BBE Sonic Stomp

[Chistopher]

There's not too much information out there on this pedal except that the phrase "like a blanket being taken off the amp" is used quite a lot. It seems to be quite the polarizing pedal so I was wondering if I could get some answers for a few questions I had about it.

1 - What exactly does it do from an electrical perspective?

2 - Is it any good?

3 - Are there any good clones of it out there or pedals that do a similar thing?

4 - Can you get the same effect from a simple EQ?

I would also appreciate any input outside of these four questions that you would consider to be valuable towards my understanding of this pedal.

 

[Mincer]

I've seen these for sale for years. My thought is that if the amp sounds like there is a blanket on it, there is an issue with a piece of gear you already have. So, the solution is to figure out what that is, and why you are getting that sound, rather than solving the issue by getting yet another piece of gear.

 

[El Dunco]

I've seen these for sale for years. My thought is that if the amp sounds like there is a blanket on it, there is an issue with a piece of gear you already have. So, the solution is to figure out what that is, and why you are getting that sound, rather than solving the issue by getting yet another piece of gear.

That's what I thought. None of my gear sounds like it has a blanket over it. I've never had that kind of issue I couldn't fix with control adjustments, tube type changes, minor mods and most importantly cabinet and speaker choices so I never saw any reason why I needed one if that's all they market it for. I've heard a number of complaints that it causes a sterile sound or a hi-fi sound that only sounds good on its own and adds nothing discernible in the mix, while I've also heard it's a "secret weapon." I might just need to try one in a shop, even watching videos I still have no idea what it really does or how it's of any practical use.

 

[Obsessive Compulsive]

Lol...the Sonic Maximizer is the biggest and most successful lie in tone improvement technology. I have the rack 482 unused for more than 6 years now since I bought an EQ.

It's basically a 2-band EQ (regardless of the fancy engineering lingo in the manual) that makes your sound scooped, more bass and treble and reduced mids.

My conclusion is it makes crappy (thin) sounding amp heavier (better?) but if won't make a good sounding amp better.

 

[Aceman]

There's not too much information out there on this pedal except that the phrase "like a blanket being taken off the amp" is used quite a lot. It seems to be quite the polarizing pedal so I was wondering if I could get some answers for a few questions I had about it.

I use one with my acoustic all the time, because I send it through a comp, Modeler, and effects, etc. I'm not an expert, and I use an Aphex Acoustic Exciter, which may not be the same as the BBE sonic stomp

1 - What exactly does it do from an electrical perspective?

*It puts the highs/lows in-phase with each other by delaying the sound. Reason: The bass and high tones respond in a single speaker cone at slightly different rates resulting in phase cancellation, counter-speaker action etc.

2 - Is it any good?

*Whatever it is - it works. When I dial it in, and play, it definitely puts a kick and sparkle back in the sound that got lost. If I played here in the room with and without it, you would really notice.

3 - Are there any good clones of it out there or pedals that do a similar thing?

* I'd say the BBE is a clone of the Apex Units

4 - Can you get the same effect from a simple EQ?

* Maybe? Maybe not....I don't know that it isn't actually a sort of "presence" knob for high and low end.


Mine works like this; There is a Frequency knob and level knob each - for bass and treble.

You turn the level up to max, then turn the frequency knob until you hear the change. It is pretty obvious when it happens. It's different times with different speakers. Then you turn the level knob down and turn it until get the mix you want. You definitely notice a point where you hear it, and it can top to "too much"

Apex Acoustic Exciters were all over music in the 80's as rack units. Apex makes a foot pedal for bass, electric and acoustic. even if it just an EQ, it's a specialized sort of EQ that I really like, but only on my acoustic.

 

[Obsessive Compulsive]

There is a clone by Behringer called Sonic Ultramizer, and a clone of Apex Aural Exciter called Sonic Exciter...pretty dumb really.

 

[mantis]

I had one sold it then got another one years later sold that 2. It's not a necessary pedal by any means. You can get much better results with an actual EQ pedal

 

[Aceman]

Here is an old but a goody. Recorded in 2013 with an iPhone 4se maybe?

 

[Mincer]

I've used the Aphex Acoustic Xciter (not sure if this is the same technology as the BBE) with acoustics before. My opinion is that it does make some acoustics sound better, with much larger bass and treble. But the issue was a 'not so good' sounding acoustic to begin with. The solution isn't buying a pedal to fix it, but figuring out why the acoustic output needs this to sound good. Once I got an acoustic with more modern electronics, I didn't need it any more.

 

[El Dunco]

I just listened to a demo of the Sonic Stomp by Reverb. I grabbed the clip and brought down the volume of the part where it's turned on so it's actually same volume as when it was bypassed (it was significantly louder in the video which is a blatantly unfair comparison because we're wired to perceive louder as better.) With the playing field leveled, to my ear, it made the sound worse. Just bassier, thinner and with brittler, unpleasantly harsh treble.

