Aphex Aural Exciter (sounds like a sex toy)

U

ultracarl

Member
I was going through my old gear to sell and came across my aural exciter. I plugged my Ultra into it just to test before it went on ebay. I am having some good results and will be adding the unit to my rack.
I was just wondering if anybody else is using one or something similar, or is there something I could be using in the ultra to achieve the same results.
Everything just seems to be a bit more dynamic, more so on high gain patches.
 
In the wiki, they state how to re-create a BBE/Exciter effect with a Para EQ. Works very well for me!
 
I use a BBE Sonic Maximizer 882i in my rack. It uses a similar process as the Aphex unit. It corrects phase issues and orders the lows and the highs so that the highs come out of the speaker first, which increases brightness and clarity. The clarity produced by the process is not reproducible with a simple PEQ, though the perceived low and high boosts are. That's really what the PEQ mentioned in the WIKI does. Many people claim it's not needed, but honestly, when you A/B the signal with and without a properly adjusted unit, you can really hear the difference. If I'm remembering correctly, I got mine a bit before I got my Axe, and I've been using it ever since.

The Aphex unit was the first to do the process. It first appeared in the 70's, and has been used by the likes of Jackson Browne, Linda Ronstadt, James Taylor, Donna Summer, Paul McCartney, Fleetwood Mac, Olivia Newton-John, Alan Parsons and Warren Zevon. So the process definitely has a recognized value in the industry, despite what some like to claim.
 
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I have the aphex unit and used it for all previous modelers. It really did sound better in the chain with my old stuff...especially running thru poweramp/cab, it was like lifting a blanket off the speakers.

I've thought about connecting it to my ultra...how have you been placing it in your chain? Via fx loop?
 
The Aphex Exciter and BBE Enhancer use entirely different processes and are nothing alike. Aphex adds distortion to a high-passed signal to generate frequencies beyond what the source material contains. The BBE uses dynamic eq and delays, no distortion.

An Aphex might be useful for bandwidth-limited source material, although it easily sounds abrasive. My BBE sounded *great* on a certain set of cheap speakers I had. The improvement was huge. But it had little effect when used with my studio monitors. I preferred not to use it in that instance.
 
I found this on another forum; it was reposted from yet another forum, so I have no idea who gets the credit for it. But it parallels my own experience.

Just a word of warning. Maximizers are the guitar gear equivalent of crack. The experience one goes through is identical:

1. The first hit: You hook it up and initially think "Oh MY GOD this the greatest thing EVER DOOOOOD!!!!!111!!!!1! I've found THE tone!"

2. You start using on a regular basis: Buy some model BBE, hook to rig, engage it 100% of the time. Rewrite all your patches.

3. You try to get your friends hooked: Dude, check out my rig, this thing takes it over the top!!!.

4. You go into addiction/denial: Friends think your tone has gone to sh*t but you think it is totally awesome. You start talking msinformed BS about different sound frequencies traveling at different velocities (hint: violation of Newtonian physics).

5. There is an intervention: Friend let's you A/B his non-maximizer rig versus yours in live setting, Yours sounds like over-processed dung, his rocks. He tells you, as a Bro, the BBE must go. You realize the BBE is a band aid for guitar tone and not even a good one at that.

6. You go into rehab: Another "like new" BBE xx2 unit hits eBay.

7. Regret: I wasted a sh*tload of time futzing with my rig, patches, etc, and my tone isn't any better and I'm back to square one. I Wonder what GE-7 pedals are going for these days.

Maybe you should avoid the whole thing. If you must post-process your modelling tone I would strongly suggest an EQ. It's much more versatile and will be long usable after the BBE is gone.

Yes, I'm a former user and I regret ever bothering with it.
Click to expand...
 
I run the outputs on the Axe directly into it and then out to my recording interface, amp or whatever from the BBE. And Rex, that wasn't my experience at all. I found the sweet spot and haven't touched the knobs since. Works perfectly for guitar and bass with the exact same setting. I literally set it and I haven't touched it since, and it sounds amazing. It really is like lifting a blanket off the sound. And from what I read about the Aural Exciter, the process is similar, but the different units have other aspects to them that make them different from each other.
 
I take output 1 & 2 into the Aphex and into TC Electronics interface then into studio monitors. As mentioned above you do have to find the sweet spot and leave it.
This may not work for everyone but I am very happy with the results. To quote DLM it is like taking a blanket off your speakers. I do have to say that I have had to tweak some of my
clean settings as they became a bit harsh on the top end.
 
BBE's and Aural Exciters are both worthless for guitar rigs, IMHO. I've never seen a player who could dial in his gear worth a damn that needed either unit. If you want to make your tone sound less natural by all means proceed, otherwise just learn how to dial in the AxeFx is, it's not like the Axe, especially the Ultra, doesn't already give you more than enough rope to hang yourself with ten times over.
 
I have the BBE. I tried it with my Ultra on a few patches. After some serious listening, I decided I preferred the sound of the ultra without the BBE. Sound is indeed a subjective thing, but we all have to decide what we like and what we don't. At least now I know why the Fractal is called the Ultra. They could have called it the Best Uber Ultra Box, but then we'd all be BUUBs. One fixation on BUUBs is enough.
 
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