Original Shin-ei Uni-vibe 1970's Univibe

[@heavy_70s70]

No Uni-Vibe copy even comes close to the sound of an original, they sound trully beautiful and amazing!

[@berumen_guitars]

You are correct. Most are very exaggerated fx sounding. The originals are more sublte. The Sweet Sound UltraVibe big box gets pretty close to this Shin-Ei version I must say. The originals with the original caps are impossible to reproduce as the modern caps are just too efficient and the leakage contributes to the tone and the larger enclose makes a difference as well being a reference to ground and proximity effect of the unshielded wires.

[@davesava6e245]

Sabbadius gets super close too.

[@_FuriousGeorge_]

I agree! I have the 69 (haha) and it’s extremely close! The throb is off slightly, BUT close!

[@natethagod2426]

Nothing beats the original man

[@spunkadellic]

*Turns on univibe, plays Breathe - ya that sounds about right

[@michelvondenhoff9673]

Wow, enjoy that unit. Was looking for MXr Uni-Vibe and EHX Good Vibes and bumped into this video 😀 Enjoy!

[@tone9930]

Very cool man, enjoy n keep it save! Thx!

[@RodneyWallaceDynamoC]

Looks and sounds great! Thanks for sharing, awesome video!

[@JamrockVybzTV]

good vibe

[@The6550s]

Breathe… breathe in the air

[@JohnnyGuitaristOfficial]

It's... ..it's.......beautiful! 😍 Sweet pedal brother, looks very clean. 🙌🏻

[@berumen_guitars]

Thank you. I was very lucky to find it. I'm still always on the lookout for another but most I see have been messed with or are not dated correctly so pricing is insane.

[@peteraustin370]

Fabulous sound....!!!

[@alfredovalenzuela7]

I want one of those!

[@KelsterVonShredster]

Sounds legit!

[@keiranbradley3238]

You don't happen to own a "modded" DeLorean do you?. That unit is mint!. Sounds perfect.

[@berumen_guitars]

@keiranbradley3238 I wish I could go back in time and stock up on more vintage gear like Binson Echorecs maybe some old Marshalls and Fenders... This Uni-Vibe has a few nicks but looks great for the most part on video. Thanks for watching the vid!

[@digitalchris6681]

Interesting... I have several more recent optical vibes but this one seems to have a very asymmetric LFO and a deeper intensity at full setting.

[@berumen_guitars]

I offset the shield to get it to do that. usually everything is evenly spec'd and spaced but tye tinniest shift of the light shield can affect the reflection of the bulb and what the photocells pick up. Some guys use aluminum "cubes" others use round shields. What optical vibe are you using?

[@digitalchris6681]

@@berumen_guitars Very interesting..... I may have a mess around inside one of mine - perhaps use some aluminium foil inside the cube. I've got an original Deja Vibe (dark grey with pedal, mains powered), a newer one (cream box, 9v which seems quite rare), and an ElectroHarmonix Good Vibes. I've also got an OriginEffects Magma 57 which gives a useful if low intensity vibe at setting 0 ( I believe this pedal is analogue but not optical).

[@berumen_guitars]

@@digitalchris6681 I like mains powered pedals. Is that an early Deja Vibe? I wanted to get an old white one. They seemed to have similar board and components like the big box Sweet Sound UltraVibes.

[@digitalchris6681]

@@berumen_guitars I think the mains ones are still 18v internally... I'm still figuring out the Deja Vibes' provenance - I bought them recently (when Fulltone decided to shut shop, as I reckoned the 2nd hand prices would rise, which they did !)

[@digitalchris6681]

@@berumen_guitars have you tried the Pedal Pawn Gypsy Vibe? It seems to sound like my imagination says a vibe should, and is available for around £400 new (excluding 18v PSU). Apparently Josh Scott (JHS) even raves about it (perhaps not surprising as I've tried the JHS unicorn vibe, and found it way too trebly with no real "throb")

[@Gazesatstars]

looks brand new and sounds amazing - how did you get such a thing into your possession?

