Rocktron Prophesy

Man, EASY. FINALLY. An all in one that doesn't require complete nerdiness. BUT I just bought it and haven't edited any patcehs. SO far, very into the knobs. Ihave a Digitech 2101 and this thing is just so much easier to use.

WOW. Excellent. Exactly how it should be. LIQUID WARMTH. Honey. It is magical. I had a Marshall JMP-1, a Digtech 2101, running through a Marshall 9100 [all tube rackmount dual monobloc amp]. This thing blows all three into the water. DESTROYS. AWESOME.

FUCKING AWESOME. Played two presets and was sold on it. That was it: YES.

So far so good. Will update in a year or so.

None.

I once was a metal head. Metallica/Pantera/Slayer. They're the only cover songs I ever learned. But grew to love classic rock, and now I write mainstream music. Trying to make some cash. I've been playing for 14 years.

Like I said, I've owned a Marshall JMP-1, A digitech 2101, a Marshall VS 265 [hybrid amp], A Crate GX 130c. And a Marshall MF 350, Mode Four.

version 1.06, easy to use when understanding it. The manual is good, it's like programming a cheap multieffect pedal,
very good direct access via knobs while playing preset, compare button is very useful. Midi is not so difficult.

I play live in a cover band with custom SSH telecaster, Kent Armstrong pickups, Prophesy+midi mate, volume pedal, direct into P.A., with stage monitor, only by playing with another guitarist I play through valve combo (into return, 20W and 12" speaker as monitor) and too direct into P.A. without miking.
No noise, effects very good except of wah.Very flexible, authentic.
Feeling, dynamic - all tubelike. Good clean, crunch,distortion, with or without effects. I don't use factory presets. To get good sounds required some time,knowledge. Sound is in this way using speaker simulator (the way like in studio) so good or better then middle priced valve amp miked with Sm-57. It means what people hear. For the player is certainly better power amp with good speaker as the stage monitor, it's your choice. For digital one clear 10. 1 real fender sound and 1 real Marshall is one step better .. How long yet ?
Terrible is built-in tuner, it's really the wrong way. But! it has separate out for another tuner.
The reviews about digital distortion in clean sounds I don't understand - bad use ?

? it's in use for 2 years without problems, I thing it's useful to take with small pedal with speak.sim. and two sounds, for all cases.

? No reason to use it.

Every style from left to right, up and down, in this case it is very strong. I play 5 years, previous Boss ME-30, Digitech Rp 14D, later custom valve amp 3x12AX7, 2x EL 34 (Marshall sound) and stompboxes.
Now all in one, easy to carry, to use. I'll buy certainly another if it were stolen. With this you can have your own sound.

The knobs & buttons on the front make on-the-fly changes intuitive and fast ? this was the main reason I bought the Prophesy. The abbreviated text directly above the knob changes according to which button you press, and corresponds to what the knob will do when you turn it (eg. Press the Modulation button, then select Chorus, and the display changes to show which knobs adjust the parameters for rate & depth etc..). Abbreviations can be a bit confusing as you enter certain parts of the menu system, but most of its in the manual anyway.

Digging into the manual to learn about the deeper programming abilities of the unit is essential if you want to unleash the real power of the Prophesy. The knobs make it much easier than many similar products, but the very nature of rackmount means that it is going to have a greater learning curve the deeper into the parameters you go. I find it frustrating when people buy rack products then score them low because they find the programming difficult. You buy rackmount because you don?t want the clutter/hassle of pedals and because you want to be able to push a button and change your sound completely in a millisecond. This flexibility is always going to come at a price.

Charvel 750XL (Jackson P80 pickups) - Prophesy (VER: 1.06) - BBE Sonic Maximiser - Marshall EL84 ? Marshall 4x12

Anyone who has owned earlier Digitech GSP products or Zoom products will think they are in sonic nirvana when they plug into this unit. It allows your original guitar signal to pass through without unwanted colouration of the sound. Other reviewers have commented on a faint distortion on the clean settings?.I?m not aware of any static or interference on clean patches. At a guess, I would say that most people operating the unit within ?normal? limits will not encounter this. By ?normal?, I mean?none of the parameters are maxed at 100%. Maybe the newest software version solved a problem with earlier units? My Charvel does not have active pickups - maybe this overloads the input? The prophesy does sound extremely natural?the output does not have that processed electronic tinge to it that many other all-in-one processors are guilty of.

