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Rocktron Prophesy

Summary
Price New Rocktron Prophesy @ Musician's Friend
Manufacturer URL http://www.rocktron.com/
Ease of Use 8.0 (53 responses)
Sound Quality 9.0 (55 responses)
Reliability 9.6 (35 responses)
Customer Support 8.3 (36 responses)
Overall Rating 8.9 (50 responses)
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Product: Rocktron Prophesy
Price Paid: US $670 used
Submitted 03/11/2004 at 05:50am by Anonymous

Ease of Use : 9
When you first look at the manual intimidation actually does happen. There are 96 pages! If you are like me and skip the manual for everything, you will have no problems programming this unit, the prophesy has the EASIEST interface! I am fairly new to rack units and I had no problems figuring out how to modify presets, add effects, naming, etc. and I didn?t even read the manual! Rocktron really made the prophesy easy to use! So why didn't I give it a 10?
PARAMETRIC EQ!
I personally have never worked with a parametric eq before and it is tough. The more I learn the easier it becomes but Rocktron really should have been more detailed in the manual on this topic. These eqs are not for beginners! I started asking some people about parametric eqs and started getting some patches from rocktrons site and it became a little easier but again not for beginners. However, this is not rocktrons fault that I don?t know how to work there eq section perfectly!

Sound Quality : 10
I have the latest version 1.06

My setup: Jackson-->Prophesy-->BBE Sonic Maximizer-->Rocktron Super C Hush--> Rocktron Velocity 250 power amp-->Peavey stereo cab.
Let me first say, that I am actually writing this review for the guy/girl looking for a death metal sound. I have had numerous preamps that always had something that wasnt perfect. So is this the unit for a death metal band. ABSOLUTLEY! You can achieve so many sounds with this unit, but if you need a brutal death metal distortion, it will be acheived with this unit and be tamed by the built in hush. Does that mean you cant get other sounds? Hell no, that is the reason I bought the damn thing! I wanted variety, I am into other music besides death metal and wanted a whole shit load of different presets from clean to rock and the prophesy does not let me down. Having said this, you will really not achieve the sound fast unless you understand parametric eqs. Once you have those down, man, you can get 127 presets of everything you have dreamed of! I have had for a few days and have 10 presets that I love!
Is noise a factor?
This preamp has NO NOISE!!!! I can't believe how quiet this thing is! The built in Hush system really does its job. You may be wondering why the hell I have a Super C in my rack if the preamp is so quiet. Well, the truth is, I really don't need the hush in my rack! But, I play real fast death metal band with lots of stops and goes and I needed a gate to absolutley makes sure that any feedback or noise at high levels will be cut off, so, I use it for the gate since there is no built in gate in the Prophesy. My older setups had BRUTAL noise that needed to be unheard, not this unit. After all the shit I have bought you could honestly get away with a 4 space rack, prophesy and your power amp and be satisfied.
As far the effects go, unreal! You get chorus,delays,reverbs,pitch shifter,tremelo,flanger,rotary, wah, cabinet simulation, mic simulation, and more! All sound great that can be tweaked to perfection. Someone mentioned in another review that the pitch shifter wasnt great,I disagree, I love this effect. My setup is in true stereo, so the prophesy allows you to setup effects this way. When using an effect say the pitch shifter, I have no effect on one side of the cab and almost all effect on the other side, sounds like 2 guitars! Not fake at all! So if you play in a metal band and looking for those great 3rd minors without the 2nd guitar player here is your answer! Somone had mentioned that the clean channel isnt that good. That they heard some minor distortion. Well, I heard a bit of that too but you can completely get rid of that! I have a clean preset now that I worked with and it sounds great! No distortion! You just have to tweak. If you dont want to tweak sounds, dont get this preamp. If you want out of the box sound buy a head for about half the price and save yourself the trouble. This preamp is for the guitarist who needs their OWN sound. Another point is the wah sound, it is really good. I have heard other preamps try to create the wah sound and fail miserably, not this unit.
As far as getting it to sound like other amps. Its possible! I actually did get one preset to sound exactly like the Marshall MG 100HDFX head which is my backup gear.



