Rocktron Piranha Tube Guitar Preamp

Midi- Controllable Tube Guitar Preamp.
I found it very easy to get a good sound out of this unit. The controls operate (mostly) like an ordinary amp head with the addition of a few buttons to allow you to store your current settings, retrieve saved settings or control the noise reduction. Adjusting presets is easy: Just turn the knobs, then press store twice to save it.
The manual is acceptable, though somewhat brief. No description of the presets appears in my manual: The one in this database is useful, print it out.

I read that this unit hummed or buzzed a bit, but thats not really been my experience. Unless I'm standing right next to my rack, I don't hear much of any noise. (with the noisegate thresdhold adjusted in such a way to permit noise, were there any) Certainly less noise than most amp heads.
The clean sound can be thin, but theres tons of control over it. The "clean" tube setting ranges all the way from clean to overdrive. I have one preset thats purely clean and another that has a slight breakup.
The modern and classic distortion modes are not terrible different, but alter the sound a bit. I initially thought that I might prefer a bit more gain, but upon taking the unit the band practice and using it at NON-apartment volumes changed my mind. My lead preset for heavy rock has the gain setting at 50 (out of 70). Plenty of good saturation here.
Adjustable Midrange frequency controls the range the mid EQ affects. This is very flexible.
HUSH noise reduction is very intelligent. Holding a note and allowing it to decay illustrates the HUSH at work: gently easing your sound level down as it decays. Adjustable.

So far my other Rocktron gear (Intellifex LTD, MidiMate, Velocity 250) haven't failed me, but not much experience here.

I had a question about the MIDI channels used to switch the loop in/out, change tube mode, etc..., so I sent email and had a response in a day or so.

Overall: The best tube preamp I've used. Combines the great high- gain sounds my Peavey Rockmaster got with midi-selectable presets (instead of a two or three channel preamp, how about a hundred or so channel preamp) Distortions are available on all three tube modes, and span a lot of different styles.
I've recently played lots of stuff in the search for a sustaining saturated sound that is not harsh, but more singing. The kind of tone where chords are rich, which the notes are distinct and not muddy. Where chords are obviously distorted, but single notes in leads do not buzz and make nasty sounding noises. The Marshall 9001, Crate Blue Voodo 120 with 4x12, Marshall JMP-1 + 9100, Marshall all-tube 112 combo, Fender Princeton, Blue Tube... None of these devices make it happen. Most of them are very harsh _or_ very muddy. Peavey Rockmaster does it. Rocktron Piranha does it while adding midi-selectable presets. I'm in gear-heaven.
My complaints are mostly minor: #1 I wish it featured midi control of parameters like gain (for continuous controller applications. #2 I wish the output volume was on the far right hand side. #3 I wish the unit was black instead of red. #4 I wish it had much more gain than I would ever need, just in case. As is stands, it has "plenty" of gain, but not "too much" #5 I wish the clean tube mode had some sort of compression control. Its hard to keep the clean volume and the dirty volumes the same without having the cleans clip on my Intellifex LTD. #6 I wish it included some extra talent. :) #7 Multiple effects loops would be nice for non-midi effects.
Bottom Line: If you want multiple channels on a preamp; don't need midi control of parameters like gain, treble, loop mix; prefer a rack mounted format; are sick of hearing about "retro" gear; need "plenty" of gain; Check out the piranha.

I have tried many preamps and this one beats them all ( the only one in the same ballpark is the mesa triaxis for 2x cost) The hush works perfectly allowing sustaining notes with no cut off and use of gtr volume control to react like a true head. Very dynamic and VERY sweet tone. The XLR speaker sims are the best I've heard yet, although this may also be because of the basic quality of tone the unit offers. I have had no problems with noise, the unit seems very quiet even with the Hush turned off.

Three tube channels (voices) which all sound great. 99 presetsfor storage of parameters. Midi control, global eq adjustment for different venues,cabs and/or volumes. The intelligent HUSH is unbelievable! 3 band EQ with sweepable mids.

No problems yet (seven months). It seems to be built well.

