Neovibe vs. commercially available vibe units. Thoughts?

[skiraly017]

Anyone have thoughts on the Neovibe versus commecially available vibe units as far as getting "that" sound? Are there reasons to choose a particular vibe unit over another? Looking for all opinions on this, thanks.

[Solidhex]

Although I've never heard any side by side comparisons against any commercial vibe pedals I wouldn't think there would be any reason why one would sound better than another but the companies definitely have more time dedicated to buying LDR's and matching them which is important. Of course when you're getting one at a store you're not only paying for the parts but all the time they spent testing components and designs.
  If you're trying to get "that sound" you'll just have to make the decision as to what that sound is by hitting up music stores and plugging into them for real.
  Don't forget that the guitar and amp used is a big part of the sound. A strat gives gives more high end for the pedal to "vibe" with. A murkier amp will give more low end "throb" since the high end is being attenuated. Also experiment with the placement of other pedals in the signal chain (pre or post fuzz/overdrive). Stuff to think about.

--Brad

[Mick Bailey]

Out of interest, I built an Easyvibe with randomly selected components and it beats most other commercial vibe pedals I've tried. The Neovibe should be as good, if not better. Perhaps I just got lucky. It totally nails "Bridge of Sighs" with a modded  Rebote 2 thrown in.

[23]

Anyone tried one of those Effectrode tubevibes?   429$ list.....?

[Zedmin_fx]

I built my self a neovibe and I love it. I have never used the other vibe units out there but I guess it depends on the type of tone your after.

[signalpaths]

My vibe is a modded Phase 90 and it sounds great.  The best part is it only cost me 50$ and parts.  I also use a  leslie with a 10" speaker and foam tone wheel that I rehoused.   It was free in an old lowrey organ I cut up.  Its nice because its real small for a leslie but still sounds awesome.  But if your looking for small the modded phase 90 is about as small as you can get for a vibe.  IMO the phase 90 sounds a lot better as a vibe.  But then I'm not much for phasers.

[hellwood]

ive never heard a neovibe in person, just a not-so-impressive recording of one that actually inspired me not to build one. the prices have doubled for a real one lately so unless you already own one, you dont know what you are missing anyway, so... the only one ive heard that is  pretty convincing but its NOT the same is a "mega" vibe, BUT there is no reason you cant build a replica of the real thing or a better sounding neovibe than the one i heard.

[SteveB]

ive never heard a neovibe in person, just a not-so-impressive recording of one that actually inspired me not to build one. the prices have doubled for a real one lately so unless you already own one, you dont know what you are missing anyway, so... the only one ive heard that is  pretty convincing but its NOT the same is a "mega" vibe, BUT there is no reason you cant build a replica of the real thing or a better sounding neovibe than the one i heard.

None of the Neovibe sound samples sounded good to you? How many samples have you heard?

What do you mean "real one"? A late '60's Uni-Vibe or a modern commercially available clone?  Even original ones varied sonically.
I think the OP was referring to currently  available vibe clones. Most of those, as well as the Neovibe are based on (if not a direct copy) of the original '60's Uni-Vibe. That's not to say they won't all sound a bit different out of the box. Componet tweaks are made to make them sound "better", but they are all basically the same animal. It seems that the photocells, distance for the light source, light chamber, not to mention the bulb bias settings all make a difference in the sound. That is so subjective. I personally like my Neovibe, & have compared it to to a couple of Deja-Vibes & like the sound of mine more. I still adjust it now & then to try different things, but I believe it sounds like it is supposed to. That's not saying it couldn't be "better".

Steve

[John Lyons]

SteveB's clips of the neovibe and an Easyvibe can be found here: www.mrdwab.com/john/soundclipspage.html
These are the best clips of both of them that I have heard.
If you don't like these clips then it's safe to say that you don't like the univibe sound.