Reliability : 10
Its Rocktron! I wouldn't worry too much about there stuff, I have had older rocktron preamps from late 80s early 90s that probably been through hell and back and worked great! I have had it only for a few days but my experience with Rocktron stuff has been good.

Customer Support : 9
I have emailed them 2 times and got fast responses. But, the second time was a question about the prophesy about running the unit in mono and the guy told me that you have to change something to get it to run in mono. Not the case. So, I guess he really didnt know the unit all the well which isnt that good if you are the tech guy for the company.

Overall Rating : 10
I have been playing for over 12 years but I have just recently got into rack gear. This preamp is a good match for all music. If it were lost or stolen, I would do everything I could to replace it after I had crawled out of a corner and stopped crying! There is nothing I hate about this preamp although the parametric eqs are tough but they are there to build your OWN sound, that is not something to complain about. The only thing this unit could possibly have is a built in gate, that is all I could think of. Is it better than a triaxis? I think so.It blows away Marshall! Forget Digitech stuff! Never tried the tech 21 preamp but I heard that it sounds too digital and it has no effects. I definatley chose this product for variety and creating my own sound. In the end, thats what all serious guitar players are looking for, their own sound. I think the Prophesy will make any guitar player happy.
For those in in search of the perfect sound here is a word of advice...
I have made so many costly mistakes of buying gear, older and cheaper,trying to get the sounds I want and not succeeding just because I fealt like I didnt have the money to spend on the newer models. Do yourself a financial favor and just buy a newer unit and be happy. I got this preamp on Ebay for a good deal, definatley look around. However, looking back now, I should have just bought this prophesy new and I still would have saved money after all the units I bought and sold losing money in the process. Get credit! Save your money! Buy this unit!


Product: Rocktron Prophesy
Price Paid: US $1,100
Submitted 01/10/2004 at 06:07pm by Cesos
Email: sinewz at hotmail<dot>com

Ease of Use : 8
Well first of all when u first open it it looks great, and u know is going to be great. Extremly easy to add effects to your preset, real nice hush system on board, speaker simulator, mic simulator,the reast has already been mention. Now for the hard part, the parametric EQs, good is a pain in the ass if you never messed with them, but once u play with them and start to understand, u wonder why u never used them.

Sound Quality : 10
Now the most importan part the sound. Well u can make this damn thing sound like just about anyother amp, that is untill and only untill u start to understand the parametric Eqs(i'm still figuring them out, but i already managed to get a kicks ass preset, that i use as my main setting. I play death metal/gore grind, and black metal, and for that this is great,(my sethup is, an Esp Ltd M-1000 delux with dual 81's, right into the prophecy, than into a velocity 100 power amp(altho i wish i had the 250 or highter, for the thicker sound, altho the 100 is not so bad, and most of the sound is in the preamp not the power amp)into a create 4x12 vintage 30 celestian loaded speaker cab, and man i have no problems hearing myself, i never turn my velocity past number 5, it overpowers the drums, hahaha
how many solid state amps do that at 5? also i msg martin hendriksson from dark tranquillity www.darktranquillity.com, and he was kind enuff to send me his patches, altho u can emulate any artis is better getting them from them, specially if they use the prophecy aswell. The efects well they sound a bit above abarage, i played with them a little, but not too extesivly, but some of the factory presets have them, and they soud pretty damn good, and nother cool thing is the mute button, which not only mutes the system but automaticly kicks in the built in tunner.

Reliability : No Opinion
I have owned for 6 months, havent gigged with it yet, but i dont think it will crap on you unless u drop is, but thats why they created rack cases. I'm confident enough to gig with it by itself, specially since i dont really have a back up, i sold my old gear which was rocktron gear aswell.

Customer Support : 4
Well i had a good experince with them, before i bought stuff from them, and i would e-mail them to aks them about their producs, Rhandy(who happens to be the representative for the midwest) would respond within hours, and ecourega me to buy stuff, once i bought stuff from them they kind of ignored my email :~. Than they had me waiting for 8 months for a freaking cab, till they finally told me they were behind on production so it was going to take another 8 months, thats when i bought my crate, wich along with my guitar is the only non rocktron equipment, and that is rocktrons foult.

