Rocktron Gainiac

This thing is very easy to use, it's got all the basic controls, BUT THIS STUPID PIECE OF CRAP HAS NO ON/OFF BUTTON! Got a Mid-scoop control that works pretty good to kill the mids, and each low/high has a - setting to.

This thing may look "Cool" but it's a stupid peice of ! In all these magazines, they say it's sooooo special, but it sucks!. It has like, no gain! Never will you ever get any heavy sounds with this dumb thing. My dog has barked a better tone than this thing. You can't do anything to the ONE crappy tube in it, it's a small little log of shit!

You can't depend on it, cause it sucks! Like I said it's a peice of crap, and dumb. I suppose it's dependable, but I'd never use it at a gig even with backup, never!

Well, the Rocktron company was very nice to send me lots of info on their products. I've never delt with them but by e-mail.

I Play Blink-182 stuff to Pantera and Metal. I've been playing for 3 years. I've never read a report on it that said it sucks, but it does, BADLY!I have a Crate GFX-212 And a Strat-Clone with a Hot Rails pickup which sounds awesome through anything but the Paniac. I have a Metal Zone stompbox that sounds pretty cool. If someone stole that Ganiac from me, they'd probably bring it back and give me some money to buy something else. I hate everything but the Ganiac writing on it. However the - on each freq. is ok.

THERE IS NO ON,OFF SWITCH,YOU SIMPLY DISCONNECT THE ADAPTOR INCLUDED WITH THE UNIT. ON THE PANEL YOU HAVE SCOOP AND GAIN DIALS TO SET THE DISTORTION TO YOUR PREFERRED REQUIREMENTS. THERE IS ALSO A CLEAN CHANNEL WHICH IS SELECTED BY SWITCH, A PEDAL TO SWITCH BETWEEN CHANNELS IS NOT INCLUDED!!THERE IS NO ABILITY TO SAVE TYPES OF DISTORTION AND CALL UPON THEM WHEN NEEDED YOU SIMPLY PLUG IN, SET YOUR DIALS AND GO,THIS LEAVES NO ROOM FOR CREATIVITY.IM SURE NOBODY WANTS TO HAVE TO PLAY AROUND WITH THEIR RACK ON STAGE!!!!

ON BUYING THIS RACK I WAS VERY FOND OF THE DEFTONES, MANY OF THEIR SETTINGS CAN BE FOUND ( PROVIDING YOUR USING A HUMBUCKER WITH A HIGH OUTPUT).ON TRYING TO CREATE MY OWN INDIVIDUAL HEAVY SOUND ( WITH A HOT RAILED TELECASTER )I BECAME EXTREMELY FRUSTRATTED.I TRIED CRANKING DOWN THE DISTORTION LEVEL ONLY TO BE HORRIFIED BY SHALLOW TONES,THE MANUAL CALLS THESE 'CLASSIC BLUES.'WETHER IT BE DEATH METAL OR HEAVY ROCK THE SOUNDS ARE HERE BUT CAN BE PRODUCED MORE SATISFYINGLY BY USING DIFFERENT METHODS.I USE A FENDER ROC PRO AMP WHICH GIVES ME PLENTY OF WARM DISTORTION.

IVE HAD THE RACK A YEAR AND HAVE HAD NO PROBLEMS SO FAR.I DROPPED IT ONCE,IT SURVIVED!!!!!HOWEVER I DONT USE THE RACK ALL THE TIME, I OFTEN SIMPLY USE MY AMP.

I HAVN'T BEEN PLAYING THAT LONG BUT I CAN STILL SAY IM UNHAPPY WITH THE RACK.I DO LIKE METAL AND AT THE TIME I WAS LOOKING FOR A METAL SOUND BUT BY SIMPLY USING MY AMP DISTORTION I HAVE FOUND MORE SATISFACTION. IM SURE THEIR ARE DISTORTION PEDALS OUT THERE WHICH DO A BETTER JOB, PERHAPS THE 'BIG MUFF?'THE GANIAC WOULD BE A HELL OF A LOT MORE PRACTICAL AS A PEDAL.INVESTING IN AN EFFECTS RACK WITH DISTORTION IS WHAT I WISH I HAD DONE.HAD IT BEEN PROGRAMMABLE IT COULD HAVE BEEN A WINNER FOR ME,IF I WAS RUNNING IT THROUGH A POWER AMP I THINK I WOULD PROBABLY GET MORE SATISFACTION, IT LOST SOME OF ITS PUNCH THROUGH MY FENDER ROC PRO.

