BBE Sonic Maximizer?

[Nilman13]

Anybody have it/used it/heard it? I just ordered one, and I was wondering what peoples' opinions were.

[Kain Thornn]

Which one did you get? I'm running a 462, said to be the best for guitar. It does what they say it does, it tightens your sound and puts the right amount of chunk into your tone. I'd recommend it to anyone!

[Nilman13]

I got the sonicstomp

i actually ordered my christmas list yesterday. it consisted mainly of:

picks, strings, fast-fret, ART Tube MP Mic Preamp and the BBE Sonicstomp.
So I guess that was a good choice?

[NEBFLOYD]

Heard nothing but GREAT reviews on this baby. They said that they don't know how they ever played guitar without it. Now, they will never play without it again. I've tried it myself and this is what I can say, Just like taking off or removing a blanket that you covered your amp with plus it also gives you that clear crisp sound with a little bit of boost. I'll get one myself for Xmas. CHEERS!!!!

[strat78]

I have a BBE 422 rack sonic maximizer and a plug-in for my recording software. I don't use them anymore because they squeeze out all the tonal nuances leaving you with a very scooped nu-rock kind of vibe. Sure, you can dial in some beef, but unless your into that generic "wall of sound" ensemble, I would avoid this piece of machinery and simply use EQ, which allows you to manipulate the whole tonal spectrum.

[starguitar]

Originally Posted by strat78

I have a BBE 422 rack sonic maximizer and a plug-in for my recording software. I don't use them anymore because they squeeze out all the tonal nuances leaving you with a very scooped nu-rock kind of vibe. Sure, you can dial in some beef, but unless your into that generic "wall of sound" ensemble, I would avoid this piece of machinery and simply use EQ, which allows you to manipulate the whole tonal spectrum.

I've heard from both camps on this. I use one in the loop of my XXX. It should be the last thing in the loop. Not up front.

That being said...go easy on the settings...and you should get a killer tone. This is more then an EQ. But that is a popular misconception. The delay on the bass signal is what makes it sound so beefy. It corrects a natural phase relationship with low and high end so the low and high end reach your ears at the same time. Pretty cool.

I don't use one with my non master volume amp (Mojave Scorpion) because it doesn't have a loop. Got to get a new power amp so I can use a three cab set up again. (Wet Dry Wet)

[eamon7]

Originally Posted by Nilman13

I got the sonicstomp

i actually ordered my christmas list yesterday. it consisted mainly of:

picks, strings, fast-fret, ART Tube MP Mic Preamp and the BBE Sonicstomp.
So I guess that was a good choice?

i don't know much about that model but i use a bbe sonicmaximizer on my p.a. system when i play live and it really does a lot. they are a great unit.

[GoldenEars]

The bbe is an oral exiter. The first exiter ever made and still a studio standard is an aphex. All exiters delay lower frequencies and play with phazing in order to give you that sparkling top end. The BBE is a newer version of the old idea and is not as pristine but works better on a mix but not as good on vocals (aphex oral exiters are great for backing vocals). I have been recording for 15 years professionally and when I started all of my mixes had the BBE on them because I could not ever seem to get enough top end. This is because when recording in a home studio that does not have the big rooms and the neive eq's to bring out that top end you have to compensate. In a regular mix guitars role off after 6k and bass of course does not have any high highs and drums except for cymbals have very little high highs (and cymbals are not an on going thing in a song) and vocals without a great mic just don't get up there either. So when you are starting out recording as I did 15 years ago u finish a mix and find it sounds dull so a bbe becomes a great way to brighten it up. Now after learning my trade I discovered that using the correct mics (you have to spend $$$ for that) and the correct placement combined with better rooms and proper use of eq is a much better more clean and sharp warm way of getting top end. But In some cases where I am mastering a horrible recording that a client brings to me I blow the dust off my old bbe and patch it in and it does the trick. As for guitar I am 38 years old and toured all through the 90's doing the progressive rock thing and all of us old timers had the big racks back then and of course we all tried the bbe. In the end I stuck with an older Marshall and a tube screamer because I found even back then that the processing took away from the natural beauty of a strat or what have you. Thanks, Ron Horton Golden Ears

[strat78]

Originally Posted by GoldenEars

The bbe is an oral exiter. The first exiter ever made and still a studio standard is an aphex. All exiters delay lower frequencies and play with phazing in order to give you that sparkling top end. The BBE is a newer version of the old idea and is not as pristine but works better on a mix but not as good on vocals (aphex oral exiters are great for backing vocals). I have been recording for 15 years professionally and when I started all of my mixes had the BBE on them because I could not ever seem to get enough top end. This is because when recording in a home studio that does not have the big rooms and the neive eq's to bring out that top end you have to compensate. In a regular mix guitars role off after 6k and bass of course does not have any high highs and drums except for cymbals have very little high highs (and cymbals are not an on going thing in a song) and vocals without a great mic just don't get up there either. So when you are starting out recording as I did 15 years ago u finish a mix and find it sounds dull so a bbe becomes a great way to brighten it up. Now after learning my trade I discovered that using the correct mics (you have to spend $$$ for that) and the correct placement combined with better rooms and proper use of eq is a much better more clean and sharp warm way of getting top end. But In some cases where I am mastering a horrible recording that a client brings to me I blow the dust off my old bbe and patch it in and it does the trick. As for guitar I am 38 years old and toured all through the 90's doing the progressive rock thing and all of us old timers had the big racks back then and of course we all tried the bbe. In the end I stuck with an older Marshall and a tube screamer because I found even back then that the processing took away from the natural beauty of a strat or what have you. Thanks, Ron Horton Golden Ears

Great post Ron, yes, I like using these things for drums and backing vocals more than on the guitar tracks. I have never tried an oral exciter, but I have heard that they actually add harmonic spectrum's vs. taking them away like the the bbe maximizer's do. Here is a clip of a sample I did using my rack BBE 422 maximizer. The mp3 is a little booming, but you can here how the BBE compresses everything into a rather un-organic tone that is pretty lame.

