Rockman XP-100

These amps were made I believe in the 80's. The ultimate in flexibility: line outs, speaker outs, midi, 100 watts in an amp the size of a boombox. Suits almost every musical style. If you want to play Nu-metal or a large venue you will probably want to use an extension cab, although you can always just send the line outs to the PA. Separates into two stereo speakers or you can just carry one for the ultimate in portability. 99 presets for dialing up your favorite sounds. Great visible layout with LED's makes it a breeze to check your settings.

No noisier than any other amp I've used and the extensive EQ can be used to take out unwanted frequencies. Fantastic Rockman sound, but flexible enough to get lots of other great amp tones. Loved the sound of this amp right out of the box. Distortion is absolutely beautiful. Use a distortion pedal if you want more. That great Rockman clean chorus sound. Essentially uses the XPR preamp so there is great flexibility in settings and sounds, plus it has an effects loop.

Built like a tank. A few sliders you can easily blow out if they get scratchy, no inaccessible pots. This is your ultimate main amp or it makes the most portable backup you will ever carry.

N/A. Rockman unfortunately is no more. Dunlop bought Rockman and I have heard they still fix them for reasonable prices.

Been playing over 25 years. Have owned Marshalls and Mesa Boogie, Fender, Les Paul, Boss, Roland, you know the drill. If it were stolen the Lo-Jack I cleverly placed in it will lead the police to the vile perpetrator's home and recover it for me. I love everything about this amp. There is nothing else like it! Smaller and better sounding than any other amp out there.

This thing is FLEXIBLE. Something other amps say but it is just words.
From clean to mean. Even acoustic guitar like sounds.
I own gear. From classic to edge and specially custom. The Rockmans stand out. But it needs tweaking time to get the sounds you might want.
And sounds quieter with noisless PU's ( Like EMGs ) and Distors not too up.
Do not forget it has a FX loop. Here you can drive extra gas to get Floyd's delays or Eddie's phase. Oh yes the aux is cool for running CD's or drum machines to play along. Direct outs are great. I put an extra tube closed back amp in here to provide THUMP and get bi-amped. The rig ROARS when it has to , or purrs if you want it.

I play Top 40, rock covers and also my own and this amp really covers all duties.
Long ago I found that Rockman midi-pedal was perfect for Rockman midi gear, but limited if you've attached something else more digitaly advanced in the FX loop. I have an Alesis Quadraverb in there since the side fx are not that good, BIG TIME exception with the chorus wich I think it's the best around since it came out in the old X100, wich I also own since 1988. Still works great.
From Knopfler to Satch and Clapton in between, from Sandman to Hysteria the sounds are there. Just spend some time.
I'd easyly trade the echo for an auto-clean feature, or better a Noise Gate! because all Rockmans I have are a bit noisy when distors are pushed far. But leds inside acting like tubes in a Tube amp make an AUTHORITARY DIFFERENCE at the over all sound... years later I saw the same trick in Marshalls mosvalve units. Gee!, Tom knew what he was doing.

Besides some nasty current spyke, nothing has put mine off. Some stages are like this, you know, so I replaced the Power diode bridge inside with a NASTIER one, more proteccion did good enough. Altough it has collected some nix here and there , the speaker cloth wore out at the screw spots and gotten the speakers suspension raplaced ( it vanished as time went by!!). It's in one piece. And considering this unit left the factory in August 9 1990.... mmmh , I'd wish my girlfriend's face at the time be in the same shape after all those years, he he!

Uff.. this boys are no longer in business. But parts somewhat can easyly be spotted out there. In those years SR&D even answered my letters. Boy, where have all the good time gone? Said Diamond Dave.
Now some companies just give a friendly silence... and now we all have the web!.
Considering all this, one have to get the unit at a good technician's bench or do it yourself if you know your way around inside electronics.
Another dude told me there's somebody out at Jim Dunlop's who could do it for you. Your pick!!