Distortions are gutsy and full with adequate gain for most applications. Modulation effects are warm, clear and expansive. The Hush is amazing?as is the ducking delay. If guitar playing was a school, and effects processors/preamps were the exams? ...comparing the Prophesy?s effects to the likes of a Lexicon Reverb or a TC Electronics delay or chorus is kinda like saying the Lexicon or TC scored 90% and the Prophesy scored 85%. An A grade was anything above 70%..... and these units are ALL most definitely A grade ?students?.

This is the best all-in-one processor I have ever played through?period. If cover band material is your thing, you would be advised to invest in the Prophesy. The high gain/lead channel on this is really superb for your 80?s American rock style solo?s.

Personally modeling processors aren?t my thing?.if you feel this way about the mirage of modeling units available?.borrow, beg or steal the extra few hundred and go for a Prophesy

Hard to say considering I?ve owned it from new for about 3 weeks. Judging by Rocktron?s customer service so far, I would say they would be pretty quick to repair the product should it go faulty?..at a price. Looking through other Rocktron feedback, it would appear that their products are designed with reliability as a core requisite. Having your products used by some of the worlds most significant guitar players (to whom price is not a deciding factor) implies that the products are pretty reliable. I have had a Gainiac and a Banshee Talkbox for years without any problems.

Exceptional ? I emailed Rocktron US for information on the Prophesy and the details of a distributor in Belfast. Rocktron then emailed the UK distributor who in turn emailed my details to a music store within traveling distance of where I live. I have made other enquiries to Rocktron and the response has been within 24 hours. A chap called Bob Waller seems to deal (very efficiently) with many enquiries?.give this man a payrise!! In my book, this is outstanding customer service. Digitech ? listen & learn ? this is how to run a business!

Giving yourself reasons to purchase a Prophesy depends largely on what you want to do with it and what you expect to get out of it. All in one pedal boards are great if you are prepared to take the risk of drunk buffoons setting pints of beer within 2-3 feet of your board. Personally, I like to know the result of my hard earned cash is safely tucked away out of range of nosey/clumsy punters at a gig.

Presets are amazing ? the AC/DC, Ozzy and Van Halen one?s come to mind instantly. Most rack units have presets that are designed to appeal to a wide cross section of buyers, and need to be tweaked a bit to suit your individual guitar/amp/effects combination. I would be confident that the Prophesy could be used directly out of the box without any major tweaking.

I use mine mostly in a home recording studio, often bypassing the preamp to run acoustic instruments through the digital section. I run various brass instruments and vocals (as well as guitar) through it with very high quality results.

If I had to be picky, I would say the ?feel? of the knobs is quite ?clicky? and cheap?.they feel sort of light and flimsy. Also, a headphone socket would not go a miss??.

If you buy a Prophesy, your sound will be awesome - period. Your prophesy however is only as strong as the weakest link in your setup. Quite often the weakest link in a setup is not the equipment, but the player. Get lessons, and get to ?know? your instrument?only then will you get the true capabilities of units such as the Prophesy.

This review is for the metal player. I have been using digital preamps (midi) for over 10 years and the reaction you get between parameters is huge. Meaning you can get very good sound with little tweeking, but to get great sound requires getting used to how the effects react with one another, and can take time unless you know someone that can dump their presets on to yours.

Too me I don't think I'll ever find a ten (unless it can blow me) so a 9 would be highest. An 8 might even be too high but as most users have stated there's not much else out there that does what this can do. So I feel I should give some examples of what has worked for me: First let me say I play in a Metallica tribute (for 5 years) and my ideal rhythm tone would be between Creeping Death and Disposable Heroes. My friend has one of these and has used it for Def Leppard to Iron Maiden with excellent results. But it's not the only preamp/processor out there.

