BBE - Sonic Stomp ( Sonic Maximizer )

analogguru · Post by **analogguru** » 07 Jul 2007, 23:19

Here are some guts:

BBE Sonic Stomp
BBE Sonic Stomp inside
BBE Sonic Stomp components
BBE Sonic Stomp tracks

The datasheet for the chip should be available at JRC (I downloaded it from there long time ago). Time for a stompbox "Aphex-B".

analogguru

bajaman · Post by **bajaman** » 08 Jul 2007, 01:00

Hi analogguru
I already had these pics

Do you remember the BBE Stinger pedal? It was a canary yellow coloured box - came out in the mid to late 80s - EVERY guitarist in town had one, left on permanently - became affectionately known as the "BBE Nothing" pedal.

I wonder if this pedal is the same thing, but in a fancier looking package

Cheers
Steve

soulsonic · Post by **soulsonic** » 08 Jul 2007, 01:11

I know a guy who runs a rackmount BBE in the effects loop of his amp. He uses it for the bass boost function. I don't know why he wastes his time with it - a good multiband compressor could get him the same effect without wrecking the rest of his sound the way the BBE does. Those things really bug me - all they do is add distortion.

bajaman · Post by **bajaman** » 08 Jul 2007, 01:18

Way back when

BBE claimed that the Stinger, made a guitar sound more like a guitar, a piano sound more like a piano, a bass sound more like a bass, a violin sound more like a violin, etc. etc. etc.
Makes you wonder what they sounded like before - did a violin sound like bagpipes

Steve

soulsonic · Post by **soulsonic** » 08 Jul 2007, 01:21

A box that could make a violin sound like bagpipes - that would be a cool effect!

bajaman · Post by **bajaman** » 08 Jul 2007, 01:25

apparently, the bagpipes originated in China

But it reminds me of a joke - "the Irish gave the bagpipes to the Scottish, but the Scots still haven't got the joke"

Sorry, I'm getting off the topic

grolschie · Post by **grolschie** » 08 Jul 2007, 10:46

The reviews at HC seems to mostly agree that the BBE circuits improve the sound.

BBE reckon the 482i is the best sounding:
http://www.radio-flier.com/PDF%20Files/BBE%20482i.pdf
Full schematic on pages 14-17 of:
http://www.bbesound.com/pdfs/482i_manual.pdf

oscarv77 · Post by **oscarv77** » 04 Apr 2008, 21:46

The pics are gone... if someone has them, please let me know.

Thanks!

guiltyspark · Post by **guiltyspark** » 05 Apr 2008, 17:41

I had one of these for a little while, and the GreenScreamer too. I was surprised that they were built pretty well, not SMD. Looked like they could be modded easily. The Sonic Stomp sounded pretty good on clean guitar, kinda bad on anything distorted. Made other pedals sound very solid state and fake to my ear, boosted lows a lot too.

Guiltyspark

BlameCanada · Post by **BlameCanada** » 07 Apr 2008, 23:17

If anyone is interested there is a BBE stinger going cheap on the bay.

cheers

https://cgi.ebay.com/BBE-Stinger-the-ON ... dZViewItem

dellamorte · Post by **dellamorte** » 10 Apr 2008, 16:06

The pics are gone... if someone has them, please let me know.

Thanks!

uncleboko · Post by **uncleboko** » 10 Apr 2008, 22:16

There is no way to buy the chip - I've tried.

dellamorte · Post by **dellamorte** » 11 Apr 2008, 00:43

i know that

i made a baja clone but im confused on the how to hook up the switching and led so i was after a gut shot

CHEEZOR · Post by **CHEEZOR** » 04 Aug 2009, 09:22

Can anybody tell me what this pedal actually does? They say in the information that comes with the pedal thats it corrects the phase of the guitar signal so that it works better with the speakers if I remember correctly. When I read it I remember thinking that they were full of shit. It sounds like a very nice eq pedal to me. Am I wrong?

Greg · Post by **Greg** » 04 Aug 2009, 12:58

CHEEZOR wrote:Can anybody tell me what this pedal actually does? They say in the information that comes with the pedal thats it corrects the phase of the guitar signal so that it works better with the speakers if I remember correctly. When I read it I remember thinking that they were full of shit. It sounds like a very nice eq pedal to me. Am I wrong?

Well... yes.
Changing the phase of an audio signal can have some very real effects.. changing how your ears perceive things and even where the sound is coming from to some extent... in some cases producing a type of 3D effect.

There's some good discussion about it here.. Mark Hammer describes it much better than i can:

https://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/ ... ic=70679.0

CHEEZOR · Post by **CHEEZOR** » 04 Aug 2009, 21:05

Thanks for the link!

andersom · Post by **andersom** » 06 Aug 2009, 16:31

is there any need for gutshot photos?
I have a sonic stomp and i can make some pictures if anybody is interested..

paulc · Post by **paulc** » 06 Aug 2009, 18:30

The BBE process is different from the aphex. It doesn't add harmonic distortion like the aphex does. It works by inducing phase distortion with the goal of "correcting" phase distortion. The process takes the signal and splits it into low/mid/hi freq ranges. The lows are then delayed by several ms. the mids are also delayed, but not as much as the lows. Then a slight compression is added to the highs which are not delayed. Some of the units also have an added bass boost control. It's based on the theory of time alignment used in audio systems. There's a couple of different thoughts on this. The fundemental tone comes first, and then the harmonics show up. By delaying the fundemental some you are lining it up in time with the harmonics. The other thought comes into play with speaker res. The speaker can react "quicker" around it res freq, so by delaying the fundementals you are trying to make the speaker react the same in time for all freqs.

For myself it's kind of rig dependent. I ran one in my old rack back in the 90's when i used my boogie 2x12 cabs. Made a big difference with that rig. When used with my old basketweave 4x12 it didn't have nearly as strong of an effect.

DougH · Post by **DougH** » 06 Aug 2009, 20:22

I've got a rack mount BBE. The "process" kind of messes with a distorted sound in a way that I don't like. You can hear the slight delay in some of the freq bands and it sounds kind of wacky IMO. Still, I can see why some metalheads like it. If you go subtle with the "process" part you can pump the bass up quite a bit without it getting flubby. Kind of a "fancy EQ" in that application. Overall though, it kind of reminds of an 80's metal distortion-with-chorus sound- very "processed". If you like that sort of thing, you'll like the BBE for distorted guitar. For clean guitar it can sound very nice.

Overall, I think it's better suited as a mixing/mastering tool for a stereo mix. Whenever I hear something marketed as "correcting deficiencies" in a speaker setup that has basically worked fine for decades, the "audiophool alarm" goes off in my head and I start calling BS. However, there is a time & place for this sort of thing. I was in a band in the 70's where the soundman had a "dynamic expander" that did wonders for clearing up the p.a. mix. I view the BBE as sort of the same kind of thing, although done by a different method. The end goal is to clear up a mix, IMO.

BTW, I always thought the "process" was a DSP algorithm. If you're gonna build this you will need the source code.

celadine · Post by **celadine** » 07 Aug 2009, 02:59

Bajaman already made a nice clone of this -

https://www.freestompboxes.org/viewtopic ... &hilit=bbe

Then Smallbear has the V2153, a copy (albeit surface mount) of the NJM2153

http://semicon.njr.co.jp/njr/hp/product ... _MOVE_SPEC