Rocktron Silver Dragon

Very Easy to Tweak, knobs for each setting: Fire (dist), Shriek (treb), Roar (Bass)
Intensity, level, and so on..

My setup: Fender (Strat Mex), Jackson (DXMG), The dragon is in front of a Digitech RP250 run stereo to a crate 120w head to a marshall 19060b cab (Left) and then to a crate 120 twin (Right). I just pickup effects off the Digitech mainly reverb and delay.

I was looking for a more gritty sound when I purchased the dragon and am very satisfied with it. You can get 80's metal type distortion with this pedal and it truly sounds like a very over driven Marshall. I have recently played on the JVM at the guitar center and was happy I purchased this versus paying all that money for a Marshall Head.

I have been playing with this pedal for a long time and haven't had any issues with it. It is consistent in sound and built like a tank. This is the first Rocktron product I have purchased and I have to say I am pretty impressed with it.

Never dealt with them so I don't know

The style of music i play is: Iron Maiden, Rhandy Rhoads, Ratt, Judas Priest, Megadeth

I have been playing for 20 years and I still suck but I truly enjoy the sound of a distorted amp and always will...

If it were lost or stolen I would probably buy this again or step up to one Rocktrons pre-amps built that sound similar to this.
I compared alot of distortion pedals before this: Boss, Line6, Rocktron Metal Planet.

First use the manual, which gives a good standard sound to start with.I got a good sound emmediately by using the settings suggested.The bass setting is a little overpowering so keep it low.Overall it is easy to use.

I am using a fender strat plus with gold lace sensors and a 1983 fender montreux amplifier.Also a gibson lespaul with a peavy bandit 112.As long as you just have it set on the breath setting it is not noisy at all,but when you engage the anlog distortion side you will get a hiss. This doesnt bother me because i only engage that part of this pedal for lead.The intensity level is awesome because it acts like a sort of sustain.If you want to have both parts on at the same time i would suggest simply rolling back the volume on your guitar just a hair until you get ready to play.Once again if you engage the slayer side mid song you will not notice the hiss nor will the audience.The distortion i am getting is very comparable to any tube amp.Both my amps have excellent clear channel so this was an excellent option instead of buying a tube amp. It delivers a good distortion which you can tweak to taste.I have had it for about a year now and it still sounds and performs just like advertised.
Very good for any classic rock and most metalheads.Keep the roar (bass) low for best sound.

So far so good. I have gigged without a backup and wasnt too worried.This looks and feels tough.Maybe in ten years the tube might go out?

I have had no reason to contact.

I play mostly classic rock and blues.I have been playing for about 23 Years.I also have a fender esquire which works great with this pedal.If it were stolen or lost i would buy another, or possibly a very similar pedal with a built in tube.I love the great tube distorton sound that solid state amps cant give you.Like i said the slayer side will hiss,but there are tricks around that.I love the glowing tube it makes the pedal seem alive and lets you know its pumping out great tube distortion.For the price with a built in tube for tube sound it is hard to beat.There are other built in tube pedals but not at this price. For me it gives me the best of both worlds awesome fender clean and thick layered tube distortion.These are just my opinions, ADJUST to your ear and i think you will like what you hear.RATING OVERALL is a 10 For price and performing as advertised.

why to give it less than 10?within a day you can dial up the tones you prefer and use the unit without any problem.

many reviers have said lot of thing about this product. I will say few things maybe some new.I have a ibanez rg240(old model and cheap) and recently i bought an ltd mh-400nt.I also have a Boss GT-8.when i got my new guitar i can barely hear any differences throught my distortion and effect patches.My ibanez had already an emg81 installed.That was sad.
Then before a week i purchased the silver dragon and finally heard why i spended 700 euros for the ltd.I could hear the body resonate and the sustain going forever.I could hear the tone of the guitar and pickups because of the silver dragon.End of story.
only two cons for me: i could have liked more low end and less hiss and hum.But there are solution for these problems and there's no hard feelings!

seems sturdy and the knobs feel and the are great.But i only have it for a week so i'm not gonna give a grade.

didn't needed any support since know.However my local dealer gane me 2 years warranty so ....10/10

This pedal offers good real tone forget about digital crap.I play modern metal such as lamb of god,hatebreed,machine head and even in my crappy amp this thing sounds good.If you use some extra eq i think that the possibilities are endless.Also consider bying a noise suppressor if you don't already have one.

Knobs have funny names, but the manual explains.
Manual is good.

I use 02 guitars
Kramer 86 Flying V(with EMG 81 and 85) / ESP LTD (MV 200 with EMG HZ) ---> NS2 (NOISE SUPRESSOR) ---> Zakk overdrive ---> Dime Distortion ---> Silver Dragon ---> Equalizer MXR (10 band) ---> DD3 ---> AMP (METEORO 200W)
boost pedal in send/return (solos only)

***** THIS PEDAL KILL, **** AND DESTROY all my favorite boss, marshall, samsamp distortion pedals ***** ITS TRUE, BRUTAL KILLER SOUND... INSANE!!!