I also have a Peavey TubeFex and TransTubeFex that are worth looking into, but only on ebay since they stopped making them. Not because they don't sound good, just cuz the trend is modeling amps that take the fun out of being creative.

I bought the Transtube on a whim cause I saw one in someone's rack who were selling a Peavey 50/50 on ebay. I spent many hours dialing in lead, rhythm, and clean tones and was impressed for a solid state preamp. I bought the TubeFex to compare and holy wet your pants what a difference. HUGE distortion tone. HUGE. However it seems a little muddy in the bottom end, and we all need a good bottom. I probably need just the right tubes for it, Electro Harmonix Came with it (used) and they are less muddy than the JJ's (high gain) brand new ones that I tried. It has more than enough gain so you don't need high gain tubes. This thing's tubes run at 250 volts. Much higher than most preamps out there so they had to create a special pot that could handle this power and there lies the flaw. Early units suffer the most cuz they can't handle the eprom upgrade well. Check out my review for the TubeFex at the Peavey location comming soon. The upgrade takes away the delay between channel switching (very important live) and improves the effects interface. So, other similiar units, they're out there, just not new.

ART also makes an all in one unit, the SGX and the DST4. But most of their distortion is solid state and I am a tube freak!

There's also Digitech: 2101, 2112, 2120. Jeez can't they get it right? They all sound like shit! Guess if you want to sound like shit here they all are. (Have talked to tons of owners of this unit). Did you know the Johnson Millenium is a 2120 in a head/combo?

Prophesy good, Peavey good. Which one is better? You can easily find a Prophesy new while the Peavey will take some serious digging. It took about 5 months for me to find one on ebay and I am still waiting for the last upgrade from Peavey. (Three weeks now, there parts dept. sucks.) You have to send them your old chip to get the new one.

They're both awesome units. The Peavey is more "tube" like in my opinion and it's only one rack space. Coupled with a Mesa 20/20 you got a complete system in two rack spaces. Plus the Peavey has two noise gates, pre in the compression stage, and post. A Prophesy/VHT 2902 also sound very appealing. Who says you don't have choices.
I also have ADA MP-1 and MP-2, Mesa Triaxis, Marshall JMP-1,
units but did not mention cuz there not all in one.

I actually like the Prophesy and TubeFex tone more than all of these.

No problems with Rocktron. Channel switching delay on the Peavey really sucks, but the upgrade should take care of that. The Peavey users complain about the motor pot that controls the input has burnt out on them, but I have found a way around this: Keep all gain settings the same for each channel (there are actually a total of 8!) Low gain and high gain for each of the four channels, so if you set it at 70% for everything the motor will never move, thus prolonging it's life. Just turn the gain knob every once in a while to keep it from going sour.

NA

I am 38 years old and have been playing since I was 8. Fortunately in high school I played with guys that were much better than me and learned alot about theory and what amps were good and what not. I have owned several heads like The Marshall JCM 800, ultimate in crunch but not enough gain for me unless it's up full blast or with an added pedal. Carvin makes some really nice heads like the X100 and Valvemaster. The latter has excellent tone but I never tried different tubes for more possibilities,(stock ones are mediocre). Mesa, Peavey, Sunn, etc. Unless you can afford a Diezel or an Engl not much else will compare. Soldano's a tone for only a few who like it. Matchless and so on are one trick pony's, either you love it or you don't. The holy grail of amps is all in your head, (the one on top of your shoulders) and the more fans that tell you your tone is awesome, musician or not, the closer you are to it. Rock on!

The Prophesy's biggest flaw is it's price. I got mine during a price drop for 500 and it's still too much. The Peavey can be obtained for under $250 on ebay and sounds great. It also has an upgrade that replaces the battery memory backup. No more battery! EVER!!!

This rating is based upon the fact that before buying one I understood parametric EQ, signal path and importance of proper gain structure. DSP devices do not allow for ignorant errors like analog does. This unit will overwhelm the average Guitar Center guy, and is not appropriate for those guys unless they are willing to initially accept results that may be no better or even worse than the cheap stuff. The flexibility this thing allows also allows the average Joe to screw it all up, and it can sound really bad in a hurry. If your willing to learn it inside-out you will be rewarded for your effort. Kudos to Rocktron for developing a high-end product that really suits only a small portion of the market.

