BBE Maxcom

The manual is pretty self explanatory as is the unit itself. 2 channels (independent) simple and straight forward.

I have a 5150 III head and a Les Paul Custom and Fender Strat as my main guitars. Effects are Mooger MuRF 105, H2O, Tube Screamer, MXR Phase, Boss Flanger and Holy Grail reverb. Run this in the effects loop and you wont be disappointed. This really took my current sound and really made it crisp and clear. I love my strat however always had that strat "hum", this thing can dial that right out. I'm a huge sound/tone fan THIS DOES NOT COLOR OR CHANGE YOUR TONE. I can turn my amp up to around 7 or 8, with the strat, and its completely quiet, no noise or hum whatsoever. The manual is pretty self explanatory as is the unit itself. 2 channels (independent) simple and straight forward.

Had it a few weeks, it seems to be built pretty solid no issues.

Never dealt with them

I play Red Hot Chili Peppers, Bryan Adams, Van Halen, Ozzy pretty much anything and everything. This unit just brings out the best sound no matter what style of music your playing. This is not a distortion or overdrive so the style you play doesn???t matter it makes everything sound awesome. The band I play it calls this thing a "talent box". I played a gig and a friend loaned me his unit to "try out". After we setup our gear I plugged this in a did a sound check, my jaw hit the floor! I couldn???t believe how good everything sounded, it was like you were in a recording studio. The only thing I could say is just find one and try it. Everyone has different opinions, just try it for yourself. i would definitely buy another one of this. After you buy all of your effects and you THINK you have the sound/tone you want, add this thing it icing on the cake...I have a 5150 III head and a Les Paul Custom and Fender Strat as my main guitars. Effects are Mooger MuRF 105, H2O, Tube Screamer, MXR Phase, Boss Flanger and Holy Grail reverb. Run this in the effects loop and you wont be disappointed. This really took my current sound and really made it crisp and clear. I love my strat however always had that strat "hum", this thing can dial that right out. I'm a huge sound/tone fan THIS DOES NOT COLOR OR CHANGE YOUR TONE. I can turn my amp up to around 7 or 8, with the strat, and its completely quiet, no noise or hum whatsoever. The manual is pretty self explanatory as is the unit itself. 2 channels (independent) simple and straight forward.

Unless you have used a compressor before, it takes some time getting a good sound. the manual has suggestions on what situation to use it in, but not how to use it.

i have a Peavey 5150 II full stack, and for those who don't know the amp is very noisy with the gain knob anywhere past 5. when i ran the Max com directly through the amp i started looking for the box to return it, but i decided to give it a second chance. when i ran it through the effects loop is where this thing shines. with the gate threshold up a little the white noise from the amp was gone, and with the added sonic maximizer my amp just sounds mean!!

haven't had it for more than 2 weeks, but it seem reliable.

haven't had to deal with them so thats even better to me.

overall this thing is the icing on the cake for those looking to cut through the mix. if it broke i would drive to the closet music shop and buy another immediately. recommend to any guitar player.

Get a good sound out of? Well, that's the problem, isn't it? Modulatining the crap VCA compressor against the Sonic Maximizer - an effect that I think sounds cool.

Bottom line: Noisy crap. Unuseable in a critical studio setting.

Could always depend on it to be noisy crap.

What are they supposed to say? Yup, its' crappy. What did you expect?

Was sad the minute I patched it in. I'd had a 362 that I thought sounded cool, but was slightly noisy. This didn't sound quite as good and was noisier.

If you're familiar with using compressors then it's easy. If not, take some time to read the manual.

Not really something you'll want to just plug-in and start playing. Take some time messing around with all the knobs to figure out what sounds the best for your rig. Drums seem to use more compression than anything, vocals and guitars need it occasionally and bass only use a little.

I agree with everyone else on the Sonic Maximizer. It does its job and cleans up your sound greatly! However, its effect on the signal is rather small and it's not something you'll notice until gone. I guess that's why they always include the "bypass" switch. It's rather expensive for what it does.

I think it's a common mistake that people think that the compressor is making the noise. Is it possible: Yes. Is it likely: No. Compressors take what's already there and reduce peaks while boosting drops. Basically squishing both sides of your signal to level it out. So in essence, you're getting an "average".

When you play a note, the guitar's signal is much stronger than the noise so the noise is masked by the guitar. When you're not playing, what you hear depends on what all is in the signal path, the quality of the parts in each component, and how well everything is shielded.

If you're playing a Squire Strat through cheap cables into a $50 practice amp, or use cheap mics with cheap cables going into a cheap PA in an older house with lots of lights and appliances...you're going to hear noise like nobody's business!

