ButtKicker BK-GR Gamer Reviews

• Buttkicker does not install properly on the Playseat Evolution

  
  By A2KK5NIUSOOMU1 on 2007-09-08
  I'm glad others have been able to use innovative rigging to get the ill-fitting Buttkicker clamp on to the Playseat, but it should be stated clearly to anyone who is lead to order both products together based on Amazon's apparent endorsement:
  
  The Buttkicker clamp does not fit on any of the Playseat Evolution's support bars. The large main support beams are much too large and the pair of underside bars and much too small.
  
  You will end up jerry-rigging the device in some manner if you want it to work, but there is absolutely no way it will work out of the box as intended and there is nothing in the instructions or on Playseat's website to assist you in your make-shift solutions.
  
  Playseat and Buttkicker need to get together and offer an adapter or at least include a FAQ on their website for the many customers lead to purchase both at Amazon's urging.
  
  

• disappointing

  
  By A3ELDRIQJ3CC7A on 2006-03-03
  There is a fan on the amplifier that is just too noisy. It's louder than my PC. Granted, my PC is a low-noise design but it's still unacceptable.
  
  

• the amplifier is way too noisy

  
  By AN0BBYINL5ZL7 on 2006-06-21
  The vibration effect is cool.
  However, the nose from the amplifier's 2 tiny high-pitch fans is annoying and drowns your regular audio.
  
  

• great for pro drummers!

  
  By A1J2R6QCQGYYKE on 2005-12-30
  I've been drumming professionally for 30 years. Sometimes on stage I can't hear my bass drum well enough, so I over-compensate and use my entire leg (left or right) instead of just my ankle to boost my perceived volume. This sometimes leads to leg/groin overuse/strain, which can affect my playing during a 1+ hour show.
  
  After buying/installing the Buttkicker Gamer on my drum throne, I can now FEEL my kick drum, and don't feel so compelled to strike the drum with a full-leg stroke ensure it's being heard. (Besides, that's the sound pro's job.)
  
  This $99 device keeps me working, with less pain, night after night, so, yes, I'd call it a good investment.
  
  LNG (www.telsius.com/drummer)
  
  

• It's great and kicks *ss!

  
  By AXD98Z7MBW3G4 on 2006-07-01
  Easy to hook up and works as advertised, now I can feel the music and live the movies! Splitter is included so you can connect subwoofer/speakers. Well worth the money.
  
  
• Great for drummers!
  By A3S0M4N911TQGK on 2006-08-09
  I wanted to write this review for those drummers out there who want a little extra "kick" in their bass drum. I use a nice monitor when our band plays out but still don't get that deep "thump" from my bass drum to help keep me in the pocket.
  I just received the buttkicker today and hooked it up to my computer just to feel the bass from my cd's. It really works. I was quite surprised at the power this thing puts out. I then hooked it up to my Roland digital drums I practice on. I have a direct out for my bass drum pad which I plugged into the Buttkicker. My throne was a rockin'. This really gave me that deep thump I was looking for. Kudos to the Guitammer company.
  I haven't yet hooked this up to our band's P.A. system and used it with my real drums but I'm planning on doing the same thing - taking a direct out from my bass drum channel (on our mixer) and plugging it into the Buttkicker amp. Hopefully everything will work out well. If I encounter any problems I'll write another review to explain.
  I wasn't able to find any reviews for drummers who have used this product so I wanted to write one myself to help my fellow drummers out.
  
  
  
  
• ButtKicker Kicks Up Gaming!
  By A34VOQXWPGWCZB on 2005-12-23
  It attaches to the post of the chair and reacts to the bass response from the game. Works very well with headphones (you can't feel the bass in headphones) Very good for first person shooters and sports games. Music with iPod is very enjoyable. Build quality is much better than most "gaming" electronics.
  
