Boston Guitar Sound? Tom Scholz?

[NoirAbattoir]

A gibson with P-90s into Marshall Plexis attenuated down kinda low? He does have some oddball effects he uses, but the fundamental crunch and lead tones are just an attenuated Plexi, I believe. The P-90s certainly don't hurt.

[worldoftone]

Do some reading:

 

Rockman Central

 

- WOT

[jaeger28]

 

Billly Gibbons famously used Rockmans to record all the ZZ hit's. (Afterburner, etc...)

 

 

if all the things he's said to have used are in his signal chain, I am wondering if what comes out at the other end would still be recogniseable as a guitar :poke:

[tlbonehead]

 

if all the things he's said to have used are in his signal chain, I am wondering if what comes out at the other end would still be recogniseable as a guitar :poke:

 

One of his best was using a short speaker cable for one cab and a really long one for another to get a nice slight delay doubling effect

[Sun Devil]

 

Not true. The producer of those albums has debunked that myth.

 

 

Granted, the Reverend Gibbons likes to tell tall tales but...

 

Billy himself made that claim in an old issue of Guitar Player. As I recall, it wasn't just a Rockman. They'd mix several amps together,with the Rockman thrown in for some ambience. They even had pics of some of the amps and a car door they were slamming to get a paticuliar sound on tape.

 

I've seen what the Producer claims now too.But those old recordings sure sound like they had a Rockman mixed in.

[chachaden]

The first 2 Boston albums weren't the Rockman or the modules which came later.

[mrspeed]

 

BTW, the Rockman Stereo Chorus 1/2 rackspace module is Still the Best Chorus I've ever used. Period!

 

+1...and the Rockman stereo echo is legendary as well.

 

People are starting to forget just how revolutionary the Rockman stuff was. At the the time I'm not sure there were even any amps with effects loops, let a alone a device that sounded pretty damn good on headphones or plugged into a board. The Hughes and Kettner Redbox may have been available but that's just about it.

[BusterBuster]

 

A gibson with P-90s into Marshall Plexis attenuated down kinda low? He does have some oddball effects he uses, but the fundamental crunch and lead tones are just an attenuated Plexi, I believe. The P-90s certainly don't hurt.

 

 

Read guys ... He used the lead pup on his Gold Tops. They were not P90s

[Psychotronic]

 

Billly Gibbons famously used Rockmans to record all the ZZ hit's. (Afterburner, etc...)

 

 

Myth.

[gainfreak]

Just to clear up some misconceptions. Getting the Boston sound depends on what album you are talking bout. The first 2 albums were attenuated marshalls with a Boost and EQ out in front of the amp and greenback speakers. The later albums were layered Rockmans. That said, You CANNOT get the EARLY Boston sound without an EQ or something boosting the front end of the amp in the 800hz freequency. The Boston sound is 800hz not 500hz.

 

The easiest way to get that sound now would be to use one of the many Rockman products but I prefer the old sound of the 1st album when they used an amp.

 

If you have a high gain amp already and you want that sound or something similar, Get yourself a Fuman PQ3 parametric EQ and use it before the amp. The PQ3 is a boost pedal and parametric EQ pedal all in one. Set the midrange freequency boosted at 800hz at a narrow bandwidth and you will hear what im talking about. You will need a hush or decimator pedal because the EQ will add a lot of noise. (nature of the beast so to speak..adding EQ and boosting freequencies does add noise)

[diddlybo]

 

Yup,ZZ used it for Eliminator,too,as well as Knopfler on "Money For Nuthin'",I "think"...prolly lots of others,too... Just think Marshall w/lots of 500 Hertz in the EQ.

 

 

Most of Eliminator was done on a Legend amp with a 4-12 cab.

[johnfrusciante]

 

Is anyone here familiar with the Boston Guitar Sound, and Tom Scholz? I've only just come across it. I found out that Tom Scholz invented a small amp called the "Rockman", a little headphone amp with preset adjustable gain, built-in echo & chorus, line out. To be honest somehow I remember seeing one at high school, but that's a rather vague memory. Apparrently, that little device models the 'Boston Guitar Sound'. Does anyone know what amps, effects, equalisers etc. were used to originally get that 'Boston Guitar Sound'? I think it was mountains of stuff. What songs out there were recorded with that sound?

 

 

 

tom schultz is an electrical engineer. i'm sure he's modified nearly everything he used/uses to some degree. i remember an interview with him where he was talking about the first record. cranking up his marshall gave him too much speaker distortion, which he didn't like, so he built an attenuator to use on their first record.

[diddlybo]

A good example of the Rockman is Jeff Beck's recrding of the song "People Get Ready". I'm pretty sure there is some rockman on the track.

[Michael McGlenn]

 

If you have a high gain amp already and you want that sound or something similar, Get yourself a Fuman PQ3 parametric EQ and use it before the amp. The PQ3 is a boost pedal and parametric EQ pedal all in one. Set the midrange freequency boosted at 800hz at a narrow bandwidth and you will hear what im talking about. You will need a hush or decimator pedal because the EQ will add a lot of noise. (nature of the beast so to speak..adding EQ and boosting freequencies does add noise)

 

 

I use a Behringer Stereo Tube parametric and it does the job for Cheap!

I paid $40 on Ebay for it...threw in some SPAX7A's for lower noise and voila!

[Jesse G]

Boston's guitar sound is really weird.

 

It's the most scooped-yet somehow mid heavy sound ever.

[clay_finley]

Here's the secret, straight from RockmanCentral:

[tetaJ]

 

Is anyone here familiar with the Boston Guitar Sound, and Tom Scholz? I've only just come across it. I found out that Tom Scholz invented a small amp called the "Rockman", a little headphone amp with preset adjustable gain, built-in echo & chorus, line out. To be honest somehow I remember seeing one at high school, but that's a rather vague memory. Apparrently, that little device models the 'Boston Guitar Sound'. Does anyone know what amps, effects, equalisers etc. were used to originally get that 'Boston Guitar Sound'? I think it was mountains of stuff. What songs out there were recorded with that sound?

 

 

you might not believe this one but the First Boston album was recorded with small 10 watts amp with a loose tube

 

That came from TS himself and the engineer.

[Puddlegum]

I do recall that Def Lep used Rockmans while doing the Hysteria album

[XTC in Cumming]

Check out the October 2006 Guitar World magazine (p.66)...there's an interview with Scholz.

[HKSblade1]

 

I use a Behringer Stereo Tube parametric and it does the job for Cheap! I paid $40 on Ebay for it...threw in some SPAX7A's for lower noise and voila!

 

 

yea that Behringer unit is a nice piece for the cheap! My mate uses one with his AXE FX into a Mesa Simul 90. Killer sound! Sounds better than his BBE 462.

[jnmartin]

you might not believe this one but the First Boston album was recorded with small 10 watts amp with a loose tube That came from TS himself and the engineer.

 

... or for the correct answer, a cranked attenuated Marshall plexi

[tommythelurker]

My gas for an eq has been reignited

[leftwing73]

According to the "making of..." DVD, All of Hysteria was done on a Rockman.

[Mackin]

I have a Rockman X100 and a Bass Rockman. They are both fantastic for recording direct or playing with headphones (or even playing through my hi-fi stereo) the stereo chorus is lovely !

[petejt]

I'd say more in the 700-800 range. But that general area.

 

 

 

Thanks for adding that, very helpful .