The ROCKMAN Headphone Amp | Def Leppard "Hysteria" Guitar Tones
VloĆŸit
- Äas pĆidĂĄn 25. 06. 2024
- What do Boston, Joe Satriani, & Def Leppard have in common? The Rockman headphone amplifier or course! I finally got my hands on one, and I'm not Foolin' when I say I got a case of Hysteria.
đŽâŒïž - I mistakenly claimed the UK brand, JHS (John Hornby Skewes) was not in business anymore. In fact they are: www.jhs.co.uk (Although the Rock Box is no longer in production)
đ For all the best information on Scholz products and history - www.rockman.fr/Menu/Menu.htm
đŽ My studio desk: imp.i114863.net/Zaor-Desk (affiliate link)
đŽ My Saint Bob Bradshaw T-Shirt - teespring.com/saint-bob-purpl...
â¶ïž "How To Play Slide Guitar" - bit.ly/HowToPlaySlide
â¶ïž â30 Essential Slide Guitar Licksâ - bit.ly/30-Slide-Licks
𧥠My FAVORITE Gear: imp.i114863.net/RJsFavoriteGear (affiliate link)
đž SUBSCRIBE for more guitar videos: goo.gl/D4w8aF
đ¶ GET MY TABS & BACKING TRACKS: bit.ly/2HwSs4f
đ BUY MERCH HERE: goo.gl/Uye7mA
â WANNA KNOW MORE ABOUT ME?: âą RJ Ronquillo's Journey...
đŽIf you'd like to support my channel and get perks like FREE tabs and backing tracks, and EARLY ACCESS to videos, please visit my PATREON page: / rjronquillo
đ€BIG THANK YOU! to my Platinum Patrons:
Albert B.
Ben L.
Benny S.
Big T.
Bruno N..
Dan L.
Daniel H.
Dave H.
David B.
Eitoshi A.
Geoff C.
Geoff R.
Isaac J.
Isaiah P.
James S.
Jason S.
Jerry C.
Jimmy V.
John B.
Jon C.
Jose M.
Kirk R.
Lonnie Z.
Marcus H.
Markus
Michael Bo.
Michael Br.
Michael K.
Mike Y.
Paul W.
Phillip F.
Richard K.C.
Robert B.
Scot
Sean H.
Shokry B.
Stan P.
Stephen G.
Steve P.
Tom
Trane F.
Vince R.
Zagg P
=================================
FOLLOW ME
=================================
đŽ Instagram - / rj_ronquillo
đŽ Facebook - / officialrjronquillo
=================================
My Gear (affiliate links)
=================================
đŽ ALL MY FAVORITE GEAR! (Available at Sweetwater)
imp.i114863.net/RJsFavoriteGear
â Favorite Tuner
EU: bit.ly/2pefjMp
â Favorite Picks
EU: bit.ly/2WymdIB
â Favorite Strings
EU: bit.ly/2Pvke66
â How I Record Guitar Amps
EU: bit.ly/31PXujS
â Fave Pedal Platform Amp
EU: bit.ly/2MV9tIw
â My Audio Interface
EU: bit.ly/331qTsI
â Favorite Pedal Power
EU: bit.ly/2MUYf72
â Favorite Cables - www.sinasoid.com
=================================
Camera Gear (affiliate links)
=================================
â Sony A7III - amzn.to/2qz73Dv
â Sony A6400 - amzn.to/34hXj39
â DJI Osmo Pocket - amzn.to/2NplFjJ
â Sony SEL35F18 35mm f/1.8 lens - amzn.to/2ZFJwjy
â Sony SELP18105G E PZ 18-105mm F4 lens - amzn.to/2MQHiMe
â GoPro HERO6 - amzn.to/2JOjRyM
â Rode VideoMic - amzn.to/2wp0Uwg
â Rode VideoMicro - amzn.to/2SXkAlb
â Audio-Technica AT875R shotgun mic - amzn.to/2Nn3DPd
â Aputure 120D Mark 2 LED light - amzn.to/2plLDN6
â Neewer Softbox - amzn.to/2Wp7QpM
â LimoStudio Lighting Kit - amzn.to/2MWC80D
#Rockman #DefLeppard #Hysteria - Hudba
đŽ Other than Boston, Satch, and Def Leppard, other players that have recorded with the Rockman are Billy Gibbons, Jerry Cantrell, and Megadeth. Can you name some others and/or famous songs??
ALSO: I mistakenly claimed the UK brand, JHS (John Hornby Skewes) was not in business anymore. In fact they are: www.jhs.co.uk (Although the Rock Box is no longer in production)
Steve Stevens!
I saw in a vid in Eddie Van Halen's effect rack in his 5150 studio , the 9.5" Rockman Sustainer unit an Equalizer uinit (on OU812 there are some songs that remind me of it )in this vid " Eddie Van Halen's Home Studio (1998) | You Had To Be There"
That was my first amp.
Judas Priest used it on Ram It Down....you can really hear it on the track Heavy Metal
@@chrishopkins209 KK Downing said on an interview using Rockman on the Ram It Down/PainKiller era : kkdowning.net/steelmill/Q&A/february-2009/
Only in the 80's would "normal mode" have echo & chorus on by default. Love it!
That's exactly how I remember it.
The brilliance, is that a simple fixed value circuit for the modulation, is easy and cheap. These things are surprisingly simple.
