Vibe

[cactuskeeb]

[Walker done done]

WTF is that?!?!?!?!?  Holy crap.  Tell me that's not.......hell, I'm even embarassed by that.  I hope no one from another planet sees this pic, this should be destroyed and deleted from existance immediately.

[cactuskeeb]

:lol:

I'm sure Bob Bradshaw wishes this pic would disappear...

[Stiles12]

hahahahahaha

[Walker done done]

Dear Lord that is just awful.... :roll:

[SoundLikeMyself]

the circuit board is basically a phase 60 board with heavy modifications.

the cool thing about that black cat vibe is itll let you turn that intensity up to the point itll basically be muting and unmuting your signal really quickly much like a tremelo with the depth all the way up... the only other vibe like boxes Ive played that could replicate this is a clone box on ebay,

I'm sorry but this simply isn't true.  I'm not trying to pick on you posternutbag, but I check this site every once and a while and I don't think its fair that people may see this and be led astray.

First off it is a Phase 90.  The Uni-Vibe circuit is totally different - it uses 4 photocells and a lightbulb inside a reflective shield.  It has 14 transistors and uses 0 IC's.   The Phase 90 uses 2 IC's, 3 or 4 transistors and doesn't include the most important part - the photocells & the lightbulb.  They have totally different LFO's.

Also, there are so many Vibe recreations out there that almost perfectly nail the sound of the original that its ridiculous.  Check out Mike Fuller's Deja-Vibe & mini Deja-Vibe.  Or Prescription Electronics' Vibe-Unit.   

Any Vibe clone worth its weight has a Speed control (available as either a tunable knob or as a pedal much like the original and the Black Cat) that you can rev up to blistering speeds.

Oh, and Bradshaw (no bad how absurd he looks in the picture) is not in the business of designing pieces of gear for you and me.  He has those prices up there so you know what you might be paying for an individual component when you order a $5000 switching rig.  He makes these things for touring professionals.

[SoundLikeMyself]

I'm not saying anything about your personal preferences - what works for your tone is what you should use.  But, I think its a bummer if someone comes along looking for info and walks away with the wrong idea.  Especially if they have only a few bucks to spend on a pedal.

But the below statements just aren't correct.  A Univibe is a completely different beast and it is built with the intention of being a vibrato or a unison effect.  The cost of components is not an issue.  Most commercial effects are made with the cheapest components available at the time.  Boutique makers use higher quality components to improve on the performance of old designs.  I assure you though - the MXR PCB is a completely different layout than those used by other companies.  A Univibe PCB is about 3 times the size on top of that.

That muting/unmuting that you are talking about is a function of Speed not Intensity.  Turn up the speed on a Fulltone vibe clone and you will hear that exact same effect.

The technicalities of it aren't important if you aren't an engineer.  And I agree that the discussions are for those who aren't EE's.  But it would really suck if you went out looking for a certain sound and bought a pedal only to find out that it is totally unrelated to what you want.

Please, show me that link.  Prove to me this isn't somebody taking his old vintage sounding phaser guts, and his modern sounding phaser guts, fitting all of this to a pre-sized, scrap metal box,  and then hardwiring a switch to stomp from one intensity of phase to the other.  :|

The phaser 60 circuits can be pressed anywhere. They are a common board for these types of effects and the only difference between one or the other is typically the cost of the components on the board.


As far as the wiring of two boards goes, none of that has anything to do with getting the board to sound reall intense like on the black cat. That has to do with how all the knobs are pre set to work with the board.

A univibe is basically a marriage between a stereo chorus and a phase 60 transparent phaser. turn the depth or intensity up on that phase 60 circuit with a modded trem pot and POOF super vibe tone.

[SoundLikeMyself]

I never said he was a nice guy. I don't know him and don't use his products.  I'm just relaying along what I know about his site and its purpose.  He isn't in the business of retailing individual components.  They come as    pieces of a larger rig.