Before I read all the reviews in this page... 2, 3, 4... times I BOUGHT **I AM NOT DISAPPOINTED**

Best sound with this:
1- Take care level botton up to 3 hours (hiss sound)
2- You have a noise gate?
buy because its necessary, VERY IMPORTANT.
3- Its bigger..., but I LOVE IT

if you're not happy you can just change the tube to your liking

I am impressed with the quality given the price.

DESTROY / INSANE

Overall, this pedal has great control and Tone.
t has great bottom end & good, driving mids with razor sharp highs that sound like they will take your head off...

If you is a metal player... buy the best METAL ******* MACHINE tomorow. : )

First, you will never find a more die hard "tone whore" out there than me. I build my own amps per Leo Fender's original designs, mostly tweed era. My clean sound is extremely important to me, new amps that are not hand wired simply don't do it for me...and if you have played 50s/early 60s Fender amps...you understand exactly what I am talking about, don't you?

That said, I need a moderately distorted and heavily distorted sound for certain situtations: slide guitar and blues guitar.

This pedal is more satisfying in this catagory than most, well actually all others. Personally I've played over 100 distortion boxes...this Rocktron Silver Dragon is simply the best.

No pedal, new or vintage is more versitile than this Silver Dragon, none deliver the range of tones and volumes that this pedal does. No it's not a vintage tube screamer, but I'd take this pedal over a vintage tube screamer any gig, every gig.

The fact 1/2 of this pedal runs on a tube makes it's quality dependent on that tube, which is good. I've had mine for 2 years, I'd replace it without thinking twice if it gets lost or stolen.

Perfect Rocktron, perfect.

Pretty easy to use, responds well with changes in the amp or EQ settings of my rack. The manual explains everything, including the somewhat noob-confusing names. If you are a guitarist, easy to use. If tones don't sound proper, go to your amp, or other places and dial them in a bit better, and go back to the pedal and make slight adjustments to it as well.

I can get the sounds of different metal genres that I play, as well as other genres. I can approximate tones of different amps as close as I care to, and get great results. I am using this with my Peavey Rockmaster head, laney cab, Ibanez or Hamer guitars, and one of two boss SD-1/DS-1 if needed. This pedal would be noisy if you set both distortions full, had the eq's set really high (past 5/12:00), and/or had the volume incredibly loud, especially if the pedals vol didnt match the amp. The effects always sound good, though if you set the distortions all the way to 0 and don't have much distortion coming elsewhere, it's a bit lacking, but could appeal to blues and country folks if they wanted a bit more a of rock-type firey sound.

Seems sturdy enough. My other Rocktron pedals are still going strong. Time will tell.

Never dealt with this company.

I play metal guitar, with the occasional drift into blues, classical or rock territories. It's a good match and could be used for a multitude of genres, but always leaning towards the more extremes of these genres. I have been playing five years, and my other reviews show what I own, such as my recent review for the Boss SD-1. I'd get this again, whether or not the tube is actually fundamental in it's tone, I don't really care. I love the fact it works with my amp like a rhythm dist and a lead dist channel. I compared it with other pedals in the price range, and decided I liked this the most. I chose this because of past experiences with Rocktron. I wish the plate for the tube was a bit bigger for easier switching. It helps me make music in the areas of extreme metal, which I have been looking for.

Manual is very helpful. Got good tones right out of the box.

Very noisy but it is a gain pedal so what do you expect. It is funny cause I have a mesa rectoverb and this pedal sounds exactly like the dirty channel but I like it better cause I can keep the output sound around the same level as the clean channel on the amp. I don't even know why I have my Mesa anymore. This thing is awesome.

Like a rock.

I have had a bunch of distortion pedals. I like this one the best. I took it out of my chain for a few days and used my big muff pi. I put it right back. I really like the fact that I can switch on the solid state section for solo's and have the tube channel on for rhythm work. That is the units biggest selling point. It is like having a high gain channel with a built in tube screamer. I have no use for my dirty channel on my amp anymore. This unit screams. It really does. I use it for all my aggresive rock songs such as disturbed/metallica etc. This really has helped out my soloing cause the sustain goes on for days.

Out of box, used Manufacturer suggested settings. Real Easy. Chicken nobs so not hard to tweak.

This is the BEST sounding distortion I have ever heard. Previously used a Korg AX1500G and going to this is like night and day. It brings out my active pickups as well. I use this with a Morley Wah and a Carl Martin Red Repeat and a 40V Pignose Amp....great sound. Very low noise with the Awake but some hiss with the Solid State overdrive.Not much at all....

This is my main pedal for gigging...would NOT need a backup. Very rugged casing, metal. Wouldn't Suggest dropping this thing as there is a 12AX7 tube inside.

N/A

PLay heavy rock, wanted a pedal that could handle rhythm and lead sounds...this does it. I would definitely replace this item if stolen. Really sounds great with active pickups!!

it definately takes some fiddling. I just leave the tone knobs(shriek and roar) at 1 o'clock. Put the tube stage distortion at three the solidstate distortion cranked and the breath knob at 10. I'm not sure what that knob does. I mean it changes the sound but its hard to tell how.
The switches are metal switches but they switch real easy. kinda like a guyatone pedal.

strat>dreamtone dreamcomp>silver dragon>boss ph3>budda budwah>analog yamaha flanger>boss giga delay> fender twin

Great great pedal. I love different stages of distortion, but the twin isn't enough gain for me at times. The tube stage of this pedal sounds real good and crunchy and really pushes the fender over the top. It is my ideal tone for rockin' out.

