New toy: Voce Spin II

Walker done done · July 03, 2009, 02:05:06 PM

http://www.voceinc.com/spin.html

Pure AWESOMENESS.

Was over a friends house a couple of weeks back and he intro'd me to a new pedal, the Voce Spin II, an analog leslie speaker simulator. This is absolutely the most amazing, transparent and fucking awesome thing I have come across in quite some time. If you're looking for a leslie simulator (as most of us would kill to have the real thing, if it weren't such a pain), this is bar none my reco' to you. Unfortunately, these things are a bitch to find - the guy I bought mine off of got 2 from Italy, and they sold very quickly, apparently.

My buddy - who, fwiw, is a keyboardist extraordinaire - purchased a used one for $250 for his rig (the slow knob on the back was broken, but still worked well enough), and playing through it that night put me on a hunt to track one down like I've never tracked down anything before. Took me 3 weeks (not bad at all, considering I didn't think I'd be fortunate to ever see one again), but I found a brand new one on eBay for $400. I guess I don't have much more to say other than I think this is honestly too good to be true.

I'm telling you guys, playing through this gives me a raging hard on and allows me to jizz 30 feet across the room. It's THAT good. It's THAT accurate. This is the guy I bought it from: http://www.audiosyncrazy.com/. I did call and speak w/ him about the pedal, shipping, etc., so you can call him. He did say he's going to try to get more but admittedly doesn't know when that will be.

Walker done done · July 10, 2009, 11:19:49 AM

I would like to also mention that this pedal can be a bit noisy if it's just you and your gear; not so much a great pedal to record with, I imagine. But with a fulll band behind you, the "white noise" is negligable. So far, the band likes it, so that's a plus

cactuskeeb · July 13, 2009, 10:29:54 PM

The lack of sound clips is inexcusable on your part.

Walker done done · July 14, 2009, 10:30:52 AM

Quote from: cactuskeeb on July 13, 2009, 10:29:54 PM
The lack of sound clips is inexcusable on your part.

Hahaha....very true, very true. I should have something by the week after July 25/26 for ya. I had used the Spin II on Divided Sky the other day just messing around w/ my drummer after practice & it was sooooo nice to hear the swirl, esp. on the intro chords. Mmmmmm.

On a side note, I also ordered an original Microverb off eBay for $60, so we'll see what gives with that onces it arrives.

cactuskeeb · July 15, 2009, 10:35:04 AM

Quote from: Walker done done on July 10, 2009, 11:19:49 AM
I would like to also mention that this pedal can be a bit noisy if it's just you and your gear; not so much a great pedal to record with, I imagine. But with a fulll band behind you, the "white noise" is negligable. So far, the band likes it, so that's a plus

When you turn it on, is the noise just a kind of amplified version of the same noise that's present when the pedal isn't engaged; or, is the pedal itself contributing its own noise that wasn't a part of your rig before?

Take a picture of insides for me!

Walker done done · July 15, 2009, 02:40:32 PM

Quote from: cactuskeeb on July 15, 2009, 10:35:04 AM
Quote from: Walker done done on July 10, 2009, 11:19:49 AM
I would like to also mention that this pedal can be a bit noisy if it's just you and your gear; not so much a great pedal to record with, I imagine. But with a fulll band behind you, the "white noise" is negligable. So far, the band likes it, so that's a plus

When you turn it on, is the noise just a kind of amplified version of the same noise that's present when the pedal isn't engaged; or, is the pedal itself contributing its own noise that wasn't a part of your rig before?

Take a picture of insides for me!

The pedal is definitely contributing it's own noise; when it's not engaged there is no difference in noise in my rig, presumably b/c it's true bypass. I will take a pic as soon as I can....probably Thursday.

Walker done done · July 19, 2009, 10:30:12 PM

I don't have the best camera in the world, but here's 3 pics of the guts from the Spin II. Let me know your thoughts, 'keeb. If you want more pics, let me know.

cactuskeeb · July 25, 2009, 06:45:59 AM

Hey, no, you've got a decent camera - those are great pics.

Right away, I can say that the noise is due to the fact that it's packing it's own output transformer - and a big, crusty looking one at that - inside the chassis. Also, it looks rusted in places, particularly the two diode bridges (?) I can't remember what they're called - anyway, point is they handle pumping power to different parts of the circuit simultaneously, and two of yours look rusted at the top. If you tell me the what's written/inscribed on them I can point you in the direction of getting replacements (they're like a couple bucks a piece from Allied Electronics (www.alliedelec.com).

I'd say all in all it looks strikingly similar to what a Whammy I or II looks like on the inside. So, basically, what you have is an apparently pretty cool sounding digital effect (swirl). Maybe you could throw it in a loop with an ISO-1(-type isolation transformer) like Trey has in his Whammy-boomerang loop. I think that would set you straight (I'm actually 100 percent certain of this - I just have to pretend I'm not, or else someone here would (will) come at me with a Necessity of Doubt kind of thing, whence we would certainly get off track with wrong answers to your noise issue, and ultimately trainwreck at no answer to your problem [happens/has happened before]).

raisingfreen · July 26, 2009, 01:24:23 PM

Walker,
Is any of this related to the noise you were getting when your Fender footswitch is engaged? You had mentioned the other night about the noise not being as bad in your practice space, but when plugged into the outlets at your gig it was much louder. Seems you have two noise issues contributing, one being the new toy (VOCE) which Cactus seems to have diagnosed and suggested the loop. The other was when you engaged your fender footswitch (overdrive) and the amp was noisier. Maybe he has a solution for that as well.

BTW, great playing last night. Hope you recorded it.