Rocktron VooDu Valve On-Line

it's pretty easy unless you are a brain dead monkey. I didn't get a manual for it. But I didn't need it. Just twist a few knobs here and there, pain in the ass. It took me about 10 mins to figure it out. You can download some midi patch software instead of linearly editing with the knobs.

Just direct with a strat.

It's not too noisy. Has a dirty pot. HUSH? WTF? It doesn't give me any problems like other people complain about.

The effects. They are ok if you edit them. Most of the presets are way over the top and nasty.

Sound quality is alright. I traded for this with a real shitty digital gear I had. This thing sounds much better than that junk. But at the store they had it hooked up to some seriously nice tube power amp. I figured the reason they hooked me up to such a nice rig for a reason ;-)

I like the few bluesy/texas patches, the gain stuff sounds like sh*t mostly to me, but it does really good clean stuff. It has a few decent effects, a nice pitch shifter and few others. All the presets are massively nasty over the top super hyper processed junk to make it sound fat. It can sound very good if you take the time to remove all that over-the-top crap.

The thing that bothers me about this is that the thing is hardwired to certain effect patches, you can't choose what you want you are stuck to a few various effect chains. They should have made it modular. Really lame IMHO.

If you don't have much interesting gear, this will sound good enough. It's imho one of the better digital preamps around.

I have no idea.

I have no idea.

I mostly just mess around, blues, rock, metal.

If it got stolen I would just get myself a real tube preamp next time.

It's a fun toy. It's ok. I don't play professionally it's just for fun. It is the best digital guitar effects unit I have had so far.

I chose this mainly because I only had a real shitty digital box and needed something better. When I demoed it, it sounded much better than my old box, despite the trickery of the tube power amp. It sounds ok. But I don't play like eddie van halen, and I don't care much for the zillion van halen patches on it either. Stevie ray patch is decent. A few others. The rest get edited away.

Editing effects for me was a must, stock sounds are great but I am going to be using this as a replacement for my Digi Tech GNX3000 for live gigs, so im trying to get sounds that come close to my GNX3000 for my bands existing sounds, I like the sustain I get over the GNX3000, I still love my 3000 but the VooDu Valve has been a nice addition.
Software to edit a patch was easy, even pulling down a sound file from Rocktron web site and loading onto VooDu Valve was easy. I use the M-Audio USB Midisport Uno to connect the VooDu Valve to my computer. I highly recommend using the software over turning the knobs, everything is grouped nicely with the software, but learn to use the knobs as well, you never know what adjustments you might need to do during live gigs, sound systems from venu to venu always differ.
Manual is helpful, I have seen better, support has been great if I could not find it in the manual.

My setup is two processors, VooDu Valve running into TC Electronic G-Major(G-Major needs a preamp). I have also used the G-Major with my GNX3000(WOW). Using the MIDI mapping functionality between the VooDu Valve and G-Major is great. If I want to use an effect from the G-Major and turn off the same effect from the VooDu Valve i.e. Delay or Reveb it is easy to do. Using the G-Major for effects has made the VooDu Valve sound even better. Sometimes I use a combination of sounds from the two, having one processor with a higher level or even the same levels of an effect is amzing to hear. Granted you can have over kill but I found that can happen even if you use just the VooDu Valve effects or G-Major.
I use a Brian Moore i8.13 with MIDI/Piezo pickup. This guitar is a 3 voice so I can run my magnetic picups using VooDu/G-Major, then Piezo I run through a Yamaha Magic Stomp Accoustic processor, then last sound through a Roland VG8. This is great for clean sounds when you want to layer synth with the Roland VG8. I use a Marshall MG250DFX for live sound. I like the amp a lot, but I feel it is my weakest link in my sound. I mostly plug directly into a mixer for practice and recording. One day I would like to purchase a very good tube amp.

I have not had any problems.

Yes very helpful.

Mostly rock progressions, some very heavy sounds others are clean with slight distortion, I like the VooDu for this a lot. I have been playing for 20years. If it was stolen I would like to replace it but then I would like to with most of my gear, sentimental value I guess. My bigest reason for purchase of the VooDu Valve was one sound but I have been using combo floor processors for a long time, and wanted to try something different, but still trying to blend the sounds with other processors of higher grade like the G-Major. The VooDu Valve and G-Major setup does help me make new music, and has helped with my playing but there is no effect or processor that will replace ability to play, im always striving to lean some new technique, progression etc, but having the VooDu Valve and G-Major together has made learning even more a joy.

