Vibrato pedal

[gainreduction]

I'm having a hard time finding a Boss vb-2 vibrato pedal.

What are my options, anyone make a vibrato pedal anymore ?

The Roger Mayer Voodoo-vibe is way cool but a bit expensive for that once-a-year use.

Any good ones out there in the "boss-pricerange" ?

[Kiwiburger]

Bear in mind that a Flanger is basically a vibrato mixed with dry sound. So you can extend your options by looking at flangers that have a mix control.

[neve1073]

you will find a vb2 on ebay if you keep looking. they are going for between 275 and 400 USD$ these days. cool pedals.

[Sebastian]

BYOC (Build Your Own Clone) has been working on a VB-2 clone. If you're not into DIY, they sometimes make the clones to sell:

http://www.buildyourownclone.com/vibrato.html

There are very few true vibrato pedals around. The BJF Mint Green Mini Vibe (not a Vibe, but a true vibrato) is expensive. The SIB Mr. Vibromatic can be had new for $129.

[Jay Kahrs]

Marshall (yeah, that Marshall!) makes a stompbox that does vibrato & trem & isn't absurd, I scored a used one for $50. It's ok...does what's advertised & is acutally really usable but I've got an AC30 & '61 Blonde Bandmaster around here & well...they effin' RULE for trem & vibrato! Still, the Marshall's ok if I'm stuck with an amp that offers neither of those sounds & I need 'em.

Keep in mind...in the gee'tar world "vibe" and "vibrato" are two totally different effects. "Vibe" is aka Uni-Vibe...think Jimi Hendrix around '68/69 or Robin Trower...big whoosy & sweepy sounds like a phaser gone amuck, not the on/off rapid choppy thing that's built into an old tube amp!

[wwittman]

The Fulltone SupaTrem is pretty terrific.

[neve1073]

as far as i know, the only old guitar tube amps that had real vibrato, ie pitch shift, were the magnatones. the old fenders and ac30s are tremelo. not that there's anything wrong with that (aside from the linguistic abuse when fender named their trem amps vibrolux, vibroverb etc).

of course, hammond organs had real tremelo.

[paterno]

Originally Posted by wwittman

The Fulltone SupaTrem is pretty terrific.

But does it do pitch modulation as well as volume modulation?

I gotta say, i love my VB-2. They are very hard to find, unfortunately. Nice to know about that clone kit -- I'd like to have a spare one.

Cheers,
John

[Kiwiburger]

I'd say that Vibrato (frequency modulation) is best done digitally these days. To do it in a pedal requires a delay line, and analog delay lines seriously degrade the sound quality. That degredation is cool for a layered wet echo effect, but uncool for a direct dry sound. If you use vibrato, it's usually on your direct dry sound - so how much degredation can you stand?

The classic Beatles wobbly guitars were done with tape effects.

There a many digital boxes or software plugins that can get the job done.

If you mean Tremolo (amplitude modulation) that's another thing altogether.

[carival]

Originally Posted by neve1073

as far as i know, the only old guitar tube amps that had real vibrato, ie pitch shift, were the magnatones. the old fenders and ac30s are tremelo. not that there's anything wrong with that (aside from the linguistic abuse when fender named their trem amps vibrolux, vibroverb etc).

of course, hammond organs had real tremelo.

Actually, Fender used several different tremolo and vibrato circuits. Some of the early 60s brown series Fenders have true vibrato. The 60s ac30s have both tremolo and vibrato with preset speeds. Hammond model A, B, C organs have chorus and vibrato (3 variations of each). Leslie speakers spin! Magnatone vibrato is too cool! The old Boss CE-1 pedal(big ugly gray) had a vibrato setting, as well as the chorus sound from the jazz chorus 120. They sounded great, but were kinda noisey. They can usually be found for less than a couple hundred bucks.

