IK Welcomes Joe Satriani!

[Paul_R]

And I wouldn't hold your breath there; Scholz is on record as saying he "detests" computers, etc.

Exactly - If this Boston100 model required licensing approval from TS somehow, maybe he is having a change of heart about digital modelling! (he must be getting offers regularly on this) - but probably not going to happen I agree.

My fav Boston tones are from the 1st 2 albums before, as you mentioned, the rockman stuff came along (1st concert I ever went to was Boston in 77 at 16 years old after I'd spent a year playing the grooves off the 1st album - that tone is permanently etched on my brain). I've tried to replicate it in Axefx3 using 2 plexi models side by side and experimenting with the famous mid bump eqs and various stereo chorus/delay fx routing configs that'd i'd read about here and there in terms of how TS originally got that sound. I can get close but not dead on. Its a complex sound whether from the Rockman era, or in the beginning using Marshalls and separate fx that I think can really only be nailed in modelling with TS's help. Hopefully someone convinces him at some point. If the Boston 100 is a decent Rockman X100 rendering, I'll be more than happy with that for now.

[carlaz]

I wouldn't think Scholz is involved here. As far as I understand how this game works, you can describe your digital model as "based on" ("inspired by", etc.) any real-world piece of physical gear that you want -- but without a formal, legally contracted licensing deal, you can't use other people's/manufacturer's names, logos, other trademarked things, etc. (Or, not without getting violently sued, anyway! )

So IKM can produce the "based on Rockman" model without anyone's permission but they can't use the formal name, logo, etc. Dunlop owns all that stuff, I think, so even if they agreed to license the right to produce "official" digital models to IKM, Scholz would be a non-player. And as Scholz hates computers and digital stuff I can't see him getting involved with this sort of thing on his own.

Still, I have pretty fair confidence in the AmpliTube "based on Rockman X100" model. Digital models (not least IKM's) are getting pretty good these days. If I recall aright, the currently available officially licensed ENGL Powerball model in AmpliTube is identical to the "based on" model that preceded it. Basically, ENGL checked out the "based on" model and said, "Oh, yeah, that's good. We can approve that.", and then the "based on" model "magically transformed" into the officially licensed model if you already owned it (which was actually pretty cool on IKM's part, as they could have easily charged for an "upgrade" there).

I'm no expert, but I gather that loads of people used Rockman stuff both in-studio and live back in the '80s and into the '90s. I really don't know much about the Rockmans (Rockmen?), but they fairly scream "Eighties!" so I think I might find a place for the Boston 100 in some of my synthwave tracks or something.

[guitarkite]

I had an original Rockman years ago, and used it live and in the recording studio. Although it has a distinctively unique (some would say "dated") sound, I personally LOVED playing through that super tight, compressed tone! It seemed to make every squeal, pinch harmonic, and whammy dive just "jump out".

Looking forward to the upcoming release, if for no other reason than just to try to relive my youth.

[guitarkite]

Does anyone know what the time-frame for the Amplitube Satriani release is? I already did the preorder.

[kgmessier]

Does anyone know what the time-frame for the Amplitube Satriani release is?

I'd like to know the answer to this as well.

[Peter_IK]

We expect to release AmpliTube Joe Satriani this month (February 2020)

[kgmessier]

We expect to release AmpliTube Joe Satriani this month (February 2020)

Great news! Thanks, Peter.

[carlaz]

We expect to release AmpliTube Joe Satriani this month (February 2020)

Oh, cool! New toys!

[adam_w]

I guess, technically, the first two Boston albums were recorded with a heavily processed Marshall Super Lead, though presumably Scholz built the Rockman stuff to get him what he wanted and used it himself from there on out. The Rockman-esque model in the Satch bundle is based on an X100, originally released in 1984 and apparently slightly different from the original Rockman unit (from 1982?).

It's a sick, twisted and beautiful world when people actually WANT the Rockman sound in 2020!
Next it'll be the GK mini amps with the stereo chorus and delay built in!

