effect like a sonic maximizer

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primerib

Member
Now I don't know what exactly these sonic maximizers do, but I do know if you over use it, it'll make your tone sound all scooped. But if used in small amounts, it can be useful for some actual amp setups. I was wondering if there is an effect in the axe fx that mimics a sonic maximizer.
 
I believe a sonic maximizer adds/accentuates higher frequencies whereas the enhancer creates more of a stereo field effect.
 
I think I remember reading somewhere that it works like a delay for certain frequencies. Like a treble delay or something to give it a more present sound. Something about how bass frequencies move more slowly in the room so it is supposed to correct for it. I haven't used mine in a long time though and I don't really remember all the details.
 
This is just my opinion, so take it with a grain of salt, but the BBE variety at least, is pure overpriced snake oil. It's just EQ that degrades the bypassed signal, thus making it sound 'better' when engaged. Again, my opinion. There are people with amazing tone that swear by them.
 
Brownmatthall said:
i was under the impression that (at least the BBE ones anyway) were literally just a fixed EQ in the lows and highs so..
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This was my experience. Boosts the bass and treble, which is actually the opposite of what you want in a band mix. More mids, not bass and treble. If you still want to recreate the effect though, try boosting around 4 Khz and 80 Hz
 
Art Vandelay said:
This is just my opinion, so take it with a grain of salt, but the BBE variety at least, is pure overpriced snake oil. It's just EQ that degrades the bypassed signal, thus making it sound 'better' when engaged. Again, my opinion. There are people with amazing tone that swear by them.
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YEP


Video also shows exactly what it does to your signal. Basically creates a big mid range dip as you turn up.
 
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Per my understanding from back in the day when they first started appearing, the Sonic Maximizer is an "aural enhancer" that functions by manipulating the "pyscho-acoustic" properties of sound. It does this by applying micro-delays to certain frequencies so that your hear those frequencies as being more (or less) prevalent when in fact they are actually not.

So, it is not an EQ, but can appear to have a similar effect...

I am not claiming to be an expert by any means and it has been over 20 years since I used one... and it is entirely possible all of what I read was pure BS, but it was not "product literature" I was reading, so I have some level of confidence that it was factual :)
 
unix-guy said:
Per my understanding from back in the day when they first started appearing, the Sonic Maximizer is an "aural enhancer" that functions by manipulating the "pyscho-acoustic" properties of sound. It does this by applying micro-delays to certain frequencies so that your hear those frequencies as being more (or less) prevalent when in fact they are actually not.

So, it is not an EQ, but can appear to have a similar effect...

I am not claiming to be an expert by any means and it has been over 20 years since I used one... and it is entirely possible all of what I read was pure BS, but it was not "product literature" I was reading, so I have some level of confidence that it was factual :)
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what the hell does psycho-acoustic even mean o_O
 
I have a BBE Acoustimax I use for my acoustic. It is actually a pretty nice piece of hardware. Makes a great direct box an has a nice EQ on it. Plus It has a Mute switch for the input. Nice Metal box and XLR output..etc. As far as the Sonic Maximiser part of it that can be turned off with a switch...basically just sounds like some kind of a compressor/EQ to me...I have to agree it is snake oil. There are quite a few VST plugins and such that emulate the sound these days, and BBE has their own. I suggest you download one of them and try them and see if you can match the sound with an compressor and an EQ before the amp in axe Edit.
 
Hellbat said:
The vid doesn't unsell me on the product because they are only looking at frequency and not time. I have one that I used in the loop of my tube amp back in the day. Whatever it achieved with the signal, it helped my guitar cut through in a live band mix.
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Glad you got good results with yours, I just had the opposite experience unfortunately. As I said, it was all opinion.
 
Hellbat said:
The vid doesn't unsell me on the product because they are only looking at frequency and not time. I have one that I used in the loop of my tube amp back in the day. Whatever it achieved with the signal, it helped my guitar cut through in a live band mix.
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Phase is time. The top plot in the display is phase. If you take the derivative of that (in your head) you'll get the group delay. With the knobs at minimum the phase and frequency response is linear indicating that it's doing nothing.

The tests in the video are not thorough enough to draw conclusions (the tester should've plotted group delay not phase). It appears to me that the unit is nothing more than an equalizer and boosts the highs and lows as the knobs are turned up. Obviously there is some shenanigans taking place wrt to the "bypass" function.

It may be that there is an all-pass filter in there somewhere. The user's manual talks (vaguely) about time-alignment. I don't really see any indication of an all-pass response though.

I tried one of these years ago and returned it the next day.
 
I still have mine from the 80's, but stopped using in 1992. I thought it useful to get the Dann Huff, Michael Landau clean tones back in the 80's. I thought it made overdrive/distortion sound terrible. Bruck Kulick purported to be using one while in KISS, and if you listen to the distortion tone in Crazy Nights, it is really KRISPY, and doesn't sound good (IMHO).

But it was seen in the big Bradshaw Racks from that era. Even the mighty Steve Lukather (a tone nut) had them in his rig.

I thought it 'time-aligned bass' which I don't even know what I just said, but I thought I remember it being explained to me, that it caused the speaker to process the bass at a slightly different time, so that one speaker could more easily produce all the frequencies by slightly staggering them. But I tried to build a time machine out of a DeLorean, so what do I know.
 
I remember my buddy bought a rack mount BBE back in 87. for some ridiculous some of money and was trying to justify how great a purchase it was, by hooking it up to some gear and also a stereo system in our living room. My musician buddies and I where supposed to hear the great improvement in sound. I told him I heard no improvement and I thought he was gonna punch me in the head. He said I was deaf. Afterwards I asked another guitar player if he thought it was a wise purchase and he laughed and said what a stupid thing to spend money on. He also could hear no magic sound improvement. Yet they where all going along with him at the time...ranting and raving that this BBE processor was the next best thing to sliced bread. I spent my money on beer and combustibles...LOL
 
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