# Univibes?



## devnulljp (Mar 18, 2008)

The Univibe type pedals that always come up in conversations of these things are the Sweet sound Mojo and Ultra Vibes, the KR Megavibe, the Fulltone deja vibe, and now the Foxrox Aquavibe. I also saw the Mojo Hand Luna Vibe...
Any of you have a preference? Any others to think about? I'd like one with a blend or mix knob so you can turn the vibe effect up or down in the mix (doesn't look like the mojo hand has that) ...and an expression pedal would be nice.

any Canadian builders making a vibe clone?


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

If you pop over and see our good friend JC Maillet on Gabriola, I'm confident he has one that will set your heart aquiver. He's put a lot of work into them.


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## dolphinstreet (Sep 11, 2006)

I am waiting for the new inexpensive Danelectro Cool Cat vibe. Haven't seen one yet though. True bypass and metal casing.


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## flashPUNK (Feb 16, 2006)

I've got a lovepedal Magic boy vibe... got it pretty cheap, and its small, fits nicely onto my pedalboard.. Lovin' it so far!


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## faracaster (Mar 9, 2006)

I tried a lot of them (not all by any means) and all of those you mentioned have their charm.
I have settled on a Roger Mayer Voodoo Vibe. It seems to have every conceivable method of tweaking your sound available on it. It is the only one I've tried that dosen't sound phaseshiftery. Plus....it has a GREAT tremelo too. (which I use more than the vibe section).
How can it not be good? This guy Roger worked for Hendrix.

cheers
Pete


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## traynor_garnet (Feb 22, 2006)

I've owned the Mojovibe, Mofaux, and Chicken Salad. That cheapy Danelectro holds it own! Wait for the new cool cat series as suggested above; if it's the same guts in a better case with true bypass, it's a no brainer.

I simply don't use Vibe enough so I ended up selling them all.

TG


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## devnulljp (Mar 18, 2008)

mhammer said:


> If you pop over and see our good friend JC Maillet on Gabriola, I'm confident he has one that will set your heart aquiver. He's put a lot of work into them.


That's a fantastic idea - it didn't even really register that he does effects too...I always thought of him as THE amp tech guru. I'll ask...thanks for the pointer. There are some nice sound clips on his website.


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## sproul07 (Jun 23, 2007)

I have the Sweet Sound Mojo Vibe and it is head and shoulders above other clones in my opinion. I find the Fulltone to be to mid-heavy without any sweetness to it. That being said, I haven't heard any clone that sounds exactly like the originals. I find the modern clones to be much dryer sounding than the originals, which were much more watery sounding. But I love my Mojo Vibe. I don't see myself ever wanting another Vibe clone


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## devnulljp (Mar 18, 2008)

sproul07 said:


> I have the Sweet Sound Mojo Vibe and it is head and shoulders above other clones in my opinion...


Does it have an effect blend/mix knob or just overall level? The Mojohand has only overall level, the fulltone too and I find vibes to be a bit full-on...I'd really like one that would let you tweak the amount of the effect vs. dry signal.


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## sproul07 (Jun 23, 2007)

devnulljp said:


> Does it have an effect blend/mix knob or just overall level? The Mojohand has only overall level, the fulltone too and I find vibes to be a bit full-on...I'd really like one that would let you tweak the amount of the effect vs. dry signal.


Nope. Just an overall volume. Pretty much all of them do because they're trying to stay as close to the originals as possible. So they're not really making a new pedal, rather re-creating an old one. One that I would recommend for what you're looking for is the silver Dunlop UniVibe Stereo Chorus. Im not a big fan of Dunlop effects, I prefer more higher end stuff, but that pedal really was nice. It did a nice leslie sim and a nice vibe sim. You can blend the different signals too from what I remember. Look it up to be sure though


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## NB_Terry (Feb 2, 2006)

Very happy with my MojoVibe.


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## Evilmusician (Apr 13, 2007)

I have a Prescription Electronics Vibe Unit ,great vibe pedal !:rockon:


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## Guest (May 23, 2008)

Paul said:


> <public humiliation alert!>
> 
> Here I am with almost 1400 posts......what the hell does a Univibe, (or clone) sound like, and why would I want one?


It sounds like a Leslie. Most: a single speaker Leslie. It sort of tries to cop that doppler effect that you get. The ones with a mix/blend knob are trying to emulate using a Leslie and a non-rotating speaker at the same time.

