Euge, did you get the strat in this video from Warmoth aged as it is now, or did you do it yourself? Please clarify, thx .... Great sound of the Platinum circuit and playing btw.
I have a rack BBE and two of the pedal units for my pedalboard. I've been using the Sonic Maximizer since 1994. It's just an analog EQ and it doesn't color the sound. Technically it realigns the highs and lows so they arrive at the speakers at the same time. It's called the "Time Domain" problem. It's a phase issue where highs and lows become misaligned by how fast they travel through the circuit. The sonic maximizer fixes this misalignment as the signal enters the poweramp. All of those frequencies are there they're just misaligned that's why the BBE works because it's already there. IMO you should use a BBE on the input to your poweramp in any setup. This pickup maximizer seems like a great addition to your rig as well. It's likely correcting some of these issues caused by capacitance in the pickup. I'm always looking for more clarity and how to get a more resonant punchy sound with less gain. The BBE lets you dial your sound in like you never heard it. You don't know till you add one and dial it in. You have to go back and forth between your tone controls on the amp and the BBE. Once you find the sweet spot you'll know it.
Thanks for the demo! You can definitely hear its effect. I'm wary about this item, though. It's crazy expensive, and in their website no information is clear, there's just a lot of ambiguous statements, lots of acronyms without an actual explanation. A couple of weeks ago I bought from a seller in my favourite Chinese marketplace a BBE-licensed stereo board with a BA3884F chip, powered with 5-12 V and high/low controls, costing less than 5 € (around 2 € shipping, less than 10-day delivery). I've yet to test it, since I intended to replace its trimmers with pots and make a pedal with it, but it's so small it could fit in a guitar cavity. However, its effect on each frequency band is clearly described in the BA3884F datasheet (the typical BBE thing). This item looks to me like they got in bulk a similar chip or board, put it in a case (because most guitarists don't tend to properly EMF shield cavities 😛), chose a preset, and then sell it at a high profit.
I certainly can hear the boost … I like it! To me it’s like you have a neck pickup, then a bridge pickup and now a saddle pickup!! We tend to prefer the humbuxking bridge anyway so move just a slight more and we have the phantom saddle pickup 🤘
Bit skeptical of the price snd how it just says it will sound better in any way without really specificating any technical information regarding this. Not sure why it would need Tungsten so shielding 🤔
Yes, you can do it with a push-pull pot. Switch might be cleaner though. But if you like the sound, why turn it off? I have it permanently on in my guitar and I’m not going back without it. Note that you can control its effect with the volume knob the way it’s wired.
To this day i have had ONE single pedal that does exactly THAT maxi effect....and surprisingly it is an overdrive. where overdrives most of the time do some kind of the opposite. It is the guitarsystems junior drive, dtep on it the sound comes literally closer and becomes 3D in the room.Without getting louder and,whitout Eq- ing. Its crazy.but wonderful. Switching it off the sound seems to disappear in the speaker.
Definitely noticed a difference and like the sound. But wouldn’t running a compressor as a clean boost in front of the sd1 for rhythm and leads and by itself for cleans do the same thing
Yes, but this is built into your guitar. It just depends on your workflow. What really disappoints me is how full of nonsense their product page is, the same way any "audiophile" equipment is, or in other words: malicious marketing. - "premium superior materials" What? - "it's louder while being more dynamic" No. You're confusing spectral fullness (including saturation) with dynamics. - "ELF wave tech" Jargon. ELF applies to hobbyist radio techs or distant comms (NASA, submarines, etc.) - "Improves gain structure" Impossible. The recording/mixer controls the gain structure. - "Improves tone character" Stop it. - "Allows for resonance of wood" Stop it more. I wish companies were just honest of what was going on BUT THAT DOESN'T SELL UNITS TO MISINFORMED RICH GUITARISTS DOES IT!? 😂😂😂 Sorry for the rant, guys. This kind of bs gets to me. Edit: it sounds like there's some tone shaping like any pre-amp would have like high and low pass filtering and then some stage of saturation. I'm not hating on the product, this all sounds great and I wish they just FKING said "this is an enhancer that does exactly X Y Z" and not "improves your gain and tone and wood and erectile dysfunction if you pay for the premium version"
Hey man, you ever try one of Legendary Tones Mr Scary Mods for your amps ? . I put one in my Mesa Badlander and it made it a nasty beast . Just curious., 🤘🏻🤘🏻
Dude honestly, get the ART EQ 351 (31 band EQ). Put it right in your fx loop. Trust me. It’s basically the same price. I wish soooo badly that someone would have told me, 10 years ago “Don’t bother w/ an EQ pedal - whether 6 band or 10 band or parametric. Don’t bother, it’s a waste of time. Get a 31 band graphic EQ - put it in your loop. That’s it. That’s the play.” Best wishes, - Ian
I just bought the 15 band stereo art for that reason .one side for the in and the other for the effects loop..but I didn't hook it up yet . funny coincidence lol
Lost me at 'increased sensitivity from the wood'. Don't want to start the tonewood debate under this video, but assuming tonewood was a thing, that still just doesn't make any sense. There is a difference, especially noticeably with gain, but that's nothing a mild compressor pedal or a very subtle boost pedal can't do, when lowering the pickup height for more dynamics. That's probably even better and definetly cheaper. At a pricepoint of 300$ (!) and the fact that you have to tinker with your guitar to put it in, that's just a ridicoulus marketing gimmick. I would not keep it, but each to their own.
