Rockman Compressor/Sustainor

takes a minute to figure out features....pretty simple though.

how come more people aren't flipping out over these things! they were on tons of records in the late 70's and all through the 80's.....then everyone got over it and thought they were lame. well folks, its been about 15 years since these puppies have been appearing on popular records.....time for a come back! im staying ahead of the curve by bringing back the classic rockman sound. the sustainor is great sounding a versatile.

don't know yet. just got it recently....it was dirty and scratchy and noisy. opened it up and cleaned 'er out.....sounds smooth now. (didn't have to do any soldiering...just sprayed the electronics down with some electronics cleaner..it really helped).

this is a problem. better learn how to fix it yourself....no one will touch these things.

i play rock. i love the old marshall sound and thats what has been replicated here but made even more distinctive. play the sustainor through the stereo chorus for "wide stereo psuedo-double" effect. rockman shit is cool!

There's a lot on this effect, but it's straight forward and all up front. I bought this from a pawn shop ($35 for the Sustainor, Chorus/Delay and a rack tray) so there's no manual. Editing is as easy as pushing a button or moving a slider.

The Sustainor is remarkably quiet consdering how extreme some of the settings can be, such as using maximum compression and distortion. The gate, a DNR (dynamic noise reduction) type circuit helps. I run it both into a PA mixer or recording mixer and/or into a guitar amp. The sound is classic Boston or even Randy Rhoades on the first Ozzy album. Tom Scholtz originally got this tone using a Les Paul, through a 10 band MXR eq into a Marshall, setting the EQ to create a "mid shelf". This is the tone of the Rockman.

The "auto clean" is an interesting feature. It will get good distortion but clean up almost completely as you turn your guitar volume down, but the level of the Sustainor stays the same.

This thing is really a "one trick pony" but that one trick is pretty good.

The sliders are wimpy but this thing is 21 years old and it all still works. I wouldn't use this as my only overdrive as it is such a stereotypical tone that isn't versatile enough to cover all types of needed overdrive on a gig, so I'd still have a couple other distortion pedals at hand.

I did have to resolder many of the back jack terminals, but that fixed all the problems this unit had.

Company's defunct and Dunlop doesn't have any manuals or parts, so I'll say...

I bought the Sustainor and the Chorus/Delay in the rack tray all for $35. Judging by the reviews here, that's a great buy! The quality of the distortion can be crisp and cutting to pretty dull. It has it's own signature tone, but it's an eq into a Marshall tone. I've been playing since 1967, and during the 80's, this was THE tone. I had the headphone version (also with a footswitch that I built) but this rig is much more versatile and quieter.

As with all my equipment, I WILL find it if it is ever stolen and I will get it back at gunpoint. No kidding. Do I have GPS chips in all my gear? Well, let's say I've had nothing go missing long in the last several years.

This thing colors the tone, covering up the characteristics of the guitar used, but it's all good.

A manual is suggested to maximize all the goodies in this vintage equipment. I have a manual if anyone is interested.

When I first bought this I went on a binge of selling other pedals I had then I went back and bought my MXR distortion+ but otherwise this baby is the bomb for that Boston sound. Overall is was a cool item. I bought a Korg AX1500G and then sold my Rockam Sustainor Model 200 for a sweet profit of $130! on eBay within 1 hour of listing it!

Hard to say as I only had it about 6 months but it seemed solid after all the years on it. I would've gigged it.

N/A question as Dunlop who bought out this unit doesn't give a rip about an 80s vintage item.

Classic rock and jazz rock. Been banging axe since 1967 -- I don't have enuff time to list all my gear and it is always in flux but for an idea try this: Fender Strat California Series natural wood 5-position pup mod, T-60 Peavey axe with Bill Lawrence bar on bridge and another DiMarzio PAF type neck pup, (buying an 80s yamaha sbg200 axe soon to mod with Holdsworth Humbuckers by Carvin), yamaha 12-string acoustic, aria acoustic, Ibanez natural sr405nt bass (sweet toy!), Yamaha bb350F 4-string fretless bass (great sound), chinese or german made? violin, Peavey 212 Classic Chorus amp, Hartke 2000 2115 bass amp (POWERFUL BEAST!), Korg AX1500G effects unit, Boss volume pedal, MXR Distortion+ (a must-have folks), JH-1 Hendrix Wah-wah, Planet waves cables, etc etc (shopping an EBow Plus and a Boss RC-20 Loop Station now) -- so the Rockman Sustainor was fun for awhile but I am no big Boston fan so I sold it to get something else newer as this puppy could die and fixing it wouldn't be easy.

