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I've had the BBE362 in my main system for months now and as recent as Saturday I found myself bypassing the unit as I like the sound "better" without it. NOW I kow this goes against everything I've read here and elsewhere.

But the system with it ON sounds "HARSH" and Sratchy if thats makes sense.

I've set up the system from the beginning many  times - ZEROED the EQ and tested many settings on the BBE ( granted there are only two knobs) But no matter what I do I get a BRIGHT sound that is TOOO BRIGHT.  Almost ear piercing.   When I bypass the system it justs sounds better. (Using Peavey SP5G or Yamaga SV115 with a Mackie DFX12).  

Am I doing something wrong or has ANYONE else had this experience ???

I'd be interested in anyone's response to this.  I'm considering a purchase of the BBE882I in the near future to restore some of the bass and sub-bass harmonics that are trimmed from songs during MP3 and other forms of lossless encoding.

My files are good enough that 99.999% of the people won't notice, but I'd like to restore some of the low end provided the unit will do this...  if it's only going to make the songs brighter than they already are, I'll be looking to add some compressors or DJ Battle Style mixer first...

Some systems won't benefit from the BBE & give results as yours - but that is not very common.  How do you have it hooked up in the system?  Inline from mixer to amp or going through the main inserts on the mixer?  Do you have an outboard eq?
The settings on the BBE shouldn't be set too dramatically.  When I have mine engaged, the presence will actually be rolled back to about 10 oclock with the Lo contour around 11.  I use a dbx 231 eq for the mains & generally don't need the BBE as a rule, but occasionally will kick it in on very busy nights to get over crowd noise.

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No other effects or Eq except what is on the mixer DFX12 or now I recently hooked up to a rackmounted Behringer 1222FX.

Mixer to Maximizer
Maximizer to AMP  and out from there.

I'll give it  ( BBE) one more try this weekend and really cut back on the HIGHS and
see how it sounds.

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Gator

You sound like you really know your stuff:) I have a CAVS 203G player that I DID hook up to my surround sound. Not a good idea?? Is the amp not strong enough or? I just use this for messign around at home (not KJ work) but can you give me an idea on what I could invest in to make the sound great?(Mixer, Amp, speakers?) Thanks so much
William

I just purchased the BBE821 and I think Lonman is correct about not setting it to hot. I use the DFX12 and JBL G2 eons and I had one freak thing happen. During a dance set it sounded as if I blew the speaker. The bass started to make a cracking sound so I turn down the lo on the maximizer and it wasn't as bad. I investigated further and notice the speaker cable was lose. Once I adjusted it the speaker seem to kick in and get louder and I didn't notice the bass cracking. First, does the maximizer have the ability to blow my speaker or is it more likely that a lose speaker cable cause popping? For the most part I like the way the maximizer brings out the highs and lows. There is more clarity. Thanks, Bob

Yes it can, but any processor or over eq'ing can blow a speaker as well.  As with ANY processing be it eq, effects, compression - there can be such a thing as TOO much.  These pieces aren't supposed to take over sound, they are made to enhance an existing signal.

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Home receivers & mainly speakers, just can't cut the vigors or reproduce live vocals very well.  A small karaoke set-up would yield better results - even in a home.

A simple system would be a Mackie DFX-6 & Mackie SRM350 powered speakers.  For home use only, this combo will be killer.

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Thanks Lonman,   Hopefully I didn't damage the speaker. Can a loose XLR cable in cause a speaker to start popping? Once I adjusted the cable the volume of the speaker increased and I didn't notice the popping but I did reduce the bass.

A bad cord could DEFINATELY cause a popping as you describe.

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thaks so much man!!

With the Dfx-12 I'm using the Bbe362 and the Aphex104. A mod puts them between the eq and the main faders out. When Efx or audio processing seems to be more than normal it is usually too high of an input.. On the music I seldom run the faders much above -10 to -6 db esp with a 0db input.  With the right levels any proc will not effect freqs unless it is needed such as an old recording that didnt have the freq range we have now. (such as bass) Unless of course you have the controls set too high on that unit...

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Hosted  karaoke night this past Saturday and reset all EQ and maximizer settings to zero.  I then engaged the BBE362 to were the settings were between 7 and 9 oclock
on the dial. It sounded better than it had in the past and I tweaked it a bit with the mixer main eq and also the channel eq's.  All in all sounded much better than running the settings at 1:00 or 2:00 as I have in the past.  The harshness of the system was gone and the clarity came through.  I might need to test a little but more maximizer at my next gig and see what happens  but it seems in my case Less is MORE and thanks to all for your advice......

You are running your BBE improperly...That's because you have it patched in wrong.

I have the same mixer and a 822A BBE.

Try patching the BBE in via an INSERT jack (using special insert cable) on just your player input strip/strips on the mixer....(then trim the inputs for proper gain)... This places it after the player and before the mixer....Not after the mixer as in your setup.

This will help you stabilize the gain structure so that the BBE sees a much more stable input......And by the way, do the same for your EQ if you use one.

Patched in correctly, you should be able to set the BBE twisty knobbers to 12 o'clock and then trim a little as required......if you have to crank them as low as you say, then you are overdriving the BBE with your mixer outs....So give the BBE it's full dynamic range to work with and you will be amazed at how it sounds.

Yes, too much low contour can boost the bass to where the speakers pop or click...That can be due to over excursion of the voice coils.....It can also cause your amp to clip from too much power drain.....And it can fersure also be caused by bad cable connection.

There are many ways to hook it up & running it inline to the amp is not a wrong way - it's actually recommened in the manual for an overall mix.  I prefer using the insert jack on the main out personally.  But it can be used to brighten up just vocals or just music or the entire mix & sometimes - even properly set-up (all systems are different), less is more!

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