Rocktron Silver Dragon

I easily dialed a good tone with this pedal and I HATE tweaking knobs. I was very happy to see how easy it was to get a good sound out of this pedal. The names of the knobs are a little confusing at first (which is why I'm giving at a 9) but once you look it up in the manual it's no problem.

I'm using this with a Jackson Dinky and a Peavey trantube. The first mode with just the tube is ok. You get a nice crunch sound with it and I use it to warm up. This pedal really comes alive when you add the solid state distortion in with the tube. It is so HEAVY. You get a great metal sound and harmonics are produced with ease. This pedal sounds so good I'm putting my Boss Metal Zone up for sale on ebay next time I want a new guitar and I swore I would NEVER get rid of that pedal. The Silver Dragon sounds THAT good. I also spent about $400 on a Mesa Boogie V-Twin pedal and this pedal is a hundred times better and it was only $99. This pedal sounds like I wanted the V-Twin to sound. I highly recomend this pedal to any metal guitarist.

No problems so far but I've only had it 3 weeks. I must say, this thing looks like it's built tough.

Never had to deal with them.

Overall, this a great buy, especially for the money. A pedal of this quality could easily go for twice the amount of what they are charging. Metal players who cannot afford an all tube amp will especially benefit from this pedal.

The Silver Dragon is relatively EZ to use, the manual is clear enough, just analog tweaking of the chicken knobs will git you your sound, no user unfriendliness at all! But, with any add-on EFX, expect to spend some burn-in time to git familiar with all the functions.

I am using a Fernandez Strat knockoff with a Yamaha G100 head over a custom built[my specs.]2x12 Eminence Delta 12 cabinet, also, I play a Cort Yorktown and an Ibanez SZ520QM thru this rig, I am a working,solo act[been doin' this a while]! I avoid digital EFX as much as possible and believe that most digital distortions and amp modeling should be consigned to studio only applications! The sounds that the Dragon produces are BIG & full spectrum, from classic, tube-crunch overdrive[think SRV] to heavy sustain metal[think EVH]The bottom end in this pedal is massive! This pedal will go where most other pedals have never gone before! After years of disappointment with the so called "classic" pedals that dominate the marketplace, the Dragon finally brought me home! It just does most things right time after time, I won't even consider trying another pedal, I am having too much fun playing this one! When any instrument or EFX inspires you to play on and stretch yourself, don't put it down! The Silver Dragon should meet the distortion needs of most any player out there, I know that is a big statement, BUT, you gotta hear and "feel" this thing for yourself!

So far, not a glitch of any kind, rehearse with it every day for a couple hours, been about 2 months now! I believe the ALL metal construction and the switches[true by-pass] are of the highest grade, road players have no fear! I would never recommend any player to gig without backups, but you probably would never need one for the Dragon. But having another Dragon for a backup makes good sense,and why not? They are soooo reasonably priced! I am givin' a 9 cause my time with it has been limited.

Rocktron is a service oriented company, you git to talk to real and friendly people who are willing to help, never needed help for the Dragon, but I have made many other inquiries and beeen satisfied with their professionalism! No company is perfect, so I give 'em a 9.

My musical styles range from old-time rock, to new country, also, blues and reggae[island]make it into my act. The Dragon does the variety of sounds that I need from one pedal, it is actually 2 pedals in one and the tones are so fully EQable that there is never a problem with my mix! Been playing since 65, wow, that is gittin' olde, owned a bunch of classic gear way back then, wisht I'da known it was gonna go vintage! The rest of my gear ain't nothin' too special septin' for a Tokai HD28 acoustic dreadnaught that makes Martin players listen up with interest! Have a Crate GX-30M for general purposes, really a handy little amp, play a Fender acoustic/ electric every week, put a Fishman soundhole pickup in it, it has a full and natural tone that piezo pickups just can't equal, that is about it, other goofy gear hangin' around, watch Ebay! I am impressed with the Dragon and would replace it in an instant, as I said, compared it with Many other distortion pedals,the IBZ TS-9, the Marshall Gov'nr, the Route 66, the Zoom Powerdrive to name a few, and it was the pick of the litter. The real "tube tone" is what makes the Dragon the Best Buy winner in my opinion, solid state buzz has its place I guess, but not in my rig, you are gonna spend a lotta loot for a boutique amp or pedal, but before you do, spend a little for a Dragon and save a lot! You won't be disappointed.

Pretty easy to use, once you figure out what the knobs do. The manual (yeah...i said it...)is a big help.

