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Sonic Maximizer

#21
Woogles said:
So the Bass Xciter and Sonic Maximizer do the exact same thing?
Click to expand...

Not precisely. It's never been clear what either of them do exactly, but both of them can end up sounding like a scooping pedal if misused.

The Aphex includes a limiter in its "Big Bottom" circuit to keep from overpowering the speakers, and claims to "add lost harmonics" from the aural exciter. As for the Sonic Maximizer, in the technical description it simply says "Lo Contour: +12db @ 50 Hz" and "Process: +12db @ 10 kHz", which looks exactly like a scooping pedal to me. The description for the SM says it "time aligns" the low frequencies to arrive at your ear at the same time the other frequencies do to make the sound more "balanced." All of it really just makes me go :eyebrow:.

I own the Aphex unit, and it definitely isn't the same as a two-band-semi-parametric-boost-only EQ, but it doesn't sound much different either. YMMV
 
#22
I love my Sonic Maximizer. I agree with everyone that moderation is key with this thing. Too much of either knob will take your sound from highly polished to polished turd. I use my SM as the main adjustment when I'm tuning my sound for each individual room I play. Some rooms are naturally "boomier", so I can lower the "Lo countour" knob a bit to keep the sound clean. Same goes for venues that are really flat, tinny, quiet, noisy, etc... Those two knobs can make sure that the tone you get in your practice space is same the tone that the audience hears.

Admittedly, I use a bit more SM than most bassists do, but my tone is more effected than most of y'all would use. And, I use distortion on about half of my songs.


<shamless self-promotion>

All of the songs on my MySpace page have a healthy dose on SM on my tone.

</shamless self-promotion>
 
#23
FreaqyFrequency said:
{...}It's never been clear what either of them do exactly
Click to expand...

I typed the actual procedure one uses in another thread months back, can't recall if I also outlined the other.

but both of them can end up sounding like a scooping pedal if misused.
Click to expand...

True. Some guys will abuse the knobs and then squeal "scooped! it's scooped".

As for the Sonic Maximizer, in the technical description it simply says "Lo Contour: +12db @ 50 Hz" and "Process: +12db @ 10 kHz", which looks exactly like a scooping pedal to me.
Click to expand...

Actually those are only controls to contour EQ after the fact, that have nothing to do with the Maximizer circuit itself, which basically divides incoming signal into highs, mids, and lows much like a three-way crossover, then applies slight delay to the lows, an even slighter delay to the mids, and no delay to the highs. This is not so much different than phase control used in some other "enhancers" and tends to put transients and upper overtones in sharper relief without actually having to EQ. The ear hears that upper content arriving first and percieves the entire composite sound as being more "present".

As far as the two knob, even when they are set flat or below, if the unit is engaged this "maximizer" processs is going on. BBE kind of misrepresents stuff in their marketing lit but the process itself can be useful.
 
#27
Well, I tried it and I think I like it.......Seems to be the trick is to not use too much of either the comp or the SM. A little bit seems to enhance the output, and adds a nice warm tone to it. I suppose I will have to tweek it a few times to get used to what the response is with different settings, but so far I'm happy that I tried it......
 

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