What brought you to the forum and Rockmans?

[Guitarvamp]

Restarting the forum, perhaps we can restart ourselves again. How did you get started in Rockman gear? Did anything in particular (or a particular song/album/artist) draw you to it? What was your first Rockman piece? And how did you find this board?

I got started with Rockmans "back in the day" (late 80s). I didn't have the money for them, but could just tell there was something bigger, better, and more significant than regular guitar gear. I think I just chalked away the information for a while. Then the music stores started selling used Rockmans like crazy..... and at crazy low prices. I honestly can't remember my first piece - it was either a chorus or a Sustainor. I don't think I paid more than $50 for any half rack unit. They added up fast. I just couldn't get a decent sound out of them, though. I hung on to them, still knowing there HAD to be something magical inside.

Years later, I was Emailing back and forth with someone (most probably on this forum) who also did electronic work, and was very much into Rockman gear. We both repaired music equipment, and shared lots of tidbits. It was about that time that the mystique of the Rockmans started to dawn on me - you really need to just take all your previous pedal and amp knowledge and throw it out the window. When I used them strictly as a "direct device" (no amps or speakers), things really came to focus. NOW I was getting it.

Somehow, years later, I stumbled upon the old site. I signed up, fully knowing the gear, and promptly found a community of like-minded musicians. My love for Rockmans has only grown stronger, and i really love the story and history of each piece.

[rbc]

In my own case, I bought one of the original Rockman headphone amplifiers during the eighties while I was learning guitar. That coincided with me training on electronics repair of radio, radar and navigation equipment. That training provided me with a foundation in understanding analog electronics. On the musical side, I loved the album "Third Stage" by Boston, and that sound stuck in my head.

Fast forward 27 years and I start getting back into guitar. I still had a Rockman headphone amplifier and a continuing appreciation for analog electronics. Part of that, is I feel like I can understand and repair analog gear. I can certainly appreciate digital gear, and computers are a defining part of my current career. On the other hand I still hold this visceral attraction to the analog gear, that the digital signal processing hasn't managed to replace.

Once I started to get back into guitar, I discovered the Rockmodules and XP series gear thanks to rockman.fr. I can really appreciate the more consistent control that the Rockman gear has over guitar sound. I know that lots of Guitar players and technicians love fooling with the conventional guitar signal chain using different tubes, speaker selection and other factors. I kind of love that too, but the Rockman gear makes it a little less difficult to catch that sonic "lighting" in the bottle.

Best,

--Bruce

[Guitarvamp]

... during the eighties while I was learning guitar. That coincided with me training on electronics repair of radio, radar and navigation equipment. That training provided me with a foundation in understanding analog electronics.

Funny you say that - I studied electronics in school so I could repair pedals and amps.

I came full circle in my gear - I started out with solid state preamps, then bought several tube heads (Lee Jackson and Marshall JCM800s). They sounded amazing, but were cranky. They had different tones each day, and took a lot of maintaining. That was about the time I figured out how to properly use Rockmans, and I've since sold almost all my tube gear. Back to solid state.

[Boogieman]

I was aware of the Rockman headphone amp when it came out. Didn't have the money for it, but took note that quite a few local session players used them throughout the '80s.

I did not start collecting Rockman stuff until the mid-90s, which by then SR&D was sold. It was out of curiousity on what they were capable of. This was before YouTube but the good thing was, back then prices for used Rockmodules were no more than US$100 (except for the Smart Gate, which to this day I still don't have one). IIRC, the first Rockman product I bought was the Sustainor, through an online mailing list. A few more Rockmodules came through the Harmony Central classifieds and then some more via FleaBay. The last Rockman item that I bought was a late version X100 (my second). Not long after that, the prices for all things Rockman started to climb to the point of being prohibitive for me.

I am not a fan of Boston and I have only heard a handful of their songs from the early albums through the radio. However, whenever I have received a newly purchased Rockman item, I always try them out by playing that "More Than A Feeling" bit (between the end of the verse and the beginning of the chorus sections).

As to the forums, I had no idea about the different revisions of some of the Rockmodules until I discover places such as GHAR, the RockmanCentral site, the old Rockman Gearup forum, and of course Jark's site. It is interesting to learn about these things.

I just realized that the Rockman Gearup domain now redirects to this forum. Cool.

[rbc]

I just realized that the Rockman Gearup domain now redirects to this forum. Cool.

Patrick helped me out with the transfer. We finished it up, in the middle of February. Thanks for joining us!

[iZheil9152]

What Brought Me to Rockman?
Well, I'm a fairly new to rockman. I have owned my rig for about two years now, it's pretty basic (2 sustainor, c/d, octopus, PGE2-like EQ). I remember listening to one of my favorite Boston songs, Walk On, and wondering what was giving them their guitar sound. I knew Scholz made their gear, I just wasn't familiar with it at the time. I did a quick search on the internets and found RockmanCentral and rockman.fr. I made a rockman rig with the knowledge from these websites, which was great, because RC had pictures of Boston's stage gear and settings, etc.

What Brought Me to Rockman-Gearup?
Well, one day while I was looking for other Rockman products and info. I went to RC website and was greeted by a "cannot connect to server" screen. I used some not so secret internet trickery and found contact with Bob, who directed me to this forum for all things rockman. I've been reading this forum for a while, but could never interact with the people here because Patrick had closed off the registrations. I thought it was interesting watching you guys talk about the rev20 Sustainor, the UD Circuit, and react to a $10k PGE2 on eBay.

[Honda_boy]

What brought me to Rockman?

I'm 21,my parents listened to 70s, and in the collection was MTAF, and ever since I stated playing at 8, I've played that all the parts of that song, but it wasn't until a friend said that he liked 80s music, and I said that I preferred 70s that he responded with a youtube like to Peace of Mind, that I was hooked. This happened about 4 years ago, and since finding that song, I've loved all things Boston, I bought vinyls, I tried to make my Line 6 Dream Rig sound like Boston, but that sound! Oh it's like nothing I've ever heard! I've driven my family nuts listening to them, and trying to sound like them, so...

Rockman.

Yeah, that happened, bought an x100, a Rev 10, sustainor, SCD, and a stereo eq, sustainors power transformer died, I was going to get married, and that fell over, so I bought the Rockman rig in the 16 rack gator case.