I have three Prophesy's in studio application. All of the guitars here (six) are modded, having 3 pickups each wired to individual output jacks, followed by an outboard matrix. Each pickup (or output of 3-way X-over split) feeds it's own Prophesy. The L/R loop outputs are mono, so one output from each unit feeds an input of a VHT 2-50-2 power amp. Amp outputs feed Groove Tube SE11 speaker sims that soak the power back to line level, and are returned to the loop in's that are either mono or stereo depending on your settings. Main outs from each Prophesy feed the board and end up at the main monitors in the control room. Without the power amps in the loop the sound quality rates the 10. With the amps it's a 15. Regarding the digital noise issue, there are two levels. The first is faint, and heard in the background when playing clean. This occurs only when you get sloppy with gain structure - as the previous reviewer noted. The other is obvious, and occurs if you are stupid. The only complaint I can dream up is the delay isn't stereo like some other Rocktron stuff. The overall capability of the delay section and other effects is more than sufficent for anyone however. You can get any sound you want from the Prophesy, and the more you know about what your doing the faster you'll get there. Again, it is not for beginners unless your willing to accept the presets, which are still better than anything else out there.

No problems.

Rocktron sent me new chips at no chare for each revision upgrade - just by asking. If they would send me more info regarding internal signal flow paths than what's in the manual they would get a 10.

This unit allows for flexible superb sound though it's built in complexity. It's not for everyone. If your too lazy to learn para EQ, what the parameters are doing, how they interact and what's affected when you spin the knobs about, look elsewhere. Go get a Pod or something. The ability of previous reviewers to realize the potential of the Prophesy can be observed by the rating they gave their Prophesy. Occasionally, I'll take one of the units out of the rack, and play some live gigs. It's a pleasure. The speaker sim feature is powerful, works well, and allows you to spare the cabs and the ridiculous volume levels in order to get a sound. For a cover band it is ideal because you can achieve original tone and add that little bit extra too. Just plug into the PA and run a monitor. Simple. On the other hand, the Prophesy may not sound as good as perhaps a well mic'd Dumble or a few other fine amps that get one good specific sound, but it can sure come close - so close to all of them (except Vox) that it takes a real critical ear to hear the difference. It's fun to poke a bit of fun at the guys that drag the high-buck, ear splitting stuff in. Dial up the Prophesy, throw an A/B comparison in the monitors and let them pick out what's what. It's also just plain fun to play too. It talks back nicely, and provides all that 'bubbly' note articulation and feel at the neck. The reason I'm writing this is because the guy before me took the time to straighten out some of the ignorant bull that too many capable yet unknowledgeable musicians have to ferret through to select a good product. Just helpin' the guy out, and maybe some others.

This unit is really easy to use. I rarely give 10's, so it gets a 9. There's pages of parameters, and you can use the 16 buttons on the side to jump to a page, which saves a lot of time and effort. It's thoughtful designed and the manual is better than average to read.

My rig is as follows. Parker Fly Mojo guitar, to Rocktrong Prophesy, to Mesa Boogie 20/20, to a moded to stereo Fender 4/12 cabinet. The piezo side of the Fly goes through an Aphex acoustic Xciter and to the board, but that's not going to affect this unit.

Noisy it is not. This unit has the best noise gate system I've every had or tried. It REALLY works. It's called HUSH, and that kind of says it well. You can be playing some serious gain, melt your face off triple rec demon setting, and even with the hot Fly Duncan pickups, it is quiet as an unplugged amp the instant I mute the strings, which is great for any metal heads out there. You can have an ear splitting volume and chunk away and in between every chunk, when you mute your strings, nothing but crickets churping! That's one plus to this unit, it can really clean up your sound, even your bandmates will like you better.

As to the "digital distortion" on the clean channels: This is important guys, because this was my main concern buying this unit after reading these reviews. Does it exist? Yes it does--and NO it doesn't.

What I mean is, I've heard it, but I've also figured out what it is.

