Vibe Pedals: Recommendations...

  • Thread starter Thread starter Junk Yard Dog
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Junk Yard Dog

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I got the MXR Uni-vibe over the weekend and I like it, but maybe I'm not setting it right. It's not quite chorus or the vibe I'm recalling from say Hendrix or Mike McCready.

I don't want to spend more than $150.
 
You need at least a deja vibe to get the actual photo-cell vibe going IMO. And there are even better but $$$
 
Fulltone Deja Vibe. The Vibe rabbit hole is viscous, but the Deja is the one that always delivers authentic Vibe tones for a decent price.
 
It´s worth mentioning the Voodoo Lab Microvibe as a good inexpensive option too.
 
Fulltone deja vibe or voodoo labs microvibe is what I would go with on a budget.

I opted for a used Retroman Ubervibe, but it was north of $150 even used. Vibe pedals for me are tough since I don't use mine much, but its nice to have around. The price per usage ratio is way off for me on vibe pedals.
 
I had a thread about the favorite uni vibe pedals going not to long ago. A lot of people chimed in with some good enough on some lesser known pedals.

IMO, the best would be the Chrome chassis Dunlop UV1. The problem, however, is that they're out of production, and not cheap. So when my latest UV1 bit the dust in the tail end of 2016, I went hunting for a new Univibe. The following pedals are what I like the most to least. I spent about two hours at the guitar center in San Francisco playing through every univibe they had. All played at volume with a les paul custom through a be-100 (at volume). Also, the pedal was placed in front of the amp (not the FX loop).

Fulltone Deja Vibe- this just had a quality that everything else lacked. It doesn't jump out of the mix like a UV1 will, but it's lush/warm and just has a polished feel to it.

Voodoo micro vibe- Killer pedal, just not as warm as the Deja IMO.

TC Electronic Viscous- I thought this was what I was going to buy until I played the Fulltone. Tons of features and choices on this pedal, but really lacks in the warmth area. Very noticeable when compared to the Deja vibe.

Moen Shaky Jimi - This was the surprise (shouldn't sound as it does) pedal IMO. Stupid cheap Chinese made pedal. Sounded much better than the new Dunlop pedal imo.

Dunlop Univibe (not the UV1)- Hatted this in the signal chain. I've purchased on of these when they first came out ... sold it the same week. Was hopeful that Dunlop had mirrored the UV1 with a design upgrade and thats not the case.
 
Voodoo Micro did NOT cut it for me. The EQD Depths was awesome. Sold off my Black Cat and EQD when I got my Source Audio Lunar. It does killer vibe, phaser and can load all of their flanger and chorus sounds as well and has 6 presets built in.
 
I've been thinking about giving the DigiTech Ventura Vibe a try, youtube clips sound pretty cool.
 
I like the older Dunlop UV1 Univibe and the Fulltone Deja Vibe. Both are cool pedals.
 
For a vibe pedal to sound right you really should save up and get a better one. Certain effects you can get a bargain pedal but it's hard to find a bargain vibe that sounds "right".

That pedal show just did a show on vibes. My favorite (not in the demo but similar to the mojo vibe) is the Ultra-Vibe by Sweetsound. The drybell has been getting great reviews. Placement before/after distortion/distorted amp (or distortion on both sides) can yield quite different results.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgvrW5ug6xw
 
I have the EQD The Depths. Analog photocell circuit with lots of control over the eq and a volume control. Sounds awesome on clean and gained up tones (much better when placed before gain for me) and it looks awesome.
The only thing I don't love is that the rate is just a bit too fast even at its lowest setting but I can live with it until I'm ready to fork over the big $ for a drybell or similar. Can't really go wrong the Earthquaker though.

I had the Voodoo Labs Microvibe for awhile and it was pretty good but I couldn't get a deep enough "pulse" or throb out of it and there was a small volume drop. I much prefer the Earthquaker.
Oddly enough another one of my favorite vibes is the univibe model in the Pod HD500. To my ears it's better than the Microvibe in that it's more pronounced and the rate can be assigned to an expression pedal.
 
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