Bought my Rockmaster around '91 since my Super Lead needed distortion. Still got it. Blows the stock ADA MP1 away. Definitely in the top 5 of guitar tube preamps.
I bought one of these new, back in the day. And I still have it. It's been the most unreliable bit of kit I ever had but is fantastic when it does work. (Right now it needs fixing - it's usually the dil relays). A very clear and focused sound and the active eq is super versatile.
That preamp sounds pretty damn good. Sounds even better than the JMP-1 and ADA MP-1 to my ears. I have an old Peavey Bravo ( all tube 25w combo) and this sounds as good as that amp, which is a KILLER amp. Right up there with My Marshall and Friedman. But this pre-amp is the most organic sounding tone wise out of the one’s I’ve come across by far.
picked up this pre a few months back - EPIC , sounds bettert han a 5150 to me . The ultra channel is extremely modern sounding and it has a better clean than most peavey amps , the EQ is super sensitive too , a hidden gem of the preamp world !
ABSOLUTELY! 5150 is a horrible beehive fizz fest and too much unusable gain. These are better. It's based on the Peavey Ultra amp, just without the power section and those suck because common to fail! This is just the preamp section.
@@JohnDoe-k2c😂 the 5150 EVH signature 212 combo I had was not fizzy at all unless dialed with full gain and mids treble and presence turned all the way up, but really not even then. The Bravo abs Rockmaster here can get fizzy if dialed in wrong but they all work great for myself !
I am lucky enough to own one of these. An amazing sounding preamp. I run it through an NRG mosfet power amp into a crate 412. Sounds really good. Love the flexibility the "pull boost" feature gives the gain channels. Great review and awesome playing.
I just scored one on Reverb with foot switch for $500! Nice! ! These are very hard to find in good shape. You guys wanna hear a crazy story about this Preamp? lol I first bought one of these WAY back in the early 90s from The Starving Musician in San Jose CA, stupid cheap, played through a Pignose Amp (!!) in my Apt not to piss off the neighbors, and it STILL sounded so good and made such an impression on me, I never forgot that killer tone ( as compromised as it was! lol ) 30 plus years later! And I have to say too, with all the obsession and fuss over the EVH Gear and Peavey 5150, XXX, JSX, etc all over the internet, what I LOVE about this Amp is not just the huge range of low-gain, to absolute filth this will generate, but this doesn't sound "fizzy" on the top-end, and it is very neutral, EQ-wise and doesn't color your tone and put out the "cocked Wah" tone like the JSX and the EVH gear does. This amp is all about letting YOU and your fingers shape the sound with a blank canvas. I'm 52 years old and I feel like a kid at Christmas!! lol Take care fellow Tone-Meisters ! All the best, Dave ♫
@@LeonTodd You're welcome man! And you're right, the clean tone is really nice too! I love your channel Todd, and you are a very tasty player to boot! Cheers! 🎸
I got one online from a pawn shop with footswitch for a decent price. Had a broken pot/missing knob. Luckily not one of the push/pull! That Starving Musician is my regular shop!
Just snagged one of these at a tag sale for nothing, always heard but never dove into learning about them. Sounds dope through the low input of my 2203.
I bought one of these in the 90's...when they first came out. I went on eBay thinking "hey...I need a preamp...maybe that Rockmaster has dropped WAY low since it's SO OLD." Imagine my surprise that metal heads these days LOVE IT. I ran it into a Classic 60 amp...then into a Peavey 4X12. I didn't know JACK SQUAT about "getting tones" back then...and just did what I could do (all self-taught). It was WAY better than the GSP 21 I traded in for it...well..for a discount. I sounded like I had a REAL amp as opposed to the DigiTech LAME amp "simulating". Anyways...great to hear this thing again!!! Especially the Megadeth!!! :) One of my favorite albums at that time. I still have nowhere near the skill you do (still self-taught), but at least I've learned about EQ-ing and what each frequencies do rather than "grabbing knobs and guessing". Great review!!
Hi Leon..I'm absolutely disagree with you,obviously it is a matter of taste but in my humble opinion the best by far amp peavey always made is the ultraplus head 120 watts...much better than one trick ponny 5150....richer warmer and best grain texture in distortion ....and if i'm not wrong it is the same preamp section of the rockmaster...anyway great,great youtube channel and pretty good job!