The mojo does have some hot pickups. That's the first element to look at, should you get this clean distortion or noise. Keep in mind guys, humbuckers have more signal, generally speaking, than singles do. Active pickups have more signal than non-active do, and so on. Then you combine your guitar's signal with the features of the prophesy, and you can run into more trouble, if you aren't aware of what's going on. You have an input volume. You have to follow the manual and set it so that it only goes into the red range when you get on it. I'd set this level with your hottest pickup selection. Set it and forget it. Then, and this is very important, you have PRE EQ PARAMTRIC EQ'S. This can boost frequence elements of your signal up to +15dB. That's no small amount of boost. You can also cut it, but the point is, you can INCREASE your signal level, before the gain section on the preamp. It's no different than using a booster into an amp, even a clean amp can break up. The first distortion was with CLEAN amps. You can take a real live tube fender on a clean setting and get distortion out of it, one way to do that is to boost your signal going into the amp. Another way is to boost it in between the preamp section and the amp section (like on the Prophesy's post parametric eq)

What I'm pointing out is, the prophesy's amp models are amazingly well done, to the point that you can play with a high gain setting, and if you turn down the volume on your guitar, the sound cleans up, just like on a real tube amp! Likewise, if you overdrive the clean signal--IT WILL DISTORT! So, yes, the distortion is there, IF you have TOO MUCH SIGNAL in one of these trouble areas, and it will be accentuated even more by reverb. As a rule of thumb, set your input level correctly, and don't boost any on the pre eq frequencies, and you'll be okay, also keep the preamp gain knob at 2.6 or less for that American clean amp. I also own a Voodoo Lab 3 channel pre, and if you set the gain high on the clean channel, it will break up, if you set the gain on a real tube amp high, it will break up, and basically, it's an unpleasant kind of distortion, centered in the upper frequencies, just like you get from the Prophesy under similar conditions.

However, if you set it up right, keeping all these pitfalls in mind (which are basically common sense, if you have a tube amp background) you will hear an amazingly crisp and totally tube amp sounding clean that is along the lines of (with my single coils activated) SRV's tone in songs like "Rivera Paradise" and "Little Wing." It's a very strat friendly tone. With humbucking speakers, I can get a more old Metallica clean Mesa Boogie sound. Granted, having a 20/20 for the PA is no small plus in the sound of this or an

I do rely on it, for three gigs now and counting, in the last month and a half I've owned it. I have the Voodoo Lab 3 channel as one back up, but it's not with me at the gigs, it's back home in the closet. So far, so good, but I won't put a number on this one.

Rocktron has been very kind to me. I sent an email to them before I bought this unit because though I'd heard so much great things about it, I know it's been out since '98 and I had to figure it's being replaced soon by the next great thing.

I received a reply in less than 6 hours, and basically, while he wasn't thrilled with what my email insinuated, he patiently explained Rocktron's outlook on things. They don't try to repackage the same basic product in a new package and sell it as the latest thing (a la digitech, for example.) They do extensive research and then when they come up with a great product (like they have with the Prophesy) it's kind of like, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." And I liked it enough to take the plunge and buy one, and I own him for that. His name is Bob Waller. An asset to Rocktron he is.

Later, I got a Midi Xchange to change patches with, and the unit I got was a dud. I emailed Bob about it and he emailed back the next morning that he was sending another unit to me ASAP, what's my address? I emailed back with my address and asked where to send the faulty one to in return, he emailed right back and said, "toss it, no use wasting your postage." Sure enough, a new unit came in the mail shortly there after and it worked exactly as it was supposed to. That kind of customer support is what we are looking for and it deserves to be noticed.

I play mostly in a cover band right now, we do a few originals, but mostly we cover a wide gammet, a lot of bluesy rock stuff, Hendrix, SRV, Gary Moore, Robin Trower, Stray Cats, some 80's glam like Poison (people sing along!) and we also like to kick the tires and light the fires on some renditions of our songs, like Born to be Wild with Dimebag Darrellesque distortion or the Metallica version of Turn the Page. Santana, some newer stuff like 3 Doors Down and Puddle of Mudd and then even a few (yuck) country tunes. I also have a personal affinity for Jazz guitar.