Easily one of my favorite comments on a video ever.
Tom was actually making prior to the 1980's.
So You're wrong.
Some brands have development phases of 10 years before production.
That was the thing back then, you canât really crap on sounds that weâre cool at one time but were not cool anymore and something else became popular.
I think the 80âs hard rock guitar sounds aged not bad. The songs are still amazing and we all still rock out to them.
I had one of these in the 80's. I walked around high school - playing my Rockman X100 in my headphones - and just KNEW I was going to 'make it' someday. (I didn't - but still play guitar)
My buddy and I would walk through the neighborhood with our guitars and pignose amps...we had the same dellusions of grandeur. I too still fuck around with some new buddies now...still stink but we have a blast.
@@leegarza3605 Same here. I had (still do) the talent, but wasn't willing to starve for a decade to get to the top of that shitty business.
@@SEILLC Yeah.... thats the biggest problem for most musicians. Being constantly broke even with two side jobs. Been there and done that. Some are lucky and make it.... must be a nice view from the top, no doubt.
I resemble that remark, although Iâm just a drummer
Why has no one created a pedal version of this? It would be an instant hit with us 80s lovers
The closest thing I think would be that Ryan Adams pedal (which has reverb, chorus and a booster in the same pedal). Unfortunately I have never heard of something similar to Rockman :(
@@pfaprado Labels Sound Studio ^^pocket^^ Made in Germany ^^ Vintage 80" ^^ đ
Back in 1985, ESS out of California made a footswitch enclosure for the Rockman X100 at a cost of $300. You had to ship the Rockman to them and they would modify it for the footswitch and ship it back. I still have mine from 1985 and it still works. Played gigs with the Rockman for many years.
Search CZcams for "rockman pedal"... there are two adaptations of the X100. One is American-made (I think!) and the other is Japanese (they call it "Goat'). It would seem that neither is reasonably cheap, but they do sound right.
Bc you clip it to your belt and feel like EVH in your bedroom đ
I was in high school in the early 80's and this is the best sound ever. Instant Boston, Def Leppard, and big smiles all the way around. Love it.
The good Ol days, I'd go back in a micro-sec.
Me too
@@86FxBdyCpe
Yep I was in college as a guitar major on Long Island in New York City in the 80s and this fucking thing came out and I was blown away. I went out and bought it immediately. We used it inside the school all the time because he either had that or you had a pig nose amp little tiny ones
Those tones from the Rockman still hold up today and sound amazing.
From WHAT?
There's over 2 million players since def leopard began.
Just last year there was 500 headphones.
Do you expecte me to tryout 500 headphones and 64,000 PC's and 5000 TV's?
I think You're full of shit mate.
@@dreyn7780 wtf are you talking about dude
Seems more like oogmeen needs a History lesson in music and engineering. There are sounds such as the "Rockman" or the "Prince" clean R&B sounds that musicians and producers spend 10's of thousands $$ on gear to try and reproduce or "improve" and still fall short every time. The reason DM said they still hold up today is because they do. You're just hearing a hacked-up bastardized version of it..
@@ketterip1 i wasnât saying that to dwayne, i was saying that to some other guy whose comment is now gone that was being a prick
Agreed. Quality never goes out of style.
Its almost like it was designed by an engineer who was a musician that knew exactly what sound he wanted and created a no fuss magic box to get that sound in a convenient preset package without all the hassle of a bunch of different pedals and amps to record with...............oh wait it was!đđđž
And Then forgot to force the world to buy just 1 record player brand.
There's THOUSANDS Of different brands playing Def leopard source material.
There's THOUSANDS and THOUSANDS of different versions of this video.
Tom scholzđ
Hell yeah!
Ha!
And remember, this was the '80s, and this is analog! Man made a rock and roll power amp the size of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. That's impressive!
âDated clean tone sounds?â Timeless tones!
Those sounds were never dated they will always be awesome tones.
Yup, a dumbass statement ("dated")
Those tones are great, but they absolutely sound like the 80s. Some very different modulated sounds being used today by bands like turnstile. I love them all!
â@@generalkenobi6869 Dated....to a much better time lol.
There is no such thing as 'over-produced' in Mutt Lange masterpieces.
I have a Rockman 100 watt head, and it is a work of art.
Your face when you played the âHysteriaâ riff in Clean II was priceless!
Governor Gretchen Grinster is having a blast becoming famous đ â
My wife bought me one, when they first came out... For my birthday. (Which coincidentally is today... 72 and still jamming)
I think it was circa $180.00.... She handed it to me with a large smile and said "now you can play through the ear phones".
It was a great sound.... And, It really loved to eat those AA's.
After years of use/abuse it finally gave up.
@@MindsetMastery75 Mine was made in the 80's... Nothing new under the sun... you've heard of re-issues.
Very thin, but try another pickup.
Clean 2 is that mid boost Boston sound
@@MindsetMastery75 did you watch the video? 80's bands used it. us old farts remember rockman from the 80's. what don't you understand? there's a photo in the vid of the creator playing live with racks of ...rockman products behind him.
@@MindsetMastery75 Here's a link...
www.rockman.fr/Story/Story.htm
In the late 80âs my entire home studio consisted of a Ross cassette 4-track, a Korg DM-110 drum machine and a Rockman
Crazy man - I had a tascam 244, a 110 and a rockman (and a few pedals) - made a hell of a lot of music with that setup. Now I have a room full of top end gear and I hardly ever bother to use it. Wish I'd had it all then when I was younger and had the energy, but I'd still want a rockman :)
yup, that's all we needed.
