BBE 362 Sonic Maximizer

Nothing to say. It's stereo, has a bypass switch on the front and 2 controls (contour and process). As wasy as it gets.

Pretty good. Adds punch, clarity (made my rig clearer and less harsh!), tightens your bass but does add some gain and does make your sound slightly processed.
I have to comment on most reviews here. Once you put a sonic maximizer in your chain, you'll have to change the settings on your amp, your effects, pretty much everything. This is not bad, BUT, it is also obvious that when you hit the bypass switch, your rig will sound less promising...
I have taken the BBE out of my effects chain and reset my previous settings. The difference was this: with the BBE my amp sounds more processed (so so), but it really does add A LOT of clarity and balance to your sound. Highs are high but not harsh (anymore, but they used to be). Lows are tight, have more gain and more punch. All in all it's a great piece of gear.
The countour turned up all the way will scoop your mids and add more bass. The process, well, will add more chip processing to the sound. Be carefull with these controls. Just turning them to 10 will not do you any good. This piece of gear is definitely very personal. My rig already was harsh with a lot of mids, so scooping a bit of mids and cleaning up the highs was great. However, this will not apply to every rig.
My rig is:
Fender or Gibson -->Effects (pedals) --> Laney Pro Tube 100 --> Marshall power brake --> time based effects --> BBE sonic maximizer--> Hughes and Kettner VS 250 2X50 Watt power amp --> Marshall 1960A with G12H (30 watt greenbacks).

Great sounding rig. Versitile enough for rock/metal. I will NEVER sound like SRV or EVH or Zakk Wylde etc. That's BS. It's all in your fingers kids....

Nothning to break. Although I can imagine being bummed out if this thing decides to die on you during a gig...
Your sound will suffer...

Don't know.
Their site looks ok.

Great piece of gear. It's not an equalizer....It's more. Would hate to miss it, because it adds that little bit of extra flavour that makes you rig sound great and professional.

If I was monkey, I could see having difficulty with this unit. Plug it in, turn a couple of knobs, thats about it.

I use this through the effects loop of my JCM 800 2205. Small amount of noise when on high gain but nothing to worry about. The sound is pretty different. With out it my sound was good, but with it in, ouch, this amp is now ready for some heavy duty metal kinda like early metallica and it can be varied by turning two knobs pretty cool. Read the manual if you want to know what it does but just a/b it and you will know right away. My bandmates thought I had a new amp the first time I powered it in my rig. Worth the purchase.

Don't know only had it for a couple of months.

I lost a knob within hours into our first gig. I just e-mailed BBE with my address and poof a new knob arrived without any payment or questions, so I would think thats pretty good service.

Sounds pretty good, if your searching for new sounds to create this is a good way to change the sound of your rig without busting the bank. Get it!

Very simple to use... It has two knobs: Lo-contour and Process. Hook it up and dial in!

I am using a modified MIM Fat Strat with Carvin SX-300 into a Carvin Legacy Cabinet with Celestion Vintage 30's. The BBE Sonic Maximizer is in the effects loop. The sound is amazing! When you first turn it on and start dialing, you will think that you were doing nothing. Then when you hit the bypass switch, you will really hear the difference, and wonder how your true amp could sound that bad! Takes dull and lifeless sounds, and "brings them to life." Its one of those things that you wondered how you could live without! My setup sounded decent without the Sonic Maximizer, and even better with it! It tightens up and adds massive the low end, without overloading the speakers, and smoothes out the high end, preventing brittle or harsh treble response. I wasnt able to overload those sweet vintage 30's, even with the lo-contour on max! It allows for thick distorted rhythm playing, and for searing leads. The Sonic Maximizer will make anything sound better. Think - Before: Crate Blue Voodoo. After: Bogner Ubershall. Its THAT good.

Its the first rack component I've ever bought, so its sitting on top of my amp as of now. Its built very stong, im not worried at all about it failing on me.

Never had to deal with the company... Probablly will never have to.

I play many styles of music, from classic rock to virtuoso guitar. The BBE matches perfectly with what I play. If it were stolen or lost, I would save up and buy another in a second. Overall, its an amazing processor. BUY IT!

2 knobs; it cant get any easier than that, unless your a real dumbass or something!

AMAZING! It takes the shittiest of sounds and makes them sound beautiful.I found it works best on guitar setups, but works great for any audio signal. Sounds cut through, but aren't harsh. Highs are smooth and penetrating, yet comfortable to listen to. I dont know how, but lows rattle the room without stressing the speaker...its unbeleivable. This should be in every setup- I dont know how any guitar rig or studio could go without it. When you run a signal through it, the difference is night and day. And it runs silent.

Its built strong- I'm not worried about it breaking or anything

Haven't had to deal with them yet (knock on wood)

It would be nice if there were balanced ins and out's, but thats b/c of the price tag. Im happy with everything else.

Very simple to use. I put it (as recommended) dead LAST in my effects chain and turned it on. Can't go wrong with that. Power button (and light), clip lights, and two knobs, what simpler user interface do you need.