John

[hellwood]

SteveB's clips of the neovibe and an Easyvibe can be found here: www.mrdwab.com/john/soundclipspage.html
These are the best clips of both of them that I have heard.

some of us have never and woulnt even consider putting our shin ei univibes into amp simulators or before anything in the signal chain, so i would A/B a shin ei and a neovibe through different amps/speakers/guitars/etc. at various volumes before i spent 3 weeks building one or paying $1000 for a real one.

If you don't like these clips then it's safe to say that you don't like the univibe sound.
John

its safe to say jimi himself might not either.

[BubbaKahuna]

I have a VooDoo Labs MicroVibe and I recently built a NeoVibe.
They're both on my pedal board in parallel so I've done a true A/B comparison.
The MicroVibe is shallow compared to the NeoVibe.
The MV has the throb, but not the heartbeat. I could say it lacks 'breath'.
Hmmm, no breath, no heartbeat? It's just dead sounding compared to the NV. Yup - pretty much!

The VLMV also does not do the sea-sick pitch shift at extreme settings that the NV can do.
If you listen to Trower's "Day of the Eagle" at the end, you can get that all day with the NeoVibe, but no way you'll get that out of the MicroVibe.
The Neo also has the chorus setting which is really more of a tremelo than a chorus, but the MV has nothing like that at all.

End result? I'm selling my MicroVibe. It sounds cheap, shallow and lifeless compared side by side to the NeoVibe.
I've tried messing with the internal trim pots in the MV, but there are no settings that can compare to the NeoVibe.
I kind of like having 2 vibes on the board, so after offing the MV to someone who wants a factory unit, I'm building another NeoVibe.

Guitars used for the side by side tests and on gigs to compare in a live setting:
1999 PRS CE22 trem
2003 Gibson SG Special
1992 Fender MIM Strat w/ Graphtech saddles & TS pups
2004 Stellar all-maple LP copy with Gibson 490r/498t pups
2005 Squeir 51
1988 Fender HM Strat

Amps used:
1969 Magnatone Imperial 12w tube amp, original 12" speaker
1996 Fender HRDx w/ EL84s, 60s GE preamps & 80s Carvin British Series 12" driver
1971 Ampeg VT40 4x10 combo, original Rola speakers
200? Fender Champion 30 MIM SS 1x10 combo
1976 Carvin VTR2800 100w head into 4x12 Carvin cab (80s Brit. Series drivers)

YMMV, but to my ears, the NeoVibe kills.
There's no Vibe on any record I've heard that the NV can't replicate.
That's not the case with the MV.
Also, the MV has been back to the factory for (the same) warranty repair THREE times ~ for me that's inexcusable.

Cheers,
- JJ

[John Lyons]

SteveB's clips of the neovibe and an Easyvibe can be found here: www.mrdwab.com/john/soundclipspage.html
These are the best clips of both of them that I have heard.

some of us have never and woulnt even consider putting our shin ei univibes into amp simulators or before anything in the signal chain, so i would A/B a shin ei and a neovibe through different amps/speakers/guitars/etc. at various volumes before i spent 3 weeks building one or paying $1000 for a real one.

If you don't like these clips then it's safe to say that you don't like the univibe sound.
John

its safe to say jimi himself might not either.

I'm not quite sure what your comments mean... The clips were recorded straight into a tube amp. There are a couple with a tube screamer but no amp sims...
Not sure what you mean about the jimi thing either.

John

[Jay]

I A/B'd my EasyVibe with one of the early Dunlop Univibe's.  The Dunlop did the lop-sided thing which the EasyVibe doesn't, but otherwise the Dunlop sounded poor, thin, lifeless.

I then built a Neovibe which is much better than the Easyvibe, but more work to make.  I've A/B it with two original (1960's) Univibe's.  It was the same as one of them and better than the other.

A Neovibe, properly built and tuned, is the real deal. 


Jay

[Mick Bailey]

I got the lop-sided effect straight away with my Easyvibe. perhaps this comes down to bias and vactrol chioce.