  
• Nice but plenty of room for improvement
  By AP4ZJ6Y086PL0 on 2007-01-14
  The Buttkicker Gamer is a nice addition to a gamer machine. I play only flight sim games and it really adds to the immersion. It is definitely worth $100.
  
  The positives about the BK is it does not use any special drivers; just plugs into your sound card and you're off and flying. Since it makes no sound, you really feel the "sound" without bothering anybody. It does rattle the floor some though so you can't (and probably don't want to anyway) turn it up too much. It does require some fine tuning and in my case (I have a Sound Blaster Live! 24bit card), I had to enable CMSS 3D which was off by default in order to get any output from the BK at all. It took me two days to figure that out.
  
  The negatives are certainly aggravating. There is this huge cable snaking all over the floor around your chair. No small wire there; this sucker is a CABLE! The instructions are quite poor and are written for musicians hooking this thing up to a stereo system and were just sort of re-written slightly toward a computer gamer as an obvious after thought. If you go to their web site seeking further help, you get basically online versions of the printed doc. Not a lot of help there. My unit came missing the straps that secure the monster cable to the legs of your chair but fortunately I have plenty of large tie straps so that didn't bother me that much. The legs that hold the unit up fit very loosly and fall right off if you move or pick up the unit. I ended up gluing mine in place.
  
  If I had this to do again I would do it; especially since I've seen it for considerably less that $100 lately. It certainly complements 5.1 sound and force feedback sticks very nicely.
  
  I recommend this product now that you are fully aware of the negatives.
  
  
• Easy hook up, works with my Ipod and headphones.
  By A5YJO2Q9V2LNG on 2006-05-14
  I enjoyed the low frequency feedback you get from using with headphones.(Ipod)
  
  You can get the full sensation of low frequency without waking up your friends, family or neighbors.
  
  I've only used with music but look forward to using with a game.
  
  I hate turning down the sound at night while gaming. This with headphones should do the trick.
  
  
• Well worth the after-rebate price
  By AZDGMG2Y0FLB2 on 2006-06-05
  I'd recommend this product highly to any friends who like the feeling of bass rumbling through their bones, but don't want to worry about excessive volume causing deafness.
  
  The bad review here titled "Good for Inducing bowel movements" is a gross exaggeration; the author most likely set the amplifier volume to the max, which is unnecessary. I haven't had to set the included amp's volume higher than one third or half--it's more than enough to get good movement out of this thing without overkill move-when-someone-coughs.
  
  I will agree with complaints that the fan volume is surprisingly loud. Quieter than my computer's case fans, but loud enough to remind me to shut it off when I shut down my computer. If you built your computer to be silent, or you plan on using this thing with a home stereo system instead, then you may want to invest in a non-gamer model of product from this company so you can use a different, quieter amp.
  
  Other than amp volume, there's a couple buttons and knobs to customize which sound signals will result in movement from the device. The instruction manual has a chart of suggested high/low frequency cutoff settings for games, music, and movies.
  
  That's the most user-friendly part of the manual, though. Some of the diagrams seem to be of older editions of this same product, so I was confused for about 5 minutes about whether I'd damage my product from improper wiring.
  
  It turns out there was an extra cylindrical thing included, but not shown in the manual, called a "ground loop isolator." Apparently it's there to prevent damage to the device. After reading the red paper attatched to this thing, plugging everything in was easy.
  
  So to repeat my overall impression of this thing, I'd strongly recommend it to any friends who like the feeling of bass, but don't want to worry about excessive volume causing deafness.
  
