darkhorse

Anyone dig this pedal as much as I do?

Since Jimi played Machine Gun and New Rising Sun I have loved this pedal. Robin Trower took us into the realm of magical dark forests with it. Bridge of Sighs, please has anyone ever outdone that tone??

Anyway, had a ton of the them and current favs.
I constantly battle with where to place the unit and the views of so many who use it. I sort of had to go with what works best for me and that is end of amp in chain AFTER my higher gain (not really used w the Vibe) my OD. I can still run into a dark or gained amp channel for that option. So I get the best of all combinations on my rig.



Current fav is the Fulltone Mini DejaVibe a real photocell circuit Vibe as good as it gets recreating the old Univibe circuit but using better tech and bypass.

Any users out there???

firebrand

I've owned a few in the past including a Dunlop Univibe (which was a total tone suck). DOD made the Vibro Thang which was actually better, but it was a one setting wonder. I was quite impressed with Voodoo Lab Micro Vibe, but it lacked bottom end and the ability to use a treadle expression control with it.

darkhorse

I've been letting players know that I ran across a company called JHS custom pedals which offers a mod on the Voodoo Lab Micro Vibe. They drastically improve the depth, body and feel of the unit.
I had one and it just was not quite there, the JHS mod is only like $50, you can send your pedal or buy a new one from them w the mod. The price is just under what a DejaVibe would run, the downside is the Micro Vibe does not have a vibrato option mode and the DejaVibe has a vintage/modern toggle as well as the lamp intensity on the bottom.
The upside of the little MicroVibe is that it is a photocell circuit and worth upgrading if you have one.

Once you pass the price range of the Fulltone you get into a lot of cool options. Be hard pressed to site "the best" one but the Prescription Electronics Vibe, Effectrode Vibe(tube unit), DLS VersaVibe and the Retroman UberVibe, above that price range are the Roger Mayer units. There are a lot out there rare and hard to find, but not so sure any of them is "heads" above the others. Might be at best slight differences in tones which makes one wonder if it is not more a matter of the chemistry of your rig where you put it or how you tweak it.

It's taken me a couple of weeks to really integrate the DejaVibe, I finally decided for the options I need out of my rig, after my OD and dirt is best for me. Sounds OK with the OD into it while the high gain is a little over the top but there as an option if you want to get really Hendrix crazy. The best tone I have found is running the unit without drive but my Radial boost on into an amp channel set more like a dark on the edge of breakup JCM800, nails that heavy Trower tone warble, add the OD for gain and you have total Bridge of Sighs tone. Most like running the Vibe into their OD but try as I might with several different ODs I could not get it right for me. Run that puppy into my tube amp channels though and there is the Hendrix into Trower tone.

The one thing that kept me looking at Fulltone original circuit resurrection was Trower continues to use it, and Satriani at the time had the Mini unit, although he seems to have gone to the Roger Mayer, he hardly uses the effect but those are the 2 I have seen him use. Credit goes to Fuller for first resurrecting the original photocell circuit and seriously upgrading the component quality and build. He has his own photocells made just for this pedal.