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

I did a review on this a little while ago and I thought I would add this. I forgot to mention a few things which might explain why I have rated gainiac higher than most. I have an EMG turbocharger (basicly a signal booster for my Duncan Distortion) in my guitar that I almost constantly use. It pushes the volume on the clean channel and gives the overdrive a more full-bodied sound. I really recommend anyone who has this preamp to have either active electronics or a pickup booster of some sort. For those that have EMG's and still didn't like the gainiac ...keep reading..

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND YOU CHANGE THE STOCK TUBE!

When I first got this I thought as others on here that the tube was just for show and didn't do much. Well I opened the side panel and you could see the tube glowing (There is a top on the tube so you can't see it glow from the front opening). I've never heard of the brand...TNT :the new tube (yea...it's ghetto).

With the stock tube you actually do get kind of a marshall-imitation sound but it's little thin (which is why I constantly used the TurboCharger). But I put in an Electro-Harmonics super7 and it really pushes!! The wannabe marshall clone sound is traded for a more of a genuine peavey sounding tone and it's got less feedback/noise. I can even get good sound with the turbocharger off and I get real deep gutsy sound with it on.

You also won't have to be as fussy with the EQ. With the stock tube you have to have the EQ perfect in order to get good sound but with a good tube the gainiac is a little more relaxed about this. It's not ultra thin when the "scoop" knob is all the way up either.

Very simple to operate and connect up. Manual is simple as well, nothing of great importance.

I have a couple of different setups, but my main setup is a Rocktron Gainiac into a Rocktron Intellifex then into a Marshall stereo power amplifier. This sucker screams! My main sound for the heavier tunes, I dial in the scoop control and a little reverb from my effects unit and crank it through a 4x12. For the less "heavy" tunes (which suck, but that is what my singer likes to do) I use less scoop and dial down the gain to get a more crunchier sound. For the larger gigs I do I use two 4x12s , side by side not stacked, sounds awesome like that. I also record a lot with the Gainiac. Sometimes I use a Palmer redbox so I can record direct. The cool thing about the Gainiac is the tube, it seems to add that edge that you can't get out of those digital floor pedals. There is some noise, but I think it is mainly caused by my strat and the high volumes I usually play at. But when recording no problem.

So far no problems. I don't have a back up. So far I have not seen a need to have one, but the Gainiac is really pretty cheap - so it probably wouldn't hurt.

Not had to deal with them

I have looked at other preamps and have tried some of the digital floor pedals as well. Although, these floor pedals seem to have all of the things you need, they don't seem to do any "one" thing very well. Everything is sort of "half assed". Normally the distortion in these multi floor pedals completely blows - I have been able to find one good distortion sound, but usually it is only good for practicing, I would never gig with one of those things. I guess that is why I have always had either different rack products or different pedals. For me the Gainiac does what is says, produces Gain and that is what I need at my gigs. I would recommend this to anyone, especially at this price!

its easy to use

This is where i am going to speak my mind...PIECE OF CRAP!!!!!!!
How in the world could any company get away with false advertising like this is beyond me! THERE IS NO GAIN! This thing sucks!
If ANYONE out there wants a deep metal sound forget this product
The worst $200 bucks i have ever spent. I ended up using a metal zone pedal through my rig setup just to get some decent distortion. I have a full rack setup and this thing with all shit i have still doesnt sound good. WARNING!!!! If you are a metal head like me, dont be fooled this will NOT GIVE YOU THE SOUND YOU ARE LOOKING FOR!

who gives a shit!

who gives a shit!

DONT BOTHER EVEN TRYING THIS THING! Unless you are looking for a weak distortion.

This is the order of my setup....

Ibanez RG > Ganiac > Alesis 230 EQ > Aphex Aural Exciter > Rocktron Velocity 100 > Carvin 412 cab.

