Aphex Acoustic Xciter 1401 review

 Aphex Acoustic Xciter - the little green box

Disclaimer

This review will focus on my key learnings about the Aphex Acoustic Xciter 1401, and will not go into details about all the technical aspects of the device. If you have not done it so, please browse the available Aphex Xciter resources on the net for more information:

• Aphex Acoustic Xciter official website
• Sound on sound review from 2003
• The famous Thom Bresh video on youtube

 

I have been searching for 'the best' effect for a while now, to enhance the sound of my Yamaha APX guitar. While I am very happy with the body sound of my electro-acoustic guitar, I must admit that the piezo pickup in the bridge loses out on the depth of the sound, just as most piezoelectric pickups do. My Yamaha APX features a fairly noiseless pickup in the bridge, tranforming the beautiful long sustain and harmonics of the body into a very clear, albeit a bit thin signal.

To overcome this issue, I have tried a number of things that all worked to some sort of extent, but I have not found an ultimate acoustic guitar effect just yet. I used to have the BOSS AD-8, which was a huge disappointment, but that will be another review.

After a while, I have learnt about the Aphex Acoustic Xciter 1401 through a small number of super excited, upbeat user reviews, all praising this little box. Despite the generally minimal information available   on the net (no sound samples, no review videos apart from the one by Thom Bresh http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGVhw1KpZT0) I decided to buy one to see for myself if it is really that good. By the time I have made my decision, the company Aphex stopped producing them, making sourcing fairly complicated. Finally, I managed to get one advertised as “like new” from ebay for 90 EURs with shipping.

After this lengthy introduction, the questions comes obvious: so is it really as good as people say?
Unfortunately, I cannot give a simple yes or no as answer. If I really had to, I would go for no, it is not that good. Let's see what I have found out about this little box during our first weeks together:

1. Build quality:

While the box itself is fairly strongly built, the buttons, knobs and especially the jack inputs have this cheap feeling in them that they might break any moment. I do not say that they will, but the quality of these materials is really low. The metal housing seems super tough, but just as in the  case of some other American brands  (EHX is the best example for low-end finishing), the quality of  the final touch and the finishing of the housing is a bit like if I have painted and sprayed it in my kitchen on a Sunday afternoon. You can see the texture and the pattern of the paint brush for example, the bottom cover does not close properly, only once you force it and so on. Made in USA, just for the records.

Aphex Acoustic Xciter from the back

Aphex Acoustic Xciter from the back, again... Can you name the differences? 

funny phantom sign, non-plastic jack connection, different green colour,

change in dry/wet state (image by Sweetwater)

2. Sound quality:

This is the part where this little device fails the most. Some other Aphex Acoustic Xciter users have already pointed out on forums that the device is not a silent beauty, but never would I have dreamt so much noise to beadded to the signal. This noise issue makes the Aphex Acoustic Xciter userless in studio environments if any of the knobs is turned higher than 60%. Which is a shame, as the device starts to come to life around 60% wet signal. The extra noise that is generated is durable in a live environment, but not in a studio. If you want to take advantage of the Aphex Acoustic Xciter during recording sessions (as I wanted), you will not. However, if you are happy in general with the enhanced sound coming out of the effect, you will be using this box a lot in live gigs.

3. The core sound effect

The Aphex website (http://www.aphex.com/uncategorized/xciter-pedal/) lists the followings as the greatest advantages of the Xciter technology. Let's see one by one:

Increased presence and clarity

This comes true only once you enhance your high tone by 50% at least, otherwise the promised presence and clarity will not kick in.

Greater perceived loudness

This is an interesting bit. In  true bypass mode offered on the Aphex Acoustic Xciter,  the sound level drops by - 20% to my ears. It is true however, that if you turn up all knobs, a significant overall volume boosting can be observed. Unfortunately, this comes with a significant noise boost as well. Also, on most cases, you will not want to use all knobs around the 80-100% region, I would imagine most people to dislike the fully wet, fully modified sound produced by the Aphex Acoustic Xciter

Improved detail

This smells overtly marketing-like to me. Improved detail could surface the best in a recording environment, the only one in which the Acoustic Xciter would truly fail.

Deeper, more resonant bass, extended low frequencies

This is the thing most people are looking for when buying an acoustic guitar sound enchancer like the Acoustic Xciter. This seems to work very well, though I am quite sure that most of the setting you would be able to get through a quality, multi-band graphic equaliser. However, this box will give you more or less the same experience, in the size of a cd case.

Verdict

If you are looking for a way to boost the bass sound of your acoustic guitar during your live gigs or at home while practicing, the Aphex Acoustic Xciter will serve you very well. If you want to buy this effect for any other reason, you most likely are going to regret it. This is still not the ultimate acoustic guitar effect, if such thing does exist at all, but is a good addition to your home / gig equipment. If you set your expectations right from the beginning, you will love the Aphex Acoustic Xciter.