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"...it's
awesome - making every guitar sound distinct and articulate... gorgeous,
full tone."
One possible solution to the age-old problem of getting a decent amplified
acoustic tone comes in the form of the BBE Acoustimax pedal ($329 retail/$200
street). This rugged, smart-looking pedal is built like an absolute tank,
with solid, smooth knobs, and tight switches that inspire confidence.
It has very logical controls on its front: a straightforward 3-band EQ
with semi-parametric mids, a feedback-killing notch filter that works
great, input and output gain controls, and the two controls for the Sonic
Maximizer. The Acoustimax’s back panel has a ground lift, a mic-level
XLR D.I. out, phase switch (for pin polarity on the XLR—not to be
confused with a phase switch on a guitar or acoustic amp), a –12dB
pad switch, a pre/post switch to determine whether the main output volume
affects the XLR out, a line out, a tuner out (with a mute footswitch),
and a TRS effects loop. Wow! That’s a lot of stuff for a box that
measures 8.5" x 5.5" x 2.6".
Plugging
a Babicz Identity and a Larrivée dreadnought into the Acoustimax
and then into a Trace-Elliot TA-100, I was instantly impressed by the
warm, full tone. The EQ had impressive range and was a breeze to use,
and the notch filter worked perfectly when feedback crept in. If that
was all you got with the Acoustimax, it would still be a great pedal.
But when you add the Sonic Maximizer to the mix, this thing becomes a
great tool for acoustic guitarists. Activated by the right footswitch,
the Sonic Maximizer sounds amazing and very musical. Both the BBE Process
and the Lo Contour knobs add incredible clarity and punch to an amplified
acoustic. It’s not like an EQ—it deals more with phase and
amplitude relationships. In crude terms, when signals get amplified, they
get screwed up and bass and treble frequencies (and their respective harmonics)
hit the listener’s ear at the wrong time, creating tones that sound
muddy or smeared. The Sonic Maximizer attempts to realign those frequencies,
producing a truer, clearer sound. However they do it, it’s awesome—making
every guitar sound distinct and articulate. I didn’t need to turn
either control past 5 to get a gorgeous, full tone. I set up a little
pedalboard with the Acoustimax, a tuner, a delay pedal, and a volume pedal
and I had a killer, compact rig that I could bring to any club and be
confident of getting a great sound. This pedal is a winner. Well done.
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Frets Magazine
 Learn
more about Acoustimax
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