Rocktron Silver Dragon

The Rocktron Silver Dragon is easy to use basically; however the response of the knobs are finiky. The manuel is almost unneccesary.
I will try a 12au7 in it soon, just to experiment.

The Silver Dragon is noisy in the second stage if the intensity is past 10 or 11 o'clock;the manuel warns of this.Otherwise it is quiet.
The quality of sound is satisfying, however the first stage is not above average in my opinion; but the second stage is impressive. I haven't tried it yet with a single coil. It will likely be the last distortion unit I ever purchase. I've been tempted with the digitech with the 7 different sounds.

So far so good as holding up; although I do take a back-up when I go out just in case.

I wish the first stage would clean up a little more with the fire to a minimum. The shriek (treble) weakens the sound and thins it out when past 9 o'clock yet is cutting. The breath is virtually non-responsive so I max it out. I've played 30+ years and I've used many stomp boxs; this is a worthy piece of equipment.Good sounds in stage 1 and 2 for sure.

Easy to use.It takes a bit to get used to the silly names of the knobs.

Killer sound.Charvel and Flying V through various SS and tube amps.Like any hi gain pedal, it does make a bit of a hissing noise.I thought it would sound better with a new tube, but it didn't make any difference.Good metal sounds.

Made of metal.I take care of my effects,so I'm not worried about reliability.

Rocktron has good customer service.

I love it.The distortions are comparable to my Voodu Valve.It's not easily available,but well worth the effort to find one. I got mine at Tunnel Music.They also have a lot of other stompboxes.If you're a stompbox junkie like me,you HAVE TO go there!Always looking for new equipment, and I'm glad I found this. Also, I bought this at Tunnel Vision Music - Great Company!

Before I start, I'd like to clear up some stuff from previous reviews by others. It DOES have a tube! and that tube does function! I changed to a sovtek and in improved! The tube IS an integral part of the circuitry and it gets HOT. Unit will NOT function without the tube. I checked. Why in the hell would Rocktron take the time, effort, and money to put in the tube, socket, and solder if if was fake? They wouldn't! O.K. there is a litlle led under the tube to add to the look of a real tube overdrive, and yes, it is kinda cheesy, but I assure you, this IS a real tube overdrive! Once you understand what the knobs do, it's pretty easy. Awaken mode is the tube overdrive and operates on it's own. Slayer mode is the analog distortion and adds to the overdrive. However, Slayer will not operate on it's own. Level and EQ settings are global and control the overall sound. Small increments are recommended on all pots. Easy to use! Very!

To previous reviewers. If you have a 100 dollar guitar, take it out of the box and then plug it into a 10 or 15 watt SS amp(any brand) don't expect this thing to make you sound like George Lynch at monsters of rock! I bougt this because I have an older Peavey Classic with a tube power section but no tube preamp, and if you hate Peaveys Saturation overdrive as much as I do you'll look for a good tube overdrive. I'm not the main guitar player in my band. Really just a hack, but I've been in bands long enough to understand and join in the search for the elusive perfect tone. I just can't justify a high dollar amp setup if I'm the frontman/keyboard player. My primary setup is an Ibanez s470 into the Dragon, then into the LOW gain input, and a DigiTech Rp200 (effects only, no modeling) in the effects loop. I also play a custom built Series 10 with a Duncan Invader at the bridge. This thing sounds GREAT!!! I play all rock. I love the old hair metal stuff, but I like all hard rock. Love Maiden and Dio too even some nu metal. Guitar players I love are the basic rock gods. Vai, Van Halen, Satriani, Blah, blah! You get the story. This box will do anything from a nice low overdriven crunch to full blown in your face distorted fury. Sustain is cool in both sections. Does not suck tone and really drives the amp. Spend some time with it!!!!! Nothing does what you want out of the box. If it does, your tone probably sucks! The silver Dragon Rocks!!

Had it for a week. This thing is solid! I would use it without a back up, but any performing musician better always be ready for equipment failure.

Haven't needed it. But i hear great things. The Rocktron guys at the NAMM show were awesome and knowledgeable.

Primarily, I'm not a guitar player so I don't shred, but I have been playing in rock bands for 20 years and I know a good product when I hear it. I've tried em all. This thing blows away IMO all of them. Yes even the highly touted Ibanez TS series. Take your Ds-1 and sell it. The new DigiTech series? Gone! Marshall pedals? Nope! If you've got a good SS amp (GOOD!) this will improve your tone and hold you over til you get that big dollar rig you dream of. ROCK ON!!