I played the RotoSIM a few weeks back and I had a chance to check out the Option5 Destination Rotation Single this week. The DRS is pretty darn nice. Scott at Axe and You Shall Recieve has 'em for $269. The RotoSIM was good, but colder sounding than the DRS. The DRS just had a great amount of life to it and the overdrive was sweet, musical.

Of course, after hearing mhammer's _real_ single rotating speaker Leslie I'm not sure a sim is going to satisfy my needs anymore!


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

The Uni-Vibe started out as the Shin-Ei "Resley-Tone"; an ersatz attempt to mimic the sound of a Leslie speaker. It is essentially a phase shifter, with a couple of noteworthy differences.

Normally, a phase shifter uses a series of identical phase-shift stages to produce deep notches that introduce very focussed resonances in the sound. Depending on the matching between stages, and the number of stages, the sound can go from light, as in a 2-stage MXR Phase 45, to very pronounced and almost synth-like as in a Mu-Tron Bi-Phase (think the end of the solo on Steely Dan's "Green Earings").

A Uni-Vibe, instead of attempting to match the phase shift sections, deliberately unmatches them by using different capacitor values in each stage. Without going into too much detail about how it does this, the net result is that instead of being narrow and deep, the notches it produces are broad and shallow. The audible result is that instead of producing a more focussed resonant change in the sound of the instrument, it produces a kind of watery-sounding "animation" to the sound that is often better-suited to rhythm gutar than a phaser is. 

The most famous Uni-Vibe users, of course, are people like Jimi Hendrix and Robin Trower. One of the distinctive things about their use of the Vibe is that they place it *before* their distortion. Why? As noted above, a phaser itnroduces a more pronounced filter-like effect. Placing it after a harmonically rich signal source (like a Fuzz Face) can make some dramatic sounds, but placing it before the fuzz would interfere with the distortion by chopping the volume of some notes so much that you'd get no clipping at all. Placing a Uni-Vibe ahead of a distortion, however, produces an even more pleasing "animation" to the sound because the notches are so broad and shallow. The shallowness means the note doesn't really "disappear" at any point during the sweep. Instead, the net effect is a bit like turning the "fuzz amount" control up and down a little for broad ranges of notes so that some are juuuuuust a little fuzzier than others for a little while. This lets the player introduce as much emphasis in their pick attack as they want without too much interference from the modulation.

When it comes to mimicking Leslie speakers, you can do a decent fast Leslie with most phasers, if the modulation depth is turned down, and if you have NO regeneration/feedback. The notches introduced by a true spinning speaker are not that deep, and as the horn points away from you, there is also a slight treble cut introduced. One of the nice things about the Uni-Vibe is that the shallowness of the notches provides that reduced modulation depth, and the width of the notches mimics the slight treble cut a bit.

You can "convert" almost any 4-stage phaser into a sort of Uni-Vibe merely by replacing the 4 identical capacitors in each stage with 4 different values. You can hear some interesting samples of a converted Small Stone here: http://www.moosapotamus.net/THINGS/frankenstone.htm


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## NB_Terry (Feb 2, 2006)

Paul said:


> <public humiliation alert!>
> 
> Here I am with almost 1400 posts......what the hell does a Univibe, (or clone) sound like, and why would I want one?


One good example is the clean guitar in Pink Floyd's Breathe. 

Another is Robin Trower

http://youtube.com/watch?v=x0d1HilfLxA


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## Guest (May 23, 2008)

Paul said:


> Thanks, I guess I don't need to replace my 147. :smile:
> 
> What does the expression pedal control???


Generally speed of the rotation effect, occasionally depth.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

And the reason why it does so is precisely to mimic the ramping up and ramping down of a real "Reslie" speaker. http://www.users.bigpond.com/kfleming/shin-ei_reslytone_tech.html


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## Sneaky (Feb 14, 2006)

Evilmusician said:


> I have a Prescription Electronics Vibe Unit ,great vibe pedal !:rockon:


:food-smiley-004: That was my favourite one ever I think (designed by Bob Sweet btw). I'm quite happy with my Sweet Sound Mojo and the Fulltone Cutom Shop mini deja that I have now though. 

I also have the MJM 60's Vibe that is very thick and syrupy sounding (Mike is Canadian, no?), and an original Fulltone deja. I just prefer the 9vdc option on the Mojo or Mini Deja these days instead of having to use another wall wart, and the smaller size is a bonus.


