So my curiosity got the better of me and I bought a Sonic Stomp Pro. So far I’ve tried it in the fx loop of my solid state Ampeg, and the results are interesting.
It’s definitely doing something, but whether or not it’s simply an EQ adjustment is hard to tell. In the past I’ve read that the process dynamically boosts treble depending on your input signal. I did notice that the hiss of the preamp dynamically changes with the strength of my playing (very, very slightly), so maybe that is true. Overall, the pedal does make things sound better, but I can’t really tell if there’s any magic here that a simple EQ boost wouldn’t accomplish.
Maybe I’ll do a recorded comparison between dry, the BBE, and a graphic EQ. I want to make sure that everything is normalized so there’s no issue with something sounding better just because it’s louder, because the Sonic Stomp does boost level slightly.
Even if it’s is just a glorified EQ, the sonic performance is excellent. It doesn’t add noise to the signal, whether used before or after a distorting preamp. It’s very clean. So far I’m pleased with what it’s doing. It seems to make the tone wider, deeper, and clearer. My settings currently are pretty conservative, because I’ve always read that extreme settings can cause ear fatigue, but I like what I hear. It is nice to have the “Focus” control to add mids, because the other controls can cause a scooped tone.
If I get around to doing a recorded comparison I will post it in this thread. Cheers!
It’s definitely doing something, but whether or not it’s simply an EQ adjustment is hard to tell. In the past I’ve read that the process dynamically boosts treble depending on your input signal. I did notice that the hiss of the preamp dynamically changes with the strength of my playing (very, very slightly), so maybe that is true. Overall, the pedal does make things sound better, but I can’t really tell if there’s any magic here that a simple EQ boost wouldn’t accomplish.
Maybe I’ll do a recorded comparison between dry, the BBE, and a graphic EQ. I want to make sure that everything is normalized so there’s no issue with something sounding better just because it’s louder, because the Sonic Stomp does boost level slightly.
Even if it’s is just a glorified EQ, the sonic performance is excellent. It doesn’t add noise to the signal, whether used before or after a distorting preamp. It’s very clean. So far I’m pleased with what it’s doing. It seems to make the tone wider, deeper, and clearer. My settings currently are pretty conservative, because I’ve always read that extreme settings can cause ear fatigue, but I like what I hear. It is nice to have the “Focus” control to add mids, because the other controls can cause a scooped tone.
If I get around to doing a recorded comparison I will post it in this thread. Cheers!