  
• Rockin' out with my Buttkicker!
  By A1OD3DWZE8AHR0 on 2006-06-12
  Thanks to the deal I found on Amazon, I got this Buttkicker for a great price. I am not exactly a gamer, I mainly use my computer for music listening. After a rather painless setup I turned this thing on and did notice the van volume. My computer is really really loud by most standards so it was drowned out completely, and when playing music it's completely inaudible. I am the sort of guy who would love to sit on his subwoofer, I am a huge fan of bass guitar and double bass drums. And when I turned this sucker on a started up some good music... I got nothing. After a few minutes of panic, I found a setting inside my Creative Speaker Settings (Audigy 2 ZS) called Bass Redirection, in the Bass Management tab, I turned that up about 1/8 of the way up... and there we go! I am loving this Buttkicker for my rocking out, tried it with some FPS games, and was not so much impressed. I found that using this device for games requires a lot more tweaking than music. I watched a Lord of the Rings and man; With the DVD and its LFE (Low Frequency Effects) you can really feel it when big stuff is going on.
  
  Pros:
  -Great for a music lover
  -Works with my 7.1 system (Audigy 2 ZS and Gigaworks S750) you just gotta put the splitter at the sub/amp instead of the soundcard :D.
  -Great deal on Amazon
  -Great for DVD Audio
  
  Cons:
  -Vague setup instructions (But easy none the less)
  -To much tweaking for games
  -Pricey without the Rebate
  
  
• Great addition to my home theater -- Attached it to my metal futon
  By A1ZFIXFB7ESTKV on 2007-04-21
  I recently brought this item in view of adding it to my existing home theatre system. Before this, I had researched the item through the company website and other reviews.
  Since my existing home theatre was good in delivering bass, but I wanted to add a little extra kick(esp the lower end and some vibrations) to the whole thing. I have a metal futon and so finding a suitable metal post for adding the buttkicker module was not difficult. The only surprise that I had was that I was hoping the amplifier to look as small as a modem, but infact it is as large as a cornflakes box and has a very irritating cooling fan which is as noisy as a small table fan.
  As the product mentions that this buttkicker gamer is only meant for chairs that have a metal post to attach the buttkicker module, I decided to take the risk of purchasing this item(only $50 after the MIR) because I already have a metal futon to attach the module.
  Here is what I did to synchronize the buttkicker gamer with my Home theatre system -- I took a audio line out from my home theatre with a long RCA cable to all the way to my futon bottom where the actual buttkicker amp was located. The amp had to be kept under the futon so that I can have easy access to the on/off switch and the controls. The buttkicker module was fixed to my futon frame. Initally the settings of the amp were un-tuned, and as a result of this I felt high vibrations on my futon which were very un-pleasant. After experiencing this and the noise of the cooling fan, I wanted to return the buttkicker back to amazon. But then after playing around for a while with the controls I fine tuned it, to provide the vibrations only at very low frequencies that my subwoofer had missed. This way, I was able to enjoy the movie and 'wow' my buddies. The 100 watt amplifier is more than enough power to shake the futon. I had the volume position set to around 30% only and it was terrific - Watching movies was never the same, I could feel all the vibrations and action on my futon itself, so there is no neccesity for purchasing the costlier model that is available from buttkicker.
  My suggestion is to not avoid the subwoofer completely and add this buttkicker, for the reason being that if you do that then you may not be able to wow your buddies because they may be curious to know how the futon vibrates without the subwoofer. Hence having the subwoofer and fooling them by saying that ther subwoofer is causing the rattle would lower their suspicion levels and your folks will not be curious to peep under the futon. Another word of caution is that not to leave the amp in the ON position throughout the day/night as even if by any chance there is a small spark or something from these electronic items, the futon bed can catch a fire -- This is just a precaution for all general electrical devices and not to mention that the buttkicker would neccesarily produce a spark/fire etc..
  