Tom Scholz inspired me as a young guitarist to design and build my own amplifiers. It wasn't that my end product became as popular as Rockman but the process of my design, prototyping, tweaking, and constructing formed an incredible discipline for me. A hobby that was closely aligned with my guitar interests that kept me busy while others my age were out getting into trouble.
I attribute these disciplines to my later successes while designing automation technologies used in both the manufacturing and in the equities trading markets.
I also had a grandfather who was an electronics engineer who I used to visit and watch in wonder.
Young people today all want to get rich and be like Elon. But instead of spending hours on TikTok dreaming they need to be seeking out mentors because without Tom Scholz and my grandfather I would never be where I am today.
Cool! Well said. God Bless!!
đđŠ
Nerd alert!
What do you do?
@@HunnysPlaylistsI retired young. Now working hard to raise my young boys to become men. My previous companies I sold are not my legacy- my sons are. I'm grateful to have the opportunity to be there for them everyday. :)
@@wjatube What did you make.
Damn. Hysteria actually lives in that little box. It's really in there.
RJ to himself while browsing ebay/reverb for this relic: Are you getting it? Yes Armageddon It.
HahahahahahhahahHh
Awesome reference long live steve an amazing guitar player
Masterpiece of a comment right here
Well done! đ
C'mon, Steve!
That moment when you started playing Hysteria, sounded like it was lifted off the record, so cool
I guess it kinda was?!?
it totally sounds like Hysteria and also Boston's later albums
Rockmans were used on Hysteria, along with Randall amps.
Insta chills
literally love every tone out of this thing. Tom Scholz was so far ahead of his time. Cheers!
I NEED ONE!!!!
Me too, I need one more.....
@@RJRonquillo Hey bro where did u get ur studio desk? its sick!
@@satchrules101 www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/YeskJGV2--zaor-yesk-workstation-jungle-gray
Iâve got one . . . somewhere.
@@RJRonquillo Thanks bro!
My then 16yo girlfriend bought me one for Christmas 1987 when I left for the Air Force. I had never heard of it before receiving it. I do remember it was back ordered as Christmas came and went but I eventually did receive this amazing box. LET ME TELL YOU, I came to depend on that thing to get me thru 4 years of the air force and beyond. I could play without disturbing anyone, keep in mind this was 1987 and the ability to play electric via small portable unit with headphones was unimaginable at that point. I plugged it into my dual cassette boom box to play when I wanted to hear it without headphones AND I could record right to cassette. The tones were satisfying and inspiring, I still have it but has long stopped working. It lived it's life to the fullest for sure!
There was also SansAmp which came later but should be reviewed. I had one. Gave it to a friend of mine
also there was one called hot watt
Get it refurbed. Mine is getting all cleaned up at the moment. It's a specialized piece of gear, so things like capacitors rotted out. Well worth refurbing.
@@MALoadedDiaper great idea, who is doing the work for you?
@@thomcat1969x His name is Dwight Baker. His email is b5amps@me.com. I opted to get the $85 refurb option & the $85 Embedded Power Supply (EPS) option. No more batteries. Altogether with shipping: $132.
I bought the Bass Rockman back in 83 (perhaps), it was $95 and the Adaptor was $35 IIRC (which was pretty good money at that time). I don't know Shutz or someone else manufactured this thing called, the RackMan; which was a single-space, metal rack frame which you inserted your Rockman into - brilliant - for your steel rack. Once the Rockman hit the stores, and caught on, we started getting people trading the Power Soaks in - which we sold for the used price of $25. I audtioned for a band once, and those guys were so stunned when I showed up with only my Steinberger headless bass and a Bass Rockman (talk about minimalist!), and they said: "but, but, but, how are we going to hear you?!?!? I laughed and said: just D.I. me into the monitors... and they were blown away by the tone of this little black plastic box pumping out of the floor monitors LOL!!! I miss the 80s! AND YES, you could as you say "daisy chain" together Rockman units. I used to write this way with a guitartist (me with my Bass Rockman), both of us "chained together", and plugged in to a Fostex (2+2) cassette recorder. So simply, so effiecient, so good for writing!
It actually sounds really good RJ. Great video as always.
Maybe groups could use it in studio recording sessions. Wait, they already did do that. If both my arms were not in casts, I would do a forehead slap.
Damn. That distortion sound was lifted straight off of the first Boston album. Amazing.
Actually, the original BOSTON sound use a marshall plexi full blast into the power soak Tom Scholz designed. It allowed him to record massive tones at very low volume. His guitar plugged into a preamp, then eq, then into the hyperspace pedal ( another Scholz invention he's never told how he built it) finally into the marshall. Scholz's live setup was also in stereo which was rare for the mid 70's.
@@jmsdeco There's no "actually" about it. I didn't suggest that Scholz used a Rockman to record the first album. Fans know it was a Marshall head into a prototype Power Soak and a close-miked cab. That said, the "normal" Distortion track IS a classic Scholz tone. The specific EQ that gives it almost a cocked wah sound, delay ... It's remarkable how Scholz was able to take the tones he'd crafted and put 'em into a little analog box. đ
@@TraneFrancks Great point
Back in the 80's, I had a Rockman Sustainor, Stereo Chorus, Stereo delay, and EQ in a rack case and ran direct into the PA. Our singer used the Distortion Generator direct. We had no amps on stage at all. This video brings back really great memories! The Rockman stuff sounded so great and you really couldn't make it sound bad. I wish I had kept all that gear!
