I was just reading some stuff about the BBE, and all it really seems to do is just boost or cut frequencies at 50 Hz and 12K. That's pretty shady. I'd rather spend $20 more and have fuller control of my sound with the MXR. Can the MXR 10 Band EQ do what the BBE Sonic Maximizer can and more? And is the BBE just a glorified EQ device? What do you guys think?

Also... what's the difference between the Kerry King 10 Band EQ and the regular one? All I can see is it that the KFK model has got two outputs.

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Yes, and yes. the bbe also scoops your mids which makes it hard to cut through... its like throwing a blanket over your cab. you could set the mxr to sound EXACTLY the same if you wanted, but why would you want to set it to sound like poop?


one other difference is it has that glow-in-the-dark tribal graphic
both of them have lights on the sliders though, its bad ass.

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i had the regular 10 band ... it was ok. increasing the gain above 0 made mine really noisy. i haven't played the other two so i can't compare, sry. but they're kind of pricey so i think it's only a good idea if you want it for leads or as an intermittent effect. if you're going to leave it on all the time, i would get a rack unit maybe a multi with more features for a better value, and keep it up out of the way.

In defense of the BBE. The Sonic Maximizer is more than an EQ. It adjusts the phase relationships of the low, mid and high frequencies. Since a loudspeaker's natural tendency is to add progressively longer delay times to higher frequencies, the BBE adds progressively longer delay times to lower frequencies. This creates a kind of "mirror" curve to the time delay curve created by the speaker, neutralizing its phase distortion. Loudspeakers tend to be less efficient in their extreme treble and bass ranges. Most sound-reproducing systems include a circuit for boosting high and low frequencies. The BBE, however, provides a dynamic, program-driven augmentation of the higher and lower frequencies. Which combines with the phase compensation feature to restore the brilliance and clarity of the original live sound.

That being said. In a guitar rig I'd prefer a graphic eq.

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I'd suggest that the MXR you had may have been defective, the 10-band version is meant to be the quietest EQ out there AFAIK. If you are unsure on how much use you will get out of an EQ just pick up a Danelectro Fish N Chips EQ. Its amazing quality for the price, really quiet and transparent.

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If you were boosting the volume on the pedal, it's normal that it's noisier, same goes for boosting individual frequencies too much. Boosting frequencies especially mids and highs will generally result in boosted noise with EQ pedals(and OD's with EQ control), regardless if it's a 20$ or a 100$ one. The noise is inherent to boosting the gain of individual frequencies. The most ideal way to use EQ is to cut excess frequencies rather than add gain to frequencies that are weak.

Mild boosts to certain frequencies can sound amazing though. Any EQ in the fx loop of any amp can shape the sound of the amp more than anything else you could buy for it.

I have a Fish n' Chips EQ and although it looks like a toy it works extremely well, not noisy unless I really go overboard with the highs. The volume/gain slider always stays in the center position, unless I want a mild volume boost when it's in the FX loop. In front of the amp a really mild volume and upper mid boost really screams.

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O really?! Cool, maybe I shall pick one up, I never tried my FnC in front of the amp when I had it. The couple of OD boosts I did try sounded a bit crap on the Fireball.

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http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/...nalogy9/mxr.jpg

i don't think it was broken. boosting the individual frequencies didn't make it noisy, it was just the gain and volume that i had to keep in check.

i'd boost the gain to like +1 and lower the volume to -5, then set the frequencies. that level matched with the level while the pedal was off without a lot of noise.

i've never used another boost pedal before ... maybe they all add that much noise idk. but from this experience i'd say it's a good eq but a poor boost. maybe the KFK edition is better for boosting?

syc: i got it for my ampeg and it made a drastic improvement. i think an eq for your VH is definitely a good idea.

