Peavey Rockmaster Preamp?

[illumina]

Hey guys, I saw one at a used place for 195 used. I know thats kinda high, and i was thinking more like 125 for it.

It sounded pretty good. Does anyone else have opinions on it? I liked the dirty channel, although I didnt have as much time as i would like, since the high school kids next to me were cranking emo music with a Fender MexiStrat through a Crate Amp.

~eric

[StuTDavis]

Re: Peavey Rockmaster Preamp?

I had one for a few days (bought it, returned it to store). Definitely one of those really tubey preamps...very meaty tube sound. At the time, with the other rack gear I had, it was just too "raw" for me...couldn't get it into the thrash metal sound I like. I'd like to have it with the setup I have now--it'd probably do much better for me. I feel the same about a lot of the preamps I've owned and ditched before I had the setup like I've got it now. Just changing a few things in my setup made all the difference in the world between "OK" and "KILLER, DUDE!" with my Egnater preamp. So I'm curious how those other units I ditched, like the Rockmaster, would have benefited from the setup like it is now.

Stu

[lerxstcat]

Re: Peavey Rockmaster Preamp?

I have one I like a lot; for the $ you can't beat it, and it compares favorably
to units costing many times as much.

Having said that, $195 is really out of line pricewise, because you can get them
for $100 on Ebay all day. Sometimes one will go for more, but that's someone who
is anxious to get one NOW!

Mine was $110 shipped to my door, with
the footswitch. You want one that has the yellow relays, not the white ones which have a tendency to fail. You can pull the cover off and you'll see a bunch
of rectangular components. Yellow is good, white is not as good.

I'd ask the local guy to let you look at the relays; if they're the yellow ones you know it'll switch channels reliably.
If it's a good one, I'd offer $125 out the door IF it has the footswitch; if not
offer $100 out the door. If they don't take the offer, surf Ebay until you get one for cheap. Don't get caught up in a
bid war; you'll find one cheap if you keep looking!

[illumina]

Re: Peavey Rockmaster Preamp?

He said he would only do $150 firm, with no footswitch. I guess i'll resort to the bay.

Are there any other good preamps in this pricerange, aside from the ADA MP1?

thanks,
~eric

[lerxstcat]

Re: Peavey Rockmaster Preamp?

I don't know of any others that go that cheap, but someone else here may well.
Anything else in that range is probably going to be solid state.

That guy will have that Rockmaster forever if he doesn't come off $150. They LISTED for $299 back when they were made, for God's sake!

[StuTDavis]

Re: Peavey Rockmaster Preamp?

OOP!! Thanks for mentioning that footswitch thing, lerx.

MAKE SURE that if you get a Peavey Rockmaster that you DO get the original footswitch with it, or a footswitch KNOWN to work with it. The one I got didn't come with the original one, and the shop sent me one that "should work", and it didn't. It sort of randomly switched between channels when I pushed the buttons. Kinda crimps your style when you're trying to play a song that needs channel-switching hehehe.

You'll find a few preamps in that price range, but not a whole lot of very good ones. The Peavey and MP-1 are probably some of the better ones in that range, I'd say.

Stu

[charvelguy]

Re: Peavey Rockmaster Preamp?

A cheap tube preamp.....the SOHO QTR-1 for about 50.00-150.00. Mine was mint and I paid 50.00..and for that price, it is a solid tube toned preamp that I was quite suprised by.

Rich, if you read this..is there any other way to distinquish the difference between yellow relay & white other than thru the relays themselves on the Rockmaster? Which one is older, which is newer etc..

[ July 27, 2003, 11:29 AM: Message edited by: charvelguy ]