Now the slayer mode or the solid state mode is insane! better than a boss metal zone because it still has a little tubeish feel in there. GREAT for solos so much sustain that I could probably drop the compressor out of my lineup and i probably will.

Now I'm all about changing tubes and when I heard people saying they did I jumped at the chance to mod this pedal, and i figured if it was already this good, hell, I might as well make it better. Bad idea. This pedal is insane to take apart. it took more than an hour to taki apart change tubes and put back together. I put it an electro-harmonix gold pin. It didn't change the sound at all, it cut down on the noise by %6.5 and that is it. Waste of time and aggrivation. Stick with the stock tube.
It is a pretty noisy pedal if using it with your amps dirty channel, but i really don't care about noise. but it gets a nine for that because it is the noisiest distortion pedal I have ever played. but it's also the best.

Hell yeah, rocktron is solid. when I took this pedal apart i was amazed. We don't need no stinkin' backups!

oh that reminds me there was someone on here that said the tube doesn't work and there is a led under it to make it look like it is lit up.
He's half right. There is a led under it that lights up and it even fades in and out when you turn it on and off. Hey rocktron, that is super gay. But this pedal doesn't work without the tube. I tried it while i had it open. It turns on but no sound comes out. And when the tube is in, you do have to wait for it to warm up to start playing.

changing the tube voided the warranty so I will never know.

I got a hell of a deal and I love this pedal. I don't even bring the footswitch for my amp now. These are my two gain channels now.
if it were stolen I would hurt someone on my way to the store to get another one.
I have played a ton of pedals and own even more.

metal to jam it's great.

This pedal is quite easy to use, despite what some may think. The knobs do have funny names, but the manual explains it pretty well.

I have 3 main guitars, and Ibanez RG, Strat, and a Danelectro Hodad. All these sound quite good through it. The pedal can get a bit of hum when on high gain settings. The 2 band EQ on it can get some very tasty sounds. I changed out my 12ax7 for a 12at7 to reduce the gain a bit and get a smoother overdrive. The breath control doesn't seem to do too much for me, though.

I got it used with a burned out resistor supplying the tube. A run to radio-hack and I was up and running. I think it would be pretty reliable, as I don't really know what could have cause the burnout. I use it in my pedalboard with other distortion pedals. Being true backup helps in case I do have any problems. It could have been a bad tube that the previous owner had in it.

I e-mailed the company for a schematic, and recieved it 5 minutes later. They were very helpful. never had to have them do work on it, as I am pretty well versed in working on electronics.

I play a lot of stuff, and I use it for guitar and bass. It's been a great pedal so far.

The manual is JUNK.

It is really hard to dial a GOOD sound out of it. Almost impossible.

The name of the knobs and buttons are silly... Fire! shriek! Slayer? wth! hahaha morons.

Want to change tubes? good! because it will be as hard as dialing a good sound out of it. and an stock chinesse crappy 12ax7? ha! u gotta be kidding me. "What a hunk of junk!"

This pedal is big too, dont be fooled by photos. it will take the space for lets say 2 boss pedals.

Well... This is it. This pedal sounds terrible. OK, no... that was a bit impulsive. Let me say it in more elaborated words.

This pedal SUCKS a lot; the sound is basically what you can get with another metal pedal, but IT IS NOISY AS HELL. I have used metal zones, warp factors and generic metal pedals (grunge, supra distortion death metal distortions; DOD's, Digitech'Arion, Danos) you name it. The almost do the same... just a shitload of gain and high and mid cuts with some kind of controlable drive or EQ and thats it.

Yes this DO sound a bit more full and natural, it is overdriven by a tube for Christ sake, but IT IS SO NOISY that u will not find it useful in modern metal music like for silences and breakdowns. The feedback this pedal produces is amusical and annoying.

Just stick with cheap another generic metal pedal

Sure, you can use the first button; the tube distortion (the green led) it will sound as a good natural distortion (think a tube version ot the Boss ds1) but the noise (the shriek knob) WILL be there; and for a natural distortion is EXPENSIVE as hell. I suggest to try it, and then stay away from it.

The only rig I have ever listened this that this pedal sounded decend was in my old Crate bv120 Blue Voodoo head. Other than that... terrible (and mind you the amp have a better built-in tube distortion than this) Other than that it sounds aweful in marshall, bassman and devilles. ew!

It get a 4 because at least the distortion "awaken" button sounds almost decent, although this pedal price tag is horrible and the noise is just unacceptable.

YES! its HARD METAL CASING... really durable.. you can rely to kill someone you hate with it in 2 ways:

1) making his/her ears bleed
2) Stabbing someone with it. It will do that job more than one time.

