Rocktron Gainiac

I play metal, use a Ibanez RG-470 with EMG-89 pickups. This preamp is pretty tame when it comes to distortion. I was under the impression that it had a lot of gain...well I was disappointed. Although I may try it as a booster soon. The clean channel is very tasty actually..nice crisp warm tube tone. So if you're wanting extreme gain, go somewhere else...this preamp would better suit someone into alternative, where they want overdriven sounds...not brutal sounds.

1 U Rack preamp containing a single 12AX7 tube. Simple controls, 2 channel, clean and overdriven. Scoop control for removing midrange (up to 30db cut). No where near as much gain as I was hoping for.

It's pretty tough, well built metal case. Pretty simple PCB design, the only problem you may have is a tube going...but since this unit is pretty low gain (by my standards) I would be surprised if it failed in a hurry

Very good, I emailed them a number of times regarding power supplies, right through to the sound I was meant to be getting out of it, and had a useful reply within 12 hours every time.

Well overall was a bit disappointed, but I'll hold onto the unit, I may find it good as a booster. The clean channel is nice, I'm sure this unit would suit a lot of people nicely.

At first glance, this preamp may seem easy to get a specific sound from but after listening you'll definitley need to take a little time to get the warmth out of it you are accustomed to from a tube amp.

Once you've got your setting correct(I'm into Dream Theatre, Extreme) for your style of music, the sound is acually not bad. The "Scoop" control, or mid range cut/boost is very delicate and a few well spent minutes on it can mean the difference between the tone of your life and being buried in the mix.

I've only had it for about 3 months and have yet to gig with it, but so far it seems solid.

I haven't dealt with them on this peice but in the past I've used rocktron gear (HUSH 1 + 11 ) and they have been very helpful and concerned about customer satisfaction.

When I first played through it, I thought it was the secong coming. After using it for a while it has settled in with the rest of the pack, but for the money it is a very solid piece of equipment. It really depends on the sound you're looking for. I don't think Mesa Boogie has anything to worry about but it is very good in its price range.

very easy to use, simple nobs for tone and destortion level.

i thought the destortion was week. if you are running it through a marshall 2100 it will sound good cranked but i get more shred out of my korg g1.

seemed pretty tough.

i took it back and got no problems but thats more the store than the company,

as i said i took it back because it just didn't have the gain i was looking for. i traded it for a peavy rockman tube preamp and compared to the gainiac it is 10x better. you really need a powerful tube amp to get hard crunch out of it...i'm talking 100-200 watts cranked.

Simple layout...bottom, scoop, top, level, gain on dist.channel, bottom and top on clean channel. Clean channel has no level control and runs at unity. If you can't get good sounds in a matter of seconds, you're an idiot.

I was using this with a crate G40CXL and an Epiphone G-400. The overall sound was a little brassy, but that was due to the dual 8" speakers of the amp. EQ is very effective in both channels. Gain can go from heavy blues to rip your head off distortion. I can get Mesa Dual Recto to Marshall Super Lead sounds with ease. From Bad Religion to Metallica, the distortion was there. Clean was good as well, but I recommend using the unit with amp EQ for a little more post-Gainiac sweetening. Clean sounds great with a little chorus and reverb.

Only had it for 2 months. No problems.

Didn't deal with them.

Would buy it again in a heartbeat. I sold it, the Crate, and a guitar for a Marshall 50 watt combo that doesn't give me the sounds that the Gainiac did. Amazing price for the sound quality. My only gripe was the lack of a power switch. To turn it off, you had do disconnect the wall wart from the unit. This will wear out a power supply in a hurry.

It's very simple. Just like a, well it is a two channel (pre)amp. The scoop might throw somebody that has no experience with guitar junk

My setup is pretty low-fi. I run it straight into my Peavey musician head. I use a lot of pedals (well, compared to most) so there is some clipping in the clean channel, but I like the fact that it dirties the signal up a bit. This is a very hi-gain piece of equipment, so when you switch to the distorted channel there is some hum. I've been able to minimize it significantly when I make sure all of the other equipment is functioning properly and the chords/power supplies are good. The fact that I use a lot of wall warts probably contributes to the noise I experience. I think you can get a good number of sounds out of this...not nearly as many as the ads say, but enough to keep me happy. Although, I haven't been able to achieve that Smashing Pumpkins kill-your-family tone with just the gainiac, I've come close by adding a distortion pedal (Tubescreamer or Dean Markley overlord) in front...I give it a six because when the scoop is increased, the gain of the unit decreases, which makes me pretty ill because it sounds pretty crazy all scooped out.

I haven't gigged with it and nothing's happened, so I guess it's pretty good. It's been banged a few times, but not very hard...I can't really rate this until I've gigged with it...

I've never had to deal with Rocktron...their stuff is pretty solid, so I doubt I'll ever have to

I don't know if I'd buy it again. The fact that the scoop diminishes the gain really irks me...but, it is a loud sucker, and you can get a lot of cool noises with it and some additional pedals...eventually I'm gonna purchase an all tube amp (a Twin, hopefully) and I'd like to hang on to the old gainiac and see if I can molest the Twin with it...

Brutal distortion when run through a pickup like a Duncan Full Shred or JB.

This is a very cool Rackmount preamp. It has 1 12AX7 tube and is completely analog. No digital crap here. Lot's of gain. Problem is that it really sounds good at high volumes. Definetely not a practice effect. Since it only has a level control (which is how much of the effect is pumped into your rig) you have to run it direct, unless your amp has a seperate volume control for effects, such as the Mesa Dual Rectifier. I run a Crate Blue Voodoo 60 watt combo, so I'm stuck with running direct, which is fine by me since I like the low end on the crate. Over all it's a great investment if you want high gain at a low price and no frills tone. Very easy to operate since there is only a chanel select switch and 6 knobs : high and low on the clean channel and high, low, and mid-scoop on the gain side. Level applies to both channels.

You won't need a back-up. It's a metal box that is well made. Just bring an extra tube.

Haven't needed any yet.

I'd buy it again and tell anyone who's into metal or rock to get one. I'm interested in hearing it trough a Mesa Boogie 50/50 stereo power amp.