Hendrix Vibe..::!

[Keysershades]

Hello people.
I was playing a Dunlop Rotovibe in my local shop the other day and i was thinking i found the missing ingredient!
But it's way out of my price range! I offered the guy my first born, but he wasn't up for it  .
So i was thinking, the sound of Jimi is the chorus and expresion pedal part right ? Would it be the same just to get a cheap EHX chorus pedal and build it in to a old wah chasis ?
Any experience on this area ?

Simon.

[Mark Hammer]

There are better and worse vibe units, but the key to "that" sound is to stick whatever you use before your distortion stage.  Phasers and vibes placed after a distortion have a filtering effect, whereas sticking one before a distortion has more of an "animation" effect.  While just about any suitable phaser can bring you within shouting distance of that tone, a vibe unit will bring you much closer.  The difference is in the depth/width of the notches.  Phasers will produce more focussed and deeper notches, while vibes will produce very diffuse and shallow notches that barely qualify as such.

There are actually a lot of inexpensive vibe units on the market (e.g., Danelectro), that you are encouraged to try out.  I'm not guaranteeing they will absolutely nail what you seek, but they may surprise you by being a lot closer than you think, in addition to being well within your budget.  Plus, you get to keep your first-born!

[DougH]

Get a Danelectro Cool Cat Vibe. $60, metal box, metal jacks, true bypass, full-blown optical univibe- sounds great for Hendrix/Trower sounds. I love mine.

[RedHouse]

Rotovibe ain't nothing like the Uni-Vibe Hendrix used.

If you can get past the (blatant opportunist) advertising, go here and look at the pic's:

http://classicamplification.net/effects/CompareVibes.htm

(Rotovibe pics are at the bottom of the page)

[DougH]

Classic shmassic... Bleh... "Transistors better than IC's" ad nauseum... Typical boutique-speak from someone who wants your money.

The main ingredients of the vibe are getting the allpass filter tuning right and the optical modulation (preferably with a lamp), I believe.

I agree that the Roto-Vibe is not the same thing. I've heard sound clips of it and it sounds very different.

[zombiwoof]

I have a Roto Vibe, and it as far as I have been able to find out is based on a unit that Schaller made back in the sixties, also called a Roto Vibe.  It was not a pedal per se, it was a large unit like an amp head, and was a rotating speaker emulater.  It isn't the same circuit as a Univibe, but was supposed to do the same thing a Univibe was designed to do, which is sound like a rotating speaker.  It doesn't sound as lush as a good Univibe clone, but it's a cool chorus/vibrato effect anyway.

Al

[DougH]

I think I saw a photo of the vintage Roto-Vibe at one time. It is a nice sounding effect.

[jrod]

Here is a link to a Shaller Roto-Sound with a schematic: http://forums.vintageamps.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=67510&start=0

Not sure if this is the same thing.

[R.G.]

Here is a link to a Shaller Roto-Sound with a schematic: http://forums.vintageamps.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=67510&start=0

Not sure if this is the same thing.

Thanks for posting that. It looks like the SRS uses a chain of L-C filters to get its phase changing effect, then does the add-it-to-the-dry-signal trick to get peaks and notches. The chain of L-C filters is modulated - I think  - by having the inductors be modulated by a DC current through them. This is a holdover from the magnetic amplifier school of operation. It also leads to interesting signal distortions, similar to my thoughts on adding a DC offset to a wah inductor.

In this, the SRS is different from any phaser I've ever seen. It's a complete step outside the Univibe family.

In the "let's throw gasoline on the fire" school of things, the most intense phaser I've ever heard is the Multivox Fullrotor, same circuit as the "Little David" Leslie simulator. These use a ladder filter structure set up as a phase shift ladder instead of a lowpass filter ladder, and darlington-connected transistors to get their phase shift. They get a LOT of phase shift stages this way.

[tjk3052]

RG's Neovibe can be built into a wah shell and is a clone of the Univibe. Can be built for less than $100 and sounds like Jimi's BOG vibe.

[R.G.]

This is a reasonable time to interject this, I guess.

I have had the first builders' reports back on my Neovibe-in-a-Wah PCB. Works. I'll be posting more as I get to it. This bolts right into the stock mounting bosses on wah pedals that don't have the jacks mounted on the PCB.