Overall Rating : 10
Like i already said, i play death metal/gore grind, and black metal. and for that it excides. I have been playing for almost 5 years, and after tring some tube amps like boogie(wich sounded to muddy for my taste, same with the crate blue vodoo series, and both are more expencive to buy, and mantain, plus i dont have much control like u do over the prophecy, metal is about heavy distotion with tone, and hearable, unlike the boogie and vodoo that get extremly muddy, so if it ever got lost or stolen, i will cast uppon the nortdik gods and have them oblitarate the theif, and return it to me, and if it wasnt possible i would get a job, so that i could buy another. By the way i'll write my contact in the bottom, incase anyone wants to trade patches, or give me info on the parametrics. Also watch for my band Sepulcro.


Product: Rocktron Prophesy
Price Paid: US $1000
Submitted 11/08/2003 at 10:15pm by Anonymous

Ease of Use : 7
There are many great sounds which can be achieved from the Phrophesy, but to dial in a combination which can be switched through a midi controller does take a good deal of time. The upside is that you can really get creative especially with the ADSR function, but again, be prepared to spend some time setting it up. The preconfigured effects are generally above average, but personally, I needed to spend a lot of time to get just the right sounds. The front panel interface is pretty good, but I would prefer a more elegant solution.

Sound Quality : 9
I use a Gibson Gothic V, the Prophesy, a Digitech Whammy 4, plugged into a Marshall JCM2000 DSl head and Marshall 1960a cab.

The Prophesy is the cleanest sounding effects processor/pre amp I have ever used, and in the 25 + years I have been playing, I have used so many effects, pre amps/modelers, and noise gates, and the sound quality of this unit is beyond compare.

All effects are studio quality, and you can create just about any sound you are looking for if you spend enough time.

The only hold back is that the manufacturer states the Rotary effect should not be used with other modulation effects, most noticibly Chorus, due to a lot of processing needed. With the power available in todays processors, the processor of this unit should be upgraded, since the unit is soo expensive, there should be no sacrifices.

Reliability : No Opinion
Not sue, I keep the unit in my home and do not travel with it. It definetely looks well built enough, but I would keep it in a travel case just to be safe, the unit does contain a tube, so droppage could be a problem.

Customer Support : 10
I sent Rocktron an email regading some information in regards to the Midi Mate, a must have controller for this unit. Rocktron responded within twelve hours and provided all the information I requsted. I was very impressed.

Overall Rating : 9
I play many styles of music, although my love is hard rock/metal. If I had to replace this unit, I would most certainly buy another. It is the best guitar processor I have ever used. There are other units out there, but once you play the Phrophesy, you realize just how cheap and ultimately what a tonal sacrifice they represent. I cannot see using any other processor at this time. I love this unit!


Product: Rocktron Prophesy
Price Paid: US $900
Submitted 06/22/2003 at 06:22pm by SSGMAN
Email: ssgman5 at hotmail<dot>com

Ease of Use : 7
Version 1.05
It's actually very easy to get some good sounds, but to really get inside this box's head will take some time and work. A 7 is a bit low but I think they could have done more "modeling" at the factory, since this thing can get just about any sound. They seemed to go on auto pilot and stop trying to make good pre's. Not really that big a deal.

Sound Quality : 10
My Guitars are Custom PRS and a MIJ Strat. I am only doing direct recording right now so I don't have an amp, I just listen through my mixing monitors.
This preamp is not noisy! All the noise people hear is coming from the guitar/cord. High gain will have some noise but that's true for any amp.
SoundWise I can get anything from Crispy Clean to Charred Meat. Though, I'm not real picky about my cleans and I like a little bit of edge to them so I suppose if you live for that Class A amp solo jazz player type of sound this might not be your cup of tea, but for every one else this thing smokes!
The favorite things about this amp are:
1) It keeps the sound of my guitar. I've heard digital stuff before that was more the sound of their digital box than the guitar.
2) The preamp sounds great without any effects. Again, I've used boxes where the distortion sounded pretty good but you needed to add some effects to get it usable. This thing you can just be playing with the preamp, turning the gain up and down, changing the bass, treble, etc and you can get lot's of great sounds.
3) One Word: Parametric EQ's. OK, that's not one word but once you use these you'll wonder how you ever lived without them.
4) Reverbs, Chorus, Delay, Phaser, and Wah are really good. ADSR is pretty Awesome, but a bit tricky sometimes. The Rotary is really cool.
5) Programmable effect loop. I just started using my effect loop and running it into a compressor (FMR RNC) and let me tell you, it's really addictive!! Sometimes before the preamp, but usually after. It really helps keep things from getting muddy when using multiple FX.
Things I don't like:
1) the pitch shifter is not that great, but used in combo with stuff it can create some interesting sounds. Just don't expect a top notch pitch shifter.
2) It can get overloaded if using the Rotary effect with others. It's a pretty old chipset in here. If they ever come out with a Prophesy 2 with 10X the power, now that would be something!!