I've been playing since I was 16, I'm 34 now. If something happen to it, I'd honestly get another one. My brother plays in my band and when I took it over his house and let him try it in his rig, he sold a Les Paul and a Twin amp to buy his own within the next 5 days after, and he hasn't regretted it. He's as happy with it as I've seen him ever be with anything, and he got rid of his Peavey Tripple X tube amp with no regrets, though he formerly swore by it.

My favorite feature of this amp is the tone of the amps. The next fav is the programmability of the effects, the wah is great, as is the HEAVY gain!

I've tried what's out there, the vetta, the cybertwin, this is just more real.

The unit is fairly easy to use but I must say having alot of experience with pedals and tweaking around with things after reading the instructions it was quite clear to then understand what I was doing. It was after a while I started to get some sounds that where really mind blowing!!

I use a RG550 Ibanez and I have owned several things in my 28 years of playing but this thing is frightening! The sounds are just great you can get excactly what you want and I mean excactly the tunings are to the finest possible! I was able to create with the pitch shifter some deep sounds with the octaves it scared the pants of me and the mega drive is unbelievable. Some have wrote in there reviews that the Prophesy is awful either they are mentally retarded or they need to get a life is all I can say this thing rocks I have never heard anything like it! If you haven't got one then take my advice buy one now it's worth the money. I do alot of recording with Cubase,
I used to have a piranha from rocktron and an intellifex and although they where very good units they had no direct recording output a big plus from the Prophesy good work Rocktron! I have been able to imitate most of my favourite guitar players as regards sound I'm still learning the hush also does it's job very well without sucking up the sustain too much!

I can't really comment too much on that at the moment but if you have it in a rack and look after it from my experience with other Rocktron products these things just don't break down well that's my opinion??

Nevr had to deal with them ???

I am a rock player and enjoy playing Satriani stuff down to Gary Moore bluesy stuff and I also use my acoustic through the Prophesy!
If it got stolen or blown up by terrorists I would most definately replace it with another Prophesy and hunt down those responsible!

Okay, the product isn't the easiest to use beyond the presets, but the presets cover a lot of bases and you may find it is all you need for many situations. In the studio I just use the straight Marshal sound when I know I don't want to record with effects on, and it really sounds perfect. It's a bit weird to edit and rather confusing how the pages of the effects are accessed. Once you get used to it, it's not that bad...but there is a definite learning curve. I have the latest version (1.6). I give it a 9 for presets (which is way higher than most boxes) and a 5 for editing - averages to a 7.

First let me say that the person who said they couldn't get good Strat sounds through it may not be a strat player and so may not really like single coil sounds. I think the single coil and humbucker sounds are the best of any non-amp product (modeling or tube) I've ever heard. My brother recorded with it and listened to the recording later and thought it was his Marshal! I had to remind him that it was the British setting with no modifications-on a Strat no less. I think all 4 amp models are excellent, record-worthy, amp sounds. You get a warm sound from the 12AX7 and it breaks up like a real amp; plus you can record at low volumes!

Hard to say, it is in my studio rack, so I won't rate it.

Don't know this either, hope I never do.

I've been playing bass and guitar since 1977 and have both owned and played in numerous recording studios. I mostly play fusion (70's style and modern) as well as some alternative and blues. I've played with most modelers (Line 6, Boss, Roland, etc.) and just got rid of a Fender Cyber Deluxe which sounded pretty good...but nothing even comes close to the sound of the Prophesy. Damn good! However, at a music store it will run you around $1300, online you can get one for as low as $999, but I really think it should be priced at about $599 to $699. They'ed sell a lot more too. I give it a 9 because of price, otherwise it would be a 10.