[The Tone God]

Back in the early to mid 90s Dunlop had gotten the Hendrix name and decided to create a line of effects under that name with effects that offered similar functionality. Things like the octave fuzz and Hendrix fuzz were put under this name. The Rotovibe was part of this line as they had not gotten the Univibe name yet but wanted to offer a vibe to complete the line. The early ones even had the "JH" in their model number to indicate they were part of the Hendrix line. Of course they didn't sound like the Univibe. I don't believe they bare resemblance other then the partial name to any other "vibe" effect including the Roto-Sound. Its too modern in design to be a descendant IMHO much like their Univibes are a different circuit and not a true reissue.

I find them weak. I always had the intensity knob cranked. The only thing I can say for them is that they can run on a battery and are self contained in the rocker pedal. Thats about it. There are much better options out there.

Andrew

[zombiwoof]

Back in the early to mid 90s Dunlop had gotten the Hendrix name and decided to create a line of effects under that name with effects that offered similar functionality. Things like the octave fuzz and Hendrix fuzz were put under this name. The Rotovibe was part of this line as they had not gotten the Univibe name yet but wanted to offer a vibe to complete the line. The early ones even had the "JH" in their model number to indicate they were part of the Hendrix line. Of course they didn't sound like the Univibe. I don't believe they bare resemblance other then the partial name to any other "vibe" effect including the Roto-Sound. Its too modern in design to be a descendant IMHO much like their Univibes are a different circuit and not a true reissue.

I find them weak. I always had the intensity knob cranked. The only thing I can say for them is that they can run on a battery and are self contained in the rocker pedal. Thats about it. There are much better options out there.

Andrew

I agree it doesn't sound like a Univibe, but if you found it weak you must have played the first version of the Rotovibe.  I had to send my Rotovibe back to have a switch fixed under warranty, when I did they updated it for a small fee to the updated board, and the effect is a lot deeper now.  It actually sounds really good, but then again not like a Univibe, I just consider it a different sort of chorus/vibrato pedal (it switches from chorus to vibrato like a Univibe does).  The original board didn't sound as deep.

Al

[DougH]

Maybe there's an internal adjustment? Like the bias trimmer on a phaser/univibe?

[zombiwoof]

Maybe there's an internal adjustment? Like the bias trimmer on a phaser/univibe?

I don't know, I've never messed with it.  When they updated mine, they put in a complete new board that was the latest revision at the time.  It also came back with the effect depth control working backward from the way it worked previously, and they put a new bottom plate on it that stated that it worked in reverse.  I don't know if that's the way the newer ones work now or not.  It's a cool chorus now, but it lacks the spatial content of a Univibe.  It does make a nice wobble, though!.  Mine is an older one, but looks new because I only gigged with it a few times, and have used it very little in the last few years.

Al

[Keysershades]

So know that we are on it, what about the Deja Vibe from Fulltone ? As cool as the Uni-Vibe ? 
But i actually wanted to know if anybody tried to build a chorus pedal in to a wah chasis ?
And if i'm right about Hendrix using the chorus effect the most and not the vibe ?

Simon.

[DougH]

So know that we are on it, what about the Deja Vibe from Fulltone ?

What about it? I got the impression you didn't have that kind of money to spend, esp if you couldn't afford the roto-vibe.

As cool as the Uni-Vibe ? 

It is a univibe, essentially. As is the neo-vibe, ez-vibe, cool cat vibe, etc, etc.

But i actually wanted to know if anybody tried to build a chorus pedal in to a wah chasis ?
And if i'm right about Hendrix using the chorus effect the most and not the vibe ?

Simon.

You are confusing different things. The uni-vibe has a "chorus" and "vibrato" mode. The "chorus" mode is usually what you hear on recordings, but it's not a "chorus" pedal circuit. The univibe is a crude phase shifter. You should read R.G.'s GEO article about the Neo-vibe to understand what a univibe is, and isn't.

A chorus pedal will share some aspects of a univibe's sound, as all of these types of circuits do- phasers, flangers, chorus, rotary speaker simulators etc. It may sound similar in certain situations but it is not the same as a univibe.