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Boston Guitar Sound? Tom Scholz?


petejt

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this is a bit old but I'm gonna bump it.


the rockman (especially the sustainors and Distortion generators) are NOT meant to be stand alone units. They CAN be and will sound very nice in a mix. all alone they don't sound to great but in a mix they sit very well because of the 500 and 800 Hz boost.



They sound great and can get a more than passable first record sound if you EQ them right. All you really need for the "boston" sound is 2 Rockman EQ's a Chorus and a sustainer. which comes to about 600 bucks USD if you play your cards right.


to all the people saying that Scholz's tone isn't any good live: How many of you have been to a Boston concert in the last 10 years? I have. He had one of the best tones I have EVER heard live and a great mix to.


As for the "original" Boston sound in consisted of:

A CRANKED marshal Superlead with a Scholz power soak (attenuater)

A thing he invented called a doubler (nothing more than a stereo Chorus)

A Les Paul with a DiMarzio SD in the bridge

an Echoplex jury rigged with a expression pedal for the "space sounds"

a MXR 6 Band with a 800Hz peak

a Vox wah


and a couple of other things.


the first clip is the "Long Time" intro solo. with a rockman distortion generator and some post EQing and 300ms of echo.



this is Peace of mind with a touch for reverb and about 200ms of delay and post eqing



and to show its versitality some Van halen, although it's not perfect this is more than passable for a live gig if you want to do a cover or two

 

Boston is one of lets say my top 5 bands of all time. I saw them live only twice cause I'm only 38. In 2006 I saw them in Cincinnatti Oh, Man he sounded amazing! They were tight, and perfect. the chick on bass was awesome. Delp didn't hold back, he put everything he had into it. That was one of the best live concerts I have ever been to. The tone of the guitars sounded warm and full. If anythng it sounded to perfect, too much like the albums. It was live and not prerecorded, but you had to realy watch and listen to be sure it was so good.

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Guys, forget the Rockman crap and get a Blackstar HT5 if you want a Marshall sound without getting a Marshall.

 

 

The old Vintage Club Crates do a fairly good impression as well.

 

Also you can get some pretty passable VH tones out of Rockman gear.

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Guys, forget the Rockman crap and get a Blackstar HT5 if you want a Marshall sound without getting a Marshall.

 

 

We are not trying to get the Marshall sound. We want the early Boston sound that ALSO included the Marshall sound as part of it.

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Trying to get the tone of Tom Shultz of Boston using Marshall amps is an exercise in futility. When using Marshalls they ran Marshall SL100's dimed with power soaks and alot of added delays and choruses and other stuff. Look how long it took them to get albums produced because he was so anal about their tone. Go to that webpage describing all the Tom Shultz custom stack gear that Boston used and you will quickly see what I'm talking about. Tom Shultz Power Soaks burn out your power tubes real quick by over saturating them. Hope you have lots of $$$$$ to burn on tubes.

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Trying to get the tone of Tom Shultz of Boston using Marshall amps is an exercise in futility. When using Marshalls they ran Marshall SL100's dimed with power soaks and alot of added delays and choruses and other stuff. Look how long it took them to get albums produced because he was so anal about their tone. Go to that webpage describing all the Tom Shultz custom stack gear that Boston used and you will quickly see what I'm talking about. Tom Shultz Power Soaks burn out your power tubes real quick by over saturating them. Hope you have lots of $$$$$ to burn on tubes.

 

 

You are correct, well except in your spelling of the last name Scholz.

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Trying to get the tone of Tom Shultz of Boston using Marshall amps is an exercise in futility. When using Marshalls they ran Marshall SL100's dimed with power soaks and alot of added delays and choruses and other stuff. Look how long it took them to get albums produced because he was so anal about their tone. Go to that webpage describing all the Tom Shultz custom stack gear that Boston used and you will quickly see what I'm talking about. Tom Shultz Power Soaks burn out your power tubes real quick by over saturating them. Hope you have lots of $$$$$ to burn on tubes.

 

 

Scholz man.

 

other than that you are completley right it's next to impossible to get Scholz's tone with a marshall.

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The vintage Scholz rack mount sustainers(compressors) and choruses are great pieces of equipment IF you can find one for less than $300.

 

 

 

The Sustainor is actually a Compressor noise gate and distortion unit in one. it's technically a Preamp. You can easily find a Sustainor or Chorus under 300 bucks. (Depending on the model)

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Pretty Much any of the 80s Rush albums.


Signals, I'm not sure about moving pictures, power window, and grace under pressure

 

 

That's the first I ever heard that he used a Rockman. AFAIK this is the most accurate Lifeson gear list around:

 

http://www.musictoyz.com/articles/chopalex.php

 

and it does list a Rockman on Power Windows. I must have forgotten or simply missed it.

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I've heard that Iron Maiden used the Rockman stuff on Somewhere in Time. Has anyone else heard this?



It's a similar sound isn't it? But I believe that tone, along with it's chorus and other eighties wetness that came with it, was from the Gallien Krueger GK 250.

I think this is it:

gk250.jpg

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Pretty Much any of the 80s Rush albums.


Signals, I'm not sure about moving pictures, power window, and grace under pressure

 

 

Let me address this one since this thread has been bumped. The ONLY Rush album that has Rockman on it is Power Windows. I also have old Lifeson interviews from mags at the time where he outlines his studio and live rigs.

 

Signals, GuP, Hold Your Fire, and Presto all came out in the 80's, no Rockman on them.

 

I had an old Rockman that I used for years. It broke, and I think I gave it to a friend or something. That tone can get tiring, but it's pretty "no muss no fuss", and I've recorded with it.

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