Rocktron VooDu Valve

I have had my Voodoo Value for about five months and find it very easy to use. If you are use to other Rocktron products, you will find this very easy to use. To edit patches just pull up the effect yo want to change and find the sound to fit your need.

I have used in the past many differt amps and effects, from Marshall, Fender, Peavey and so on. I became a Rocktron fan seven years ago when I purchased a differnt Rocktron Preamp. It became my number amp to use, till now and the Voodoo value blows that one away. I use it with a Rocktron 300 Watt Velocity power amp. I have several Hamer guitars, a Gibson, ESp, and Schecter, and all of them through my configuration are clear, and articulate the note being played. from the Distortion tones to clean this system has it all. If your a cover artist this amp system will fit your every need. I use a Rocktron midi mate as my foot controller, and just one push of a button I am Van Halen, another click Jake E Lee, George Lynch, and click again Steve Vai. It is the versitile.

I only had it five months with no problems at all, if it is like my other Rocktron product I don't expect any issues in the future.

In the past with Rocktron I dealt with comapny concerning my power amp. They were professional, helpful, and resolved my issue quickly.

I play all stlyes of music, but my favorite style of mucis is hard rock. The Voodoo Value matches all my needs and has even pushed my playing even further. I have been playing guitar for 20 years, and I have had many amps and effects, but now just use my rack unit. If my unit was stolen I would def buy a new on. I love the tone, flexabilty, and just having something I can count on to give the same consitant sounds all the time. I would tell anyone to buy a Voodoo Value

If you plan to buy Voodu, read this!
For all those who bashed this unit, I have only one message: sell your processor and buy couple of stompboxes. And buy ones that have the least buttons to tweak! I mean, come on people............processor is made to be tweaked and if you find your perfect sound in the factory presets, let me know, I haven't seen a unit yet that has good ones. It's not a nuclear physics to edit and create your own paches. There's infinite possibilities with this unit, it's up to you to find your own sound.

Sound quality on this unit is superb! I use this unit with Mesa Strategy poweramp and I can get any, I mean ANY sound out of it. From brain crushing Death Meatal to crystal clear Jazz sounds. Do yourself a favour and get midi controller, it's a must for gigs.

I owned it for four years now and never had a problem!

Never had a reason to deal with them.

I've been playing for about 15 years now, and I went thorugh shitload of equipment, but this setup is by far the best one I ever owned. This unit has two thing that I love..built in HUSH and pre-equalizing. What more you can ask for!

This unit is not hard to use but to get the full potential you really have to dig in and study.

I owned one one of these units for about 3 years, sold it trying to find holy grail in a number of top of the line Fender, Mesa boogie, Marshall and Crate amplifiers. Now that I have come full circle I am back to this unit. (Bought another recently.) I use this unit in conjuction with a Mesa Boogie 20/20 power amp and 2 seperate 1X12 celestion loaded speaker cabinets. (I like to spread the sound out!) Previously I used it with Boogie's 50/50. No matter, either amp produces wonderful tone! As with all preset based preamps, the original presets are good starting points, but they will need to be tweaked to your tastes and that takes time! Do not buy this unit if you are impatient! I have spent a fair amount of time just tweaking and experimenting with my tone, I still work on it to this day and probably always will!
I received the most compliments about my tone from both listeners and musicians alike while using this unit. The voodu valve is a clean sounding unit, the effects are phenominal and the distortion sounds are excellent! I have not been able to derive the mesa dual rectifier sound out of it as yet but this unit seems to cover just about everything else. I plan to buy another as a back up. (One of you bad reviewers want to sell one inexpensively!!)

Never had a problem, seemless preset changes, great unit.

N/A Cannot rate this because I have not had to deal with it. Hope they do well!!!!!!

I play a mixture of blues to heavy rock and roll as well as my best attempts at some chicken pick'in. I have been playing guitar for about 11-12 years now and have made every attempt to find holy grail in guitar sound as most of my fellow guitarists have and still are. I really include myself in the searchers for the "ultimate tone" even still because I have never heard anything that gets every sound that I have heard and like. Whether that be Metallica, Creed, Stevie Ray Vaughn or one of my favorites, Brent Mason.
The Voodu valve works extremely well for me because it is so versitile! I cannot afford all the gear that my favorite guitarists play so I have found something that is easily tansportable and sounds excellent to fit the bill. I would definately replace it if it were stolen!