That's awesome to hear, because debating whether an EQ pedal would be good to get for my VH140c has been on my mind for the longest time.
Just for shits and giggles I went and bought both of them to compare the two. So far I have only tested out the BBE Sonic Stomp, and I have to say the difference between the amp's tone with the BBE off and on is HUGE, a great perceived improvement, total "blanket off of the speakers" effect like everyone says. It sounds like you're playing your guitar and amp through a mastering machine during a final mixdown, if that makes any sense. The thing is though, it really kinda seems like a glorified EQ - two knobs, one is "Lo Contour" that BBE says is at 50Hz (aka LOW BASS) and the other is "Process" at 12khz (aka HIGH ASS TREBLE). The manual recommends setting either one of these at 5 or lower, which is where the pedal sounded best. After diming the two knobs just to see what would happen, I see why. Diming the Lo Contour knob was like playing through a subwoofer with the bass control all the way up, and diming the Process knob was just stupid, I got pelted with these searing ultra-high frequencies I didn't even know existed. So to me, it really just seems like it adds those two frequencies back into the signal somehow (digitally or whatever), giving you a "perceived" improvement of tone simply because it contains more frequencies across the sweep, because you're adding like + or - of up to 12 db of EQ at the very beginning and end of the sound's frequency range, at a fixed Q shape that BBE figured out. It's louder as well with the BBE on. I think this is the same thing that happens when you're in a program like Winamp, and you turn the EQ on, and raise all the sliders up to the middle of the EQ range (+6 db I think.) Everything sounds alot louder, brighter, and fuller (minor adjustments needed in Winamp of course.)

Keep in mind, I haven't yet gotten the MXR KFK eq, that's coming on Friday, and I'm really eager to see what that's going to do to the tone, and if it's a better investment/improvement than the BBE.

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I had a Sonic Maximizer, when you first use one you think wow!, but after a while when you turn it off you realise how good your original tone was!!.
Kinda made my amp distortion have a creepy weird processed sound.
Anyways i sold it and built one of the BYOC ( build your own clone ) 10 band EQ's and have never looked backed. Sounds amazing and it's cheap!! Just got to build it yourself, but that makes it sound even better !! llol.

+1

My Sonic Maximizer now sits in my PA rack where it belongs. If my amp can't cut it naked, I sell the amp and move on to one that will.

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I'm messing around with my MXR KFK 10 Band EQ now, and I replicated the same "blanket off the speakers" effect that the BBE can do by adding some upper midrange EQ. Huge difference in the tone since it's more natural and I realize how much "processed" the tone sounded through the BBE now.

Kleenex, what settings do you have dialed in on the VH and the MXR eq?

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sry can't remember ... sold the pedal a while ago. the gain was up a little and the volume was down ... and that helped with noise. no idea about the frequency settings.

i run the head at (/10)
gain 9-10
low 6
mid 6-9
high 5-7

but its cool that you tested them side by side. i was curious about the maximizer.

if you get a chance, maybe post some clips so we can hear and compare???

I sold my vintage black label Boss GE-7 after I A/Bed it with my BBE.

I actually like my BBE I found that as long as you don't go over board with the controls then it will retain a natural ( although different ) tone. That can be a useful tool at times. I'm pretty sure it does more than just boost curtain freqs like an EQ.

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Yeah, much to my dissapointment the pedal is a little noisy but doing this like you said, helps.


Cool man, I've got my gain at 5, the lows at 2, the mid almost at 5 and the highs almost at 7. I'm suprised your gain is almost all the way up dude! The gain at 4.5 on the VH140c is like the gain at 10 on most amps I've played, it's sick.



I just finished playing them back to back for hours, and for some reason, I can't get over what the BBE does to my sound. It just makes everything better and clearer without searing my face off. I will still have to mess around alot more with the MXR this week before I make a final decision on which one to sell off. There's so many possibilities with the EQ and the gain that I can't just call the BBE the winner yet.

Samples would be awesome wouldn't they? I've been meaning for a reason to fuck around with Audacity. We'll see.

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I just got an mxr 10 band and its pretty kickass. By putting it before the preamp and boosting 1khz my leads actually sound good off of the bridge pup.