that are extemely high gain, giving that brutal, over the top, saturated sound, while maintaining "warmth". Digital amps which emulate tubes amps have become popular also, so the battle between tube and solid state is over as far as I'm concerned.

Today's heavy music, both trendy and underground,from Papa Roach to Dying Fetus, is dominated with that brutal, saturated tone. So along comes Rocktron and their Gainaic unit, being advertised as "the preamp" for metal and hardcore. Kids see the ad, save their money, buy it, get it home, plug in, and Oh my God! It sounds like shit!!! Wimpy ass distortion!!

The people buying this thing and giving it a bad review were expecting a certain sound, but they got another. And it's Rocktron's fault. They should advertise it emphasizing the classic tube sound, rather than trying to mislead younger players.

OKay, here's the question: can you play metal with it? I answer with a definite YES!!!!!!!! This preamp rocks!! I love the tone.

Okay, let's be specific. This preamp will not and cannot sound like Machine Head's Burn My Eyes album (one of my fav's). It will however nail Slayer's Seasons In the Abyss album sound to a tee (another favorite album of mine.

This preamp will not give a brutally saturated sound. To many of you this preamp will not have enough distortion. You may need to put in better pickups in your ax. I have a Duncan Invader in my Ibanez and a
stock 490T is my SG, so I have high out pick-ups to start with.

Let me re-emphasize this -- this preamp put's out straight up old fashioned tube tone.

I have to tell you that I use a Rocktron Pro-Gap for my saturated over the top brutal distortion. While the Gainiac can't do what the Pro Gap does, the Pro Gap can't do what my Gainiac does. So I use both for different tones. Don't be fooled by Rocktron's bad advertising, yes. But also don't be fooled by those who say the Gainiac sucks. Today's bands have higher gain amps, yes. But Motorhead and Slayer wrote the book on being heavy, with old-fashioned distortion. Think for yourself!

The Wal wart, like all Wal warts is vulnerable to breakage. But the unit is sturdy. Kept in a rack, it should be fine. No on/off switch is a drag..........

I've dealt with them through email. Jim is really cool

okay, in review: this is a straight up tube preamp, giving a warm overdriven sound. For blues to metal, I love this unit. Keep in mind, this will not give you saturated, solid state type distortion. This will give you a more classic overdrive sound (think older Slayer)
This is not my only preamp, I have a Pro Gap for brutal distortion.
However, I would not part with my Gainiac. I love the tone. This is how they did it in the old days kids!!

Piece of cake. Very easy to use. Nice big knobs, very user friendly. Not much to mess up.

If your looking for hard crunch / deep distortion, this isn't the product for you. This is what a tube preamp should sound like. I was hoping for a little more gain but I did find some descent sounds. Clean channel is actually descent but it can be difficult to find a crunch sound that sounds good.

Pretty sturdy. I've taken it out a few times. No problems.

No need to deal with the Customer Support on this one. Easy to use and reliable.

I guess I can't complain that much considering I paid 90 bucks for it used. I wouldn't pay the retail price of 225.00 that's for sure. I have been playing for 10 years or so and play mostly hard rock, some punk, little bit o ' blues. I use a Gibson Standard SG / American Standard Strat through Peavy Classic 30's.. I wouldn't buy it again if it were damaged or stolen