If you like that old Metallica sound, this will produce it. Nothing says you can't play in a death metal band with this. It has that clean crunch within the distortion. I think the reason some of these kids don't like it is because its a clean distortion. They play through it and realize they suck and then blame it on the preamp. You can hear every note. Doesn't cover your ass like thsese digital distortions. As far as the clean goes, why would you buy a product called gainiac and whine about the clean channel. It's still pretty good though. Its got the classic warm tube tone with a tinge of dirt. You can clean it up by rolling back the volume knob on youy guitar just a tad.

Guitar Preamp with a 12AX7 tube. Pretty Basic. Clean channel has an eq (low and high). Distortion channel has gain control, level, eq, and a scoop (mids) control. Has a switch for switching between channels. It has a footswitch jack in the back along with the output jack. I really wish it had an optional input jack in the back. Also, it needs a lead channel.

Its a rack unit, How are you gonna fuck it up? It seems pretty reliable. I had it for 6 months already, not one problem.

Haven't had to deal with them.

For the price it is good for what it does. I realy wish it had a lead channel though. Maybe have two tubes? One for clean and one for distortion. Before you talk shit about it, Learn how to use it and run it through a power amp and some cabs. Don't run it through your shitty 10 watt practice amp.

From a Epiphone Flying V with a Duncan Distortion pickup, digitech multieffects between the gainiac and a solid state power amp...I get awesome sound.

It's very good for hard rock. There's actually a lot of gain BUT when played on a low string the sound is compressed greatly! I happen to like this but I can see how many would not. It's GREAT for shredding down low but if you want wide open chunk down on the Low E string then forget it. It can get heavey but it doesn't have the sound of modern drop A metal

Also, on high strings there's not a lot of sustain, so You've gotta really work your fingers to get sustain manually. It's also very defined so you've gotta keep things fairly consistent for it to sound right. IT DOES help you see what ya gotta fix in your playing though LoL. Seriously, I was using digital preamp before this and now I've improved my playing based on the difference in clarity this thing has. It helpped me see where I was sloppy.

2 channel preamp...and stuff. Nice EQ. Very basic but adequate. No mids on Clean channel but it sounds sweet anyways, it just is a little less flexible for pedals. No On/Off switch is the only thing that bugs me I guess.

I've had it for like a week...I'll tell you later if it breaks

uh...see above

The preamp has it's niche (probably 80's hard rock) and You've gotta have at least a little experience to make it sound right but even if you do, it'd be a toss-up wether you like it's sound or not. I can tell you, You'll either love it or hate. Personally I love it!! Still, trying it out before buying is probably a good idea.

The gainiac is in deed very easy to use...but what is hard about using a EQ, volume and gain? By the way the EQ is like full bass/treble or nothing.

I used the gainiac with a 79' Gibson Les Paul Custom, a Ibanez Roadstar I and a SG. As amp I used the JCM Slash with two 4x12" cabs. I expected a full-shred metal distorsion with tons of gain and balls...but it's definetly too weak for my own sound. No clear fat basses and very noisy trebles... the gainiac has in my opinion the typical teenage metal sound...and I'm playing in a death band, so I got no use for it... too weak and thin. I guess it is the perfect preamp for true metal or heavy rock but not for the ultra heavy stuff.

I did use the gainiac on one gig it worked and I had no technical problems but...my mixer was shocked and said that I should use the marshall without the gainiac because of the sound. I came back to my marshall shred master, my boss EQ and my marshall. And of course my black beauty has lots of ass!

Did not need it...

I play death, gothic and rock and roll...but it sounds too weak and thin... I played the gainiac for about one year (only one gig-that was enough)...

So, checked it out before you buy it - because the name makes you expecting a other sound. Sorry.

J:

Not really any different than a Randall amp...The randall has less noise, but alot of setups demand a noise suppressor reguardless of this unit. Definately a ok choice for a very basic power amp.

Here's funny response from a previous poster:

>Ease of Sound Quality: 1
>Oh man!!!!!!! I cant explain it - when I played this unit (for >about three minutes) I was asking >myself "how can someone produce >such a fucking machine! It sounds so awfull. The tube is >just for >fun in it and I just can say that this unit is something like a >joke. It's only a noise >producer. Belive me - hear this thing >BEFORE you buy it!
>I play for over 12 years now. I took a mc Carty PRS-guitar and a >Fender Twin. So you can >belive me - the bad sound doesn't come out >of the other parts of my equipment.