This pedal is ver easy to use

I used this pedal with a fender Deville then on my Sovtek Mig50 through a closed back cabinet with Vintage 30's.This pedal is not a tube pedal.I don't if every one is blind when they say they have changed the tube and made it sound better because it isn't even wired to the circuit board.There is a little led light behind the tube that makes it appear as if it is glowing.I was going to change the tube with an Electro Harmonix and was pissed when I noticed the false advertisment of Rocktron.The 12ax7 cover is to small fit the tube throgh that should have been my first sign and the manual says nothing about changing the tube.I also have the Zombie and it sounds more natural on my lead work.The Silver Dragon sounds good on heavy metal rythyms but when you play leads it has a bad hollow midrange sound.

I have not used this live and I am not goin to.

I have not contacted customer support

I have been playing for 26 years.I play everything from Megadeth to George Straight.I am a gear head and I own way much to list I have 10 guitars,Godin,Carvin,Fender's,Hamer,Esp,Takamine,ovation etc... I just bought a carvin MTS 100 watt head that is on the way.My effects are the new x-series digital delay,boss ge-7,boss noise gate,boss compressor,boss bd-2,and the rocktron Zombie wich leads me back to the point.Get the zombie if you have to have a rocktron distortion believe me I have both.I also have a line 6 pod but I don;t care for the clean sounds.

As everyone else mentioned, names are unusual. Not big deal, just read the manual and you'll be alright. Don't be afraid to read the manual, it's your friend.(-1)

Well, names aren't the problem. Reason why I gave it 7 is because it was not easy to make a sound I wanted. It took me a while to adjust it to my favorite sound.(-2)

Setup is simple, Guitar(B.C. Rich Platinum Mockingbird) > Silver Dragon > Amp(Marshall MG15). This is my setup for bedroom practice. I know my guitar and amp sucks.

With this setup, Awaken mode is useless. I replaced the stock tube to JJ Electronic 12AX7. Did it make difference? Yes it did. It made the sound better than the stock Made in China 12AX7. But, not good enough to make me want to play with it. I hope the problem is my guitar with its stock cheap pickups. It's a stock pickup from cheap series of BC Rich. It sound crap. Muddy and not clear at all. That doesn't change the fact that Awaken mode is useless with my low-end setup. I hope Awaken mode will work well with better rig. Anyways, Awaken mode sucks in my setup.(-3)

Althoug the Awaken mode is useless in my setup, Slayer mode really does enhance my rig. Slayer mode gives life to my sound. Sounds natural, and very versatile for metal heads. I play old school metal(Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne, etc...), old hard rock(Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, etc...), and thrash metal(Metallica, Slyaer, etc...). I can pretty much have all the sound I want by adjusting EQ on my amp and settings on Silver Dragon.(+2)

Awaken mode sucks, Slayer mode rocks. There's one more thing I don't like about this, when I play the highest note(24th fret of high E), it doesn't really do a nice scream. It sounds pretty annoying. I guess it's because of my guitar.(-1)

This thing is made strong. Really. I opened it up when I replaced the tube. It was very well constructed, it looked strong to shocks, I believe it won't do anything to the inside even if you drop this thing. It won't break, even if you hit it with a hammer. Believe me, this thing is made strong.
Most important part, the Input/Output jack, and the switches are made strong too. Very nice.(+1)

As many have mentioned, AC adapter isn't so good. But it doesn't effect my cause I only use this thing for bedroom practice.(-1)

Ok, finally last flaw of this effect. At bottom of this thing, there're 4 rectangle rubber stoppers so this thing won't slip on the ground. They are taped. They aren't nailed just taped. But the tape on this is pretty strong. You can rely on it for more than an year if I'm using this in bedroom.(-1)

I send them an e-mail asking what tube they use on this amp. I got a reply next day. Not bad.

I was looking for a distotion/overdrive pedal. I tried many major ones, like Metal Zone, DS-1, OD-3, etc... But I didn't like any of them. So I decided why not try something that not many people have tried before. I payed total 102 bucks at guitar center. It was special order so I had to pay for shipping and handling which cost 5 bucks. I payed 12 bucks to replace the tube so the total $ I spent on this thing is like $115.

To be honest, I really wanted to love this thing and give it a 10. $100 was little expansive. If Awaken mode was useful, even with my low-end rig, I would've given it a solid 10. Since Awaken mode didn't work out with my rig, I can't give it a 10 for this price.(-2)

Overall good distortion pedal. If you play this thing with descent rig, I bet you won't regret.

Well, for a stompbox pretty difficult. Think about this: If u borrow this unit a friend you have to explain him the knobs. Its probably the first stompbox where you should have a look into the manual.
But no Problem at all. Sound is what matters. I just cant give it a 10.