So far, I've been able to get any sound I want from this and my styles range from the Beatles to Iron Maiden.

Reliability : 9
I dunno. I haven't dropped it yet! Although, I did switch the tube in it a few times and it was a piece of cake.

Customer Support : 9
I emailed and they got back within a couple days.

Overall Rating : 10
Like I said, I play lot's of different stuff and this thing is great. Now, if you have 10,000 bucks to spend on a Dieter amp with an Eventide in the chain I think you might be happier, but if you can pick up a Prophesy for under a grand, you'll be very happy. I was!!


Product: Rocktron Prophesy
Price Paid: 2600 (Australian dollar ( w/foot controller))
Submitted 04/24/2003 at 02:38am by James Peacock
Email: james at fugenet<dot>com<dot>au

Ease of Use : 9
For a beginner or someone who knows little about sound, this unit may appear daunting at first, though I'm confident that with a little tweaking anyone can obtain results. Knowing a fair bit about sound myself,I had very little trouble getting the sounds that I wanted. It has a very linear interface & the manual explains everything in lamans terms. My unit is no. 2.0

Sound Quality : 9
To put it simply, this thing is the tone master. I require many different tonal settings for my music & this thing(with some tweaking) delivers in this respect. I use a USA Strat, Marshall 2000 DSL(not ideal I know) & standard Marshall quad. The effects are generally great, though I found that adding too many on top of each other will create excess noise. The clean section does have some inhibiting factors such as distortion, though I have found that by reducing the gain & the bass, this is made totally redundent. The fact is that this thing is a pre-amp/effects unit in its own right & should not be classed along with other digital modellers. The only problem I have experienced is when changing patches, whereby occassionally a strange clicking sound occurs. I play predominately metal & for this the Prophesy sounds awesome with great sustain, nice effects & not to mention the powerful ADSR. Just add some bass, low mid, chorus, delay & pitch shifter(octave)& you have a lead sound which will rival any other. High gain pickup a must!!!

Reliability : 9
I have dropped this thing twice & have had no problems. It's sturdier than it looks.

Customer Support : 8
E-mailed Rocktron a couple of times & they responded quickly. Unfortunately I live in Australia & bought it overseas, so I don't have warranty. Prophesy is ridiculously priced in Australia, I think I'm about one of two people who own one here.

Overall Rating : 10
For metal the Prophesy is ideal. The amount of tonal control is phenomenal, there is plenty of gain & that fact that is totally user definable makes it a great tool for the serious muso. I've been playing for around 9 years & was after a pre-amp/effects unit with these kind of capabilities & in the Prophesy I've found a gem. If it were stolen or lost I would hope there might be a Prophesy 2 out. Any plans for this Rocktron?????
At the end of the day the Prophesy sounds great & compared to other digital gear its like chalk & cheese, with dual 24 Bit 66 Mghz processors & a tube it's hard to go wrong. The only thing I don't like is the spelling of Prophe-S-y, here in Australia we spell it Prophecy.


Product: Rocktron Prophesy
Price Paid: US $750.00 used
Submitted 04/18/2003 at 07:24am by Wes Wood

Ease of Use : 8
Using O/S version 1.06, the newest I believe per Rocktron. The factory sounds are interesting, but what you can do with this unit beyond that is nothign short of amazing. Had the POD Pro, nice unit, but the Prophesy, although much older, suits my taste much better. Manual is excellent. Editing patches is easy, but no night/day on one control, you must move through a number of options to get to the tone and effects you like, but the "fine-tunability" is unequaled in my opinion.