  Bottom line is:
  Pros:
  Nice vibrations are induced making it more realistic when watching movies
  Excellent addition to a home theater
  100 watts amp power is definetly more than enough power
  Cheap subwoofer alternative($50 after MIR)
  
  Cons:
  Big size amplifer
  Noisy cooling fan
  No remote for the amp
  Not sure about the performance of the buttkicker module on wooden sofa's or wooden futon's because of the requirement of metal post for hooking the buttkicker module
  
  
  
  
  
  
• A rumble-pack for your chair!
  By A2VF38HFPQCLBP on 2007-07-02
  I was a bit skeptical about this product even after reading the numerous positive reviews, but after a few hours of gameplay, I am a very happy customer. I really didn't understand how this product relayed the vibration, but after attaching it securely to an underside bar on my Playseat, it works perfectly by transferring vibrations throughout the entire seat. I am now encompassed by low-end rumble every time a certain amount of bass is detected by the unit. Probably the best effect so far is the awesome feel of firing a shotgun in a game... BOOM! The only drawback to the system is the amplifier/control unit itself, which is much larger than I expected. Don't let the out-of-scale pictures fool you, it's roughly the size of an Xbox.
  
  
• Adds Realism
  By A8QCNI5OI7ROL on 2006-11-05
  The only thing i don't like about this product is the amplifier fan. Usually when I turn off my computer everything shuts down but with the amp I had to pull it out and turn it off manually.
  This buttkicker product is overall 5 stars. It adds to the effect of movies, games, and music. This product is so effective I mounted it to one of the legs of my bed and it shook the bed with no distortion!
  
  
• Buttkicker kicks some serious butt!
  By A1GF93TPYRAK3E on 2007-05-30
  I bought this solely to attach to my Playseat Evolution for my XBOX360 and WOW is all I can say. What a difference this makes to the overall game play. I highly recommend this product because it does what is says and does it for not a lot of money.
  
  
• ButtKicker Gamer
  By A2B8HXBCDC0OG6 on 2006-08-03
  It does what it says it will. The materials and craftmanship are top notch. It adds to the realism of gaming, for me flight simming. For the most part, the only time you will feel it when flight simming is, taxiing, takeoff ( wheels rolling, gear up, flaps), and then landing, an excellent job here when the wheels hit the runway. I tried it with a music cd, and it works great.
  A little pricey, but if you can find a rebate for it, then it's definately worth the price.
  
  
• it really rocks
  By A1AJK3HBI1OBFA on 2006-11-07
  simple setup
  works right out of the box
  it really kicks your butt.
  However, it will spoil you that I can't now play any games or watch movies without this kicker because it is totally different experience.
  
  Tangles of wires are the only complain I have.
  
  
• The Buttkicker does just that!
  By A1EDQILFPKKJSU on 2007-06-01
  What a great product. I actually was thinking about a way I could do what this does when I came across this gadget. It is well-designed, well made, and it works great. The key seems to be to keep it subtle. You can get it to rattle loose you fillings if you want but that is not the point. Keep it subtle and it will help bring about that immersion we all look for in gaming.
  
  
• Warning
  By AEM1HR44TZYTT on 2007-07-25
  I've had my buttkicker for about 5 months now. There is 1 big problem with it. There is a brand new theater just built in the town next to mine, and I hate going because the theater does not have a buttkicker on the chairs.
  
  This thing is just amazing. I was looking at it for over a year contemplating about buying it. I finally gave in and it's great. I hooked it up to my Futon in my college apartment, and the result from everyone that's sat on it has been the same; they were in awe. The trick is to turn the sound up on the device so it's enough of an input for the buttkicker to work with.
  
  The CONS!! Why 4 stars? Two big reasons.
  First, the fan! It's loud and annoying, but if you put the buttkicker in the right place you can hear it, but only slightly.
  Two, I had a little problem with the power cord. When I first got the buttkicker the power cable didn't want to sit right. Haven't had problems with it in a couple months though. Fixed itself I suppose.
  
  When I get older I plan on getting the bigger one for my home theater system. There is no words for how great this device is.
  
  Another story if you want more to go with, I took this to my friend's house where he has a 52" HDTV with a nice 6.1 surround sound system. We hooked it up to his stereo and started playing Guitar Hero II. My friends didn't believe it was so good. In fact, after just 1 song, my friend went to Amazon on made the purchase. Be prepared to get involved in games.
  
