Uni-Vibe

Like I stated previously to get the right tone set up and sound it did need some tweaking.  It has a very lush sound with the rotary speaker effect on.  It sounds cliche but it really does get the "Machine Gun/Hendrix" sound.  I have found that the effect works great for lead and rhythm playing.  Great if you need a sound for quieter breakdowns to add texture to what could be a more faint or empty sound.  

Great build and let me tell you this thing is built like a tank. Metal casing is great for the road.  So far no problems and I think even Hendrix might have a hard time breaking this one.

I bought my Uni-Vibe off eBay and got a great deal. Apon opneing the box and plugging into my pedal board I was really disappointed.  I had to change where it was on my pedalboard. It sounded really faint and almost brittle.  After mixing with the settings a bit and getting the right speed for the rotating speaker mode.  It really does take a bit to set it up for the proper tone but overall an easy set up but if you are a tone freak it might take a bit to adjust the right sound depending on your set up.

Have not dealt with the company before.

I have been playing for about 15 years and own quite a bit of gear.  I am the nerd who sits in front of his amp for hours just trying to adjust the settings on my amp to be as close to perfect as I can.  I play a lot of different types of music but have a love for blues and rock music. This is a great pedal and I have used other leslie speaker pedals and this one by far cuts through the best and has the most authentic lush sound of the original leslie speaker system. 

I am using it with a Fender Standard Strat, a Samick Strat copy, a Crate CR-212 amplifier, a Vox V-847 Wah Wah, a Guild Foxey Lady Fuzz, an old Boss Super Feedbacker and Distortion, and sometimes a Roger Mayer Octavia added to the mix. I had no trouble getting out all of the sounds of the yesteryears.

I can depend on it because it has never broke down on me. If I were a paying musician I would definently use it without a backup.

I've had mine since 1988. I put in a few adds in the popular guitar magazines. Somebody from Canada sold me his Uni-Vibe. The sound was still incredible even though there was a VOLUME knob missing from the unit. Eventually I had one put on there for me. There was also a rubber foot missing from the speed control pedal. I solved that problem by taking one of the rubber foot off of one of my video tape holders and put it on the speed control pedal. The sound is still incredible. I feel like I'm living in 1969 all over again.

No, I have never dealt with Univox. Like I said before. I bought it used.

I play all kinds of music. Too many to mention. I wanted the Uni-Vibe ever since I had seen it in a magazine when there was an article about vintage effects.

I've always been a Strat man. I currently own a 1987 MIJ 1968 reissue/collectible - like Jimi's at Woodstock. I also own: ESP 400 series 1954 strat copy, blonde 1971 strat w/rosewood board, 1977 Ibanez Les Paul Custom Black Beauty w/dovetailed neck. Carvin Half-stack w/celestions, Fender Silverface twin w/Orange frame Fender/JBL's, 1976 Cry-Baby wah, Boss DD3 & DD5 pedals, 1989 reissue Fuzz Face, and other gizmos.......... Sound-wise, each of the 3 was different. The 1st had a slightly slower sweep than any of them, very much like Gilmour’s on ‘Breathe’. Listen to how slow that sweep cycles back & forth…….much slower than I normally hear. (I’ve even removed the treadle from my ‘vibes’ and manually set the pot for the slowest setting. Only the 1st one matched Gilmour’s slow speed.) The 1st one also had a sharper sound. I have the Jimi Hendrix ‘Coca-Cola’ bootleg, and Jimi does a very uptempo version of ‘Villanova Junction Blues’. This vibe sounded very much like the one heard on this track. It has a very ‘wocka-wocka’ type sound to it.      The 1st vibe was sold approx a year after I’d purchased it. I was low on funds. The 2nd Uni-Vibe was purchased from Tempo Music, Manhattan, in 1976. The receipt refers to it as a ‘Shiftee’ Univibe. $110.00. This vibe had a good ‘Machine Gun’ sound, and was the vibe that I used the most: 20+ years! Countless gigs, jams, car trunks, smoky stages, temperature changes and it never failed me. I stumbled across the 3rd vibe in the back of a ‘mom & pop’ music store in 1986. It was still in the original box, with sales tag, instruction sheet, and in original cellophane bag. I already had a vibe at home and didn’t need another. I put it back on the shelf. The next day at work it hit me. Idiot, that’s a dead-mint Uni-Vibe in the original box! How stupid are you? I bailed work early and went back to the store. $75.00 later it was mine. I never took that one on the road. It stayed home nice & safe. That vibe had a really good ‘whomp’ to it. When the sweep hit the bottom of the cycle it hit hard.      3 different vibes, 3 different sounds, and not a one of them was bad. (If I’m not mistaken, each one of them had ‘Shin-Ei’ stamped/inked on the bottom.)      I always felt that the Uni-Vibe – when used properly/tastefully – gave the guitar sound a nice ‘breathing’ quality. And, unlike most of the posts I’ve read, I always liked the way the unit ‘colored’ my guitars tone. Most people have remarked how 'Trower-like' my guitar sounded at gigs. But then I'd whip out Machine Gun, or Star Spangled Banner and the same people would say Cool! Hendrix! So the sound was there. It delivered. I'm giving it a 10 for SOUND QUALITY....not consistency. (Although I think 'pristine' may be a little strong...)

