Need some help dudes! Bbe 362 sonic maximizer????

[axe dude]

The BBE is great for "in the room" tone...I loved what it did for my old rack rig for recording or unaccompanied playing. On the other hand, it will make you disappear in a live mix...took me way too long to figure that out.

Hey Rupe yeah Dude it will basically be for the House so I will see how it sounds. You say that it's great for "In the Room" tone well we will find out! (LOL!) I feel for what I am using it for it will be fine & help with the Mids Etc. Interesting that you & others say that using it in a "Live" situation it kind of takes your sound away....Like you said "it will make you disappear in a live mix"

[Devotee]

The scope trace video has some interesting insights but they are also representing an audio device in a visual way. The last time I played my guitar through a scope the frequency response wasn't perfect sine waves.

Your guitar sound is the sum of sine waves and their harmonics. OK, with distortion they might be square waves but it's besides the point... That video merely shows a visual representation of an audio signal in the frequency domain and how the BBE unit affects the signal's frequency and phase content. It's a very good representation because it demonstrates the BBE's functionality as an envelope. What really shocked me is what it does to the signal when the unit is turned off! Personally speaking, after watching this video, i'd rather just use an EQ...

[Hellbat]

Yup the bypass on the unit he is testing is very bad for sure. I use the pedal version which has true bypass. (according to their specs, but who knows, it may be snake oil specs too.) I haven't tested with a scope or anything to dispute the spec. It doesn't affect me either way though, because I leave mine on in the loop after the preamp with the controls at 12:00 and set my tone from there. Then I use my MXR-10 band to tweak out my final tone.

My experience using a mark 1 human ear testing device in the room with the amp is that chords played with high gain allow you to hear the individual notes of chords much better than with it switched off. Other's experience may vary from mine. Thats why I always advise trying one with your gear. It's why I buy my stuff from a shop that will take it back within 2 weeks without a question if I'm not happy with it. I tested it and liked it and for my rig and fingers it makes a difference.

Could I live without it? Yup, absolutely. The 10 band eq though, I'll cut you if you try to take it.

[axe dude]

The 10 band eq though, I'll cut you if you try to take it.

LOL! I am waiting for my E.Q. to get here! \m/

[axe dude]

Well I got the MXR 6 Band E.Q. & the BBE 362 hooked up today & I will say this about the MXR.....I am not getting rid of this Pedal anytime soon! (LOL!) I can get use to this E.Q. for sure! It's very easy to use & with some adjustment it can really help clean up your Sound/Tone/Mids Etc! I also like the "Boost" on it....another plus! It's a good Solid Pedal no doubt! As far as the 362 goes I will probably be holding on to it for awhile. I am glad I was able to get it & try it out. Along with the E.Q. (& adjustments on it & the Amp) I am getting closer to that "Heavy" sound I am looking for with this Amp. Honestly to me they are both good pieces of gear that do what they are meant to do. In the setting I am in they seem to be working pretty well. I am sure after some "Tweaking" Etc all will be good. Thanks Again for all the Help & Info the past week Dudes!

[xenophobe]

BBE = Gimmick.

Sometimes it worked, it mostly just made things messy.

[straycat]

Never thought of myself as a dude.

[javert]

Watch this video to see what the Sonic Maximizer *actually* does:

You simply cannot analyze any signal processing that (possibly) includes nonlinearities that way. It's only fit for simple things like time-invariant filters, it wouldn't even work for chorus, flanger, etc., depending on the integration time. The guy doing that video knows little of signal processing - if he did, he would have addressed this matter.

[javert]

The scope trace video has some interesting insights but they are also representing an audio device in a visual way. The last time I played my guitar through a scope the frequency response wasn't perfect sine waves.

All signals (save some mathematically abnormal signals that rarely if ever occur naturally) can be represented using a sum of sinusoids. Analysis based on this method does, however, only reveal steady-state behavior.

[Rupe]

You simply cannot analyze any signal processing that (possibly) includes nonlinearities that way. It's only fit for simple things like time-invariant filters, it wouldn't even work for chorus, flanger, etc., depending on the integration time. The guy doing that video knows little of signal processing - if he did, he would have addressed this matter.

Regardless of how accurate his methodology was, his findings were spot on...that's exactly what the unit does to your signal.

[javert]

Regardless of how accurate his methodology was, his findings were spot on...that's exactly what the unit does to your signal.

I'm curious, how do you know this? I'm asking because I would like to know and I have yet to see a properly executed analysis. I suppose I could buy one and tear it apart myself.

[javert]

You know, it would be great if somebody would do a proper analysis of this thing (or alternatively a properly executed blind, randomized AB listening test poeple with the BBE unit and an EQ set to do the same) so we can now for sure. If it indeed turns out that it doesn't do anything beyond filtering it should be made public, because if that's the case, that company deserves to go out of business for their psychoacoustic mumbo-jumbo bullshit. There is so much shit out there like that in the realm of music and hifi, and nobody who can actually do the tests properly rarely bother. One of my colleagues (a prof. in acoustics) once offered a Danish hifi magazine to perform tests comparing products. His only conditition was that he would execute the tests as he saw fit. After he showed that metal coat-hanger was as good a speaker cable as the super-expensive gold plated shit the local hifi stores were trying to push, the magazine wasn't interested anymore.

[javert]

If this http://www.radio-flier.com/PDF Files/BBE 482i.pdf is a diagram of the true circuit, then I'm with the people who call bullshit on this.

[zeegler]

Regardless if the analysis is accurate or not, your ears should tell you that the Sonic Maximizer is a waste of money.

[javert]

Regardless if the analysis is accurate or not, your ears should tell you that the Sonic Maximizer is a waste of money.

That's true, but if somebody's considering buying one, such information would be quite useful.