Sure its hard and i have gigged with it a lot (im poor i CANT USE backups) So i think this pedal is realiable overall.

dont know. dont care. Rocktron pedal sucks most of the times. this will not be different.

This is it. This pedal is horrible. the first time i listened to it was because my friend was using my blue voodoo for a gig and he used this pedal with it. I was so in love i traded right away with him.

What an error. it was the only time the pedal sounded right.

Guitar... fender with... yes, NOISELESS!!! ha! and SG... and hum cancelling guitars basically. I like quiet settings with slow attack and bite. Amps, well Blue voodoo, Bassman, Vampire... quite some.

The error in this guitar is called the shriek knob. it is supposed to make a subtle effect... but it does just that... and horrible shriek in any setting (you CANT dial off this thing)

I change the tube with an electro harmonix, general electric and stuff. it sounded almost the same. Dont fool yourself. the tube dont make that much of a difference in this pedal, after all is an hybrid pedal, not a full tube pedal. The noises stood there... and the tube was a pain in the ass to swap.

and this cost over 100 dollars new?

even if they put away that horrible noise, the sound of the pedal is not that great. it just sound as generic as other "death metal" pedals. This pedal, even without all the flaws dont cost over $100.

No, no. If you are reading this, is because you are looking to perfect your sound... believe me friend. this IS NOT it.

for less the price you can find LOTS of better pedal than this one. In example: a Warp Factor or a metal zone. Both are horrible pedals but beat the crap out of a silver dragon any day. If you are looking for a REAL TUBE pedal.. be prepared to spend in some kind of mesa pedal pre amp or soldano... if you are looking for something realiable and cheap...

try the zoom tri metal, metal zone, warp factor, metal muff, a jackhammer or a sans amp (and basically any other pedal that is not the Silver Dragon)

IF you WANT A TUBE distortion overdrive... save up a little bit... and buy a something in the price range like SansAmp or... better YET... a Radial TONEBONE hot british. WOW. thats the best tube distortion marshall EMULATION pedal for its price. it blows the marshall jackhammer OUT of the water, into the blue... like that game smash bros... whatever dude. its awesome. Words cant explain it.

the TONEBONE sounds great; is NOT noisy at all and cost about $50 more than this silver dragonic abomination. And this sounds really awesome and is even smaller (sure in sites look bigger and the sound clips SUCKS!, but if you use one... you'll love it)

Either if you are looking to expand your sonic palette or you are looking for one heavy metal pedal... this pedal (the silver dragon) is just NOT WORTH the money or the time.

But all in all... try it before you buy it, and let you ears decide. to me... this pedal is just awful.

Pretty easy to use, the manual has an excellent starting point and from there it is just a matter of messing around with it. I suggest using a good pickup as my own formula for a good tone is a quality guitar with highend pickups and good amp (not most expensive)but technique which comes with practice is the most important. Only a professionally modified amp gets 10, because it has been modified to a specific tone.

I currently use a Ibanez with a Dimarzio Super Distortion in the bridge, with the Silver Dragon going into the clean channel of a Peavey Transtube Supreme head into a Marshall 1969B cab set @ 16ohm. This sound is pretty good but take into consideration that I have alot of other equipment (a collector) and this amp I did not want to go to waste, so I matched it with the Silver Dragon(which I also did not want to go to waste). I have many other guitars and have tried them with this setup and the best overall sound comes from the Dimarzio Super Distortion. The Silver Dragon does a good job of bringing to life a SS tube emulating amp. Definately for metal with channel 2 and a more rock/bluesy sound on 1, true bypass. Matched with a decent amp this pedal does have a great sound (very heavy with a good tone)perfect for spicing up a amp that is lacking something. I don't try and get the sounds of anybody else cuz I want to sound like myself so I can't say if you can pull a specific players sound out, but with the versatility of this pedal it is highly possible. It is very noisy coming through the amp when idle so a good noise reduction of some kind is always good,but when you are playing and rocking out your amp is usually not idle for long. So much equipment out there to choose from and in the end it boils down to taste, go out and try it see if it works for you,it works for me as a much more cheaper and great sounding alternative to it's more expensive competitors. I like playing Very heavy melodic metal and this pedal has alot of potential in that sound. If you are looking for something to help with adding tone and gain this works well.

I own a few other Rocktron products, new and used and have never had any problems. This pedal is built very sturdy and seems to be able to take a beating but I believe equipment should be taken care of. Never play out with backup, no need to as I take care of my equipment.