Rocktron is one of the best. They even modified a piece of gear for me (not the Piranha) to meet a particular need of mine. Very helpful and they listen.

I loved it so much I bought another to put in my closet in case they stop making them or if mine just dies. And no, I am not a rich man.

Quality stuff. From very clean to saturated OD, this unit has it. The preamp has thee main modes, clean - tube 1 (american) - tube 2 (british), all very useful. The EQ is active and the mid is parametric. This allows for quite a bit of sound shaping. You do have to be careful not to boost too much EQ on the heavy overdrive setting. What I usually do is set the EQ flat on the distortion patches and slowly tweak them in.

The Piranha is one of the first affordable MIDI tube preamps that really can satisfy a user looking for true quality amp sounds with the versatility of a MIDI format. The only one that really comes close in its price range would be the Marshall JMP-1. I am using this in a rack configuration and I am very pleased with the results. I have a Rocktron Replifex patched into the one effects loop and I am feeding the preamp out into a Rocktron Velocity 300. I have four (Rocktron again) Velocity S112 speaker cabs that are set up in stereo. This arrangement can cover a wide range of gigs. As far as ease of use, this one ranks right up there. The user interface is primarily amp-like knobs with a two digit LED display for parameter value (displys patch number during play mode). The manual is pretty straightforward and it didn't take long to implement a good bank of patches.

Well built! I have had very good luck with all of my Rocktron gear (which is one reason why I stick with them)

Rocktron's web site is one of the best. I haven't had to use them, but my guess is that they would be up to par.

Top notch! The only preamp I've ever used that can touch this is the Hughe's & Kettner ACCESS, adn the list on that is $2,000.

Easy to use, yet the manual is annoyingly incomplete. It doesn't contain a list of the presets. It doesn't say what the numeric ranges of the controls are, or the frequency curves of the EQ, or what the MIDI SYSEX format is.
You have to press the buttons pretty firmly, and you can't tell by feel whether they've taken effect because they click before they activate. There's no way to scroll quickly through the presets, so unless you have a MIDI controller to select them, don't plan on jumping quickly to a numerically distant preset.
There are both front and rear input jacks, but the front one doesn't override the rear one; they sum together. That means if you have a powered-up piece of equipment plugged into the back jack and plug a guitar into the front jack, the signal from the guitar is about half as strong as it should be. There's no line-level input; it's instrument-level only, so if you use it in an effects loop, make sure you can control the effects send level. You can't control its parameters (volume, gain, treble, etc.) with MIDI continuous controllers.
To replace the tubes, you need to remove 20 flathead screws and 3 star screws. Maybe the sticker says "No user serviceable parts inside" because they figure you'll give up before you get all the screws off. It comes with two Audio Glassic (Chinese) 12AX7's, which sound pretty good. I replaced them with NOS tubes (one USA, one Japan) and the sound became a little richer.

Excellent tube distortions. You'll probably have to play with the noise gate settings. It sometimes makes crackling noises or hum as a note is fading out.
As typical, the presets vary a lot in overall volume. The clean ones are all much quieter than the distorted ones--about half the volume. I've maxed the level parameter on all the clean patches to partly compensate.
I'm going to make my own patches, but of the presets, my favorites are: 2 3 5 14 15 17 21 26 27 29 34 37 38 42 44 45 49

The Piranha is one of the first affordable MIDI tube preamps that really can satisfy a user looking for true quality amp sounds with the versatility of a MIDI format. The only one that really comes close in its price range would be the Marshall JMP-1. I am using this in a rack configuration and I am very pleased with the results. I have a Rocktron Replifex patched into the one effects loop and I am feeding the preamp out into a Rocktron Velocity 300. I have four (Rocktron again) Velocity S112 speaker cabs that are set up in stereo. This arrangement can cover a wide range of gigs. As far as ease of use, this one ranks right up there. The user interface is primarily amp-like knobs with a two digit LED display for parameter value (displys patch number during play mode). The manual is pretty straightforward and it didn't take long to implement a good bank of patches.

It's heavy--sturdy steel case, builtin power supply (no wall wart). I've had it for several months without problems.

