Rockman Distortion Generator

As far as distortion units go, it doesn't have the Holy Trinity of controls (level, tone, distortion), so I can't say it's "simple". It's fun to play with, but more complex then your standard stompboxes.

I use this as a bass distortion and I've been able to get sounds reminisant of Cliff Burton (as stupid as that may sound) but using it with guitar I can see the Boston thing being a posability, but even more so some of the old Def Leppard type sounds. It's rather fuzzy but not too over the top, and the sustain was incredible. The "Autoclean" is definately a Boston thing. For what it's worth, I've heard some say the sound is similar to a Big Muff USA (and the Rockman Stereo Chorus is similar to the E-H Small Clone)

It seems chinsy with its plastic housing ans little swithes, but mine was used when I got it, has been on the road with me for 4 years, and still works to this day.

Scholz Research & Design (or at least the Rockman part of it) was bought out by Jim Dunlop, and they only released the headphone amps, so customer service may be a bit tricky.

I used this at the tale end of my metal days, through my indie days, and left for a TS-9 and Gov'nor II when I went more punk. This distortion should have never worked for bass, and was useless to me as a guitar distortion but I loved it all the same. If I was doing an 80's hair-metal cover band, I'd break this thing out in a heartbeat.

Yes, it is asy to use, no patch editing (hey this is an old thing from early 80's), manual is pretty good, yes I have the manual since I bought it new 20 some years ago.

Well, when I was young and being a beginner, having this thing hooked up in front of a cheap solid state amp, I was swering by it. Today with more experience and having a tube amp, I cannot stand it in front of my amp, it's a noisy unit and lifeless tone. But a tube amp has its own color, so having this in front is bad I think.
I don't have a SS amp anymore, so I cannot say if it's good with that.

So it collected dust for the last 10 years, until a few months ago, I had to urgently do a recording, could not go to studio with my amp, so I took the Distortion Generator, followed by a Boss RDD-20 echo and Boss CE-3 modified Chorus, directly to my PC's sound card, well, I was able to get almost the same tone as my tube amp, and noise free ! On the PC sound card, it sounds like tube, it is not lifeless, in fact really rich, creamy and reacting perfectly to my picking, or change of volume on my guitar.

So it a "5" in front of a tube amp, a "?" in front of a SS amp, and 9 in front of a PC sound card. So 7 average ???

I own this since over 20 years, not even a scratchy pot (slid), yes it is well made.

NA

I play mostly, Classic rock, prog rock, blues, since over 20 years. It was good to begin with.
Would I buy this again to play with? No.
Would I buy this again, for recording ? Yes definitely.
This thing is amazing on my PC, I can get any tone with it, not digitally sampled and not only Boston tone, but it can goes from SRV, ZZ Top, to Pink Floyd, Rush, AC/DC, Dream Theater,...it's like having my tube amp miked in a studio, without the pain of miking it, and noise free, yes strangely it is noisy in from of an amp but not a the sound card.
So for this purpose it gets 9.

distortion/tone generator is totally ausome,being a boston fanatic.
i just wish i knew these modules were available 20 years ago.
using marshall amp and les paul custom guitar,iswear i'm tom sholz or barry goodrow.
patch editing ok with proper foot switches.
i have no manual but seem to be able to operate componant properly.

les paul custom w/marshall TUBE amp and i sound just like boston.
noise only comes with extra effect units connected to amp. rockman alone is very noise free.
i found TED NUGENT little miss dangerous sounds like he's using rockman and OUTFIELD especially SAY IT ISN'T SO also sound like rockman with light distortion setting and chorus.
all effects operate great. i own two units and buy every time i come acrossed one.

dependability 100%. never let me down at any gigs or rehearsal.

never dealt with company,never had it upgraded but have had it repaired just as cleaning is concerned from having noise from volumn slider.

rock and roll 70's and 80's being my favorite
i've been playing for 25 years. i own pa gear many different guitars
and effects.
if i ever lose any rockman gear i would definatly buy more.
love every sound, but don't have the proper foot switches and don't know what all is available.
if BOSTON the band ever needs a guitar player or is auditioning for
one i would be first in line for the chance.
IF THERE IS A CATALOG OF ALL ROCKMAN GEAR AND GEAR IS STILL AVAILABLE PLEASE SEND IT TO ME.
KEITH MACOMBER, 1334 S. RIVER RD. SAGINAW,MI. 48609

In case you guys havn't figured this out yet let just say it, as someone who knows Tom Scholz, he never meant for his Rockman equipment to "sound like BoSToN" just provide some of his own favorite tweaks in a breadbox. He doesn't even use most of this stuff on stage. As he might say, you want to sound like BoSToN, start with a modified 68 Les Paul...

This is the standard 1/2 rack Rockman unit. The sound is very harsh, and unusable. I do not exactly understand what they were trying to accomplish with this unit? There are no patches, just a straight disortion, unless you want to footswitch it, between clean and distorion, "A "RAT" WOULD WORK MUCH BETTER FOR THIS"!

