S TOMPSCHOO L
Stompbox Classics: Univibe
Welcome to our second installment of
Stompbox Classics here at Stomp School.
This month we’ll take an in-depth look at
the legendary Univibe. Made famous by
the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Robin Trower and
a host of others, the Univibe has become
one of the most popular and well-known
of all vintage effects, inspiring several boutique (and not so boutique) clones. Original
examples now sell for well over $1000
on the vintage market. Since the effect
debuted in 1968, countless guitarists have
fallen under the spell of its throbbing, hypnotic pulse and lo-fi, lopsided sweep. The
unmistakable sound of the Univibe sets it
apart from every other modula-tion-type effect, nearly placing
it in a category of its own.
ally result. Most modern versions have cured
these problems, but (at least some of) the
old originals really do sound cool.”
What we’ve come to know as the Univibe
was so named by the U.S. distributor,
Unicord, but it was better known in the
rest of the world as the Jax Vibra-Chorus,
made in Japan by Shin-ei, perhaps the biggest OEM effects mega-manufacturer of the
seventies. The Vibra-Chorus also appeared
under several different brand names and
variations of the effect were also marketed
as the Shin-ei Resly Machine and the Nomad
Verberola. An even lesser known fact is that
so it was difficult to complete the method. I
designed an oscillator to let the lamp flash
be amplified only by resistors and condenser
chips (as a passive device). This was not a
method engineers usually took, but I liked
trying new things.”
First of all, for those who may
not know, I’ll describe what
exactly a Univibe is and what
makes it different than other
effects. Technically speaking, a
Univibe is a four-stage phase
shifter, but with a twist. Analog
Mike explains:
As original units became scarcer and styles
of music changed, interest in the Univibe
had all but disappeared by the mid to late
eighties. But when a couple of high-end
boutique recreations were introduced in the
early nineties, guitarists rediscovered and
got back in tune with the ‘Vibe. Dave Fox
may have been the first to market with the
Foxrox Pro Vibe, available from
’89-’ 94 as a stand-alone unit
before being revived in 1999 as
part of the Captain Coconut.
The player’s choice throughout
the nineties was undoubtedly
the Black Cat Vibe, a rackmount
unit that found favor with Eric
Johnson, Trey Anastasio, Scott
Henderson, Steve Lukather,
Michael Landau, and many oth-
ers – Black Cat is currently on
hiatus and a newly revamped
line of products is slated to be
introduced in 2008. The Vibe
revival of the nineties gave
us many of today’s favorites,
including the Prescription
Electronics Vibe-Unit – origi-
nally made by Bob Sweet of Sweet Sound
– Fulltone Déjà-Vibe, Roger Mayer Voodoo
Vibe and the Sweet Sound Mojo Vibe.
“The Univibe is an odd circuit
based on transistors controlling the audio and a pulsing
light bulb. There is an amazingly detailed explanation of
the technology of the Univibe
on R.G. Keen’s (Premier Guitar’s own “Tech
Views” columnist) website, geofex.com.
Surrounding the bulb are four light sensors,
which control the four stages of phasing. The
original Univibe used a square, aluminum,
bent metal box to cover the light bulb and
sensors to keep the light bright and even.
the Vibra-Chorus was derived from an earlier
product called the Psychedelic Machine,
which was actually a Univibe and Super
Fuzz together in one unit the size of a small
amp head. The Psychedelic Machine was
produced under the brand names of Honey,
Electra and Companion. Univibe inventor,
Fumio Mieda, shared with us his thoughts on
this influential effect:
That’s it for now. Check back next month
for another Stompbox Classic – the A/DA
Flanger. Until then, keep on stompin’!
“The Univibe has two basic settings – Vibrato
and Chorus. Chorus is the normal Univibe
sound, which is simply the Vibrato sound
(wet sound) with an unaffected (dry) signal
mixed in. It’s not really a chorus though –
modern chorus pedals use delay chips to
create what we now call a chorus sound. The
Vibrato sound is a bit weak – it’s the mixing of the wet and dry in Chorus mode that
makes the cool “notches” that you hear in a
good phaser. The original Univibe did have
some problems, such as lack of bypass; your
signal always runs through it, and a dulling of
your signal and a reduction of volume usu-
“At that time, I was madly enthusiastic about
discovering what kind of effect would be
created by phases. I did many experiments
on phase processing. I had some knowledge
about how to get phase shifting while I was
developing organs, then I came up with the
idea to use the method of photo-resistors
and a flashing lamp. However, this way took
some time to achieve a good result because
the lamps and photo-devices I could get during that period responded very slowly and
the quality of those parts was not so good,
Tom Hughes
(a.k.a. Analog Tom) is the owner and proprietor of For
Musicians Only ( formusiciansonly.com) and author of
Analog Man’s Guide To Vintage Effects. For Musicians
Only is also the home of the FMO Gear Shop.
Questions or comments about this article can be sent
to: stompschool@formusiciansonly.com.
Analog Man
( analogman.com) is one of the largest boutique effects
manufacturers and retailers in the business, established by “Analog” Mike Piera in 1993. Mike can be
reached at AnalogMike@aol.com.
