Aphex Aural Exciter 104 Type C2 Review: Big Bottom, Bigger Mistakes

Well, Big Bottom. You know, we’ve got ’em.

And since we just talked about the SPL SX2 Stereo Vitalizer, we may as well talk about the Aphex Aural Exciter 104 Type C2 with Big Bottom, which was probably the most overused effect in any equipment rack that also contained either an ADAT or a DA-88.

Aphex, of course, was once a genuinely revolutionary company. When the original Aural Exciter appeared, it was such a remarkable piece of technology that they didn’t even sell it. They rented it out to recording studios and producers, charging for the amount of time it was used. I’m not kidding. If you wanted that sound on your record or commercial, you paid for the privilege.

And the truth is, there really isn’t anything else that sounds exactly like an Aphex Aural Exciter.

Think of those enormous, glossy background vocals on Def Leppard records. That’s the sort of sound we’re talking about. That bright, almost unnaturally present top end that somehow manages to make everything sound more exciting, at least initially.

The problem, of course, is that a little excitement goes a very long way.

I have one of these things, and it was loaned out for a long time. Eventually I got it back, put it in the rack, and haven’t even turned it on. Make of that what you will.

But that doesn’t mean you won’t enjoy one. In fact, it might be exactly the thing you need to reanimate a dead track. Something dull, lifeless, or badly recorded can sometimes benefit enormously from a little Aphex treatment.

Just don’t make the mistake of running your entire mix through it and turning it up. And up. And up. And up.

Because eventually you’ll discover that you’ve transformed what might have been a perfectly respectable recording into something resembling a bad AM radio with bass.

And that’s actually a pretty fair description of what this thing can do when abused.

The Big Bottom circuit is another interesting piece of processing. It can give the impression of considerably more low-frequency weight without simply cranking up the bass with an equalizer. Again, used judiciously, it can be useful. Used enthusiastically, it can turn a perfectly decent mix into a bloated mess.

This was one of the later generations of Aural Exciter, and I have to admit that I have rather mixed feelings about it.

Aphex made some genuinely remarkable equipment over the years. They were innovators, and they helped establish an entire category of audio processing that practically every plugin manufacturer now tries to replicate in one form or another.

I’d love to see Aphex come roaring back. They were an important company, and the recording industry benefited from their willingness to do things differently.

Whether the Aural Exciter with Big Bottom represents one of their finest achievements is another question entirely.

The verdict

An unmistakable piece of recording history, capable of bringing a lifeless track back from the dead—or making a perfectly good recording sound substantially worse. The difference is usually determined by how far you turn the knobs.