I could never get a good sound out of this unit! Unlike other ROCKMAN stuff, this unit bites!

You can depend on this unit to sound horrible. Do not buy one, no matter what the BOSTON or EBAY chatrooms say! Built like a tank, like other ROCKMAN GEAR, but who cares how well it is built, if the sound is bad!

Maybe I just wasn't using right? But my intial review was very bad. I think with all the advanced modeling stuff out there, that this unit is pretty much useless!

I've done alot of analogies for other Rockman gear and this one has no exceptions. I could give the distortion generator to a person who doesn't speak or read english and has the same IQ as a pb&j sandwich and he could find out how to use it in 5 minutes, it took me 7 minutes.

Other than what other people on this board have said, I don't believe this has the Boston Sound. The sustainor definitely does but Tom Scholz (from Boston) does not use the distortion generator, he only uses the suatainor.
Moving on, the distortion generator has a much more raw sound than the sustainor and has a hell of a lot more sustain. The pre-distortion EQ's don't do barely anything, where you would probably need an equalizer in front of the distortion generator. It is pretty noisy as well, where you would need a noisegate.
For me, I have every other rockmodule including an EQ and a Smart gate so these problems I just showed you aren't a problem for me, but if you don't have these items lying around i wouldn't suggest it.

It is a Rockman. Enough said

NO MORE SR&D ONLY DUNLOP. But they will refurbish and put factory revisions on your rockman gear for $50.

It is a pretty good alternative to the sustainor (still not as good). I still use the sustainor a hell of alot more, but there are a lot of situations where you cannot get a sound with the sustainor but can get it with the distortion generator.
Feel free to email me about the Distortion Generator or any other Rockman gear (sustainor, EQ, Smart Gate, Stereo Chorus, Stereo Echo, MIDI Octopus, MIDI Pedal.

I did not get a manual, however, the unit pretty much explains itself. I really could not find a bad setting. If you turn it up too loud, it will have a lot of white noise, buth then again, any unit will do that.

I Play a SantanaI into the Rockman and then into my Flextone Plus. I play it in the clean Jazz setting. I have found if you keep the output volume down, there is not much white noise at all. I have played for 30+ years with lots of equipment and this is probably the best tone I have used. Even on a power chord, you can hear every note and tonality! I am looking, however for a pedal that will run the lead boost/bypass options on the rear. If anyone has info please e-mail me at vinnislounge@juno.com

Haven't had it that long. Seems to be stable.

I play a bit of classic Rock. I am a instrumental guitar artist. We play Tropical Blues with an edge. If I have to compare it, somewhat like Santana with more Blues. I have been playing Pro for over 30 years. I would immediatley buy another of these Rockmans if it was stolen. Come and hear some of my tunes at http://www.vinnismith.com

It's got a lot of slide switches, instead of knobs, but it's easy to use. I guess they used the sliders for space considerations, since only half of the front is used for that sort of thing , the other half is used for the GIANT Rockman logo.

This thing sounded awesome, if you could deal with the crazy amount of white noise I got. The guys in my band barred me from ever using it after about 30 minutes into my first practice with it. Some guys claim you need to know what you are doing to get rid of the white noise, but I couldn't figure it out, sorry...

It was reliable for the short time I owned it. I ended up returning it, but I will say that it didn't seem very sturdy and have heard that some Rockman stuff wasn't that reliable. I can't comment on it though, since I didn't own it for very long.

Like I said, I returned it. No comments.

I love Boston, and the Boston sound. This got the Boston sound, and a few other good tones, but the white noise was a big problem. I've heard some guys say you can work around it, either with a noise gate or through the right way of patching things. I couldn't figure it out, and I've talked to others who have said the same thing. If you can deal with the white noise, you might like it, it sounded real good at low volumes...

I've used many other effects from old floor petals to the "hottest" (using that losely) rack units and this puppy was totally very easy to use. I got mine used so I didn't have a manual...however it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure how to plug it in and if you can read the alphabet and have an ear for sound you can just move everything the way you want to hear it.

This was my 2nd actual rack unit I've owned even though I've played with many until I found one I liked well enough to own it. I use it mainly live switching between the Rockman Sustainor and it depending on my mood that night. I mainly play in the studio (aka "the bedroom") working on cuts for an upcoming new band, "Mystic Steel". My normal setup is a Charvel Jackson ('87 Model 1) with Dimarzio Super Distortion double coil that I "hotwired" with one volume knob to a DOD DM-2 Analog Delay to Rockman Sustainor or Distortion Generator out to the Rockman Chorus/Delay module to an Alesis Multiverb III straight to the board (Tascam 244 4-Track) OR to a Crate G-40 w/Twin Celestions piped to the boardmixer split L/R LIVE. I get some noise but mainly only in the apartment so I use a line condition for the 120V power line. Sounds of artists? I laugh my rear off here...since the late 90's I've been "dialing" in the sounds of most of the artists out there using SRD "old" equipment. It kills me that the "new generation" go out and spend thousands of dollars on effect racks to get the sounds that SRD equipment made back in the 80's does automatically if you have an ear and know your equipment. This ranges from Boston, Def Leppard, Satch to Korn, Hole, Bush and even Dream Theatre and Queenryche! Any questions...email me and I'll show ya how.

