I get the same reaction when mates put headphones on & start playing my x100 it’s such an amazing bit of gear & love peoples reaction to that awesome sound
Back in the 80's I worked on a commercial salvage boat out of Key West looking for Spanish Treasure. I had a Rockman to play around with in my bunk at night. Never did I dream that it would be an ancient treasure when I got in my 60's. The Spanish Galleon was named the Nuestra Senora Atocha. Half a billion in treasure.
Cool,,2minutes in,,that's the Soloist,,still got one. Also I have the Sustainer. In a box of old "toe bombs" in the closet. next to the '71 Fender Bandmaster TFL5005D,,,MesaBoogie DC-3 and Two cases of Reel to Reel tapes!! few still got factory wrap on them. OLD Treasures. ✌🏼
The frequency response of the original headphones was designed to enhance the sound of the headphone amp; somewhere on line years ago, I read a post about suggested settings for an eq pedal to complement this unit if you don't have the original phones.
As cheap and fragile as these were they did sound amazing! I owned several back in the 80's( they broke real easy!) and still think the clean tone is one of the best. Now in 2021 i use something called WAZA air headphones which are like a rockman on steroids. it is a full Katana amp with effects but in a headphone set. I can get them to sound like the Rockman X100 so i am good to go! 👽
These were NEVER cheaply made or FRAGILE. That's why they still work 40+ years later. The only ones that are of questionable quality are the current ones made by Dunlop. Scholz NEVER made junk !
Nice video - had one of those when they came out, great sounding device especially considered when it was released! I also looks (and sounds) like you're playing a Tele with a B-Bender, but it doesn't look like a Fender. Can you give us a little more information on the guitar you're using?
Hi Chris, The guitar is a Warmoth telecaster that I made for myself several years ago. It has a parson's green bender by hipshot installed, which I did myself. If I remember correctly, it has Lollar pickups, a compensated three saddle bridge, and planet waves locking tuners. It's a very nice guitar.
Sure, but it might be better to find someone more local to your area. If you need to contact me just use the contact page on the Mayfly Audio website www.mayflyaudio.com
Unfortunately (fortunately?) the unit is back with it's happy owner so I no longer have access to it to reverse engineer a schematic. However, I do know that those units used ICs that are no longer in production. Cloning it would mean re-engineering it from the ground up.
Thanks for the video! I still have mine, but it's needs some major overhaul. I bought it from a friend back in the late 80's, the audio comes out only on one side of the headset on both Headphone inputs. The power adapter is also in bad shape and shorts out. There's absolutely nothing on the internet for an aftermarket replacement adapter which is a 6Volt 200ma. I wish I could find someone who knows how to restore this thing. I was smart enough to buy all the Rackmount Modules and they're still in great shape, so I can always bust them out if I need to for recordings. Any suggestions on what I should do with the Rockman?
Well, depends on where you are and if there are some good electronics tecs nearby. You'll need someone who is part electrical engineer and part watchmaker with these things. The power supply should be easy to fix. The problem with one channel missing would be much harder to debug. However, my money is on a bad electrolytic coupling cap in the signal path somewhere.
hey mr mayfly great stuff. i have a 1984 soloist and i cant get it to play distortion. i audio probed it and found the distortion on the input pcb. i tried to trace it over to the output pcb but cant find it. i might add that the ribbon on my has been replaced by small wires going to thgeir appropriate spots. if theres any wisdom you you can bestow about this problem i would appreciate it greatly. rock on man
Thanks! Regarding your soloist, in general problems with old electronics are usually the electro-mechanical things rather than the electronics, although there are always exceptions (electrolytic caps for example). iI you suspect the PCB connecting wires, just try to probe on both sides of them to see if you can find the missing signal.
No way!? I run my XPRa thru a rocktron power amp + effects units and I still can't find anything that compares and trust me I've tried almost every cheap and expensive unit out there.
Hi there, I'm actually full time on pedals with my company Mayfly Audio. Regarding your rockman, it's probably best if you found someone local to your area to look at it. Anything that's fixable is pretty straightforward, and the things that are not fixable (replacing the unobtainable delay chips) no one can fix anyway :)
I bought a soloist yesterday for $5 don't know if it works though two of the switches front switches are stuck with old battery acid I accidentally took the metal part housing on the switch off, but was able to clean it I shouldn't have a problem getting it back on right?
Hi there, Sadly I don't have time for this type of repair these days. To busy with my pedal company. I recommend that you find someone local to you to have a look at it.
Hi John, Sure thing but depending on where you are in the world it might be better to find someone local. If you'd like to talk further, just send me a quick note from the contact page on my website and we can have a private conversation about it.: www.mayflyaudio.com/contact/
er, well it depends on what you mean exactly. If you already have a rockman and just want an enclosure around it, that should not be to bad. Your best bet would be to find a local tech to do that for you. If you want to re-create a rockman, re-designed in a guitar pedal, there are a bunch of issues with that. First, that would require re-verse engineering a loaner unit and would likely take hundreds of hours of engineering time (not to mention destroying an original unit). The next issued is that the original used chips that are now obsolete - you can't buy them. Well, you can buy some of them, but certainly not a complete set. The third issue is that someone else owns the rights to the design, which means that licensing fees would have to be paid. Especially as you'd have to sell a LOT of them to re-coup those hundreds of hours of engineering time. If that's what you are looking for then, I'm not sure if it would be worth it to you :)
Hi there, I can't remember the part number off hand, but I give it in the video. As to where it came from, my buddy Bill (a professional electronics buyer) found it. He's not telling where!
If you're local to Ottawa, sure. Otherwise, you'd be better off finding a local tech to look at it. Warning though, with the battery acid there might be several components damaged.
@@mayflyamp good news it works it took hours of contact cleaner and slowly working the rust and acid out for the switches to move, I'd still like to get the switches replaced but can't find the parts you mentioned, it would really help if it's possible for you to send a link if available to the switches they are the same I believe as the one you repaired .5 A 125V it would be a huge help thanks
@@mayflyamp I got it working but not sure how long the switches will last there are two 3 way and 2 2 way switches on mine my question is do you have a specific supplier of the switches that I can contact because the only online supplier I contacted only sells in a quantity of 500 any help would be appreciated I don't mind paying shipping to the US just want to keep my rockman going thanks