[Jay]

I didn't think an Easyvibe could do lop-sided! 

I thought it was down to the wierd oscillator and the thermal inertia of the bulb.

Does it really do the slow, deep, wonky Vibe that Jimi got at Woodstock?  My Easyvibe doesn't but the Neovibe does.

Not sure if it makes much difference but for the Neovibe I selected 4 photocells out of about a dozen.  I made a "light jig" out of a pen tube with a bulb in one end and chose 4 with the closest light/dark resistance readings. 

Didn't do that for the Easyvibe.

The bias trimmer in my Easyvibe doesn't have much of an impact.

I like the Easyvibe - sounds good, relatively easy to make, fits in a small box, runs off 9V etc. - but the Neovibe wins on sound if I'm trying to replicate that Hendrix/Trower/Gilmour Vibe.


Jay

[Zedmin_fx]

I A/B'd my EasyVibe with one of the early Dunlop Univibe's.  The Dunlop did the lop-sided thing which the EasyVibe doesn't, but otherwise the Dunlop sounded poor, thin, lifeless.

I then built a Neovibe which is much better than the Easyvibe, but more work to make.  I've A/B it with two original (1960's) Univibe's.  It was the same as one of them and better than the other.

A Neovibe, properly built and tuned, is the real deal. 


Jay
[/q  how would you say a NEO is properly built, do you mean metal film resistors, nice caps and the right photocells or something else. Could you tell me how I might want to tweak mine? also I am wondering how you like the neo for hendrix type stuff?

[Jay]

how would you say a NEO is properly built, do you mean metal film resistors, nice caps and the right photocells or something else. Could you tell me how I might want to tweak mine? also I am wondering how you like the neo for hendrix type stuff?

I've done repairs on two old Univbes.  One has carbon comps, the other carbon films.  I built mine with metal film, makes it a little quieter but otherwise no benefit/detriment.  Use the right cells - got mine from Small Bear.  I did match the cells, but that may or may not be necessary - though I did find some that were way different to the others which I think would have had an impact. Use the Radio Shack bulb.   I built my light shield the same as the original - shiny metal box - with the cells flat on the board facing up - the light shield isn't just a shield, it's a diffuser.  Definitely do RG's wet/dry mix resistor trick to get the optimum depth.

Sorry if this has gone OT from the original posting!


Jay

[Zedmin_fx]

whats R.Gs trick? I used the cheaper cells from small bear and I put them right up to the lamp which is also from small bear. I made a metal box for mine as well. I plan on getting the hermetically sealed  cells from small bear soon I just didn't have the cash at the time. Als oI am perty happy with mine, I only have a small amp (moded mini tone master) so I really dont know what it sounds like on a reall amp but I will someday I hope it gets me the hendrix univibe sound.

[Jay]

whats R.Gs trick?

If you go through the search function for Neovibe posts by RG you'll find it.  Sets the optimum wet/dry balance which gives you the best notch depth. 

I used the 54C679 from Small Bear.  Not sure I'd put them right up to the bulb - depends on the shape of the filament I guess but not all bulbs throw light out evenly around 360 degrees.  Thats where the shiny metal box comes in to bounce the light around.

To answer skiraly017's orignal post - surely it's not a question of comparing the Neovibe to other commercial clones, it's more trying to replicate the Univibe.  The Neovibe IS a Univibe so it does that very well!


Jay

[BubbaKahuna]

I started messing with the standard wet/dry mix resistor in/out thing, but opted to use a trimpot instead and just left it in there.
Being able to adjust both the wet/dry balance as well as the bulb bias makes it really easy to tweak it to taste.

I used an aluminum shield and have my LDRs facing the RS bulb, but not perfectly straight.
They're touching at the bottom of the LDR and at a slight angle away at the top to catch reflected light from the top of the box.
I got the LDRs from Small Bear.