Rocktron Prophesy

I've owned the 2101 digitech, the Marshall jmp-1, and various forms of alesis, digitech, and rocktron effects units over the years, and this is the easiest yet. Why the 8? Because you still have to get into it pretty deep to get the most out of it.

I feed it through my Marshall 20/20 power amp (a BIG reason why this thing sounds great) and two single 12" boogie wedge monitor cabs. My main guitar is a '71 Les Paul Black Beauty with Duncan JB and Pearly Gates(neck) pickups, and my second is a Jeff Beck Strat with the Gilmour EMG's (mid-boost, etc.) I'm convinced that if you can't get this thing to sound great at different volumes, you have the wrong power amp, speakers, or ears. I've played with this rig in outdoor venues in front of thousands with my power amp pegged, and also played in very small clubs in NYC, and it stays very consistant. For my taste, the third channel, british whatever, can get you everything from Matchless to Marshall, with that great Boogie midrange. You just have to get used to the numerous ways to EQ it. If you boost the bass on the Pre-preamp EQ, it gets "farty" like an old fender. If you cut that same EQ, and then boost it afterwords, the low end stays tight like a big Marshall.

I have one of the original prototypes that I got from the Rocktron rep. I got it in November '98 and have played over 150 shows with it. Not a glitch. Perfect.

I play straight ahead rock-- like counting crows meets collective soul meets Tom Petty, and this thing will do anything I ask it to. Only thing that I've played that I like better for pure tone is the Matchless rack preamp thing, but it's almost the same money and has no effects. I plan to buy another one as a backup.

The "amp knobs" on this thing make editing patches a breeze, though having so many parameters on the screen at once forces them to abbreviate the settings to the point where if you haven't skimmed the manual you won't have any idea which menu you're in at times. Once you've got the hang of it though, this thing is unbelievably easy to use.

There are only a couple small areas that need improvement, such as the assignment of midi controls which lacks a "toggle" function for momentary foot switches, and the fact that you can't see the name of the patch you're about to overwrite in "store" mode.

If there were separate sections for preamp vs. effects sound quality, I would give the Prophesy's preamp a 10 and its effects a 7.

The preamp, which is a combination of a single 12AX7 tube and digital modelling, is the best I've ever heard from a DSP unit. I especially like how it reacts differently to my different guitars and has some excellent sounding presets out of the box without the need for EQ tweaking. Earlier technology (such as Roland's COSM) always sounded to me as though there was a blanket over the tone. Not so with the Rocktron!

On the other hand, the Prophesy's digital effects are not as sexy as the preamp modelling, especially the pitch shifter which sounds awful to me. Also, I was dissapointed by the wahwah effect which has no programmable parameters at all. This doesn't mean I'm going to return the unit by any means, because all the effects (except the pitch shifter) sound fine and a few are very cool, such as the rotating speaker effect. The bottom line is that if you already have an outboard effects unit that you're happy with, you will probably want to keep it patched in to cover the Prophesy's weak areas.

I've only had this thing a couple weeks, but it seems rock solid.

I'm mostly a hobbyist although I do play for others on occasion. This unit strikes me as a nearly ideal preamp for live gigs. Plug your favorite midi foot switch/controller into it and you're ready to go. I bought this thing to replace my Roland GP-100 and aside from the pitch shift effects which are infinitely superior on the Roland, and the minor detail of not having a "toggle" setting in the midi controller menus, I don't miss a single feature.

As with most programmable pre-amps, spending some time with the owner's manual is advised. Unlike Digitech, Rocktron's is actually comprehensible! This pre-amp has a huge array of available sounds, but it is fairly easy to modify existing or create new presets.

I play a custom GMW 7-string guitar with EMG 707's through a Rocktron Velocity 300 power amp and a Belari Tube Exciter into 2 Marshall cabs.
The sound is absolutely crushing! I play very technical death metal, and even at full gain (which is considerable), each note is still distinguishable. The tones range from the cleanest Fender to the most roaring Mesa/Marshall imaginable! It did take a while to dial in the EQ (it has dual parametric eq's as well as 4 normal tone controls), but once I was there, wow! The effects are killer too...you can assign any effect you want in any order (delay, reverb, chorus, phaser, flange, rotary speaker, compression). The noise is nicely handled by the HUSH ciruitry. I give it a 9 since no product is "perfect."

