BBE 482 Sonic Maximizer

I know nothing about added effects; and I had my BBE hooked up in about three minutes. It truly made a noticable improvement to my Carvin PA. I run my Taylor through a PA channel, and the added surprize was that the BBE made it sound like I was not even going through a pA; but just playing in my living room. The support at the company was very fast and helpfulin answering follow up questions. Everybody uses one of these to improve sound quality - but you.

Pfft. Two Knobs. Two Channels. Two Readouts. On/Off Switch. Effect On/Off Switch.

How ease can it get?

The Sonic Maximizer has been designed (and implemented) in consumer home/car stereo systems as well. Thus, if you're the moron who complains about not being able to hook up his/her VCR, then you're probably not involved in recording/live sound to begin with.

Is it going to turn a Mississippi John Hurt recording into a Mutt Lange wanker fest? Um, no.

Does it do what it says it does? Well, yes, pretty much. As far as the whole frequency distortion thing...well, true, most speakers (even expensive ones) aren't capable of producing certain sounds accurately. That's why older recordings (microphone to tape) sound distorted (high end) when popping out of your speakers. Engineers had to learn, over the years, how to tweak and twiddle to get perfect sounds coming out of those crazy cones.

Welcome to the age of home recording. I wouldn't be lying if I said that about half of the records coming out these days were produced/enginered/recorded by the artist/s. And most of these guys/gals didn't go to audio engineering school.

The Sonic Maximizer is perfect for this setting. It's not a fix all, but it definetely adds a lot of oomph...cleans things up a bit as well. I can't imagine recording without it.

Also (noticed immedietly on headphones, for those who aren't so well trained with the ears, I know that's most of you out there) there's a notable bump in the stereo range. Not really a spatializing effect. It just seems I don't know....stretch things out..and bring the mix "closer". If that makes sense.

I use a lot of 60's soul/funk breaks in my recordings (try finding a studio to replicate that sound...never...shit..try finding a drummer to play some fatback, eh..maybe a couple of Keb Darge's friends in england..but definetly no wack minded Sam's Ass employee jizzin on his double bass pedal could ever even think about music before 1989...aside from stoner rock and lame free jazz), and believe me...just running them through the this baby makes 'em sound perfect. And, mind you, I'm lifting them off misused records through a gainy shure (jukebox/DJ) stylus!

As far as sticking one of these guys in your cabinet. Eh, I really don't know. Honestly, I've honestly only used this in a studio setting, and from my experience, I've decided to only run samples and pre-recorded mixdowns through this puppy. While it cleans up some rather standard "trouble frequencys" I have noticed that while running (no, not direct) guitar alone, it goes overkill on the brilliance and pretty much strips away the warmth and body (in which, technicly it's doing "it's job"...just the wrong application), and with bass, well, I'm in no position to comment on that. ;)

note: reviewer actually noting an area where he's not auraly astute..as opposed to blaming the equipment.

Of course, the whole guitar thing is probably just the fault of the user (back to the whole "older recordings" thing that ear piercing treble is probably just due to the boys at the desk sitting at said desk too long....hearing damage my friends...combined with your brain naturally cancelling out frequent signals means: Your mix is going to be horrendously "intense"...aka..a Celine Dion record is the "industry standard" and your making the recording sound like Iggy Pop's "Raw Power".)

Oh, and one thing, to whomever wrote:

"As for the explanation of 'higher frequencies traveling slower than low ones.." well any physics student knows that all sound travels at a constant rate as do all electrical signals in the same environment. (there can be differences in frequecy signal strengths through different media but I dont think a speaker is such a medium.) And when playing live no one will notice since the acoustics of the room have much more to do with sounding muddy than this thing can correct for."

You play live, nice, why do you need a studio signal proccessor to play live? Uh huh.

As for your breathtakingly mindblowing explanation of acoustic sciences. Hmm, maybe you should go back to grade school and learn about something we like to call:

THE HUMAN EAR!

You can tell that a significant improvement has occured. Deal with it.

B

I leave it, powered up, underneath a DBX 386 tube preamp, which is also powered up; sometimes for weeks at a time. Oh, did I mention, by underneath...I did NOT mean in a rack.

