A great effect for steel

Jerry Hayes · Post by **Jerry Hayes** » 6 Mar 2003 11:47 am

I don't know if this has been discussed on the Forum before but here goes. I bought some PA equipment from a guy who needed the money and I got a rack with some effects in it. One of them was a BE (I think that's the brand) Sonic Maximizer (maybe enhancer I'm at work now and can't see the thing and I'm old with a bad memory). It was made for PA I guess as that's what I took it from but I tried it out with my steel and you wouldn't believe the difference! All I can say is WOW, WOW, and more WOW!!!...These things do so much for the tone of my guitar I just couldn't believe it. I have the mono version. I checked in the Musician's Friend catalog and they only cost around $99.00 but they're worth a bunch more. If you've got access to one of these things, just try it out. I don't think I can live without it now. Also it's only a one rack space item.

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Livin' in the Past and the Future with a 12 string Mooney Universal tuning.

[This message was edited by Jerry Hayes on 06 March 2003 at 11:49 AM.]

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 6 Mar 2003 1:10 pm

I know what you mean. I've had one in my rack setup for quite a while. They've just come out with some new models and the old ones are priced very reasonable. Chances are that's the one you were looking at. The old ones had a blue face on them, the new ones are red with chrome knobs.
Erv[This message was edited by Erv Niehaus on 06 March 2003 at 01:12 PM.][This message was edited by Erv Niehaus on 06 March 2003 at 01:12 PM.]

jim milewski · Post by **jim milewski** » 12 Mar 2003 6:20 pm

what do these things do? I saw them at MF's catalog, and have wondered about them, are they a really good equalizer or something, how would you describe the difference they make in the sound.

Craig A Davidson · Post by **Craig A Davidson** » 12 Mar 2003 6:25 pm

BBE's line up your highs and lows so they come out at the same time. That's why you see them on PA's a lot. But they do really make a steel shine.

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1985 Emmons push-pull, Nashville400, 65 re-issue Fender Twin, Fender Tele

Jerry Roller · Post by **Jerry Roller** » 12 Mar 2003 9:50 pm

There are so many different models how would you choose the best one for steel guitar?
Jerry

David L. Donald · Post by **David L. Donald** » 13 Mar 2003 1:36 am

For steel, unless you're running in stereo the mono unit is fine. Get the 4th generation version. For a single speaker steel amp it should cause an appreciable difference.
On a fine time aligned 2 or 3 way speaker like a studio monitor it would most likely not be needed.
But the low to highs issue on instrument amps still applies. To some extent past that, it's like a multiband graphic EQ flat but with the highs and lows boosted a touch.
Kind of like the loudeness switch on stereos. But I suspect they have a few other little tricks in there too.
One issue would be the boosting of lows. On an under powered PA or amp this will make your amp work harder and have less over all apparent power, because it is boosting them down low to make up for speaker loss. So it is using more power at the same volume setting.
On a 300w+ steel amp you would never notice unless playing at rock band levels... and getting some hearing loss too.

Jim Smith · Post by **Jim Smith** » 13 Mar 2003 5:36 am

I use a Stereo Steel combo preamp/amp with a Boss GX-700 in the effects loop. Each of them has a mono input and stereo output. I tried a stereo Sonic Maximizer between the output of the GX and the effects return of the amp, but it didn't seem to do much, so I sold it.

Where would you recommend I place one? Would a mono unit work better before the input to the amp or between the amp's effects out and the GX's input?

David L. Donald · Post by **David L. Donald** » 13 Mar 2003 7:05 am

If it is after all the effects just before the amp it will effect all the signals; instrument and reverb, etc. combined.
On the other hand if it is before the effects the modified (sweetened) signal will then also be effected; so your sweetened sound is in the reverb. Your choice.

Mark van Allen · Post by **Mark van Allen** » 13 Mar 2003 9:50 am

The various "sonic maximizers" from different manufacturers use different technologies to sweeten the apparent audio- the BBEs use time alignment, the Aphex Aural exciter adds some 3rd order distortion (which we hear as sweetness, ala tube amps), and some of the brands combine approaches. I had a whole stack of different brands/models in here in the studio a while back, and was very surprised to find that I much preferred the sound of a cheaper Behringer unit to the much more expensive aphex I had been using. If you have a store with a used recording gear section in your area, you should be able to find several of these things for peanuts. They really do work, and nothing wrong with using one side of a stereo unit if that's what you find.

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jim milewski · Post by **jim milewski** » 13 Mar 2003 7:33 pm

Mark, what was the berhinger unit called?