Sonic Maximizer On Guitar?

[TeleTim911]

Sorry if this has been covered before, I searched, didn't see anything.

I'm just curious as to the effects of a Maximizer on just guitar? Does anyone here use one? How does it help?

Thoughts? Comments?

Thanks.

[fuzzbender]

Love the name. Anything called Sonic Maximizer has my vote.

[FMA]

It must work well because BBE has a pedal version strictly for use with guitar or bass. The Sonic Stomp, it's called.

[doublee]

The Sonic Stomp works very nicely on my guitars & amps (Fenders). It imparts a clarity and hi quality brightness which I cant live without. I turn down treble on amp and use this pedal more for that instead.

[charlie chitlin]

I never turn mine off.
It's the only pedal I use.
I'm surprised nobody's just hardwired one into an amp.
The effect is subtle, but I dare you to turn it off and leave it off.
The cliche of "taking the blanket off the amp" is made for this pedal.

[ADinNYC]

Yeah...I just leave mine on all the time.

[DOGMA Dunn]

Very cool invention. How does it work with humbuckers?

[fendrguitplayr]

When you take any signal and feed it to a normal signal chain--a preamp, EQ, Amp, etc.--and out through a speaker, it's going to lose quality. It's one of the great negatives of amplified music : any signal fed to a speaker will lose quality due to problems that all speakers have with phase and accurate amplitude reproduction.

This causes fundamentals and harmonics to be out of order or even reversed, making the sound muddy. Certain frequencies may be overemphasized because of phase problems making the sound inaccurate and just plain bad.

The BBE unit's circuitry puts the clarity back in your signal by correcting those problems. The circuitry gives the speaker a signal that it likes, one that it can re-produce more efficiently and with clarity and loudness. It makes the waveform that the speaker reproduces closer to the natural, unamplified musical signal.

[ne4tt]

BBE Sound YT Link

YT Demos of their pedals.

jamie

[cowboytwang]

Originally Posted by fendrguitplayr

When you take any signal and feed it to a normal signal chain--a preamp, EQ, Amp, etc.--and out through a speaker, it's going to lose quality. It's one of the great negatives of amplified music : any signal fed to a speaker will lose quality due to problems that all speakers have with phase and accurate amplitude reproduction.

This causes fundamentals and harmonics to be out of order or even reversed, making the sound muddy. Certain frequencies may be overemphasized because of phase problems making the sound inaccurate and just plain bad.

The BBE unit's circuitry puts the clarity back in your signal by correcting those problems. The circuitry gives the speaker a signal that it likes, one that it can re-produce more efficiently and with clarity and loudness. It makes the waveform that the speaker reproduces closer to the natural, unamplified musical signal.

I don't know about the stomp box version, but the BBE rack units also try to time align frequencies. High end frequencies travel faster then low end so the sonic maximizer slightly delays the top end so it reaches the listener at the same time as the low end. If you really get into it, for clearing up audio signals, then you also need to know the air temperature and dew point because those also effect the rate of speed that different frequencies travel from speaker to ear.

[scantron81]

It is incredible. I never know how to describe it to people. I just say "listen, and buy one... NOW." I have a sonic Maximizer DI box. I use it mainly for bass and acoustic guitar. I've considered getting a sonic stomp for my guitar but I like my guitar sound trashy and uneven. It really does wonders for bass and acoustic signals. I use it 6 days a week for my job. Pays for itself very quickly.

[bender-freak]

i have 2 rack units in seperate P.A. systems. i have used them with guitar but carrying around the rack version is a little annoying...but YEAH...they make a big difference. best way i know to describe it is it takes your sound and changes it from the room you're playing in to making it sound like you're playing in an auditorium.

i have laid off buying one of the Sonic Stomps, but i know i won't hold out forever.

[Manolete]

I've heard negative things from bassists about them. Wouldn't an EQ pedal do a similar job? I found a cheapo Artec EQ pedal helped bring my tone 'into focus' if you catch my drift.

[therecordfable]

Bought for use with guitar but now use it strictly for recording bass. FWIW YMMV...

[Fearnot]

I've tried a Sonic Stomp and found it pretty intoxicating. But I'm always leery of that feeling, so I have bought one yet. Yet.

[fuzzbender]

Originally Posted by fendrguitplayr

When you take any signal and feed it to a normal signal chain--a preamp, EQ, Amp, etc.--and out through a speaker, it's going to lose quality. It's one of the great negatives of amplified music : any signal fed to a speaker will lose quality due to problems that all speakers have with phase and accurate amplitude reproduction.

This causes fundamentals and harmonics to be out of order or even reversed, making the sound muddy. Certain frequencies may be overemphasized because of phase problems making the sound inaccurate and just plain bad.

The BBE unit's circuitry puts the clarity back in your signal by correcting those problems. The circuitry gives the speaker a signal that it likes, one that it can re-produce more efficiently and with clarity and loudness. It makes the waveform that the speaker reproduces closer to the natural, unamplified musical signal.

You've convinced me.

[cowboytwang]

Originally Posted by Manolete

I've heard negative things from bassists about them. Wouldn't an EQ pedal do a similar job? I found a cheapo Artec EQ pedal helped bring my tone 'into focus' if you catch my drift.

Nope.
An EQ pedal can't change the phasing and timing of different frequencies like a sonic maximizer does.

[Thundersleet]

Does the Rocktron Sonic Glory Overdrive do the same thing?

[Anchoret]

Originally Posted by Manolete

I've heard negative things from bassists about them.

On TalkBass, about 85% of those who have tried them (including me) don't like them. The overall consensus is that they can put some fake zing in a really crappy, lifeless bass rig, but they don't do anything for a decent one. That follows my own experimentation, too.

FOH sound techs HATE them as a player effect.

Their use seems to be unusually ridiculed as a sign of marketing victimhood, like buying Monster cables.

Wouldn't an EQ pedal do a similar job?

No.

And the "Sonic Stomp" is a very overpriced, marginal pedal. They made some serious compromises with the chip to make it work on 9VDC and it doesn't have the same performance as even the discontinued bottom of the line 362 rack unit. I got that info directly from BBE.

I went through two of them at $50 when GC had them on sale before giving them the boot. I thought they sounded absolutely horrible on guitar and couldn't come up with a setting that didn't sound at least annoying with any guitar/amp combination at hand.

I got a brand-new 362 for $41 when they were closed out, before I knew any better. I used it pretty much as a colorful 1U slot cover, a function which it performs adequately.

Verdict: Avoid. If you must screw around with one, get a cheap 362 for $25-$50 off Craigslist, where you can dump it when you get bored with it.

They do have a somewhat limited use in audio conversion where they actually do some good, but not as a guitar or bass user effect, an application for which they were never originally intended.

[Anchoret]

Originally Posted by TeleTim911

Sorry if this has been covered before, I searched, didn't see anything.

That's because you didn't look in the effects forum. There's been plenty of discussion there.