Ohh, it's extremely easy to use, as long as your power supply is within 5 feet of the machine. If you want to turn it off, guess what, you must manual disconnect the adapter from the BACK of the unit! (Turning it on same result) Who needs a manual for this machine, everything is self-explanitory: low, mid-scoop, and high end sound, and of course level and distorion (gain).

Jackson guitar through a marshall combo vs65r?. through clean channels it sounds great, JUST CRANK IT UP 100%! Distortion- turn all knobs to 10+ dbs and your good to go for a great crunch effect. dont expect Eq on this machine though. Clean- more vibrant clearer sound anly because you can use it as a master eq. sounds good at 0 dbs, both knobs. plus you can add extra push to whatever setup you have just by turning them up a little more. overall, great crunch for $150.

HELL NO!!! The damn thing caught on fire. (+ 0 dbs all) The sound had me convinced that I shouldn't use any thing else in rack units, up until that shit happened. AC adapter became easily worn after repeated disconnection and reconnection everytime you turn it on or off. Hell i had to get two adapters right before its smokey death.

Why bother with repair , it wont matter very long.

It did offer exactly what i wanted GAIN, just don't expect it to be a permanent investment.

It does not add something more to youe existing natural sound. As a preamp its clean channel is bad.

As far as the gain channel is concerned, you can have some Metallica kind of sounds and It has a nice sound when you lower the gain to its minimum level. That is the only nice thing about this machine.

It has two channels and so easy to use but unfortunately It does not have a level control on the clean channel, thats too bad, if your poweramp does not have a volume control then :)

You can only use it like a pedal distortion but a rackable one. But again it has no foot switch with it, you have to buy it your self.

It has only one tube, 12AX7. And it does not seem like it will get broken or so. Do not put all ypur trust to this preamp unless you have a good gig and you want to use this additional.

Bad, poor I accidently broke its nobe and tried to make contact with the factory. Finally I couldn't. And I made it myself, in some other way.

It has a bad deep hush sound. I excluded it from my rack. I will not use it with my gear. I do not find it rich but I am using it when I need to play with a student. I plug it to another amp, give it to the other person when jamming.

Simple 2 channel preamp: Overdrive channel: 3 EQ knobs (bottom, scoop,top), level, tube gain; clean channel 2 EQ (bottom, top)

Input,Output Jax, Footswitch jack

Uses one 12AX7 preamp tube;

Simple manual for a simple unit

If felt I had to defend the Gainiac because it is getting a bad rap with these reviews. I think it provides AWESOME tone. Anything you want from sweet creamy overdrive to brutal metal sounds.

I think folks are bashing this unit because they were so used to solid state distortion sound (which is ok - I had a Crate head for a few years), that when they finally got a tube preamp that promised a brutal sound they were expecting a certain sound.

The fact is that the Gainiac is a TUBE preamp. For the money, this a great preamp.

It does, in fact, get brutal metal/hardcore distortion -- if you know what tube distortion should sounds like!! Tubes give better tone more often than not, than transistors or ICs.

But hey solid state distortion is very cool -- Dimebag has GREAT tone!!! But I was looking for a warmer tube sound -- and then Gainiac delivers.

Oh yeah, my rig: Gibson SG-X (with stock humbucker), into the Gainiac Preamp, then Rocktron Velocity 120 Power Amp, which drives an older PEAVEY 412m 4x12 cabinet. This makes for a killer halfstack.

The unit's a little noisy at the higher gain settings, but so what? I play heavy music!!

I am not interested in imitating the sounds of my favorite bands -- I am looking to forge my own sound.........Rocktron will help me accomplish that. My band only plays the music we write

The only thing I don't like is that there is no ON/OFF switch, and the clean channel doesn't have a level control (what's up wit dat?)

I have gigged with this unit. I don't have a backup, but my rig has delivered everytime.

THANKS ROCKTRON

T

I have e-mailed them a couple of times, always a prompt response.

I requested a manual, and I received it pretty quickly

I play metal/hardcore. This unit provides awesome tone for the money, if you understand what tube tone is and should sound like !! Get rid of your Metal Zones, Grunge Pedals, Death Metal pedals, TubeScreamers (Keep your Randall heads though!!!)