Great review, i like that you play clean crunch and then heavy you cover more then one sound from the unit. Take note only one toneking guy this is how you review gear.
I still use mine. I run it through a Marshall Valvestate 150 watt power rack and a basic Midiverb 2 for standard verb, delay or chorus. Until I own an Axe FX2 or 3, I'll stick with my 90s rig.
Hello Again. 1 Question more; How do you control or change channels in preamps like Peavey or Engl E530 (Clean,Lead, rhythm) in synch with any multi fx unit like Tc Gmajor ? For example; Clean to lead. First you close the chorus (my preference in a clean tone) second; change channels with the midi controller foot pedal unit, than, as a third foot move, open the delay, harmonizer, etc? Best regards.
Set the clean channel to sound as clean as a Fender Twin Reverb, the crunch channel at break up point with an overdrive in front of it to sound like a Fender Bassman/Marshall Plexi cranked, and the ultra channel to taste to give you everything from a Marshall LM6100 30th. Ann./ Marshall Mode Four over an Engl Screamer / Peavey 5150 character to a Mesa Dual Rec character by fine tuning the eq section interplaying with the way you shape the tone with the voicing section.
That would be called the Peavey Ultra. It's the Rock Master pre minus the tube buffered stage in the effects loop, into a 6L6 power amp with resonance control.
Hi Leon I joined your channel today, I see your really have a good perspective on sound and playing on pro level. Do you have experience with Peavey's Flight Case MX Heads has the VTX design SS pre Amp and a tube power amp. I was wondering if the Rockmaster head is a step up?
Gigged with one of these for around 10-11 years. Loved it. Had a full rack of "crap". lol. I had a Boss SE-50 & CL-50 that were simply used on the clean channel. Nothing else. Initially I bought the SE-50 and an ART pedal to be able to save, create patches but that was annoying. So rather than get rid of the Boss rack fx units, I just simply ran them through the fx loop on the clean channel and dialed in one "Queensryche-ish" clean channel. Then had a Yamaha analog delay unit that was simply ran through the lead (Ultra) channel for my leads and I ran my rhythm bone dry through the crunch channel. So I had 3 channels and those were my tones. It was a work horse. Eventually traded it off for a Crate V-series combo. Then about 10 years later moved on to a Hughes & Kettner GM-36. I've loved all of my amps for different reasons. But the Peavey Rock Master was my favorite. But maybe because it was used during a time when I used a 4x12 on stage & let it rip? lol. Different era of club gigging now.
Hello Leon, thank you for that great demo. Do you know an alternative for the patchmate? I am looking for a possibility to switch between preamps and the rocktron is a bit oversized for me. I am looking for something with less channels, so I hopefully get it cheaper, but still 19".
I have owned two RM's and my current one is modded. I especially like the crunch channel. In fact, it is the only channel I use (in either push or pull mode). Lately, I have been considering the Myasnikov Superlead. For high-gain, with thick tone, and solo definition, what is your verdict between these two preamps?
The Superlead is way thicker sounding and a bit looser in the low end. i did a video comparison with the RM, Superlead, MP-1 amnd a few others pres a while back
easily on e of the best preamps ever made, and one reason being it uses old-school electronics and is easily repairable and modifiable! I'm gonna tweak mine to get the prefect high gain EVH Marshall meets 5150 amp tones! Which it gets very close to already and IMO what EVH should have sounded like! He should have IMO at very last ran his old Marshall in parallel with his late 5150 amp!
Sounds great! Just wondering if there are any solid state rack mounted guitar preamps. Don't all of these have 12 ax 7's in them? Didn't Sansamp make a rack mounted solid state preamp for guitar that Marty Friedman used at one point? Don't get me wrong, I love tubes, just curious, especially for reliability, biasing, etc issues.
Yeah you need a 2 button footswitch to switch between clean, crunch, and Ultra. The cable will need to be 1/4" TRS (tip ring sleeve...i.e a stereo cable)
I used this preamp during my time in Lemur Voice, you can hear it on the first Lemur Voice album "Insights" I always loved how it sounded ruclips.net/video/0vzAESwP6J0/видео.html
I remember you guys very during the mp3.com days in the 90's. I remember the Metal Blade competition where the more generic Crown (I think thats what they were called) were picked over Lemur Voice.