Never had to deal with

I have been playing 22 years, and my favorite piece of equipment is my modified Peavey Rockmaster preamp and rack setup (Brutal toneful sound). I also use a Rocktron Maxe preamp (heavy sound, good tone)amongst other equipment. If something were to happen to this pedal I would probably have it fixed in time as this setup I keep around for friends with no equipment to use when we get together and jam. This setup Ibanez(Dimarzio Super Distortion)---->Silver Dragon---->(clean Channel)---->Peavey Transtube Supreme(Head)---->Marshall 1969B cab @ 16ohm can hold it's own. For the price it cannot be beat unless you put out the money for a leejackson XLS1000p great pedal. As I said before I can play a little of everything but my main style is melodic Metal influenced by bands like Children of Bodom, Dissection but with my own touch. The Silver Dragon can definately help drive a sound in this dircection but one should always try and sound like themselves with the tools they buy. Definately worth checking out! Hope this helps! later

the names are kule but confusing . i have a lot of equipment so difficult to remember . the first channel i understand the 2nd channel seems to be for fine tuning shredding.

i use a peavey rockmaster 120 watts turns this antique into a 5150. i also use a jcm800 combo but put into a stack instead and a 4x12 peavey sheffield that sometimes makes noises an other time times sounds fine. the 4x12 is old and beat up and paid little for. Still it sounds incredible and im using he first channel not the solidstate channel which im not too keen on.This i wish i had a 30 years ago its a must have . especially for that hard rock rock cream sound. it dont do nu metal as far as ic an tell but does everything else /

seems built like a tank but has a wall wart. love if it had a real cord.but price isnt that high and ibought it used.

dont know never contacted

this is the bomb. if you want warm sustain from medium 2 heavy it rules.However,I would have preferred not the solid state 2nd channel or boost you can engage and instead a lighter tube sound thats adjustable for that slight tube driven tone. ive heard that on the mesa boogie pedal.i got plenty of pedals and this will make your tube amp sing. BUt have not tried on solid state amps. If you have a single channel tube amp and want it to do pro overdrive and sustain run and get this pedal..I was gonna modify my marshall jcm 800 into a 900 or whatever, but who needs to with this pedal. if you cant get a good overdrive sustain with this pedal stop jerkin off and practice.

once you sit down and really mess aroudn with it the different names are no problem.

washburn wi64dl->compressor->silverdragon->crate vintage club 120.

the silver dragon sounds good with the 12ax7 if you like alot of distortion, i tried a 12at7 which lowered noise and distortion a little and then a 12au7 which made a big difference and made all of the controls a little less subtle most of all the breath function was noticeable now and the the second stage was controllable. I find the best treble and bass ratio to be 3 on treble and 4 on the bass, or the suggested setting of 5 treble 6 bass is good if you want a little bit of fuzz added to the distortion.

i can really get a good early clapton/cream sound out of the first stage at about 4 and with the compressor on and distoriton at about 6 i get a tube screamer with more headroom sound that i love.

i gave it a 8 because after all the tube changing and different brands i tried the slayer mode started acting up but i fixed it by messing with the wires and switch a little.

never had to sue it.

i play mostly blues/rock some punk and a little metal occasionally and this pedal works great for all them, but that i just my personal taste as for metal i do not like the voer the top distortion, but im sure with the 12ax7 you could get those tones. What i like most about this pedal is solos on the slayer mode after the 12au7 tube is put in. In my opinion the harmonic distortion you get out of this is great and unique enough to eb noticed but it doesnt clash with other instruments and distortions.

see below

i rather liked this silver dragon. i'm shipping it back though, for no good reason. satisfied my curiosity at least, but for the money i've decided to get a tube amp (vox, $179 15 watts). this is probably the best distortion pedal i have ever played, and i've played MANY distortion pedals (you name it). it looks cool, solidly built aluminum housing. two foot switches, sturdy chicken-head knobs, which look cool and would all appear functional and give variety. HOWEVER, my only complaint is that some of the knobs really don't audibly seem to do much, if anything at all. in fact, you'd really only need one switch on this unit, far as i can tell. please, manufacturers and design engineers: don't put a knob or switch on a device unless it seriously DOES SOMETHING. that being said, when all the controls are maxed (and as i've said a couple knobs it doesn't seem to matter what the setting is, damn subtle effect if any if you ask me), this pedal provides a warm, deep, but serious distortion, almost perfect for metal, and that's undoubtedly due to the vacuum tube, which glows with an alluring orange color through its little metallic window. great sound with this distortion pedal.

blah....pretty difficult as the knobs dont do much in describing what they do...i hate stupid names.

i reviewed this pedal a long while ago, back when i was still using solid state...and i think a traynor tube head...which is equivalant to any fender all tube head...

for the last "metal" guy who posted...keep searching dude, there are way better tones out there.

im a heavy metal player myself. not a drop tunes, 5 fret trudging moron...i shred. this pedal is so damn noisy. changing the tube was a good idea...but REALLY didnt do much of anything. the "overdrive" is absolutely pointless. and the "high gain" mode isnt really "high gain"...just alot of noise. along with some distortion. but more noise than distortion...its quite frusutrating. i recorded with my band while i used this thing, and i noticed it had an odd tone...

well, a month or so ago i bought a peavey jsx...its not a metal heads dream STOCK...so i changed the tubes to 6l6gc, and all the 12ax7s to vintage phillips...and i run the gain on the ultra channel half way, and overdrive it with either a dod even harmonic overdrive or a vintgage ts-9 clone...i swear to god, its %100 the metal tone i was after...leads that cut through Paiste Rudes, and rhythms to get your bowels moving...

you think this pedal is good? buy a REAL tube head with REAL tube distortion...just because you own a tube amp dont mean shit, you shouldnt have to buy a high gain distortion stomp...and i dont have to any longer...this thing was TOOOO big for what it does. anyone heard of Home Brew Effects? check out the powerdrive...its WAY better in the sense of high gain/space. the silver dragon kind of reminded me of a mesa...noisy, shrill, and oddly toned... i use dimarzio x2n, super 2, and super distortion pickups in my usa warlock and custom built "mongrel"...so i was expecting pretty good tone, a major thanx to my pickups...but...well...when you hear distortion from a peavey/marshall/bogner/engl, you realize that this thing is pretty shitty...

terrible. the power supply got stolen, and it took them over 2 weeks to respond to my email for a new one...and the response i did get was filled with "cuz" "u" ya" and "r"...i swore i got an email from a 13 year old!