When I demoed this thing in the store I got it from, it sounded a bit better than when I (silly me!) plugged it into the Valvestate 8004 I was using it with initially. It likes tube power amps, especially the Peavey 50/50 it's in unholy wedlock with now. With a Valvestate, or any solid-state power amp I tried (maybe the Velocity has better voicing for this thing? Dunno yet. No got!), it sounds flat and scratchy, and the reactance control in the cab sim section just adds flub and flab, not anything close to resembling ballsy, chunky GA-GUNK! I had initially planned to use it as a two-space featherweight setup in a little Boss rack, but I wasn't really happy with the tone. Also, there seemed to be this really faint, scratchy, video game consoley, harmonic bleepity-bleep bleeding overtone attached to the distortion, and it was not giving me good vibes. The feedback dynamics sucked! The clean tones were flat, not round and juicy. I thought at first: "Made in Korea, eh...works until you get it home?" Uhh, well, that...umm...changed a bit, needless to say. I am, like, such a dumb-ass! Must have been due to all the marbles I pulverized during my past recreational use of controlled substances! For a dude who scored in the top 99% and was a Mensa member in spite of myself, sometimes I amaze myself with my stellar lack of common sense! I felt like someone had just slapped a $650 gold spray-bombed brick right upside my head! I should have known, because I demoed it with a Mesa tube power amp and it sounded fine. All that EQ-ing I did, then had to undo...D'OH! I actually RTFM, after intuitively figuring just about everything out, in a vain attempt to reconcile with my offended ear! To my credit (if I deserve any), before I fell victim to the Stupid Inanimate Object existential fallacy (UNK! THAG SMASH THUMB WITH HAMMER! BAD HAMMER! HAMMER NOW UNIDENTIFIED LOW-ORBIT RADAR SIGNATURE!), I hooked it up to the power stage of one of my tube practice amps and promptly felt like a certain flying elephant! This thing thrives on reactive loads! Anyone not liking this thing might try saving themselves the disappointment and learning from my error! When I put it in stereo with the 50/50, re-baselined it, and re-tweaked it, it was a very different animal, indeed! Butter and jam on the dry, white toast! A ray of dawn shines forth upon Marblehead!

The manual is very helpful and easy on the eyes. I like the included block diagrams, and the patch editing is intuitive and fairly straightforward. I'm not sure of the firmware revision, but it's one of the newer Korean units, and now I'm a little ashamed to admit I briefly undermined the manufacturing capacity of our Asian brethren!

I use it with many different guitars, with the aforementioned power amp. The scratch has been replaced with likeable happy-tone due to my realization of my erroneous assumptions! It isn't nearly as noisy as some other rigs I play thru, and I am much happier with it since I took the time to reconfigure it properly. Mine doesn't pop on channel change like in another review I saw here. I use an Art X11 as a footcontroller, though sometimes I use its little brother. The effects are very passable, enough that I just use it with the power amp and a rack-mounted Korg tuner. The pitch (dumb as a stump, and I don't mean Joe!) and wah aren't quite "all that and a bag of chips", nonetheless good enough for workable use. The variac, pre/post EQ, and cab sim sections allow a wide tonal range, and the Reactance control is just effing wonderful with a tube power section! Any cab can be made to sound good! GA-GUNK! Metal-heads, take note!

