What is it?
Long before the current plethora of ‘rig-in-a-box’ pedals there was the Rockman. Anyone who played electric guitar in the 1980s will be aware of it, and anyone who’s listened to Def Leppard’s Hysteria album will have heard it in action.
In 1982, Tom Scholz of US rock band Boston designed and released the Rockman X100 headphone amp via his electronics company Scholz Research & Development, putting amp sound and effects for silent guitar practice into a portable unit that could also be connected to a recording console.
The distinctive compressed sound, with its integral analogue chorus, soon found its way onto various recordings in the 1980s.
Now, over 40 years on, the range of Rockman units is apparently in demand, so MXR is catering to that with a new addition designed to revive the sonic character of the original headphone amp.
Usability and sounds
The new pedal features four different presets (CLN2, CLN1, Edge, Dist) as found on the original, and has switchable rich, shimmering chorus courtesy of a MN3007 bucket brigade chip.
There’s no sign of the original’s switchable ‘Echo’, which was basically reverb, but that’s not a problem as there are better options these days to partner the X100. The output (mono as shipped) can be switched internally to stereo, which gives you really spacious chorus.
An A/B test with our original unit proves that the new pedal has the vintage sounds down accurately. Overall sonics are very compressed with a bright top-end and some bottom-end roll-off.
The two cleans each have a different EQ contour and offer sparkly clarity. The Edge sound offers crunchy raunch all day long and is sensitive to input gain settings for variation, while the Distortion is full on with loads of sustain – just right for those wailing leads.
We liked the X100 best for DI recording, offering up flavours and textures that are entirely its own, but it could work plugged into an amp for radical tonal shifts.
The two cleans each have a different EQ contour and offer sparkly clarity. The Edge sound offers crunchy raunch all day long and is sensitive to input gain settings for variation, while the Distortion is full on with loads of sustain – just right for those wailing leads.
Verdict
We liked the X100 best for DI recording, offering up flavours and textures that are entirely its own, but it could work plugged into an amp for radical tonal shifts.
Specs
PRICE: $229/£249/€299
ORIGIN: USA
TYPE: Analogue tone processor pedal
FEATURES: Buffered bypass
CONTROLS: Volume, Input Gain, Mode switch, Chorus switch, internal mono/stereo switch, Bypass footswitch
CONNECTIONS: Standard input, standard output, CTRL input
POWER: 9V DC adaptor (supplied)
DIMENSIONS: 62 (w) x 110 (d) x 47mm (h)
CONTACT: Jim Dunlop