[@berumen_guitars]

I purchased this unit from scruffsvintageguitars on Instagram via Reverb earlier this year. This is a mid 70's unit. He does have another he was selling that was owned by one of the guys in Toto. A lot of sellers try to sell these as earlier 69/70 units for top dollar so be aware of that if you shop around. There is no date code stamp on these later units and most have alumi-logos not the white lettering of the earlier units. Thanks for checking out the vid, have a great new year.

[@NebulaStudios1]

I have the JHS Unicorn and it is amazing.

[@berumen_guitars]

I'd like to try one. I had the big box Panther and Panther Cub delays on the radar for a long time. My favorite univibe so far is my UltraVibe big box slightly better than the 70's Shin-Ei in the vid.

[@berumen_guitars]

I just got a Maestro Phase Shifter PS-1A from the 70's that nails the Alex Lifeson tone of the early Rush albums I grew up on. I always thought it was univibe lol.

[@NebulaStudios1]

I have the Panther Cub. It is also very nice. Great sound. And compact. It is discontinued. I have the Chase Bliss Womb Tone V2. Also spectacular and discontinued. I wanted his analog delay, but I waited too long. Crazy prices on Reverb. @@berumen_guitars

[@berumen_guitars]

@@NebulaStudios1 everything's crazy right now. I love gear for sure. Some stuff works some doesn't. Unfortunate/Fortunate thing is got Bogner heads and cabs before going in on pedals. I could def be happy with an old Marshall and pedals like my old school hero reference. And on the daily I plug I to the BluGuitar in the shop for fun.

[@nunoharris]

Hi is this pedal the same one that Hendrix used? Thanks.

[@berumen_guitars]

No, this is a mid 70's Shin-Ei Uni-Vibe with alumi-logo made well after he died. It's last generation with single tread on speed pedal, no date code stamp, and a light reddish brown circuit board, and carbon film resistors. These are more swirly/phasey like Pink Floyd tone. The ones Hendrix used were Honey Uni-vibes with double treads on the speed pedal, dark brown circuit board, carbon comp resistors. These were roughly 1968-1970 and his may have been modded by Roger Mayer. They are more bubbly in the pulses and the throb is more prominent. If you are looking to buy then really try to do some research as there are a lot of shady sellers using the "1968" in their descriptions to sell 70's Shin-Ei Uni-Vibes. Add 25 to the date code stamp to get the accurate year, Japanese calender.

[@conjering]

It looks new

[@berumen_guitars]

Yep, only a couple scratches and paint chips.

[@This.is.louie.]

Sounds like a Kid screaming at 8:23 in the background ?!

[@berumen_guitars]

😆Yes, my kids were playing with our puppy but she gets crazy when I play and wants to come in the room. They were probably yelling at her to stop.

[@MarshallandCables]

Hi Isaac, a friend of mine and I are making a faithful replica of the legendary Univibe but we can't find reliable measurements of the box on the web. We will have a friend make the box but we will need the measurements of the pedal. Would you do me the great favor of writing me the measurements? I would be very grateful. Thank you! Marcello from Italy😸🎸

[@berumen_guitars]

I can try. Message me you email and I can send you pics. It's easier that way. Do you want it in cm/mm?

[@MarshallandCables]

@@berumen_guitars ok thanks man 👍👍👍

[@berumen_guitars]

[e-mail]

[@MarshallandCables]

In mm could be perfect 👍

[@MarshallandCables]

I sent you the email. Many thanks again

[@matthewmclean3936]

Do you still have this univibe and is it possible to see a comparison to a Korg Nuvibe? I see you did compare to Sir Henry and Sweet Vibe. I own a Nuvibe and I have been dying to hear one compared to an original Shine-EI

[@berumen_guitars]

I do still have this vibe. I've never compared it to a Nuvibe. I'd say first off the drifting capacitors are a major part of the tone and personality of these original units. Original components can be 1-3X their printed value which is why some sound more subtle and others sound deeper. The wiring is unshielded so even moving wires inside affects thw tone/respone of the unit. Also, that second pulse that sounds like a heartbeat/gallop is a big part.