Sound Quality : 9
I use this unit only in the home studio, it replaced the POD Pro. Live I use the Triaxis, Simul2:90, MPX-G2, and (2) Mesa 1-12s with E120s.....totally satisfied, there will never be another live rig. In the studio Prophesy direct to 03D mixer, Crown Amp, JBL 4411s...could tweak the Prophesy forever, it just keeps getting better. Effects are excellent. I've got a great clean "Fender" w/ "dual" reverb rhythm sound, same with delay for country, same with mutiband awsome chorus for Police, same settings with "British" tweaked for Hendrix, Robin Trower, same with ADSR and WAH for excellent Hendrix Wah....and it will go on an on.. I can't imagine anything that I cannot get with this unit. Some distortion and effects combinations can get "noisy" same as with amp combo/pedal...just use the HUSH and it goes away...total silence until you are playing. Clean sounds can get "edgy" and may sound like digital distortion, but you just have to work on the tone...with patience you'll get rid of all that. I give it a 9 because I'm still working on the right combination to get the "studio" sound. Have the "live" sound.

Reliability : 9
I bought new and used the Rocktron Intellifex for 10 years with no problems, then one day it started "fading out". Had bought another one "used" for my acoustic rig that had some noise. Sent that one back to Rocktron for repair. It came back only marginally better. So I figured my #1 Intellifex's life was over, and replaced it with the MPX-G2. If I can get 10 years our of the Prophesy I'll be happy.

Customer Support : 9
No problems so far with the manual. I bought this unit used on Ebay, and emailed Rocktron about the current O/S. They responded in 2 days. Thats fine. Manaual is excellent (although it's for a version 1.0) I think I try to get the newest one. Don't anticipate any problems.

Overall Rating : 9
I play a little of everything from Kenny Rankin to George Jones to AC/DC. Been playing for 35 years. If stolen or lost, I would investigate the market to see what other "values" may be there, but would have no problem purchasing this unit again. Love everything, hate nothing but dislike the wallwart, but if that makes the unit quieter, thats OK. At least Rocktron gives you a very heavy-duty one. Compared it to the PODxt, might be close, but preferred the rack-mountability. It definitely helps, I play better because of it's sound. Same as my live rig..It is inspiring...never really got that feeling with the POD Pro...got a little of it with the PODxt. Looking forward to perfecting the "studio" mix ala Steve Lukather.


Product: Rocktron Prophesy
Price Paid: US $800 used
Submitted 03/04/2003 at 02:44am by Marc

Ease of Use : 8
First of all I bought this thing because all the other preamps, effects processors just don't let you teak your sound enough. Your usually stuck with narrow band eq's, pre programmed effects, etc....
So it was to be expected to take a little longer to learn all the in's and out's. In about a month I had this thing down. Editing patches is a joke if your willing to spend a little longer then you would with a cheepo processor. The manual is very well written and easy to understand for the most part. Anything else you could probably figure ount on your own.

Sound Quality : 10
My main guitar I use with this is my Dimebag 3ST USA.
Marshall EL34 100/100 Poweramp.
Peavey 4x12 5150 cabinet.
First off I don't know how these people are getting this noise in the clean channel. I use pretty hot pickups IF YOU DON"T COMPENSATE FOR THIS you'll get noise but the same goes for any preamp I've used.
After that I had NO problems.
Being a mainly metal guitar player I am very picky on the how much gain I get, and how much room I have to work with it. This is the first preamp I've owned where there were cases that I had to turn the gain down a bit. I've never had too much distortion before...this thing smokes!!!
I must admit I have heard better clean sounds before, some better reverbs, better choruses but that was on dedicated chorus and reverb processors....what else would you expect. But the rocktron has the ability to pach another unit into one of your effects chains. But I'm more then happy with what I have to work with.
This has by far the best digital Wah sound I've heard to date, and combimed with the ADSR technology works REALLY well.
The Delays especially the ducker delay sounds wicked especially with a little or a lot of tweaking




Reliability : 10
I have owned one other Rocktron piece of equipment. A chameleon 2000, sub-par when you compare it to the prophesy but it was fairly cheap. Anyway I dropped that thing about 6 times, didn't even have a rack case for it for a while and had NO PROBLEMS! If the Prophesy is half as sturdy as the cheapo(which I'm sure it is) I'll be more then happy. I do all my shows without a backup (crazy I know) but I never worried with the chameleon...and I won't with the Prophesy.