Dear Crackhead:
You are right about the tube, but I got to laugh when you mention you used it with a Mc Carthy PRS and Fender twin amp. LOL, no wonder you hate it. That's like me playing a Boss metal pedal through an acoustic amp. LOL. Moron.

Basic and to the point. It'd be nice if they put a noise suppressor in it cause it is noisey!

built ok... no problems

none needed

It's very easy to use. A few knobs...

I have a Engl Straight 50 head and Marshall 1922 Box. I have a Jackson SL3 with Duncans, and I can say it kicks ass! It's a little bit noisy (probably because my crappy power unit). When I bought it I was little bit dissapointed but then I realised that you just have to crank your amp real high to get that powerful sound. I mostly play hard rock and it's very good for that. It's a real tube distorsion and you can play on any stage without wondering do you have that transistor shitty sound. It's very good preamp.

No problem so far.

Had a question to Rocktron thru e-mail, they answered after 2 days.

I'm satisfied with it. Don't try to get Dimebag Darrell sound with it, you'll get better!!

very easy

Oh man!!!!!!! I cant explain it - when I played this unit (for about three minutes) I was asking myself "how can someone produce such a fucking machine! It sounds so awfull. The tube is just for fun in it and I just can say that this unit is something like a joke. It's only a noise producer. Belive me - hear this thing BEFORE you buy it!
I play for over 12 years now. I took a mc Carty PRS-guitar and a Fender Twin. So you can belive me - the bad sound doesn't come out of the other parts of my equipment.

I play many styles from New-Rock over Nu-Metal and Jazz and Blues or funk but this unit is only good if you need less space in your rack. or maybe you can make a little table of it.

Easy to use, simple settings, scoop setting is about the only key feature, and more or less just seems like you turning the mid down when you turn the scoop up. I switched it with a homemade footswitch using an instrument cable, very easy.....if you dont have a footswtich, get one....

i have a custom Ibanez, a Les Paul Standard, and a Jackson rr-1, all with EMG 81's, i CURRANTLY run a mesa boogie triaxis into a mesa 2:90, all effects through a DMC GCX, controlled with a ground control. I used this gainiac for a couple years, it has it highs and lows....for the money, and when i was in college, i didnt have a lot fo it, you cant beat it (i say that without being misleading). I have had EVERY other pedal around, DOD Grunge sucks, Boss Metal zone is shit, everything else was not cutting it. This comes along, it was suppose to be this awesome high gain rackmount preamp. IT HAS ONE TUBE.... HOW MUCH GAIN ARE YOU GONNA GET? not much...contrary to the advertisements, and the dumbasses you have never played though a real amp on here....The EQ sucks too...i had a decent sound for a while....went into the studio, and the guy didnt even wanna record it....face it, its not for playing metal. Better than most other shitty effects being sold, but it really doesnt do it if you want an awesome, high gain sound. After i retired this (should have buried it), i got a mesa boogie studio pre amp, you can find one of these on ebay for a little more. GET IT. 5 pre amp tubes, tons of gain, awesome reverb, better tone. Mine died, i got the triaxis, and will never buy any other preamp....no reverb though (cant be perfect)

it never broke, even when i threw it. i wouldnt gig it, nor would i buy a back up....

never had any problems.....replaced the tube....prolly didnt even need too, didnt help any....

I play in a hardcore/metal band (metalcore). It doesnt do it for me. Not nearly as much gain as advertised.....good sound for the buck though. Needs more tubes, better EQ. If it were stolen, it wouldnt be missed. Not much to love, anything mesa makes is better, even the V Twin....can buy this stuff used for around the same price. It did make me focus more on playing correctly, made my playing cleaner, you cant "fake" it with this, like you can with a super shitty stompbox, it doesnt cover up much, so i owe it that. Many people are either praising this, or giving it shit....the people praising it should play though some real equipment....the ones that tear it up....just think....it could be worse....

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!