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heads on fire « Nails Jimi tones to a T. »
Published on 09/08/11 at 10:27This is all-analog technology, created by Roger Mayer, the guy that build Hendrix's pedals for him, so you know it's going to have some great sounds.
Vibrato,Chorus, Tremolo, and Univibe tones all live in this box. Most people will use it for the Univibe tones, which it frankly nails, but the other sounds are great as well.
One nice perk on this box is that it has two outputs, so the signal can be split to multiple amps.
UTILIZATION
This is either a tone tweaker's dream or worst nightmare - it's a DEEEEEP box. There are SO many sounds in this. Each knob is highly interactive with the others, so moving one a millimeter over can change the sound character drastically, or change the way the other knobs function.
The manual is very good at explaining each function, but the only way to know how to dial in the sound on this pedal is experience. Incredible tones await inside, but one might consider marking their box to retain favorite settings, or take pictures with a camera phone for easy recall.
SOUND QUALITY
I mainly use this pedal for Univibe purposes, to cop a Jimi Hendrix "Band of Gypsys" tone, or a Robin Trower tone. I have yet to play a Univibe-style pedal that sounded as close to those two legends as this pedal does. My favorite guitar tone of all time is Hendrix's "Machine Gun", and this pedal can do that nice, chewing warble to a T.
The other effects are great, but I don't see someone owning this box just for the tremolo or chorus type effects. The Univibe tone is where the magic lie in this unit.
OVERALL OPINION
I LOVE the Univibe tones. The drawbacks to this pedal are the massive tweakability (I know, it's a good thing, but not easy to get "the" sound right away), and the sheer physical size! This thing takes up a third of my large pedalboard! I have honestly never opened it up to look at the guts, but I hope they are using all that space, because the box itself is just massive.
The pedal isn't made anymore in this incarnation, so they are a bit hard to find, and pricey when one is located. But for Univibe glory, this pedal is king. If you need to get the Jimi vibe down, this pedal is the real deal.
Vibrato,Chorus, Tremolo, and Univibe tones all live in this box. Most people will use it for the Univibe tones, which it frankly nails, but the other sounds are great as well.
One nice perk on this box is that it has two outputs, so the signal can be split to multiple amps.
UTILIZATION
This is either a tone tweaker's dream or worst nightmare - it's a DEEEEEP box. There are SO many sounds in this. Each knob is highly interactive with the others, so moving one a millimeter over can change the sound character drastically, or change the way the other knobs function.
The manual is very good at explaining each function, but the only way to know how to dial in the sound on this pedal is experience. Incredible tones await inside, but one might consider marking their box to retain favorite settings, or take pictures with a camera phone for easy recall.
SOUND QUALITY
I mainly use this pedal for Univibe purposes, to cop a Jimi Hendrix "Band of Gypsys" tone, or a Robin Trower tone. I have yet to play a Univibe-style pedal that sounded as close to those two legends as this pedal does. My favorite guitar tone of all time is Hendrix's "Machine Gun", and this pedal can do that nice, chewing warble to a T.
The other effects are great, but I don't see someone owning this box just for the tremolo or chorus type effects. The Univibe tone is where the magic lie in this unit.
OVERALL OPINION
I LOVE the Univibe tones. The drawbacks to this pedal are the massive tweakability (I know, it's a good thing, but not easy to get "the" sound right away), and the sheer physical size! This thing takes up a third of my large pedalboard! I have honestly never opened it up to look at the guts, but I hope they are using all that space, because the box itself is just massive.
The pedal isn't made anymore in this incarnation, so they are a bit hard to find, and pricey when one is located. But for Univibe glory, this pedal is king. If you need to get the Jimi vibe down, this pedal is the real deal.