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what does a sonic maximizer do?


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They are great for eliminating all of those pesky midrange tones. This way nobody will be able to tell that you suck because the notes will all sound like mud. Then you can boost the low end to make your guitar sound like a tuba. This saves you from having to pay a bass player so you make more money at the gig. When you turn up the highs you get that ever so popular ice pick to the eardrum tone. The best part is if you get tired during a gig you can just crank up the BBE and drive away all of the customers. Then the club owner will send you home early.

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Quote Originally Posted by scottop1972 View Post
that is hilarious....

i take it you dont like them....

no really what do they do?
Well,

They boost the bass and treble to the point where it sounds huge in your basement. (assuming you're playing by yourself and not recording it).


If you record it, it will sound bassy and shrill.

If you play in a band, your sound will disappear into a fizzy, loud mess.

They fucking SUCK. I hate hate hate hate hate hate hate BBE sonic maximizers.


Do youself a favor; take that $79 and put it in a mutual fund, mattress, jar, bank, stock, etc. After you save enough money, buy a good power amp.
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http://www.bbesound.com/technologies/BBE%5FHDS/

 

in reality, the 'phase realignment' of frequencies isnt really noticible. all you're really hearing is the bass boost and presence enhancement. the result being that you loose all the midrange from your sound. unfortunatly this is where most of the guitar sound is.

bit of a waste on guitar (imo) though lots of people do use them and used very sparingly they can help to brighten a dull amp or add some low end clout.

they do sound good for adding a bit of polish to final mixes though. again, moderation been the key.

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+1

Never use it. Great on vocal tracks though!


Quote Originally Posted by ocnor View Post
They are great for eliminating all of those pesky midrange tones. This way nobody will be able to tell that you suck because the notes will all sound like mud. Then you can boost the low end to make your guitar sound like a tuba. This saves you from having to pay a bass player so you make more money at the gig. When you turn up the highs you get that ever so popular ice pick to the eardrum tone. The best part is if you get tired during a gig you can just crank up the BBE and drive away all of the customers. Then the club owner will send you home early.
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Quote Originally Posted by guitarslinger View Post
Well,

They boost the bass and treble to the point where it sounds huge in your basement. (assuming you're playing by yourself and not recording it).


If you record it, it will sound bassy and shrill.

If you play in a band, your sound will disappear into a fizzy, loud mess.

They fucking SUCK. I hate hate hate hate hate hate hate BBE sonic maximizers.


Do youself a favor; take that $79 and put it in a mutual fund, mattress, jar, bank, stock, etc. After you save enough money, buy a good power amp.
+1

and also make your sound too solid state.
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Quote Originally Posted by guitarslinger View Post
Well,

They boost the bass and treble to the point where it sounds huge in your basement. (assuming you're playing by yourself and not recording it).


If you record it, it will sound bassy and shrill.

If you play in a band, your sound will disappear into a fizzy, loud mess.

They fucking SUCK. I hate hate hate hate hate hate hate BBE sonic maximizers.


Do youself a favor; take that $79 and put it in a mutual fund, mattress, jar, bank, stock, etc. After you save enough money, buy a good power amp.
+1. In fact the inherent entertainment value in fire would make burning the $79 a more useful exercise.
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Quote Originally Posted by scottop1972 View Post
hmmmm....

i could hear a difference in the vids....

all the naysayers..... please tell me your thoughts on the vids. because so far it sounds great to me.
sure, the guitar sounds great by itself, but the minute it's in a band or on tape, it's over.

I think every guitarist learns once.

mine was a USA 462 model. cry.gif
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Quote Originally Posted by guitarslinger View Post

I think every guitarist learns once.

mine was a USA 462 model. cry.gif
+1000.

I can't tell you how many guys I know fell for this. Me included. But I guess that is how you learn.

I bought an 882i but the store screwed up and sent me the software plugin along with the unit. I sold the unit, sold the plug-in after making a er backup cool.gif and made money on the entire deal. biggrin.gif
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I bought the bbe sonic maximizer plugin about a year ago thinking it would be great to use...i can't get anything to sound good with the plugin..maybe i just don't know what i'm doing which is probably the case...or it was just a waste of $100.00 which could also be the case.

