Thoughts on emulating this Rockman Sustainor-through-amp tone?

Alan Benjamin

Inspired
Hi again,

Have been tied up for a while and think I may have approached a somewhat similar topic quite a while back, but I just revisited my first studio solo recording recently (due to its 30-year anniversary coming) and noticed that I really miss the basic guitar tone of my old Rockman Sustainor going through a Music Man 112 RD amp I captured back then and would really like to find a way to closely emulate it with my AX8. Here's a link to the tune for reference:



Ideally, I'd like to build the preset myself, but would definitely appreciate any thoughts about the approach and/or components that might help get this tone nailed as closely as possible.

Thanks a lot and take care,


Alan
 
Funny...I've recently started doing the same. I'm missing my Rockman. So far, the closest I've been able to come to that 'almost plasticy' sound is with a wah in a fixed position with a little resonance. It's similar to using a para eq but the wah adds some character. I'm boosting in the 800-900hz range.

It's still not great, but closer than anything else I could come up with.

RR
 
Alan - fellow prog rocker / progressivears member. I've been meaning to check out Advent for a while. I like the tune (actually it was an earworm during dinner tonight). I still have all my Rockman gear, but i preferred my GK250ML (at least during the late 80's). There are some good Rockman (Def Lep and ZZTop) patches on the Exchange emulating the Rockman. If you can locate them, i'll PM them to you.
 
Alan - fellow prog rocker / progressivears member. I've been meaning to check out Advent for a while. I like the tune (actually it was an earworm during dinner tonight). I still have all my Rockman gear, but i preferred my GK250ML (at least during the late 80's). There are some good Rockman (Def Lep and ZZTop) patches on the Exchange emulating the Rockman. If you can locate them, i'll PM them to you.

Thanks for the feedback and very cool to see you over here as well. Coincidentally, I also own a 250ML, but bought it mainly for portability originally--then dedicated it to being a student amp when I taught for a little while and much later used it as portable amplification for my Stick (using a Y-adapter) until migrating to a Fishman Loudbox for the latter purpose. Even more coincidentally, I hadn't used my 250ML in a very long time, but ended up using it to tune up and adjust my long-neglected Stick earlier today (as I keep it upstairs). I'll have to do a little more poking around the Axe Change to see what I may be able to find--again for the AX8, since that's what I have.

Appreciate the kind words about the tune and I also hope you enjoy the Advent material when you get a chance to check it out as well. Look forward to checking out your music soon as well.

All the best,


Alan
 
Have you tried the RockMeOn presets as a starting point? Search for them on Axe-Change.

Thanks a lot for the tip. I see that you authored these presets as well, but also that none are native to the AX8. I'm a bit rusty on the conversion process and am also wondering if there might have been tone matching involved--and, if so, I can't remember how that affects trying to get an Axe-Fx preset converted for use on the AX8 or if that's even possible. (I used to have a better grasp on this, actually, but have been away for a while due to a pretty crazy life over the past year or so.)

Will try to get reoriented with these details soon, though, as I'm definitely motivated to get that type of tone the way I'd like in the AX8.

All the best and thanks again for your help,


Alan
 
Hi again,

Thanks for the reminder, Rex. As suspected, I ran the two most recent "RockMeOn" presets through FracTool and ended up with the following blocks removed/shunted:

"AX8 : Shunted unavailable ToneMatch at [4,2]"
"AX8 : Shunted unavailable Comp 2 at [6,2]"

I'll try loading them up to see how they sound and try to dial them in, but I'm wondering how significant the loss of the Tone Match blocks will be in this case.

Take care and thanks again to everyone for the help,


Alan
 
That would be nice. I sold my Rockman units to fund the AX8. If I can get that sound back it would make it all worth while. :)

If I could easily and cost-effectively get the (custom) dirty pots replaced in my Sustainor, I'd probably try to use it in the FX Loop for some presets. (I'm pretty sure that repair is going to be either impossible or impractically expensive, though--and I've tried contact cleaner to no avail.)

Cheers,


Alan
 
Here you go...Rockman Tone Matches converted to cabs...stolen directly from @Admin M@ 's presets.

Hi Rex,

That's awesome. Thanks so much! Look forward to reassembling everything on the AX8 as soon as I have a little time and hearing/tweaking the results.

All the best and have a great weekend,


Alan
 
Here you go...Rockman Tone Matches converted to cabs...stolen directly from @Admin M@ 's presets.
How did you handle the missing Comp block? There is one before and one after the Amp? I was going to convert it but always working over-time lately...:mad:. I was going to keep the 'Pre' compression and try using the one in the Amp block to act as the 'Post' compression??
 
How did you handle the missing Comp block? There is one before and one after the Amp?
I didn't. I just converted the Tone Match to a cab. :)

I like your approach, though. I think Amp block compression is your best bet as a substitute for the post compressor. And not strictly necessary for the voicing.
 
I didn't. I just converted the Tone Match to a cab. :)

I like your approach, though. I think Amp block compression is your best bet as a substitute for the post compressor. And not strictly necessary for the voicing.
Was just curious. The last time I checked out these presets, I was surprised at just how much compression there was....:eek:
 
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