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11-09-2009, 04:58 PM
|  | Registered User | | Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Puyallup, WA | | | BBE Sonic Stomp question for you
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I've done a search and found lots on the Sonic Stomp, but I'm not sure my question has been answered.
I have an Ibanez BTB 510E with Bartolini dual coil soaps and a Bartolini NTMB preamp in it. The sound is thick in the lows and low mids and subdued in the highs because the pickups have been hardwired in series.
I've been thinking about replacing these pickups with Nordstrand Big Splits for more clarity, but would a BBE Sonic Stomp be a cheaper and easier alternative? I'm looking for more presence without adding harshness. It looks like the treble control on my NTMB and the "process" control on the Sonic Stomp are both at 10 kHz. Would the natural processing of the SS give me the clarity I'm looking for? |
11-09-2009, 05:38 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: May 2008 Location: Sully, Iowa | | | What the Sonic Stomp has done for me (as well as many others that i have heard of using it) is it boosts my lows and clears up my highs. It gives me a "fuller" sound that helps me sit in the mix a little better.
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11-09-2009, 05:39 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: Des Moines, IA, USA | | | I'm in between the "it's the greatest thing since sliced bread" camp and the "it's electronic snake oil" camp, so hopefully I can be of some service.
The BBE SM circuitry does add a lot of apparant clarity to a signal when it is out of a band context. There is a big difference when you use distortions and choruses, espectially. However, once you get in the mix of a full band, it is really easy to go overboard with the BBE and essentially cut out all of your midrange, making you more difficult to hear.
In specific answer to your question, I don't think the sonic stomp is what you are looking for, but it is a fairly cheap experiment, and you can easily sell it if you don't like it. |
11-09-2009, 05:42 PM
|  | Registered User | | Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Portsmouth VA USA | | This might seem to be redirecting the question a bit, but the problem might just be that your pickups are wired in series. From what I know, if clarity is the goal, then they should be wired in parallel. 
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Last edited by NortyFiner : 11-09-2009 at 05:50 PM.
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11-09-2009, 05:50 PM
|  | Hip No Ties | | Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: New York, NY | | Sometimes redirecting the question is the only approach that produces a sensible answer...
NortyFiner beat me to the punch. Philosophically speaking, trying to "fix" a deficient tone/frequency response problem after the fact, by using signal processing, is almost never as effective a solution as addressing the problem right at its source: the instrument itself. This is particularly true when you're trying to add back something that was never there in the first place, in this case, clarity.
Wouldn't rewiring the instrument with a series/parallel switch would be a much better option? 
MM
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Last edited by MysticMichael : 11-09-2009 at 05:52 PM.
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11-09-2009, 05:54 PM
| | Banned | | Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Florida, Cali, Tenn, CO | | | I love my BBE. and when the sonic stomp camme out, I bought some just for the sake of portability. I use it on everything. but, as stated above, it is very easy to let your mids disappear. just buy one brother! you will love it! and if not(which I can't imagine) then sell it. |
11-09-2009, 07:26 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Puyallup, WA | | Quote:
Originally Posted by MysticMichael  Sometimes redirecting the question is the only approach that produces a sensible answer...
NortyFiner beat me to the punch. Philosophically speaking, trying to "fix" a deficient tone/frequency response problem after the fact, by using signal processing, is almost never as effective a solution as addressing the problem right at its source: the instrument itself. This is particularly true when you're trying to add back something that was never there in the first place, in this case, clarity.
Wouldn't rewiring the instrument with a series/parallel switch would be a much better option?
MM | I've definitely considered this, but the pickups are hardwired in series inside of the shell. There are two wires coming from each pickup (hot and ground) but when I pulled one of the pickups out I saw that each has four solder lugs underneath and four connections. They're definitely dual coil pups and also definitely wired in series. Pickup replacement would be the only choice if pickup altering is what's needed.
Since I have an active pre with three mid frequency choices my only concern about the Sonic Stomp are the EQ points. The bass on my pre is set at 30Hz and the Sonic Stomp is set at 50 Hz - very similar. The treble on both is set at 10 kHz. What can the Sonic Stomp give me that my onboard pre can't?
Last edited by fourstringbliss : 11-09-2009 at 07:30 PM.
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11-30-2009, 11:27 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: College Station, TX | | | its hard to explain why, but it sounds like taking a blanket off of your amp when using the sonic stomp. i love it and leave it on all the time. it is possible for it to kill your mids, so i just boost my low mids on my eq a bit and then adjust the sonic stomp knobs to the room/hall i'm playing in. it has all the lows and highs you'll need. my approach is that i get my tone with my eq and then adjust the sonic stomp to give my bass more presence and clarity. get a sonic stomp. | | Thread Tools | Search this Thread | | | | 
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