Re: Rockman Tone in 2017
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.
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.
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