If you're in a band on tour, seriously get one. They're awesome. One of the best things I've bought for my bass.
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BBE Sonic Maximizer
- Thread starter Zirc
- Start date
Jason Newstead has said before that he would never play without one again. I hear they are sweet! I might pick one up soon...
I used one with my Ampeg, sold it straight away, they just seem to alter your amps tone, i could achieve the same results with eq adjustment in my opinion a waste of money.
They do sound great to start with then you realise that you can match the same sound with eq adjustment. They sound a bit like pulling the mids out etc etc but i wasnt impressed and i wouldnt use one live, maybe ok for studio.
Jason seems to endorse alot of gear and seems to change gear alot makes you wonder why ??
Somebody with the best gear at his reach certainly doesnt need gimmicks like Sonic maximisers to get a great live sound, but by saying he will use it means bucketfulls of dollars to him.
They do sound great to start with then you realise that you can match the same sound with eq adjustment. They sound a bit like pulling the mids out etc etc but i wasnt impressed and i wouldnt use one live, maybe ok for studio.
Jason seems to endorse alot of gear and seems to change gear alot makes you wonder why ??
Somebody with the best gear at his reach certainly doesnt need gimmicks like Sonic maximisers to get a great live sound, but by saying he will use it means bucketfulls of dollars to him.
Jason has never been endorsed by anyone....he bought all of his Alembics, Spectors And Sadowsky's, and all of his Ampeg Stuff - right now i love My Ibanez BTB1005, but that might change someday - that could be why Jason has moved away from some of that stuff
well, that was off track, I have a BBE 882i (i think
), and its sweet - My SVT-CL lacks a wee bit of headroom with my current settings (which arent all that good!) and it really gives me the extra space 
i wouldn't be without it
well, that was off track, I have a BBE 882i (i think
), and its sweet - My SVT-CL lacks a wee bit of headroom with my current settings (which arent all that good!) and it really gives me the extra space i wouldn't be without it
Graeme:
This Thread explains it pretty well. In a nutshell, it claims to restore the harmonic overtones that are robbed in the amplifier's circuitry, thus restoring the 'true' tone of your signal. I like what it does, and in regards to bassampegman's post, I can't seem to recreate it using EQ alone. I really wish they made a 1/2 rackspace version of it, though. Seems a shame to waste an entire rackspace on it.
edit: also found [Invalid or Expired Link Removed] at BBE's website.
This Thread explains it pretty well. In a nutshell, it claims to restore the harmonic overtones that are robbed in the amplifier's circuitry, thus restoring the 'true' tone of your signal. I like what it does, and in regards to bassampegman's post, I can't seem to recreate it using EQ alone. I really wish they made a 1/2 rackspace version of it, though. Seems a shame to waste an entire rackspace on it.
edit: also found [Invalid or Expired Link Removed] at BBE's website.
Mo'Phat said:
i seem to recall having seen a smaller version at a local muscshop some time ago - actually it was smaller than a ½ rackspace
Psycho acoustics. You will never be able to recreate the sound using any EQ because the maximizer doesn't increase gain or volume at all. You will really appreciate the maximizer in the studio or live in the mix. You can't judge anything by playing with it home alone.
I've noticed the Sonic Maximizer cleans up the mid and treble presence without having to boost the amp's EQ settings. They work best when used in conjunction with the house PA as it eliminates the ever-troublesome "muddy vocals" phenonema without introducing feedback.
Riis
Riis
They supposedly work by changing the arrival time of low/high info relative to mid information of your signal.
Barcus Berry Electronics supposedly did reasearch into various loudspeaker designs, and discovered common discrepancies in time alignment. It seems that by changing the arrival times of the highs and lows relative to the mids (the component of the signal that they found to be most affected by most loudspeaker designs), BBE found that you could improve the overall harmonic signal by eliminating this midrange "smear". Of course, since you already have to handle the audio using VCAs (voltage controlled amplifiers) to perform this feat, all they had to do was put a knob on them, to further allow level control (hence the Lo Contour and Process controls on the front panel).
This is what was written up about the units (the original 442 and 882 processors) when they were first released.
Barcus Berry Electronics supposedly did reasearch into various loudspeaker designs, and discovered common discrepancies in time alignment. It seems that by changing the arrival times of the highs and lows relative to the mids (the component of the signal that they found to be most affected by most loudspeaker designs), BBE found that you could improve the overall harmonic signal by eliminating this midrange "smear". Of course, since you already have to handle the audio using VCAs (voltage controlled amplifiers) to perform this feat, all they had to do was put a knob on them, to further allow level control (hence the Lo Contour and Process controls on the front panel).
This is what was written up about the units (the original 442 and 882 processors) when they were first released.