If you play guitar long enough you learn to tell what is up and what simply does not worth it. My brother says wimpy dudes make wimpy things. Some guitar stuff is plain novelty, some other is just wimpy, but Rockman is not and NEVER WAS. And still now is a standard wich some sounds are meassured up to.
Sometimes I suspect Tom Scholz was put out of business because of fear, ha ha !! The man can play, and is an acomplished engineer. As guitar player he created something very valuable. Yes I know all these units could be improved, specially the XP's. Just take a look at your own cell phone. Technology is avaliable now to make almost the FINAL processors, but that is not good for the names in the industry. I was always expecting the NEXT generation in this line, like hibrid XPR with tubes and solid state preamps, mix, smart gate, auto clean,two FX loops, more bands in EQ and companion units just for digital efects, with longer delays and the like.
In those years these amps were GREAT. Now they still ROCK. Imagine the chances now.
If mine was stolen, well, what the FBI is for? come on guys earn yor your pay checks! or should I brutally murder the person who did it, and do time in a mental institution ? ha ha ha !

... Nah, while Tom is alive we stil have hope he'll be back and teach others lesson two!

This is the same review I gave the XPR that I also own. As you know, the XP-100 is the same thing built into a splitable 100 watt amp chassis with two 5 inch speakers.

This is one of those rare units that is hard to make sound bad. Unlike other units that give you so many options that it's hard to actually dial in a real good sound, much less feel safe enough to edit it once you find one sounds pretty good.


For example, the eq's are set at guitar frequencies (some guitar units I've used give you the option of using super-high or super-low frequencies that a guitar rig has no buisness with...and then they'll give you the option of setting the bandwidth too). Also the compressor/sustain section...just four levels of compression...no screwing around with attack, release, or setting compression ratios.


Lastly, the read out is outstanding in it's simplicity. Rows of LED-type lights for each parameter. No scrolling through menues and you can see your settings from across the stage. I heard Tom got the idea from a 1960's era Russin spacecraft layout.

The tone circuitry is all analog. It sound fat and sweet. Not thin or like a swarm of mosquitos in the high end like the Line6 units or Korg PX4 Pandora's units I also have.


REMEMBER THIS: the XPR is a full-range unit and should be ran through full-range speaker cab's. It isn't designed to be ran through a guitar cab. A guitar cab will work but it will sound muddy. I use EAW floor monitors so the sound is right in front of me. Also DO NOT use a tube power amp. It colors the tone too much. The XPR needs a very clean amp.


NO MICING: That's right. Full range. Run it direct to the board (need a DI if your going the distance). Also, you can adjust your master volume and master EQ all night and it won't affect your signal to the board (makes soundguys happy). The direct outs come before the master EQ/volume outputs, which go to your poweramp.


Sounds are killer. It has an awesome acoustic clean sound (because it's fullrange like an acoustic amp) and also does that jangley semi-clean 80's chorused sound very well. I've side-by-sided it with a Roland JC120 and the XPR beats the king at his own game..easily. The distortions are truely ripping! The rockman stuff has a lot of 500k mid going on that makes distorted guitar simpley rip through the mix and there is sustain for days depending on the compressor/sustain setting. I also get great high-energy Texas blues tones from it BUT I would not recomend it for more mellow blues forms. The XPR is a bit compressed sounding for that. You'd be better off with a very touch sensitive tube amp.


And then there's the chorus. It's analog, it's in stereo, it's fat, and it's the best I've ever used (much better than the Intellifex's I've used, not as washed out). This is the key to the Rockman sound in my opinion.


The stereo echo sounds great like all analog echos but it only does one repeat. Get an outboard Rockman Stereo Echo (man do those sound SWEET!).


The reverbs: are usable at best. Get an outboard unit.


Noise: there's lots of it. Good luck finding a Rockman Smartgate. Buy a 1/2 rack Boss NS-50 for $30-$50 and put it in the FX loop. It works awesome. Rocktron HUSH units don't work very well with the XPR.


Like all Rockman preamps, they can be used on there own, but sticking a Rockman EQ in the FX loop makes a lot of difference. I bump the 1.4k up a bit and it really tightens up the bass and better defines the tone in a mix.

This thing is about 14-years old and works great. Have to be carefull you don't break the sliders off. Some SR&D stuff is known for having issues with internal corrosion. They were built on the east coast and the salt air was to blame.


Never had a problem. Still, I never gig without a backup.

Now owned by Jim Dunlop. Bob Cedro from the old SD&D works there and takes care of the old Rockman stuff for $50.

In a top 40 band. New stuff, classics, country, rap, classic metal. Big festival gigs working every weekend etc. This covers them all without much fuss and it sounds very original at the same time.