If you have problems with noise, I'd suggest Planet Waves or Monster Cables. They're more expensive, but are shielded well and have a lifetime warranty. I use PW cables and all my equipment's internal wiring is wrapped or shielded well. When on, this compressor doesn't introduce any excess noise and actually sounds very good. It tightens up my sound a LOT.

Seems pretty reliable. I haven't heard of or experienced any issues with relability.

As stated previously, this doesn't add any excess noise, it just amplifies what's already there. The less you have, the less you'll hear. As a compressor it's mediocre. There's much better stuff out there but it all depends on how much you want to spend. As a sonic maximizer it works just as well as the 482i's and costs a lot less. Not real sure why that is...

Fairly easy to use, manual's not too helpful, but I don't really need it...

I'm using a couple of Spectors with upgraded electronics, there's some noise, likely due to the bad wiring in my house though...it's an improvement over the 266xl/362 combo I was previously using, that's for sure (the MaxCom has the same 'chips as the 166xl and the 482i/882i Maximizers respectively)

Knobs are flimsly, but since I'm anal about upkeep with my rig, not too worried about it at this time...I'd do a gig without backing it up...

I play a variety of styles, playing over 20 years. I would replace this again, I don't like the gate or the knobs so much. Totally part of my rig now!

The unit is very simple to use... the manual is straight forward. Bought this becuase of the fact that it was coupled with a compressor.

The BBE "sonic maximizer," while producing results, does not warrant (by my standards) the spending of over a hundred dollars for a unit with only this feature. The innards of the SM's only split the signal into 3 bands, and then simply allows for all three frequencies to be heard at the same time.

I agree with the first review of this product... the Maxcom does its job.

What I don't understand is the second reviewer and his/her opinion... I opened up my Maxcom to take a look to see if these 'wiring problems' had any relavancy. They don't... The main signal is shielded. The grounds are shielded. It doesn't matter if theyre tie wrapped together. The only thing suspicious inside the unit to my eye is the fact that there is no walling around the transformer... however I cannot hear any interferance cuased from this.

Also, take into consideration that the sounds caused by the 'LEDs moving' is the compressor doing it's job. When the LEDs move that shows that there is compression taking place which in turn means that the signal being compressed is making the noise... NOT the LEDs. I even recorded difference thresholds and found this to be the case.

The first reviewer even mentions that compressors are noisy which is absolutly true... "The compressor is noisy but I knew what I was getting into...etc" You don't record with compressor period BECUASE they make noise... all you have to do is set the threshold to zero and the compressor will not make any noise... then you can just use the sonic maximizer.

Haven't had a problem with it yet. Going on three months and counting.

Haven't had to deal with them.

This unit does it's job... I'd say the first review was much more accurate then the biased, OCD wiring person of the second... That is all.

o.k. ; however the attenuation led indicators are 100% on and go out as compression attenuation occurs, kinda backwards to the dbx standard

Unit used for PA, the internal wire harness was poorly done, all signal, control, power, and led driver lines were tie wrapped togeather, due to signal crosstalk, the unit was very noisy, especially as led's would turn on/off static buzzes were evident in the signal. the internal signal between BBE board and Compressor boards is on unshielded ribbon cable. I had to completely re-dress the internal wire mess to get the unit usable for live performance, it will never be a studio tool.

too early to tell, internal construction is o.k. other than the extreemly poor wire harnes

customer support good, they sent me the schematics in a timely manner so that I could re-wire the internal wire harness

should have speent a bit more time on the last 20% development/manufacturing and cleaned up the harness/noise issues.

The manual has the details on what the compressor can do, not very hard to grapse. The push buttons do add for some flexability for each channel.

I'm running through an Sabine RT-7000 -> ADA Pitchtraq -> ADA MP-1 Classic -> Maxcom -> Lexicon MPX-100 -> ADA MicroTube 200. Since it's a compressor, it does add some noise, however with some tweaking it's not terrible since I can turn on the MP-1 Classic's Noise gate, which is pretty decent. Overall that's my only complaint... but I knew what I was getting into with a compressor. The Sonic Maximizer (even for something incredibly simple component-wise)has drasticly changed my sound for the better , and coupled with the compressor makes a nice pair to own.

I was very disapointed with the quality of the unit itself when I first got it. Even for being $199 brand-new, the knobs falls off and the pots are plastic... however after bringing out the super glue I feel a little bit better about the whole ordeal.

Haven't had to deal with them.

I would replace it if it were broken or stolen. The compressor and sonic maximizer really did improve my sound drasticly. I was pleased with the unit's sound, but with better contruction I'd be even more satisfied.