I PURCHASED THE ROCKTRON PROPHESY PREAMP FROM GUITAR CENTER SEVERAL WEEKS AGO. THE SALESMAN GAVE ME A 30 DAY NO HASSLE RETURN POLICY IF I DIDN'T LIKE THE UNIT. THE COOL THING ABOUT GUITAR CENTER IS THAT IF I DIDN'T LIKE THE UNIT EVEN THOUGH I SPECIAL ORDERED IT, THEY WOULD STILL REFUND ME MY MONEY. I FOUND IT VERY EASY TO GET A GREAT SOUND OUT OF THIS UNIT. I HAD NO TROUBLE WHATSEOVER. THE PARAMETRIC EQS CAN BE A LITTLE ROUGH, BUT SPEND A LITTLE TIME LIKE I DID AND YOU WILL HAVE NO TROUBLE GETTING A GREAT SOUND. I HAD NO TROUBLE EDITING THE PATCHES AND I'M A COMPLETE IDIOT WHEN IT COMES TO THESE KINDS OF PRODUCTS. I SKIMMED THROUGH THE MANUAL SO I CAN'T REALLY COMMENT ON IT TOO MUCH. WHAT I DID READ WAS HELFUL. THE VERSION OF THIS UNIT IS 1.6. THERE IS NO HIGHER VERSION AT THIS PRESENT TIME. I CALLED ROCKTRON AND ASKED ABOUT THIS.

I USE A MARSHALL 1960 A SLANTED CAB WITH A MASRHALL 100 WATT TSL HEAD ( NOT AN IDEAL POWER SOURCE FOR THIS PREAMP I KNOW)AMERICAN FENDER STRAT. THE FAINT DIGITAL DISTORTION THAT EVERYONE IS HEARING ON THE CLEAN CHANNELS DOES EXIST. I HAVE NOTICED IT MYSELF. BY TWEAKING THE GAIN AND BASS KNOBS YOU CAN GET RID OF THIS FAINT DISTORTION NOISE. I MESSED AROUND WITH THE PARAMETRIC EQS TO GET BACK WHAT I LOST BY REDUCING THE GAIN AND BASS KNOBS. I HAVE NOTICED SOME NOISE ON THE DISTORTION SETTINGS WHEN I WAS DOING SLOW PALM MUTING ON NOTES AND CHORDS. YES, THE HUSH UNIT WAS ON AND I KNOW HOW TO WORK THIS UNIT, BUT THIS UNWANTED NOISE MADE ME RETURN THIS UNIT FOR A FULL REFUND. I TRIED WITH OTHER POWER AMPS AND CABS AND STILL NOTICED THE NOISE ON THE DISTORTION ALONG WITH 4 OTHER EMPLOYEES AT THE MUSIC STORE.I SENT THE UNIT BACK TO ROCKTRON AND THEY SAID THEY COULDN'T FIND ANYTHING WRONG. THE EFFECTS IN THE UNIT ARE GREAT. I WISH IT HAD PING PONG DELAY AND AN INTELLIGENT PITCH SHIFTER BUT WHAT CAN YOU EXPECT FOR THE PRICE? I PAID $900 BRAND NEW. THE EFFECTS ARE VERY GOOD EVEN THOUGH I HAVE HEARD BETTER. I GIVE THE CLEAN TONE RATING A 8 BECAUSE I HAVE HEARD BETTER CLEAN TONES. THE CLEAN TONES ON THIS UNIT ARE VERY GOOD.THE DISTORTION IS EVERYTHING I COULD ASK FOR, IF IT JUST DIDN'T HAVE THAT DAMN NOISE!!!!!THE DISTORTION IS AN 8 BECAUSE OF THIS NOISE ISSUE.I WAS ABLE TO GET MEGADETH,PANTERA AND IRON MAIDEN TYPE TONES OUT OF THIS PREAMP WITH NO PROBLEMS.

I ONLY HAD THE UNIT FOR A WEEK, SO I CAN'T COMMENT ON THIS.

I SPOKE WITH JIM AT ROCKTRON WHO WAS VERY HELFUL IN ANSWERING MY QUESTIONS. I HAVE NO GRIPE WITH THEIR CUSTOMER SERVICE.