Was that Pitch Detune added in post, or in your rack? Man, that has some uncanny similarity is to a perfect Mike Stern’s tone. Also, you are a really wonderful player-lovely playing to listen to
I bought a second ...now trying to make a stereo rig with them a pair of Peavey EQ31's into a Peavey Classic 50/50 power amp......an Eq in the loop really tames the mid focus tone on them
I love the rack stuff.. it was so much cleaner than having pedals all over the floor. They never made any fender type preamps though, only marshall favored stuff. For the money, the postmaster was a great preamp.
@@LeonTodd I think many give you that fender fender clean... it's the grit I have problems finding... classic peter green, John Lee hooker, newer Clapton, Bluesbreakeruff (even though some of that was a marshall tiebreaker amp). The the stuff I struggle with... cae is a super sweet piece. Way too nice for me
I’ve had one of these and an ADA MP1 and the Peavey was easily my favorite of the two. Not even close. You’re right about it having the most amp-like feel. Would use this with a Marshal EL34 power amp and controlled it and my Quadraverb with a Peavey Midi-Pro. You could create presets that changed the channels on the Rockmaster as well as the effects on the Quadraverb. Channel switching was a little on the slow side, being the Midi-Pro was early 1980’s tech, but worked well enough.
Yeah, it has a mid-shift (push/pull on the MID EQ knob) that helps it to get out of 80's shredsville. But it is voiced distinctly high-mid / cock rock. Also the EQ is super powerful so that helps too if you don't like the core tone.
Bought my Rockmaster around '91 since my Super Lead needed distortion. Still got it. Blows the stock ADA MP1 away. Definitely in the top 5 of guitar tube preamps.
I bought one of these new, back in the day. And I still have it. It's been the most unreliable bit of kit I ever had but is fantastic when it does work. (Right now it needs fixing - it's usually the dil relays).
A very clear and focused sound and the active eq is super versatile.
That preamp sounds pretty damn good. Sounds even better than the JMP-1 and ADA MP-1 to my ears. I have an old Peavey Bravo ( all tube 25w combo) and this sounds as good as that amp, which is a KILLER amp. Right up there with My Marshall and Friedman. But this pre-amp is the most organic sounding tone wise out of the one’s I’ve come across by far.
The Peavey bravo had this pre amp circuit that's why !
And yes I think they agree both best amps in the whole world to me !
picked up this pre a few months back - EPIC , sounds bettert han a 5150 to me . The ultra channel is extremely modern sounding and it has a better clean than most peavey amps , the EQ is super sensitive too , a hidden gem of the preamp world !
Amen Bro!
ABSOLUTELY! 5150 is a horrible beehive fizz fest and too much unusable gain. These are better. It's based on the Peavey Ultra amp, just without the power section and those suck because common to fail! This is just the preamp section.
@@JohnDoe-k2c😂 the 5150 EVH signature 212 combo I had was not fizzy at all unless dialed with full gain and mids treble and presence turned all the way up, but really not even then. The Bravo abs Rockmaster here can get fizzy if dialed in wrong but they all work great for myself !
There is a reason why Mr Iommi still uses a Peavey Rockmaster pre for his rig setup! Cheers!
Didn't know he used one!
I hope you are right! I just so I can brag about that to my friend who is a big Sabbath fan. I thought Iommi used Laney's mself.
😂 I don't think that is accurate, Tony Iommi from Sabbath didn't use a Peavey Rockmaster pre amp since this didn't come out until 1990 or so about.
I am lucky enough to own one of these. An amazing sounding preamp. I run it through an NRG mosfet power amp into a crate 412. Sounds really good. Love the flexibility the "pull boost" feature gives the gain channels. Great review and awesome playing.