This is a fantastic unit if you are after that intense Crunch with harmonics that make your dick curl, it so easy to use even my 3 year old nephew can play with it. I bought this unit over 10 years ago and never had a manual, lets be honest if you need a manual to use this then you should be shot.

The sound quality is just superb, you really wouldn't know that this unit is 15 years old until you look at it, but hey..it is the vintage look that gets me going. The is is small amount of backround noise but nothing to write home about, considering my unit unit has never been overhauled and has lived in a bag in my studio for 7 years, it is pretty damn quiet (Just don't fit a dimmer switch to your studio) if you have then buy a lamp.

I am using the Rockman Sustainer in series with an Ibanez Tubescreamer, Marshall BB-2 (boost mode), Boss PS-3 (delay), and a Jim Dunlop Mister Cry Baby Super (16db boost), Marshall SV-1 (chorus) all this is fed into a Fender Blues DeVille 4x10, This is sound that brings you too your knees.

The only time I have had to get my tool kit out on this baby is when the jack socket on the rear that takes the power supply became loose, I simply tightened it up with my pinkies and it wa back in the rack.

never needed it.

I would give the Rockman Sustainer an over rating of 8. I think that any giutarist into Metallica, G'N'R, Megadeath, Gary Moore, or indeed any 70's or 80's Heavy Rock band, would find that this baby fits the bill perfectly.

Very easy to use.... this unit has straight forward controls and even a beginner can "hear" what he's doing.

It was a bit noisy when I first hooked it up, but then I found out that I had it "placed" wrong in my effects line up. After the correction, the noise nearly went away. whatever noise was left was eliminated with my Rocktron Hush unit

Great as far as I know... i've only had it for 2 months

never had to.

This thing is great for hitting your harmonics! I love this unit. it has really added to my sound.

very easy to use...layout is very straight forward. A quality compressor/sustainor for the beginning guitarist getting into effects.

Sound is great! makes your harmonics SING!

The unit is nearly 11 years old (not the one i'm rating)... i've had it for 3 months (bought it used) and it still works like a charm!! I've had NO problems with it and I know several people who own one and they've also had no problems.

Never had to deal with them. Plus I hear that they were bought out by Dunlop.

fantastic piece of equipment!! i'm considering buying more rockman effects.

I set the unit to the arrow factory settings and tweaked it until I got the sound I wanted. It has alot of possible settings from sustain duration to noise reduction.

The sound is awesome. My setup consist of the Rockman Compressor/sustainor, Rockman Chorus/Delay, 2 Rockman 12 Band EQs, Rockman Distortion generator, Digitech 256XL and Peavey Pro Fex II all controlled thru a Rockman Midi-Octopus using a midi-foot pedal. The sound combination is unlimited. I can get the vintage Boston sound, Judas Preist, Def Leppard even close to Metallicas unique sound. I have had other musicians comment on how awesome my guitar sounds.

I have had this unit for about two years and had no problems with it.

Tom Scholtz sold his company to Dunlop. Dont know

I have heard and tried alot of different setups but my current setup I would not trade for the world. I think Tom Scholtz is a genius and the sound he came up with is awesome. I have bought two of some of his effects in case one goes up because I really don't think I will ever find a sound so good.

You can use defaults marked on the faceplate, but it takes a little experimenting to get the right settings--there are quite a few, including two levels of input gain, noise reduction, four clean/dist levels with three modifiers, notch gain, treble boost, and output volume.

I thought the unit was noisy for quite a while, then took care of some environmental factors (single-coil pickups, nearby 60-cycle motors :-) and it's not noisy at all, even with treble boost maxed out.

I have to, they don't make them any more! I've never had any problem with it, and I bought it used; I've been looking for another one for a couple of years, no luck. A guy at Dunlop said they have a warehouse full of Rockmodules--I'm seriously considering travelling up there.

Dunlop bought Scholz R&D, lock, stock & barrel; I called them to find more Rockmodules, and the guy tried to sell me an Acoustic pedal.

I'm trying to buy more, that's how I found this review page!!! :-) It's just fantastic--I have an X100 that's too noisy to use live, and a rack full of Rockmodules is just right for me, plus they're adjustable. I chose it because I've always liked the Rockman sound, and it was a great deal--I always lusted after them, but couldn't afford a new one. I'd like to see a little more compression control, but that's just blue sky, considering that production is over for these beauties.