BBE 482i Sonic Maximizer

I'm using this in a guitar rig set up and this is my first review on the 482i with JUST the unit in the effect loops and nothing else. I have the perfect amp to test this with just keep reading.

This thing is easy to get a good sound out of it's really just a bonehead man's eq IMO. The manual is not needed just run it through your effects loop. It's more like a final bass and treble mix at the end of the pre amp stage and yes it's good at it read more below.

Rig used in this set up is -

Schecter Blackjack 006 using the Seymore Duncan JB pick-up at the bridge only, the tone & volume is set at a full throttle ten.

ISP Decimator and nothing but Monster Rock cables

Sonic Maximizer 482i (of coarse)

KEY ELEMENT FOR THIS TEST HERE!!!
Carvin V3 amp head.

I say its the key element cause I can select which loop I run the 482i through on the fly right on the head. Plus I can turn the loop I'm using at the time on and off to add the 482i in and out of the mix instead of using its bypass mode which DOES alter the sound a little. Since the 482i has two mono channels I got it all going at once and can compare things instantly. (as in the series or parallel loops)


SERIES LOOP:

With the unit in this loop it's just a bass and treble mix at the end of the pre-amp. Say "bye bye" to your mid range knob on the amp unless you turn it up to 7 or more. I can almost tweek the same sounds out of my amp with out it but not quite. (any style of music)

It DOES enhance the sound a little here on the dirty channel set at any gain level and makes harmonics a "little" easier to. It's really more like $75 worth at best and NOT the $180 I paid for it. It does a much better job enhancing the clean channel in this loop than dirty but still not near the $180 worth, it does sound great for the cleans here though I must admit. If this is the only kind of loop you have I think you classic rock guys will get more moneys worth out of it than anyone else. Still nice to have though in this loop for ANY style of music.

PARALLEL LOOP:

My V3 head has an adjustable loop here and I found this unit to blend itself best with the loop set at 5 1/2. I'm only tuned a half step down here on the guitar cause I feel its more of a "test" at that tuning.

This part is for you wild and crazy Nu-Metal heads with all that gain and grinding crunch factor you love so much. I HATE to admit it but I think it's used BEST of all for this noise but ONLY in the parallel loop. It's more like $60 worth on this sound in the series loop but "KILLS" in a parallel loop.

Ok ideally you scoop the mid down to about 2 and peg the bass, treble and gain at 10 with a really fair amount of presence. GREAT crunch right but the highs are over whelming unless your palm mute picking the E string. (or D since you drop tuned)
BBE solved the problem! With the low contour (lows) set at 3 o'clock and the process (highs) set at 11 o'clock that problem was solved here. ALL that great crunching grind was still there without the over whelming ear piercing highs while not palm muting. Bass is back with out gargling your crunch when palm muting also. PERFECT I LOVE THAT! To much effect out of the 482i here can add a little more hiss at idle and make it want to start clipping when playing so be careful.
Man it's almost like the big league rigs on sound with out anything else used in the chain. To bad I don't play that stuff to much though!




For you Classic Rock guys it's a pretty good deal too! I think this part covers everything else to since you play cleans a lot also.
It's kind of like a beautiful reverb effect with no decay. The adjustments here are for lazy people like me that don't like dealing with an eq. Since you don't have such a simple plan on the lows, mids and highs like those nu-metal guys you'll find yourself playing with knobs forever to get what you want. Be patient though you'll find it. It really is worth having in your rig if you can get the cash. It may not do you as much justice here as it does for the metal heads but you'll still like it I swear!

Mines in a Gator rack and not packed around to much but I've had it for almost a year with no problems. I could live without it cause my rig would still sound good but it certainly does help it out even more.

Unless you don't know how to hook it up I think you'll find it useless.

The 482i is great in my opinion for any style of music. Used in a parallel loop for guitar it works best but still helpful in the series loop in overall tone adjustments.

Been playing for almost 22 yrs. now yet I try not to over complicate my rig. ISP Decimator, Carvin V3 head (well worth the money) Digitech GSP1101 with the Control 2 foot pedal, Sonic Maximizer 482i, Monster power conditioner and cables.

