Ugly Guitar Truth: BBE Mini Sonic Stomp

So, I've a complicated relationship with BBE's pedals. I had the Acousi Max... and I really liked it. That is until its power jack tore the trace off of the pcb and I had to perform surgery on to keep it working. However I was never really able to trust it after that, so I leaned more on my Aphex Acoustic Xciter pedal (great pedal btw). I've never really bothered with the regular Sonic Stomp/ Sonic Maximizer. Why? I've been able to recreate most of the effect with a decent EQ pedal. So, when I saw that BBE had made a mini version of the pedal, I got excited. I thought that maybe it is time to pick one of these up. I could save some space on my board and have a simple "tweak the highs and lowest" kind of pedal. And then I found some things that weren't so pretty.

Concentric Knobs


The first time I saw concentric knobs it was on the BOSS MT-2 Metal Zone. I thought it was a great way to offer more controls in a tight space. Super cool idea. But what I don't understand is what they decided to do it on this particular pedal. It has two controls. Even though it is in a tiny package, it still has room for two separate knobs. So, why make it more difficult to manipulate than it has to be. Doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

Pricing


Yes, I know, I'm cheap. $99 is fine for a great pedal. The Sonic Stomp is cool pedal. It's Super useable, simple and straightforward. But the regular version is actually cheaper. Right now the regular Sonic Stomp is under $65. Used you can find them for $40. So why are you going to pay nearly double for a mini version. Obviously BBE have their reasons for their pricing, but in the case of Ibanez, their mini pedals are priced under their full sized units. EHX also cuts price along with size in most of their pedals. So why BBE do you have to up charge are down sizing.

Conclusion


That's all I really have to say about this pedal. It is really simple, and probably just as good as its bigger brother. Maybe it is a full update to the hardware. They could have called it a MKII if that's true. To be honest, I would have minded if they stuck it in a 1590b sized box and kept the price were it is.

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