 

[Edgecrusher]

I used to run a BBE sonic maximizer, Its hard to describe exactly what it did. It basically just filled the sound out made it sound like it was there. At the time it really helped my JCM900 cut through the mix. But it was easy to over use the effect. It can make things start to sound weird. The way i used to adjust it was turn the dial to 0 then play and turn up the knob when i could start to hear it effect the sound I would then back it off a notch or 2.

I would agree that its not a MUST have effect and is probably more useful in rigs that are missing something tonally. As much as I loved my JCM900 it was a very toppy amp ( especially using cabs with G12T75's) that lacked serious beef in the lows and mids. The BBE helped that out.

If you want to try one find it used so you can flip it, they usually arent hard to find used.

 

[Edgecrusher]

With the playing field leveled, to my ear, it made the sound worse. Just bassier, thinner and with brittler, unpleasantly harsh treble.

Yep thats exactly what happens when they use the effect too much, It should be subtle.

 

[El Dunco]

It does a good job as a decoration and the poseur self in you:

It's so hard to disagree when they make these incredibly lofty claims with lots of scientific sounding jargon that would dazzle someone not familiar with what those terms mean. I am just not hearing what they are describing at all. I'd love to take a look at the circuits to see what's really in there. Bass has longer sound waves and as you go up in frequency, the sound waves get shorter. That's just how sound works. All these claims of "frequency phase correction/alignment" just don't sound either necessary or something it's even capable of doing.

Even the one person I know who has one and uses it admits it doesn't do very much but look pretty in his rack. That's a ringing endorsement...

 

[Obsessive Compulsive]

Yup. With controls labeled 'Lo Contour' for bass and 'Process' for treble, the deceptive nature of this device is beyond recognition.

As a casual user I wonder what the reason is behind naming the treble control 'Process'. Does it mean it is the only knob that processes the high and low frequencies while the other knob is just a dummy? Or something else? Why not just call it 'hi' ffs.

 

[Aceman]

I've used the Aphex Acoustic Xciter (not sure if this is the same technology as the BBE) with acoustics before. My opinion is that it does make some acoustics sound better, with much larger bass and treble. But the issue was a 'not so good' sounding acoustic to begin with. The solution isn't buying a pedal to fix it, but figuring out why the acoustic output needs this to sound good. Once I got an acoustic with more modern electronics, I didn't need it any more.

Note I was using an Ovation Celebrity there...

 

[Aceman]

Yeah - I mean I agree it isn't a "must have" pedal. For whatever reason, I liked what it did for the Acoustic. It made sense4, and it works. I suspect I could do the same with some subtle 31 band use or a decent Parametric.

But - It works for me.

 

[El Dunco]

Yeah - I mean I agree it isn't a "must have" pedal. For whatever reason, I liked what it did for the Acoustic. It made sense4, and it works. I suspect I could do the same with some subtle 31 band use or a decent Parametric.

But - It works for me.

If it works for you, I can't argue with that. Maybe you could do me a solid and do what all the demo videos just are not doing for me and show me a little demo of just off, then on, both equal volume? I really tried to give it a chance man... All the clips I've tried, once fixing their annoying habit of making sure it's louder when engaged, honestly sound awful and worse than if they didn't even bother hooking it up ( because of COURSE people who don't know better think "I like the second one more" because we perceive louder as better when it doesn't mean it is at all)

 

[NegativeEase]

BBE SM, I've owned several, usually left with me because someone didn't want it or traded it for my time etc... I've never purchased one at a store.... my experience is that tingling high end when you engage a sonic maximizer makes you initially excited and also ignore what most people realize days later after they are used to the BBE sound and then compare again -and that is that it can be a tone suck and squasher of good sounds in parts of the spectrum as much as exciter of over tones in the spectrum and such...

I think the Aphex stuff is better -especially the old 420 series..

but ALL of it should be used cautiously.

I honestly don't know very many people who have ever kept a BBE sonic maximizer in the rig as an essential thing -but there are people who do.

EDIT I've never used BBE stuff for acoustic stuff -Players I know were using them for big rock tones.

 

[NegativeEase]

Here is an old but a goody. Recorded in 2013 with an iPhone 4se maybe?

Damn, I'll give you a pass because I know the mic element on a cell phone (especially 8 years ago) accentuates harsh parts of the guitar spectrum that are needed for voice intelligibility in a phone call

.... because ouch -that cellphone is making that guitars intonations jump off the page (That D chord....yikes) and bright top end very harsh.

I'm sure, if listening in the room it sounds good and what you are saying makes plenty of sense though.

 

[PFDarkside]

I was more familiar with them in a big sound reproduction format. Like reproducing recorded music in huge halls, etc. I assume the attitude of “if it’s good enough for pro sound racks it’s good enough for my rig” took over?