If it were lost or stolen I would work on replacing it. Although I feel it's about $30-$40 over priced I would reluctantly buy it again.

I love how SIMPLE it is to tweek your tone without having to deal with an eq. Especially when other people go playing with the F****N sliders on it. I hate it that it's a little over priced but still it's a must have.

I compared it to other product reviews and decided on the 482i for the dual mono set up. The Carvin V3 head is MIDI programmable and I can use it to select the series or parallel loop when desired in conjunction with the GSP1101. Thus one loop per channel on the 482i. Freakin sweet my possibilties are almost endless with such a simple rig.

Overall it DOES enhance your sound and does it best in a parallel loop. Not worth $180 but like the price of gas what are you gonna do about it. I would agree with other reviews I've read that said it probably is the best single effect you could have but just not at this price range. Hopefully we can start getting technology like this built into to amps themselves!

Simple. I bought mine used, and it didn't come with a manual. I didn't need it. Anyway, BBE has an online downloadable manual.

I'm running a Les Paul, Wolfgang, and a Fat Strat into a Zoom G2G pedal, then in a Mesa/Boogie Triple Rectifier (Clean Channel). The BBE 482i I run into the effects loop normal setting. This thing makes everything come alive.

I smashed some hippie over the head with it one night, and it still works perfect. Heavy duty piece of gear.

I'm in a Steel Panther tribute band. We do covers of their covers of someone else's songs. Why not?
Been playing 23 years. If this were lost or stolen I would get another one before I found the ******* who took mine. I always tag my gear where no-one but me will see. And I will find it.
This BBE 482i has really inspired me to pick up my guitar more.
It produces what I've been trying to find for years. The reviews below are far better! I'm just hammered drunk on rum right now. Sorry. Keep F-ing rockin!!!!

This unit is just rack, jack, tweak n play. Couldn't get any simpler.

If you can't hear a difference the moment you start playing with this unit in your signal chain, I don't believe there's anything else available that's gonna help your 'ears'. This thing is simply unbelievable and has to be heard to be appreciated fully.

So far, so good. I've only owned this particular unit for a week.

See the reliability insert, only owned this for a week to date.

I play blues, progressive and hard rock, and some metal now and then as well. Been playing since the '70s when I was a kid sneaking into his older brothers bedroom to play his new Stratocaster. I have a Soldano SP-77 pre, ART & TC Electronic processors, into the BBE and Hush Super C out into a Marshall 9100 50Wx50W power amp. This unit must be heard to be appreciated, the spacial qualities are outstanding. AND, it doesn't add or take away any of that precious tube tone that you spend time dialing in. I only rate out at a nine here because any product can always be improved. However, you need to buy this product YESTERDAY, gang...

Couldnt be easier to use, two knobs for each channel, "Lo-Contour" and "Process" (really just bass and treble frequencies). Though its setup so a child could use it easily, dont let its simplicity fool you to think its ineffective, its just a great user interface.

This part, I cant say enough about, though i'm just reiterating how what many reviewers before me have said. The BBE 482i does exactly what it says it will... clean up your sound, make it more dynamic and full. The best analogy has been said by several reviewers before (which helped convince me to pick this unit up) - "Its like taking a blanket off your speakers". and its true.

I do alot of home recording, not pro, but i get some pretty great recordings/mixes. However, one thing that I've been struggling with (and my guitarist too) has been getting a great guitar sound. I was nearly convinced that you did have to go to a studio and hookup your 4x12 and crank it with the expensive mics and processors to get the guitars as thick and punchy as the guitars on the records. After fooling with the knobs for half an hour, we found that full, clear guitar sound we've been searching for. It's amazing.

This will be a definite fixture in our guitar setup from here on out, and would highly recommend this unit to anyone.

Is it perfect? Will it solve all your sound problems? no... but it will help nearly all sound setups, and for the price, you cant beat it. Would highly recommend this to anyone.

Very Simple-straight out of the box! Simply hook up to your amp, twiddle the knob on the front and away you go! If you should have any problems, the manual is written clearly and easy to follow.

