| T.R | Title | User | Personal
Name | Date | Lines |
|---|
| 2755.1 | Barcus Berry | TECRUS::ROST | Deja vu all over again | Mon Jun 21 1993 16:43 | 9 |
| BBE stands for Barcus Berry Electronics, they have been around a *long*
time, at least twenty years. They have been making various forms of
preamps for most of that time, although they were intended to be used
with their pickup systems (notably those for violins).
The Sonic Maximizers are well established in the pro audio industry,
where people seldom tolerate junk.
Brian
|
| 2755.2 | | GOES11::G_HOUSE | Son of Spam | Mon Jun 21 1993 16:46 | 14 |
| Remember Sam, we don't say "BBE" and "Aural Exciter" to refer to the
same thing. Aphex has the term "Aural Exciter" trademarked, so BBE's
is usually referred to as a "psychoacoustic processor".
Like I told you when we talked the other night (in case anyone else is
interested...), I played through one of BBE's guitar preamps a couple
of years ago and didn't care for it. It had a very typical buzzy solid
state distortion that I found almost immediately irritating. The
psychoacoustic thing seemed pretty cool, but even that couldn't help
that wretched distorted sound. Nasty! Also, I thought it sounded
really bland on both channels when you switched the psychoacoustic
thing off.
Greg
|
| 2755.3 | BB | SSDEVO::LAMBERT | I made life easy just by laughing | Mon Jun 21 1993 17:51 | 7 |
| Barcus Berry, eh? Geez, I haven't heard of them in years. No wonder, they
changed their name! :-)
Thanks for the info,
-- Sam
|
| 2755.4 | | KDX200::COOPER | Let The Light Surround You!! | Mon Jun 21 1993 19:23 | 3 |
| Actually, BBE makes the Sonic Maximizer...which is a Pyscho-Acoustic
thingamabob...
jc
|
| 2755.5 | Maximized or Excited? :-) | ZYMRGY::sam | I made life easy just by laughing | Mon Jun 21 1993 19:36 | 13 |
| Yeah, the Sonic Maximizer is built into the 383 preamp, too. As a matter
of fact, that's my main reason for interest in this unit. Sounds great!
Rice Music has one and I got to play with it the other day.
Mine should be here by the end of the week. :-)
Didn't realize Aphex had tm'd the Aural Exciter name. Darn. I mean, it
just sounds so, so EXCITING! :-) Similar system to the BBE, though.
The Maximizer works by doing phase modulation and delay. I've got a spec
sheet, if anyone's interested.
-- Sam (who worked at Acton Music when BB "dot" pickups and their acoustic
preamps were all the rage)
|
| 2755.6 | Ultimate Bass | ELIS::SMITS | | Fri Jul 02 1993 10:13 | 22 |
| Hi,
The 383 Bass preamp and the guitar preamp of a few years ago are two very
different units. They both use the same maximizer circuit but the rest of the
signal processing is quite different. The Bass preamp has EQ facilities in order
to get a clear rich tone. The guitar preamp, however, has also a distortion
control for the heavy duty guitar work.
Now, BBE is a manufacturer who is very skilled in the development of pro audio
equipment which is required to sound "clean". BBE is not specialised is the
fuzzy area of distorted guitar sounds. This is probably the reason why Greg did
not like the BBE guitar preamp.
This does not mean that the Bass preamp is not good either. I've tried the unit
as well and the only conclusion was this is a **** load of value for very
little money. I currently own a TC electronic 1140 preamp but the BBE sounds
almost as good, especially with the maximizer kicked in!!
Therefore my advise to anybody who wants to convert from integrated amp to pre/
poweramp setup, give the BBE 383 a try!!!
Pieter.
|
| 2755.7 | Get 'Em While They're Hot NOT | TECRUS::ROST | Deja vu all over again | Fri Jul 02 1993 11:10 | 4 |
| Mail order dealers have been blowing out the BBE guitar preamps in the
$125 range. Usually a sign that they weren't too popular 8^)
Brian
|
| 2755.8 | Definitely cool, though | ZYMRGY::sam | I made life easy just by laughing | Fri Jul 02 1993 13:57 | 11 |
| re: .6 Thanks for the note. I ended up getting one (the 383) and am very
happy with it. Not too worried about distortion sounds for the bass. :-)
Picked it up for $199 (*including* 2-day air shipping) from Throroughbred
Music in Tampa after calling several places.
