Rocktron Voodu Valve: FULL REVIEW with quality sound
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- Опубликовано: 16 апр 2016
- A full and lengthy review of the Rocktron Voodu Valve. If you're thinking of buying one of these this should help you decide. Despite the presence of a single 12AX7 Tube/Valve buffer, the unit is essentially solid state/digital with all distortion tones created via DSP (not the 12AX7 valve). However, it still sounds really, really good, and is the ONLY mostly solid state pre-amp I own. You can skip to the sections you're interested in at the menu.
Thank you for this awesome full review!
Best review of this unit! Thanks for sharing!
I had a Voodu Value for many years on the road, with a MidiMate...then I switched to a DigiTech GSP1101 and stuck with that through the C63 firmware. The Velocity 120 works great with both of them. I got so much midi experience programming those racks, and feel they both sounded wonderful. The blue JEM of yours, oh it's just so pretty. Thanks for the great video, cheers!
4 years late, but wanted to thank you for the in depth review on this preamp. I just purchased a used one for 200.00 U.S. and am pretty impressed with it, but was trying to figure it out a bit as I have no manual(never read them anyway). It is a very nice sounding unit. I don't like the menus much but that is probably because I am not used to it. The Voodu valve is very similar to my Peavey Tubefex. Only thing I like better about the TubeFex is that is has Pre/Post gain, bass, treble, and presence knobs on the front so you can adjust those parameters much more quickly. I will keep playing around with it. Many of the presets actually sound good which is usually pretty rare.
Thanks for the review, I decided to get a voodu valve myself. It is the witch doctor version but it sounds great!
I own the voodoo valve and rocktron prophesy II. I use the prophesy more but dig them both!
I picked up somewhere that any effect box that contains a (valve or tube) really cannot utilize them (other than make them glow) in a circuit because of the high voltage/current they require to function. They must be backed by a strong transformer and circuit to support them. To use them in any audible way requires them to be fully integrated into the circuit. You can't get that in an effect pedal. I mention this just to give my fellow musicians a heads up. Great explanation here btw! Thanks for your review. Its exactly what I was looking for.
I think that is probably true, certainly for pedals. But there are a single space few rack mount units with beefy HV transformers in them. The Boogie Tri-Axis and ADA MP-1 are both HV (greater than 180 plate voltage) pre-amps. There are others.
The Vox Tonelab series uses the tube in different approach. Not as a preamp, but as a mini amplifier tube in it's amp sims. As paul mentioned, the Boogie and ADA preamp are pretty strong contenders for credible tube preamps. The tonelab is too, but in a different way...and I LOVE the Tonelabs for those hard-to-reach mild to medium distortion tones. Don't be fooled by people who claim to pull the tube and stilll get sound, as there are a few settings that do not use the amp sim tube.
That was the selling point behind the Rocktron Pirahna, that the tubes were provided the appropriate voltage. It was a pretty decent sounding pre when I had one back in the 90s.
Great review, sounds sweet. I see you have the ADA MP1 & MP2, it would cool if you did a comparison review of them, there arent a lot of videos about the MP2 on RUclips.
Have you compared the "witch doctor" version of the Voodu Valve to your version??
I would love to see your opinion of the Marshall jmp-1, u have a wealth of information. 👍
30:33 this is very interesting to see the section Controller assign totally different on the Xpression Rocktron
Is this processor ment to be used with a guitar cab? ive been noticing a lot of people using PA speakers of processors like eleven rack. id prefer to use my half stack. thanks, amazing and review!!!
Nice and thorough review. Which combination out of the following units would come closest to the Voodu Valve:Pro gap, Piranha, Rockmaster, Replifex, Intellifex/Intellipitch?
+Mad guitar Murphy I have a Piranha, and I love it, although it sounds nothing like the Voodu Valve. It has no FX, and it is less flexible in shaping tones. It also has less gain than the Voodu Valve, but still enough for most styles. I have a Rockmaster too, which is an awesome sounding pre-amp. It's pukka high voltage valve tone. The 5150 circuit was based on it (apparently). However, it is a completely analogue 3 channel pre-amp, with no MIDI control at all, and (of course) no FX. I would say the Intellifex FX are similar to the Voodu Valve's FX.. so maybe the closest would be the Rockmaster with the Intellifex. With that setup you would have better distortion tones, but less flexibility IMO.