Exceptional signal sound quality. The bypass switch allows A/B comparison and the good general description of its effect is rather like hitting the 'stereo wide' switch on a HiFi. Your tone will appear wide and expansive with added lower end 'chug' and crisp, but never harsh upper end. It adds no noise to the actual signal path, but I have to say that the transformer on my unit is quite loud-I assume this is because the voltage is being stepped up to UK levels. However I must add that this is not obstrusive to the actual guitar signal.

No problems so far. It's built like an armoured tank so I can't see it being damaged on the road.

Have had no need of customer support.

This unit is great for rock and metal players and beautifully compliments my TC Electronic multi FX unit and 5150 head and cab. If you're after that crisp, expansive tone you always here your favourite bands albums, then this is the piece of kit that will allow you to achieve it.

It doesen't get any easier than this; 1/4" in from pre-amp/effects (Boss GT-8) and 1/4" out to power amp (Mesa Boogie Simul-Class 2:90), dial in the 'lo contour' and 'process' settings to your likeing, and BAM!!!.....instant improvement.
Manual? We don't need no stinkin' manual.

Although I heard an instant improvement upon hooking this baby up I still spent a lot of time experimenting with the different settings of the 482i to see how it sounded with different adjustments to my power amp's presence and my pre-amp EQ. I found that if you are happy with your original settings before hooking up the 482i, adding this puppy will only enhance your sound quality.
In addition, it is an extremely quiet unit, you won't have to worry about hum, hiss or buzz.
I have read some reviews stating that you would be better off with an EQ or that just tweaking your amp settings is enough to get you the sound you need, I disagree; EQ and amp settings can not manipulate the properties of your sound that this piece of equipment can, yes you can get great sound without it, but if you want to improve an already great sounding rig the 482i is what you need. This thing basically cleared up any muddiness in my sound, it did not change the tone, add gain or compress, it just gave my distortion more definition, clearity and bite without sounding harsh or compromising warmth.

Warning: If you turn the 'Lo contour' past six, you will begin to get a very loud lo frequency feedback especially when your pre-amp is pushed. This may not happen on all rigs but it did on mine. Nevertheless this is still an awsome unit.

Haven't had any problems with it yet. It seems like a pretty sturdy unit, I wouldn't drop it or anything, just be sure and put it in a rack case, hard or soft and it will be safe and sound.

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I play funk and blues but mainly metal. I have many axes in my collection but the main reason I purchased this unit was to enhance the sound of my distorted metal tone through my main guitar which is an ESP VB 400 Baritone with an EMG 81 in the bridge and an 85 at the neck. I love hi gain lo end chunk but found some issues with feedback, slight muddiness and mush, everyone loved my sound but I still felt there was something missing, that it could be better. I would constantly experiment with different EQ settings without satisfaction until I purchased the piece of equipment that would change my sound forever. Aside from aleviating all of the above mentioned sonic symptoms of my rig it added definition and clearity, all other sound improvements are very subtle but satisfactory. My bass player and drummer noticed the difference immediately but the untrained ear may not notice the difference unless you punch the 'process in/out' button for them to hear the change in your sound, I guarantee the response will be, "Oh yeah, wow! That does sound better". To be honest with you I purchased a BBE 362NR many years ago for the same reason and returned it, all it did was add a processed hissing sound to my distortion so I was very weary about buying another BBE product. I read every review on the 482 and 482i and thought I would give BBE another try. I have found it to be an extremely essential part of my rig and wished I had purchased one sooner. The 482i is definately the real deal baby, it will definately polish up your sound.

Easy to use for sure. I use it in my FX loop running the Lo Contour set to 5 and the Process set to 4. It is on all the time and helps your clean and distorted tones so it is ideal to just leave on all the time.

I run a Les Paul Special SL flat-top guitar (Worn Cherry) with a matched set of BurstBucker Pro pickups installed. I run this into my Line6 FlextoneIII XL's preamp with the six different types of delays, and six types of modulations built in the amp. My signal then is routed out the amp's stereo FX loop 'Send' jacks, to enter my PreSonus BlueTube DP (Dual Path) for some tubeyness to be added. The signal then goes on to my DOD SR430-Qx stereo 15 band graphic EQ for some small tone shapeing. After the EQ stage it enteres the belobed BBE 482i Sonic Maximizer for some magic to be applied. Last I pipe my new improved sound back into the FlextoneIII's FX return jacks to hit the 150W Power amp stage.