Not very tricky but can go in depth.

I found it easier to get a decent sound out of a mute than this piece of crap 'Chris Truthteller' is bang on with his/her review of this box.

Occasionally it would flick itself on or off, i'm not sure if this is a problem with all of them, a friend had this same problem too.

Incredibly rude when asked about the above on/off problem, still isn't fixed.

The Voodu Valve has become the bain of my life, I tried to gig it a few times, just to justify the money I spent on it. The gigs ended up an embarrasment of poor sound and often no sound at all. I strongly recommend not purchasing this equipment, avoid the embarrasment this rubbish kit has caused me!

not to bad, some freq. are tricky for ME.

useing a jackson rr1 with emg pickups,marshall 100wt jcm 800 2203 and a jcm 900 1960A 4x12 cab. SCARRY! he,he. my sound is close to slAyer but still have some tweaking to do! i can only do so much before i go tone deaf!! anyone that has the slayer sound dialed, please post it! thanks. the v.vaulve ROCKS! nuff said.

outstanding rack! will never part with it! anyone out there with slayer sound dialed in, please contact me! thank you!

Pretty easy to use. Very flexible, which means many parameters. Which means that many guitar players can't handle it. You have to know a bit about sound and elctronics. Which frequency to get Marshall tones? OR Fender or Vox. All amps have their own frequencies, and that is key to "modelling". Distortion circuit is another, and once again, you have some choices. Also...do you want dual voice chorus? I often shut one off. I'm the kind that would rather have choices, so after just a bit of experiemnting, the VV is easy to use. Beginners can check the Digitech stuff.

As usual with most FX, the factory presets need adjusted. Either too much fx, or volume leveling between patches. I've had several other FX units, this is normal. Sounds are studio quality. Very rich and lsucious. Distortions can graze the overdrive, or go full-on shred. All realistic. USe other parameters to fatten or lighten (EQ's, cab sims). I suse Marshall and Fender amps. As well as going straight in. Recording straight in to a Korg D1200 with a mic sim yielded a very nice sound (one reviewer said Satch-like, another said melodic, tight Metallica). Guitar type doesn't matter.

Dependable. Anything can break anytime.

Emailed them about using an off-brand footswitch. Couple days later, they just mentioned the Rocktron stuff. Didn't eactly answer my question, but what were they to do, reccommend someone ELSE'S stuff? They responded so I have to give them a good grade

Been playing for almost 20 years. Polka, top40, 80's MTV, film score (not commercial)...all kinds of stuff. Have always used FX/preamp for my sounds, for flexibility. I also run live sound and home studio. If I were a professional studio, I would have one of these. It's VERY flexible. Sure, there's a few things in doesn't do as well, but that is not the point. If you want a one trick pony (an amp), get one of those instead. If you care to invest the time, you will get what you hear in your head. Random tweaking will get you so far, but education will take you all the way. Find out what feq's amps use, and how they cut/boost. A myriad of professional sounds and colors lurk in there.
I think it was a STEAL for $200. At Sam Ash even.

There IS one thing I am having troble with. I am using a Digitech Control 8 for switching. It is not transferring the CC info from patch to patch. For instance, When I have the expression pedal set as volume control, and it is depressed when I switch patches, the volume goes back to full on, until I re-engage the volume pedal. I am sure it can be fixed, Will contact Rocktron. If you know, let me know.

IT could be problem if you don't have a midi controller. Manual switching between presets and editing may be a bit difficult.
It's not a typical preamp where you adjust bas , treble gain etc. by turning the knobs. you must enter the menu - find appropreiate stuff and adjust it (everything is displayed on the screen)

I use Squier guitar. Voodu is completely noiseless thanks to HUSH noise suppressor.
It's fully proffesionall device. You can change anything you want. The equalizer operates on values in Hz so you must know what is the bandwith, frequency etc.. Its not simple but you can achieve any sound you want to !
great effects except pitch shifting - it's not 'intelligent'
Very good clean and overdrived sounds. but i dont like the factory presets - the equalization has to much trebles in almost every preset - but no prpblem you can change it any time as you want.

Spoil ? No way. It is immortal stuff. you can depend on it !