Most of the factory presets need Remedial Tone 101. Needs dialing of levels for live work. Going as light as possible on the compression and Hush is recommended. I dial in the base tone I want, then mix in the effects to my liking, then it's tweak time! It's all quite a bit easier to do on the fly than on my Digitech 2120. I prefer some things about the Digitech, some other things about the VV, but I'm more likely to be gigging with the VV, because I don't want to risk b0rking the "Barney Box". The extremely flexible preamp distortion modeling and tube response digital following are a little different than analog tube crunch (correct me if I'm Ron, but I think the tube is in the input buffer stage and one can get a similar result by running a tube mic pre into the front end of a Chameleon, unless perhaps it's there to give the digital pre a curve to follow...me not entirely sure), but I don't have much issue with this, because I run the power amp on the "brown" side of WFO and this works fine for me. It's really not much of a problem getting the sounds I like out of it, except for that "something extra" of old Fender Twin depth, but it's close enough for rock 'n' roll! I listen to and play a very wide variety of styles, and with a little tweaking, it's all right there in the box (who am I kidding! It's the guitars I use, they play themselves...couldn't be in the fingers...naah...couldn't be...)! I don't think any of the effects are "bad" per se: they're good enough that I'm considering throwing an Intellifex or Xpression in my main rack---it's all in how one decides to apply them. You can get good tones, and if you want to, some really stinky "tie rotting meat around your neck so the flies will come back" ones too---if that tickles the earlobes, more power to ya! I think if that was my aim, I'd have left it stuck to the Valvestate! In hindsight...this sounded like ass! Needless to say, I don't need any stomp-boxes with this rig. I'm rating it thusly because so far, I haven't quite yet approached the kind of clean or Texas grit tones I can get out of the 2120 or main rack (especially now that I've retubed the Twin Tube), but perhaps it's just me being noodgy and I should tweak it some more! Perhaps the ol' JJ magic may raise the bar a little. I haven't opened 'er up yet, but I suspect it's a Sovtek WA reliable piece of dry corn-flake in there running at low voltage. Overall, however, I am rather pleased!

It's been completely reliable since its purchase. I wish I could say the same about my initial setup idea WRT my expectations! I don't think I'd use it without a backup, but if I did, I wouldn't worry too much, it seems to be pretty road-worthy. I've gigged with it a few times (for a change of pace from my main rack), and it hasn't let me down.

I've never had to call Rocktron, and I've used and owned a few pieces of their gear. I have a beat-to-hell-and-back RX-20 in my main rack (still!) and it's kicking booty, and applying Wiccan white magic to the Digitech Twin Tube that I refuse to part with! So I can't rate the support, because I haven't needed it. That's a Good Thing in and of itself!

I play just about anything and everything except for gangsta rap, and I've been doing it for about 28 years, since I was a little nerdy, self-conscious, insecure beaner starting out on "Smoke On The Water" and "Iron Man" one-string melodies! I've grown quite a bit since then...(thank God!) For Pete's sake PLEASE don't make me list my other gear! I have major GAS pains! You should see my bass rig! It's a house-shaker! (I play a few different stringed instruments, although guitar is my main focus, and people tell me I can sing pretty well too, but I'm a little shy so I don't completely believe it...I'm also a halfway decent sound/recording tech...)I'll get around to reviewing the important bits and pieces in due time, I imagine! Four down so far---miles to go before I sleep...

I really, really like this site. Many of these gear reviews and other resources here have helped me add to my insights, and have helped me along with some tough choices, and I wholeheartedly thank those responsible for creating and maintaining Harmony Central! This Guinness (square meal in a bottle!)is raised in a toast for you good folks! May your strings never rust, your keys never stick, and your heads never split!

I think I've just about covered what I like/am not 100% satisfied with, so I'll not bore everyone with more disjointed ramblings about details, except to say that there isn't all too much about it that I DON'T like. It too gets hooked up to the 'pooter from time to time, because as with the 2120, it's a bit less time-consuming to have all the parameters available at a mouse-click.

If it got stolen or lost, please see my other reviews for appropriate guidelines...

Wishful things: Intelligent scalar pitch shifting. Two Motorola DSP's!More Fendery clean chime and "plonk"/Texas blues grit. Me try to fix the latter, first must wait until hammer lands from low orbit, or is shot down by Tricky Dick Cheney mistaking it for a Quayle, or a hunting partner.

I am really liking a lot of the tones that I can get out of this thing. I have a few one-trick studio ponies that give me more of the one specific sound I want, but I can't gig with all of them with all the different stuff I play---nobody would let me on stage around here, and I wouldn't have any room to stand, let alone for the drummer or bassist! I rely on my ear, my bandmates, and the audience to help me get the kind of noise I like. If it doesn't sound good to them, it likely won't sound good to me either and vice-versa! No showers of rotten vegetables yet...a few burned fingers on upheld cigarette lighters---I feel like I've jumped up a notch or two within the past couple of years. I suppose I'm doing SOMETHING right! Listening to others is important; a band is not a wank-fest or a swordfight, it's a communion!

I just wish I could find more people around here with similar experience and priorities, who would rather work at making things better than primp or pollute themselves! For some reason, it's usually the lead singers! Prolly why I never wanted to be one! Ah, well. Time wounds all heels, I suppose. I'll just keep plugging away, and hope for the best...