My settup is:
Jackson soloist professional (H-H), Boss GT-6, in the effect loop Silver Dragon, Engl 50x50 Tube poweramp, stereo into Marshall 1960 and 2x12" cab.
I bought this unit because of the positive reviews here, and I wanted to have a tube sound on my GT-6.
First of all, it works fine with the setup. I also placed it before the GT-6 and direct into the Poweramp, which worked all good. In the effect loop of the GT-6 I couldn't hear any sound coloration (If you are interessted to use it with the GT-6).
Soundwise I was a little disappointed with the tube channel (Awaken). It has tubesound, but I dont like the character (Mids are strange and a bit of hissle and fizzle). Maybe changing the tube would help.
Well, that's a question of taste, but what really sucks is, that u cannot change the sound at all! The bass and treble controls (Roar & shriek!) have to be set more or less to 12 o'clock. If you change this extremely it will sound worse. You cannot call this an eq. Same with the Fire-knob: it should stay at 9 o'clock to produce best distortions (Rockron also recomments this in their manual!). There is no mid/voicing-control!
The Slayer mode is much better (IMO) - its a 10. It has tons of gain. It gives you the best highgain distortion you can expect from a stompbox - especially for the money! Much better than all the pure SS-boxes (Metal zone etc.). Put this unit in front of your crappy head, maybe add a separate EQ and you transform your JCM 900 into a gainmonster.
The Intensity knob is actually the only control to change your sound. It increases the gain and the highs in an acceptable way. Past 1 o'clock it will produce a lot of noise and a bit of mud. Yeah, the unit can be noisy! But thats ok, for the gain you get.
Turning at the breath control I could not hear any differences to be honest.

Fazit:
The unit gives you a great distortion for the money, especially the slayer mode! But you have to like the base sound. Dont think you can shape your sound because you have so many knobs to tweak. Dont believe in people that say, they can get any sound out of this unit (from amadeus to Hetfield)! This is for sure not possible.
I also tried to shape the sound I want with the GT-6 and this has a lot possibilities. Difficult duty!

The aluminium housing is quite good. Most important: the jacks, switches and knobs look solid.
One complain is the AC adapter with a joke of a power cable. It is 2 meters to short and very thin! Is this where you saved money??
If you want to gig seriously you have to replace the AC adapter.
Thats why I gave it a 7.

Dont know.
The homepage is ok, the manual very helpful.

I search for dist. sounds like three doors down, incubus, nickelback but also pantera. I ve been playing guitar for 12 years and owned a lot of expensive tube preamps.
I gave it back, because the basic sound is not exactly what I wanted and I cannot shape the sound. I just rate it overall so high because of the sound you get for the money and in comparison to pure SS- boxes it is a pure 10.
I compared it also against the Hughes&Kettner's Tube factor. I liked much more the sound of this one. You have just one voicing knob and can shape the sound a lot with it. All settings sound good. The only thing is that the tube factor has not so much gain!
Recommendation for Rocktron:
- Replace the roar and shriek controls by a useable mid/voicing control.
- Deliver it with a better AC adapter (long solid cable) and run the tube with 300V like Hughes&Kettner does.
- Maybe replace the tube into a better one.
And then you can sell it for sure for 200$.

Well, has two channels, one for the tube and the other for solid state. Not really easy at first considering the names of the controls are things that have to do with a dragon instead of just reading what the controls actually do. The Manual doesn't really tell you much but its a distortion pedal so how much help to you really need.

I am using this thing into a Peavey Transtube 212 combo with an Ibanez pretige RG. I have to say the minute I plugged it in and started playing on it I knew it just wasn't going to work out. It sounded terrible and muddy. But since I don't judge things right away I decided to give it a couple of days and play with it and tweek the settings to improve the sound. I got it too sound a little better but not much. Then I tried changing the tube to an Electro-Harmonix 12AX7. Another very slight improvement. But the problem really isn't the tube side it's the solid state side. It just sounds horrible. The controls are very sensitive and not subtle at all the way I like them. The treble control just sounds rediculous, kind of reminiscent of the ever crappy DOD Death Metal shreiker. The bass control just dials in way too much bass and the sound ends up a muffled mess. Not happy at all.

Probably can depend on it I mean its made of metal.

No Comment

I have been playing for about 10 years and my musical tastes go from classical to metal. This pedal is meant for metal and really has potential to be great but I'm afraid Rocktron fell quite short of a quality sounding distortion pedal. If this thing was lost I wouldn't care and if it was stolen I would so graciously thank the theif but would be rather pissed that I wasted 100 bucks on this peice of shit. Definitely did not live up to the hype, and when I had it in my rig it made me not want to play. I returning it as soon as I can.

Pretty cool unit, easy to use. Has two drives. The tube section and the transistor section that pushes the tube even harder. The tube section has drive, trebble and bass. The transistor side has gain, mix and symentry which makes one side of the wave get larger giving a grittier sound. Two foot switches, ac adaptor in and out.

