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ROGER MAYER VOODOO VIBE.
The Voodoo Vibe is Roger Mayer's latest evolution of the famous
Uni-vibe guitar effects unit as used by Jimi and Robin Trower.The
Uni-Vibe was originally designed for electronic organs to replicate the
rotary speaker effect of a Leslie unit and made by a Japanese company
in the 60's. The units best-known user was of course Jimi who used the
Uni-Vibe at Woodstock and it's underwater sound is identified on such
tracks as 'Machine Gun'. The Supervibe was the next evolution and this
rack-mounted unit and incorporated the modifications that Roger Mayer had
developed for Jimi plus some further updates. The Supervibe's
enthusiasts have included Stevie Ray Vaughan and Robin Trower. The
Voodoo-Vibe goes much further in expanding the basic good filter sound
of the original but with a host of new features that make the
Voodoo-Vibe today's choice of player such as Page and Clapton. These
new features and of course the fact that the unit includes a TREMOLO
function together with the usual Chorus and Vibrato. The Voodoo-Vibe is
housed in a deep rectangular die cast enclosure is totally analogue in
operation featuring none of the nasty zipper type noise and graininess
associated with the digital variety of devices that simulate chorus and
phasing effects. The guitar tone is maintained throughout the range of
effects, which capture all the subtleties of playing technique even as
the signal decays away.
Electronically the Voodoo-Vibe is totally analogue in
operation with Class A discrete circuitry for all the audio stages and
has a signal to noise ratio of over 120dB which is 12dB better than a
compact disc. The circuitry produces warm, full, but still transparent
tones and is also much less prone to background noises than the
original Uni-Vibe. It also has dual low impedance outputs, which allow
parallel path processing and the ability to drive long cable lengths
without high frequency loss or level change. The dual outputs are also
active in the Bypass mode. On the top of the box are seven controls
with "chicken head" knobs. The Function control offers a choice of
chorus, vibrato and tremolo. Speed is firstly set by the Range control
giving three sine waves and three triangle wave speed ranges: slow,
medium and fast. The precise speed being adjusted by the Fine control.
Then we have the Intensity control which sets the level of effect and
Output, which determines the output. Symmetry controls the ratio of the
rise time to the fall time of the modulation signal being used. For
example when using slower speeds you can make the sound build up slowly
and cut off quickly creating a helicopter type "woof-woof-woof" sound.
Bias is most effective in the chorus mode and enables the filter to be
centred on different frequencies, emphasising either the bass or treble
frequencies within the sweep. Also if the Intensity or amount of
modulation is reduced to a minimum the Bias has the effect of providing
new different phase type sounds. The Bias control when used in the
Tremolo mode can make the modulation very chopped sounding and is
usually accompanied with a variation of Symmetry producing some very
unique tremolo effects. Speed can also be controlled from an external
volume pedal that is plugged into the two jack sockets on the back.
Powering is from either a single 9 Volt battery or mains adapted power
supply (not included). Extensive internal filtering assures quiet and
correct operation with commercial adapters. The on/off switch is a top
quality rugged USA footswitch and the status LED clearly visible.
The Voodoo-Vibe has many advantages over the original without
sacrificing none of the originals good points but eliminating the many
short comings and lack of flexibility. The added features have received
acclaim from those that have used of tested the device. It truly
provides sounds and areas of experimentation that were previously
unavailable so it makes sense if you are adventurous to dip into the
modern aspects of analogue modulation.
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