  
  
• Buttkicker Gamer Review
  By A22GTOXYLG15QY on 2007-01-22
  Purchased this product and have been testing this item for 1 month. This item gives you everything you would want to feel like your in the game. With its high and low gain, the amplifier works the way its should. Giving you the best experiance in game. You can feel every loud explosion and also the slightist sounds in game. If you want something to enhance your game play, if it be Game Console or PC this is the item for you.
  
  
• Awesome (when working)
  By A2VEPTUO8JWX1R on 2007-05-31
  Where has this product been all my life? I could never let a subwoofer rip without disturbing everyone around me. Now I can get the same effect without risk of hearing loss (and disturbing the peace). Excellent!
  
  Pros:
  * Movies
  * Music
  * FPS Games: Tried in Counter-Strike:Source, BF2142, and HL2:EmpiresMod
  
  Cons:
  * RTS Games: Supreme Commander and Earth2160 are better without it IMO
  * Requires sound card with bass boost (such as X-Fi gamer) for best results (albeit it works surprisingly well off a crappy laptop headphone output)
  
  UPDATE: Bought this less than a year ago, and it has now died. The "signal" and "clip" leds are not lighting up at all, although the power led and fan turn on. Prior to failure, I was getting erratic behavior from the unit (would rumble periodically with no input). I used this unit almost purely for gaming and turned it off when not using it.
  
  
• Less than thrilled
  By A3M8GJS09NJRCZ on 2007-11-19
  Unit made hot smells and finally croaked on the fourth day. Up until that point it was sort of fun. Oh well, so it goes. Easy come, easy go.
  
  
• Does indeed work with 6.1/7.1 soundcards
  By A22UXU9BDZ9MQQ on 2008-01-19
  So initially I was unable to get it working properly and because I also have the Sound Blaster Xi-Fi Xtrememusic sound card like reviewer D.J. Husar I thought it didn't work with 6.1/7.1 cards as he indicated. I contacted the Buttkicker tech support folks and they informed me that is not true and said you need to turn on the "low frequency redirect" in your soundcard settings. This was called "enable bass redirection" in the Xi-Fi control panel. After enabling that it's working great! All that aside I would say it's a pretty cool gadget. I paid around $50 for it when I got it on sale and it's probably worth that but I wouldn't say it's necessarily worth $100. It's cool with the added feeling of the bass effects in your chair but I have a pretty powerful subwoofer already so even though the effects were pretty neat I wouldn't classify it as a must have. All that being said I will continue using it. I play mostly shooters but I think it would be fun to try with racing/flying sims.
  
  
• bassgitars are not good for the un-astronauted nor is the shuttle launch
  By A1N2D7LLBAY25B on 2006-07-05
  Why would you hook a motor gasket to your easy office deluxe(or whatever chair) to rumble at the slightest hint of bass. Don't listen to Rush(as in NOT Limbaugh) with this thing. The heavy gitars and odviously Thu Gedster's thump'n bastad sword of dbase will kill! At least don't listen to Vapor Trails or Counter. Rapsters and techno music is perfect. As for games, most games are story emirsive that I play(as in RPG and the adventure types) but action FPS benifit slightly except for a loss in coordination if you use foot pedals or a percision mouse. Airplane, and rocket sims(there are few of those) are the best as you can max it for the rumble in the capsule sim affair.
  Movies are only good at lower settings and your chair has to handle the pressure. Mine supports my fat-a&^ 250 lbs bod but rolls on tiled flooring. Get the bigger model that is for the couch and lounger.(unless the girl that lives next door is completely deaf and has sensitive feet, or so I'm told.).
  Spaceships are cool and counter the tension of bordom and restlessness in the mundane world of rewardless afterhours with the feeling of exileration and "traveling". Try a sim as in MS Flight Pro 04 or the un-user friendly space stuff. An Army or War game or movie is good too, but everything else is just a novelty and I forget about it after a while and remove the hardware. Icaris(or other name) crash sequence in 'Planet of the Apes' is just priceless(max it to total distruction to "can yer krev".), a theme-park sim in 1968 even in ot-six. Also Star Trek Generatons "Riker Incident"(not so sim). but not the rest of the movie. Can thu chair and get a better boom. Subs are not as expensive even at "higher" RMS and "Burst". You won't upset the neighbors with a High RMS at low volume.(knock on wooded flooring panels).
  