Pretty reliable most of the time...I do admit I use the SRD Sustainor in my link for a backup but all I have to do is switch the A/B switch and switch it if you have to but so far I have not had to so far. The slider on the volume side sometimes gives out in the studio but not live. Pretty much I can depend on it as my main distortion edge

N/A However on mine the slider for the Volume Slider is worn becaues I got it used...I used a piece of cardboard bend to wedge the slider against the "pot" slider and set on MAX and it worked. Just wiggling it if it goes out is the trick. Thank goodness I never had it go out live. I probably could go to Radio Shack and get a replacement but it's not a big deal.

I normally play 80's metal to 90's grunge and have been playing since age 9..however never got into metal playing until about 1980 and got my first rig setup about 1983. I got this SRD module as the 2nd SRD piece of hardware after I fell in love with the Rockman X100 I got back in 1987. I think I got this unit about 1993 after my DOD American Metal petal got ripped back in 1987. YES if this unit was stolen from me...I'd be on a war path to get another one. The ONLY thing I don't like about the unit is the EQ parameter setting...I think Tom Scholz could have made a mint if he combined ALL his effect racks into one neat programmable unit. I admire Tom with UPMOST respect as he was a genius. I don't think there were too many artists back in the 80's and the early 90's that did NOT have a MIN of ONE SRD rack module in thier possession. Even Eddie Van Halen admitted in an interview I read somewhere he used the Rockman modules (not sure which one). What I love about this simple box is you can "dial" in along with your existing equipment the sound you want. I used to copy many artists sounds however...I had to develop my own style..which the SRD modules allowed me to do after years of finding my "niche". I'll go to a music store..and play with all the gadgets and neatest rack units and I NEVER found one that really I couldn't really live without. I think it's a total shame that Tom Scholz had to sell this company to Dunlop. Yes I like them but I mean come on folks...foot petals??? Headphone units? NO WAY. I think if Dunlop was smart (I have a BBA Marketing) they would listen to the diehard musicians that actually respect the SRD modules they would expand that line to blow any other rack unit off the map with today's technology of internal chips for switching. For those that are SRD users and would like to aid me in pushing Dunlop into expanding the Rockman units into today's market...email me at LaRoxx1@aol.com and in the heading put "SRD" and I'll NOT erase it.

I bought it used so it didn't come with a manual. Even so, I didn't have any problems getting good sounds from it. Just set all the sliders on the factory recomendations and you get classic BOSTON distortions.

I play with a Fender Big Apple Strat into the Distortion Generator into a Line 6 Flextone Plus set on the Jazz clean setting. I love the sound that the Distortion generator gives Me. Classic BOSTON. I used to have a Rockman sustainer but it was stolen. When I was looking for a new one, I saw this unit advertised for $49.00 so I could't pass it up. I'm Glad I didn't. This unit gives you more control than the Sustainer. Its controls include Sustain, Distortion Harmonics, a Three Band Equalizer, Auto Clean, Phase Notcher, Treble Boost, and volume. You also have a Bypass and Lead Boost feature which are controlled by a footswitch. Anyway, I can tweak my distortion settings just how I want them unlike the Sustainer. I've also learned a great trick for getting great clean sounds also. Just lower the Sustain and Distortion Harmonics to their lowest levels, activate the Auto Clean and Phase Notcher buttons, Back off your guitars volume to about half, and you get a great clean sound. My Flextone provides the Chorus. The unit is a bit noisy at very high distortion settings, but not nearly as noisy as some other effects units.(TEC8 GRUNGE) I'm trying to find a Rockman Smart Gate to help with this. The bottom line is that this is my favorite Distortion unit EVER. Dunlop should start making Rock Modules again.

All Rockman products are very well made and dependable. I would use it without a backup.

I've never dealt with Dunlop.

I play Mostly Classic Rock and Blues. And believe it or not, this unit suits them both. I've been playing for 15 years now and have owned alot of gear. The Distortion Generator is by far my favorite distortion box. Every time I think I'm bored with this unit, I go out and try something else. But I always end up coming back to the Rockman. I love all the features and options. In my opinion, Tom Sholtz made some of the best sounding effects EVER. The Rockman Distortion Generator is a great example of this. Try one and you'll see. They sound great. All old Rockman products are getting really hard to find and are starting to become highly collectable. So if you come across one, grab it!