Wait... the singer has/used the Distortion Generator? Just out of curiosity, how did he/she use it exactly?đ€
So, you can still hear?
Because, MAN, those 50 and 100 watt Marshalls,HiWatts, Twin Reverbs and what not where LOUD!
Guitar Center probly has used gear, buy it back"
That rack stuff has been really expensive on the used market for a very long time .Always wanted a chorus from Rockman back then.
@@clarkburr it's vintage now! I had a Pro co r2du. Double distortion . rack 1. Wish i had . i think they make something similar. Crazy prices for old stuff. They shld make it again. Plus a lot of that 80' s 90' s stuff is broken. The Rats were tuff. Built like a tank!
Got my first Rockman, a IIb, last week. Absolutely loving it! Back when these came out, they were just too expensive for me, a newly-wed landscape maintenance guy. Now, 40 years later, I finally have one! : )
I bought one of these at the Guitar Center on Sunset in the early 90s, while I was working on the video for Def Leppard's, Let's Get Rocked, funnily enough. Still got it some where. Will have to give it another go now I have a new respect for it.
Never knew Leppard used the Rockman on Hysteria but hearing you demo it now it all makes sense. Wasn't everything so much simpler back then??!!!
Damn. That sounds good.
He sure does!!!
Hi Fluff!! đ€âšđ„łđ„
Thats what clean is suppose to sound like đđ
The whole reason I was happy to find the Amoon PokRok because of your video is that it kind of has this same sound.
@@mexstrat96 WOOWOOWOOWOO !!! XDXDXD
It's a bit crazy to go back and listen to Hysteria after listening to this Rockman demo. It couldn't be more clear that they were using the Rockman and it sounds amazing!!!
Regarding the hissy sound, they always had a little bit of that, but the older they get the more hissy they become. Because all rockman units use analog circuits, some of the electronic components need replacing to get the them sounding more quiet again. There are still some rockman refurb companies out there who can make your X100 sound brand new again. But even with some background hiss, the Rockman X100 still sounds beautiful today!
As soon as you played Hysteria, I got chills. So good! I guess I need chorus now
Spoke too soon. Once you turned on the drive, I audibly just said "whoa" while delivering mail. I need a rockman now
Logan, I actually can't play clean WITHOUT a chorus, it sounds wrong for some reason...
The same thing happened to me.
Still got mine... wonderful thing.
Yeah. It stopped me in my tracks. I play on the weekends with a buddy and we will do Hysteria occasionally, I messaged him and said we needed a couple of these. That is THE sound. So awesome.
Damn, that's definitely the sound of my favorite records đ€
oh yea....
I had a couple of these in the 80's. I was introduced to these by my friend whose dad (Paul Ahern) managed Boston. My friend had one of the first ones, given to him by Tom Scholz. You have to be careful with the input/output jacks. They can become unstable after a while, like a loose input on a guitar. I used to run these through an amp and would tape down the cables before they met the inputs to keep them from moving. Otherwise, I had no issues with these units and used them throughout the 80s/early 90s. This video brought back a lot of memories. Thanks for posting!
I'm so baffled. This gadget from 82 sounds way better than the Multieffect units I used in the late 90s. Amazing!
An amazing guitarists as well as an engineer... he had the best wide spatial sound effect in the 70s
I still have the Rockman soloist I bought new in the eighties (Yes I'm old) Still plug it into the interface and reminisce now and again. It's "That" sound!
Saw Def Leppard on the Hysteria tour years ago. As soon as you hit those strings, I was taken back in time. Cool vid! â
Boston was my big album. Itâs a great sound for recording because it leaves so much space. And Hysteria is not over produced. They found a sound that suited rock and this pedal was at the heart of it. Tom Scholz, what a dude.
I recorded an entire album with The Scene in Malden,MA back in the late 80âs using SRD 1/2 racks. Scholz was a household name in all the Boston Area studios. Guy is a genius. The Rockman is THE Boston sound - think âMore Than A Feelingâ for cleans and dirty sounds and thatâs what you get. These were way years ahead of their time and they did it with ANALOG components no digital modeling which were amazing for players at that time. Scholz Rockmans were the quintessential headphone rig that you could literally plug into a PA directly and have this amazing studio quality sound - without being micâd. If you cranked your input gain more you would get that super thick overdriven sound that Scholz was known for. It was truly an amazing piece of gear but also limited you because you sounded like Tom Scholz lol. Definitely worth having if you want instant 80âs cleans. Thanks for sharing this with us RJ. Proof that a lot of the analog gear from yesteryear still holds it weight even to this day.
I still think analog is a far superior sound quality at their most basic levels. I use digital gear like anyone because of the convenience too, but as soon as any signal enters the digital realm, it's immediately transposed to all 1's and 0's. In the 80's this difference was more than clearly audible to me, it was annoying as hell.
Since then though the sound has become mostly just audible to me, not annoying at all really, because the steps between those 1's and 0's has been shortened, and so smoothed out. Still, like how photographs are pixelated, digital sound is also "pixelated" and you will never get a realistic sound wave because it's not a wave or a curve, it's essentially a stairway.
