Rockman Metal Ace

This is an addition to the previous posting by Nikos. Since the last review I have realised that I actually have the Dunlop re-issue. Sorry about that...

Also, over the last few years I've tried this thru multi-band EQ to boost the upper mid and high frequencies and into various valve amps (using the line output rather than the headphone one). It sounds amazing through every single one of them (even a bass amp I had to use the other day cause there was nothing else in the studio). Depending on guitar, amp and EQ settings can get a whole range of really nice sounds. The sustain is unbelievable!

I've made a true bypass box for it and it's now my main distortion. Noise can be a bit annoying and there's bit of a problem with levels, as it "cuts" a lot of volume (so bypassed signal is much louder than that distorted). I tried to put it thru a booster pedal, but it all got a bit too noisy. So I instead pump up the volume pot on the EQ providing a bit more boost; gets a little noisier but nothing as bad as the booster pedal. If I could be bothered I would make an A-B chain selector box and put the setup described in the "send-receive A" and a half depressed vol pedal in "B". If I ever do, I'll post a new review.

Well, it doesn't really get much easier. Plug in, decide if you want clean, crunch or lead and play... If you don't have the manual might find it a bit confusing that the Aux input doubles as an output, as it's not really marked.

At the same time not very functional for live use with an amp. And as in my opinion this is where the money's at, losing a couple of marks there.

I've used it in many different setups, with my own and friends' equipment. Mostly lowish end transistor amps used, but good guitars used. For example: Ibanez S-540 FM into rockman into Marshall Master Reverb (30 Watt transistor amp from the 80s), sometimes with some stomp-box or multi-FX in between. Other setup I've tried is Gibson Nighthawk into Rockman into soma crappy transistor amp my friend had (I think it was a Crate, but not really sure, all I know is that it normally sounded really bad!). Finally I've tried it between a different S-540 FM and a Marshall JCM 900 head driving a 4x12 cab.

First of all, I should get a couple of things straight: I do not use this with headphones! The reason is pretty simple: it doesn't sound very goodwith headphones. But to my ears, the "much acclaimed" X100 used with headphones also sounds completely crap.

Now, when pluged into an amp, this baby really sings! It gave all the amps I tried it on warmth and really nice sustain! It produces really nice sounding 80's distortion, with beautifully howling harmonics.

There are two ways to use this: either you do what you're supposed to and connect the amp output (which is also the aux input jack) to your amp, or you just use the headphone out instead. I personally prefer the latter setup I find sounds much thicker, louder and tighter. Kinda like a booster I guess, with the potential of overdriving if the dirty "chanel" of the rockman is selected.

Difficult for such type of equipment to suddenly just die, as no tube and no processors... I had a look inside mine and it all looked nice and clean, so unless I accidentally steped on it while playing on stage, cannot really see how it would fail me.

I therefore doubt that I would bother with a backup, unless I saw one for a ridiculous price, but I'd probably try to find another one if lost or stolen.

Haven't got a clue - never had to bother, but I don't think there is any really, as mine is not the Dunlop version.

I'm writing this, as the many negatives here might deter people from buying the old unit second hand, and it's a shame really, as the unit is really rocking if used in the right way.

I've got the original rather than the Jim Dunlop re-issue, so my comments might not apply to the one sold in shops. I picked mine up in a small music shop in Leeds UK for some ridiculous amount of money (#25 I think, but could be a little more). I wasn't sure if I should grab it at the time, as I had only used other Rockman units. I'm so glad I did though!

The Metal Ace has tended to add, if anything, plus points to any setup I've tried it with. Only negative is the crappy headphone sound (I actually prefer playing without anything compared!), which is why I've given it an 8 instead of 9, both here and in the sound quality section.

At the same time, like all Rockman gear, it has a particular sound which you either like or not.

And of course, the review and marks are always given basis the price of the unit, and by no means imply that it can make your valvestate or transtube sound like a boogie or a rivera!

You pick it up, throw in a battery, plug in your axe+headphones and go! what could be simpler, impressed with the obvious but awesome freedom you get and controls a 5 year old could master. Fits in my pocket!

I currently use it solo with my good ol' Gibson SG but I have tried it through a Fender frontman 25A that feeds into my 4x10 cab and experienced an great sound for the price i'm not one of such posters who expect perfection for cheap I got value for money!

I haven't dropped it yet or hit it with anything heavy so i'm on neutral ground here. Looks as though if you hit it with a hammer there would be 101 lil' pieces of it instead.

Haven't bothered sorry.

I play in blues, rock and metal styles, sometimes I try hybrid riffs. Only been playing for 2 years, few months and I would recommend this video cassette sized box to any one without unreal expectations of quality value hardware. If it was stolen I beat the crap out of the loser just out of principal and compared to my OD-20 god of hardware being only #90, second hand, barely used it pales in comparison but consider the price difference!

Joe Satriani is the living guitar god without question or contestation, voting anyone better would either mean you never heard him or you don't understand the instrument enough to know!

Ok...at LEAST it was easy to use. Well, all except the part about opening up the battery compartment to install the battery. It felt like it was just about to break before the battery cover would open!

Here is the deciding factor of any effect you buy. And this is TOTAL CRAP!! I can't believe Tom Scholz would show his face in public knowing his signature is on this thing. He should sue Dunlop for every lousy penny they ever made off the Rockman name! My friend had a real Rockman back in the day, and I remember it was pretty decent! WHAT HAPPENED? And whats up with the name "Metal Ace"? Whos idea of metal, anyway? This pile is about as close to metal as the El Cheapo Casio keyboard I got for Christmas when I was 12! (About 19 years ago). Yes THAT Casio keyboard! Everything mentioned before about the over-compressed pumping-little-b**ch crap distortion, topped off with a heaping dose of worthless clean sound is true. No bass, a little mids and treble, treble, and more treble. Oh yeah, there's some treble in there, too. I think the cheap-assed headphones that it came with are worth more than the "Metal Ace" itself. I didn't even think to come here to H-C to check out the reviews before I ordered it. My bad. And THAT won't happen again. Boooooo......

