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zZounds Employee Written by a current zZounds employee or former employee during the time of their employment.

This is perhaps the single most exciting new piece of gear I've ever gotten. I am a HUGE fan of Boston and Tom Scholz and I have always hoped and dreamed of there being a Rockman revival, and it has FINALLY happened. Have no doubts here, this is the real deal. I have an original Rockman from 1987 and I A/B'd it with the MXR version and also played along with my Boston albums and YEP, it's got that bona fide, authentic, iconic Rockman tone. The crystal clear clean tones, that compressed, saturated, mid-focused distortion, that shimmery chorus. It is exactly what it claims to be, an authentic Rockman in pedal form. Now, of course, there are a few pros and cons here. It's not perfect, but darn close. I really like that this still carries on the spirit of the original Rockman by still being able to be used as a DI preamp with the line level capable TRS out and can operate in either stereo or mono mode. It is studio ready. I've already done a bunch of recordings with it and it sounds fantastic just going direct into my interface. That is where I think this pedal really shines and has the most value and flexibility of use.However, where the pedal may fall a little short is in it's implication in a live setting. While its stomp box design makes it pedal-board ready, it is not really easy or practical to make use of the different channels. Even though it has 4 unique tones (Distortion, Edge, Clean 1, & Clean 2) you can't select them individually. The Mode button just scrolls through the settings, you cannot toggle between then, even if you use the external Tap switch. Now, to be fair, the original X100 didn't have the ability to do that either, BUT it was also never intended to be used on stage. The point of this pedal is that it IS a pedal. It's fine if you want to just set it and forget it and just have one channel on all the time, but if you want to go between (for instance) Distortion and Clean 1, it's really not practical. So if you really want to have multiple, easily accessible Rockman tones on your board, you'd have to buy multiple pedals, which is, of course, pricey. So this is my one major gripe about it. My main recommendation to MXR if they want to offer a truly live rig ready version of this would be to offer some type of external 4 button switch that allows you to individually select each channel. If that were implemented, this would be a run away 5 star pedal. But as it is I do have to knock off a few points for live usability and practicality.BUT let me not diminish the value of this pedal. Despite my gripes it is still fantastic and I am SO happy MXR did this. If you want that iconic Rockman tone and don't feel like spending $600-800 for a vintage original one (that you will likely have to get refurbished anyway) the MXR Rockman X100 is the real deal. It is a real Rockman in pedal form. Simple as that!

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Sounds thin and harsh, nothing like the original, (which I had in the 80's.) Compression is too much, sounds more like an envelope filter, than compression. There wasn't that much in the original. High gain, notes are indiscernible. It's not even stereo! C'mon guys!! I've been playing and recording for 41 years, as an amateur, so I know sound.