Rocktron Chameleon - Opinions??

[JiMoSiTY]

OK -
I just won a Rocktron Chameleon (the older one) off eBay and was wondering what you guys that have tried them think about them.
I'm going to be using it with a Boogie 50/50 into two Genz Benz G-Flex 2x12's.
Other gear I've got availble in the rack is a Rane PEQ, BBE Sonic Maximizer (mono) 411, Digitech TSR-24S, Ibanez HD-1500 (probably won't use this).
Any suggestions on what I should use out of this stuff to get a killer tone? I'm very happy with my Line6 Flextone HD tone now, so the high gain settings on there are what I like.

Any comments on this preamp?

[StuTDavis]

Re: Rocktron Chameleon - Opinions??

A friend of mine had the Chameleon 2000. As I remember, his setup at the time was the Cham, a BBE and Mesa 50/50, then out to his cabs. I could dial in a very thrashy metal sound out of the Cham, no problem at all. The Cham units are all solid-state, so expect very hard-edge sound. If you are into tubey warmth and feel, you might want to try adding a tube-based pedal in front and/or the VHT Valvulator pedal-sized preamp/buffer thingy. If you put a tube distortion (or other distortion) in front of it, expect noise, though, and the Cham's HUSH might not get rid of all of it--might need an outboard HUSH before it. The Rocktron units have a lot of EQ power in them, and you may or may not need that Rane EQ. I'd suggest just trying the Cham, BBE & Mesa power amp, then add stuff as you feel it needs it.

If you want a nice thrashy metal sound out of it, pump the Cham's pre-distortion EQ with loads of Mids, cut the bass a little if it gets muddy. Then, cut those mids in the post-distortion EQ as well as pumping the lows and highs some. I'm going off the Rocktron units I've used, assuming the older Chams are designed similarly. I also used to love going into the Speaker Sim section, choosing the Full Range, and pumping the Mic Pos and Reactance up some.

Good luck and have fun! [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[Riffmeister]

Re: Rocktron Chameleon - Opinions??

I had a Chameleon, and I did not like the gain on it at all. As mentioned above, it's kinda Fuzzy and harsh sounding.

THe thing had one of the greatest clean sounds I have ever heard though. I was able to perfectly nail the tone for the intro to Wheel in the Sky using that and the BBE.

THe other thing I didn't like, was that it dropped out when switching channels.

[ May 22, 2003, 05:42 PM: Message edited by: Rick ]

[JiMoSiTY]

Re: Rocktron Chameleon - Opinions??

Thanks guys, I should be getting it any day now, I'll try your advice and see how it sounds.