EASYVIBE / DANELECTRO CHICKEN SALAD: WHICH ONE SOUNDS THE BEST?

[nico13]

Hi,

I'm planning to build the easyvibe but I read a lot of good reviews about the Dano chicken salad. So I wanted to know for you guys who have tried both of the units which one sounds closest to the univibe (or Neovibe) ?


Thanks for your reply.

[Meanderthal]

 I haven't built a vibe, but I have the Chicken Salad. It's cool, but my complaint is it has a very limited sweep range to it... and dang hard to mod with all those teeney weeney midget parts...

[nico13]

Sweep range? Do you mean deth of the effect because I know there's a trim pot inside the unit  that can be used to increase the depth (it's said to drive the bulb).

Just to give you an idea of the sound I'm looking for: is this unit able to nail Machine Gun?

[MartyMart]

Easy Vibe - without a doubt !
Chick salad is OK, but just not in the same league as the EZ, the CS also has a bit of a "lump"
in the sweep.
MM

[nico13]

MartyMart,

Do you own both pedals? If so did you ever a/b compared them under the same conditions. I mean... I built my first project last week: GGG Microamp on perfboard and although it works pretty good, before starting building an Easyvibe (on perfboard again) I want to know if it's worth getting into possible trouble in debugging.

[GibsonGM]

I did mine on perf, absolutely LOVE it!  You have to be neat, tho, and think ahead about parts placement so you don't end up with a tangled mess.  I built mine with TL064s, but put the oscillator on a 2nd board to isolate it (no click)...I recommend the dual OA version over the hand-drawn original for that reason (took 2 times to get it right, lol).    It has the total Woodstock Purple Haze, Star Spangled sweep to it, and yeah, Machine Gun.  Bridge of Sighs, Love Hurts by Nazareth....awesome!    Also, the trick where you put a trim pot in between the wet/dry resistors worked very well, I'd plan to do that, too!  Search forum for "Easyvibe mods" for more info on that.    And...plan on the DC adapter, it will eat batteries ;o)

Beats a Dano, hands down.  My .02...

[nico13]

GibsonGM

I assume that you designed another layout to put the oscillator on a separate board but as I'm a beginner if I build the easyvibe I will follow the usual layout. Do you think I will get some clicks with this version?

Regarding the DC adapter I was already aware of that and I use one for my 3 others pedals.

[nico13]

I've found a layout using a stripboard from Slacker. What's the difference (soundwise) between the 4 dual opamps and the 2 quad opamps versions ?

[Mark Hammer]

I would opt for the dual op-amp rather than quad op-amp version.  Frequently, LFOs can be a source of noise, ticking specifically.  Reducing the audible ticking involves decoupling their supply from that of the other audio portions of the circuit.  When you use quad op-amps where the LFO and part of the audio path are fed via the same power supply line, you can't do separate decoupling of the LFO and audio devices.

Certainly feel free to use a quad op-amp for the audio parts, but the LFO should ideally be a separate dual op-amp for quietest possible performance.  One quad and two duals is a reasonable compromise.

[GibsonGM]

What Mark H. said 

I used the quads, but I used an EXTRA one, and put the LFO off-board just because I was paranoid...wasteful when all was said and done.  I bet the dual OA version will work great, people have good results with them.    I did have to put a 100 ohm resistor in series in the power in line, and 2 - 470uF caps to ground from there, to decouple the power supply.  Other than that, no problems and a good, educational build.   You get help along the way from here, too 

[slacker]

I know it's normally best to use seperate opamps for LFOs and audio but my quad version doesn't tick at all and a couple of people have built it from my layout and I haven't had any reports of ticking. 

[Mark Hammer]

For whatever reasons, people can build the identical circuit and one gets ticking while the other doesn't.  It may well be the context they use them in (e.g., treble turned way up or way down on the amp) rather than whether the pedal ticks or not.

Still, YMMV as they say.  The recommendation to use separate op-amp chips is certainly not a requirement, merely insurance.  It is also worth noting that there are different sorts of LFO circuits, and I suspect some may be more susceptible to ticking than others.

[Meanderthal]

is this unit able to nail Machine Gun

Yes, It'll(the CS) do that, but not quite the bridge of sighs... I didn't know 'bout the trimpot... Thanks!

Oh yeah, the wobble or hump is there alright, but I sorta expected/wanted that... kinda in keeping with the concept of a vibe as an ersatz Leslie more than a twisted phaser... old school... I'd prefer a phaser to be nice and round(like a small stone), but a vibe... naah, the hump is part of what makes me think "Vibe".

Yeah, I guess I want it to get both deeper(sweep) and slower than it does... kinda almost goes where I want, but... you know how it is... the need for just a bit 'more'...   It was certainly worth the 20 bucks or so though.

[nico13]

Meanderthal

I see what you mean and I agree with you. I'm not looking for a vibe with a hi-fi sounding. I want an "organic" vibe.

[nico13]

Before getting too far from the original thread : does anybody prefers the Dano chicken salad or the Easyvibe ?

Please comment.

[nico13]

Well, Ok it's seeems that everybody prefers the Easyvibe.

So I should try to build one; the 4 dual OA version.

Thanks to everybody for their advice; I've also read a lot of debugging threads and mods regarding this project wich meke me feel confident.

[oldrocker]

Well go for it.  It's really not that hard.  Mine is kind of sloppy but it worked great.  I turned mine into strictly a phase shifter like the Phase 90 by swapping out some caps.  As a Univibe it worked great too I just have more use for it as just a shifter.

[Ardric]

I've got two salad's in my music room.  Both purchased new in box from eBay.  They sound different to each other.  I can't tune all the difference out with the bulb drive trimmer.  Also, one has a slightly faster LFO.  Neither is as nice as the best clips I've heard of DIY jobs.  YMMV.

[nico13]

So if you're lucky you can get a chicken salad with a good univibe sound if you're not you have a only a good phaser?
Plus the fact that this unit is pastic made and have cheap trimpots as knobs !!

Conclusion: Better build an easyvibe.

[tcobretti]

I will sell you my Easyvibe for $40 in a nice plastic box ready to run.  I hate it.  It does not compare in anyway to the Voodoo Labs Microvibe that I bought on a whim because I too cheap/lazy to buy/build a Univibe.  The Easyvibe is much shallower and IMO does not come anywhere close the the Hendrix Univibe sound.  Mine does not click and as far as I can tell is working exactly as it should be. 

It's a frustrating pedal because it gets the sound right, but lacks the depth of the real deal.  Before I built the easyvibe I would at build a Phase 90 and use the univibe cap values; it's hard to imagine that it could be much worse than the easyvibe and the parts are cheaper and more easily available.