I just got mine in and I was very surprised! Its small and light-weight; great for anyone who wants a preamp without all the fancy onboard stuff. First of all, there is PLENTY of gain in this preamp. No, you will not be able to turn your sound into a s***/static sandwhich. It has a lot of clarity, so if you if you play sloppy, it will tell on you (I think alot of users have been hiding behind massive distortion their whole lives) If you want a clean, comprehensible distortion, get the Gainiac 2.

The clean channel is superb, no complaints. The distortion is clear, controlable. I don't hear a lack of "depth", but I use an Aphex Aural Exciter and thats probably why. The controls are dumbed down a bit. You've got lows, mids, highs, and level on both channels with the addition of tube gain on the distortion side. Great if you like meat and potatoes. Its easier to work than my old Randall head!

I run the Gainiac 2 through the Art SLA 1 poweramp, very winning combination I must say. Even if this isn't the sound you are looking for, I suggest a good rack setup for on the road. Its so much easier to setup and maintain. I still have a couple heads I keep stored for recording.

The only downsides are no power switch (which is ok if you have a powered rack), the tube is a chore to get out, and there is only one output so you can't run into both channels of a poweramp.

Features: 4, it is lacking a couple of small features.

Quality: Its solid, its light weight, its got a good company behind it, sounds great, delivers what it promises. 5

Value: Where else would you find a basic preamp this good for this cheap? 5

Overall: 4.5, always room for improvement on anything.

The tone is pretty good. Classic Rock, Hard Rock, Early Metal. It just seems a little bland, lacks depth and character. I have been able to get better tones from the Electro-Harmonics English Muffin and the Maxon Tube pedals. Still this is cheap and the tones are useful enough to keep it around. If you come accross a used one for cheap, grab it. As for new, check out the Muffin.

ok this is a decent preamp, cons are it doesn't have an off switch and it doesn't produce the superheavy tone and stuff as advertised. if you want slipknot hatebreed etc you prolly have to overdrive this thing or something. the tube could be replaced to improve your tone as well. it's just a little over advertised promising ungodly distortion the distortion is ok and definetly tube but it's not nearly as heavy as advertised. overall it's still a good preamp i contacted rocktron and yes you can use it through your amps instrument input if you have no effects loop i use it like that and it sounds fine. i checked with rocktron before i bought it. overall this is a good preamp just not as heavy as advertised but it gives good clean tone, and good tube overdrive, and distortion just not super heavy distortion. i use it with a line 6 spider II 2x12 and an epi with EMG's in it , and a tele with GFS pups in it.

This a basic tube preamp with warm "tube-type" distortion. Blues, classic rock, and metal (especially old school) guitar players should love this little preamp. It does not have full-out saturated, fuzzy distortion, so if you wanna sound like Hatebreed or Machine Head right out of the the box, forget it.

However, I have my unit going thru a BBE Sonic Maximizer and I'll tell you what -- this preamp can produce brutal tone!! Probably not enough for some of you new school metalheads, but this preamp should not be overlooked.

As a side note: leave the SCOOP control at about 12 o'clock

I have recently traded my guitar for this product and man it's awesome. I've been studying guitar equipment for years and playing for more. The best way the use this product is to plug it into the return of the effects loop on the amp. Remember people, its a "pre-amp", not a distortion unit. The stock tube on it is ok, but I've just put a electro-harmonix 12AX7 in mine, and it has a tone like no other. The best part about equipment is to experiment with it, don't just go with one configuration.