THE Rockman thread

pstar":1kysnh1m said:
Lmao, rockman headphone units have one of the worst tone ever for electric guitar. Cannot believe that anyone would praise its tone. Just shaking my head.
No warmth, over processed very synthetic noisy hissy units. Wow.
Painting with a very broad brush I'd say...we're not even talking about the headphone amps, we were talking about the XPR and the individual modules...but whatever.
 
pstar":y35n2poh said:
Lmao, rockman headphone units have one of the worst tone ever for electric guitar. Cannot believe that anyone would praise its tone. Just shaking my head.
No warmth, over processed very synthetic noisy hissy units. Wow.
............hummmmm..dont know if you got a dud,lemon, or whatever, but ive got nothing but stellar tones from all my modules,especially the xpr with thePA500 poweramp and full range cabs...Im not in the position to entertain poor tone in my rigs, at anytime..whether its doing session work in the studio, or taking these rigs on the road, or local clubs,I'd never touch it with a ten foot pole if it had bad tone in it..Plus, id have no work,studio or stage if the rockman gear didnt sound killer..I get compliments all the time with the rig in my avatar..I just recently had a F.O.H,. guy ask for the rockman rig over my herbert,shiva,and boogies(and I love those amps too) for our next major show...go figure..to each thier own i guess.
 
Another Rockman Sustainor Model 100 just sold for $183.51 on Ebay. I recently bought a Sustainor Model 100A for $132.50. It was a bit younger, but had more cosmetic damage.
 
I was kind of surprised to see 5 Rockman Distortion Generators up for sale on Ebay. I just picked up a Sustainor, the other Rockman amp simulator Rockmodule. The Distortion Generator is said to have more flexible distortion settings, but it doesn't do all the things a Sustainor does. So much cool gear, so little time...
 
The DG is awesome for some things...if you only want dirty sounds in a blend with Marshalls (or any other amp) they're great. Or if you're the only guitar player and you want some distorto bass under your solo sections in some tunes that call for it live, they kill.
 
My recently acquired Rockman Sustainor. It sure sounds nice!
 

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Interesting thread. I always thought they were using the walkman type for recording. I had one, or still do, if I didn't toss it. Thought it was awful, no wonder I didnt understand the hype. Maybe a little inspiration for the Randall/egnater modules, albeit no fx.
 
If you had the Rockman Ace, they are bottom of the line. The 9 volt power limits their headroom and the noise floor becomes noticeably more obvious because of it. The Ace is just the amp simulation, with no effects. Dunlop compounds this by shipping the Ace with fairly awful headphones. Using the Ace is noticeably better with good headphones. I own two Ace's and use them as practice and demo amps. They are perfectly suitable for that purpose.

The other headphone amplifiers have a much better reputation. There was the original Rockman, the Ultralight, X100 and Soloist. The original Rockman was released in 1982. It includes an amplifier simulator, stereo chorus and reverb. It has two clean sounds, along with "Edge" and a distortion modes. The chorus and reverb are tied together, both being on when the switch was set to normal. You can disable the chorus or reverb, but not both at the same time.

Production of the Rockman Ultralight, began in 1983. It was a more economical alternative to the Rockman. It is very similar to the Rockman but lacks the reverb. Uniquely, the chorus can be disabled, providing a dry output from the amplifier simulator. Both the original Rockman and Ultralight models were continued until 1984.

The X100 is very similar to the original Rockman in its feature set, but uses a different clipping stage in the amplifier simulation.
The Rockman Soloist was positioned as a lower cost Rockman product. It does not have the "Clean 2" voice. It also has different choices for effects, including a setting for chorus and a "stereo" setting that has a fixed 25 millisecond delay. It can be set to "Mono" output, removing all the effects.
 
I was kind of beating up on the Ace but it is said that they have been used in the studio. Phil Collen from Def Leppard used the Ace.

92_11_GW.jpg
 
rbc":3prde27j said:
My recently acquired Rockman Sustainor. It sure sounds nice!

I realized my photo is slightly misleading. I don't have the Rockman Sustainor plugged into the Peavey guitar amp under it. It's just sitting on top of it. I was using my little mixing board with headphones.

The Rockman Sustainor provides a full amplifier and cabinet simulation, so it can be run directly to the board, or via effects to the board. The output is intended for full range speakers.

