Rockman - Unconventional Guitar Amp

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That thing was used on everything in the 80s.
I'm not sure about it being compared to a modeler, since it isn't.
 
It's a unique sound. Not a sound I'm after, but if you're into Boston, Def Leopard, and hair metal it could be the box you're after.
 
80s ZZ Top too.

I had the rack versions, they were actually pretty cool and versatile.

Nostalgia? Maybe, but I wish I still had them.
 
Had a couple back in the day. They were great for jamming in headphones. Kinda made me sound much better than I was.

I actually used a bass rockman for a couple gigs when my gigantor Trace was sold due to legal issues. It worked.

What was that little two 4 or 5" speaker portable amp that came around back then? GK? maybe? That one had a similar sound, but you could annoy the neighbors with it.

It kinda sounded like a Roland Jass Chorus, but boom box sized. The chorus and echo buttons made some kind of magic back then,,,
 
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Back then all the rage was the ADA and a tube or Mosfet power amp. But damn those were fizzy as all hell with the distortion/gain settings.

Great clean tones with all of the above though. Was hard to get them out of a marshal without some manipulation of channel switching. I think that was before true channel switching. Think the guitar players had to run two rigs with a DOD stereo chorus as the switcher or something.

I was a bass player so what did I know. Tube Screamer was the goto thing to tweak the 80's tone through a tube amp though. I remember that because our drummer stole/pawned one of my guitar players for $20 for coke... Ah, the good ole days... LOL
 
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What was that little two 4 or 5" speaker portable amp that came around back then? GK? maybe? That one had a similar sound, but you could annoy the neighbors with it.

It kinda sounded like a Roland Jass Chorus, but boom box sized. The chorus and echo buttons made some kind of magic back then,,,
One of these?

 
A little late to the meeting here.

I never got the Rockman. I borrowed one a couple of times back in the day and it just didn't work for what I was interested in. I was more drawn to JCM800-ish tones during that period. (Of course, I outgrew that eventually) Obviously - if you knew what you were doing the Rockman was quite useful.

The GK thing was very cool - only played through one once - briefly - as I recall.

I owned an ADA MP-1. It did what it did - and well. The thing I really liked about the MP-1 was the MIDI switching (that guy with 10 or 11 red buttons). It was dead quiet (no pops or clicks) at stage volumes. Yet.... that too was just a phase.:-)
 
I gigged live thru one for years. It wen't to the PA/monitors and everyone was happy. Still have a couple.
 

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I never had the Rockman or ADA but I remember them well. My first rack units were the Sansamp Rackmount and the Rocktron Piranha. I loved the Piranha and wish I still had it.
 
I had a Rockman X100 - the ADA MP1 - and a JHD Audio Preamp (Very obscure guy out of Costa Mesa Calif) - I would get the sounds of the times - Def Leppard, ZZ Top - Boston - David Gilmour, Jeff Beck etc…I bet you guys can’t tell which songs by Gilmour or Beck used a Rockman….Gilmour’s Solo About Face - and Beck was in the studio from 1985 to 1988 - they all worked well live - but it took a lot of wrangling to get the Rockman X100 in a Live Setting - so much that I only used it for about a year - mostly going with my amps Hiwatt 100s and 50s - AC30s and Twin Reverbs - The ADA MP-1 I never used live - it was a studio accent type machine - The JHD was in my rack till 1995 and mostly used as a Boost.
 
I didn't know Def used it. I had both the half racks and that rockman in the 80s. That thing was pretty cool. I mean it had a big sound. Like others have said, it had a very distinct sound, and I struggled to really fall in love, but the clean sound was great. But I never tired to run it though other effects, which I should have. It was a really cool thing though. I kind of wish I had all that stuff. I don't know what happened to my rockman.
 
That thing was used on everything in the 80s.
I'm not sure about it being compared to a modeler, since it isn't.
It was the First Modeler - basically modeling two amps - Super Clean and Distortion - loosely based on a Marshall.
 
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