If you already used Rocktron stuff its easy, its always the same setup.(preset,parameter adjust,parameter select and function select.
If you never used rocktron you will learn quikly its very easy.
Not easy is to adjust the pre EQ and post EQ of the Voodu.
It can be a pain in the bud to get the right sound.
Very important is to use the speakersim with transistor poweramps
or also tubepoweramps.(if you don,t use it that way it will sound allways a little fizzy or fuzzy if you like)
In front of a combo or head you have enough EQ and you don,t have to use the speakersim.
Important also is with distorted sounds to cut of high EQ and presence.
Also cut low end for example in post EQ: bass lvl -15 bass freQ 310hz
bw 2.0 oct mid lvl -15 frq 569hz bw 1.3oct treble lvl -15 frq 1915hz 2.0 oct presence lvl -15 frq 8000hz 2.0 oct.
speakersim: Both/ spkr type 12/ mic pos -15 /reactance 0.
This is what i used with a velocity poweramp,it is a basic rythm
sound.
Another tip don,t use that much gain i used no more than 35
with a poweramp.
Adjust the input level to the maximum point for passive pickups,its all the way open and let the tube do the rest.

Sounds can be great for a digital tube driven preamp.
Don,t forget the voodu is created more than 14 years ago(chameleon)
Yes folks a Voodu Valve is a chameleon with a tube(some parameters settings have differences)
Again sounds can be great but can also be crap if you don,t tweak the Voodu as it should.
I have two complains: 1 The voodu has switching pops.
Between any sounds clean or distorted,sometimes it gets real anoying.
If you don,t use the speakersim it seams a little less but still
its there.
2 There are digital noises(Pacman digital computer sounds) when you don,t play even when you use the Hush(noisereduction).
That makes the Voodu less usefull one stage and i wonder why i don,t
hear and reed more about this problems from other users.
Maybe Rocktron solved those problems on later models??(i have an older model with the voodu geek on the front)
If anyone could thell me ??
Because if the Voodu didn,t have those problems i would give it a 10.
Now its a 10 for sounds but a 2 for practical use on stage.
that makes a 6.

I owne the Voodu for 10 years and only had one problem.(midi input defect),and it was quikly repaired.
Had always good experiences with Rocktron gear(intellifex,replifex and
midi mate).
Its pro stuff.

If you have questions they give a quik repley.(email)
Allways did my service with the local musicstore.

I play for over 30 years guitar and play various styles like old school hard-rock but also sympho rock and blues.
The voodu Valve is real good toneshaping tool if you take the time and tweak.
At this moment i only use it in studio recording setup(i find it not useable live due to its switchingpops and digital noises).
If you compare it to modern time digital preamps like line6 POD,
Vox tonelab and others than the voodu sounds more real and has better effects and you can shape the sound more to your personel needs.
(You can shape stereo direct sounds that are amazing).
But live I prefer a good tube preamp(hafler T3, Mesa Boogie studio preamp) with an effectproccesor(Rocktron Replifex,intellifex).
Again if the Voodu didn,t had those anoying digital noises and switchingpops it would be a real great live and recording multi effects preamp.
Now its only a great recording preamp with good effects.

My Voodu has just been stolen:(....I'm currently in the process of finding a replacement, either a new one or something else.
The Voodu has been my main-amp since 1998. I find it very easy to use, the interface is very intuitive and it's easy to make adjustments to your sound during live-performance. I have tried several other pre-amps that did FAR worse in this department.

I was using my Voodu with a Peavey Classic 50/50 Tube Power Amp, going into a Laney Vintage Stereo Cab, controlled by an All Access...Excellent! I play 2 strats(1997 Collectors Edition Strat with Texas Specials and an American Deluxe HSS) and a 1970 Les Paul Custom.
I have only good things to say about the Voodu, it can dial up all the sounds that I need for both live-work and studio. Furthermore it's very QUIET - the HUSH works like a champ! - I never had any problems with the Hush drying out my sound or killing the intensity.

When I first bought this preamp, I compared it to my old Marshall JCM 900, a Peavey Classic 50 and a Mesa/Boogie Mark IV. I was able to get all the tones that these amps could produce, and I think that some of the sounds from the Voodu were even better!