Pete


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## Evilmusician (Apr 13, 2007)

Wow ,great explanation mhammer ,but personal I find the Shin-Ei "Resley-Tone"; comment in poor taste ,and if it was a typo my apologies.:frown:


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## devnulljp (Mar 18, 2008)

Evilmusician said:


> Wow ,great explanation mhammer ,but personal I find the Shin-Ei "Resley-Tone"; comment in poor taste ,and if it was a typo my apologies.:frown:


Oh relax. The thing was actually called an RT18, which stood for "Resly-Tone" --- they actually did make that mistake so it's not in bad taste. (I'm presuming you're uncomfortable by the apparent mocking of the Japanese accent or something?)


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## Guest (May 23, 2008)

Edit: devnulljp beat me to it. Disengage your hyper-sensitive PC drive...


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Actually, I'm always a little squeamish about referring to that pedal, precisely because someone might think I was being a little racist. But, if you look at the pictures, you'll see it actually IS called that. Go figure.

I have a number of scanned Japanese project books from the 80's, and you do tend to see the occasionally R/L swap in them, even though they are trying very hard to look hip in English to a Japanese audience. One book has a project for a "Franger", and that is the actual term they use in the title and diagrams. The image I have is that some people are working on editting or formatting ("pasting up" in the old days) or otherwise preparing a book and one of them asks the other in Japanese what you call such and such a circuit in English. The second one replies, perhaps with an accent, and the first one misinterprets the mispronunciation as the actual way it should be spelled. I'm guessing that the "Resley-Tone" ended up being called that for similarly well-intentioned but naive reasons. "What do you call those organ speakers that spin around?" "They're called a Leslie." "Okay, thanks" (entire conversation in Japanese).

It'd be nice if one could erase history and avoid such uncomfortable discussions or concerns about how sensitive one ought to be. I do make a point of always being respectful and considerate. In this instance, though, I'm stuck calling it what it calls itself. Trust me, I'm NOT trying to be Krusty the Clown doing his embarrassing "Me rike-ey!" shtick.

The sheer size of rotating speaker cabinets has provided a strong justification for pursuing the development of more compact viable substitutes over the years. The circuit we came to know as a Uni-Vibe was the first, followed by things like the Boss CE-1 chorus ensemble, and eventually by more complex solid-state Leslie-emulation, and finally digital models of Leslies. 

Even though more accurate mimickry of Leslies has evolved, there is still something very satisfying about a decent Uni-Vibe. I made one as a prize for a battle of the bands at my son's former high school a couple years back, using a PCB for a Ross Phaser, and subbing the capacitor values as indicated. I've got a LOT of pedals, but I found it hard to stop playing this one. Really nice and chewy.

If you like them, you owe it to yourself to read this document at geofex: http://www.geofex.com/Article_Folders/univibe/uvfrindx.htm


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## devnulljp (Mar 18, 2008)

mhammer said:


> Actually, I'm always a little squeamish about referring to that pedal, precisely because someone might think I was being a little racist. But, if you look at the pictures, you'll see it actually IS called that. Go figure.
> 
> I have a number of scanned Japanese project books from the 80's, and you do tend to see the occasionally R/L swap in them, even though they are trying very hard to look hip in English to a Japanese audience. One book has a project for a "Franger", and that is the actual term they use in the title and diagrams. The image I have is that some people are working on editting or formatting ("pasting up" in the old days) or otherwise preparing a book and one of them asks the other in Japanese what you call such and such a circuit in English. The second one replies, perhaps with an accent, and the first one misinterprets the mispronunciation as the actual way it should be spelled. I'm guessing that the "Resley-Tone" ended up being called that for similarly well-intentioned but naive reasons. "What do you call those organ speakers that spin around?" "They're called a Leslie." "Okay, thanks" (entire conversation in Japanese).