It can stand the brutality.

neh

It's not going to make your music better. For at home producers, you'll notice the enchancement. Remember, signal proccessors (non-effects) work best with friends. You're still going to need a preamp (no, not just for Phantom Power and guitars buddy, everything), 31 band equalizer, parametric equalizer, compressor, etc.,etc.,etc.

With only two knobs and an on/off switch, you would have to be a real moron to not be able to figure this unit out. It is very simple and straightforward, which is what I like. Too much crap in the way just gets me annoyed. It has a LO CONTOUR (bass) and a PROCESS (treble) knob, and also a push button in the center to turn the unit's effect on or off. The manual is rather vague and really only shows how to connect it...but if you know what you're doing then you wouldn't even need it. All in all, a trained monkey could handle this.

I purchased this thing for my bass rig. I play a Music Man StingRay 5-string, which sounds great alone thru my SWR 4x10 half stack. But when I added this thing to my setup thru my effects loop it gave my low end more beef and the highs more clarity. It crazy to think a Music Man could sound any better...but this unit made it possible. My tone right now is flawless. I keep my knobs set between 5 to 7. Going out of that range sounded to me to be either too weak or over-processed. Nothing sounds empty, no matter where on the fretboard I play. And most importantly, the unit is QUIET. I think all these reviews saying that simply adjusting the EQ will give you the same results are false. This unit does NOT work like an EQ, therefore an EQ can't possibly reproduce this unit's purpose. Trying to mess with your EQ too much will always leave an empty spot somewhere or you'll just make your tone very muddy, unless you have a 5,000 band EQ that covers every frequency known to man. That's like saying using more cream in your coffee means you don't need any sugar. That sounds ridiculous, doesn't it? This unit can't be duplicated by tweaking your EQ. Don't even waste your time trying. For 200 bucks...go buy a 482. It's probably one of the best 200 bucks you'll ever spend on your rig.

Well I just bought thing so I can't really make a legitimate comment here. It seems like it is built tough, but only time will tell.

Excellent!!! I had a few questions that the manual didn't answer so I e-mailed the company and got a response by the next day (it was late in the day when I sent the e-mail). I also tried calling the company, which is not a toll-free number by the way. I wasn't able to speak to someone that very minute, so I left a message for their tech dude and was called back not even an hour later. You don't get that kind of service all the time. Definitely deserves a 10.

My overall opinion? BUY ONE!!! I sincerely believe every instrument rack should have one. Bass, guitar, keys, PA, whatever...it's the best thing you can get for your money if you want to beef up your sound. I play in a cover band and have to play all different styles of music. This thing does the job for it all. It's easy to use, easy to connect, very tough to get a bad sound with, and it won't break your bank account. I compared this thing to the Aphex 204 Aural Exciter with Optical Big Bottom and I think the 482 blew it away. It has a far more natural sound while the Aphex sounded way too over-processed. Easily the most logical 200 bucks I have spent on my rig so far.

THIS REVIEW IS FOR THE 482 and the 362. I owned both. I agree with the other reviewers on this category...they are easy to use. Manual is a bit basic. But read on...

OK...here is where I disagree with most of the previous reviews. I used both of these BBE's on my SVT 3Pro/410HE/115E and found that I could get as good a sound without this item. I just had to use my EQ and tone controls a bit and I got the same sound improvement Especially at volume and while gigginig with the whole band. If you sit in your music store and play with this on their amp with the volume on 1 by yourself you'll think there is a tone improvement. There isn't. Play with the amps tone controls. You can get the same results...unless amp has lame tone controls. I returned my BBE's.

Looks like it is built well. Only kept them each for a few days until I realized they didn't do enough for the money.

Very good...I called and got a person to discuss my dissatisfaction with. I called when I had the 362. They said get the 482...it has the new 4th generation chip. I did. It still didn't meet my expectations. But the people were nice and responsive.

I play hard rock. I have been playing on and off for 30 years. I would not buy this item again. I gave it a real good test using good equipment including my SVT rig and my friends Marshall Lead 100 watt and 4x12 cab. Neither of us thought the sound improvement was any great shakes. Try one before you run out and buy a bigger rack.

Very simple to use, just 4 knobs and a function button.

The Sound you get from this is Incredible! I couldnt believe my ears. My amp is a Marshall TSL 100, i thought the distortion on the amp was great before the BBE, but when i got my BBE and hooked it up, it just puts my amps distortion to shame.