.

i play metal. 100 percent real metal. megadeth, iron maiden, children of bodom...to satch, yngwie, and symphony x... i expect good tone from the things i buy...i bought this thing under a year ago...and sold it last month. the last time i used it was around march. seriously folks, this thing is TOOOOO noisy. yes, i had a noise gate. but this DAMN thing was too noisy and didnt have enough gain on tap. talk about worthless...rocktron is pretty much shit, with the exception of the prophecy. take my advice and opinion into strong consideration...YOURE BUYING EXPENSIVE CRAP!

Couldn't be easier to use. There's just enough options here to satisfy the knob-turner in all of us without getting anywhere near overwhelming.

This is THE BEST distortion pedal I have ever had the honor of playing through and I've tried an enourmous amount of pedals and effects over the decade I've been playing. I've tried and modded just about everything by Boss and I've run a lot of Danelectro, Digitech, etc... if my local music store had it out on display I tried it.

The pedal is a full on preamp and has a lot of oomph to it. You have two stages of distortion, the first one controlled by a 12ax7 tube. I've been able to dial in a nice classic rock crunch, a la AC/DC with this. I don't use crunch much, as I am what you can consider a shredder and full on metal player. I mainly use this channel when I want something a little dirtier than clean for a lead or melody or two.

Channel 2, marked "Slayer", is full on metal style of distortion that mixes a solid state distortion with the tube stage mentioned earlier. Its a very rich, deep distortion with great sustain and responds well to your pick attack. Its perfect for palm mutes and that sort of thing since it doesn't muddy up all when you mute.

"Intensity" control does just that. It seems to respond differently (and also feed back more at higher settings) to your pick depending on where you set this one. You can get more of a bite or muddy it up a bit to your liking with this.

"Breath" controls the character of each note. Basically the shape the sine wave makes on a graph. It's a subtle effect but its there and is just something else to play with to shape your tone more.

Someone mentioned that this pedal "poisons the sound of your guitar"... which is unlikely because its True Bypass.

I didn't rate this a "10" because this thing is SO NOISY on "Slayer" mode. You almost need a noise gate if you are going to run this pedal in any sort of professional situation.

I've owned it close to a year and can't really say. It's made of aluminum and looks pretty sturdy. The tube is well protected.

N/A

As mentioned before I play shred/metal. I use a Carvin DC400 into this pedal into a Fender Deville (plus some other effects) and I get the tone I am looking for with this set up. I am stepping up to a more professional setup with a modded Mesa Rectifier, so because of this I wouldn't replace it if lost or stolen. However, this thing beats the hell outta any BOSS pedal I have ever owned, even a Robert Keeley modded Metal Zone.

My only real grip about this thing is the hissing on the high gain stage, and the SIZE of this thing. Its rougly 12 inches long and probably 4 or 5 inches deep. It was very difficult working this thing into my pedal board because of the size and orientation of the inputs and DC jack. The pedal can not be run off of batteries and is powered by a 13 volt (!) adaptor. Because of this power rating my board can't power the pedal either so I have WAY too many wires running around my set up.

All in all its a good pedal. Just wish they designed the shape a little better.

The Silver Dragon is very easy to use, and you can get a good sound out of the unit almost immediately. The manual was very useful as a starting point.
I see many people have replaced the tube, I haven't yet but may do so, to see if I can get less hiss.

I use this pedal with a Gibson 335 and a Fender Strat thru a VHT Pitbull, and love the result. Lots of gain and sustain, my only comment is a little hiss, but I do use alot of gain. Great for Hard Rock, Blues and some Metal. I find the bypass to be a true bypass and it does not color the original sound of the guitar.

The pedal seems very well made and I would use it with out a backup. The power cord is a little short.

I never had to deal with the company.

This is a great pedal for Rock, and Blues and some Metal. I don't need a channel switching amp anymore, with this pedal. I been playing for 15 years, and if the pedal were to be stolen I would replace it. I wish you could store some of the settings, but then it wouldn't cost $99.

This is an update to an earley review. Ive gotten about 6 months of use into this unit and can give a better review now.