Nah, it's just that in Japanese they have a kinda hybrid l/r thing going on (a few other Asian languages too I think, but I don't actually speakany of those)...it's somewhere in the middle really, but phonetically there's only ra, ri, ru, re, ro. So, Leslie is written phonetically rezuri (レズリー if you can do double-byte), then back translated into romaji there's a 50:50 chance of getting it right (or wrong). 
On the flip side, I lived in Japan a long time, so got quite used to seeing things like that. (A friend recounted his feeling of apprehension in a hospital as he was going under the anaesthetic hearing the doctor asking his colleagues whether the "R" on the chart was for the reft or the right reg )
There's also the quite common practice of (a) getting the secretary to do the translation rather than paying a professional translator and (b) the boss, who doesn't speak a word of English, having the final say and changing things to make sure he (and it's always a 'he') is seen to have the final say...
I imagine it's similar to the mistakes speakers of non-tonal languages like the romance languages (and Japanese) make when trying to deal with Mandarin or Thai (never could get the hang of Thai...there's one of those standard demonstrations of the tones that consists of 5 or 6 different ways to pronounce what looked to me to be the same syllable: rising tone 'ma', middle tone 'ma', falling tone 'ma', flat tone 'ma'...something like that...it means my grandmother fed the horse some apples or something). Could be worse, an American friend in Japan flipped a single syllable when meeting his new neighbours and instead of saying he'd like to become (naritai) friends he said in a very aggressive and slang way (yaritai) that he'd like to **** them both...they were very understanding about it.

Speaking of misprints, I have a Retro-Sonic delay, made in Canada, that has an "EHCO" knob I thought maybe it was a Canadian thing  :smilie_flagge17:


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## faracaster (Mar 9, 2006)

Paul said:


> <public humiliation alert!>
> 
> Here I am with almost 1400 posts......what the hell does a Univibe, (or clone) sound like, and why would I want one?


Someone probably already suggested this but......
Two fantastic examples of UniVibes in all their original glory are "Machine Gun" by Jimi Hendrix and Bridge of Sighs by Robin Trower. 

The first thing I'll always play when I step on my Vibe to check out it's speed and intensity is Bridge Of Sighs. Classic stuff !!!!


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## traynor_garnet (Feb 22, 2006)

In linguistics, "L" and "R" are known as "liquids". These sounds do not occur in many Asian languages and therefore native speakers often mix them up. It's kind of like what would happen if an English speaker tried to learn a "click" language (the clicks just sound like interchangeable sounds).

Mhammer, your reference to Krusty made me LOL. I love the look of the audiences' faces during his routine.

TG


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## devnulljp (Mar 18, 2008)

faracaster said:


> Someone probably already suggested this but......
> Two fantastic examples of UniVibes in all their original glory are "Machine Gun" by Jimi Hendrix and Bridge of Sighs by Robin Trower.


Would you believe I've got Band of Gypsies and Bridge Of Sighs on random play in Amarok at this very moment (and have had for a couple of days now)...which probably explains this thread...

Any other classic univibe sounds but with humbuckers or at least without a Strat?


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

traynor_garnet said:


> In linguistics, "L" and "R" are known as "liquids".
> Mhammer, your reference to Krusty made me LOL. I love the look of the audiences' faces during his routine.


Glad to put a smile in anyone's day. :smile:

One of my favourite scenes in any movie is the segment in the old Woody Allen movie "Bananas", where he is dressed up like Fidel Castro and is giving a talk at some sort of $500-a-plate fundraiser in New York City for this Central American banana republic he has somehow ended up being foreign minister of, following a revolution. He is his usual anxious self before going to the podium, because he has never spoken publicly, so his advisor tells him not to worry and just make sure to start off with a joke. Allen, in full Che Guevara garb and an obviously fake beard, steps up to the podium, adjusting his glasses and speaking clearly into the mic, says "I'm reminded of the very humorous story of the farmer who had incestuous relations with all 5 of his daughters...". As the camera pans around the room, you can see all the people in their sequin gowns and tuxes, seated at their tables, just staring dumbfounded. The huge ballroom room is dead silent. They simply cannot believe what they are hearing.

I often describe that segment to people, as a reminder that what sounds like great advice can often be a little less than great advice when certain critical details are omitted.

Mark Hammer


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## Twanger (Mar 21, 2008)

...


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## traynor_garnet (Feb 22, 2006)

mhammer said:


> his advisor tells him not to worry and just make sure to start off with a joke. Allen, in full Che Guevara garb and an obviously fake beard, steps up to the podium, adjusting his glasses and speaking clearly into the mic, says "I'm reminded of the very humorous story of the farmer who had incestuous relations with all 5 of his daughters...".
> 
> Mark Hammer


Holly crap, I just spit my drink out! I've never been a huge Woody Allen fan but that is freakin hillarious!

Thanks for starting my weekend off right.

TG


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

There just ain't nuthin that comes close to a real 147 pushed hard.