I will put up reviews of the Rockmaster and Piranha soon.
Nice review :) I agree an Intellifex is the closest in terms of FX quality; a Chameleon would work too. But just a mention for the hugely overlooked Zoom 9150 Tube Preamp - in terms of distortion characteristics & preamp tone, it's closer to the VooduValve than anything else I've heard, and cheaper if you can find one (I've used both units live and in the studio). Although it does all the VooduValve FX (and more), it can't compete with the Rocktron units for sheer fidelity of the sound of the digital FX, but an Intellifex & 9150 would be a great MIDI combination.
Interesting. I hear that the Chameleon is basically the Voodu Valve without the tube buffer .... I'll look out for the Zoom .. maybe one for the collection...!
I owned the pro gap first, and upgraded to the Piranha/ intellifex ltd combo. The Piranha is way better then the Pro Gap.
Great Great Review!!! I've had mine since 98 still hasn't explored it fully yet. Do you own a Tech 21 SansAmp PSA-1.1? If you do, can you do a full review on it like this video? In any case, great work man!!! Rock on!!!~~
Thanks. I'm afraid I don't own, or know of that piece of kit. I'll check it out.
I`m sorry, I skipped some parts of your review, but could you tell me whether I can assign any parameter of modulation effects to expression pedal or not? Like pitch shifter turning into whammy and so on
My Voodu Valve doesn't have a pitch shift (it's an older model). They
added that later, I believe. Most of the parameters of the modulation FX
can be assigned to an expression pedal, so you could change any aspect
of (say) a chorus or a pitch shift. However, you can only have ONE
modulation FX in a 'configuration'. You can't have chorus AND pitch
shift at the same time, so I can't see how you can morph between them
with an expression pedal. You COULD morph between a modulation FX and a delay or reverb by assigning the level of each to the same expression
peal (pedal down, reverb level = min, chorus level = max; and vice versa). Also there is no whammy effect.
hi gp, for a patch are you able to place two different delay times on a single patch?? i.e. 380ms on left side, 507ms on right side?? I'm trying to get a pink Floyd run like hell patch?? any suggestions.. thanks
Yes...the Voodu has two delays and you can move them around the stereo field. Should work great for Floyd.
Hi, I saw that you changed the knobs of the Ada mp1 pre amp .. Is that true?
off cab simulation with guitar amp?
does it havedelay/reverb spillover when changing patches?
don't think they were there quite yet in 95... maybe the newer versions do though?
Finally a chapman diss.Thank you for this.That fn salesman.
Found a used one $150- worth it? Looks interesting. I will only use via headphones- is this ok?
What do you like most? Voodu, JMP-1 or ADA?
I've had a JMP-1, a Mesa Mark III and a Rocktron Pro G.A.P. solid state preamp. I got my best recorded tones with the Pro G.A.P. I love that it comes with a built in Hush noise reduction and great EQ versatility. Just saying.
Are you going direct or is this sound out of the speaker cabinet?
Never mind, I missed the beginning where you mic the cabs. Although, I was wondering how it sounds with direct recording.
Its very good, I dont go gigs I record and with some plugins you can get great tones...I dont have a distortion pedal so its my go to..reverb and delay is awesome. In my case its very underused theres soo much to explore with this thing
To be honest with a ibanez jem even a toaster would sound good..D .I have a Line6 spider mod amp for my bedroom.Does the same for 300 bucks and a ibanez rg.You can really change every aspect of the sound.
Exellent description... but.. the sound of the : chair,de pick on the string,de footswitch are much higher than the sound of the amplifier .... bad review, good descripcion, but horrible demostration of sound....
Never never never in a review of an amplifier it should be listen the sound of the pick or the string itself...
funny how top metal bands use rack gear.. yet pedals are promoted.