I still very much prefer recordings done on reel to reel tape because of this (especially for acoustic instruments), and the sound of records as compared to CD's. Even the newly mastered albums have mostly been run through the digital realm, and therefore are no longer analog only.
Still I use digital gear for recording myself. I've found most people don't really notice the difference anyway, even side by side. Plus for the convenience and far far less loss due to degradation, you can't beat digital.
But my guitar rig is all analog, even my effects. I also prefer to run through analog tube mic preamps and compressors in the studio. For my ears, getting more of the old warm analog sound helps counter the intrinsically harsher sound of digital devices.
I've also noticed that lots of people prefer that harsher digital sound too, witch I find interesting and say: go for it. If you like how something sounds, no one can say you're wrong.
I'm a Bostonian of a younger generation and growing up I was basically told Rockman stuff was great but it wasn't old enough to be cool yet.
This was 20 years ago. They were so right đ€Ł
@@shawnmcvey7789 a lot of equipment back then defined THE sound of that era...and there was a lot of different gear. Pedals AND racks. As years went by, the way music had been recorded and mixed changed until a new âsoundâ came along. Fast forward years later, and itâs just something different for the younger generations because you guys are hearing it as if itâs new - but itâs been around for a long time. And Iâm glad that analog gear is making a comeback. Digital is good for some things, but analog has a certain warmth to it you canât get with digital and itâs no wonder why some of the most famous analog pieces of gear (Boss CE-1 and the Scholz Rockman for instance) are becoming more desired. Weâve also learned how to use them in different ways creatively in the signal chain and that also opens up many new ways of using them.
tube screamer and a eq pedal = no more sounding like Bwahston
Analog is still the best way to go....after all these years.đâ„ïžđđđ
Great stuff, so cool to see info like this reach the masses so thanks for covering it. Regarding Def Leppard and the Rockbox, it was apparently the clean sound of the main riff on the Hysteria track, according to interviews with Rick Savage and Nigel Green.
I had one - fully underrated, especially for its time. They have defintiely gotten more expensive! I had the adapter and everything. As a side effect, I learned all those Boston riffs. That power-on POP really takes me back. It's been a long time - GET IT?!
It's amazing. I found one and once I figured out how to use it, my mind was blown at how clean and distinct it really is. Such an amazing piece of vintage equipment. Thanks for showing us this RJ. đ
This is the best video Iâve seen on these units! Bravo! I bought one new when it came out and plugged my 1978 Les Paul custom into my cheap solid-state Peavey Bandit amp, and it sounded amazing! I always would play along with the album through the headphones with a friend listening on his headphones. It sounded like I was on the damn albums!
Rockman + Bandit (largely considered underrated) will run you about $500-$600 today!
@@johnnyoneniner4820 right?! đđ»
78 les paul was heavy, I had a 76 rootbeer brown custom that had a shipping weight of 25 lbs
@@richiebricker wow!!! 78#?!
Still have my Peavey Bandit 75 from 1987, I believe. Built like a tank and it can clear a room in a hurry!
my 80's HS era hard rock/metal band's guitarist had one, ran it it through our cheap sound system, sounded great for the time. A piece of advice though, if you going to use it, make sure that before you're on stage, and your keyboard player just did an epic opener, and you impressively jump on stage to do an equally epic windmilling Pete Townsend style power chord, that the power switch is turned to on.........
Ahh yeah, the old silent windmill technique--woah, THAT must've been embarrassing!
I hate when that happens!!
Jan Hammer often ran his synthesizers through a Rockman when composing the incredible original scoring for Miami Vice.
Crockett's theme? đđ
Gotta love that rich warm Boston sound! Thanks for the breakdown! I'm tempted to pickup a guitar again after 30+years, along with one of these!
Always wanted to see a complete demo and kinda wanted to buy one awhile ago, because of all of those Boston songs and Def Leppard songs like "Photograph", are so 80's and so rockin good and such distinctive sounds. Thank you for a great job putting the Rockman amp through the paces on this demo. Great!
For ages, the cornerstone of my guitar tone was a Tom Scholz power attenuator (before he even came up with the Rockman brand). I used it to get actual power tube overdrive out of my 4x10 '59 Bassman without blowing out my eardrums. Dude's a genius.
I still have my X100, I must dig it out sometime. I was a studio engineer in the 80s, this was an indispensable bit of kit. Weâd sometimes use it alone, but usually weâd use a DI box to split the output from the guitar, feed one split into the Rockman then direct into the desk and take the other through tie lines to a micâd up amp in the studio - often a Marshall combo or a Mesa Boogie. Weâd mic the amp with a close SM57 and a pair of spaced condensers at about 10â. Then weâd get a sound by balancing between the two: the Rockman for clarity and focus and the real amp for scale and energy. It worked great, although the Rockman was always a noisy beast, especially on single coil pickups - the heavy compression was very unforgiving of rfi.
Out of curiosity, was DI recording and reamping a thing, back in the 80s?
@@mvyper To an extent. We wouldnât often record a clean guitar with the sole intention of sending it back out to a guitar amp later, although we would very commonly send a recorded guitar out to an amp at mixdown if we felt the sound needed a bit more grit. Much more usual was doing guitar overdubs with the guitarist in the control room, which involved sending the guitar signal out to an amp via tielines. Of course a guitar pickup canât drive a long line like that very well, so weâd either use a pair of passive DIs to convert high to low impedance and back again, or just DI into a channel strip and rack compressor and use that as a buffer amp to drive the line to the guitar amp, sometimes with a pad inline at the amp end so the input wasnât totally saturated. The two DI boxes trick was the reason you would keep a few F-F XLR adaptors handy.