I called them to ask a few questions about the MIDI implementation and the presets, and got a helpful and friendly fellow on the phone. He was the one responsible for putting the Rocktron manuals on the web site.

I compared it with the JMP-1, Vudoo Valve, GSP-2101, GP100, etc. For great distortions, it blew them all away. Didn't try the Boogie-- too expensive. I've gotten excellent sound from it both through a Fender amp and recording direct using a Boss GX-700 as a cabinet simulator. I'd buy it again.

Good sounds are so easy to get it is ridiculous. If you plug into this and can't tweak all 99 presets (51-99 duplicate 1-50) into sounds so good they scare the heck out of you, I don't know what will.
Editing is as simple as: click any knob once and get a readout. Turn it any more and you are adjusting. Save by tapping twice on the "save" button. That's it.
The manual is clear and easy. Not gonna win a Pulitzer Award, but it does the job. (Besides you can check it out on the Rocktron Home Page -- before you buy the thing! Cool!

This is flat out the best sounding preamp this side of $1500. And at that level, they only sound as good. I am so taken with this thing after trying it once, I bought it at the Guitar Center on the spot. (And we all know how hard it is to demo anything at the Guitar Center -- too many kids playing Nirvana over and over >>> and not playing it well or at very low volumes ...). I've never been one to buy without thinking \ about it for a long time.
With two 12AX7 preamp tubes running at 250 volts, the headroom for clean sounds made me smile real wide. Dynamic, punchy SRVish Fender clean. The overdrive sounds are remarkably useable and flexable. The gain can be adjusted in one of three modes: clean, distortion (which is really overdrive), and "modern distortion". For instance I found a clean sound I really liked and could save it to preset 1. Then at preset 2 I could take the same tone and turn up the gain ten notches (it goes from 0 - 70), and dial in real good blues tones. I could set up banks that do the same all the way up to the really hard distortion stuff, and viola -- a virtual amp. I have banks that really model the Fender, Marshall and Mesa Boogie sounds I love. And I don't have to lug around three or more amp set-ups!
FYI I use a Carvin Tube 100 Stereo Power Amp with EL34's. And the cleans still punch with out breaking up at real amp volume levels.
The distortions will please everyone from the SRV crowd to the Pantera monster metal rockers. Honest. I was able to dial in sounds that I counldn't believe. The Piranha has HUSH built in to each preset and is adjustable within each individually. SO COOL! No waterfall between songs on stage.
It is hard to express the sounds in this thing. The Mesa Triaxis and Marshall JMP-1 distortions are almost as good, but they lack a certain sweetness and dynamic edge that the Rocktron nails in the clean settings. The Egnator Tone-of-Life preamp that goes for $1700 has it, but you can only have four footswitchable sounds at a time. And it costs nearly 3X what I payed for the Rocktron.

One the third day, my original Piranha farted out. The factory replaced it (Guitar Center didn't have any more in stock) overnight. I have had an Intellifex for 2 years that has never had a problem, and that coupled with the fact that the new unit has worked flawlessly for two weeks (and I have played alot of guitar through it in two weeks), leads me to believe that the first one was a fluke. But I can't say that for sure, so a bit of a lower rating here -- at least so far.

I have dealt with the factory a few times (since I am in Michigan about an hour from their factory it makes it kind of easy for me) and have always, without exception been very happy with their response. They stand behind what they do, they care about how they treat you, and they do cool things (my Intellifex was bought used and didn't come with a manual -- they tossed me one for free. [Now the are posted on the internet])
Highly regarded.

Overall, I have a rave review of the Tech 21 Sansamp PSA-1 elsewhere in this homepage. I really loved it for a long time. The Piranha impressed me (more than Mesa Boogie/Marshall/Egnator) enough to buy it on the spot and I have had more compliments on my tone than any other time in my life. I am very particular about my sound and tone and I cannot imagine a preamp that can give me anything more (parallel effects loop/analog controls/ high voltage tubes/programibility/noise reduction (HUSH is so much better than ANY noise gate)/XLR outputs/etc.)
This is the one!