Rocktron Gainiac

I bought it at my local guitar dealers shop
after I read a lot of BAD reviews about it.
I bought it new (which was stupid cause lot of people sell it because they don't seem to know how to make that thing kick asses....*g*

This thing definitely RULES.I play everything from Jazz-a-Gogo,StadionRock,Pop,
PsychoTwist,Surf,Beat,Metal,Experimental to the pure Sound of Malmsteen,Vai and Co.(Only the SOUND you see.....)
I use a lot of multieffects Units in parallel and one of those is my GAINIAC.
My rack is the only of this kind known to me...Me and a studio tech had a lot of work building it up...
For guitar only sound I use a boss GT-5 parallel to a Rocktron Velocity and the
GAINIAC.For heavy distortion i.e. I use a basic sound from the velocity and over this with an octaver or elsehow (?)pitchshifted sound from the GT-5.If I wwant to fatten up the sound I put a lower 6th or 3th (espec.MetalHeads OldSchoolSound) under the Velocity Sound.I can even have a wah or whatever effect over the constant Velocity Distortion Sound.(or I can do a quite dist.Wah over a Clean Sound at the SAME time live - ....) .To finally kick asses I switch on my Gainiac (what sucks but to this later...).
This unit provides me with the ORIGINAL tone of the Instrument I use(mostly a Fender sometimes a Paula)and it crashes all walls down(with the knobs in the right places,.....)because it's a nonchanged pure fingers-and instrument-sound and its the only preamp(at this prize) that makes your TONE hearable over TWO (!!) distorted sounds without makin' a undefineable(?) noise outta the whole thing...
I have a rack mixer to combine all my signals like some keyboarders do and then its all the way into a Peavey Classic 60/60---pretty heavy (UUgh!) Power Amp.
The reason for using the Gainiac is simply that a guitar signal through a 24bit digital multieffect loses some of it's characteristics.So my signal goes straight into this preamp and then into the power Amp.
I like the sound I am able to produce with my GAINIAC and it seems to fit perfect to my "special" Rack.Thanks,Rocktron....

Some things that really SUCK :
1.Wallwart.
2.No switch ON/OFF (forgot this guys?)
3.The Clean tone is so quite I can't make it hearable using only my mixer...maybe another tube for the clean tone would have put this nice signal a bit louder?So I use one of my other Multis for the clean sound...
4.Change the tube to a better one if you're into this technology.It's a cheap one...but for this price the sound is really OK.
That'S it the thing is still the Pure-Tone-Crown of my Equipment!

Usual 19" Rack mounted unit.No problems.
Wallwart,no switch on/off---sucks...
one tube.some knobs to be turned in the right(RIGHT...*g*)direction.
Quite easy to handle...

All in all that you should try out but try to find one used unit,many people don't seem to understand the concept of a PREAMP(thinking it's a Distortion Pedal or something...?)and so you could get a "Schnaeppchen"(Use your dictionary German/English for that....*g*)
Always remind:This thing is called Gainiac (Not DISTORTIONIAC or so!)it produces a fine saturated overdriven tube preamp of your signal!
NOT for clean sounds(Not loud enough this channel is....)
If you wanna know more of my experiences with this or other units please feel free to mail to
Alexander.Pohl@E-Technik.tu-chemnitz.de


This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

Disto:
12AX7
bottom: + or-15 dB
Scoop control: -30 dB @ 800Hz
Top: + or-15 dB
Gain: 75 dB over
Level

Clean:
bottom: + or-15 dB
Top: + or-15 dB

UTILIZATION

Trs simple ...
rglages the legalization of trs are effective!
Taking footswitch to switch channels.

SOUNDS

Not super versatile, but are all the same rglages trs effective. Personally, I play punk rock, rock and blues, but I can rgler the sound I want. the scoop is great! 0 for a disto greasy and sunrise for a more aggressive. The level is also active trs.

OVERALL OPINION

I bought it because my budget did not allow me the Mesa Boogie. At 300 euros, the fact! I love her very fat!

Pramp lamp (12AX7 or equivalent)

Out in 70db gain (saturation)
Minimum connection between a mono jack, a mono output jack. (Even when there is a footswitch jack)

Small point ngatif: No switch, then have to connect a triplet with a switch or unplug the power supply.

UTILIZATION

Trs simple, however, there is no doc ....

Rglage a distortion pedals of ....( botom, top ....) with the scoop and more efficient trs.

+ From a small pedals, it was clear the rglage signal (2nd channel)

SOUNDS

Thanks to "scoop" you come get her enough "customizable", I believed not to beginners, because I do not like the V-saturated, but the fact is well. ..

And the lamp adds a great dimension "PCHE" while keeping his own trs.

OVERALL OPINION

We know what we achte: a balance between a boss distortion pedals of, and triax msaboogie ...
Good j'exagre a bit but the bottom .... even when it has a little for the price too.

In any case no surprises ...

Tube preamp (12AX7) 1U shallow.
- 1 imput jack facade
- A mono output jack
- An input switch to switch the channel distortion to clean

- Canal disto: bottom, scoop top, level, tube gain
- Canal clean: Bottom, top

Interuptor missing on / off in front: only negative for me, but as it is plugged into an outlet with a switch is not as embarrassing as that.
100 dB output.

UTILIZATION

Simple but effective setup parameters and enable a good range of sounds: crunch, vintage 60/70 's, rock overdrive, disot, metal. The trick is to take a little time to get what you want. You can feel the efficiency of the lamp.

The clear sound with good potato.

SOUNDS

For me, the sound is quality and type of grain américan the 60's and 70's. The gainiac can also get good metal sounds if we take the time to dwell on the settings, for example:
bottom: 15
Scoop: -12
top: 12
level: 8
gain: 10

OVERALL OPINION

I love the sound of this preamp. As my old amp had dropped and that I do more than just home studio, I needed above all a good preamp. I tested many models and those models (v-amp, Vox ToneLab), but it convinced me the most, especially since I already own the Rocktron replifex, I trusted in the brand.

For € 250 is a very good price / quality ratio.