Mmmmmmvibey....

CustomPedalBoards

Well I must say this does look rather spiffing! http://www.shin-ei.com/ Massive, 700dollars, 200 extra fer the speed pedal, but it does look very tasty in a chewy vintage styley way.

Ro_S

Digital univibe. yuck.

[ EDIT:  N.B. a short while later, a bit below, I hold back on this assertion.  26/5. ]

CustomPedalBoards

Ro_S said:

Digital univibe. yuck.

I didn't know they were digital back in the 60's?

Ro_S

exactly, they weren't.

but this expensive 'reissue' is digital.  no bulbs/photocells.

huge pass from me.  not interested.

[ EDIT:   N.b. a short while later, a bit below, I hold back on this assertion.  26/5. ]

CustomPedalBoards

No light bulbs! Whatever next! How come? They say it don't have them? No mention in the ad, say original parts etc

Ro_S

CustomPedalBoards said:

No light bulbs! Whatever next! How come? They say it don't have them? No mention in the ad, say original parts etc

The give away in the official literature is the phrase, ''Engineered with the goal of achieving the ultimate tone and replication of the sound [my emphasis] of our historic Honey and Shin-ei vintage Uni-Vibe units''

Also, nowhere does it mention bulbs, LDRs or photocells or such.  If it did, they'd mention it!  

Usual disguised marketing.

CustomPedalBoards

It sounds great tho! Might be something to do with rhos I reckon.

Ro_S

p.s.  oh, hang on. i may have confused this with the Korg one (!)   

Ro_S

plus the shin-ei write up blurb says,

"we wanted to recreate the past as closely as possible and yet add some modern day design techniques without denigrating the natural tone and personality of the original circuit."

Sounds like a euphemism for ''we used some digital technology and it isn't authentic in all respects''

I'm still dubious.

lukedlb

I wrote them asking for an internal photo to show the true vibe lovers the attention they've put in though no reply has been forthcoming. Whereas the vibes produced by classic amplification look a lot more reliable. Anyone's feedback on their work would be much appreciated. I have their vibe baby and it is very close with a superb cancel pre amp tone.

Sassafras

I can just about afford this Tee shirt.

Ro_S

lukedlb said:

I wrote them asking for an internal photo to show the true vibe lovers the attention they've put in though no reply has been forthcoming. 

ominous

Branshen

The term replication means replication, it could be an analog replication, and not necessarily digital.

Modern day design techniques are probably referring to true bypass switching, switchable power input voltage, and speed knob disable on attachment of treadle.

I don't think anything in the literature indicates that this is a digital pedal. It also doesn't mention analog circuitry but I would assume that it is.

Ro_S

Branshen said:

The term replication means replication, it could be an analog replication, and not necessarily digital.

Modern day design techniques are probably referring to true bypass switching, switchable power input voltage, and speed knob disable on attachment of treadle.

I don't think anything in the literature indicates that this is a digital pedal. It also doesn't mention analog circuitry but I would assume that it is.

It says replication of the sound, only; not replication of the circuit.    

Yes, it could be analogue.

Stuff in the official blurb implies - or it culd be inferred as meaning -  it could be digital.

For £500 or whatever I wouldn't want to assume anything.

If it is digital, do you think they're gonna mention it in the sales blurb?

Branshen

Fair point, we'll see if they clarify.

Ro_S

I hope the ''old-school guys'' and "Vibe gods" in the so-called '"Shin-ei Tone Team" (pfft) can enlighten us.  

Ro_S

Someone on the official Facebook page has posted:

"Wasn't impressed with any of the clips and have owned 3 original Shin-ei Univibes. None of the clips sound anything like one."

lukedlb

There's another guy making faithful vibe replicas for almost the same price as a vintage: unique vibe.
Classic amplification are the go to vintage vibe repair team in the US with their own builds and kits too.

Ro_S

update....

i have received this from shin-ei:

It's basically the original first year Honey Uni-Vibe circuit (cells, bulb etc.)with some creative circuitry for the bypass/preamp signal path.

We don't use FET's and the unit has a very quiet internal transformer. We wanted to recreate the original units with a small bit of refinement.

Branshen

Nice one. Cheers for the update.

CustomPedalBoards

ah now i remember, this is the page i liked last yr or so: https://www.facebook.com/uniquevibe/
this dude is making the handmade stuff, and his new all in 1 unit (like the old hurricane/surf/siren units) looks awesome!