Rockman Tone in 2017

[JMP/HBE]

The Rockman and its design [not guitar ace model] is still relevant after 50 years. That's all anyone needs to know really.

[Sirion]

What is this remake you speak of? Links to announcement?

It has been going on on this FB page:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/852250755526904

Apparently somebody has managed to get hold of some very rare parts needed to recreate the Rockman, and have acquired the rights to use the name for an extremely limited release. They are currently working at making a semi-digital version that does away with the impossible-to-find components, which is good enough for me. I wish they made a rack version instead of a stompbox, but I guess that is the way things go these days...

[Sirion]

The Boston debut was the first album I bought with my own money. I will admit to dialing in my EQ like Tom and banging out some Boston riffs here and there. It is a fun tone and nostalgic for me. However, outside of my bedroom I can't think of anywhere I could/would use that setting. Still, you have to give Tom credit even with others recording with the Rockman, like Phil Collin from Def Leppard you can always recognize a Boston song from the guitar tone even if you have never heard the song.

I think that is the incredible thing about these units. As much as I like Boston and Scholz' tones, I would never copy them. Yet the Rockman stuff shows up in some truly disparate places, from Jeff Beck to Def Leppard to Dokken to Megadeth, and somehow managed to work in all whilst retaining its sonic stamp. Oh, and AOR. I agree that it is definitely a retro tone, but for what it is, it just works.

[Securb]

I think that is the incredible thing about these units. As much as I like Boston and Scholz' tones, I would never copy them.

Agreed. It is nothing I go chasing. My SourceAudio SoundBlox Pro Classic Distortion does a very convincing Marshall tone and with the EQ tweaked I can get close enough for horseshoes. Like I said it is something I might riff on here and there if I am feeling nostalgic.

[Sirion]

Agreed. It is nothing I go chasing. My SourceAudio SoundBlox Pro Classic Distortion does a very convincing Marshall tone and with the EQ tweaked I can get close enough for horseshoes. Like I said it is something I might riff on here and there if I am feeling nostalgic.

I don't think I've even seen that one! Looks interesting for a flexible distortion pedal, with the EQ really taking it beyond most units. Alas, it is the cleans I am most interested in in the Rockman...

[Sirion]

The Rockman units were pretty low fidelity. If they were built today and without the nostalgia they wouldn't be judged too kindly.

I suspect that this is the case with a lot of guitar equipment where we've more or less learnt to accept the flaws as features.

[idsnowdog]

I suspect that this is the case with a lot of guitar equipment where we've more or less learnt to accept the flaws as features.

One thing that I have been thinking about a lot recently is the explosion in the availability of cheap high quality Chinese pedals. You can get reasonable clones of boutique pedals for as little as $23 which is far more affordable than pedals have been since I started playing guitar 30 years ago. Often these pedals are the micro form factor which aren't easy to modify but their low price makes them a low risk purchase because you can sell them and not lose your shirt if you don't like them. Most of the industry stalwarts like the Boss SD-1 have numerous clones but in addition there are plenty of other boutique clones like the OCD, Klon, Plexitone, and Suhr Riot. So for me it's kind of a question why someone would necessarily want a Boss SD-1 to modify when you can probably find a higher performance clone of a Suhr Riot for half the price? So you can have a McDonald's burger with ketchup or a Bacon Avocado Ranch burger with onion straws for less.

[Sirion]

One thing that I have been thinking about a lot recently is the explosion in the availability of cheap high quality Chinese pedals. You can get reasonable clones of boutique pedals for as little as $23 which is far more affordable than pedals have been since I started playing guitar 30 years ago. Often these pedals are the micro form factor which aren't easy to modify but their low price makes them a low risk purchase because you can sell them and not lose your shirt if you don't like them. Most of the industry stalwarts like the Boss SD-1 have numerous clones but in addition there are plenty of other boutique clones like the OCD, Klon, Plexitone, and Suhr Riot. So for me it's kind of a question why someone would necessarily want a Boss SD-1 to modify when you can probably find a higher performance clone of a Suhr Riot for half the price? So you can have a McDonald's burger with ketchup or a Bacon Avocado Ranch burger with onion straws for less.

I'd rather not have a burger at all. Let me first, for the record, say that I think that an SD-1 is so far from any sort of Rockman gear that I don't really think there is a satisfactory way of answering this in the context of this discussion. An SD-1 is a simple piece of electonics that, as you say, has often been emulated.* The Rockman stuff really is neither, and it is far more of a niche product, so I don't expect to see Chinese clones any time soon. You can get close through the right combinations of other tools, and this is one of the reasons why I started this thread, but if you are looking for a Rockman in 2022 you are probably interested in a legacy sound rather than with a new and supposedly improved version that doesn't sound quite like what you ordered. Rockman has a far stronger sonic profile than an SD-1, or any overdrive or distortion pedal that I've tried, for that matter.

Even so, I think the question deserves an answer in its own right. I'd say that to me, who has gone fully digital and only uses the pedal format when it is the last possibility, I'm drawn to Boss because I know that they'll work, I know that they are reliable, and that it will be possible for me to get them in a local store where I can test them and return them. I can also think of a couple of reasons that are important to me but fall outside of the area of discussion on this forum.

*: The only pedal I use on a regular basis any more is the Boss DC-2W. This is a far more complex beast than an SD-1, and the only Chinese clone that I am aware of is TC Electronics' 4rd Dimension, which is a rehoused Behringer model. I have compared them, and was not impressed.

[idsnowdog]

*: The only pedal I use on a regular basis any more is the Boss DC-2W. This is a far more complex beast than an SD-1, and the only Chinese clone that I am aware of is TC Electronics' 4rd Dimension, which is a rehoused Behringer model. I have compared them, and was not impressed.

What I was saying is why use something that is lo-fi and forty years old when you can emulate that sound with better quality modern components for less? I don't buy the Rockman is such a high quality piece of gear you can't improve on it.

[Sirion]

Well, in that case the answer is the same as with, say, any Plexi, Dumble or Soldano: exactness, simplicity, legacy, in whatever mixture works. I'm not a purist on the matter (if I were I wouldn't have started this thread), although I will contend for the record that newer isn't necessarily going to mean better in the realm of art, even if the specs are technically better, and honestly I would think that having a Rockman as a single unit (ideally a rack unit, but a pedal is okay if that is the only way) is probably going to be the simplest way to integrate one into my rigs in any case.

[Securb]

I would think that having a Rockman as a single unit (ideally a rack unit, but a pedal is okay if that is the only way) is probably going to be the simplest way to integrate one into my rigs in any case.

I had the rack unit it was incredibly noisy, I ended up getting rid of it very quickly.

[Mincer]

I remember that there was some sort of 3rd party adapter to rackmount the Rockman. It was advertised in guitar magazines in the 80s.

[Sirion]

I remember that there was some sort of 3rd party adapter to rackmount the Rockman. It was advertised in guitar magazines in the 80s.

Ah, yes, the RockMount. George Lynch used one of them, at least. They seem to have been surprisingly plentiful, as you'll see at least a few for sale in the course of a year. (Of course, they are virtually all in the US, and hence I assume they are 110v.)

[LLL]

Bump because I am a Rockman Ho.

[Sirion]

This is likely to be of interest to anybody interested in this thread in 2022.