Anyone else try one of these with your AxeIII?

Someone should do a comparison of such tube buffers used/not used with Fractal to show the former results in less accurate amp modeling. I'm the one who also fed up with recommendation of tube buffers to "erase the digital feel".
 
If for some reason, you're running a large pedal board into the Axe FX, or anything else that adds capacitance, or cumulative capacitnce (LONG cables, etc), then yea, I imagaine it would help, just like any buffer would in that circumstance, be it Axe FX or legacy amp. That's all it appears to be, a buffer, perhaps with some boosting of certain frequencies.

Read the 'reviews; they put on their site in the link in the OP. They range from typical for putting a buffer in front of a pedal board, tone sucking due to cumulative capacitance, to ethereal, non descriptive, terms.
 
tysonlt said:
I swore by my bbe sonic stomp back on the day. I opened it up once, and I’m pretty sure it was just one IC in there. Pretty sure it was just a fixed frequency treble boost.
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We had a Sonic Maximizer when I went to vocational school for audio. It was nice to add a little sparkle to a vocal track or something. The first time I remember seeing one in a guitarist’s rack, I was like… why? 😂😂
 
Over the years I've gone through various pieces of gear chasing that optimized signal and have just come to realize now that the best is just my Guitar straight into my Axe Fx. I do have a TC Electronics Bodyrez for my piezo line into the Axe Fx but i'm sure all thats' doing is some EQ/comp etc. Saving me a block or two but nothing that couldn't be dialed in the box I'm sure.
 
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When I had an analog pedal board, I owned one of these and loved it. Great product. I do occasionally play around with the input loading on my Axe-Fx III, but generally the factory setting seems to sound best. Most of my guitars these days have some kind of preamp in them, so there's that as well.
 
Tigerfish said:
When I had an analog pedal board, I owned one of these and loved it. Great product. I do occasionally play around with the input loading on my Axe-Fx III, but generally the factory setting seems to sound best. Most of my guitars these days have some kind of preamp in them, so there's that as well.
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Yeah I think if I was doing active pickups it would really not make a difference.
 
From the schematic posted earlier, looks like a cathode follower in a box, about the same as a VHT Valvulator I.

I have a Valvulator and use it in front of my axe fx (just before my pedalboard which I still use). I have it on a true bypass switch so I can turn it on/off if I want. at least with the tube I have in it, it’s not as transparent as a decent jfet or op amp buffer, it adds a small amount of volume (like 1 or 2 db) and distorts slightly when I pick hard using high output pickups (which is often). But I do like what it does to the sound so I leave it on.

I wouldn’t say I ‘need’ it, but I like it.
 
FractalAudio said:
Ah, the old Harmonic Converger. I bought one and reverse engineered it. It was nothing more than a passive high-shelf filter (despite all the lofty claims).
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I just read the website. Some people have no shame whatsoever. If you tell me the "drive" control is a cut off frequency pot, I'm going to puke.
 
Tonedeaf said:
So that's why the innards were buried in gook.
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That's "very expensive" gook; a crucial part of why it sounds so great. I'm sure other kitchen table manufacturers use lesser gook... not nearly as effective at realigning the crystal lattice.
 
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blastbeatdown said:
We had a Sonic Maximizer when I went to vocational school for audio. It was nice to add a little sparkle to a vocal track or something. The first time I remember seeing one in a guitarist’s rack, I was like… why? 😂😂
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They were actually used in massive guitar racks in the late 80s and early 90s well before they became fashionable for other uses.
At one time it was an essential piece of gear in the guitar rack setups of pretty much everyone I knew back then.

It's popular to hate on them now, but I remember how hard it was to get your hands on one when they first popped on the scene.
Pretty sure it was the first piece of musical gear I was ever on a waitlist for, and had to go check at a local music store to see if
it came in weekly. :)
 
Jorock said:
If you want something that truly enhances the quality of a DI'd signal (granted I wouldn't bother with it in front of the axe-fx) but if you have a piezo system in your guitar or are switching off to an acoustic for a song or two I highly reccomend the Rupert Neve RNDI. It has some kinda magic for enhancing the tone of acoustic, piezo, and also bass guitar. Incredible box!
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Curious about your experiences with this in front of the ax3 and after it. Seen a few videos of FOH engineers running it after modelers (death cab for cutie for example). I’ve A/B’d cheap and expensive DI’s with line level input and couldn’t hear a difference but this one apparently is not designed to be “neutral.”
 
la szum said:
They were actually used in massive guitar racks in the late 80s and early 90s well before they became fashionable for other uses.
At one time it was an essential piece of gear in the guitar rack setups of pretty much everyone I knew back then.

It's popular to hate on them now, but I remember how hard it was to get your hands on one when they first popped on the scene.
Pretty sure it was the first piece of musical gear I was ever on a waitlist for, and had to go check at a local music store to see if
it came in weekly. :)
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Turned off the BBE. "Wow! Now I can hear myself in the mix!"
But I have to admit I loved it until then.
 
steadystate said:
I just read the website. Some people have no shame whatsoever. If you tell me the "drive" control is a cut off frequency pot, I'm going to puke.
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the seller used to be an active member here - iir he was (maybe still)
guitarist in Neil Diamond's band
 
la szum said:
They were actually used in massive guitar racks in the late 80s and early 90s well before they became fashionable for other uses.
At one time it was an essential piece of gear in the guitar rack setups of pretty much everyone I knew back then.

It's popular to hate on them now, but I remember how hard it was to get your hands on one when they first popped on the scene.
Pretty sure it was the first piece of musical gear I was ever on a waitlist for, and had to go check at a local music store to see if
it came in weekly. :)
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I didn’t know the trend dated back that far. Very interesting. I saw it a lot 15-20 years ago. In the 80s I could actually see that making more sense. The guys I’m talking about were usually playing modern metal chugging away with a 5150. Just thought it took a thick lower mid heavy tone that sat great in the mix on its own and added unnecessary brightness.
 
RifferMcDuck said:
BBE Sonic Maximizer... that was so popular for a while, all I can remember is that it just boosted bass and treble a bunch, but I thought that was some kind of magic at the time.
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Dont get me started on that stupid thing 😅 Brings back arguments of yesteryear with all the knuckleheads of the early 2000's...
 
RifferMcDuck said:
BBE Sonic Maximizer... that was so popular for a while, all I can remember is that it just boosted bass and treble a bunch, but I thought that was some kind of magic at the time.
Click to expand...
If I recall correctly, the selling point for these things were they were used in pro recording studios for about 20 years before they became available to the public. I had a model made for acoustics that didn't impress me much.
 
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