I’m old enough to have owned a sonic maximizer too.
Good 😎
I had one too. I ruined my tin ears, now they're steel.
"More is more" - Can't argue with that!
🕺😎
Just like yngwie always says
Euge, did you get the strat in this video from Warmoth aged as it is now, or did you do it yourself? Please clarify, thx .... Great sound of the Platinum circuit and playing btw.
I have a rack BBE and two of the pedal units for my pedalboard. I've been using the Sonic Maximizer since 1994. It's just an analog EQ and it doesn't color the sound. Technically it realigns the highs and lows so they arrive at the speakers at the same time. It's called the "Time Domain" problem. It's a phase issue where highs and lows become misaligned by how fast they travel through the circuit. The sonic maximizer fixes this misalignment as the signal enters the poweramp. All of those frequencies are there they're just misaligned that's why the BBE works because it's already there. IMO you should use a BBE on the input to your poweramp in any setup. This pickup maximizer seems like a great addition to your rig as well. It's likely correcting some of these issues caused by capacitance in the pickup. I'm always looking for more clarity and how to get a more resonant punchy sound with less gain. The BBE lets you dial your sound in like you never heard it. You don't know till you add one and dial it in. You have to go back and forth between your tone controls on the amp and the BBE. Once you find the sweet spot you'll know it.
I still have mine since the 90s. It was great live.
Cool, sounds like signal exciter on both ends of the frequency spectrum.
Thanks for the demo! You can definitely hear its effect.
I'm wary about this item, though. It's crazy expensive, and in their website no information is clear, there's just a lot of ambiguous statements, lots of acronyms without an actual explanation.
A couple of weeks ago I bought from a seller in my favourite Chinese marketplace a BBE-licensed stereo board with a BA3884F chip, powered with 5-12 V and high/low controls, costing less than 5 € (around 2 € shipping, less than 10-day delivery). I've yet to test it, since I intended to replace its trimmers with pots and make a pedal with it, but it's so small it could fit in a guitar cavity. However, its effect on each frequency band is clearly described in the BA3884F datasheet (the typical BBE thing).
This item looks to me like they got in bulk a similar chip or board, put it in a case (because most guitarists don't tend to properly EMF shield cavities 😛), chose a preset, and then sell it at a high profit.
That and in a cheap 3D printed case.
I'm old enough to have owned a sonic maximizer too.
Amongst a ton of other gear that is now extinct lol.
What we really need is a Euge Valovirta ToneHub pack! 🔥
I certainly can hear the boost … I like it! To me it’s like you have a neck pickup, then a bridge pickup and now a saddle pickup!! We tend to prefer the humbuxking bridge anyway so move just a slight more and we have the phantom saddle pickup 🤘
It does sound nice but not sure if it's any better than a boost
Bit skeptical of the price snd how it just says it will sound better in any way without really specificating any technical information regarding this. Not sure why it would need Tungsten so shielding 🤔
What does it _do_ to the sound? You should compare with a clean boost or an eq.
I think ears are pretty good devices for the job. If not: like Mick Jagger sang; You can’t always get what you want 😉.
I don't know, I've been going down these rabbit holes for so long; is it all an illusion?
Awesome! I'm wondering if I can install one of these and have it activated with a push/pull pot. Definitely going to have to try one out Thanks! 👍
Yes, you can do it with a push-pull pot. Switch might be cleaner though. But if you like the sound, why turn it off? I have it permanently on in my guitar and I’m not going back without it. Note that you can control its effect with the volume knob the way it’s wired.