The effects are great too - it's like an Intellifex with a tube preamp. I mainly use the Delay, Chorus and Reverb(which are all great) - but after I bought the Voodu, I started to develop a fondness for the phaser-sounds in this device too...they are pretty cool:)

I had mine for 8 years...I played around 1000 gigs with it(including 3 winter seasons in a ski-resort in France and 3 summer seasons in a nightclub in Rhodes, Greece)...Never a problem!
I had it flown with aircargo several times to Greece, Italy and other parts of Europe(probably being bumped around by careless cargo-workers....Never any problems!
I have never experienced any kind of problem with this device!(or any of my other rocktron-stuff)
IT ALWAYS WORKS!!

I've never had to deal with Rocktron support, cos I never had any problems. So I wouldn't know.

I play Rock/Pop/Blues/Soul/Jazz/R'n'B, very different styles of music and my Voodu could do it all. I've been playing now for 20 years and have been a professional for about 10 years.
I have to say that it's the best piece of music-equpiment I've ever owned, it had everything I needed and more. It's easy to use and it just won't break...even if you want it to!
I've compared it to several other preamps over the years, like the JMP-1, PodXT Pro, Triaxis etc - and none of these were as great as the Voodu.(I'm sure lots of people would disagree though)
Now that mine has been stolen, it's even more obvious to me how great it was! - cos' I'm back to the terrible situation of tap-dancing on pedals with my old Marshall...and it doesn't even sound as good!...BUUHUU:(
I think I have to buy another Voodu....!

I wrote the previous review and am doing a follow up so most of the stuff is the same.Once you get used to it easy and versitile.Remember the most important thing is the pre and post Eq's .Master this and you have all most any sound at your disposal.The presets are pretty much over done with the effects but the give some wher to start.

NOW!!!! I WAS WRONG!!!!!here is where i'm going to eat my words.I still thought that the sound was digital right, in my pevious review.I was disappointed when i upgraded from the chameleon that the thing did still sound of digital.It was too bright kind of scatchy.If you Eq'd it out you lost your top end ,but then I saw a Mesa 50/50 power amp on ebay and bought it(supposidly the best power amp out, i've heard).
WOW !!Now this unit rocks!It wasn,t so much the voodoo, but the sound I wanted I would only get from 6L6's not EL34's.Very warm and nice bottom end.THe 50/50 has 3 AX7's in it also and now the scratchiness is gone.Before I had a marshall 9200 power amp and it was the reason for the bad review.I might add that that is MY opinion.I know that alot of people will say that there is nothing wrong with the 9200 but it just didn't do it for me.I've got some really great lead tones and ball tearing power chords now.Now this babys a 10
My set up is simple
Charvel 750 XL guitars with Emg's >voodoo valve >mesa boogie 50/50 (not to be confused with the 2:50(newer model))> to a laney quad with HDD speakers(more warmth than celestions).I control it all with a GMC ground control ,and there you have it 256 differnt settings at your dispoal.
Go out and buy one of these babys as it can give you any sound you like just make sure you get a good power amp.I read below a guy who says he used a gorrila amp and it sounded shit ,IDIOT!!

I've been using rocktron for over 13 yrs.I still use my original chameleon blackface for practice that i bought back in 92.They make good stuff.

I like to play alternative music ,which in corparates all styles.Thats why I like the effect processors.I had a stint with the a H&K triamp and all though it sounded good to achieve the sounds I wanted I needed alot of pedals(and I bought them)and it was too difficult to change .I was used to going from one sound to another with multiple effects in the stomp of a foot switch and sold the Triamp soon afterwords.If your happy with just one or two sounds then get a real valve amp .I would suggest a triamp ,but if you like to keep it simlpe and have alot of effects and vesatility then get a voodoo.
If it were lost or stolen I would get one in a second.The only thing i wish it had was that you could chain certain effects together like chorus and flanger but I'm happy with this.the other good thing is that this unit has phantom power so you don't have to run a separate power supply to your foot controller if it accepts it.

pretty easy to use once you play with it.i had the chameleon before this and they are identical to operate.

