I needed to 'finish' my sound for a theatre in which I am a house musician. Since I'm required to play sooo many styles - I do run quite a few pedals/effects, but my final sound going to the amp lacked absolute definition. I was able to put a 'high wax finish' on the house guitar tone w/ this product and take headaches away from the house sound guys. It's got everyone's attention. All my effects 'woke-up' - tremelo, script phase 90, flanger, 3 distortions, chorus, and two delay pedals.

The best feature set includes the direct box when bypassing an amp altogether (I do this at church) and the ground lift is necessary to alleviate ground loop problems. I have found nothing lacking in this unit - but you must be patient when you first get it and use it. Take your time with it and engage another set of ears to assist you in finding the best settings. Lastly, compare the difference when the unit is On/Off - while it might not sound night/day at first - it will quickly grow on you as you realize there are dozens of improved nuances to the multitude of tones generated from today's busy pedal boards.

There is an absolute learning curve!!! If you want complete miracles in just minutes without carefully studying what the product is doing, then you'll be dissappointed. But then, everybody will realize that your probably not the great guitarist you think you are.

Be careful when hauling the unit around. It could be easy to damage the tiny switches in the back of the unit.

This products beats the BBE sonic maximizer hands down. Although they are completely different products - if you had to choose between one or the other - get the xciter!

The company is great in responding to your questions on how to get the most out of your ENTIRE system when using this product.

Well labled and greatly styled!

Active Musician - 30+ years

Contemporary Worship, Rock, New Country, Cool Jazz, Motown, Blues

Adds sparkle to dull guitars. Don't use the bass enhancer as much, but a little can be useful.

It is too flimsy. The jacks just go into some plastic receptors, not the metal ones you know from most stompboxes. Mine has a tendency to suddenly fall out completely. Unfortunately, I bought it like this in Sam Ash 48th Street NY. The salesman fiddles with the power for it to make it work. I thought it was the "human interface" at fault, but when I came back to Europe I discovered it was the hardware. Impossible to send it back without getting in trouble with customs authorities etc. Too bad this, because I really like what it does.

The sound is so great, but the build quality is far below comparable pedals.

They never replied to an email about my problem. So I gave up.

Don't like the cartoonish look, the decorations. Just make it look as simple as all other stomp boxes.

Hobbyist

Rock

It took about an hour to get the tone I was looking for but with a little patience and some EQ it was better than expected. I also tried the Maximizer but took it back. It just doesn't do what the Exciter does which gives me the rich professional tone I've always been looking for. It's almost like it's breathing on the highs and chunks on the bottom without the mud.

4 Knobs and a few switches. Everything you need and not complicated. Best feature was it runs on virtually any power supply.

Like anything you have to work at it a little to get the tone you want. I haven't seen anything that works great on all guitars, amps, speakers, pickups, and styles out of the box,

The main footswitch could be better. You have to be a little careful or you might break it.

Best $100 bucks I ever spent.

Didn't need any.

Aural Exciter - the name says it all.

Active Musician

Hard Rock and Metal