Oh, and recording and re-amping bass was very much a thing. If you only have 24 (effectively 22) tracks, you donât waste one recording DI and amp separately.
what's "rfi"?
@@jamesparker1063 Radio frequency interference. It can be buzzes and hums from the mains electric installation and the dimmers on the lighting but in central London, where the studio I worked in was located, it was also very often the radio from the local cab firm. âCar 47, car 47, you have a pickup at Euston stationâ ruined more than a few Fender Strat/ Rockman guitar takes!
Loved your video on Tom Shultes Rockman. I started playing in 1977 with my 1974 Gibson ES 175D through my parents stereo unit . It used to feed back like nothing you have ever heard! Once I learned to tame it down a bit I was hooked for life. From there I went on to purchase my first amp in 1979 a Brown Pignose 30/60. My mom bought me my first pedal that Christmas a Jimi Hendrix Fuzzface. By the early80s I read in a guitar magazine about Tomorrow Shults and this breakthrough piece of gear he was working on called the Rockman. I saved money from my par route for many months and purchased my own rockman in 1982 one of the first ! It was a blast being able to play anywhere and sounded awesome. The only problem was the volume did not go up very loud. I solved that by making my own patch cord from an old headphone jack into two rca type jacks that fed into the stereo unit! I was in heaven. Your review gave me goosebumps. It took me back to the 80s! I didnât know Def Lepard used it on Hysteria! I knew Joe Satch used it on Surfing with the alean but yes you nailed those DL riffs to a T. Thanks again!
Oh man memory lane! I had one of these when I was first learning to play in the '80's. Bought it used from a friend, and all of a sudden I had my first taste with effects and distortion! It was my first amp. It was amazing, then it died, and I attempted my first mod and jumped one of the wires to get it working again. No idea what happened to it now, but I remember it fondly. Lots of practice time with it. Cool find RJ
Incredible sound from such a small device, definitely the Def Leppard Hysteria album sound! great video
Wow I haven't seen one of these in years! I've never played through one to check out the sounds! I'm very impressed! I love those killer tones!!! Thanks for sharing!!
I was playing the Grand Ole Opry in the 80s.
My dear friend Jimmy Capps was staff guitarist and most of his life he did about 500 sessions a year. Someone loaned me a Rockman for about a week. I took it to the Opry. Jimmy played through it . His comment was tha it was $50,000 of recording equipment in a small box. We loved it and at the time and attempted to get that sound through an amp. We were unsuccessful. What current Rockman would be the closest to the original?
What a great vid. A great modern review of a classic. Thank you so much!
Tom Schultz is a genius and was the driving force behind the group Boston. Love it !!!
Tom Scholz was Boston. He played everything on the albums except for the vocals by the great Brad Delph. After the success of the first album, Tom had to quickly hire touring musicians to create the impression that Boston was an established group.
@@jonathansmith2710 not entirely true, Barry Goudreau played most of the solos on the first album, I believe he played all of the solos on the song Longtime.
@@Lance37a Thanks, I will look that up. Pretty sure that Tom Scholz also hired drummers for the studio recordings.
@@Lance37a Yeah this simply isn't true. Scholz had all of the songs completed in their entirety (demo stage) before he had even brought in any other musicians, save for Jim Masdea on drums and then the added vocals by Delp. Goudreau would double some of the solos on the recordings, but they were all created and played by Tom Scholz. He still plays all of his solos, to this day.
@@Metalcop5150 Watched a video last week about him, and yes, Tome Scholz IS/WAS Boston. he did everything himself in the studio.
The Rockman employs an MN3007 and MN3011 chip to produce the chorus and stereo delay, respectively. The MN3011 was an unfortunately shortlived chip, initially developed by Panasonic/Matsushita to provide solid-state reverb emulation using 6 different non-harmonically-related "taps" to mimic early and late reflections. It could provide "stereo" by feeding the different taps to separate output channels. It didn't find its way into all that many commercial products, with only a few known standouts, like the DOD FX-45 Analog Reverb, the legendary A/DA STD-1 Stereo Tapped Delay (that Allan Holdsworth used), and several Gallien-Kruger amps. My sense is that designers didn't know how to tame it and make it sound more natural. Plus, before they learned how to do that, digital reverb got much better, much cheaper, and small enough to easily displace the MN3011 from the landscape.
As a guy who owns a guitar pedal company that uses an MN3007 a lot, those are some BEEFY chips. They have as much headroom as you want to feed them. With just AA batts for power, I'm guessing an MN3207 would still sound exactly the same.
MN3011 I've never found an exact replacement for. It sounds amazing to be sure, but I never thought it was the greatest.
tl;dr - yeaaaah, these rockmans definitely have the goods!