[@matthewmclean3936]

@fattone I found a video with a comparison and it looks to me like the Nuvibe is a really close recreation of the proper Vibe sound, I’ve found mine to sound great but I keep thinking since it’s transistor based it may not be close enough but to my ear when I listen to Hendrix and try to play a song it’s quite close in tone

[@berumen_guitars]

@matthewmclean3936 I've only owned an MJM 60's Classic Vibe, Violet Vibe, Midnight Vibe, and UltraVibe big box, two UltraVibe IIs, and a Sir Henry. I modded my UltraVibe II to a variation of a Honey Uni-vibe (Hendrix era) and it gets close to that Machine Gun pulse/throb not as phasey as the Shin-Ei variation. I need to listen more to the NuVibe. It was made by the original engineer of the Uni-Vibe.

[@matthewmclean3936]

@@berumen_guitars the MJM 60’s Classic Vibe was the photocell style vibe I want to buy and probably will sooner or later plus I want an original and the pedal pawn gypsy vibe is also tempting, I have a Nuvibe and a TC Viscous Vibe which is also very cool lots of options I am pretty happy with having 2 modern designed vibe pedals but I do want an original one day

[@berumen_guitars]

@matthewmclean3936 the MJM bigbox was the most liquid of all I've owned. Not super throbby though. Very beautiful sounding.

[@Samsanite1]

What pickups are those? They sound amazing

[@berumen_guitars]

Guitar is a homemade partscaster with two humbuckers and a middle single coil. most of what you hear is neck humbucker with coil cut by itself and some is with added middle single. The humbuckers are Ibanez with ceramic magnets that I modded by swapping one coil off the neck and one coil off bridge. Major mismatch of coils but they sound very clear.

[@barneyrubble8255]

What guitar and mic are you using on cabinet? Sounds good. I just got my univibe fixed today. I'm gonna compare and see if it sounds as good as yours. Gonna check if mine has all those original caps in the lfo.

[@berumen_guitars]

Hey thanks, this was recorded with android phone no outboard mic/gear. I'm playing a homemade partscaster with alder body, maple neck, ebony board and floyd with modded pickups with ceramic magnets. Most of the clean stuff is an Ibanez neck humbucker with offset coils in parallel very clean but lots of volume. Running through the clean channel of a Bogner Ecstasy 101B into a Bogner straight 4x12 with older stamped UK Vintage 30s. This Uni-Vibe is most likely a 74 but no stamp. It has a trimpot inside and I adjusted so the tone with Intensity at 0 is similar to the Cancel tone. This way it just adds to the core tone and doesn't completely take over or dull the high end. You can turn the trimpot up and it gets more liquidy/phasey bit you lose high end clarity. The trimpot can make the bulb stay on even with 0 Intensity and that will phase out the core tone. Mine had one dead cap on arrival connected to the 470pf/500pf lcr section but was very clean and all stock. Let me know if you need more info. Cheers.

[@barneyrubble8255]

@@berumen_guitars Thanks for the details. An ebony fingerboard? I have maple nash s-57 was thinking i wanted to trade up for a rosewood, never knew about ebony, i'll have to look into that. I'm buying a new cabinet soon, right now using 2x12 greenbacks, not ideal tone. Was going to get vintage 30's hugh kettner, but wondering how hard i'll have to look and how much i'll have to pay for the older vin30's that sound better. Cool to know about the trimpot, i guess it's easy to manipulate? i'll just have to check the schematics. How do you chek if a cap is dead? I guess it wouldn't be working right? so you're just has one cap that isn't original. I'm using a matchless amp, which is great of course, but not the best for classic vintage tone. That bognor clean channel sounds sweet. You're getting the tones i want out my univibe. im thinking it's the ebony fingerboard and amp, and maybe adjustments to trimpot. Im going to try and figure out if my caps or original (not even sure what lfo caps are but should be easy enough to google the names you gave me, and see if their inside my univibe.

