What is it about original Univibes that makes them sound so good?

[jayp5150]

I'll start another thread with some pics and stuff (probably next week). But in a nutshell, I bought a rotor/motor/pulley/cable unit that was used in a home console organ from a guy on CL. I just finished off the box, added ports, etc.

I'll keep my eyes open for that!

[Paul Marossy]

I think they're like the old wah pedals or Fuzz Face pedals - some sound great and some just don't.

I attribute it to variability in the parts due to loose(r) tolerances. 30 or 40 years ago they weren't able to manufacture stuff to the kind of tolerances they can today, and therefore you can get parts that are all over the map. And then you have the +/- 20% tolerance type things, too. Sometimes everything comes together in a good way, even "magical" some would say, and other times it just doesn't.

And then you have the possibility of parts drifting in value due to age, etc.

[DougH]

Inconsistency- the mother of vintage audio mythology...

[DougH]

I'll start another thread with some pics and stuff (probably next week). But in a nutshell, I bought a rotor/motor/pulley/cable unit that was used in a home console organ from a guy on CL. I just finished off the box, added ports, etc.

I'll keep my eyes open for that!

Just started a lounge thread on it. 

[Jay]

I'm not sure about the parts drifting vs good sounding Univibe idea.  I mean, yes, it's true, there's a lot of little 1uF electro caps and (in the early models) carbon comp resistors that will drift and maybe make for a great sounding unit over time.  But, generally, I think when someone buys or builds a 'vibe of some sort they're after Jimi at Woodstock/Band of Gypsys, Trower on Bridge of Sighs, Gilmour on Breathe etc.  These were all new Univibes at the time, they just happened to be particularly good ones - quite possibly selected by them/their crew for that reason.

That could of course be argued as being down to loose component tolerance at the time - but I think not as R.G. said he'd bult 'vibes as good as good sounding old ones, and I have too and many others must have.  I used 1% metal film resistors and new production caps etc. so values pretty much as per the schematic. 

I think the variation is more about the cells, the bulb, their relative positioning, tuning the lamp driver and the wet/dry mix.


Jay

[John Lyons]

I think the variation is more about the cells, the bulb, their relative positioning, tuning the lamp driver and the wet/dry mix.

+1