This baby kicks it up LOUD. Left the settings nearly at zero and my marshall cranks. My son concert lead and 66 fender bassman sound great too. I put a 9k ohm resistor in the circuit like another guy suggested so I can run the pots a littel higher than 1. I need to be able to switch from clean {off} to a nice crunchy rythum to sustaining lead. Hope this will do the trick. Havent tried it in my chain yet, It was sounding so good by itself. No doubt someones gonna know whos playing when you kick this baby on. The unit has heavey duty bass and trebel gain so like I said I run them near to one or two so there isnt too drastic a change when I go from Clean to Drive. Was able to get my guitar to whistle like an Ebow with no problem at all. This baby might be a littel too hot for what Im playing in the band right now which is mostly 60s but for metal forget about it. Your there man.

Super solid aluminum construction And the PC board is wedged in there like a drawer. Nothings going anyplace if you kick it around. The only possible weakness I can fortell if your ins and outs get loose or kicked they could break the plugs which are plastic. They probibly had to make it that way for a floating ground maybe but I dont kick my stuff around anyway and my guitar wont plug into it directly. Overall great design

NA

Im gonna give this a 9 because the range on the gain goes from Zero to 90 with an 8th of a turn of the knob. I like to be able to get a low growel for rythums and such and still kick it up there when the band is cranking. Like I said Metal players will be going to town on this puppy. I have about 10 or 15 other drive units and have owned just about all the comon ones at one time or another. Even my marshall has 2 extra chanels for overdrive but I was looking for a real tube drive sound and found it, Gotta get my other guitar player to get one of these. When you play alot of dual leads the sound has to match pretty close to be effective.

fairly easy after having read the manual. im a man...men dont read manuals!! but its ok...its cool.

at first i noticed that the sound was unresponsive and lacking a lot of feeling. after changing the tube to an EH 12ax7, tweeking with the knobs (the highs sound stupid past 2 oclock. and the lows are LOW past 8 oclock.)the sound is awesome. i run it through the effects loop of my noise supressor as well as a few other pedals into a few heads (my randall RG80ES the most). the sound now is very heavy. loads of gain and i usually use the "solid state" side of the spectrum more than the tube side. i love the tube sounds, but not for my metal. i only use the tube sound when im doing more "yngwie" type stuff. i use an mxr distortion + (level maxed and distortion at 9 oclock) as a "booster" that way the sound is a bit more "loose" and so theres more harmonics. its very loud too, unlike a metal zone or anything of the sort. get a seperate eq for this monster, for more versatile sounds. i can go from satch to mustaine with the flip of a switch. its truely an amazing pedal. but im sure there is something else out there. its noisey as all hell! a noise supressor is wise, but RUN IT THROUGH THE EFFECTS LOOP! YOULL NOT BE DISAPOINTED!

totally!

amazing!

its a truely awesome pedal. loud, but still powerful enough to destroy a small village. its amazing indeed. check it out fore you buy it if youre not buying it on ebay. maybe it might not be for you. built for a metal player anyways.

Quite easy. Still - I don't like treble named shriek and bass named roar. Manual is OK. My version is 3.01. You can't mess up your sound with that easily. And I don't like eq on it. I have my guitar tone knob and 3-band eq on my amp - why do i need another eq in my path? Unnecessary.

With default tube inside it (chinese one) it sucks. Very noisy and whistling.

But after replacing it with Mesa/Boogie 12ax7 it sounded WAY better. I modified my Silver dragon also, replaced one resistor (just under gain pot, from 670R to 10K) to make it softer and less distorted. It is quite simple overdrive, and it works very well. I would give it a 9. It all depends on the tube you use.

I don't like transistor overdrive. I had prefferred just a tube overdrive. It just takes space and makes pedal bigger and heavier.

Overall I have to give 7, cause I don't like this Slayer mode.

Dependable hard metal case. It has dropped once. Buttons are not so good, some kind of cheap plastic. But the inside construction ise very smart and keeps the electronics together. Just have a look!

Never spoken to

I mostly play from jazz to hard rock (no metal) and its suits me if I want some heavier overdrive. I have played guitar for 4 years. I own semi-acoustic Ibanez Artcore AS83 guitar and Behringer 2x12 combo amp (transistor). Since I cannot get tube sound with my amp, silver dragon helps me out.

I love the real tube sound what I can get from this pedal. But I hate that the glow you see from the ventilation holes is actually generated by additional light-bulb. It is silly and misleading. But anyway, I left it in, maybe it is easier to sell it when I need to. But I certainly don't plan to do it unless I get real tube amplifier. Maybe I keep it afterwards also. I don't know.

I hate the Slayer mode. It is really unnecessary. I don't use it.

Compared to H&K tube factor and others it is CHEAPER, but circuitry must be (i think) quite the same. So - it doesn't matter. Just the tube matters.

In conclusion I must say: Don't let the bad sound of it mislead you in the shop when you try it. Just buy a good tube (I used Mesa Boogie) and try it then. It's way different and much better.