Review: Peavey Rockmaster Preamp
 

Yeah! I finally got my hands on this little beauty!

Here are the specs.
4 12ax7 tubes.
3 Channels, Clean/Crunch/Ultra, Clean has its own EQ and Crunch/Ultra share theirs. The Crunch/Ultra is also active and you can pull the Mid knob for Mid Shift.

4 effect loops, one that covers all channels and one for each channel.

I didn't tweak it so much but heres what I got out of it the time I played it:
The clean is very clean and I could get lots of different tones from middy and warm to bright and so on. The crunch/ultra channels are practically different gain stages and you can pull out the pre gain knob for some extra cream. The distortion is good but as I said it takes some tweaking to get a good tone. Rythm tone is good with lots of chunk and clarity, the Lead is creamy and smooth not at all like when I used the pedal. The push/pull Mid Knob is useful but when in the "push" mode it got a bit harsh. The controls interact with eachother and being active tone controls they change your tone alot. I could get good slayerish sounds but also some brutal too. I think I'm gonna get an EQ for the crunch/ultra.

I use the preamp like this:
Guitar -> Rockmaster -> Musicman RD-100 Head (2x6l6) Effect Return -> Cab (duh)

Now when I got this I can throw away or sell my disgusting Boss MD-2
(Mega Distortion, pfffft). I can play the preamp loud without harsh treble and mids + no need to change batteries on the pedal, although I had an eliminator :D.

Needless to say I'm really happy I got this thing and I'm either gonna build a rackcase in woodwork or buy one.

The Rockmasters kick ass! The Triumph series are the head & combo versions of it. You can get 'em very cheaply on Ebay, and they fucking RAGE!