Not a one of my Uni-Vibes ever gave me any problems whatsoever! They always operated flawlessly whenever I powered them on, and the little lamp inside never burned out on any of ‘em. (The only problem I ever recall was the pilot light bulb burning out on my original unit. The device still operated fine, and Merson-Unicord sent a replacement right away in a (MUCH larger) padded envelope.) 10. 3 different units in a 20+ year span and NOT ONE PROBLEM!

I’ve owned 3 Univox Uni-Vibes in my lifetime, and I was the original owner each time. My 1st was purchased from Pastore Music, Union City, NJ way back in ’73 (..or ’74..?). It was shortly after Robin Trower’s ‘Bridge Of Sighs’ came out. I’ve been playing guitar since April 1971, when I was 14 years old. I’d shared a room with 2 older brothers who were heavily into the psychedelic music popular at the time, and they each spent a lot of time at the old Fillmore East. I was fortunate enough to hear the music of Jimi (on vinyl) when it was fresh & new. I’m also grateful that at such a young age I had the sense (…or taste…?) to appreciate this music as opposed to the bubble-gum my friends & classmates were listening to. Please keep in mind as you read this that I’ve loved Jimi’s music from the very first time I’d heard Purple Haze. And thanks to my 2 ‘roommates’ I was kept quite up-to-date with Jimi’s music.      My 1st awareness of a Uni-Vibe was when I heard the ‘Woodstock 2’ album, which came out shortly after Jimi’s death. I detected something that sounded to me like an automatic wah-wah, only not as pronounced as a ‘quack-quack’ type of wah. This sounded subtler, almost like a pulse or throb. At this time I did not play the guitar, but I definitely heard that sound. Approx. 2 years after learning how to play I finally heard Jimi’s ‘Star-Spangled Banner’ from Woodstock. The Uni-Vibe sound was extremely strong on this track, yet when I asked other guitarists what that sound was none of them knew. Some said “What sound?”, or “Hey, that’s just Jimi, Man….” The following Christmas I received the book ‘Jimi’ by Chris Welch, which I then read from cover to cover. In that book, roadie Eric Barrett mentions Jimi’s arsenal. That’s when I first saw the name: Uni-Vibe. I don’t know why, but I assumed it was a rare/expensive/obsolete device, and never thought to track one down. Even after reading that Robin Trower – my then guitar hero – was using one I still didn’t think to look for one. Not long after that I soon acquired a device known as a Synthespin MK II – made by PAIA Electronics. It was basically a phase-shifter/rotary speaker simulator, but I’ll be damned if it didn’t sound something like Jimi at Woodstock. It was a neat little device and did a pretty decent job, but months later I popped into Pastore Music and there it was! An actual Univox Uni-Vibe! It actually existed, and I could afford it. There is a God!      The salesman (who still works there by the way) was nice enough to let me demo it. As soon as I played my first lick I thought to myself “Hmmmmmm, very Trower-y….” I asked if I could try it with some distortion, so the salesman connected a Mosrite Fuzz to it. That’s when I heard those now famous ‘Star-Spangled Banner’ sounds. $OLD! I think I paid around $80.00 for it brand-new………I think. 10. It doesn't get easier. Plug in, power-on, press the pedal. The one-page manual is OK, but not really necessary.