@Anthony Farrish đ
@@rude_tech Some folks make a big deal of the differences in headroom between the 30xx and 32xx series. There IS a bit of a difference, but I don't think enough to warrant the perceived differences. Panasonic also briefly made the MN3214, as part of the lower-voltage 32xx series. It had 1024 stages, like the 3007 and 3207 (and unlike the 3328 stages of the 3011), but with 5 taps instead of 6. There were precious few commercial music products incorporating it, and I've never actually seen any listed for sale anywhere (though I assume some guy in the Akihibara has a few). There are plug-ins to emulate the STD-1, but I can't find any CZcamss showing off the real physical deal. Jeorge "Mr. Huge" Tripps sent me an MN3011 some years back, and I keep meaning to build a sort of "reduced" STD-1 in a stompbox with it.
But yes, remarkable how well the Rockman nails those '80s sounds. Or maybe NOT remarkable if that was how they were originally produced!
@@markhammer643 For sure. 9v (3207) vs 15v (3007) isn't a big deal when you are dealing with guitar outputs of... what, 250-500mV with humbuckers? I'm about to go down a youtube rabbit hole on these STD-1s. There goes monday đ
Wow, thanks for the info! I always thought the GK had similar reverb as the Rockman echo. When I asked in stores about analog reverb they said that didn't exist.
Chills went down my spine when you played the Hysteria riff. I need to have one.
Wanted to own one⊠at the time I couldnât afford it. Now on reverb theyâre 400.00 or better . Your first few notes of hysteria brought me right back to the 80âs !!
That is the first thing I have heard in over 20 years as being the sound I grew up with right out of the box.. Here I come Ebay!! Thanks for showing us this!
I had one as a kid. Loved it. Would plug out into a power amp when playing out with a band. Also, could rock myself crazy with the headphones. Thanks for bringing back the memories.
Love this, thanks so much for these demos, the little bit of what sounds like "Friendships" at 11:59 is amazing!
So well done to explain the workings of these fabulous pieces of kit!
1986 Daytona Beach (where everyone would drive out onto the beach and park), sitting in the bed of my buddy's truck. Him playing keyboard, me playing guitar...both playing into the rockman with two sets of headphones. Bikini's walking by all day long stopping to ask to listen....those were VERY good times.
Dude, I had an original Rockman back in the day...why isn't anyone making these things today? I have no idea what happenned to my Rockman. Too Bad what a great thing!
They still make them, but I hear that they're nothing compared to the original
There's used rack Rockmans on Reverb (I had one in the 90s) for $400 and up. Tempted to but one
There are several quality headphones amps that sound amazing for 20 to 40 dollars. Effects and everything... They probably would be all the rage in the 80s and early 90s
The Rockman is still made by Dunlop. It's not at all the same sounds. But cool for just hearing thru headphones... and the Dunlop are less than 100 bucks.
The real secret to the Rockman X-100 was the belt clip, along with the fact that it could fit into the inside pocket of an acid-washed Levi's Jean Jacket, preferably one covered with a back patch portraying a cover image from "Appetite for Destruction..."
Master of puppets backpatch toođ€
Slayer Hell Awaits backpatch! Napalm Death and Kreator patches on the front.
Can't forget the Maiden backpatch!
Amen I remember scroungin the $ for one of those. The headphones were destroyed a few days into playin
Wow . .I can't never have enough of these classic guitar tones. .. .
Okay, I need one. It's so beautiful. Great playing!
I had one of these back in the 80's when I was stationed at Ft. Sill in Oklahoma. It allowed me to rock out in the barracks! It was awesome!
Same here,at Ft. Hood.It & headphones opened up a world of Freedom in a place with absolutely no privacy
7:30 instant 80's tone. No patch tweaking needed! đ
What a good demo of this device. Your chops are sick.
This is such a great video. I never knew I needed one until now!
Great video, man! That sound brings back so many sweet memories. I used to have a Rockman Soloist in '85, and I don't think I paid more than $150 for it ... Was one of my favorites then, and it still rocks now! Amazing sound : )
Definitely took me back to the 80s and my Rockman. Thanks for the video.
Beautiful playing, you took me way back with your Hysteria! I actually saw them on that tour in Biloxi Mississippi. Spectacular laser light show on that tour,as well. Drove from Pensacola Florida to Biloxi through a slight Hurricane to get there, totally worth it
That was the bomb-diggity! Itâs unbelievable how great those sound. Kind of a challenge to the effects makers of today to make something that great sounding. Tom was a genius.
I had one of these long ago, and used it for recording. I have never been able to find a sound comparable. I loved it. If you can find one on Ebay or whatever, get it.
I had one of these back in the 80s and 2 Peavey amps... I went out to both amps, and separated them in the room and the stereo separation was amazing! What a rockin little amp!
Great video! Crazy how you just flipped it on, and PERFECT Hysteria tone. I wasn't expecting that.
but..... my soul was slowly dying the longer you went without ripping into More than a Feelings power chords....
I know it was a Def Leppard tone video... but throw us a bone!!! :)
Funny. My band's lead guitarist used a Soloist straight into the board for the lead parts on a song we recorded in the 80's. Sounded fantastic. So compressed and tight.
Wow, yes the Rockman sounds like instant 80's arena rock ! Crazy cool! I had no idea anything like this had come out so long ago!
Love this channel.
I wish I could find something like this in pedal format with these times. I had one of these back in the day. It was stolen sadly.
Great channel man. Love your reviews and how you do so. Very cool. Thanks for adding value to my life man!
You are such a true talent really great feel smooth glad to watch your demos
I've long wished a pedal maker would make clones of the Rockman X100 effects. Having just the Chorus/Echo would be an awesome pedal. But I'd also be open to a multistomp with everything from the X100 unit. Def Leppard Hysteria at your feet.