Its well made, just make sure you have a rack case to put it in.

Did not deal with them

The BBE is great for any style of music. If it were stolen i would buy one the very next day.

This is the simplest peice of gear I own. Two knobs per side and one button the bypasses the unit (although I don't know why you would want to). After unwrapping and setting it up (which only takes about 15 min.) it is very easy ti use.

This thing will change your sound the moment you turn it on. I only use oneide of it right now and my other guitar player and bass player fight over who gets the other side. You really have to hear it to fully understand what this thing does, or just buy one you won't be disapointed. I think of it as God in a box.

I haven't had any problems with it thuse far. There is a warrenty when you buy it new but if you don't treat it poorly it will keep kicking your ass.

I hav not had to call BBE and I don't think I will ever need to.

I play hard rock and metal and I would recomend this to anyone whole plays an amplified instrament. I run it through a Mesa Boogie Quad and a Digitech 2112. I could not ask for more. If this peice of gear left me I would buy two new ones just in case. I love every thing about this thing. Like I said before you need to hear what is does to your sound to do any justice, but I would feel safe telling someone to just buy one. You won't be dissapointed

It has 2 knobs per side. They adjust the bass definition and treble processing. The whole unit is as easy as possible to operate. Takes no more then 30 minutes to unpakage, unwrap, install the rubber feet, mount in rack, hook-up, and set the controls.

Sound quality is drasticly changed when using this unit. I play a Fernandes Revolver Pro with the sustainer through a DigiTech 2101 studio tube processor. Then into the BBE 482 sonic maximizer and finally into either an old peavy solid state power amp or a Mesa/Boogie Simul 295 Stereo tube amp. I thought my set-up sounded great before I got the BBE 482. I heard that they were real cool though and that Steve Via and Satriani used them. I found a new one on ebay for like $150 and bought it. I had read all of these reviews, and was a little confused on what to expect from the unit. I got it in the mail and mounted it in my SKB rack and fired it up for the first time. I didn't know where to put the knobs, so I just started with them at 5 ant turned on the rest of the rig, and plugged-in the guitar. It was a somewhat different sound coming out of the speakers(celestion vintage 30's). The sound sounded fuller, but too bassy. This was not a problem, as the knobs are very responsive and easy to read. I ended up with the low end knob at about 7.5 and the high end on about 8.5-9. This resulted in a completely differnet tone. The sound soundes so much closer and fresher. I pressed the button to hear it withought the processing. I only did that once, and will probably never do it again. The new sound puts the old one to shame. It's kind of like Playstation 1 and 2. Onve you play 2 for the first time you can never ever again play number 1. I love the unit, and will never get rid of it. It helps distortion so much. Gives it a huge thick sound. Especially potent in full stereo operation. And keaps the original sound from being droned-out with a lot of effects. I do suggest if you run the knobs as high as mine are to unscoop the EQ a little. Otherwise it is a little too bassy and high pitched.

Don't really know, but I don't see any reason for it to break. It is so simple that I don't think it can break. Even if it did it comes wiht like a 5 year warrenty anyways. I wouldn't worry about it ever croaking-out on you.

Never really delt with them.

This unit is so cheap that it is nearly risk-free to buy one. If you don't like it just resell it. Trust me though if you don't like it then you must have something like it allready in your rig. It was exactaly what I was looking for and more. I have seen other enhancers, but this one seemed to be the most popular, so I just went for it. I also love that you can turn it off and still run your signal through it if the swith to turn the BBE processor is off. That is a great feature because if it does die in the middle of something important you can still play just fine. It also proves that it has a true hard bypass whitch is allways usefull. The only reason that I didn't give it all 10's on the ratings is that it says that superficial and/or glowing reviews will not be published. So just for the real record if it was up to me I would give it a 10 for everthing.

Very easy. 4 knobs and a bypass switch. Very easy.

I use this in a home studio environment. It gives all my mixes a little more clarity.

Haven't had any problems.

don't know.

For the price, I'd recommend anyone with a home studio to get one of these after they have at least 6 channels of compression available. Why compressors? Because you can't polish a turd. Compressors make a bigger difference than "exciters" when recording. But this is nice and useful and certainly worth the money.