[neve1073]

Originally Posted by carival

Actually, Fender used several different tremolo and vibrato circuits. Some of the early 60s brown series Fenders have true vibrato. The 60s ac30s have both tremolo and vibrato with preset speeds. Hammond model A, B, C organs have chorus and vibrato (3 variations of each). Leslie speakers spin! Magnatone vibrato is too cool! The old Boss CE-1 pedal(big ugly gray) had a vibrato setting, as well as the chorus sound from the jazz chorus 120. They sounded great, but were kinda noisey. They can usually be found for less than a couple hundred bucks.

which 60s fenders had true vibrato?

the CE1 is a really cool pedal...but like the vb2 hard to find at a reasonable price.

[Yuri Kogan]

A company called SIB! make a very nice vibrato pedal which is quite reasonably priced. They also make good overdrive pedals and their delays are one of the best. I think one of the partners in the company is the guy who designed BadCat amps.
All boss pedals sound thin and cold. I would never pay more then a $50-$100 for any of them. We have over 130 pedals in our inventory and the boss ones never get used in the end.

Yuri

[neve1073]

Originally Posted by Yuri Kogan

All boss pedals sound thin and cold. I would never pay more then a $50-$100 for any of them. We have over 130 pedals in our inventory and the boss ones never get used in the end.

Why would you pay anything for a pedal that sounds thin and cold and never gets used? If you have a vb2 or a pn2 lying around, I'll give you $50 each for them and help you clear some space.

[Yuri Kogan]

Will check th inventory and PM you. Sounds like a good deal to me

Yuri

[paterno]

Originally Posted by Kiwiburger

I'd say that Vibrato (frequency modulation) is best done digitally these days. To do it in a pedal requires a delay line, and analog delay lines seriously degrade the sound quality. That degredation is cool for a layered wet echo effect, but uncool for a direct dry sound. If you use vibrato, it's usually on your direct dry sound - so how much degredation can you stand?

But have you used a VB-2? They have a very unique sound, and for me it was worth hunting one down. I love it, for example, on nylon string guitar.

JP

[Kiwiburger]

I like to use my fingers on a nylon string guitar - back and forward, not sideways for my usual blues stuff.

I'm not sure if i've used a VB-2 - it would have been many years ago if I did. I tend to agree with the comments about Boss stuff not being that great.

I would tend to use Kjaerhus GMO-1 for vibrato, because you can sync the LFO to the host tempo, and even offset the phase to get it grooving right. You have a choice of waveforms too, and the quality is transparent.

I would record a nylon guitar with a mic, so plugins make a lot of sense to me. Are you using a nylon guitar with a pickup? Maybe a BBD chip could knock off some of the piezo quack ...

[danna]

does anyone know how much a magnatone would go for these days? and how rare they are?

[paterno]

Originally Posted by Kiwiburger

I like to use my fingers on a nylon string guitar - back and forward, not sideways for my usual blues stuff.

I'm not sure if i've used a VB-2 - it would have been many years ago if I did. I tend to agree with the comments about Boss stuff not being that great.

I would tend to use Kjaerhus GMO-1 for vibrato, because you can sync the LFO to the host tempo, and even offset the phase to get it grooving right. You have a choice of waveforms too, and the quality is transparent.

I would record a nylon guitar with a mic, so plugins make a lot of sense to me. Are you using a nylon guitar with a pickup? Maybe a BBD chip could knock off some of the piezo quack ...

I'm not talking about blues here. Not sure where you got that from?

I'm talking about taking a pre-recorded nylon string part, and adding some vibrato to the whole track, by basically reamping the sound out through the pedal and re-recording it back in. Again, you are making a judgement without thinking of other possiblities for use of the pedal...

Why are you agreeing with some 'consensus' without first hand knowledge? It really is OK to say 'I don't know'...

I'm not much worried about it being LFO-locked with the tempo of the track. I don't mind turning the rate knob until I get something that feels good to me. And I don't want it to be transparent -- i want to hear the effect, and the tone the VB-2 imparts on the signal!!!!!!!

Don't get caught up in the 'sonic picture' a BBD or any other piece of gear until you've heard the gear in person. you'll miss a lot of cool things if you are judging the sound of something only by it's construction type.

Cheers,
John

[carival]

Originally Posted by neve1073

which 60s fenders had true vibrato?

the CE1 is a really cool pedal...but like the vb2 hard to find at a reasonable price.

