Aphex Bass Exciter - anybody still using one?

[Mokl]

I’ve had one of these for what seems like forever but removed it from my pedalboard years ago (can’t remember why), and had forgotten about it completely. 

 

For some reason I remembered its existence the other day and set out to find it, not thinking it would likely work any longer. Anyway, I plugged it in, and it works fine. It actually sounds stunningly great and I plan to get it back onto my pedalboard. Really evens out the B string response on my 5 string. 

 

Is anybody else still using one of these, and if so, do you find the output level drops dramatically when you bypass it? Mine does this, even if switching between active and passive input levels. As I type this I wonder if that’s why I eventually removed it actually. The thing is, I like how it sounds, but it does seem to scoop the tone a bit, so not sure I’d have it on all the time.

 

Not sure the build quality was the best on these, so perhaps mine has a defect. It has got to be getting on for 20 years old.