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From another forum a long time ago:

Just a word of warning. Maximizers are the guitar gear equivalent of crack. The experience one goes through is identical:

1. The first hit: You hook it up and initially think "Oh MY GOD this the greatest thing EVER DOOOOOD!!!!!111!!!!1! I've found THE tone!"

2. You start using on a regular basis: Buy some model BBE, hook to rig, engage it 100% of the time. Rewrite all your patches.

3. You try to get your friends hooked: Dude, check out my rig, this thing takes it over the top!!!.

4. You go into addiction/denial: Friends think your tone has gone to sh*t but you think it is totally awesome. You start talking msinformed BS about different sound frequencies traveling at different velocities (hint: violation of Newtonian physics).

5. There is an intervention: Friend let's you A/B his non-maximizer rig versus yours in live setting, Yours sounds like over-processed dung, his rocks. He tells you, as a Bro, the BBE must go. You realize the BBE is a band aid for guitar tone and not even a good one at that.

6. You go into rehab: Another "like new" BBE xx2 unit hits eBay.

7. Regret: I wasted a sh*tload of time futzing with my rig, patches, etc, and my tone isn't any better and I'm back to square one. I Wonder what GE-7 pedals are going for these days.

Maybe you should avoid the whole thing. If you must post-process your modelling tone I would strongly suggest an EQ. It's much more versatile and will be long usable after the BBE is gone.

Yes, I'm a former user and I regret ever bothering with it.
Bottom line: Friends don't let friends use maximizers for guitar.
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Quote Originally Posted by guitarslinger

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The BBE isn't claiming to transcend Newtonian physics, they are simply delaying parts of the signal slightly. right? confused.gif

 

I don't think BBE, the company, makes that claim but many people in reading BBE's literature regarding phase shift misinterpret it, and start to make poorly stated crackhead-style claims like "different sound frequencies travel at different speeds" which is in fact a violation of our current understanding of physics. smile.gif I know that I have seen this explicitly claimed by BBE aficionados on multiple occasions. Certainly not the company's fault but amusing nonetheless. biggrin.gif Sort of like the misguided pothead who oversells the medicinal value of doobage. wink.gif
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What maximizers and exciters do is mask real nuances and replace them with artificial ones, and crank them up a bit. Different and more is better, eh? Then later you start to wonder if you like your sound. Then later you remove the gadget from the rig and realize where your tone has been hiding.

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Honestly, I regret using the BBE. I was told by a fellow guitarist that it is a must have in a rack. "I can't believe it man, you dont use a BBE, you will sound like a god if you do". Let me tell you that I had found my tone, and yes, that is impossible for lots of guys. Once I got the BBE I felt that I needed to start toying with my EQ and presets (using a rocktron chameleon 2000)...but after so much fiddling with the EQ, I LOST my dream tone and could not re-program it for the life of me. The BBE has ruined my sound and I have not been able to get it back. AVOID IT AT ALL COSTS.

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I must say that most of these posts are missing the boat in terms of what useful things the BBE Sonic Maximizers can do and where and when they should be used. I've been using my BBE 462 for many years with my MIDI keyboards, tone modules, drum machines, and recording equipment. However, I just cannot picture using this processor for guitarists who are usually already processing to the max their instrument with various other processors, effect pedals, tonal boosts on their amps, etc.

In my experience, the BBE 462 is most effective in enhancing certain or general audio signals that may often appear too flat to the ear. Forget about how it does it for a moment, especially in this case scenario where an old recording on cassette tape was recorded many years ago and sounded way too flat. My client wanted to convert that recording to CD and we had no idea if any Dolby B or C was used on the cassette recording to begin with. We also had some hiss from the tape, regardless of what Dolby or "no Dolby" setting I used. In this case, the BBE helped to enhance some of the bass tonal frequencies, rather than using it to "push" the high end.

Years before BBE, many recordings were enhanced with the Aphex Aural Exciters that boosted the individual tonal frequencies and then processed them back down again to eliminate high-end noise, hiss, etc., (sort of boosting these noises out of range before returning the bands back to normal.)

I can see, though, that using this device incorrectly could cause an undesirable mix. But if you use it where it is really needed, the result can be quite sastifactory. I am anticipating getting a BBE 482i to replace my 462 since the contour pots do collect some dust over the years.

Mark Prigoff
Digital Jazz Productions

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