Best,

--Bruce
 
skilletbone":2zgwzayc said:
Interesting thread. I always thought they were using the walkman type for recording. I had one, or still do, if I didn't toss it. Thought it was awful, no wonder I didnt understand the hype. Maybe a little inspiration for the Randall/egnater modules, albeit no fx.

You might want to take a closer look at the Sustainor, Distortion Generator and XPR. They all provide full guitar amplifier/cabinet simulations that you can run directly to a sound board. The Sustainor includes a preamp/compressor, a noise gate, distortion and filters, along with a cabinet simulation. Another feature is the auto-clean circuit that allows controlling the guitar distortion by adjusting the guitar volume knob. The Distortion Generator is a related product that that was released in 1987. The Distortion Generator includes compression, distortion and cabinet simulation circuitry. Compared to the Sustainor, the Distortion Generator lacks the noise gate and external loop, but includes a three band pre-distortion EQ.

The next level is the XPR. It has a three band EQ that allows pre-distortion changes to the EQ. You can also mix the clean signal with the distorted signal. The distortion is followed by a second 5 band EQ. The effects follow, including a stereo chorus that has a programmable sweep speed, along with a reverb. You can save up to 100 presets on that one.

SP.jpg

DG.jpg

XPRa.jpg
 
rbc":1wdj07jl said:
skilletbone":1wdj07jl said:
Interesting thread. I always thought they were using the walkman type for recording. I had one, or still do, if I didn't toss it. Thought it was awful, no wonder I didnt understand the hype. Maybe a little inspiration for the Randall/egnater modules, albeit no fx.

You might want to take a closer look at the Sustainor, Distortion Generator and XPR. They all provide full guitar amplifier/cabinet simulations that you can run directly to a sound board. The Sustainor includes a preamp/compressor, a noise gate, distortion and filters, along with a cabinet simulation. Another feature is the auto-clean circuit that allows controlling the guitar distortion by adjusting the guitar volume knob. The Distortion Generator is a related product that that was released in 1987. The Distortion Generator includes compression, distortion and cabinet simulation circuitry. Compared to the Sustainor, the Distortion Generator lacks the noise gate and external loop, but includes a three band pre-distortion EQ.

The next level is the XPR. It has a three band EQ that allows pre-distortion changes to the EQ. You can also mix the clean signal with the distorted signal. The distortion is followed by a second 5 band EQ. The effects follow, including a stereo chorus that has a programmable sweep speed, along with a reverb. You can save up to 100 presets on that one.

SP.jpg

DG.jpg

XPRa.jpg
. That A is what's on my radar...
 
Little B":20e54sbo said:
That A is what's on my radar...
The low noise XPRa must be tough to find. I bet they go for a good price on Ebay when they list. I think they were only made after 1991.
 
Metlupass2":2ut6pg1j said:
I love the Rockman preset on my Kemper. I'm not sure what amp it's profiled after though.

I think it might be the Sustainor:

http://www.kemper-amps.com/forum/index. ... eadID=5816

I saw some other references to the X100 headphone amplifier. Of course, it's easy enough to go get the real thing. Sustainors and Distortion Generators come up on Ebay pretty often. The half rack form factor is pretty small. Add one or two EQ's, and you can make the Rockman gear sound like whatever you want.

Best,

--Bruce
 
If you are familiar with the Rockman Headphone amps, the Sustainor isn't much larger. Here is my Rockman Guitar Ace, next to my "Blue face" Rockman Sustainor.
 

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rbc":174xo9qc said:
Metlupass2":174xo9qc said:
I love the Rockman preset on my Kemper. I'm not sure what amp it's profiled after though.

I think it might be the Sustainor:

http://www.kemper-amps.com/forum/index. ... eadID=5816

I saw some other references to the X100 headphone amplifier. Of course, it's easy enough to go get the real thing. Sustainors and Distortion Generators come up on Ebay pretty often. The half rack form factor is pretty small. Add one or two EQ's, and you can make the Rockman gear sound like whatever you want.

Best,

--Bruce




You are correct sir, I looked it up.
 
If you have never heard the Rockman Sustainor in action, you might like these 4 videos put together by David Accomando. There are lots of examples and he discusses and demonstrates different lineups.




 
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