IK Multimedia has it modeled now in their software in the Joe Satriani's amp pack.
If you want to hear a pedal that I consider being a near clone of a X100 you should definitly put an ear on Strymon's DECO if you already didn't . Based on analog tape lag to create effects, you can't get a setting combining chorus and echo together, but still it's a killer pedal and it blows everything out when it comes to stereo with its wide stereo mode.
@@thierrythierry1013 Thanks for the recommendation. There are a TON of pedals that will get 80s type sounds. But there aren't any pedals that are actual clones of the X100 Chorus/Echo circuit that I'm aware of. I'd love to see the circuit cloned in a modern, accessible format.
I checked a few times last year, and you could pick up the half rack mount units of the Chorus and Echo for about 1K each (!) on Reverb. But recently I've seen refurb units around 200-300 bucks.
@@johnvcougar WOW ARE U SERIOUS ABOUT THAT PRICE?... CUZ I STILL HAVE 1/2 RACK MOUNT UNITS
Absolutely one of the best ever reviews! This was the sound of my era from which morphed into other genres, most notably Pearl Jam, and my all time favorite, Alice n Chains.
Definitely good times except for the drugs that were to kill off so many of my heroes.
Like life, music needs to continually evolve, as we have all experienced what happens when life itself becomes stagnant, and it's not pretty. The future is just that; an amologaton of the past viewed in unique ways.
Us dinosaurs aren't going down without a fight, which indeed is the imputess for the future.
Live, Create, and take note of the lessons the past have to give you!
Wow, that was really good. Like your style of presentation. Thanks!
the distortion of this small and magical device is my favorite 80's tone between to many tones of this decade
That sounds phenomenal, and you've done a great job presenting it. I wonder how the Dunlop versions today sound? I want one!
The âJHS Rockboxâ mentioned at 3:05 was from UK company John Hornby Skewes, who are anything but âdefunkâ! They are a huge international company and still going strong and produce a wide range of equipment, including the Fret-King, Vintage, Encore, Santos Martinez, Pilgrim and Laka fretted instruments, KAM audio/lighting equipment, Antoni orchestral stringed instruments, and plenty more!
Tom Wilkinson works very closely with them on their Fret-King and Vintage guitars.
Played many hours at home with headphones on with this. I always loved the clarity.
Omg my head just exploded! This is the best. Thanks man for another awesome incredible video!
I love that thing and use as often as I can. You can blend the distorted sounds under ârealâ amps to get a wider freq range or use the clean sounds for accents here and there and the muted single note pop funk stuff is awesome. I own the rackmount version. Thx RJ as always entertaining and informative!
I remember hearing that Tom Scholz used his invention, this little baddy, to literally plug direct into the console for the sound. A lot of the sound has to do with the incredible high quality of, and control of each and every system that went out the door. for a long time you had to wait to get one, lol. Boston blew up so big in the 90's, and that tone had so much to do with it. I don't think it's "dated" tho, it's just how you use it. Most people today would see it as a new sound...gd it, we're getting old! lol
Very cool!! Thx for reviewing this classic unit.
Had one in highschool. Amazing little amp. Definitely nostalgic. Miss mine. Great video!!!
Yup, I own the exact x100 you have, but with the RockAdaptor! I honestly can't remember where I got it (it was like 30 years & beers ago easy), but unlike all the other idiot moves I did by trading in old vintage amps for newer terrible ones (ugh), this unit I kept. I have never used it live or studio, but have always kept it to use as a reference to try to recreate its sound in a modern rig. It has been unsurprisingly hard to do so, given that the x100 sounds are SO distinctive, but the process continues. Yup, it's noisy and limited, but those tones are so singularly unique that is just a blast to recreate the fun of those 80s arena guitar sounds. I will take this unit to my grave. Fun video! Thanks!
Using the headphone output is more hissy than if you use the Low Level Out for recording. I used mine for recording in the early 90s, and found it worked better that way. Also in the 90âs that hysteria sound was getting quite tired so I just used Edge with no chorus. Also try dropping your guitar volume even more on the Edge circuit. It sounds quite good with just a hint of breakup.
That was awesome, thanks for sharing! Totally Def Leppard!
First time I have seen you listened to the whole thing. I'm an 80s rock lover. And this video just made me a subscriber. Very well done. đđ
OH WOW!! I OWN one of these. IT STILL works. I got it when it first came out. It was a really big deal at the time There was a rack mountable Rockman too. Although you could use the plastic box live through an amp, it couldn't duplicate the arena affect that you heard through the headphones.
Still have mine - gigged with it into my amp through the early 90's...my bass player would always ask me to turn off the chorus but I loved it too much...sorry Steve
Great review! I had a Bass Rockman. My Dad worked with someone who was tight with Tom, found out about it being released through him, and got me one. I loved it and ended up practicing so much more; I was in a college dorm at the time and stopped having to worry about bugging everyone. Those headphones were fantastic. What a sound. The compressor was massive. I used it for years, playing out. I'd go direct in with it clipped to the carrying handle of my Peavy Centurion, then through a Peavy 2x15 refrigerator cab, and a 1x15, in case I wasn't loud enough. Lol. Gotta love the 80's. I actually played through it at gigs until 2003, when I got a Bass Pod.
I have had one since I was a kid and the sound you get out of it is amazing. Perfect for that Boston sound.