Rocktron Chameleon... in 2018!

[mnemonic]

When I was researching my ISP Theta preamp before I bought it, I did read that it’s apparently quite similar to the Pro GAP preamp, but ‘more’. IIRC it was designed by the same person/people.

I’ve never tried a Pro GAP so I can’t say if that’s accurate or not.

Possible option for people who want that sound but with some newer tech.

 

[BuckarooBanzai]

When I was researching my ISP Theta preamp before I bought it, I did read that it’s apparently quite similar to the Pro GAP preamp, but ‘more’. IIRC it was designed by the same person/people.

I’ve never tried a Pro GAP so I can’t say if that’s accurate or not.

Possible option for people who want that sound but with some newer tech.

ISP supposedly took Rocktron's DSP people, so the people who designed the Theta DSP were also responsible for the Rocktron Prophesy, Voodu Valve, Chameleon, etc.It wouldn't surprise me if the same were true for their analog products.

 

[Shask]

Duuuuuude I want one of those pretty bad too. A coworker of mine loaned me an SGE Mach II back in the day which is, from what I can gather, basically an earlier SGX 2000 minus the tube preamp section. I didn't know enough to realize that I should've been running it into a full-range system so I kind of discounted it at the time since it sounded weird running through the front-end of my Marshall combo. By the time this thread is done I'll have five 80s rack systems sitting in my basement :-D.

Currently on the lookout for a Mosvalve, Fender 2150 or other "tubey" sounding 80s/90s power amp BTW. If somebody has one that they want to offload let me know!

Speaking of cool 90's processors, look for a Peavey Tubefex. I had one of those around the same time I had my last Chameleon. It is like a Programmable Rockmaster Tube Preamp + a Profex II Effects processor. It was the first unit I ever had where you could put any effect in any order.

 

[MaxOfMetal]

^This was the real king back in the day! I miss mine.

FWIW I have been looking at purchasing a Rocktron to complete my 80s/90s rack. The Widowmaker and Plexi both look really interesting. I had been looking at the Gainiac 2 and contacted Rocktron CS and they had this to say: "The WidowMaker is a little heavier darker tone in general to the Gainiac. Over the top gain and very modern metal tones with a good selection of clean tones as well."

I'm probably the odd man out, but I always hated the ART processors. I owned a few because of how much folks praised them (and they were cheap as dirt post 00'), but just could never dial in anything good. The effects were OK, but everything else was pretty "meh".

ISP supposedly took Rocktron's DSP people, so the people who designed the Theta DSP were also responsible for the Rocktron Prophesy, Voodu Valve, Chameleon, etc.It wouldn't surprise me if the same were true for their analog products.

ISP is "original" Rocktron. When the Rocktron brand was sold the founder and his engineering team went and created ISP.

 

[Spinedriver]

I'm probably the odd man out, but I always hated the ART processors. I owned a few because of how much folks praised them (and they were cheap as dirt post 00'), but just could never dial in anything good. The effects were OK, but everything else was pretty "meh".

Yeah, you're not far off. I could never really find a decent setting on any of the pre-amps that could work on their own (I would occasionally set it to 'clean-ish' and run a Boss Metal Zone into it and eq the hell out of it. Ended up sounding halfway decent tbh. The one thing I could never understand was why all of the incremental values for all of the effects were 3%. I plug it in every few years just for the hell of it to see if maybe an ir loader or something can get it to sound better.

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

When I was researching my ISP Theta preamp before I bought it, I did read that it’s apparently quite similar to the Pro GAP preamp, but ‘more’. IIRC it was designed by the same person/people.

I’ve never tried a Pro GAP so I can’t say if that’s accurate or not.

Possible option for people who want that sound but with some newer tech.

I wanted a Theta Pre pedal, but now you got me considering the Pro Gap as well to see how much they compare

 

[B.M.F.]

From experience I would go for the ISP Theta preamp every time for the following reasons:
- easier to dial in sounds (knobs vs cryptic LCD screen.)
Took me an hour to dial a sound from scratch on the Pro GAP vs Theta Preamp which took five minutes.
- Theta is more modern/better sounding
- Theta has better distortions, cleans and built in boost, none of the Rocktron preamps has a built in boost.
- not as noisy/less prone to issues (the Pro GAP rack units are pushing 40 years and some have LCD/corrupted memory issues)

Of course you can find Pro GAPs online all day long for cheap. Also check out the Chameleon 2000. This was a simplified version of the Chameleon from early 2000s using the same easy to use EQ section the Piranha has instead of old Chameleon/Voodoo Valve etc deep and complex pre and post EQs...

 

[narad]

Artwork apparently by the same guy that did my 1991 huffy bike (and possibly also my super soaker)

 

[USMarine75]

Artwork apparently by the same guy that did my 1991 huffy bike (and possibly also my super soaker)

I'm sure it barely stood out back then.

 

[BuckarooBanzai]

Artwork apparently by the same guy that did my 1991 huffy bike (and possibly also my super soaker)

Reminds me a lot of these:

 

[Blasphemer]

Well, fashion is cyclical, and we're making our way back to the 90s, now.

Behold, the future.

 

[prlgmnr]

Well, fashion is cyclical, and we're making our way back to the 90s, now.

Behold, the future.

Still looks better than the Kemper.

 

[USMarine75]

Still looks better than the Kemper.

I absolutely LOVE how my Kemper toaster looks. Oh well... beauty is subjective.

 

[Vince]

I absolutely LOVE how my Kemper toaster looks. Oh well... beauty is subjective.

Nothing compares to the look of a Mark series But yeah the Kemper rack looks cool, the toaster though I'm going to have to disagree with you. But hey it's good you like it!

 

[prlgmnr]

It isn't that I don't like how the Kemper looks, exactly, just that until it produces tea, earl grey, hot on command it seems like it's dressed for the wrong job.

 

[DiezelMonster]

Oh man. Now I need to build a rig based on the chameleon! Haha

I had just about every preamp that rocktron has made in the past and miss this sort of tone!

Cheers.

 

[mnemonic]

Can anyone who has had multiple of the old Rocktron preamps speak about the similarities and differences between them?

The power is out here at work and I’m basically just sitting on my hands, so I’ve been googling stuff on my phone for fun, and came across this thread:

http://www.sevenstring.org/threads/the-rocktron-preamps-thread.57190/

Descriptions sound accurate?

I’ve also read the Pro Gap models were the same as the Chameleon but without effects?

In reading up on these units, I do really dig the way they’re set up. Pre and post parametric EQ’s, and their own distortion sound, rather than models of tube amps and FMV tonestacks. It feels like it’s where digital should go, rather than where it is, which is pretending to be analog. Maybe I’m just being romantic.

 

[devastone]

The original ProGap (red and black) was analog with digital control, the ProGap Ultra (all black) was the digital version and probably had the same preamp algorithms as the original Chameleon.

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

Do does this all basically make the ISP Theta DSP the modern-day Chameleon?

 

[BuckarooBanzai]

Do does this all basically make the ISP Theta DSP the modern-day Chameleon?

That's my off-the-cuff, mostly-uninformed conclusion.

ProGap Ultra > Chameleon > Prophesy > Theta DSP (in terms of lineage, not quality)

That being said the Theta DSP is totally uncompetitive given its price, especially considering that you can get an AX8 or Helix for the same coin. IMO the sweet spot is the Chameleon, which is why I ended up purchasing it. If a Prophesy were $300 on the used market I might bite, but they seem to go for nearly double that so it's a no-go for me. The Pro Gap Ultra seems impossible to find so I can't comment.