Changing the tube and doing the 900 ohm resistor change has made this a most useful pedal. The tube was groove tube 12ax7? I can now adjust it from clean to overdriven on the first chanel and get the super drive on the second. The sound quality was greatly improved. A much more full bodied sound. I usually set the settings and forget it. I play alot of clean Or slightly driven rythyms and like the Santana type feedback lead I can get out of my semi hollow bodies. I think the secret is using a compressor before it and a chorus after. The Compressor adds a 3rd kick to the sound when you want sustain. Those who dont like this units sound probibly still wont, but those who do will get a much better Touch and feel for playing notes and chords.
I presonally use about 3 or 4 different kinds of distortions/overdrives including my marshall overdrive channels, Fender overdrive channel, A boss dual channel rack unit, An old Yamaha rack unit, An earley rocktron GEP half rack unit, A marshall Govenor, and a Morley JD10 pedal to name a few. All have their uses in studio and live. It all depends on what I'm playing and what I want to get. Anyone who thinks one unit will do it all is just hasnt got it yet. The sound on this does take some tweeking and most of all You Have To Know How To Play. This isn't a Grunge machine that makes everything sound the same. I rate this Highly for pros and Those who think theyre pros better get back out there and start playing again because youve lost youre ear. Better yet Let someone else use it live while you sit and listen. Maybe you'll begin to appreciate its sound.

Well built aluminum.

NA

Great for the Price, With a few Mods You can get a fantastic sound. Not for everyone. If you grew up on crappy transistor boxes and think they have a good sound like the Tube Screamer or MXR which are Diode clipper boxes good for you, stick with it. Less compitition for Real Musicians who earn a living playing.

The knobs have stupid names, but it is pretty easy to use.The tube is WAY harder to change then it should be, you have to take apart the whole cover, and the tube cover is too small to enen fit the tube through.

Good sounding pedal, the chinese tube is o.k. I changed it to a GT 12AX7M mullard re-issue.
This was a mistake because first, I play pretty high gain music, and second because it took forever to change the tube.The GT smoothed it out a bit but over compressed it so, I am going to switch to a 12AX7EH and see if it sounds better.

With chinese tube:9
With GT12AX7M:7

ALWAYS gig with a backup, especially tubes.

no.

I bought is 6 months ago before rocktron wised up and raised the price.Other than the dumb knob names and the tube taking forever to change it is a very good sounding pedal.

silver dragon sucks. it takes up a really large space and it doesn't sound good.
gain on channel 1 starts grainy and goes a little dirtier. there's neither warm clean boost nor high gain tube OD. it's just in the middle of somewhere. it is useful sometimes but not versatile.
channel 2 is super duper high gain in ay setting. oh no! it's just crappy noise past 11 o'clock. and the other knob??? a really slight eq curve that's all.

casing has sharp corners and it can damage your gear or yourself. and lets not forget the 13Volt adapter, it's just ridiculous.

I did change the tube to a gold-pin mesa 12AX7 and there was nothing different. it still was either impotent tube od or stupid high gain.
not suitable for metal or rock or blues.

silver dragon is good for NOTHING.

bad by-pass as well, poisons your guitars tone. much worse than Boss DD-6, I love that pedal but can't stand it's life sucking by-pass.

SILVER DRAGON IS JUST AN OVERSIZED AND OVER-RATED, STUPID SOUNDING PEDAL.

Hey it's a Stomp Box with great descriptions on what each control will do. The manual spelled it all out.

This thing sounds incredible. Once you kick in the tube, the tone has that warm, thick crunch that you would expect. It is nice to have a pedal that doesn't just try to sound like it has a tube, but actually has one and it sounds great!

No glitches yet. Came with an adaptor and was ready to go right out of the box and hasn't failed me yet - - either in practice or live.

I called Rocktron before I bought this product and get all the info I needed. The Rocktron Tech Support returned my call within minutes.

I use this pedal mostly for Metal, but have also used it on Blues gigs. It is pretty versatile. I have used more brands and types of distortion pedals and can't get over the tone I get out of this one. I have always loved Rocktron's distortion tones and can't believe the prices you can get that tone for now.

I have just had a quick glance and seen some unfavorable reviews. I think their Silver Dragons must be broken or the tube has gone!

There is nothing that competes with the clarity and feel of this pedal. This is a full on preamp, not a distortion pedal. In the FX loop it takes over and replaces your amps preamp. But works great with a nice clean channel too.

Channel 1 is blues, 70's rock. Unmistakable valve tone like you'd get from an all tube preamp. Channel 2 is gain/shred city. Even with the gain on 0 it is high gain.

The two tone knobs are very interactive. If you set both knobs very low (0-2) you get a typical narrow frequency solidstate pedal tone, higher and the treble becomes sparkly and ultra modern, higher values on the bass give a huge but defined bottom end that will shake your cab. Valves of 5 treb/5 bass give me an ultra modern Mesa tone. Anything past 5 on the tone controls is just unusable. Valves 3/3 a less extreme modern tone (think new Marshall with boost pedal). The sweet spot for both is between 3/4 no, higher. The controls are VERY sensitive.

Valve changes drastically change the pedal. Ecc81/Ecc82 change the gain characteristics a lot. Different Ecc83's have a lesser effect on the whole.

Ch1 with gain set on 0, and your guitar knob rolled down to about 5 (on a strat) gives the most realistic "on the verge of breakup" clean tone with valve compression you've ever heard from a pedal. Outstanding.