I just scored one on Reverb with foot switch for $500! Nice! ! These are very hard to find in good shape. You guys wanna hear a crazy story about this Preamp? lol I first bought one of these WAY back in the early 90s from The Starving Musician in San Jose CA, stupid cheap, played through a Pignose Amp (!!) in my Apt not to piss off the neighbors, and it STILL sounded so good and made such an impression on me, I never forgot that killer tone ( as compromised as it was! lol ) 30 plus years later! And I have to say too, with all the obsession and fuss over the EVH Gear and Peavey 5150, XXX, JSX, etc all over the internet, what I LOVE about this Amp is not just the huge range of low-gain, to absolute filth this will generate, but this doesn't sound "fizzy" on the top-end, and it is very neutral, EQ-wise and doesn't color your tone and put out the "cocked Wah" tone like the JSX and the EVH gear does. This amp is all about letting YOU and your fingers shape the sound with a blank canvas. I'm 52 years old and I feel like a kid at Christmas!! lol Take care fellow Tone-Meisters ! All the best, Dave ♫
Thanks for sharing the awesome story! This definitely has one of my favourite clean tones!
@@LeonTodd You're welcome man! And you're right, the clean tone is really nice too! I love your channel Todd, and you are a very tasty player to boot! Cheers! 🎸
I got one online from a pawn shop with footswitch for a decent price. Had a broken pot/missing knob. Luckily not one of the push/pull! That Starving Musician is my regular shop!
Just snagged one of these at a tag sale for nothing, always heard but never dove into learning about them. Sounds dope through the low input of my 2203.
I bought one of these in the 90's...when they first came out. I went on eBay thinking "hey...I need a preamp...maybe that Rockmaster has dropped WAY low since it's SO OLD."
Imagine my surprise that metal heads these days LOVE IT.
I ran it into a Classic 60 amp...then into a Peavey 4X12. I didn't know JACK SQUAT about "getting tones" back then...and just did what I could do (all self-taught). It was WAY better than the GSP 21 I traded in for it...well..for a discount. I sounded like I had a REAL amp as opposed to the DigiTech LAME amp "simulating".
Anyways...great to hear this thing again!!! Especially the Megadeth!!! :) One of my favorite albums at that time.
I still have nowhere near the skill you do (still self-taught), but at least I've learned about EQ-ing and what each frequencies do rather than "grabbing knobs and guessing".
Great review!!
Was my main gigging preamp for a good couple of years paired with a Furman PQ4 through a Marshall power amp, It was a great tone!
The Furman's seem to be the secret sauce that a lot of guys use to really set their rack tones over the edge. I'd love to find one.
still have mine actually. Needs the pots cleaned desperately, but it still sounds great.
Thanks so much for this wonderful demo, I am getting a friends old broken one I will repair and use in my studio soon!
Fantastic to hear it's going to be getting some love!
WOW! That's a nice sounding pre. I didnt realise Peavey made something sound that good back then :)
Judd the gain sounds aren't quite as impressive as the 5150 but the cleans are awesome!
Hi Leon..I'm absolutely disagree with you,obviously it is a matter of taste but in my humble opinion the best by far amp peavey always made is the ultraplus head 120 watts...much better than one trick ponny 5150....richer warmer and best grain texture in distortion ....and if i'm not wrong it is the same preamp section of the rockmaster...anyway great,great youtube channel and pretty good job!
808 and a gate... are I say better than the 5150 straight up, but the same once you add OD and gate IMO
The Rockmaster is amazing, and it's tonal heritage is in all the Ultra series amps, the most famous probably being the JSX
Kenny H Agreed.
Great review, i like that you play clean crunch and then heavy you cover more then one sound from the unit. Take note only one toneking guy this is how you review gear.
Thanks so much man!
*Todd would you ever consider parting with that ROCKMASTER or the Rocktron Piranha Preamp?*
The clean and dirty variations much appreciated,,,sounds magnificent!
I still use mine. I run it through a Marshall Valvestate 150 watt power rack and a basic Midiverb 2 for standard verb, delay or chorus. Until I own an Axe FX2 or 3, I'll stick with my 90s rig.
Awsome playing as usual great sounds too buddy
Thank you kindly!
Rockmaster is a great preamp! Friends playing 80s covers and Tribute bands use them, so they must not be bad!!
I purchased a Peavey RockMaster 120 head and Peavey 4x12 in 1985. It was loud and aggressive!🤘
I didn't know they made a head version!