Been playing 18 years. I'd buy another one

If you read the first review then you know the features..I saw this amp at a pawn shop and i jumped all over it..I like other readers have been trying to get the best tone at a good stage volume.. This amp as other people have stated was ahead of its time.The only thing i wish it had was that maybe they could have put a feature in to turn to chorus or delay off with the midi pedal...And the line out works great for a non-miked signal to the board..

I have and use various guitars ( Epiphone Les paul with seymour duncans, Strat with emg pickups, EVH Wolfgang Standard)My band mostly does Classic Rock , but with some blues, r&B whatever.. I have several amps (5150, Line Six, Digitech) so i am always looking for the BEST TONE..Can be a little noisy on some of the louder settings..
For a solid state it smokes Line 6 and othe rmodeling type amps.

The amp worked great until i ran it with a bad cord to an extension cabinet and fried it.. a local tech did a pretty good job fixing it..and i have just starting using it again in a live setting and it sounds great (5150 went out on me at a gig) So i can say unless the uses screws it up the amp the way it was built could last a good while..

N/A

I have been a player for a LONG TIME.....Hendrix was God to me, Page, Jeff Beck, Clapton, Johnny Winter, Derringer...Then EHV came in and changed the way most of us play now...I have been searching ebay and local pawnshops for another amp ..so if i lost this one or if it was stolen i would be a little upset..When i found this amp at a pawnshop it did not have the extension cabinet..(the guy said the kid who brought the amp in kept it for a boom box extension) so i wish i could find that..I play it now thru a 4 12 cabinet and it sounds great..So until the 510 comes back from the repair shop i will be using it live..Tom Scholz new what he was doing when he built this amp.Tom come out of retirement and show these new companies how to build a goodd solid state amp!

TONS OF FEATURES IN THIS AMP.It starts with two speaker cabs.that can lock together or seporate for WIDE STEREO, Programable patches via midi pedalboard,Distortions,Overdrives,Super Clean sounds,Chorus (stereo),Delays (stereo),Reverb,Compression,3 band Pre EQ,5 band Post EQ,Master (Room EQ),Patch Volume, and Master Volume, Switchable 100w / 50w / Line out / Headphone/Direct outs/MIDI/AUX in/Ext. cab. out/Solid State.

I use a Strat and Tele both w/Humbuckers, and a Takamine. I play mostly Rock and Acoustic Rock styles. The incredibly "Produced" sound you can get from this amp makes it a thrill to play thru.I really love the harmonic sustaining chords and single notes you can get from it's very musical distortion settings (even at real low volumes) I can't think of a style it wouldn't work well with.

I've owned the amp for 14 years and NEVER one problem.

Never needed to call

I have been playing for 30 years, and I've never stopped searching for the "PERFACT DISTORTION". I've tried many products over the years and I must say, this amp has been VERY satisifying over all.Great for Studio recording/Direct to PA live/Headphone practice/etc.
I'll rate it Overall a 9, just in case I live long enough to find "THE PERFACT DISTORTION".

I'm not sure when this amp was made. The amp has just about everything you can imagine. I especially like it for country. I cant speak for other types of music. If you read the first review you know all the particulars as far as effects, wattage {100} etc, etc.

I use an american Tele with the standard pickups and it is great for country and rock-a-billy. As far as distoration geos I dont use it. Never found a need for it in my kind of music. The clean sounds great at low volume, I never cranked it to the extream. The amp is very quiet, no annoying buzzes or humming.

I've never had a problem with it.

This is the problem, finding a tech. I wouldnt know where to look since I think they are out of business. Most tech's might be able to fix this thing but this I cant say for sure. So customer support may be non-existant.

I've been playing professionally since 1957. I own several Peaveys, Crates and Fenders. The downside is the rockman is limited because of the twin six and a half inch speakers. I play huge country venues and to use this amp it must be patched thru the PA, so I usually use my Peavey duel twelve. For this I have to give it a five.

