Rocktron Gainiac

3 eq bottons for the distortion channel and 2 eq bottons for the clean channel. NOt even a on/off switch!!!! Only a jackass would get confused with this one...

Very bad distiortion... don`t get fooled!!! this is a 1 tube preamp that DOES NOT JUSTIFY ITS NAME, my old ZOOM 1010 has more gain than this piece of crap!...
I use it through a velocity 100 power amp with my ibanez s1520 and a mesa 4 x 12 cab. GET A METAL ZONE INSTEAD!!!! at least...

its a rack, how could it brake???? i Dont use it with a backup... in fact... i hope it destroys!!

never had to deal with them...

Its ok for the price i guess. BUT IT HAS A POOR DISTORTED SOUND!!!! I've benn plating for 8 years, and if this baby was stolen I would have to send a christmas card to the saint that did it!!.. dont buy this... get a metal zone instead... if money is an issue for you.... cause if its not... get a triple rectifier!!

Strange too. I would say it has a very unique sound, but not the one i'm looking for. You can get nice overdriven sounds, but as soon as you want to scoop out the mids, the thing sounds thin. The clean channel sounds very nice, but it's not loud enough, i have to crank up the FX-unit to get a useful sound-level. By the way: I use it mainly with a Epi LP or a BC Rich Warlock =>Gainiac=>Intellifex=>Peavy Classic 60/60 Power Amp=>Marshall 4x12 and Boogie 1x12. There is a little noise in the distortion channel, of which the Intellifex's Hush takes care of.

Well, 3 EQ's in distortion channel, 2 EQ's (???) in clean. Scoop is nothing else than some kind of reversed mids. There's neither an volume poti in the clean channle, nor an on/off-switch for the unit at all. Strange... (but the EQ's are really effective)

I have gigged with it once, but i had a POD with me for backup. I have it for half a year now, it has not broken yet.

Never delt with them.

If it was stolen I would defenitley buy something else, because i only bought it because it was the cheapest unit i could get. But in the meantime i bought a HK-Attax, which has a sound that better fits to my style. I can imagine there are a lot of people around who like the gainiac's sound very much, but i don't really belong to them. The lack of the on/off swith is really a shame.

Knobs... Need I say more?! Not too difficult people.

Not enough crunch (even when running an external EQ and compressor). It was terribly dissapointing to bring this piece home and find out that your amplifier had more crunch than the unit that you just bought.

Did'nt have enough time to break it since I returned it almost four hours later.

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A bit pricey for something that does'nt quite deliver the goods that it's name bears. If you are looking for a hardcore metal grind, this is not the effect for you. I highly recommend a stomp box over this product.

Total crap!! I can't believe I was dumb enough to buy this thing. You're better off with a Metal Zone or something. It sounds like a cheap-ass Crate solid state combo that a weaksauce high school metal band would play. I have no idea why they call this thing the Gainiac, when it really has very little gain at all. Sounds sort of like the orange Boss DS-1 distortion pedal... ie awful!
If anyone cares, at the time I was playing a Jackson DR-3 with stock pickups (they suck) thru the Gainiac and into a Rocktron Velocity 120 power amp and a BBE Sonic Maximizer.

Rack mount preamp. Has gain, mid, high and low controls. No power switch is pretty lame. No post eq or anything like that. Like every other rocktron preamp, it uses an AC adapter rather than a power cord, which sucks too.

Seems reliable- gets pretty hot, but it never broke or anything on me.

Rocktron is actually very helpful- they have most of their products' manuals available for download, and their tech support folks are cool.

UGH!! Regardless of what style of music you play, steer clear of this piece of shit. Trust me on this one... you don't want it!

it is very easy to use. It has two channels. clean and a lead channel

If you run this in a full rack setup it is ok for lead and clean. It is not good for any thing else because it only has one tube.

No you can not depend on this unit. Don't buy this unit because it sucks it is a wast of money.

? don't know I sent this thing back!

This unit is a pice of shit never consider this unit for distortion. for your own good never buy any rocktron item they make crapy stuff.

simple to use, just plug in and after a few tweaks, your on your way. one 12ax7a tube that doesnt burn very bright.two channels. no on-off switch.

doesnt have the gain that its name implies. it is warm sounding and very nasaly sounding. clean is very good and warm, just bass and treble, no volume on clean channel. this pre-amp sounds better at higher volumes where it gets less nasaly sounding. no nasal tone on clean channel.

it seems to be rugged, havent had any problems yet

never had any contact yet.

doesnt offer enough features for what you pay. lead channel too nasaly sounding. it is warm, better tone when played louder. the tube doesnt seem to be running at high volts. clean channel sounds very good but needs a volume knob. this thing really needs an on-off switch, dont know why they didnt include one, bad mistake. too expensive for what you get, bad purchase on my part and probably a lot of other people too.

This unit is a no frills, easy to use preamp. This unit will need tweaking to you preferences, like any preamp

Okay, here's the deal. This unit offers the straight-up tube tone. It has a warm, clean sound, like a vintage amp. Maybe "organic" would be a better word. I would not consider it "brutally saturated". So all you kiddies with your Metal Zones and
buzzing bee distortion pedals will probably not like this, although the Gainiac, ironically, is the tone you are really going after. Ultimately you want to get your crunch sound from your amp rig, not some crappy pedal.

