Bob reads "Vibe" thread; "not offended" by extreme late-'80s hair pic.

[cactuskeeb]

Of course I can put in a set of switchable outputs for you.
Not a problem.
No, I am not offended in the least. In fact, I found your last post to me very eloquent, and an interesting read!
And it IS prompting me (gently , I might add) to get off my ass and finish your stuff.

What IS upsetting though, is the vast amount of mis-information being touted as fact on these message boards.

I just read a couple pages of this thread, and here are a few observations:

1. The CAE Black Cat vibe was a collaboration between me and Fred Bonte .
The original BCV was the closest to my ear to the original Univibe of any of the clones , but needed some help to "modernize " it a bit, and
to make it play nice with others (effects that is) in a modern guitar system.
I designed the output stage buffer and relay bypass scheme, and had Fred include these circuits in his circuit board design.
I purchased raw stuffed (and theoretically tested) circuit boards directly from Fred and packaged them into half rack enclosures
known as CAE Black Cat Vibes.
2. I never sold multiple units to Analog Mike, or anyone for that matter.All were sold to end users or maybe my associates at Custom Audio Japan.
3.Over time Freds workmanship deteriorated to the point that I did not want to sell them anymore under the CAE name.
4. He continued to sell them (repackaged) as BC vibes, in a different half rack box . As far  as I know they had the same circuit board I got, but at that
point I didn't care.
5. The BCV or any other vibe I am aware of DOES NOT do the chopped on/off modulation thing. That is done with the CAE Super Tremolo in "chop" mode.
6. The Sweet sound vibe SOUNDS NOTHING LIKE A BC VIBE! NONE OF THEM DO! Some get closer than others. Line 'em all up...and listen.
sure they all get the basic univibe sound, but so does a MXR Phase 45!!! The difference is in the modulation sweep. Most others are "lumpy"...
the BCV is smooth throughout its range. And they need to be calibrated correctly (BCV's that is)and it can only really be done by ear.

FYI  a good one I have heard lately is the KR Megavibe. The Little one.

7. As for returning phone calls....I don't know what these guys do all day (my guess is they are either in their basement bedrooms of their parent's house,
or wasting time on their company's computers, of course assuming they have jobs in the first place)but I pretty much work alone.
So no, I don't sit at the phone all day waiting for people to call and "chat" about Trey's rig. I have to work to make a living. So if you call me and are polite,
and have specific questions about the products I make, and would like to do a little business with me, I always return those calls!!! ASAP!!!
BUT YOU HAVE TO LEAVE A MESSAGE WITH A NUMBER WHERE YOU CAN BE REACHED! You would not believe the number of hangups I get in
a given day.
And I don't have time to lurk on message boards, answering questions all the time.I type REAL slow....as it is this post is taking me over an hour of
my time I could be spending working on your gear. See?

8. I was NEVER Trey's "tech". I designed his guitar system from phone conversations I had with Trey, based on the components he wanted to use.
And I suggested other components such as the Super Trem, BCV, and the 3+ SE Tube Preamp. Along with the 4x4 Audio Controllers and RS-10.

Just like I do with everybody, just like I did with you.In fact, Mike Gordon came to me first.

Pete Carini was Trey's tech when I started designing the rig. After he was using the system for a while, Pete moved to another position in the Phish
organization and a new guy came in whose name escapes me. I knew him from working with other artists, and he seemed like a competent guy.
At some point an annoying intermittent problem developed in the system causing a crackling, "cutting out" type of sound, which the tech guy was
having trouble figuring out. Eventually , in a panic, they called me in to try to figure it out. I remember this quite clearly. It was a friday night at about
8 or 9 p.m., and my wife and I had just returned home from dinner where I received the call. They convinced me (reluctantly) to fly back east on a
red-eye flight and even sent a car to pick me up from home. I got to the gig the next morning (some arena somewhere) and we set the gear up
back stage in a room. I commenced to tear that rig apart...looking for a "crackle"...everything seemed fine. This went on all afternoon until just about
time we had to wheel everything onstage. As a precaution I went around and started tightening up every nut, bolt and screw in this rig. As I went
to tighten up the input jack on the Groove Tube D75 power amp, the jack spun internally, and the jack tip came in contact with the chassis, and
BINGO! the signal cut out. Took the amp apart, and sure enough, this was causing the problem all along.Problem solved. The show was flawless that
night (at least sonically) and I flew home the next day a hero. Soon after, that tech guy got fired, Brian Brown came in AFTER all this, and I was commissioned to build a complete duplicate backup rig. Brian has been with Trey ever since, and after all this, Trey ended up going with the
Fender Deluxe rig that I believe he uses today. He even mentioned to me his intent on going in this direction (Fender Deluxe) when I was out there.
I have had little contact with Trey since all this and mostly speak with Brian when necessary.

These are the facts.This is what happened. I was there.

Feel free to set the record straight with this post on your message board, as I would never do it.I don't have time. I gotta get back to work.

Regards,
Bob Bradshaw
CAE

[Poster]

Neat email. Its nice to hear from the Horses mouth.


BUT I will comment on a few things.



1) I know for a fact he doesn't RETURN all sales calls. LOL How many times did we politely call about the ISO? (and yes I left my fucking number 0_o)

2) Analog Mike continues to feed misinformation regarding those CAE effects in order to gen business. Which is totally cool, do whatever you gotta do man. Ill enjoy my GARMOPAT products just the same!

3) I like the fact he admits Trey wanted to use the fender amps. So +1 cool points to you Bradshaw for honesty.

4) Iam curious to see how completely creepy Cactus' email was to Bob in order to garner this sort of response. lol

[cactuskeeb]

There's at least 12 creepy emails in that email exchange--normally they don't elicit a response so this time I dug deep for my creep du jour. 

[Poster]

^ LOL

[Happyorange27]

Wow I had never read all of this before! What a great response.  I never knew this existed.

[fulltone1989]

What a good read. I still like my MDV though 

[raisingfreen]

4) Iam curious to see how completely creepy Cactus' email was to Bob in order to garner this sort of response. lol

Me to... so long as he did not mention anything about a bag of dicks, I'm sure any additional candor was appreciated.

[Heady Jam Fan]

4) Iam curious to see how completely creepy Cactus' email was to Bob in order to garner this sort of response. lol

Me to... so long as he did not mention anything about a bag of dicks, I'm sure any additional candor was appreciated.

Don't forget the Squeaky Dolphin Pussy

[cactuskeeb]

None of you should ever see the content of the email I sent that garnered this response. You have to act as strange and/or creepy as Bob or Bob doesn't take notice, trust me.

Looking back, I think this is probably the only truly revelatory thing he said to me in that email:

"The Sweet sound vibe SOUNDS NOTHING LIKE A BC VIBE! NONE OF THEM DO! Some get closer than others. Line 'em all up...and listen.
sure they all get the basic univibe sound, but so does a MXR Phase 45!!! The difference is in the modulation sweep. Most others are "lumpy"...
the BCV is smooth throughout its range. And they need to be calibrated correctly (BCV's that is)and it can only really be done by ear."

[Happyorange27]

Good stuff.  I just hope that the new Black Cat Vibes are going to be equal to, or better than the original ones.  I think the original dude is still overseeing the production.