So far, so good. It seems well made, and with only one tube, there isn't much to go wrong.

I've had one dealing with them, and that was very favorable. My power amp blew out a bridge rectifier, and they repaired it very quickly. I also e-mailed them about the number of tubes, and got an immediate response.

I've tried/owned numerous pre-amps (JMP-1, ADA MP2, Tech 21 SansAmp, Digitech 2120, Triaxis, etc.)and this is by far the best. Less muddy than the ADA, warmer than the SansAmp, more gain than the JMP, less scratchy than the Digitech, more grinding than the Mesa! I would definitely buy it again after disemboweling the thief. It's expensive, but worth it. Again, a 9 since nothing is perfect! (Those others would get a 5-7)

It isn't easy to design an effects processor user interface -- the limited size of the display screen and the lack of front panel real estate for buttons and dials make the design a difficult job. Compared to other effects processors I've used (Digitech RP-1 and RP-5), I think the layout of the controls on the Prophesy and the methods for editing patches is relatively intuitive. With a little practice, editing becomes second nature. I do agree with the previous reviewer that modifying the EQ settings can be a nightmare. They've tried to use parametric controls to emmulate graphic EQ manipulation. Rocktron would be well advised to utilize the display screen to emmulate a graphic EQ - visualization (instead of imagination) would be a tremendous improvement to their EQ features. The pre-, post- and global EQs; however, are a very powerful feature. I also agree with the previous reviewer that Rocktron should provide some sort of guide in terms of how to "build" sounds. The Prophesy packs some powerful effects, but I sometimes feel overwhelmed because I don't know how some of the smaller parameters interact to produce the overall effect. Although the smaller parameters have titles, only a sound tech would understand how their adjustment might affects the final outcome, as many of the parameters are extremely subtle. Trying to build an effect by trial and error, using a large number of parameters isn't much fun. I recommend that Rocktron build a programmer's guide on their website where each parameter is fully explained and its manipulation is reinforced/demonstrated using sound bytes. The manual does a reasonably good job of navigating the user through the interface.

I mostly used the Prophesy between my '65 Jaguar and a Boogie Rect-O-Verb combo. The preamp section colored my tone. I think the preamp settings (Clean American, Texas Blues, Vintage British, and Mega Drive) have great characteristic sounds of their own, but they aren't tremendously transparent. So, if you want to use the Prophesy preamp stage to spice up a cheaper guitar, I would highly recommend it for that purpose; if you want to use the Prophesy to add some effects to your vintage guitar or carefully selected combination of pickups, do yourself a favor and bypass the preamp section (the Prophesy allows you to do this) and go right into the effects. On the other hand, if you want to add some "wild variation" to your more traditional sounding vintage guitar, the Prophesy preamp section can do this for you. I have to disagree (quite strongly) with the other reviewer with respect to the Prophesy sounding weak when played at "apartment listening levels". Most folks "in the know" about guitar amps know that tone and volume are highly correlated. An amp played at lower volumes lacks tone, crunch, and definition no matter what devices are driving the input signal. Sure, there are specialty devices like the Marshall Power Brake that overdrive your signal to make it sound like you're pushing your tubes. But let's try a little experiment: plug your guitar into your Power Brake and your Power Brake into your amp and play through your amp at moderately low volume. Can you hear how the Power Brake is overdriving your signal? Now turn your amp up a notch - sounds good, huh? OK, turn it up two notches - sounds great!! The morale of the story is that ALL sounds are thinner at lower volumes, even those coming out of the Power Brake -- you can't blame the Prophesy because you can't "rock out" in your tiny apartment... The effects in the Prophesy are great -- I just wish I knew the individual parameters better so that each effect could be fine tuned.

I've owned the Prophesy for several months and haven't had any problems. The unit appears to be of quality construction and doesn't look bad either.

I e-mailed Rocktron twice. Once about availability and once with a question on operation. In both cases, I had a reply that evening or the next day.

The Prophesy does everything I want it to do. I haven't tried any other high end processors, but I'm not inclined to trade this one in on something else. I plan to keep the Prophesy for studio applications. I prefer to use my stomp boxes for performances - they lend a little more "on the fly" flexibility.