Customer Support : No Opinion
never had to deal with them

Overall Rating : 10
Like I said I'm a metal head and this thing SHREDS!!! So much gain and the Hush controls it ideally. I've been playing for 9 years, I'm a big gear junkie and have been searching for something GOOD for years. There might be better processors out there but I haven't tried them and it sure as hell AINT digitech...absolut CRAP!!!!!
If I lost it I would definately get another one. I want another for a back anyway...I'll be touring more this year...better be safe then stupid. It's very veristile and I have become a better player using it. Every guitar player that's heard it or I've let play through my prophesy has loved it. First preamp I've owned where the presets were actually worth using.....woh boggles the mind.
I'd never give a 10 rating to anything that didn't deserve it. I was happy from the second I turned it on...looks good...sounds good.
just my opinion


Product: Rocktron Prophesy
Price Paid: US $2000
Submitted 03/03/2003 at 06:16pm by Rain Maker

Ease of Use : 8
You have find his logic first and then it'a verry simple

Sound Quality : 10
From country music to death metal

Reliability : 10
When I first use it in a live show I had no backup gear with me because it wasn't possible to take with me all the things that I was need. From that gig and now then it's my guitar and the Prophesy

Customer Support : 9
Great, just great

Overall Rating : 10
I play with my band thrash metal. I am a guitar player 5 years.
I also using Marshall power amp or VHT power amp, AKG wireless,
Shure mics and Jackson guitars.


Product: Rocktron Prophesy
Price Paid: US $800
Submitted 02/17/2003 at 11:01am by Chris T. Young
Email: ctyelvis at chartermi<dot>net

Ease of Use : 9
If you have been living in a cave for the last 13 years or so and have not owned some type of rack gear, especially "anything" Rocktron, there might be a slight learning curve getting around on the Prophesy. I personally found it pretty straight forward to get around on. A quick look at the manual will get just about anyone up and running fast. Other than that, the presets are excellent, if you want to just take it out of the box and get going quickly. Simply plug in and play.

Sound Quality : 10
To say I've owned a variety of gear in the last 20 years would be a horrible understatement! I have primarily been a Marshall and Les Paul kind of guy. Relying mainly on stomp boxes for effects. With that said, I have also owned my share of Boogies and Fenders, along with tons of rack gear, including Rocktron, Sansamp, Boogie, Marshall and the latest by Line 6. My current amps are a Marshall 6101 Blue Anniversary combo, and a Road King Combo. My guitars have radically changed. I now have a few Anderson guitars and one green Wolfgang standard flametop for the old Van Halenish type stuff.
I bought the Prophesy for a simple, good sounding way to record directly into my Yamaha AW4416. After being a gear junky for so long, I decided to vastly slim down my gear and started by selling off most of my guitars, amps and recording gear. Getting it down to some basic "quality" gear. After selling off all of my recording gear, I bought a Yamaha AW4416 and am running it into my Mackie HR824 monitors. Since I no longer play out live, I wanted to get rid of my amps and get a "rack unit" simply for recording. I bought a used Prophesy at first with the 1.0 operating system. I have to say, I wasn't very impressed. While the distortion settings sounded pretty excellent, the clean sounds really sucked. I just couldn't get the unit to produce a good "clean sound". It seemed like there was always some type of digital distortion happening.