it still sounds digital!!!!.i bought this cause i thought id upgade my chameleon to a valve pre amp and it still sounds digital.i should have got the rocktron phirana which is a pure valve unit.but they are hard to find ,similar to the marshall jmp-1.i'm used to the effects of rocktron but the digital harshness is really starting to annoy me,ever since i started playing through my amps preamp(with out the voodu valve) you realize what tone is.if they can get rid of the schatchiness and make it more punchy in the bottom end it would be a good unit.i think if you want analog and warmth then you have to go valves and some good boss analog pedals.the hush though is good but does kill sustain and top end.Also it has digital sputters when your not doing any thing just like the chameleon did ,very annoying no mater how much you turn up the hush.It makes these weird computer sounds especially on the clean patches.I've realized that if you put digital any where in the chain then your sound is digital and defeats the porpose of the valve being put there in the first place.Digital yuk! please some body make a all valve and analog effects processor with the vesatility of midi switching.every review i read of any effects unit says the same thing"sounds didital"

my chameleon 2000 lasted me 2 years before i dropped it and shattered the dislay.my black face chameleon was much better than both,wish i hadn't sold it .havn't had it long enough to tell yet






i

garbage, took 8 weeks to get new dislay.

If you like the sound of digital 80s distortion then this is for you.I'm still waiting for a nice all in one valve and analog effects proccessor.I like the sound of my marshall amp but it sucks to stomp on 3 pedals to get a lead tone ,and repeat to go to rhythm sound .I like how you can change up tp 256 presets with one stomp and from one multiple effects patch to another with one stomp and not have to do a tap dance of boss pedals on stage to get every differnt sound.

Very Versatile. A MIDI foot controller is essential for fast patch changes and live sound editing. I use a Behringer FCB-1010.

The wah sound is weak. I use a CryBaby. BUT: Great gains and other effects. The tube sound good enough that I sold my Class A tube amp and simply run this through a Fender Stage 100. I wish it had an envelope filter. Factory presets are terrible, but it's great after editing. See below.

No problems. Seems well built. Its rotary knob editing is good, better than arrow up/down.

Unknown, though when mine did not come with a manual, I easily downloaded the latest PDF from the website. The manual is good, though learning MIDI took some experimentation.

I am very happy with the sound and versatility. When I first bought it (3 months ago), I was dubious due to the unimpressive reviews on this page. Indeed, the factory presets are dreadful. Not only is nearly every other preset in a super processed Van Halen style but ALL volumes are preset to maximum (127 in MIDI). This makes it unusable as such. HOWEVER, once tamed, this beast is outstanding! The tube drive has a good sound, even at low gain settings (of which I am especially particular). Here are my observations:

1. The cleaner the sound, the higher the volume needs to be for balance. Higher gain increases volume substantially. Clean sound volumes need to be set high (100-127), heavy distortion patches need to set very low (10-40)!

2. The Low Gain setting, with its option of Hard Clipping, Soft Clipping, Class A, or Class B settings, gives a wide variety of sound from clean to warm tube overdrive to intense distortion. The High Gain seems unncessary to me. Of course, the type of guitar and amp you use makes a BIG difference. I use a semi-hollow Epi Dot for warm, fat sounds and a Strat for harder, brighter sounds through a Fender Stage 100. I play mostly classic and alternative rock, but range from jazz-blues to old metal.

3. Turning Hush OFF is good for clean or warm sounds. That allows a much more subtle, softer playing style with more sustain.

4. I wish it had seperate stereo headphone and output jacks.

If you are a beginning guitarist, I recommend that you focus on a good guitar, a good amp, and your fingers alone. For experienced players who will not be ruled by the effects, the VooDu Valve can be a great asset!

This unit is not the easiest thing to use, its crammed with an awesome array of tweakage but if your not up on Eq's then this unit can be a bit mind boggling and although it may sound pretty weird i think it would benefit from having a better display so you can see how your tweaking the eq plus having a full sweeaper rather than preset frequencies, but maybe thats just me being picky

As for sound this unit kicks the living shit out of anything else ive ever used its not a 10 as there are some tweaks that could make it just that bit better. Ive only been using big rigs for about 5 years and in that time ive managed to try a lot but nothing seems to beat the VV matched up with a Marshall EL 34 power amp or the 9000 series marshalls. The only down point i would say about the sound it dont bother recording straight from its balanced outputs it doesnt doesnt have a very lively sound in my opinion it sounds much better run through a power amp and miked up (just remember to get that cab off the floor and onto some acoustic foam or something)

Ive gigged with this unit a fair amount and so far not one problem, a friend of mine also has one but its about 5 years older than mine and still never had a problem its a sturdy lil unit

I havent had to deal with rocktron so far.

This unit is awesome with a few more tiny tweaks rocktron have the holy grail of preamps i'd recomend this unit to anyone that wants a rack preamp.