[@berumen_guitars]

@@barneyrubble8255 It's a Mighty Mite maple neck, ebony board with abalone dots. The main thing is the pickups. They are about 12k-14k humbuckers with ceramic magnets. One of the coils is modded to be less than the other so even in humbucking mode they are very clear and great for clean stuff. If you are up to experiment, get a cheap set with neck and bridge and swap one of the coils from one to another. The stamped frame UK Vintage 30s are the ones. The Chinese made V30's are brighter and more aggressive. You can tell origin by the back label and the small sticker on the magnets that sometimes have Made in China or a 50 and they also have a red glue on the spider instead of the clear like the UK's. It shouldn't make a difference but it does. I have a quad of Vintage 30's with back labels indicating UK but with stickers clearly showing the 50 (Chinese) very broken in but still very aggressive and strident. Mesa Vintage 30's are UK and another alternative to the older stamped UK's

[@berumen_guitars]

@@barneyrubble8255 You're not digging the greenbacks? I just ordered a pair of Blackback G12H-30's to try. I want to try some vintage greenbacks as well but they are priceyyyy. Right now every cab I have has Vintage 30's and I'm trying to sell off the quad of China/UK V30's, 3 G12T75's, a 70th Ann. G12H30, and some others but I'm concerned with shipping damages that can occur. The Bogner clean is pretty much a Fender Super/Deluxe circuit.

[@barneyrubble8255]

@@berumen_guitars I like my greenbacks, they can sound great, my matchless with my vintage rat and vintage polychorus through the green backs sounds so organic and raw, scary good, but feel better when i have vintage 30 cabinet also the tone really is different and love them both....(i had both sold the orange 4x12) I'll try and get the non chinese ones, i guess a mesa cabinet is one way to do it. Hugh Kettner probably uses chinese, bastards. I thought the clean channel sounded like fender clean, very nice. I'm thinking of saving up for the toneking imperial 2 to contrast my matchless ac 30 which, which has beautiful cleans, but they're jangly 3D very distinct sound. I want those fender cleans too, i think especially to get the best vintage univibe tones. I'll look into those pick ups....i need some more guitars too, I love my nash 57 strat when its set up it feels and plays in a way i didn't know was possible.....its lollar pick ups are very bell like. But i need a guitar with humbuckers ect.

[@valentino3191]

It’s interesting to wonder had Jimi used some weird cheap version of this, if that would be the coveted pedal everyone had to have? Lol

[@berumen_guitars]

Probably would not have been as coveted. I mean, as a result you had Trower and Gilmour using Uni-Vibe and I believe Trower had his modded by Roger Mayer like Jimi. Not sure what other modulation type effects were available at that time(late 60's) but he would have made it work. There's the Resley Tone by Shin-Ei that sounds equally as cool if not cooler. Same type of tones and similar looking circuit. I don't think they as as coveted yet still difficult to find. Not sure if Hendrix ever managed to use one.

[@valentino3191]

I guess I wonder because Of John Mayer’s weird sycophant-type fans with his PRS Silver Sky. My opinion is it is ugly as hell. The initial reaction was the same and over time, his fans stared convincing themselves it was cool. That headstock makes it look hideous. Lol. People will convince themselves of the weirdest things, given enough time.

[@berumen_guitars]

I think a lot of guys forget that Jimi's was modded by Mayer and started out as the early Honey version of the Uni-Vibe with double rubber pedal. I'm not sure if there were any other modulation pedals with an attached expression pedal at the time. So I guess right place right time worked out. He has Fuzz and Vox/Crybaby wah in their best years. I think he did use the Resley Tone and the Psychedelic Machine on some recordings as well. Fanatics will chase tone no matter how ugly/old a product is lol. I think new stuff gets close but never there. Maybe some parts were worse and better back then. Who knows...