Ooooh would I like to find out! Can I break it? What would it take to wreck it? Hmmmm oh the mind just SPINS thinking of things I would love to do to this....however there is a return policy to think about. Wouldn't Musician's Friend be amused if I sent it back crushed to powder? Or as a puddle of molten goo? Nahhh, but I'm willing to bet that nearly every one they sold got sent back to them real quick. Not their fault in the least though. Let the records show that I am letting the blame rest where its deserved: Dunlop.

I'm on the phone with a Dunlop rep right now, alternating between swearing at them and laughing my fool head off......hey wait! I just got hung up on! Ok, who here didn't see THAT coming?

All right, I'm going to apologize for bashing this unit this badly in a public forum. This is the first review I have ever submitted about something I didn't like. But hey, that is what H-C (God bless 'em) is here for. And I should have known better than to plunk down bucks for something like this without trying it out first, or AT LEAST checking here first! I thought it would be a good idea to have a practice/headphone amp. But the equipment you use should inspire you to practice and play! The only inspiration I got from this was to smash it against the neighbors house across the street from my front porch! Honestly, it was five whole minutes from when I plugged in to the time I started packing it back up to return the damn thing.

Easy to operate.

I only owned the Dunlop re-issue of this unit. I could not get a useable sound out of it. Very noisey and I don't think the gain was that much more than you'd find on another Rockman unit. I hear that the SR&D version is much better, but the Dunlop one sucks!

Looks like it is built ok

If it doesn't have SR&D on the front of it, then it is probably a Dunlop and you should avoid it if you can. Too much noise.

Easy to use.

The clean sound is great, the crunch sound is almost usable, the distortion sound sucks! Way too much compression, it pums in a very unnatural and unmusical way. Also very noisy. I can hardly believe this. Compared to an old original X 100, this Dunlop stuff is absolutely bullshit!!! I can't stress that enough. Anyone who isn't tone-deaf can hear this. This sucker has a great brillant clean sound, that has less compression than the original Scholz units and therefore it is a nice alternative, but the rest... oh dear.

Dunlop really ruined this great american legend! It only bears the same name, but other than that, there's no comparison. Cheap and ugly, even though they are reliable.

It has three sounds, one is good, one is usable and one sucks badly. The original headphone amps made by SR&D had a very special, musical sound with lot's of warmth. This sucker sound ice cold, sterile, lifeless and ugly. Tom Scholz is a musician who has a great ear and knew what he wanted in a headphone amp. The folks at Dunlop are deaf and just want to sell their shit. It's almost the same story with Leo Fender and CBS. I hate to say this, but don't buy it. Get a used SR&D one on ebay instead.

3 Options - Clean, Light-Distortion, Heavy-Distortion
No parameters to tweak.

The distortion quality is much better than I expected.
I have two original Rockman units and frankly the Dunlop Metal Ace sound is better. The distortion is full but the sound is cleaner. With the original Rockman, if your hand brushes against a string you are not picking, you will get unwanted overtones and feedback.
This problem is greatly reduced on the Metal Ace.

There is some pumping with the compression, but I don't find that
objectionable. The only warning I would give about the sound quality
is that this is a mono device. If you want stereo effects such as
delay or chorus, you will need outboard gear.
However, for a mono distortion sound, this is very good.

It's in a plastic case, but it seems pretty solid.
I would use this for direct recording in a studio,
not in a live performance situation.

Never needed to.

I play rock and blues, over 3 decades.
This is a very good effects device, for the price.
I recommend it and would buy it again.

Easy to use.

Useless. The compression is set so high that it pumps like crazy. I own some real SR&D products like a XPRa and a XP-100 combo amp so I know what this Jim Dunlop re-issue trying to sound like. Mine really sucked bad.

Go on Ebay and get a real SR&D rockman like the X100. Jim Dunlop should be slapped for selling this product.

Easy to use. It has one guitar input, headphone output, volumn knob, clean, semi-distortion, heavy distortion. Powered by a 9-volt battery.

Clean sound is simular to the sound of the X-100 cln2 sound. Very nice! The semi-distortion sounds like a tube amp with some distortion. It's bass heavy, bluesy, ballsy, great for some hot blues riffs. Turn down the volume on your guitar a bit and it is a cleaner, blue sound. The heavy-distortion is HOT. It sounds like a cross between Skid Row and Motley Crue. The build in compression on the heavy-distortion pumps a bit 'cause I'm using EMG active pickups, otherwise it sounds great. The distortion very simular to a good tube amp, warm with growl and bite. Not so compressed and midrange sounding as the X-100. No build-in effects. I run it thru a Rockman EQ, Stereo Chorus and Stereo Echo. I wish I could modify my Rockman Sustainor to have these two distortion sounds. Anyone out there know how to do that?

So far so good. It's new. I've never had much problem with any Rockman equipment. Don't expect to with the Metal Ace either.

Unable to get Dunlop to tell me how to modify my Rockman Sustainor to match the sound of the Metal ACE. They were good about saving me some money on buying it.

I play Rock & Roll. 80's mostly. Love Pink Floyd to Great White to Queensryche to Motley Crue and everything in between. Wish the compressor didn't pump so much. My Rockman X-100 and my Rockman Sustainor never had that problem. Want to convert my Rockman Sustainor into a Rockman Metal Rackmount unit. Sounds Great on tape!