Scholz Research & Development, Inc. was the name of the company founded by musician and engineer Tom Scholz to design and manufacture music technology products. Scholz is an MIT-trained engineer who developed many of his skills as a product design engineer working on audio-production equipment at Polaroid in the early 1970s. Originally a keyboard player in his off-time and guitar player from age 21, Scholz built a recording studio for himself in the basement of the rented apartment building where he lived, utilizing many home-built devices including a 4-track recorder and mixer. Demo recordings made in his home studio years later became the debut album of the band Boston and proceeds of his success were used to found a company to further develop and market versions of his inventions. Many of the devices were marketed under the Rockman trademark. Manufacturing in the 1980s was U.S. based at facility located in Woburn, Massachusetts. History The "Boston Tone" was the result of Scholz's endless experimentation with guitar amplifiers, microphones, equalizers, and other gear. Modified equipment, which was the result of much of this experimentation, inspired some one-of-a-kind products that Scholz felt other guitarists would find useful. Thus, SR&D was founded in 1980. In 1982, the company designed and developed the Rockman headphone electric guitar amplifier, to simulate full volume amplified guitar to be output through a standard headphone jack, thus allowing musicians to quietly practice through headphones or through the then commonplace home FM-Stereo receiver. Later on, SR&D added other signal processing equipment to their product line, notably the Rockmodules, which were professional half-rack effects that modularized individual circuits of the original Rockman. Guitar amplifiers and other gear were also eventually produced to expand the product line. The Rockman line, which was engineered using analog circuit designs, was perceived as less innovative during the digital effects boom of the early 1990s, eventually putting the company out of business. In 1995, Scholz sold the Rockman line to Dunlop Manufacturing, Inc. which closed SR&D's offices in Massachusetts. Today, many SR&D products have become highly valued collectibles as evidenced by listings on eBay and Reverb. Early Products Power Soak The first product released by SR&D was an attenuator, placed inline between a guitar amplifier and one or two guitar speaker. The "Power Soak" limits the volume level while still maintaining the desired overdriven saturated sound of an amplifier operating at full volume. Now commonplace, this