[Peter_IK]

I guess, technically, the first two Boston albums were recorded with a heavily processed Marshall Super Lead, though presumably Scholz built the Rockman stuff to get him what he wanted and used it himself from there on out. The Rockman-esque model in the Satch bundle is based on an X100, originally released in 1984 and apparently slightly different from the original Rockman unit (from 1982?).

It's a sick, twisted and beautiful world when people actually WANT the Rockman sound in 2020!
Next it'll be the GK mini amps with the stereo chorus and delay built in!

Correct, the Rockman was produced to get those original sounds and launch further into the stratosphere with processed sound. Almost literally, Tom seems to enjoy making tons of spaceship-type sounds with his guitar even to this day. I enjoy the Rockman sound too and I'm glad to have it in AmpliTube soon.

It's not surprising based on things that I enjoy that have used that sound. I know it isn't super cork-sniffing "vintage" sound but it has character that I like. I mean, I try not to begrudge people for continuing to use Midiverb II units to this day while I personally think they're pure garbage.

[carlaz]

Super cork-sniffing "vintage" sounds are what people make of them!

I remember in the late '80s and early '90s, when I was just starting to play, a lot of people were like, "Oh, those dumb old tube amps and dinged up old guitars are things of the past." I wanted a tube amp, though the best I could do at the time was a Marshall Valvestate (which now have their own cachet), and I ditched my HM-2 pedal because I only had dirt pedals to jazz up the not-very-good overdrive sounds on the cheap-ass fully solid-state combos I had before the Valvestate! Now the HM-2s are "vintage" and go for silly money; probably if I could remember what the dodgy solid-state combo even was, it might now be considered "vintage" as well". (I looked down my nose at Ibanez copies back then, but those also highly desirable these days.)

So, musicians are perhaps institutionally conservative about tone, but there's enough history in modern pop and rock that you can worship the tone of your period of choice. No reason at all that, if one wants that '80s vibe, a digital emulation of a Rockman shouldn't be just what the doctor ordered. I recently dug my first electric guitar out of my parents' basement -- a really cheap-ass "Charvette by Charvel" that is a bright red hair-metal dream. I took it to a local luthier who enthused over its crazy '80s vibe, and we're doing it up with new tuners and pickups. I'm sure this cost way more than I originally paid for it (used!), but, hey: it will probably sound pretty fun with the Rockman emulation (and the 5150 emulation, for that matter).

[Peter_IK]

Well stated. Now I'm going to have to try the "one string at a time" method through the Rockman model like Def Leppard did for the bridge of "Hysteria" (the song not the whole album as some have tried to say is the truth but it is confirmed as only one part of one song)

[carlaz]

Well stated. Now I'm going to have to try the "one string at a time" method through the Rockman model like Def Leppard did for the bridge of "Hysteria" (the song not the whole album as some have tried to say is the truth but it is confirmed as only one part of one song)

Yes, thus spake Phil Collen: https://www.guitarworld.com/gw-archive/interview-phil-collen-making-def-leppards-hysteria

Mutt Lange was -- for good or for ill! -- seriously pushing the limits of the technology back in the '80s. Like, apparently all the drums (excepting the cymbals) on Def Leppard's Pyromania were done with a Fairlight sampler (8-bit, so they tried recording the samples at half speed!). This was before the drummer's car accident and losing an arm; apparently it was done this way because Lange kept changing the song arrangements. I never noticed that until I read about it, and then I listened to the album tracks again, and it was like, "Oh, yeah, '80s sampled drums!" True, they are (I think) very well programmed '80s sampled drums, but you do rather end up hearing it, once you know about it.

Someday in the future, people are going to be using "AmpliTube XXV" and grumbling that they can't get it to recreate the AmpliTube 2 tones just like back in the early '00s!

[Peter_IK]

I can't wait for that last part... Would it be called amp remodeling?

[guitarkite]

Well stated. Now I'm going to have to try the "one string at a time" method through the Rockman model like Def Leppard did for the bridge of "Hysteria" (the song not the whole album as some have tried to say is the truth but it is confirmed as only one part of one song)

For a great example... The chorus of “Photograph“ on the Pyromania album uses that classic effect... An arpeggio guitar, but with each note recorded separately through a Rockman Sustainor... Very cool!