The 1962 - 4x10" brown fender concert, and the 1962-1x15" fender pro both have true vibrato. Both amps have a solid state rectifier and 2- 6L6 power tubes. They sound kinda crappy when they break up, but the clean sounds are pretty great.

[paterno]

Originally Posted by danna

does anyone know how much a magnatone would go for these days? and how rare they are?

They are around, but not all that common. I believe that it has become hard to find tubes for them...

JP

[Kiwiburger]

I'm not talking about blues here. Not sure where you got that from?

I never said you were talking about the blues. I was describing the vibrato technique that i personally prefer for a nylon guitar. Just describing the technique, and making clear that that is not the usual sideways blues bending vibrato technique but the classical method.[quote]

I'm talking about taking a pre-recorded nylon string part, and adding some vibrato to the whole track, by basically reamping the sound out through the pedal and re-recording it back in. Again, you are making a judgement without thinking of other possiblities for use of the pedal...

Thanks for explaining that. All I was doing was trying to guess what you are doing. Many people ask questions on forums and never explain what they really want to do. I find it easier to make a guess, and that usually prompts people to spill their guts about what they really are doing.

Why are you agreeing with some 'consensus' without first hand knowledge? It really is OK to say 'I don't know'...

I'm not agreeing with any consensus - I make my own decisions. OK - since you ask, i'll restate what I really think. Most Boss products are noisy CRAP.

I see lots of people suggesting all sorts of non-Boss stuff and you aren't ripping into them.

Don't rule out plugins for applying vibrato to a pre-recorded acoustic guitar part.

[paterno]

Originally Posted by Kiwiburger

Thanks for explaining that. All I was doing was trying to guess what you are doing. Many people ask questions on forums and never explain what they really want to do. I find it easier to make a guess, and that usually prompts people to spill their guts about what they really are doing.

I'm not agreeing with any consensus - I make my own decisions. OK - since you ask, i'll restate what I really think. Most Boss products are noisy CRAP.

I see lots of people suggesting all sorts of non-Boss stuff and you aren't ripping into them.

Don't rule out plugins for applying vibrato to a pre-recorded acoustic guitar part.

Read the first post. The guy is asking about finding a BOSS VB-2 VIBRATO, or an equivalent pedal.

I'm not ripping into you. You are the one going off on my statement that I like the VB-2 on nylon guitar. Do you really think my response was ripping into you?? You're the one with the 'this his how I wiggle my finger' remark. All I did was clarify my statement because you seemed to have a bug up your ass about it.

And if you want me to 'spill my guts', just ask. I think I've been pretty forthcoming with anything asked of me in the past.

Playing dumb [I wouldn't call anything that you said a 'guess'], or a gear snob know-it-all, never serves anyone very well in the long run. It just leads to BS confontations like this one...

John

[Kiwiburger]

The original post said "I'm having a hard time finding a Boss vb-2 vibrato pedal.
What are my options ..."

Just giving options.

The only BS confrontation is being generated by yourself.

[sysexguy]

1) modern day amp with vibrato.....not tremolo (actually does both )

Juke amps from new Hampshire.... just awesome sound, not cheap but it's gearslutz http://www.jukeamps.com/models.htm

based on......the magnatone

2) pedals:

Austone Vibra Stomp
Carl Martin Trem O Vibe

Andy

[gainreduction]

That SIB! mr vibromatic looks cool, I'll check that out.

Thanx for responding everybody.

[Jeff16years]

go with the boss CE-1!!!!!
it has vibrato that sounds just as good as (or better than) the VB-2. but then you flip a switch and you have a great, analog stereo chorus.
you'll probably even find one on ebay for less than the VB-2. I got my CE-1 for $200

[madhermit]

Electroharmonix makes an awesome pedal called the Wiggler. It has dual 12AX7 tubes in it and has 4 modes of trem and vibrato. I am also a guitar tone hog and always find myself coming to EHX pedals. They're big, ugly but sound freakin great.

http://www.ehx.com/ehx2/Default.asp?...FThe%5FWiggler