@@LeonTodd just search on RUclips there's a couple videos with people that have them. Cheers
Hello Again. 1 Question more; How do you control or change channels in preamps like Peavey or Engl E530 (Clean,Lead, rhythm) in synch with any multi fx unit like Tc Gmajor ? For example; Clean to lead. First you close the chorus (my preference in a clean tone) second; change channels with the midi controller foot pedal unit, than, as a third foot move, open the delay, harmonizer, etc? Best regards.
you need a midi controller pedal , then link your pre , fx ,and pedal with midi cables . good fun building a load of presets !
awesome review.just got a rockmaster after watching this review.is this a mono preamp or can it be run stereo thru power amp into stereo 2x12
Set the clean channel to sound as clean as a Fender Twin Reverb, the crunch channel at break up point with an overdrive in front of it to sound like a Fender Bassman/Marshall Plexi cranked, and the ultra channel to taste to give you everything from a Marshall LM6100 30th. Ann./ Marshall Mode Four over an Engl Screamer / Peavey 5150 character to a Mesa Dual Rec character by fine tuning the eq section interplaying with the way you shape the tone with the voicing section.
It sounds like ever other 80s hair metal preamp, like the Tube Drivers, and you can never get rid of that sound 😂🤣😂😂🤣
I'd like to hear the Peavey Rockmaster Pre into a 6l6 power section.
I'll have to do that in the next month or so.
Steve L, there videos of that on RUclips already. The Peavey Classic 60/60 has 6L6 tubes.
Its mind boggling...I run mine thru Boogie 50/50
@@clemsontiger001 I'm doing the same. Sounds AWESOME with the 50/50!
That would be called the Peavey Ultra. It's the Rock Master pre minus the tube buffered stage in the effects loop, into a 6L6 power amp with resonance control.
Hi Leon I joined your channel today, I see your really have a good perspective on sound and playing on pro level.
Do you have experience with Peavey's Flight Case MX Heads has the VTX design SS pre Amp and a tube power amp. I was wondering if the Rockmaster head is a step up?
Gigged with one of these for around 10-11 years. Loved it. Had a full rack of "crap". lol. I had a Boss SE-50 & CL-50 that were simply used on the clean channel. Nothing else. Initially I bought the SE-50 and an ART pedal to be able to save, create patches but that was annoying. So rather than get rid of the Boss rack fx units, I just simply ran them through the fx loop on the clean channel and dialed in one "Queensryche-ish" clean channel. Then had a Yamaha analog delay unit that was simply ran through the lead (Ultra) channel for my leads and I ran my rhythm bone dry through the crunch channel. So I had 3 channels and those were my tones. It was a work horse.
Eventually traded it off for a Crate V-series combo. Then about 10 years later moved on to a Hughes & Kettner GM-36.
I've loved all of my amps for different reasons. But the Peavey Rock Master was my favorite. But maybe because it was used during a time when I used a 4x12 on stage & let it rip? lol.
Different era of club gigging now.
I really enjoyed reading that! I recently did a video with the BOSS SE70 funnily enough.
@@LeonTodd I'm not sure how I missed this reply. So now I have to go watch the BOSS SE70 video! lol.
Hello Leon, thank you for that great demo. Do you know an alternative for the patchmate?
I am looking for a possibility to switch between preamps and the rocktron is a bit oversized for me. I am looking for something with less channels, so I hopefully get it cheaper, but still 19".
Great review!
When you went to the Ultra setting I though you were going to play “Battery”… it has that sound.
I have owned two RM's and my current one is modded. I especially like the crunch channel. In fact, it is the only channel I use (in either push or pull mode). Lately, I have been considering the Myasnikov Superlead. For high-gain, with thick tone, and solo definition, what is your verdict between these two preamps?
The Superlead is way thicker sounding and a bit looser in the low end. i did a video comparison with the RM, Superlead, MP-1 amnd a few others pres a while back
easily on e of the best preamps ever made, and one reason being it uses old-school electronics and is easily repairable and modifiable! I'm gonna tweak mine to get the prefect high gain EVH Marshall meets 5150 amp tones! Which it gets very close to already and IMO what EVH should have sounded like! He should have IMO at very last ran his old Marshall in parallel with his late 5150 amp!
Sounds great! Just wondering if there are any solid state rack mounted guitar preamps. Don't all of these have 12 ax 7's in them? Didn't Sansamp make a rack mounted solid state preamp for guitar that Marty Friedman used at one point? Don't get me wrong, I love tubes, just curious, especially for reliability, biasing, etc issues.