The sounds of the Prophesy are very good. There are enough pre-fab sound you can use as a start to make your own sounds. Some of oversaturated sound like "Ain't talkin' about love" are just fabulous. Editing your sounds are easy, but do not in pre-fab setting try to alter band-with in the EQ-section; at Rocktron they have thought about these settings, so don't mess with them (or maybe a little; just use an other setting that sounds better to you. Going to the different effect is easy. Scroll through the menu's and it works. The manual is allright.

I'm playing with a customized Fender Strat with Dimarzio HS-picups and a Godin. A mesa-boogie 20/20 and a Marshall 2 * 12" with Celestion Vintage speaker cabinet are the rest of my setup. All type of sounds (4 in total from clean to metal-type distortions) sound very good. The difference between the Prophesy and 100% tube pre-amps (like the TOL 4ie of Egnator) is almost not audible. For me, playing in a top 40/100 band is clean sound very important. With the help of the Sansamp (19") preamp running the effectloop you can get every clean Fender Twin sound you want. Combined with the always very good effects of Rocktron it works great.

I have been playing with Rocktron equipment for many years and had never any problems with it. With another preamp in the effectloop I always got a backup, but you don't need it; it'll work always.

I e-mail frequently with certain questions and they always get answered very quickly. For other support I have never had a chance to test Rocktron.

Overall I think it's a great preamp. The advantage of these kinds of preamps is that you can make a "1000-different" sounds which are perfect for a cover-band. Off course there are better preamps (Egnator) and of course there are better effects (G-Force), but the combination is the best. If you have read the an other review of this guy being very negative about this preamp I can only say that he's filled with frustration. I have played on every preamp except the X-99 of Soldano, and the Prophesy is very good. Editing is certainly not harder than any other preamp. Compared with the 2120 Artist is a class better.

Edits differently than many of the other units on the market. Very hard to get used to the way you go into a patch, try to add an effect, and all. And then you try to to it, and you're on the Factory patches (which are for some stupid reason the FIRST set of patches, and of course uneditable) and then you can't even MAKE the change. Stupid. Confusing to me...especially the EQ section. It wasn't just "here's a band, boost or cut it", it's "here's a band range, boost or cut it, choose the middle of the range, and choose the width of the range". Like I said, confusing. It wasn't hard to get a good sound in the store...more on that in Sound Quality. The manual was alright, but lacked the section that it itself had said was in there to tell you "how we created some of our patches, and how to get good sounds". Very lax on the review process on your manual, eh? VERY low on effects, preamp sounds, and other features especially when compared to products much cheaper than it such as the Digitech 2120 Artist. This thing doesn't even come with a footpedal. So I bought the MIDI Mate...which was junk as well. The whole thing is a way overblown waste. Rocktron doesn't give good value for your money.

I play metal--older Anthrax/Metallica. Used with USA Hamer Californian Elite and other high-end guitars, Marshall 4x12 cab, Rocktron 120w solid state power amp. Sounded great in the store...so I bought the cab/power amp setup above, as I had specifically gone to revamp my whole setup. At home levels (apt) it lots its crisp, bright, crunchy distortion, with exactly the same settings it sounded more like an old tweed amp from the 50s or something. Just not a very consistent product at varied volume levels. To me, this kind of lack of quality is pathetic. If you look at the Megadeth sites, you'll probably see that Dave Mustaine is listed as using it. Well, Dave Mustaine also uses a power brake unit so he can still get that loud distortion sound quality at lower volumes, and Dave Mustaine can also afford to replace his power amps and tubes as often as he wants. So, unless you're Dave Mustaine, or have that kind of money, stay away from this puppy.

I wouldn't want to keep the thing long enough to have to worry about that.

I tried to email for support from Rocktron about the above problems to ask. Also, I called the dealer I bought it from, and he said he'd have his Rocktron rep call me back. Well, neither happened all day (I had emailed the night before and called early), so I took it back. The next day, I got an email from Rocktron that was of little help either way. I replied thank you but I had already taken it back after trying everything I could, and had decided to try a Digitech 2120 Artist. The guy replied very rudely that "that mosquito of a 2120 won't sound like Anthrax or Metallica" etc. So I replied back and told him that I wished that the product was more consistent quality over varied volumes and asked if he could tell me how to fix that, I'd consider trying it. No reply.

Rocktron seems to like to offer half-cocked products with very limited features at very high prices. I'm a very honest person. When you see a review from someone like me and its highest rating is a 6 and it's in Ease of Use, it means one thing....STAY AWAY FROM IT.