If you are like me (no money !!), the Gainiac can bring you into the world of tube overdrive for a very attractive price.

Hell, y'all should thank Rocktron for the Gainiac.

I

Easy to use, level, high, low, mid scoop, gain for the distortion, high and low for the clean. There are no rear inputs so i don't like it in my rack, it has a wallwart which takes up alot of room too.

I run it through my Randall head and I think it sounds like garbage, I should have sent it back, you can get a ton of low end out of it, but there is so much treble. The mid scoop is nice and all, but it still sounds like crap. There isn't a lot of distortion, I really don't mind but it was advertised as haveing a lot. I replaced the tube and it still sounds like crap. I would not recommend buying it.

I have it in a rack case, it isn't broken and I've had it for over a year.

Never dealt with them

I play hardcore, I really wasn't very happy with the way it sounds, I wish I would have sent it back actually. The fact that it doesn't have rear inputs and uses a wallwart pisses me off. If it didn't have so much treble it wouldn't be to bad. Over all, this thing sucks.

I can't believe that everyone is giving this unit the shaft. I play everything form toad the wet sprocket to tool and if I may add I use a voodoo valve online, patchmate, intellifex ane velocity 150 "all Rocktron" and this amp is the only Rocktron piece that gives you the absolute straight tube tone. I think everyone else complains because the music they play is needing that tinny paper metal tone that pantera used on the cowboys from hell album. My voodoo valve is perfect for that and if these ganiac bashers want that tone they need to realize great tone takes money. My rack system is the best around thanks to Rocktron. YOU GUYS KICK ASS

Rocktron "All of it"
Voodoo valve online
Patchmate
ganiac
all access
intellifex
velocity 150

100%

support is ok......they need more training
I actually had a Rocktron tech tell me the patchmate wasn't meant to combine effects?????!!!!

great!

Its exremely easy to use. Its pretty plain and simply.

I usually dont subit reviews but this time i felt like i had to....just to warn others...the product is the worst, thinest and loosest distortion i have ever heard. I expected it to be deep, crunchy and scooped sound but it was the worst $200 i ever spent. I sent it back after about a week of suffering.

Its dependable. Thats about its only good quality.

I play extreme death metal and this was the worst piece of crap i have ever played in my life. I would have rather wiped my butt with 2, $100 bills. That would have been a better use than spending it on the Gainiac.

I must say that this tube preamp is very easy to use.You never have to try long to get a good sound out of it.I just plug in and play.

I use the Gainiac with a fender amp and after my boos rw-3 for reverb.The distortion is very natural but it sounds great at high volumes or with really good power amps.There's a scoop control to cut the mids which adds the the tone warmth or you can get the right heavy tones.It sounds really great for its prize.

I can depend on it but wouldn't use it on a gig without a bacup

Never dealt with them

I'm into Dream Theater,Savatge and like Gainiac but its still not great.If you don't use it with other equipment like an efx preamp the sound might be boring or weak.I wouldn't buy it again if it were stolen or lostbecause you can't get diffrent types of tones and thats what i especially need.The best feature is that it sounds great if you add reverb or a mild chorus.It's greaty on the stage but not in the studio i think.

Very straight forward. Excellent EQ section, and the scoop control is simple and effective. Manual's minimal, but you don't need one...

This amp's aptly named. The few high gain settings I tried before returning it sounded quite nice, with decent responsiveness. I kept the gain setting around 12 o'clock for the most part, but this little preamp can get brutal...

Couldn't say - had it hooked up to my rig for exactly one hour.

dunno

Look, this thing isn't so much a preamp as a glorified overdrive pedal in a rack. It claims to have two channels, but there's no LEVEL setting on the clean channel, so as soon as you begin to turn up the distortion channel in search of that perfect dirt, you create such a disparity in levels that there's no way you can switch back to the "clean channel" and actually expect to use it. I don't know what the hell Rocktron were thinking when they were designing this thing, but for the sake of one level pot on the clean channel, I would have kept this preamp to incorporate into my set up. As it is, it's useless to me (and, I'd imagine, damn near anyone else who wants to use it as their sole preamp into a power amp in a rack set up). It would work fine in front of a combo or a head, where you could use the amp's volume controls to adjust level and keep the distortion and clean channels at an even level... Oh well...