Sonic Maximizer

[ashevans09]

Heya,

I've only really just come accross these. After getting absolutely perfect stage sound at Alice in Chains a guitarist I went with then started assuring me it was partly due to the Sonic Maximizers that they were using. The guy (guitarist) swears by them, are they really that good?

Other forums are just dismissing them as "lazy EQs" but is that unfair? The phase realignment sounds an interesting idea but then again others are saying it completely kills all valve tone and makes everything sound SS.

So, anyone had any experience with em?

[Dood]

I think that comments about making valve tones sounding SS, is probably to do with the boosting of treble frequencies that happens when you over cook the 'Process' control. Too much treble makes distortion sound fizzy. I think most people think that solid state distortion is more fizzy than valve - but it IS possible to EQ it back to a far nicer tone.

Interestingly, to note the BBE gear - the 'low' control - or whatever it is called is ONLY a bass boost/cut at 50Hz. It performs no part of the maximiser's process. The treble frequencies that are affected are pretty high up the bass guitar range already - and thus I found that I didn't use mine for any more than EQing. A multiband compressor did a far better job of improving my bass tone. (Until such times as I discovered where the problems in my signal chain were and have been rectified.)

[warwickhunt]

Putting aside what they actually do (or claim to do), I've used them in the past and they can make a dramatic improvement to the tone of certain set-ups BUT if you have a top quality rig then the BBE makes less sense. I'm not being elitist or dismissing the Sonic Maximiser, as I rate them very highly (I presently use a BBE acoustic preamp with SM circuit for my acoustic guitar and it makes a world of difference). 'Lazy EQ'... maybe, but what's wrong with that if it does the job?

[Kiwi]

I've had one on a passive bass and it sounded more like an active bass, which wasn't bad. I tried the same maximiser on an active bass and it just made things sound more scoopy. I think they're the sort of kit that might be worth having if you prefer a vintage sound most of the time but occasionally need to do some slapping.

[E sharp]

Do they sound any different from the Aphex rackmount one (the one with the big bottom and aural exciter) ?

Anyone compared them ?

[Dood]

[quote name='E sharp' post='670413' date='Nov 30 2009, 08:51 PM']Do they sound any different from the Aphex rackmount one (the one with the big bottom and aural exciter) ?

Anyone compared them ?[/quote]

I'm not sure - I've tried both, but never together I'm afraid. Hmmm - I'm not sure if they do the same as I know that an 'exciter' in studio terms is different from an audio 'maximiser' - but given that these are just product names - and that the BBE doesn't follow naming convention suit.. I suspect the Aphex doesn't either. I'd like to be find out though.

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

[quote name='warwickhunt' post='670265' date='Nov 30 2009, 01:42 PM']Putting aside what they actually do (or claim to do), I've used them in the past and they can make a dramatic improvement to the tone of certain set-ups BUT if you have a top quality rig then the BBE makes less sense. I'm not being elitist or dismissing the Sonic Maximiser, as I rate them very highly (I presently use a BBE acoustic preamp with SM circuit for my acoustic guitar and it makes a world of difference). 'Lazy EQ'... maybe, but what's wrong with that if it does the job? [/quote]+1. They can make a poor rig sound better, but if anything tend to make a good rig sound worse. Be sure to try it before you buy it.

[peted]

[quote name='Bill Fitzmaurice' post='670569' date='Nov 30 2009, 11:17 PM']They can make a poor rig sound better.[/quote]
That'll be why my Hartke HA3500 sounds phenomenal with my Aphex Bass Xciter - I leave it permanently switched on as it sounds so thin and weedy without it.

My amp is probably the weakest link in my signal chain as I'm running it into a BFM Omni 10

[ashevans09]

Hmm, comments about making a bad rig sound better... Cantrell was using hand wires bogners and the like, so can't really be considered bad, yet it still made it sound incredible. What hit me more was just the bell like precision of the sound, it was [i][b] so[/i][/b] clear. Is that more down to the phase realignment? I'm just debating the worth of shoving one into my rig (Mesa 400+ into Matamp 410 + Ampeg 410) to try and clean up the live sound a bit.

[velvetkevorkian]

"Clean up the live sound" is a bit vague- maybe you'd be better off trying to quantify what you're not happy with in a bit more detail so you can target that specifically, rather than adding extra bits of kit?

[ashevans09]

[quote name='velvetkevorkian' post='671630' date='Dec 1 2009, 10:00 PM']"Clean up the live sound" is a bit vague- maybe you'd be better off trying to quantify what you're not happy with in a bit more detail so you can target that specifically, rather than adding extra bits of kit?[/quote]

TBH I'm happy with how things sound live for me, I can't really place it, it was just how geetar and bass melded together so well...hmm...probably leave it to the guitarists for the time being...

[velvetkevorkian]

I would take a guess at it being more to do with a decent PA and a sound engineer who knew what they were doing. I spend so much of my gig-going time at crappy toilet venues with semi-competent engineers that hearing a decent mix over a decent PA can be a bit of a revelation.