I run a 100w Marshall 2555 Silver Jubilee Slash Reissue. In my effects loop I have (in the following order) a Lexicon MPX-200 (verb and delay), Boss GE-7 (lead boost), and then the BBE Sonic Maximizer 362. I'm running a Les Paul Studio with EMGs (81/85) and a Peavey Wolfgang Quilt Top Special. THIS THING SOUNDS GREAT! No noise, and no real reduction in tone. As other reviews have stated, it's pretty easy to tell the effect it has on your sound, just take it out of your loop and listen for the total change in sound. I play in a cover band with another guitar player with somewhat similar equipment (marshall, paul, etc), so this thing REALLY helps me cut through the mix without relying on the balls of the marshall to just keep being turned up. I came from a very "scooped", no mids sound (like all guitar players at one point :) and, using this, brought a lot of mids back into my sound and found the tone I've always been looking for.

I got this thing used at a local St. Louis music dealer for $75. If it broke I'd be on ebay looking for a new one but so far so good.

Never dealt with them. As I said above, I got it used.

Best $75 I ever put towards my rig. I've got a nice Marshall which I love the sound of. If I had $1,000,000 to spend on equipment, I'd buy a backup to my existing marshall. That being said, I obviously like my amp, and this thing makes it sound SO MUCH BETTER! It was a great addition to my rig and I'd recommend everyone finding a way to at least try one out to see how it might affect their overall sound.

2 knobs and a bypass...doesn't get much more simple than that. Took a little bit to rework all my EQ and get what I wanted, but it wasn't hard at all. Besides a few extra minutes of time, no problems at all.

I got no noise that people talked about here. All I can say about sound quality is DAMN!! I use this through a Peavey Butcher with a Charvel CSM custom, Dean ML, and ESP M series with Korg effects and 2 4X12 cabs. Helped sustain with noise gate, added a ton of clarity and made everything just a little bit chunkier. Wish I had one years ago.

Haven't had it long, but I never heard of any problems. Seems OK with the little hard use I put it through.

Never had to deal with them. If a better version exists in the furture, I'll buy it in a second, but I don't need the stereo capability with my rig right now.

I play all kinds of music, with aboiut 10-12 years under my belt. If somethings happens to it, I'd replace it in a minute. There aren't a lot of things to compare it too that I've seen, and I really can't think of what else it might need to be better. I won't say that it helps make the music, but it does make it sound better. Good gear overall, definitely curves gained-out playing in a good way. If you use gain, or not, or anything else, you need this gear.

This unit is very simple to use - 2 knobs and a bypass button.

I put the BBE 362 in the FX loop of my Marshall TSL100 and cranked up the "FX Mix" knob on the head. I'm also using a Les Paul Studio and a Beringer cab. The sound is now twice as good as it was. To test the unit more, I placed it in the FX loop of a Fender RocPro1000 and played through it with a cheap BC Rich Bich w/stock BDSM pickups. The BBE 362 morphed the original shitty sound into a million bux. It adds clarity and punch.

Hasn't broke down on me yet (knock on wood)...

N/A

I play a lot of hard rock and this unit adds a lot of punch and clarity. If it was stolen, I'd definitely buy another. If you don't have one of these little magical boxes already, you should check 'em out!

This this is simple! 2 knobs! It's a no brainer! It also has a bypass switch.

I swear this thing is the best $99 I spent on any gear! This thing totally kicks ass. I have a Vox Valvetronix Amp and that sounded sweet before I got the BBE. Now it blows my mind! It definately made everything razor sharp and piercing. Once you get it you'll wonder why you never got it! This is especially good if you use multieffects that muddy the chain. NO NOISE AT ALL.

don't know. Had it for a week

didn't contact.. no reason to...

This is the most popular sonic maximizer on the market today. Tons of people get them for racks and amps. Trust me.. One try and you'll be hooked

Two knobs, a bypass switch, a LED and a power switch. Sounds easy to me.

I use this thing with a JMP1 and some 19" stuff (SPX 990, MidiVerb4, Hush, Behringer Compressor, Furman Power Conditioner, DTR1 Rack Tuner and a Marshall 9100 power amp) and it does exactly what I had in mind when I purchased it. It makes your sound "shine". Adds low end for chunky rhythm playing (Symphony X-style) as well as searing treble for leads. However, simply cranking up the controls is gonna be the worst thing you can do. Just take your time to find a proper setting!
I have this thing set up between the Master Outs of the JMP1 and the power amp. This way, it cleans up the complete signal with all the effects and compression going on before. Never used it in the loop.

Never had any problems with it. I would not really want to play a gig without this thing.

Never dealt with them. They run a good website though.

Definitly enriches both clean and distorted sound settings, not really noisy, affordable and reliable. I really recommend this thing and I'd buy one again right away if mine were stolen or lost.

2 knobs (Lo contour and Process) 1 button (bypass). Not much to it.

If you hate mud then this unit is for you. It was just like what most people said, you don't really know its working until you try it again without it. It was definitely what I was looking for. I run it in the effects loop of my Randall RG100SC. No change in noise level, there wasn't alot to begin with.

Just got it and it works so far.

Never dealt with and hope I never have to.

I mostly play thrash metal but I also play a lot of different other styles too. Been playing for 4 years and still trying to find my sound. This unit solved a big part of it. If someone would steal this unit I would beat them with my guitar take it back and buy another guitar(just kidding I love my guitar).