3 mails posted, 2 given responds from rocktron support

I recommend it to pepolple who know what they want. this preamp can help reaching your sound but you must spend some time with it.
it's not for amateurs.

That's exactly it. I've been using this thing for about 7 years now and I've tried as many pickups as guitars as different settings. I do like the overall quality. But I can't get nice distorted sounds out of it ( e.g.Nuno, Petrucci, Satch.) I get sloppy basses, nervewrecking highs out of it. As everybody seems so enthusiastic about it, maybe someone has a few Pre/Posteq/Gain-settings for me? I' would highly appreciate it. I really don't know what else to do, except buying another preamp.
Mail to HFC@Swiss.com

I use it alone with the Velocity 300 amp and a 2x 12 Cabinet. Fenders, les pauls, Pacificas, a N2, ESP's among others.
The musical quality is good, exept for distorded sounds. Sloppy basses, having a hard time to get good lead sounds. I like quality of the effects, quick chanel change, no noise, the hush,

Good. Had it for 7 years. Never broke down, never had to change the tube, I tried a new one, but it did't make any difference, so I switched back to the old tube

Never called them.

I'm playing since 12 years all kinds of styles. Mostly live, less studio.

It is easy to get a good sound out of it. Basically, the more time you invest playing with the eq's and settings, the better your sound will be. Editing patches is very simple, the chorus and flanger settings take a little too much time due to the complexity of the patch parameters though. Never looked in the manual.

I primarily use a Carvin Bolt and a USA Fender Strat for home recording. The Carvin has a duncan full shredd in the bridge and the fender has a duncan hotrails in the bridge. The unit is quiet as a mouse with the Hush turned on. The pre-amp is great. You can get any type of gain tone you want. The effects are unreal. The chorus, reverb, and flange effects are really warm and rich sounding. The only effect that is sub-par is the pitch shifting. It isn't the intelligent type which means you cant just select a key to play in and go. The cab simulator is awesome and really helps capture the mic'd amp sound, although nothing is as good as the real thing in that regard.

I play hard rock and metal and this unit is a great tool to have. I've been playing for 16 years. I've yet to find another processor that does as good a job at all types of sounds as this unit does. The people who gave this unit bad scores for sound quality simply didn't spend enough time with it. The nature of these processors is to give an extreme amount of flexibility over your sound, which means having many parameters to tweak. Don't fault the unit because you're not willing to spend the time to set it up. I was shocked to read the review where the guy couldn't get a Sabbath tone. Believe me, you certainly can get a Sabbath tone from this unit.

If you have used other preamps/effects this unit will not give you any sleepless nights, follow the manual if you are unsure. BUT how many of us READ the manual until we get frustrated/confused?.
It took about 1 hour to get fantastic sounds (I get loads of complements on my sounds) but again its up to you, put the effort in, its well worth it.

I use Carvin and Ibanez guiatrs, a Marshall 9100 power amp, Morley bad horsie wah wah and Rocktron 1x12" speakers, all fantastic stuff.
Noisy? no way this has the HUSH noise suppressor built in, nuff said.
As a stand alone preamp this is great, add in the sparkling effects and its amazing.
You can get a wide range of realistic sounds, I also own a Soldano Decatone and matching cab and guess what, I'm selling the Soldano, dont get me wrong the Soldanos' sound's are superb/unique, but for my needs the Rocktron/Marshall setup is better.
I'm no Petrucci/Lynch/Vai/Satch/Yngwie/Peter Green/Gilmour/Clapton/Hendrix/Lukather etc etc BUT I can copy their guitar sound (sorry guys but I've got to make a living and you can copy my solo's anytime!!) quite easily.

I do rely on it and gig without a backup, take a few valves and fuses etc.

I play everything from funk and disco to heavy metal and it easily covers all these styles.
I've heard/played a heap of gear and this is the best so far, except for the Mesa Tri-axis (but its 3 times the price, with no effects).
I would advise anyone to try as much stuff as you can, if possible in your own time with your setup (guitars, speakers etc), its not easy in a shop with sales assistants hovering and Joe public listening and offering wry smiles..talking of which heres Steve Lukathers joke..
" How many guitarists does it take to change a light-bulb?"
"six, one to do it and five to say they could've done it better".
cheers Luke you're a star.