There is a reason Trey uses one.  Its a tool for a pro who needs it and is willing to spend the coin to accomplish he goals.  If I had the money, I surely wouldn't buy it.   But if I were Trey, I'd drop the money in a second.

Pete Cornish probably doesn't answer emails either.  He has prices on his site but it is for reference. 

But yes, he should have answered your email - if anything with a form response saying "sorry bub. ain't gonna happen."

[SoundLikeMyself]

By the way - do you have a schematic of the ISO-1?   If you can get a schem I can definitely hook something up for you.

[cactuskeeb]

Posternutbag, to be fair, bob bradshaw left for a six month tour on Feb 27th.  I think he does that kind of thing quite often; hence, the reason why he doesn't get back to people about some of the smaller deals.  I'll let you know when he next contacts me; that should give you the opportunity to call, or, preferably, email him and actually get a reply -- in other words, when i contact you it means he's actually *there* to answer your request. 

Soundslikemyself, as far as building stuff only for professionals, that's simply not the case.  But i agree with your point(s) concerning the uni-vibe and how it differs from a phase 90.  You're right on about the photocell and light bulb thing; that's certainly something that you will not find in a phaser.  I've researched the original uni-vibe design and, moreover, I myself actually own a black cat vibe made by bob in 1996 (it has his initials and date on the circuit board) and it follows the original univox univibe schematic to a tee, even to the point of replicating the size of the original circuit board.  The key difference between the black cat vibe and the original only comes in the form of different kinds of components; namely, in some places metal film resistors in place of the original carbon ones; and, of course, brand new jacks and pots as well.  One thing I've heard about the deja-vibe is that it uses large size, hermetically sealed photocells, some of which I've been able to find and purchase on the internet for a not unreasonable price for a project of my own that I've yet to physically begin.  The black cat vibe has the small(er) size photocells that aren't hermetically sealed.  I'm not sure what the original used as I've never seen an actual picture of the original uni-vibe that doesn't have the reflective box covering that portion of the circuit board.

I also agree with your point about how the amount of (over)drive before a vibe affects the vibrato effect itself.  Trey's black cat vibe comes at the end of his effects chain; he therefore typically has the tubescreamers driving, so to speak, the vibe.

[SoundLikeMyself]

The original Vibe, from my understanding, was constructed using a number of different cells, depending on what was on hand when a particular box was made.  I can't imagine that they were sealed - that would have been a hefty cost at the time.  I don't know for sure though.

As for Bradshaw - my point about the touring rigs is that the majority of CAE equipment goes to pro rigs and that is where Bob himself has his focus.  I'm sure that CAE takes anybody's money but you will get a lot further if you are laying down 6k instead of $60.   He's had that rep for a long time.  He's also been known to make sure that his customers are satisfied so go figure.

And you can always go to Japan to pick up some CAJ equipment.  They make a number of individual pieces not available in the US.

[cactuskeeb]

I'm sure that CAE takes anybody's money but you will get a lot further if you are laying down 6k instead of $60.

True.

[SoundLikeMyself]

so what kind of vibe do you gig with? like i said i spent a thousand bucks buying, trying, and ebaying several different vibes before settling on the one i have.

I use a Fulltone Mini Deja-Vibe 2 http://www.fulltone.com/stpframe.html.  Interestingly enough, Mike Fuller mentions that the original Vibe cells had a glass cover over the actual photo-sensitive area.  Not sure if that means that they are in fact hermetically sealed over simply covered by glass.

I did some further research last night about the original cells and discovered that they were special made for Unicord in Hamburg.  They use a proprietary part number that isn't found anywhere else.

I'm actually in the process of building my own Vibe clone using the cells that Fulltone uses.  Hopefully it will come together properly.

[GDCSH-1]

I love my deja vibe, worth every penny, definitely recommend it

[raisingfreen]

Anyone ever tried using a Sweet Sound MoFaux Vibe?

I am close to ordering just based on the simplicity of this pedal. I dont care if its dead on to anyone in particular but the prices seem ok compared to others.