My only complaints are that the gain knob is too much on both channels, channel 1 with gain 0 is already in bluesy crunch territory. Channel 2 with gain 0 is already into heavy metal area. Gain 3+ on channel two is serious shred. I have never used more than Gain 4 on channel 2 for the most distorted Yngwie type playing.

I have experimented with the 2nd channels gain pot and by installing a lesser value pot gives more control over the gain but doesnt allow it to be reduced enough. Really, only by lowering the gain at input can we tame this beast. Substituting for a low gain ecc81/82 gives you more control but stops the pedal short of high gain.

Theres a natural compression that I love. No other pedal has given me this except Tonebone Hot British has the same feel but doesnt do the bluesy crunch that CH1 on the Silver Dragon does. Even on Ch2 the compression is there, at low volumes, in your hands your guitar *feels* like your amp is on a lot louder.

One last thing. The Assymetrical clipping knobs next to master Vol has a brightness effect. You can hear working if CH2 gain is set high. Unfortunately because the CH2 gain is so extreme and only useable in the lowest settings I never get to use this feature. When I installed an ECC81 (which allows the CH2 gain to be set near max and still be usable) you can very much hear the assymetrical clipping knob work as a presence lift.

Word of warning, changing the tube means dismantling the whole pedal. Not for the faint hearted; beware of the pots, they can easily be snapped when sliding the chassis in and out or when taking the valve out.

Also, I did put a broken tube in once (the tube wouldnt light up fully when tested in my amp) and the Rocktron got very messy and ugly sounding.

I have owned so much gear - Zoom Hyperlead, Trimetal, 5000. Keeley DS1 MT2 SD1. Tons of other kit. Marshall Drivemaster, Guvnor Mk1 etc.

You are not going to get to appreciate this pedal if you are running it through your run of the mill dull, frequency starved solidstate or worse a modelling amp. I use a Peavey Duel 6L6 valve amp with Celestion Hot100 speakers (hifi clarity). My amp is a clone of a Fender Twin and is the most clear, true sounding amp I've owned (against Laney TT series, LC, Marshall DSL50, Trace Elliot, rack gear etc.).

The pedal is very transparent for your amp. All those sparkly highs and solid defined bass will be retained (or boosted if you want). But remember, if your amp isnt producing them (eg. low end solidstate and especially modelling amps) you aint gonna hear the total frequencies this pedal puts out.

Feature packed: covers all ranges of gain and is even two channel.

Especially considering the ridiculously low price, this is king of all pedals. This is the benchmark at which I rate any distortion device against. You'd have to go the valve preamp rack route to beat it.

This is a follow up response. I had been a little scared by the reviews that stated the tube isn't even hooked up. They are WRONG. I did the suggested mod of putting in a 12AU7 -- and lo and behold -- virtually a new pedal altogether. It cleaned things up quite a bit, but most importantly reduced the noise level. I have to agree with the reviewers who have said the stock Chinese tube is no good. A thirty year old Conn tube did wonders.

Now it gets a good 70's British metal tone. Think Led Zepplin, Deep Purple, Uriah Heep ..... etc

This is an update to my review on 3/29.

Initially, I changed the stock tube to a Sovtek 12ax7. It was an improvement over the POS it came with, however I still had trouble in that the Awaken knob was virtually useless past the very lowest settings. It seemed to be fully distorted past 8 0'clock. I changed to a 12au7 and it improved greatly. I recomend a 12au7 or 12at7. It gives you more control over the awaken mode. It effects the slayer mode but only very little. I've seen others recomend other mods. If anyone has any further ideas please e-mail me at
rockwett@yahoo.com. I still love this pedal.

It's very easy to use, just use the manual stock settings to start with, then go from there. Just adjust it to whwre you like it.

I use this with a les Paul and a fender Power Tele thru a chandler tube echo into a crate vc3112 and a music man 112amp and it sounds awesome. Great tube sustain and feedback if you so desire. I no longer use the second channel on the crate for over drive, just the "silver Dragon" Huge amount of gain. I love the Slayer mode. I wish that you could have some
preset ability to store different gain settings.

Seems to be very well built. I have used it on 10 gigs no problem.
The power supply cord is a little short for me.

Hope I never need it.

Great value, if stolen I would replace it right away.

This thing is simple, Homer Simpson could set it up and Lisa would totally jam out on it. Adjust it to where you like it. very much like a gain tube amp.

People who are thinking this will augment a high gain tube amp will be disappointed. It works great on my Spider II, with the cleanest amp model tone setting. It is basically unusable on my Bravo 112 amp. You will want to run this through an amp, using it direct out into the mixer sounded very cheesy, it seems to be built to feed tone to an amp. It has a classic gain amp sound, not really Marshall, not really anything I can think of, a generic but good sounding tube tone. The Slayer mode is addicting, the tube only would be good for mellower stuff, blues, etc.

It seems moderately sturdy, reliability only time will tell, I just got this, so this is a first report. I normally wouldn't comment so soon, but this thing needs some exposure. The tube is connected, I looked inside, it is definitely connected, so the guy saying the tube isn't even hooked up woul