Yep, plenty. Sansamp is a classic but Rocktron Pro Gap and Marshall 9004 immediately come to mind.
@@LeonTodd Ok cool. Thanks! I'll have to check those out for fun.
I have 2 Randall RGP1000 pre amps. They are the rack version of the Century 200 basically
Ada MP1 VS Peavey Rockmaster :) for 80s and 90s hard rock and heavy metal (nuthin crazy)
Great playing btw
Nice demo. Nice playing!
do you need a foot switch to change channels because I can't seem to get mine working .. thanks!
Yeah you need a 2 button footswitch to switch between clean, crunch, and Ultra. The cable will need to be 1/4" TRS (tip ring sleeve...i.e a stereo cable)
@@clemsontiger001 thanks dude!
Post gain EQ is correct. I have the same pre plugged into a classic series 60 power amplifier not to bad a sound
I used this preamp during my time in Lemur Voice, you can hear it on the first Lemur Voice album "Insights"
I always loved how it sounded
ruclips.net/video/0vzAESwP6J0/видео.html
I remember you guys very during the mp3.com days in the 90's. I remember the Metal Blade competition where the more generic Crown (I think thats what they were called) were picked over Lemur Voice.
Can I get Plexi tones with that? Thanks.
Was that Pitch Detune added in post, or in your rack? Man, that has some uncanny similarity is to a perfect Mike Stern’s tone. Also, you are a really wonderful player-lovely playing to listen to
Thanks so much. From memory I added it in post to get it as lush as possible
Leon ..did you part with your Rockmaster? On a recent studio tour I didn't notice it in the rack of preamps
Oh it's still here. Now about that over the next week or so.
I bought a second ...now trying to make a stereo rig with them a pair of Peavey EQ31's into a Peavey Classic 50/50 power amp......an Eq in the loop really tames the mid focus tone on them
I love the rack stuff.. it was so much cleaner than having pedals all over the floor. They never made any fender type preamps though, only marshall favored stuff. For the money, the postmaster was a great preamp.
The CAE 3+ had a very Fender inspired clean - hard to think of any others though
@@LeonTodd I think many give you that fender fender clean... it's the grit I have problems finding... classic peter green, John Lee hooker, newer Clapton, Bluesbreakeruff (even though some of that was a marshall tiebreaker amp). The the stuff I struggle with... cae is a super sweet piece. Way too nice for me
@@LeonTodd Egnater IE4 also
I’ve had one of these and an ADA MP1 and the Peavey was easily my favorite of the two. Not even close. You’re right about it having the most amp-like feel.
Would use this with a Marshal EL34 power amp and controlled it and my Quadraverb with a Peavey Midi-Pro. You could create presets that changed the channels on the Rockmaster as well as the effects on the Quadraverb. Channel switching was a little on the slow side, being the Midi-Pro was early 1980’s tech, but worked well enough.
I bet that rig sounded huge!
Leon Todd
That rig was crazy!!! I actually played it thought a Genz-Benz G-Flex 4x12 LOL!!!
dude, the Rockmaster is the shit!... put a Maxon or IBBY 808 and gate up front and you are set... I used to love racks
kevinfeatherstone I'll have to do a clip boosting it like that.
If I look to other reviews it looks like the preamp does't sound at all.... but you definitely changed my mind
Glad I could be of help!
This or the piranha?
Oooh. i'll answer this in my weekly Q&A :)
Definitely the peavey
hum maybe a set of Cobalt strings and a semour duncan ...might pep this baby up
*No one ever does the PEAVEY TUBEFEX*
I got two! And I will take them to the grave!
It sounds thin
Yeah, it has a mid-shift (push/pull on the MID EQ knob) that helps it to get out of 80's shredsville. But it is voiced distinctly high-mid / cock rock. Also the EQ is super powerful so that helps too if you don't like the core tone.
👍🇺🇲❤JMP-1 & PEAVEY ROCKMASTER.......ARE THE KINGS !!!!!......THE REST ARE 💩CRAP💩
I have one for sale, $550
I've modeled it in VST. fewtubefx.blogspot.com/p/preamp.html