I run the gainiac to a Rocktron Velocity 120 power amp, then to an old Peavy 4x12 cabinet. People tell me I have great tone -- "You don't have that damn swarm of bees sound!"

Another thing to think about is your guitar. Is it a piece of crap?
Do the pickups sound weak? The Gainiac is very dependant on these factors. If you have weak pickups, you are not going to get a lot of
distortion. I have a Ibanez S. I customized it with a Duncan Invader. Lotsa crunch, baby!

Reading a lot of the reviews here, I think some of you fruitcakes are running this PREAMP(!) through the front end of your amp, like a distortion pedal. If you are not going with a rack set up, you need to run this into you fx return (line in) jack on your amp. If you don't have an fx loop and don't plan on getting a full rack set up DO NOT GET THIS UNIT. This is not a distortion pedal!!!!!

Okay, let me sum this up. The Gainiac is a preamp that gives you the straight up TUBE tone. From blues to hardcore/metal(that's me)this thing provides the crunch. While not the best thing out there, the Gainiac is an affordable and great sounding way to graduate from pedals.

You can depend on it. It has a flimsy walwart transformer, so you know all the problems with that. But being a high gain device, the external transformer definitely cuts down on the noise. I have 2 Gainiacs, just in case, but I am compulsiove about stuff like that. This is a reliable piece of equipment

I have emailed the company, always with a prompt response within a couple of days.

I would like to customize this thing, with a rear input, a tuner out jack. We'll see

I play metal/hardcore. I know there are better preamps out there, but right now all I can afford is the Gainiac. Having said that, this thing still delivers the straight up tube tone. It does need a rear input jack and a tuner out jack.

ONe final word. Rocktron tries to sell this thing based on its SCOOP
knob, which is a midrange control. You can really obliterate the mids
on this thing. I find that that is NOT what you want to do. The tone is really hollow and it really sucks the life out of the tone and it seriously cuts down on volume. I keep the Scoop knob on about
12 oclock. It really cuts through the mix of your band, really in your face.

as easy to use as any stompbox. You would have to be really dumb to get tricked up by this

Not as harsh as originally intended but it has a very clean distortion that lets big fat chords come though without being muddy.

would't throw it out of a car but I don't feel woried about it breaking all the time.

no experience here

compare the price and it costs only a bit more than a metal zone or some other junk stompbox. It sounds worlds better. I don't think you can go wrong owning one.

THIS UNIT IS VERY BASIC TO USE. FINDING THE SOUND YOU WANT IS EASY.

I THINK THAT A LOT OF PEOPLE HERE ARE RUNING THIS UNIT THROUGH AN AMP ALL BY IT'S SELF. THIS UNIT IS NOT MAKE TO DO THAT. I AM RUNING THIS ROCKTRON UNIT INTO A LEXICON MPX500 THEN I RUN ALL THAT INTO A ALESIS 3630 COMPRESSER. I WOULD LIKE TO SAY THAT IS UNIT IS NOT A STAND ALONE PRE-AMP. USE IT IN A RACK SETUP. DONT USE IT LIKE A DISTORTION PEDAL. I PLAY BALCK METAL DIMMU BORGIR/EMPEROR ECT. IT ASSIMIULATES THEIR DISTORTION SOUNDS PERFECTLY.

I HAVE HAD THIS UNIT FOR ONE YEAR. NO PROBLEMS YET

I HAVE NOT USED CUSTOMER SUPPORT.

I HAVE BEEN PLAYING FOR 8 YEARS AND I HAVE TRIED MANY UNITS. THE ROCKRTON UNITS SOUND QUALITY AND DISTORTION QUALITY DEPENDS ON YOUR SETUP. ONCE AGAIN DO NOT RUN THIS UNIT STRAIGHT INTO A AMP BECAUSE IT WILL SOUND LIKE SHIT. OVERALL THIS MAKES A GOOD RACK/POWER AMP PRE-AMP
IF I LOST THIS I WOULD BUY IT AGIAN. I DO WISH THAT IT HAD REAR INPUTS.

I mainly use this with an ESP f-207. I run through a hush super c, and an aphex aural exciter type c2. When I run through the exciter the scoop feature on the gainiac makes THE HEAVIEST TONE you can imagine. Its about as low end and scooped as possible. With the EMG Hz pickups I get some noise but thats what the hush is for. I think the difference between good tone and bad tone with the gainiac just depends on your setup. All those wimpy stompbox distortions do is make noise.

The features are what you'd expect. Crazy scoop and good low end control. Who cares about clean sounds out of a preamp thats made for gain. As far as the power button...What the hell is everyone complaining about. If all of these people have racks why don't they have a power strip? Goddamn. Its easy enough to mess with. It is however a one trick machine.

I changed their crap tube to a sovtek and it improved the sound slightly, i've had absolutely no problem with it. It just sits in a rack what the hell could happen to it?

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I think this thing works great. Currently I play out of a shit 30 watt crate amp most of the time. I only wish I had a bigger amp to really crank.