Welcome, thanks, X100 questions

The definitive headphone guitar amp.
jeff
Posts: 1
Joined: Fri Feb 24, 2017 2:48 pm

Welcome, thanks, X100 questions

Post by jeff »

Hey folks,

First thank you for this forum and all who contribute, great to have online support for my new gear.

I am more of an acoustic player but recently scored a nice X100, third gen I think from what I"m reading, with a Rockadapter, in really great shape. I've been enjoying it with my Telecaster. The magic in this unit really seems to come from the equalizing done with the NORM switch.....the clean and edge settings only further the goodness here. Anyhow after an hour test drive this morning I have two questions I was hoping you could help with, please excuse my ignorance as I'm pretty unschooled with e guitar stuff though I do dabble.....my questions are:

1, I assume this is normal because of technology and age of the unit and Tom Scholz and his distain for anything digital and etc.....the sound of fuzz and water dripping coming from my amp (Fender tube) is normal and expected, right? It sounds the way I thought it would, just want to make sure. It's very subtle and kinda cool, just want to confirm this is normal.

2, My real question, is it possible to plug the X100 into a line of other pedals but turn it off/bypass it and then reactivate when needed while still having use of the other pedals? It seems to work great if you want to add other pedals (i.e. delay) to it, but it does not want to turn off without killing the whole circuit. I'd like to be able to disable the X100 while playing and use some of my other pedals, but turn it on between songs and use it's features....but it seems like it's all or nothing. Once I turn the X100 off, everything is off. Maybe it's old tech, I thought it would work like any other pedal and still keep the circuit when off but that doesn't seem to be the case. Maybe there's a mod to accomplish this....any help or insight would be much appreciated.

Thanks!!

PS Long live Tom Scholz!
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Boogieman
Posts: 20
Joined: Thu Jan 09, 2014 4:53 pm
Location: Hyperspace

Re: Welcome, thanks, X100 questions

Post by Boogieman »

Hello and welcome!

Re question 2. It has been a long time, but I recall using a Rockmount to hook up my X100 (set to "Echo Off") to a delay pedal. The output of the delay pedal went to my amp. The Rockmount has a footswitch jack to bypass the X100 (or other Rockman headphone amps) globally.
Fireful0
Posts: 198
Joined: Sat Feb 18, 2017 6:00 pm

Re: Welcome, thanks, X100 questions

Post by Fireful0 »

Rockmounts come up for sale fairly often on Ebay or Reverb.
There's only one out there currently, not in the best of condition, but it comes with a broken Soloist and a working Bass Rockman. :D
https://reverb.com/item/3640545-rockman ... 80-s-black
GuitarBuilder
Posts: 245
Joined: Sat Aug 30, 2014 7:14 pm

GuitarBuilder

Post by GuitarBuilder »

Your description of the sounds are very interesting! The X100 is a noisy beast, but the caps also deteriorate over time; it wouldn't hurt to have it refurbished (I suggest David Ferringer at Rockman-Repair). It'll sound a lot better afterwards.

As far as integrating it into your pedals, you don't need to go the Rockmount route if a rack system is too much for you. Get a simple true bypass switch box (about $30), which essentially converts your X100 to a stomp box.

If you prefer the Rockmount, I have one in excellent condition. PM me if interested.