RE-DIC-U-LOUS This thing sounds amazing. I play an American strat with a Blues Jr and I cant believe it. The first channel (awaken) is almost like a great overdrive, while the second channel(slayer) is the best harmonic distortion I've ever heard from a pedal.

Dont really know, only had it a couple of days...looks pretty tough though

Never dealt with them

If distortion is what you want, look no further. This pedal actually replaced my Ibanez Tube screamer!!! Need I say more. I can save the board space because channel one is an awesome overdrive. Definately worth every penny. I play Zeppelin type stuff as well as hair rock from the 80's, and the distortion side of this box can nail every sound I need!!!!

I give it a 10 for for perhaps a little backwards reasoning. Yes, you could make the thing easier to use, just get rid of the second channel, and the solid state controls -- but that isn't the reason I bought the pedal. I wanted a flexible pedal, with a lot of control over my tone, and that is exactly what I got. Any pedal worth it's salt will take some fidgeting to get the sound you want. I am an experienced player, and like to experiment with my sound, and this offered the most control, with the least fuss. My last, (I said last, not LEAST,) favorite distortion effect was the Digitech Twin Tube, and I swear that had wonderful control and possibilities, I hated having to interface with the thing via programs and scrolling and what not. The Silver Dragon allows for all that expression but with a very organic interface. Six knobs and two buttons -- elegant and effective.

I play two guitars, and Alvarez 3-pickup Tele' and a ES-335 copy, my amp is a Fender Princeton Reverb, a Tube Works Real Tube Overdrive and a VOX wah complete my setup. I have no problem with the above setup to get a good clean, warm sound for Jazz and Country. In fact, I thought that was all I would ever need. But, The Silver Dragon allows me all the flexibility I could ever use for Rock and Metal. My taste in Rock spans from Zappa and Neil Young for noise and experimental, to Bowie -- all eras -- and 70's glam and Metal -- T.Rex, Uriah Heep, Yes -- and some modern Rock/Metal. I agree that the pedal might be a little noisy for single coils, but that is only an issue for sounds requiring a lot of dynamics and breath. Which, admittedly, is a rarity in most genres. If I wanted something quiet and tasteful, I'd turn my equipment down and only use the Tube Driver, but for real hot, powerful overdrive, that is where the Silver Dragon shines. I am a 'Tube Snob' admittedly, but the solid state boost on the other channel (Slayer) opens up new worlds. Feedback and pick harmonics are so much easier to achieve and have a much better quality than the tube channel alone can deliver.

Good compact design, rugged metal case. Seems tough. I just don't like the AC adapter. I would much prefer a hard-wired plug. I am hesitant and worry a bit that the plug will fall out on stage sometime.

For a hundred bucks it can't be beat. Only one wish for the pedal, I think it would benefit from a more gradual onset of overdrive. Even the lowest setting seems a little too distorted. If it warmed up to that level in about a third twist of the knob, (and then went the rest of the way it goes) it would totally replace my Tube Driver. But then again, that may take too much away from the pedal as it is. For Rock/Metal, wow, incredible value, flexibility and tonal possibilities.

Getting a good sound was relatively easy but putting up with feedback posed somewhat of a irritating problem at first. A good noise gate should be within tweeking distance.
The manual was fairly helpfull for getting a good launching point for sound. As with anything though it really doesn't mean a damn thing until you fire it up and start twirling knobs. The effects of all the knobs except intensity and breath were obvious and easily observed. The intensity and breathe are subtle tweeking knobs that you can turn back and forth to get that perfect distortion.

The almighty setup includes a Randall RG75 amp, a esp viper 301 with EMG 81 and 85 pickups, and a mexican strat with a dimarzio fast track 2 in the bridge. Probably the first and only turn off was the amount of feedback the pedal generated when I used it with my strat. Of course it's probably not the most sane thing to do, using a guitar that likes to feedback with a high gain anything but none the less it made me reach for my noise suppressor. Even with the noise suppressor cranked to high heaven, I still heard a slight metallic moan whenever I tried any fast stopping while playing. None of these problems were observed while playing with the viper as the pedal along with a guitar that was made for harder stuff truly kicked ass. The perfect sound to conjure up the devil with. Easily matched my desire to copy lamb of god guitar parts with the slayer made activated. With just awaken playing I was able to do a good impersonation of Tom Morello (minus all the whammy pedal acrobatics of course) and Adam Jones.

