Rockman Tone in 2017

[rbc]

Re: Rockman Tone in 2017

Yes, I've seen this! Pretty cool, I think, although I wish he would go outside the Boston box more often. The Rockman units (Rockmen) is inextricably linked to Boston, of course, but it could do a lot more.

David's demos are great, but he does kind of stick to the Boston mold. There is a lot of that with the Rockman fans, myself included.

I think the Rockman linkage with Boston is mostly a perception thing, encouraged by the success of the Rockman headphone amps. I think what a lot of people miss is the flexibility of the later products, particularly the Sustainor, Distortion Generator and the XPR family of products.

The headphone amps have a fixed compressor circuit and simple on/off controls for the chorus and echo. They have a great sound, but you don't get much opportunity to change it without using some outboard gear, integrated before or after the headphone amp. There's no effects loop, unless you add it.

Both the Sustainor and Distortion Generator allow adjusting the compressor, gain, and cabinet simulation. Their modular design allows lots of options for integrating outboard gear, not necessarily Rockman gear. The XPR is kind of like the headphone amps, but is rack mounted and very programmable. It also easily interfaces with outboard gear.

I think if people were more familiar with the rack mount products, there wouldn't be such a strong perception about it all sounding like Boston.

[Sirion]

Re: Rockman Tone in 2017

This fits well with what I hear: Rockman gear were used by so many artists at the time, many of whom sounding nothing like Boston. And, as you say, the actual Rockmodules seem to have had a lot more flexibility than is commonly acknowledged.

Not that there is anything that is wrong with the Boston sound – I think it is a very good one, and definitely an important one in the annals of rock! – but that is not where the appeal for me lies.

[rbc]

Re: Rockman Tone in 2017

The XPR is kind of like the headphone amps, but is rack mounted and very programmable. It also easily interfaces with outboard gear.

Douglas Liniger demonstrated the XPR, XPRa and XP100a in this video:

The "a" models are extremely rare low noise units. The entire XP series is totally programmable and can be MIDI controlled.

[rbc]

Re: Rockman Tone in 2017

If you want to hear the low end of the Rockman gear spectrum, here is a very modest attempt to demonstrate the Dunlop Rockman Guitar Ace and Bass Ace:

https://soundcloud.com/bruce-carleto...e-73117-947-pm

The Ace family of headphone amps is a much simpler type of Rockman that does not have effects and uses a single 9-volt battery or power supply. The guitar was a Peavey Riptide. The Bass was a Fender Squire. Chorus, echo and ambiance effects were added using GarageBand. No additional EQ was used on the tracks.

[LLL]

Re: Rockman Tone in 2017

This thread needs more Rockman.

[beaubrummels]

Re: Rockman Tone in 2017

I had a Nobel Sound Studio back in the day. It covered Scholz to Lifeson in the 80's. It's the same price now, but all the knobs are broken off on all of them.

[rbc]

Re: Rockman Tone in 2017

Here's a guy doing AC/DC with a XPR:

Really guys, it's not all Boston music

[rbc]

Re: Rockman Tone in 2017

The Rockman A12-50 Amp is probably the most conventional thing that SR&D ever made. It also uses the Ultimatum circuit that is a kind of multi-staged distortion. Here's notreallysure9 on YouTube demonstraighting one (part 1):

SR&D produced around 400 of them, so they're kind of rare.

[rbc]

Re: Rockman Tone in 2017

Here's part 2:

[rbc]

Re: Rockman Tone in 2017

Another Rockman product that I've found useful with conventional guitar amplifiers is the Acoustic Guitar Pedal (AGP). It has a compressor and adds some gain and tone controls. I have a Peavey Transtube amp that doesn't have a "Bright" switch. I use the AGP to add the brightness that I need. I like the compressor too. I know that's not for everybody though.

[Sirion]

Re: Rockman Tone in 2017

Here's a guy doing AC/DC with a XPR:

Really guys, it's not all Boston music

This isn't a bad tone, but his playing needs some serious work. It would be cool to hear AC/DC played with that tone, though!

[Obsessive Compulsive]

Re: Rockman Tone in 2017

10 pages on this medieval age POS? Whaddafuq?! Move on boys, nuff for this primitive artifact already...da hell...

I can cough up that holy-grail Rockman tone with nearly any chorus model on my Zoom MS 70CDR, with the clone chorus being the closest.

[Obsessive Compulsive]

Re: Rockman Tone in 2017

There is a reason Joe Satriani doesn't use this crap anymore, regardless of how thankful he was to Herr Scholz for his intuitive creation.

This belongs to Smithsonian.

[Sirion]

Re: Rockman Tone in 2017

10 pages on this medieval age POS? Whaddafuq?! Move on boys, nuff for this primitive artifact already...da hell...

I can cough up that holy-grail Rockman tone with nearly any chorus model on my Zoom MS 70CDR, with the clone chorus being the closest.

Wow, aren't you charming. If you're not interested in Rockman products, feel free not to post.

[LLL]

Re: Rockman Tone in 2017

I can cough up that holy-grail Rockman tone with nearly any chorus model on my Zoom MS 70CDR, with the clone chorus being the closest.

Is that so?

How about a tone challenge?

Your ZOOM MS 70CDR vs my attempt.

Annnnnnnnnd go!