Some background. If you want, skip this whole section to the stars ***:
Enhancer/excitor/maximizer(/whatever-your-company-calls-it), is NOT the same thing as a bright switch or top boost. Its more like a doing the opposite job of a compressor for the high frequencies. Different dynamics make noticeable differences in tone, whereas a standard equalizer doesn't have that effect. Enhancers are commonly shunned by tone purists and noise makers alike, but please keep an open mind here.
Apparently you're supposed to run excitor last in your pedal chain/mixing routes; but it sounds completely awful to me. It takes your favorite distortion sound and gives it that iPod earbud tone. *Cringe* I'm running these excitors BEFORE anything else. It really helps to prepare the signal of a pickup or microphone for running into some good distortion/fuzz/OD pedals.
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BBE SONIC MAX vs. BOSS EH-2
BBE Sonic Max sounds great for guitars. I wish there was more control parameters, but then again it sounds perfect as is. The extra bass control(pretty sure this is just a bass frequency boost; not excitor) helps a lot too. Kind of expensive but if you're playing a polyphonic or somehow sonically dense instrument you might want to consider it.
Boss eh-2 enhancer. this pedal is a lot more interesting than I was expecting. Its cheap and easy to find on eBay. The controls are hard to understand, but its the kind of pedal you will spend a bunch of time tweaking to get the perfect tone. Notice that the mix knob can go into inverse. On some setting I was getting slight wah effects when I changed my strum patterns... never found it again but its there somewhere. Boss EH-2 can really be one of those secret weapon pedals like that.
When testing pedals I always finish by doing a cliche rockstar move, finishing a set by engaging all pedals and putting the guitar up against the speaker. Boss enhancer is pretty unpredictable in this setting especially when you mess with the knobs. Kinda reminiscent of Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music. It can make chirping clicking beats wild stuff, I should upload a clip of it. As an added bonus, EH-2 has an extra LED that turns brighter the more processing is happening; which looks really cool.
CONCLUSION: BOSS EH-2 WINS
BBE sonic max is great if you are in the market for a guitar excitor. However, Boss Enhancer is a whole lot cheaper, more tweakable, and (with some other distortion pedals) will satisfy your home-alone feedback fetish needs. Plus: it has the discontinued boss pedal cool factor.
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A friend of mine gave me a Boss EH2 many years ago. I still use it for twiddling with the ol' digital 4 track, and sometimes use it in conjuntion with the MXR "Zack Wild" Overdrive pedal, which is cheesy in and of itself, but sounds really cool in front of the Boss Enhancer.
ReplyDeleteHi. Found an EH-2 in a Lakewood Pawn shop in CA. Never seen one before & bought it for $40. Have also put it in front of my MXR Zack Wylde Overdrive. Still experimenting. Jury still out. Have also the BBE Sonic Max pedal at the end of chain. My sounds chordally/solo sparkle. Thanx for background stuff.
ReplyDeleteI got a couple of these for like $15 each when they were closing them out. It's a subtle effect. The way I use it is to set up a good usable tone for the bridge pickup without the enhancer then use it to brighten up the tone for the other pickups. It adds a nice sparkle to the sound. Me likey.
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