I've heard a lot of recording guys talk against these things and I'm wondering why. When my friend would turn his off, play a guitar riff, then turn it on, and play it sounded so much better. It had a tight sound to it, so why are recording guys so against it?
BBE Sonic Maximizers?
- Thread starter ThatGuitarGuy
- Start date
dreamcatcher
Raising the Knife
I just happened to have read over the BBE pedal thread here earlier today, and did a search for more on it in general, and found nothing for the first seven pages....
...so calm down. A little. Before flaming.
...so calm down. A little. Before flaming.
Maybe it depends on application? I used one on my old Flextone Head, and it really brought it to life. Every amp I've had since then, it sounded like crap to me. I've thought about trying one on my 6505+, but never have. I've heard so many guys using them in their rigs, but I'm not sure. I think I'd prefer the results I get with a GE-7 in my loop. Seems like most people who use them look at them as an EQ rather than a maximizer, especially guitarists.
I'd use it as a maximizer for sure. I want the best tone I can get with my Pre-amp (BOSS GT-PRO) and my Power Amp (Mesa 2:100), then apply the sonic maximizer.
Thing is, I dont want to get the maximizer if it actually ends up working against me. I suppose I could take his out of his rack and put it into mine and see how it sounds...but I don't know why so many are against it...I suppose it may be what you pretty much said, mis-use.
Thing is, I dont want to get the maximizer if it actually ends up working against me. I suppose I could take his out of his rack and put it into mine and see how it sounds...but I don't know why so many are against it...I suppose it may be what you pretty much said, mis-use.
Brett - K A L I S I A
Dreaded Moderator
I personnaly like it as far as you don't go over 3... It's easy to overuse it, that's what most people do I'm afraid. But a subtle touch can be nice (or not, depending on your recorded material).
SoSomething
Member
Personally I think they're great on just about everything during mixing, but I hate them when used as part of a guitar rig. They sound like a "solid-state-ifier" in that application.
really? How does it take away the tube sound? From what I've heard it just tightens it up but it still has that warmth and stuff.
It's been proclaimed to have the effect of "taking a blanket off of your speakers", but what most often happens is people use it *too* much and it just makes your amp sound like you have 3 presence knobs instead of one. And you turned them all to 11. If used correctly, i.e. very subtly, they can have a great effect on your tone.
~006
~006
I suppose its not completely out of the question then! I'll have to try out my other guitarists SM in mine to see if I want to spend the money on it.
adrianvillan
Metal Commando.
silverwulf
Ghost in the Machine
I used to have one with a Mesa Triaxis & 2:90 rig I had a while back. Can't say I ever liked the BBE. Even with minimal settings, I never cared for how it colored my tone.
mxlinus
I'm not a number!
I own BBE 882 and I've never used it in studio or on a live rig. If you want to the "carpet away from the front of the speaker" -effect, you are way better off with a tube screamer...
(I hope I made sense. I'm not really convinced with my english skills, drunk at 6.45 am)
(I hope I made sense. I'm not really convinced with my english skills, drunk at 6.45 am)
Genius Gone Insane
http://www.¯\(°_o)/¯.com
The BBE can take a really shitty guitar tone and turn it into something manageable.
It can also take a really great guitar tone and manage to turn it into something shitty.
It can also take a really great guitar tone and manage to turn it into something shitty.
metalkingdom
the kinder, gentler me
- Jan 1, 2005
- 1,634
- 2
- 38
You're right, most "recording guys" don't like them. You'd be hard pressed to find a big studio with the BBE in the rack, let alone see an engineer use one during mixing. I once asked my old boss Skip Saylor why he didn't have a 862 and he said, "I do, right here" then he pointed to a Distressor and a Pultec.
LynchpiN
Don't like presets.
I never liked the BBE, but it saved my life a couple of times... In vocals. You have to be conservative, really.
The BBE system is in essence a trick that messes with your sound in a weird way, but if you like the way it sounds...
Also, remember Jeff Loomis!...
The BBE system is in essence a trick that messes with your sound in a weird way, but if you like the way it sounds...
Also, remember Jeff Loomis!...
Torniojaws
They call me Juha
Genius Gone Insane
http://www.¯\(°_o)/¯.com
Torniojaws said:I use the VST plugin version of it to transform my cymbal samples into something different
You mean so that the hits are not identical-sounding? I was actually thinking about starting a thread on that sort of thing, like the best ways to turn andy's amazing kick sample into a few different amazing kick samples.
Torniojaws
They call me Juha
No, you use Drumagog to do thatGenius Gone Insane said:
And actually, I think you aren't sampling the Andy Kick properly, since it already features about 8 different sounding kick samples (varying levels of intensity). Just open up the big file in an audio editor and cut out all the good kick sounds. All of them except for two should be top notch. Then open up all the samples in Drumagog and make a .gog file out of them
Genius Gone Insane
http://www.¯\(°_o)/¯.com
Torniojaws said:No, you use Drumagog to do that
I'll have to look back at those samples. I could have sworn they were different mic positions, not different intensities.
