The Many Tones of Tom Scholz (Boston) 

Who didn't already know Tom Scholz invented the rockman? Literally everyone knows... Also in the interview you reference, he is referring to what he calls the "hyperspace pedal"... Not the doubler harmonizer...

@@drdre4397 Two months ago I hadn't heard of the Rockman.

@@ColtraneTaylor I saw those around in the '80s

He says he created it but who knows

There isnt a EQ on the x100 tho

@@jbusk6298 I should have clarified, the EQ on the mixing console. I think Billy Gibbons used a stomp box EQ before the X100 input to get that mid squack.

LoL, a "comp-sult"- a back-handed "compliment" that is ACTUALLY an insult... Like "Even though your playing sucks, your tone is KILLER..."

@@ck2music712 🤷‍♂️call it like I hear it...

Like in Hitch a Ride and more than a feeling

Agreed. He nailed all the tones.

The only song off the debut not written by Tom. That was a Brad Delp tune, hence the difference in sound.

Really great dissection of those tones though, man, you're dead on.

No you're right, there's a lot of sound-engineer sorcery in those albums. Really brilliant stuff, even by today's standards.

Thank you sir, I am just running my Rockmans (Rockmen?) straight into my laptop. The only additional gear I use is a 6-band EQ in the Sustainor FX loop.

@@dawnpoint Are you using any effects on your laptop?

@@lightinme217 EQs mostly, sometimes a little extra delay, reverb or chorus.

@Taylor Rhodes How do you obtain a Rockman X100 or Rockman Sustainor? They are impossible to find, great demo btw

PhambletonMR Thanks, check Reverb.com. The come up reasonably often on there. House of Scholz and Mike’s Gear Bazaar are the two best people to buy from

Just his wireless...that provided some overdrive.

I added a stereo delay and a chorus, similar to the effects the X100 has.

David Pace, there’s got to be a secret in the Sustainor.

Most any switcher should. (simple Tip to Sleeve short) They are super easy to build. Even with LEDs.

I might if I had a Spark!

@@dawnpoint You need to hit them up. So many other youtubers have gotten a free one to do an online demo. I've been following you for a while as I have also been on a quest for the Boston tone. I think you have nailed them all in this video. The problem is the equipment you use is hard to come by and Frail to say the least. I have a rockman distortion generator, it is very noisy. I also have a Rock man headphone amp that has stopped working. I see a lot of people on youtube claiming they have created Boston tones with various other products and they are close but not totally there. The best one I have seen was done with the Line 6 Helix, which I can't really afford.

Meaning I wouldn't also need the rockman x100

It's the "Edge" setting on the Sustainor with the guitar volume knob turned down. And stereo chorus (of course).

At the 7:00 mark

@Luke Scholz didn't have hum on the recordings, and I think he knows a little more about Rock than you do. So YOU get over it. You probably wouldn't even know what causes "hum" unless you Googled it.

@Luke Quit being a little shit, asshole.

@Luke What you call negative, I call constructive. It's not like I said it sounded like shit, or that his playing was horrible or he was ugly or anything like that. You just need to quit being so sensitive and charging to the rescue of people who don't need saving. Oh, and just relax, buttercup.

Back in the day we just learned to be quick on the vol knob

"I used to have an X100 myself. Loved using it, but it was not meant for gigging." Not true at all! The X100 was indeed just as much of a live tool as it was a studio tool. The X100 manual even describes this in it's "To Play Live" setup within the manual. www.tom-scholz.com/Manuals/X100.pdf

Thank you very much. I was referring to how I attached my X100 to my hip during a gig, then discovered that the output signal kept cutting out on me. Plus, the volume of the clean channels always seemed louder than the distortion and edge channels.

Oh ok, gotcha. :) Yes, the X100's had plenty of issues when it came to the actual physical durability of them. I think the jacks, slider switches and battery/battery compartment issues were always the majors being serviced to these units back in the day, so I totally agree that trying to go live with issues like that were probably a nightmare. I know that in the mid 80's, a separate company made what was called the "Rock Box" by Electronics Specialty Services, which essentially you placed and plugged your X100 inside of this Rock Box foot pedal and controlled the X100 effects via pedal for live hands-free use. I'm pretty sure the kicker to this was that you had to send your X100 in to have it modded for the footswitch. Then there was another company that made what was called a "Rockmount", which was similar to the Rock Box but only it was a rack mount that housed and controlled Rockman headphone amps. Seems to me that some of these third party products might have been a good idea for live/studio use of the Rockman headphone style amps back in the day to eliminate the problematic physical issues that these units often suffered from. But nevertheless, they are very much intentionally designed for both live and studio use. :)

I distinctly recall having seen the Rock Box it least once on eBay. Can’t remember what it cost, only that I couldn’t raise that amount at the time. Ever since I bought my ex 100 and discovered it was in adequate for me to use life, my quest has been to find a way of emulating the sound using digital modeling. Incredibly, I just heard someone doing so in a video today. His name is Glenn DeLaune, and he did it using a Line 6 Helix.

No, I'm just genuinely not a good guitar player.

@Big B Kenobi I agree, it's sad

Where's Waldo hat :) but great playing!

It's a hondo Agile

@@mcdude0192 I"ve got a 12 string from them,love it

One of my favorite lines of his in an old interview is "I didn't know how to tell someone exactly what I wanted. So I just made it myself". I guess if you're an MIT engineer, this is what you do. Lol