It's very flexible, with a 6 band graphic EQ, "punch" (high and low boost),
and variable compressor in addition to the BBE maximizer effect. I'm using
it direct into a board right now. So far I'm very pleased!
-- Sam
|
| 2755.9 | | GOES11::G_HOUSE | Son of Spam | Fri Jul 02 1993 18:26 | 11 |
| re: .6
>Now, BBE is a manufacturer who is very skilled in the development of pro audio
>equipment which is required to sound "clean". BBE is not specialised is the
>fuzzy area of distorted guitar sounds. This is probably the reason why Greg did
>not like the BBE guitar preamp.
Yes, that makes sense. I remember the distortion sound being the main
reason I didn't like the older guitar preamp I tried.
Greg
|
| 2755.10 | ...we bought the entire inventory!! | SALEM::LAYTON | | Tue Jul 06 1993 15:41 | 10 |
| "Sonic Maximizer" and "Aural Exciter" sounds like the stuff DAK
sells, you know, where the guy named Drew writes things like ...
...after three days, the "Sonic Maximizer" had washed AND waxed my
car...
...I tried out the "Aural Exciter" and, frankly, my wife hasn't left
the bedroom since...
Willy Loman
|
| 2755.11 | Magic | TECRUS::ROST | Deja vu all over again | Tue Jul 06 1993 15:54 | 12 |
| The BBE maximizer circuit really does work, although the engineer in me
says "garbage in = garbage out", so it *shouldn't* work. Anyway,
applying some BBE magic to some old cassettes did bring out more detail
without adding noise, although on a good-sounding source, even a little
bit seemed too much.
In a typical guitar or bass amp setup I can see where it could add a
bit of presence without the usual byproducts (hiss and brittleness) and
even make a funky setup sound like one that costs more $$. Once you
turn it on, though you are not going to want to turn it off!
B. Berry
|
| 2755.12 | | STRATA::LUCHT | Is it a passion or just a profession? | Thu Jul 11 1996 03:35 | 6 |
|
What's the difference between the BBE Sonic Max. 400-series and
the 800-series?
Kev --
|
| 2755.13 | Either. You *need* one. :-) | SSDEVO::LAMBERT | We ':-)' for the humor impaired | Thu Jul 11 1996 14:29 | 10 |
| Sorry, can't tell you diff between those two, but I *can* say that I'm
still using my BBE 383 bass preamp (with the Sonic Maximizer circuit) 3
years later (some sort of record for me.) One of the most useful pieces
of equipment I own; I use it for both guitar and bass, direct and amped
applications.
Good luck.
-- Sam
|
| 2755.14 | | KDX200::COOPER | He who laughs last, thinks slowest | Thu Jul 11 1996 16:33 | 8 |
| The difference is the I/O to the module.
The 400 series processors have 1/4" unbalanced I/O and the
800 series has 1/4" balanced/unbalanced and XLR I/O.
The guts are the same, as far as I know.
jc
|
| 2755.15 | ":-)", not that Coop's "impaired"... | SSDEVO::LAMBERT | We ':-)' for the humor impaired | Thu Jul 11 1996 17:40 | 7 |
| > The difference is the I/O to the module.
> jc
Geez, he's startin' to sound like a computer geek or sumpthin'...
-- Sam
|
| 2755.16 | | KDX200::COOPER | He who laughs last, thinks slowest | Thu Jul 11 1996 20:07 | 9 |
| Let me re-phrase:
The 400's have little holes...just big enough for my guitar cords.
The 800's have funny looking BIG holes with three turkey-spikes in
the middle that I could plug my top-o-line rat-shack mike into.
I don't know what why in HELL my guitar cords might have a ring,
a tip anna sleeve...
:-)
|