Perhaps folks interested in attaining that sound swapped units like the Aphex for cool mic's, pre's and slick high end outboard eq's.

Avalon gear and also Amek 9098 series pre/eq combos for example, can add that whispy 'high end' high freequency lift people hold in such regard. (often in tandem with a de-esser when used on vocals)

High frequency excitation - a little 'un hip' as a technique these days IMHO.

:)

I just got a new mix and saw they have a new aphex exciter i think model number 204? It said its been improved or something. I still want a dbx subharmnic synth thing.

I got rid of my Aphex's years ago. I just couldn't get a useful sound out of them. :( Occasionally the big bottom was useful for running a synth piano through that had no low end to boost. But if I was desperate enough to want to "excite" something, I always found that the Barcus Berry/BBE stuff was a little less offensive, if used sparingly.

The Aphex is the only one that will allow you to use the drastic settings needed to bring some clarity to ancient cassettes. If you feel that the sound is too harsh then you can always turn the effect down but, for me, the BBE and similar boxes are too subtle to be useful.

Cheers.

James.

I always used these boxes as more as an effect than an eq. Sounds weird, but boosting even-ordered harmonics seemed more useful as an excitement effect as opposed to just adding top end. I'll still pull one out (or even use the plug-in version) every now and again for steel string guitars or harpsicords. As far as the big bottom, it was cool back in the day, but now there are many much better sounding options available.