I bought my Voodu Valve used on ebay about 7 months ago. I've waited til now to post my review since this unit does take a while to get your patches tweaked just the way you like them. I spent about 2 months straight fine tuning a few banks of presets that I could use with my Rocktron Midi Mate footcontroller. I've now got 3 banks (containing 5 preset patches each) of great sounding preset channels for live gigging. I plug my guitar into my wah, then into the VV. All I've got on the floor is the Midi Mate footcontroller and my wah pedal. Nice and simple...uncluttered and my sound is huge....with lots of versatility.

I think overall it is easy to use. Right out of the box, you can get an idea of how certain tones will sound using the many different factory presets. The presets are way over processed - too many effects and the levels of the effects are set too high - but I think they're trying to show you what's inside this box...and there's a lot there. As far as digital preamps go, the manual does a good job of explaining how to use the preamp and I found that I had the basics down in just a few nights of tinkering with it. Editting patches is fairly simple and once you've done it a few times, it gets very easy.

I use my Voodu Valve with a Mesa Boogie 20/20 stereo tube amp and run my signal into various stereo cabs...currently using a Marshall 4x12 cab split in stereo.

I think the basic clean tones are fantastic, as are the basic crunch and distortion tones. I think that's where this unit really shines...clean tones, medium crunch tones and high gain tones. I couldn't be happier with those sounds. The extremely high gain tones are just heaven...full, fat, thick, sustaining, perfectly compressed distortion! Love it! The unit comes up a bit short however on delivering convincing Texas blues types of mildly overdriven, just on the edge of distortion tones (as I knew it would). Asking a digital preamp to get you that pushed tube amp type of natural overdrive is asking way too much. Impossible really. But, after months of tinkering I have been able to dial in some decent Texas blues tones and other types of pushed tube amp type natural OD sounds (SRV - Buddy Guy - Tom Petty ). My Texas blues tones still don't sound great...but it definitely sounds good enough to get me by...and seeing how all the other flavors of overdrive, distortion, and clean tones sound so excellent, it's really not much of an issue. Now, if you mostly played Texas blues types of tones...then this would not be a great option for you...but then again, you wouldn't be playing thru a digital preamp anyway if that's the style of music you played.

I think the noise gate works great and most of the effects (reverb, delay, chorus, flanger, pitch shifter, tremolo, phaser) sound very good too. I just wish I could figure out how to set some of the effects so that when I turn the effect off with my Rocktron Midi-Mate foot controller, I wouldn't hear such a dramatic increase in volume. That's a real pain for effects like chorus and pitch shifting. Still got some figuring out to do I guess.

If the Texas blues tones sounded anything like the clean, medium OD, crunch and high gain lead tones......I'd give this category a 10...but I'm going with a 9.

I never gig without a backup. I'll bring a small tube amp and my small pedal board with me along with my cube...because you just never know. But I haven't had any problems in 7 months of weekly use and I bought the preamp used. Not giving a rating because I really haven't had it long enough yet, nor have I gigged out with it yet.

This preamp cranks! I love it. Before I bought a used one on ebay, I compared it against a few other digital preamps that I found in local music stores....the Chameleon, 2 different Digitech preamps, and a Boss GT something or other. This one sounded best to me and is jam packed with useful tones and effects. It does take a while to dial in the sound you want and capture that tone in patches...but once you've got a complete bank of tones at your disposal (clean, light OD, medium blues lead, classic rock crunch, and high gain lead)....that you can use with a footcontroller for live use....it makes it worth the effort. I would also think this preamp would be great in the studio. I look forward to using it at an upcoming recording project.

I've been playing for 30 years...I mostly play classic rock and hard rock, but I also dabble with blues and jazz fusion. I'm into Extreme, Steely Dan, Larry Carlton, Eric Johnson, Steve Vai, SRV, Satch, Al DiMeola, Beck, and tons more. I own lots of amps and guitars...the usual suspects: strat, tele, 335, sg, les pauls... amps: Marshall, Mesa Boogie, 3 Fenders, Peavey.

It was a life long dream of mine to own a great sounding rack cube. I always felt I missed out on something during the 80's when I used a Marshall JCM800 and Marshall cab. I didn't need to buy and build a rack cube....but now I'm really glad I sunk the time and money into it. The rig sounds fantastic. I would highly recommend the Voodu Valve to anyone looking for a 1 space rack preamp who plays music that leans towards harder edged rock tones.