BBE Sonic Maximiser... opinions?
- Thread starter milkmesto
- Start date
milkmesto
New member
goose> the article is helpful, thanks 
but i more or less know how the sonic max'r works, or at least sortakinda know how it works. more seeking peoples' personal opinion on how it helps / hinders their quest for tonal nirvana 
daniel> hey dude! yeah feel free to drop by, most afternoons would be great. let me know a day in advance so i can confirm and bring my gear.
chanmin> so... can you live without your sonic stomp?? heh.
:smt030
strange brew... killin what's inside of you...
but i more or less know how the sonic max'r works, or at least sortakinda know how it works. more seeking peoples' personal opinion on how it helps / hinders their quest for tonal nirvana daniel> hey dude! yeah feel free to drop by, most afternoons would be great. let me know a day in advance so i can confirm and bring my gear.
chanmin> so... can you live without your sonic stomp?? heh.
:smt030
strange brew... killin what's inside of you...
ShredCow said:
nope.
Milkmesto: hmmm.. its not really a neccessity, but its something i would want on my board. i mainly use the hi/lo process controls to basically put back what ive lost in the signal chain or if if im using a different amp/P.A. if the sound is too trebly i up the lo process and turn down the high. pretty simple concept i guess.
I really dont know whats with the ear fatigue issue, but it is a very useful and good sounding pedal.
hmm ... well it does add a hifi quality to the sound... but i dont see any problems with ear fatigue, unless you really abuse the controls... e.g turning the high process up too much.
i do listen to alot of music actually... but dont really experience this ear fatigue thing... dunno if thats normal, but maybe its just me. Some things just dont happen to everyone.
As for the feel of the pedal i would'nt say there is any compression.
Differences for me is mainly tonal, mainly two things i guess... one is allow you to adjust the bass and treble levels in your sound. And add that extra punch, sparkle and clarity into your tone as advertised.
i do listen to alot of music actually... but dont really experience this ear fatigue thing... dunno if thats normal, but maybe its just me. Some things just dont happen to everyone.
As for the feel of the pedal i would'nt say there is any compression.
Differences for me is mainly tonal, mainly two things i guess... one is allow you to adjust the bass and treble levels in your sound. And add that extra punch, sparkle and clarity into your tone as advertised.
I spoke to a sound man from MDC back in the army days... asking how come he EQs the music to seemingly have more bass than usual. I kept wondering how come the music he played (e.g. Fourplay stuff) had this thumping bass, but when the more treble intensive instruments (cymbals, snare drums, guitars, pianos) came in, he would be eq-ing it (during soundcheck) to a sort of.. rolled off treble thing.
He explained it got to do with ear fatigue... if you listen to excessively trebly stuff (in which YMMV) your ears tend to get tired faster.
Something along the lines.
Btw, his mixing didn't sound bad, it was very plesant to the ear. Just that, while sound check goes on, I hear the eq tweaks being made. so i got curious.
And I thought it was true, when I do recording with more trebly tones (guitar wise) my ears get tired more easily. '
Hence the query on this BBE pedal.
Its not to reach out and slap you in the face, if you think I'm doing so.
I'm curious as to how it affects the overall pedal/amp response.
Tone is always tweakable, feel is something you can't "restore" as easily as you would like to.
He explained it got to do with ear fatigue... if you listen to excessively trebly stuff (in which YMMV) your ears tend to get tired faster.
Something along the lines.
Btw, his mixing didn't sound bad, it was very plesant to the ear. Just that, while sound check goes on, I hear the eq tweaks being made. so i got curious.
And I thought it was true, when I do recording with more trebly tones (guitar wise) my ears get tired more easily. '
Hence the query on this BBE pedal.
Its not to reach out and slap you in the face, if you think I'm doing so.
ChanMin said:
I'm curious as to how it affects the overall pedal/amp response.
Tone is always tweakable, feel is something you can't "restore" as easily as you would like to.
haha... no worries man ... no slapping going on at all.
just that the BBE sonic stomp is just a tool... and if naturally if you were to over enhance its treble frequencies as i mentioned earlier, you naturally will feel discomfort over long periods ( if not instantly ). What my point is, is that the pedal doesnt contribute directly to this. if you max out your amp's treble knob, its gonna give you "ear fatigue" as well. So will car horns and wailing babies for that matter...
Well, ofcourse tone is tweakable, but the these "exciters" do enable you to tweak certain tonal aspects of your tone that werent tweakable with conventional EQing.
As for the Feel, no difference for me. When you step on the pedal, only difference is tonal. Maybe it does make you "feel" better = cus you sound better, which may lead to a higher playing confidence level etc... which does help you feel more comfortable playing.
just that the BBE sonic stomp is just a tool... and if naturally if you were to over enhance its treble frequencies as i mentioned earlier, you naturally will feel discomfort over long periods ( if not instantly ). What my point is, is that the pedal doesnt contribute directly to this. if you max out your amp's treble knob, its gonna give you "ear fatigue" as well. So will car horns and wailing babies for that matter...
Well, ofcourse tone is tweakable, but the these "exciters" do enable you to tweak certain tonal aspects of your tone that werent tweakable with conventional EQing.
As for the Feel, no difference for me. When you step on the pedal, only difference is tonal. Maybe it does make you "feel" better = cus you sound better, which may lead to a higher playing confidence level etc... which does help you feel more comfortable playing.
Then perhaps this BBE thing will rock a lot of worlds. 
Feel aside, does having it on, change the way your amp operates. Esp touch sensitive od/dist on tube amps or stuff.
When its on, does it affect things like volume knob adjustments?
When you use your strat, and wack at the strings, is the bite all there in its entirety?
I'm really curious about this.... and its not like Swee Lee will let me sit there and experiment. Well. Okay. Maybe they would
ChanMin said:
Feel aside, does having it on, change the way your amp operates. Esp touch sensitive od/dist on tube amps or stuff.
When its on, does it affect things like volume knob adjustments?
When you use your strat, and wack at the strings, is the bite all there in its entirety?
I'm really curious about this.... and its not like Swee Lee will let me sit there and experiment. Well. Okay. Maybe they would
hullabalooeeks
New member
i used to own one too...
Played awhile den sold it...
Its good stuff!!! Just that i needed money for something else so i sold it.
I would say this pedal does 'clarity'. With ur mud heavy axe, it cleans up nicely not in the saturation sense but gives it sort of a presence feel.
When u play clean its like WHOA!!! with distortion its also damn good. U just gotta try it. Yea ear fatigue kicks in with overdose when u dial up too high.
Just like distortion, u dun max it right?!
So give it a try people. I kinda regretted selling. If i'm not wrong, i sold it to the guitarist in deviant.
Played awhile den sold it...
Its good stuff!!! Just that i needed money for something else so i sold it.
I would say this pedal does 'clarity'. With ur mud heavy axe, it cleans up nicely not in the saturation sense but gives it sort of a presence feel.
When u play clean its like WHOA!!! with distortion its also damn good. U just gotta try it. Yea ear fatigue kicks in with overdose when u dial up too high.
Just like distortion, u dun max it right?!
So give it a try people. I kinda regretted selling. If i'm not wrong, i sold it to the guitarist in deviant.
snuffleupagus
New member
er, where to they sell this bbe pedal ah?