Well, I've only depended on it for about a month now so only time will tell. Everything is a gamble but I'd say the Dragon is a worthy one. I do not gig so I would definitely say that I would play it in my jam room while leaving my back up pedal in the closet:)

Rocktron has fast and prompt customer service. Not the most wordy bunch of gear dorks but efficient none the less. I e-mailed them curious to know what to do if the tube ever blew out. Could I start opening up stuff and tinkering with complex electrical components that I knew nothing about without voiding my warranty? Within in a day I was e-mailed and told not to touch anything. Just leave it to the professionals and those with a extra $100 to afford a new one. (Should anything go terribly wrong.)

With the harder stuff I like to play, this pedal is it. I traded in my digitech metal master in order to afford it. I wanted something with more of a quality sound. I don't know, the metal master sounded just too processed and digital for my taste. And it was noisy as all hell with my EMGs. I wanted something that had a little bit more oomph to it and more of a focused mutilating sound. I only wish that it had a built in noise gate so that I could maybe put in another pedal in the place of my NS-2. I've been playing now for about four years and so far this is the best sounding set up I've ever had. My other gear includes a digitech digidelay, a digitech turbo flange, a danelectro cool cat chorus,a dunlop dime bag custom wah and a boss NS-2 noise suppressor. The Silver dragon works well with these pedals and even manages to give my a amp a welcome volume boost. If this pedal was stolen, I'd round up my posse find out where the thief lived and set fire to his or her residence. I would then take up tap dancing lessons and panhandle until I had enough money to afford a new one.

I give it an 8 because the knobs aren't standardly named so I had to do the unmanly thing and read the manual, and fiddle a little to get my sound, but don't let that scare you because you can get almost any marshall tone from jtm 45 to plexi to jcm 800 to mode 4 out of this thing!

A definite 10 although a bit noisy at high gain, but no worse than most high gain setups. Definite real tube tone. I bought this to try out through my practice amp (fender blues jr.) and was so blown away by the tone I might sell my halfstack. With just the tube distortion on I get a hot rodded plexi tone. step on the "slayer" mode and you can sound just like the band slayer! I tweaked it to sound like Megadeth's countdown sound and I also run a wylde overdrive in front of it (with the gain at 0) to sound just like Zakk Wylde! I also run a Kerry King eq at the end for a little extra chunk. I love my metal but listen to alot of genres and also play the blues once in a while so I know tone. Bye Bye line 6 amp modeler

It seems tough with quality switches and a metal case, but time will tell. Never gig without plan b! it will bite you someday!

Are you kidding? a little over a hundred bucks for tone this good? My line 6 sounded pretty good, as close as digital or solid state ever will but it still aint in the ballpark to real glowing tubes! If it were ever stolen I'd rip the guys arms off and beat him to death with them and then go after his family!

Pretty simple to use, after you get to know what all the knobs do. Basically, distrortion level, bass, treble, and on channel 2 a knob for mixing tube/solid state distortion levels, and a knob that changes the feel.

This is where I'm blown away- I found this pedal just browsing online, I'd never heard of it before, but I saw it had a tube so I thought I'd try it. Well, I've been messing with it some different ways. First, I recorded with it using a behringer GI100 direct box, and let me tell you it sounded nice. How nice? I play a mesa single rect in my band, and this thing sounds just as good. I don't know why, the tone is similar, but sweeter than the mesa.
So I hooked it up to a 60 watt pignose tube amp on clean setting, and used the pedal for distortion, hooked it through my 2x12 vin30 cab and it sounded incredibly warm and tubey.
My goal was to find a tube pedal to use with my pignise clean amp to try and match the mesa- I think I came close with this one-still not perfect but very sweet sounding.
I've tried mesa vtwin, tubeking, all of them almost- this thing rocks hard. And I couldn't believe the price was only 109, I got it on ebay, but I think that's what they sell for in stores. Of course, I've never even seen one of these in a store before. Anyway, this is some good shit if you like warm tube sounding hardcore sounds.
It came with a chinese 12ax7 which suprisingly sounded fine, as good as a mesa 12ax7- pretty much the same- it was a bitch trying to open the thing to change the tube.

Yeah, I would gig with it. It's heavy metal casing can take a beating, just dont smash it and you should be fine

Don't know-never called those guys

Overall, this pedal is great for any rock style, mostly harder though, think mesa, hard marshall type sounds. Use it with a clean tube power section and it will sound great. I'm not sure how it sounds through a solid state amp-haven't tried it.
Recording was awesome, everyone thought I used some expensive amp, my single rect was sitting at home- lol.
Anyway, not many people know about this pedal- I didn't even know it existed until I saw it on ebay- but it is a great pedal to have fun with. I will definitely keep this one.
If you record, get a behringer GI100 direct box and you will shit your pants when the sound comes through the monitor. They could easily charge $199 for this pedal.