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## devnulljp (Mar 18, 2008)

Twanger said:


> Anyone out there using the Voodoo Lab Micro Vibe? I'm thinking of picking one those up, seems like a good value for a vibe...


I looked at it but it doesn't do the vibrato thing (think SRV Cold Shot) so it's out of the running for me...


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## faracaster (Mar 9, 2006)

devnulljp said:


> I looked at it but it doesn't do the vibrato thing (think SRV Cold Shot) so it's out of the running for me...


While the Univibe may have been intended as a Leslie substitution, to me it is absolutely not. I think anyone that buys one thinking Leslie will be greatly dissapointed. The Univibe has it's own thing going on that separates it from Leslies, phasers, flangers and chorus effects. 
A good Vibe tone sounds like itself. That's what I had said in a earlier post. The Vibe units I've played that have a phaseshifter thing going on, I've discarded. If you listen to (again like I said before) the intro to Machine Gun, it clearly does not sound like a phaser or leslie. But it does have this wonderful rolling, almost underwater quality to it. 
You hear this type of effect far less than other modulation based items. Leslie, chorus, Flanging etc. are way more popular and common than the Vibe units. If you want to sound like SRV....this is not the road to travel.


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

faracaster said:


> While the Univibe may have been intended as a Leslie substitution, to me it is absolutely not. I think anyone that buys one thinking Leslie will be greatly dissapointed. The Univibe has it's own thing going on that separates it from Leslies, phasers, flangers and chorus effects.
> A good Vibe tone sounds like itself. That's what I had said in a earlier post. The Vibe units I've played that have a phaseshifter thing going on, I've discarded. If you listen to (again like I said before) the intro to Machine Gun, it clearly does not sound like a phaser or leslie. But it does have this wonderful rolling, almost underwater quality to it.
> You hear this type of effect far less than other modulation based items. Leslie, chorus, Flanging etc. are way more popular and common than the Vibe units. If you want to sound like SRV....this is not the road to travel.


I have to agree. Univibes are great effects. So are Pasors, flangers and chorus effects.

None of them sound quite like a Leslie but each has it's own merit.


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## Twanger (Mar 21, 2008)

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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

Twanger said:


> I agree with this.The Univibe pedals are kind of a class of effects onto themselves, even though originally they were made to simulate a rotating speaker. In additon, even though they are technically phasers, I could easily warrant having both a Univibe type pedal and a conventional phaser on my pedalboard. Anyone who isn’t sure about what a Univibe sounds like should pick up the Hendrix: Band of Gypsys album. This album is probably ultimately responsible for my desire to add a vibe to my pedalboard.
> 
> While I agree that there is nothing like a real Leslie, if I were looking to get that effect in a stompbox I would try something like the Hughes & Kettner Rotosphere or one of the Option 5 units.


The Option 5 unit I tried is the only one that comes anywhere near sounding like a real Leslie. The Hughes and Kettner, in spite of glowing praise from some players, sounds like a garden variety Univibe to me.


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## devnulljp (Mar 18, 2008)

Milkman said:


> The Option 5 unit I tried is the only one that comes anywhere near sounding like a real Leslie. The Hughes and Kettner, in spite of glowing praise from some players, sounds like a garden variety Univibe to me.


A guy just sold one of these on TGP for $60 -- I got pipped at the post while sending him a PM. Damn.


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## sproul07 (Jun 23, 2007)

It all depends what sound you're going for too. I can get a great fast Leslie sound out of an Electric Mistress and it does sound closer than the Option 5 in my opinion. My brother has one and it does have a decent sound, I find its too blanketed and dirty sounding. I guess thats the sound they wanted with them, that sort of overdriven Leslie sound. But the other one to try is the Digitech Expression Factory (I can see the eyes rolling all around me). My main setup is a 100w Marshall head, though a 4/12 Marshall cab and a Leslie speaker. I plugged in the Expression factory and it sounded exactly like my real Leslie. It was amazing. I know modelers get a bad rep for not being analog and stuff, but this pedal continues to amaze me. Def one to check out


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## Guest (May 25, 2008)

devnulljp said:


> A guy just sold one of these on TGP for $60 -- I got pipped at the post while sending him a PM. Damn.


Yea, that was the original. IMO it's an inferior vibe unit compared to the new DR Single. Plus it's 24V which is a PIA to power. I'm in wall wart hell right now between the digital effects, the Holier Grail and the regular 9V pedals. Even a PP2+ wouldn't make it easier.


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## Twanger (Mar 21, 2008)

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