Please also check out Taurus Servo V2. It does makes everything sound better without changing the feel under the hand
Taurus has Servo in stompbox format and also device which can be mount in guitar. I had V1 and it was awesome.
To this day i have had ONE single pedal that does exactly THAT maxi effect....and surprisingly it is an overdrive. where overdrives most of the time do some kind of the opposite. It is the guitarsystems junior drive, dtep on it the sound comes literally closer and becomes 3D in the room.Without getting louder and,whitout Eq- ing. Its crazy.but wonderful. Switching it off the sound seems to disappear in the speaker.
Sounds like you are changing the EMG pickups for Fishman pickups!
Definitely noticed a difference and like the sound.
But wouldn’t running a compressor as a clean boost in front of the sd1 for rhythm and leads and by itself for cleans do the same thing
Yes, but this is built into your guitar. It just depends on your workflow. What really disappoints me is how full of nonsense their product page is, the same way any "audiophile" equipment is, or in other words: malicious marketing.
- "premium superior materials" What?
- "it's louder while being more dynamic" No. You're confusing spectral fullness (including saturation) with dynamics.
- "ELF wave tech" Jargon. ELF applies to hobbyist radio techs or distant comms (NASA, submarines, etc.)
- "Improves gain structure" Impossible. The recording/mixer controls the gain structure.
- "Improves tone character" Stop it.
- "Allows for resonance of wood" Stop it more.
I wish companies were just honest of what was going on BUT THAT DOESN'T SELL UNITS TO MISINFORMED RICH GUITARISTS DOES IT!? 😂😂😂
Sorry for the rant, guys. This kind of bs gets to me.
Edit: it sounds like there's some tone shaping like any pre-amp would have like high and low pass filtering and then some stage of saturation. I'm not hating on the product, this all sounds great and I wish they just FKING said "this is an enhancer that does exactly X Y Z" and not "improves your gain and tone and wood and erectile dysfunction if you pay for the premium version"
Yeah totally understand. The market is over saturated with overhyped overpriced needless stuff that can be easily solved with something cheaper
It's nice but same effect i get with marshall blues breaker, i use it for absolutely same reason
Hey man, you ever try one of Legendary Tones Mr Scary Mods for your amps ? . I put one in my Mesa Badlander and it made it a nasty beast . Just curious., 🤘🏻🤘🏻
Yes I’ve done videos about them. Great units! Atm I don’t have them in any of my amps but I pop them in out & out from time to time👌🕺.
Pretty interesting
Yes i have a bbe 362
Is it pretty much the same thing my JP music man has?
I have a rack version of the BBE Sonic Maximizer.
I have 1, haven't even tried it yet,
Ooh in the thumbnail it looked like a small piece of paper😂
😁😁😁
Actually it makes me want to buy an Mxr 10 band equalizer to fine tune myself lol
Dude honestly, get the ART EQ 351 (31 band EQ). Put it right in your fx loop. Trust me. It’s basically the same price. I wish soooo badly that someone would have told me, 10 years ago “Don’t bother w/ an EQ pedal - whether 6 band or 10 band or parametric. Don’t bother, it’s a waste of time. Get a 31 band graphic EQ - put it in your loop. That’s it. That’s the play.”
Best wishes,
- Ian
i been using the boss ge7 for years it has a volume boost also
I just bought the 15 band stereo art for that reason .one side for the in and the other for the effects loop..but I didn't hook it up yet . funny coincidence lol
Eh, not sure about this one. Seems to be introducing more problems than benefits. 🙂
Lost me at 'increased sensitivity from the wood'. Don't want to start the tonewood debate under this video, but assuming tonewood was a thing, that still just doesn't make any sense. There is a difference, especially noticeably with gain, but that's nothing a mild compressor pedal or a very subtle boost pedal can't do, when lowering the pickup height for more dynamics. That's probably even better and definetly cheaper. At a pricepoint of 300$ (!) and the fact that you have to tinker with your guitar to put it in, that's just a ridicoulus marketing gimmick. I would not keep it, but each to their own.
Tottaly unneeded imho...and for 290$...come on...
For me it's a big NO. To much detail in your sound make it sounds like plastic.
Euge, do you have any videos that have info on the speakers that are in the cabinets you use? Thanks, luv your videos ❤
Yes. Here’s the latest one:
- ruclips.net/video/95NJqB6ytZM/видео.htmlsi=DwSn7fF4eWaVTnd1