After much frustration, I sold the Prophesy and got back on the merry go round of guitar amps again. I started by buying a Marshall JMP-1 and the Mesa recording rectifier amp. All of these amps sounded great, but still seemed "uninspiring" to play and were just lacking something. I had a chance to buy another Prophesy, but this one was brand new in the box and at a great price ($800). This new unit also had the latest operating system as well, vers. 1.6.
I don't know what the differences were between version 1.0 and 1.6 or if the first Prophesy I owned simply had some problem, but this new Prophesy sounds nothing short of INCREDIBLE!! Great clean sounds, amazing effects and awesome distortion sounds. The real killer is they sound so "tube like"!
But being a recovering gear junky, I couldn't leave well enough alone.... So I went back to plugging into my Mesa Recording Rectifier amp and JMP-1. I patched both units into an Intellifex so that I would essentially get the great effects the Prophesy had, but with that amazing Boogie and Marshall tones. You know how after you play something long enough, and the unit sounds half way decent to begin with, you seem to be able to convince yourself, it's better than what it really is? That's exactly what I did. I though the Boogie and Marshall rocked!!, then I plugged into the Prophesy again.... GAME OVER!! With all of the units plugged directly into my AW4416 and using the Mackie Monitors, the Prophesy kicked the "living sh*t" out of the Boogie and the Marshall with the Intellifex!!! It was bigger, fatter and warmer than the other two, could ever hope to be! Especially for "direct recording".
I have since compared the Prophesy with the Triaxis, the Line 6 gear, the Fender Cyber-Twin and the Sansamp. Again, no comparison! The Prophesy was the clear winner hands down! Being a guy who has always loved "tube" gear, it was tough to actually admit, this non tube unit was superior, but at the end of the day it was the clear winner. The sound quality is simply "superb". This unit is the "SH*T" for direct recording!!

Reliability : No Opinion
Since I use this unit for recording, I am not overly concerned with it's reliability, although Rocktron has always been quick to take care of problems in the past for me.

Customer Support : 10
Rocktron really has that "personal" touch when dealing with customer service. I give them my highest rating.

Overall Rating : 8
After listening to this baby and comparing it to other direct recording preamps, I really could not understand why it is not more popular than it is. But I guess if you had to pay "new" pricing for it like at musicians Friend $1400, I guess I can understand. If Rocktron would have made a reasonably priced optional pedal board for this unit and set the Prophesy's base street price in the $600-$800 range, there's little doubt Line 6 and it's POD Pro line would be way less popular than it currently is. There is no comparison between the two units and to be fair, I think the POD sounds pretty good. But the Prophesy sound like a collection of "real amps", not some half assed "modeled" amps.
Although priced comparably to the Boogie rack gear, the Prophesy is way better sounding for direct recording. After being out on the market for about 5 years now, Rocktron should drop the price of the unit, since the R&D costs have surely been recouped by now. But then again Mesa Boogie still charges $1600 for the frickin' Triaxis and it's been around now for what? 13 years???
And last but not least, if you like "Cool" looking gear, this baby won't let you down. Great color scheme and classy looks best describe this incredible looking unit! If you can pick one of these up for less than $900 it easily rates a "10", but at $1400 new price, I have to knock off a couple of points.


Product: Rocktron Prophesy
Price Paid: US $825.00 used
Submitted 01/28/2003 at 11:18pm by Bobby
Email: bobbygitrplyr<at>aol dot com

Ease of Use : 8
Just like any preamp unit like this, it takes time program your own good sounds. Just play around with it and use the manual. DOnt forget the factory presets are awesome. Play around with eq & paramatric eq.

Sound Quality : 10
Just awesome! I've palyed many different amps and this unit does it all. I'm playing in 2 projects right now. 1 rock band and 1 instrumental rock/blues/fussion. This unit gets all the sound I need without having to drag around different amps. The cleans are sharp and the dirty channel ROCKS! The preamp section a tube in it to add character to the mix. With a load tube power amp this unit will blow away must amps out there! My personal set up is the Prophecy into MesaBoggie 50/50 power amp. My guitar signal go through a BBE sonic maximizer(stereo). Then I have Furman power rack to power the whole unit and 2 4X12 Legacy cabs by Carvin. Awesome set!

Reliability : 9
I bought it used. ITs about 2 years old. Its been banged around in my rack box from moving it around and so far no problems.

Customer Support : No Opinion
Dont know................have needed it

Overall Rating : 9
It sounds awesome! Need not say more. May a little easier setup ,our own sounds might help. Cant forget the price! Pretty costly I couldnt afford a new one $1800 list!!!! I so I had to wait around for a used one. Check Ebay! After a power amp VERY COSTLY! But I'm final happy with my sound. I love to hear from other users EMAIL ME!

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