[GoldenEars]

Originally Posted by strat78

Great post Ron, yes, I like using these things for drums and backing vocals more than on the guitar tracks. I have never tried an oral exciter, but I have heard that they actually add harmonic spectrum's vs. taking them away like the the bbe maximizer's do. Here is a clip of a sample I did using my rack BBE 422 maximizer. The mp3 is a little booming, but you can here how the BBE compresses everything into a rather un-organic tone that is pretty lame.

I checked out your audio sample........what a great demonstration of how an exciter (a bbe in this case) can ruin a good sound. Underneath that bbe is a really nice tone which is very Eddie like and we all know that Eddie has one of the greatest rythm sounds ever! Plus nice playing! You are really capturing the Eddie Pazaz! Ron Horton Golden Ears

[Nilman13]

wow, thanks goldenears! my friend ordered an Aphex Guitar Xciter; im curious to see/hear that one too. our band does alot of home recording, but we stick to the cheap stuff (art mic pre, behringer v-amp) due to lack of money (im 15 and unemployed). getting the good stuff and then using it right is so expensive and confusing . i want to learn though!

[GoldenEars]

Originally Posted by Nilman13

wow, thanks goldenears! my friend ordered an Aphex Guitar Xciter; im curious to see/hear that one too. our band does alot of home recording, but we stick to the cheap stuff (art mic pre, behringer v-amp) due to lack of money (im 15 and unemployed). getting the good stuff and then using it right is so expensive and confusing . i want to learn though!

No problem! Just so you can see what is possible with very little money check out this recording that I did. I wrote the song. produced it, engineered it, mixed it, mastered it and preformed or programmed all of the music as well as sang the backing vocals etc. lol I did this all for a female client. This was recorded using one sm 57 mic (Suremic) which is worth $100 and one pre worth about $200 and a personal computer with Neuendo and a few plug ins. All of the drum samples were created by me with that one mic as well! Here is the link
http://media.putfile.com/Bounce---wr...-by-ROn-Horton
This song demonstrates that great recordings are far more about hard work and talent than a high end studio. I happen to own a fairly high end studio but I did that recording in an apartment while I was inbetween studio locations with a computer ... you can learn to do this stuff to. But don't forget great software can be as complicated and functional as a major recording studio and if you walked into one of those you would be like what the hell do I do with all of this stuff. lol So remember when you are looking at your software not to forget that it will take you years of persistance to get it to work like a pro can (no different that a non virtual studio). Also if you would like to check out some of my full band recordings you can at:
www.guttersnipe.com thats one of my bands and I did the recording etc and played the guitar. IF you would like to hear me just play flashy classical shred stuff check out this link:
http://media.putfile.com/guitar-mast...ler-ron-horton
Enjoy! and if there is anything else that I can help you with ... quote me out here and I will respond Thanks, Ron Horton Golden Ears

[Nilman13]

yeah! thats awesome. before I did home recording, I did computer music in FL Studio, so that helped alot. if i hadnt gotten into that, I would be absolutely lost when it comes to doing things on the computer. When I had these $50 mics from Samson, I was reading everything i could about recording and trying to use it to my advantage. i was plugging them straight into my stock soundcard in a computer from like 2000.

[GoldenEars]

Originally Posted by Nilman13

yeah! thats awesome. before I did home recording, I did computer music in FL Studio, so that helped alot. if i hadnt gotten into that, I would be absolutely lost when it comes to doing things on the computer. When I had these $50 mics from Samson, I was reading everything i could about recording and trying to use it to my advantage. i was plugging them straight into my stock soundcard in a computer from like 2000.

I remember those days lol. When computer recording was in its virgin stage. My first experience with computer recording was with a stand alone hard drive recording system made by Akai. It had 16 similtaneous inputs and outputs with no latency issues. At the time I was using a 10 gig 7500 rpm scusie hard drive (that was very impressive in 1997 lol and damm expensive).
For back ups I was using an exibyte tape system. So in total in 1997 I spent about 10 000 just on that portion of my set up and to think that now u can grab a 300 dollar computer and a couple Beringer XLR (with phantom power) to light pipe (adat format fibre optic outputs) rails for $300 dollars a piece and make a great record it is very shocking. I never would have guessed such things would ever be possible let alone so cheap... mind you I would never you beringer anything unless that was all that I could afford.
And in the end with all this PC stuff we are all scrambling to pick up the best analog front end gear that we can to simulate the warmth of the old school tape machines that I use to use.
For any beginners out there who want to record ...check out the beringer pres because they are amazing for there price. You can plug in 8 mics with or without phantom power at the same time and go right into your pc via light pipe and do some pretty serious recording. Ron Horton Golden Ears

[axeshredder]

if it means anything, Satriani and Vai have used these for years, in the studio