(Currently out of business.) When I got it home I noticed a slight volume loss when I engaged the effect. (This turned out to be quite normal, but I guess I was pretty fussy back then.) The device was sent back to Merson-Unicord for troubleshooting. I was an impatient kid, and I wound up calling the company and (Amazingly!) reaching their service department. I remember speaking to a man named Franks (first name Kenny or Tony, I recall both names…) He had the device on his workbench but found nothing wrong with it. When I mentioned that my guitar volume drops slightly he interrupted by stating: “Guitar? Ohhhhhhh, that explains it! This device was designed for keyboards. The guitar’s signal is slightly weak, and it should be used with a pre-amp in front of it. That other guitar player had the same problem…..what was his name……?” “Robin Trower?” I volunteered. “Yeah! That’s him. And Hendrix. We gave hime one too but he played so loud so it was no big deal. This device works fine, kid.” So it was sent back to me. I realized some time later that the man I’d spoken to was probably the same Kenny/Tony ‘Francis’ (Franks) mentioned in Chris Welch’s book ‘Jimi’. I give customer support a 10 because I got right thru to the tech, and he was nice enough to explain the workings (I distinctly remember him telling me about the oscillator...) of the unit to me. Remember, I was a kid in high school and this (busy) guy was patient with me. And they sent a replacement bulb right away at no charge.      

Style of music: Blues-rock (No surprise there...), Jimi, Mahavishnu, Focus, Brand X, pretty much anything that's played well. It always made me laugh when other guitarists would spot my original on my pedalboard and flip right out. “OHMIGOD!!! THAT’S A UNI-VIBE! YOU HAVE A UNI-VIBE! WHERE’D YOU GET THAT UNI-VIBE…?” I’d always let them try it out, and the response was almost always the same: “That’s all it does…….?” Fools! Sometimes I’d get a smart-ass eyeballin’ it on stage. “That’s a rare gadget. What would you do if you got ripped-off?” they’d ask. “I’d go home and get the other one!” I’d respond as their jaw dropped. (It was like Monty Python’s Holy Grail: “I’ve got 2 of ‘em!”…..;-) I think a lot of the ‘clones’ sound just fine. I’ve heard the Dunlop, Fulltone, Voodoo Labs, Prescription Electronics, Sweet Sounds, FoxRox, and Roger Mayer. I’ve been hearing/listening to the Uni-Vibe for almost 30 years and each of these aforementioned brands sound fine to my ears. Some of them have a good ‘Machine Gun’ sound, and others have a good ‘Bridge Of Sighs’ sound. But they ALL sound …..like a Uni-Vibe! I’ve tried the Roto-Vibe – that’s NOT a Uni-Vibe. I’ve tried the Boss PW-10 Wah – NOT a Uni-Vibe. The Line6-MM4 – not bad, but disappointed me on the slow setting. As soon as the clones began appearing I decided to sell my vibes. I got a real good price for both of them. Lately I’ve been thinking of adding a ‘clone’ to my pedalboard, and I’m leaning towards the Roger Mayer. I liked the sound, and I like that it has so many knobs for more ‘tweakability”. I just  wish it wasn’t so damned big! I'd have to give this device a 10 all-around because it did EXACTLY what it was supposed to do, it NEVER, EVER failed me, and it was solidly constructed.