I placed the BBE last in the FX loop chain, and directly before the Power amp stage on BBE's recomendation. I think they are correct for the best spot to install it.

What is does for me:
The FlextoneIII is a fun modeling amp. Some of the 32 built in Amp models tend to sound like a blanket is in the speaker, and or the bass gets too flabby. This may be due to the stock Line6 Custom speakers that may be lacking, and not bad amp modeling? Whatever the reason, the BBE helps remove the blanket effect and moves your sound out 3 feet in front of the amp. Between the BlueTube (with tube upgrade), and the BBE 482i, my FlexIII XL rig has improved in sound quality over a stocker for sure. I guess it made me like my entire rig better like so many others have stated.

It has been said before, and I'll say it again, once you turn it on, you won't want to turn it off! A box to make every string stand out is exactly what this unit does.

All solid state, no tubes, excellent sound, metal knobbs, heavey duty metal to mount to your rack.

Good job BBE!!

Never had to use them but baught the BBE at Guitar Center so I am covered.

If I didn't have this unit my entire rig hung in the balance. It really put a BBE bandaid right where my rig needed it most.

I would want another fast!! :)

Not much to it. Each side has two knobs. One is for low end frequency and the other for high end frequency.

I?m using an Ibanez JS 1000 with a Duncan ?59 into a Tubescreamer into a Triaxis into a VHT 2/50/2 into a cab with 25 watt Greenbacks. Not noisy. You can get anything from low end boom to high end sizzle. The BBE sounds O.K., but I don?t think it?s worth $179. I?m sure the BBE will make your system sound great if your system needs it. I took it back and got a $79 rackmount eq which I run in the effects loop. I now have 15 bands of frequencies to shape my sound. I?m much happier with the eq. I?m not giving the BBE a rating because there?s nothing really wrong with it. I just don?t think it?s worth the money. To each his own?

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Not worth the money. Get an eq.

Can't be easier to use...plug and play ! And with the compare switch, it takes only about a second to understand it worth every bucks spent on it ! The difference and improvement were imediatly earable...and unbelivable !

I bought this unit to improve the overall sound of my guitar rackmount setup. And to be honest, i didn't know what to expect : Now, i totally agree with the ?guru? who, in another review, suggested to buy a sonic maximiser before considering any other equipement or instrument change !!! The 482i definitly kick ass !

I own a PRS CE22 goldtop, an American Standard Telecaster and a California Fat Telecaster, that i use with a line 6 Pod XT through the 482i, through a mesa boogie 20/20 power amp and a behringer BG412S Stereo 4X12 cab.

Can't say...i own it since about a month. Had no trouble since, and as it will remain rackmount in a SKB roadcase, it will probably last for decades !

As i said, it is a recent buy. Didn't have to contact BBE yet.

I mainly play metal and progressive music...

No matter what style of music you play, the BBE sonic maximiser 482i is a must in ANY guitar rig. I spent the last 18 years trying every guizmos that could possibly make a difference in my guitar tone, and the BBE sonic maximiser is the one that fulfilled all my expectations ! A major breakthrough, a huge step forward in the search for the perfect tone !

If it were stolen or lost, well, i'd cry every tears out of my body and run to the nearest retailer, bend on my knees and beg for another one, even for twice de price (but that, we will not tell them at BBE...lol).

Very easy.. you can't really mess it up.. only two knobs.

I am current running a Schecter Stiletto Custom 4 through a Hartke VX2510, and now with the Sonic Maximizer my sound is amazing. The lows are rumbly and punchy, the highs are amazing, and everything in between is just beautiful.

It has never done me wrong, and I cant really see myself playing without it anymore.

Never had to deal with customer support thus far.

As any metal bassist would know, we strugle with our sound sometime, but ever since I purchased the Sonic Maximizer I haven't had any problems with achieving the sound I was aiming for. Not only does it help live, but it helps recording too. During recording I always find my two guitarists asking me to use it when they put down their tracks. Your can't really go wrong with this from recording to live shows, it helps in everyway.