Straight forward. Fun to tinker with. Very responsive eq.

As far as the tube channel. It depends on the tube. I didn't like the Chineese tube that came with the unit so out it came. I have the same problem with the 'real tube' pedal years ago..sorry stock tube makes for sorry tone. Anyway the 'access panel' gives you no chance of clearance so I had the tear the whole damn pedal apart to swap tubes only to find out that it is there isn't clearance for for example a fat (large diameter) tube like Sovtek 12AX7LPS. Luckily I had a skinny American Sylvania 12AX7 laying around. This hit the spot. The tube channel is wonderful, very natural tube overdrive, especially with that Sylvania tube. The solid state 'slayer mode' is very nice indeed...peel your face of metal type thing. The breath control is just awesome. Too damn much fun for just $79 on ebay!

It's a great pedal, and I'm a jazzer myself, but I'll be slaying some dragons for sure with this thing. Thank you Rocktron!

dunno yet

It's perfect for my strat (I'm bragging now) or 1958 Gretsch 6120 and my 59 Fender Bassman RI (w/the real 5f6a circuit). I have 3 great sounding channels to self express and slay dragons or whatever. This is a recommended pedal...And I've had most of the common ones (Boss, MXR, Digitech, Arion, Tube Works...)

2 tipos de distorc?o (Awake e Slayer), a primeira e uma etapa a valvulas, com controle de graves e agudos, a seguda etapa e solid State, com controle de intensidade e de forma da onda que reentra na valvula para adicionar algum "calor" ao som, independentemente dos 2 canais, existe um bot?o para controlar a distorc?o inicial da valvula e um de volume de saida. Da minha experiencia e melhor manter este volume relativamente baixo para evitar "hiss" no amplificador, uma vez que o Gain e Brutal. No geral acho facil de usar e ha uma boa resposta dos bot?es relativamente ao que e suposto fazerem.

O meu setup e Guitarra ESP LTD com pickups EMG 81 e 85 (ponte e braco) como o Zakk Wylde, que entra directamente numa pedaleira Boss GT-6, ligada pelo metodo dos 4 cabos a uma cabeca Marshall JCM 900 2500 SL-X, o send da pedaleira vai para o Silver Dragon e passa ainda por um Guyatone MM-1 Metal Monster antes de chegar a entrada do amp.

O pedal pode se tornar um pouco ruidoso, principalmente "Hiss" se tiver o volume demasiado levantado, mas basta por para ai no 3 para ja terem um grande Boost relativamente ao som limpo do amp (com este pedal, e melhor usarem o melhor som limpo que conseguirem)e o som estar fabuloso.

O pedal tem um som espectacular, o Overdrive (Awake)e optimo para Rock e Blues, enquanto que a Distorc?o (Slayer) leva-vos ao paraiso do Metal (pensem em Metallica, Judas Priest, Ozzy, Iron Maiden, etc).

Comparado com o meu pedal Guyatone Metal Monster, posso dizer que e uma distorc?o mais aberta e talvez mais moderna, embora eu tambem adore o som do ultimo para sons mais Trash (o Silver Dragon e mais Heavy).

So tenho o pedal ha 3 semanas e ate agora tudo bem...

Nunca falei com eles

Eu toco numa banda de Covers, principalmente de Hard Rock e Heavy Metal e encontrei finalmente o som que procurava, a distorc?o e na minha opini?o melhor que a da minha cabeca da Marshall (que como so tem um canal, desde que comprei este pedal uso um setting clean, para musicas mais calmas) e em conjunto com o meu Guyatone Metal Monster consigo ter uma extraordinaria palete de sons para Rock e Metal.

I will take little more time to dial in your tone,since it is basically two distortion unit in one pedal.

This thing can dish out distortion sounds that are incredibly thick and comlex,great for any modern high gain setting. Can obtain nice crunchy tone just using the tube section alone.

I only had it for one month,so it's hard to tell.

i have contacted them for another product and they were positively responsive.

If you are looking for that heavily saturated distortion but with the wormth of tube,this one seems to deliver it. I have had some experience with a real tube distortion pedals( Mesa V twin, RealTube,Tube Factor).I no longer have these but I think I will be keeping this one.