The Scholz/Rockman XP-100 was a 100-watt, solid-state, stereo guitar combo amplifier. (The XP100 was also available as a pre-amp) This is one of the most unique guitar amplifiers ever created! It's basically has the "Rockman" sound in a small, portable, light-weight package.
The XP-100 combo comes with two 6 1/2" speakers and the speakers were formed inside 2 mini "cabinets" that could be separated for additional stereo sound by pushing down on the "handle" on top of the amp. The handle allows you to carry the amp easily in one hand. Pulling up on the handle allows the amp to "hold" both speaker cabinets and pushing down allows for the speakers to be separated from one another. (VERY UNIQUE & HANDY!) The ability to control PRE & POST distortion as well as BLENDING clean & distorted sounds simultaneously is incredible. (Though I didn't find myself using this last feature a whole lot when I owned the amp - it reminds me of using a piezo-equipped guitar for running cleans & distortions at the same time)
Effects include massive EQ control, (3-band graphic PRE distortion EQ & 5-band graphic POST distortion EQ) stereo chorus, (beautiful analog chorus sound with mono & stereo features) echo, (one of the down-sides of the effects section - the delay times are very short - only "slapback" echo sounds are really achieved - too bad because the Rockman Echo sound is truly beautiful - the Rockman Stereo Echo "Rockmodule" was my favourite effect unit EVER) and a great Reverb. (One long version, one short)
There is an "AUX IN STEREO" jack in the back of the amp that allows you to plug in a tape player, CD player, drum machine, etc. I used my BOSS drum machines through this input and the sound was absolutely incredible. An Effects loop is included as well as full MIDI control. The additional Rockman footswitch is available for channel-switching and MIDI implementation. (I think the Rockman MIDI pedal is one of the best footswitch pedals ever introduced on the market) The XP-100 also includes a Direct-Out jack in which you can record directly to tape or feed the amp through a P.A. system when playing live. (I used it this way live several times and it worked out great)
As far as features are concerned, I have to give the XP-100 a perfect "10". This amp is completely feature-laden and was "ahead of its time" for the era it was created in.

The Rockman XP-100 is capable of achieving excellent clean & distorted tones. The beauty of the Rockman distortion tone is that is sounds very warm for a solid-state amplifier. (And one of the reasons why the Rockman series of products were so successful) The clean sounds are stellar, especially with a thick "dab" of chorus added. (SWEET!) The clean tones are "sparkly" & warm - they cut through easily. The distorted tones are great for getting Joe Satriani's earlier sound. Joe used the Rockman "Rockmodules" for many recorded tracks. (Listen to "The Crush Of Love" off of the "Dreaming #11" EP) The distorted tone has a very compressed sound to it - and it cannot be removed - that's the signature tone of the Rockman sound. It's sustains beautifully although the distortion is not extremely high-gain like a Soldano, Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier, or Peavey 5150. Much less gain. I really loved the Rockman distorted sound when I first bought this amp but as my taste for tone grew, I leaned away from it more and more. I wanted something much warmer and less compressed. One major advantage of the Rockman is that you can get good tone at low volume levels. (That's the beauty of solid-state amps) For the ability of the XP-100 to get "The Rockman Sound" it obviously gets a "10", but for my own personal tastes, I'll give it a "9". (For both clean & distorted tones)

The Rockman XP-100 failed me on only one occasion - and it wasn't the amp's fault. I did something terribly stupid - I fed the Direct Out jack of the XP-100 into a small "mini-guitar/speaker-amp" I put together and it blew the fuse inside the XP-100 and damaged the amp. I had it repaired (after much time in the shop) and it worked just as good as it did before the repair. All Rockman equipment I've owned have been of the highest quality. So I give this rating based on the Rockman's reliability and not on my foolish actions. :)

I never dealt with Rockman for any of the Rockman products I owned. (I previously owned two Rockman "Rockmodules" - a Stereo Echo and Sustatinor) As I said before, Rockman equipment is totally reliable.

The Rockman XP-100 has a special place in my heart among all the amplifiers I've owned. It was the first amp that I bought that I really wanted and really enjoyed while I had it. I sold it to a good friend of mine in 1997 and I miss it. (I owned the amp for 5 years) It truly is a great piece of equipment. I loved the portability, light-weight, stereo application, the ability to patch-in a drum machine, and overall sound. If I ever find another one of these amps, (Or beg my friend to sell it back to me! Are you listen Jay?) I will definitely pick one up to jam through at home, and use as a drum machine monitor. I'll also use it for live gigs in which I need something I can carry on the bus!!! Seriously!
I wish Tom Scholz would somehow bring back the Rockman products back to the marketplace. They were truly incredible products and its only now after many years that people are realizing the value and quality of his products in the guitar market. You rule Tom! Thanks for all your contributions to the electric guitar industry!