This is the easiest unit to use. The manual is more that good enough

I use a Lexicon G2 with a MPX 500 into the BBE unit then into A Alesis 3630 and Alesis EQ. It sounds very good. The BBE unit makes a lot of difference in sound quality. For the price it makes more of a difference in sound than any unit I have except the G2.

It is very dependable. It should be used in any rack setup with out a question.

I never have asked any questions.

This thing is a must for any rack setup. Don't use it with a direct amps setup because it will burn up like most rack units will at high amp levels.

Extremly esay to use!! There are two knobs: "low contour" which controls the low frequency and theres the "process" which controls the high frequency. There is also a bypass switch to let you hear the difference from what you sounded before and after. And believe me, there is a BIG difference, but that has more to do with "sound quality" so I'll get into that in a minute. Oh yeah, and theres a power switch if you want to get technical. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that it has 2 channels. So you can make 2 things sound beautiful.

I CANNOT BELIEVE THE SOUND QUALITY I GET FROM THIS BABY!!! Seriously, when I played just one chord on my guitar with this baby, I wanted to make love to it!!! HA HA!! I know what your thinking, your thinking "yeah but what kind of setup does this guy have?"

The setup I have is this: I have a dime-bag333 but I took out the shitty Wasburn Pickups and slapped some active EMG's (81-Neck & 85-bridge) The amp I have is a Marshall JCM 900 Halfstack. The pedal board I have is setup like this: Through the FX-Loop of my amp I'm running a digitech xp100>superphaser(Boss)>FlangerBF2(Boss)ChoursEnsemble(Boss)and a Digital Delay by some cheap brand name. (we all know to put our time-based pedals through the FX-Loop Right?) Through the front of my amp I have: the MetalZone(Boss)>DualOverdrive(Boss) and the Octave(Boss) (as you can see, I'm a big fan of BOSS)
Then through my direct output from my Amp, I'm going through a P.A.
The Sonic Maximizer is running first through the front of my amp.

Here is the Bottom Line: It really doesn't matter what kind of setup you have. What ever you got it'll make it sound a lot better. Unless you already have a parametric equalizer. (I have both and to my opinion the Sonic Maximizer sounds better!) I cannot stress enough how much better the quality is.

But then you ask yourself "yeah but, is it good for the type of music I'm interested in?" It does not matter!! I play it all from death metal, to funk, reagee, jazz, blues, classical, punk, country, ANYTHING!!

But now your asking yourself "yeah it may be great for guitar but what about other muiscal instruments or equipment?" When I first started to look up information about this product, I discovered that it can also be used for vocals, basses, keyboards, drums, dj equipment, and even stereo systems!! As a matter of fact, when I went to a music store to hear it, the guy played it through a stereo system (a.k.a. C.D. player) I'm no expert on stereo systems but any idiot could tell the vast differnce of the quality!

Now your asking yourself "yeah, but can I use effects with it, and does it make my effects sound shitty"? I just wrote down all the effect pedals I have and all of them sound beautiful. Even if you decide to use all of them simutanisly.

I can't really think of anymore questions one would have about this product. I hope I answered them all!! For nearly $200.00 I would want to know every little detail about it.

I think you can tell if a product is made shitty or not. And I believe that this product is made to last a long ass time if not forever. I mean as long as you take care of it you shouldn't have any problems. You would really have to be a stupid-ass to break it! So would I gig without a backup? Yes! I don't have any backups for any peace of equipment I have mainly because I don't have the money to be doing that! Well I take that back, I have a back-up guitar, but thats a must. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I had it for about 2 years and never NOT ONCE have I ever had a problem with it.

I've never had to deal with them. But thats a good thing. Which means it never needed repaired.

Overall Rating I give this bad boy a 10. You are defenetly getting your money's worth. I know your probably thinking that I'm exaggerating by giving it such good reviews, but trust me I don't want people out there buying bullshit equipment cuz I don't want bullshit equipment either! If I felt that this was a peice of shit then, I would have no problem at all by giving it a shitty review. So if it was lost or stolen would I get another one? That is a positive YES!! AND IF SOMEONE EVER TRIED TO STEAL MY SHIT, THEN I'LL BLOW YOUR FUCKING HOUSE UP!!!! Then go out and buy another one.