  P.S. Dudley Simpson's Doctor Who music is rediculous with this thing. Use with caughtion, can cause death from excessive laughter at the arch-humor levels.
  
  
  
• Did not work right out of the box
  By A1O21TFY39JP2G on 2007-06-12
  I ordered the "Gamer to use as a sub for my drum monitor. When it arrived I opened the box and hooked it up and it was a dud. The lights didn't even come on.Nada, nothing !!! I have emailed the manufacturer since that is who warrants the product. I will see how good their customer service is I guess.I will post the results of how they handle this problem.
  
  
• Only a piece of junk
  By A1L3PZJ6BHCD72 on 2007-09-03
  I bought this product with great expectations and enthusiasm. I brought it home, hooked it up, and only 30 minutes later , yes, only 30 minutes later I heard two 'clicks' coming from the amp and everthing stopped. I couldn't believe my eyes that it broke down on the very first day and the very first moments that it operated. I tried to contact the support team of the producer and so far I have not been able to get any positive support. They only keep asking useless questions and that's it. I wanted to return the product and no answer at all. I have lost 100 dollars with this junk so anybody better keep your wallets away from these guys.
  
  
• Nice idea, but already obsolete!
  By A12P9V5UHYN3CF on 2005-12-29
  I looked forward to setting up the Buttkicker Gamer with my new Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtrememusic sound card (7.1 audio). However, what the sparse documentation and misleading packaging of the Buttkicker Gamer doesn't tell you is that it doesn't work with 6.1 or 7.1 sound cards, only stereo, 4 channel or 5.1 surround sound cards.
  
  Considering that the X-fi is pretty much the new standard in sound cards, this overlooked aspect is really inexcuseable and dissapointing. I was much have loved to enjoy the extra sensory experience, but was very disappointed by all the wires, the poor documentation, misleading packaging, and will be returing the product. (No worries Amazon.com, didn't buy it from you!)
  
  
• Adding a whole nother dimension
  By A256RO766S84ZK on 2006-06-09
  I've been using the gamer for 4 months now with my computer and PS2 games. With this little thing I can FEEL every single explosion and bump and thump. Hearing all these things is one thing, but when you can actually feel it too, it adds a whole nother dimension to my gaming and even my music listening.
  
  
• Buttkicker + Forza 2 + Playseat Evolution = <3
  By A32SRT4LWYAT50 on 2007-07-18
  I just received my Buttkicker Gamer today and I must say it adds a lot of immersion to Forza 2 and Dirt, but especially Forza 2. If you're building a racing cockpit of your own I consider the Buttkicker a must have item.
  
  
• ROCK YOUR WORLD!
  By A1K7RU9YOWA9GT on 2007-10-31
  I just purchased the Buttkicker last week for only 50 bucks! At first I was skeptical because the price was so low, I did not if it would be a good product or not, but I WAS WRONG! I hooked this bad boy up with ease, no problems, you have to read the instructions carefully though. I attached it to my futon and watched "Pirates of the Carribean" and watching it again for the third time was a whole new experience, the fight scenes and explosions were great! I hear people complain about the noise of the fan, to tell you the truth, if you have your tv up, you can hardly hear it, I can hardly hear it, I thought it was going to be a loud screeching sound, but it's not, you could even cover it with something even you really want to muffle the sound, but again it is hardly noticeable. I even hooked this sucker up to my bed which was really cool and watched more movies. I dont have a video game system yet, so I used a SONY PSP, and it still works great the same, I say if you can invest in one of these, Look for one under 100 bucks, but it is still worth the price!
  
  

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