I PLAY METAL,PUNK,BLUES AND JAZZ AND I FEEL THIS PREAMP IS A GOOD MATCH FOR MY STYLES. DEDICATED JAZZ AND BLUES MUSICIANS WILL PROBABLY WANT TO KEEP A FENDER COMBO ON HAND. I HAVE BEEN PLAYING FOR 12 YRS. I OWN OTHER MUSICAL GEAR BUT IT IS NOT RELATED TO THIS.I WILL NEVER BUY THIS UNIT OR ANY OTHER PREAMP AGAIN. I WILL AB A FENDER AMP TO MY MARSHALL FOR CLEAN TONES. FOR DISTORTION AND CRUNCH I WILL BY A RACKMOUNT PARAMETRIC EQ, GRAPHIC EQ,TC ELECTRONICS G FORCE EFFECTS UNIT AND BBE SONIC MAXIMIZER AND GET MY TONE THAT WAY. IM DONE WITH PREAMPS.I GAVE THIS UNIT A 6 BECAUSE OF THE NOISE WITH THE DISTORTION. THE CLEAN AND CRUNCH CHANNELS PASSED THE TEST BUT THE NOISE ON THE DISTORTION CHANNEL MADE ME RETURN THIS UNIT. THIS UNIT IS LIKE OWNING A FERRARI WITH A DENTED DOOR!!!!!!

For those of us who have sound processing knowledge, ease of use would be a 10, but in order to be fair I gave this unit an 8 for ease of use as a big BEWARE to those of you who don't know how to work parametric EQ's or advanced processing chains. Beginners: You will not get a good sound out of this unit unless you read the manual and spend a lot of time with it. I've worked with all sorts of different processors and this is by FAR the most comprehensive all in one unit I've ever seen. The best part is that once you get the hang of using this unit, it becomes very easy to flip between all the screens. TAKE YOUR TIME WITH IT!!!

Rocktron really does understand metal players, that's for sure. I play in a prog/metal conglomerate mishmash of a bunch of styles and I have to say that I'm quite satisfied with my sound. My gear: Rocktron Prophesy (of course) BBE Sonic Maximizer, Alesis 3630 compressor, powered by the God of amps - a Mesa 2:90 and out through a wonderfully built Mesa 4x12. Throw in a a couple of ESP's (a MH-301 with a Tone Zone in the bridge, and an H-1000) and this rig sounds siginificantly better than ALL the crappy, overproduced, cookie cutter guitar tones you hear from those jagoffs in radio "metal" bands. My little rig rattles the whole neighborhood, especially with the sonic clarity and capabilities of the Prophesy. This is the best sounding all-in-one unit, period. User Note: I also play a top line American Classic Strat and haven't discovered how to create any good Prophesy tones yet, and I'm beginning to think the thunderous sound of the Mesa stuff isn't appropriate with Fenders...?? Any feedback would be appreciated.

My whole rack case dropped on the floor (face first) from it's perch on top of my 4x12...the Prophesy didn't even flinch. (Needless to say my Mesa stuff was OK too, so don't cry...even though I almost puked on myself when I saw it drop...) If dropping a 80 pound plus rig on the floor isn't good enough to test it's durability or reliability than disregard this section.

Talked to them once about use of my non-Rocktron MIDI controller. They were very helpful and didn't chastize me for my choice in footboards.

This unit is the Bentley of preamp/processor combos, hands down. If you play any kind of music that requires clean, dirty, or extremely aggressive distortion (read between the lines: all music) then this is the unit for you. Please take heed to the warning for beginning guitarists, this unit requires a very good understanding of why tones change when you fiddle with one particular aspect of ANY tone. It's taken me about 2 months to get to the point where I've memorized where each screen falls within my created sounds, but up until then it took what seemed like AGES to move around the pages and pages of processing options. I would buy another one if it was stolen, only after I broke every knuckle on the thief's hands, and then poked him or her in the eye, really hard. I love that this unit is so versitile and "easy" to use (see above) and allows the player to go from one extreme to another seemlessly. The carry over within the delay is by far the most wicked tone "trick" I've ever come across, if you now how to use your volume and pick at the same time. I wish it had more options for distortion instead of just the three, but once I figure out the EQ to gain relationship, I believe the options will be endless. My only beef with this unit is that when you spin the knobs too fast it goes ballistic, which leads me to my final note: This unit is NOT for the impatient player who is looking to sound like everyone else. If that's you, go buy some stompboxes and continue to suck.