Univibe Stereo Chorus

[Justaguyin_nc]

Univibe Stereo Chorus..
is this not the most lush sounding Chorus pedal you ever heard!!
Slow:
http://img3.musiciansfriend.com/dbase/media/product/mp3/15/151095_unistch_1.mp3
Medium:
http://img3.musiciansfriend.com/dbase/media/product/mp3/15/151095_unistch_2.mp3
Vibrato:
http://img3.musiciansfriend.com/dbase/media/product/mp3/15/151095_unistch_3.mp3
Vibrato fast:
http://img3.musiciansfriend.com/dbase/media/product/mp3/15/151095_unistch_4.mp3

Musiciansfriend: $129.99
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Dunlop-UniVibe-Stereo-Chorus?sku=151095
Powered by ECB03 power supply or 9V battery,
your tone "may" vary depending on which power source you use.

 

[duhvoodooman]

Don't know if this new version works the same way, but the original UniVibe wasn't a true chorus pedal--it was one of the earliest phasers. It had a vibrato mode and a chorus mode, though the latter is what most people consider its characteristic sound. There's a detailed description of how phasers work HERE at R.G. Keen's excellent Geofex website. When the phase-shifted "wet" signal is mixed back with the dry signal, you hear the "chorus" effect. If just the wet signal is passed along, then as the delay is modulated--the pedal's "sweep"--the frequency shifts up and down, giving the vibrato effect.

 

[Justaguyin_nc]

I dunno about true chorus... Analogman agrees with you though..

What is the difference between a Uni-Vibe and Chorus pedal?

Many people are confused about the Uni-Vibe, as it has a CHORUS setting on it, and some people think it can be used for Leslie (spinning speaker) sounds.
A Uni-vibe is actually a PHASE SHIFTER circuit, with no time delay chips. They use a light bulb inside with 4 light sensors, and the heating and cooling of the filament in the bulb help to give it the special heartbeat pulse. They were invented for keyboards in the 60s, probably to simulate a leslie, but missed it's target by a mile. But when Jimi Hendrix plugged into it, he created amazing sounds and made it into a guitar effect. The univibe phaser circuit is blended with your DRY sound when in CHORUS mode, to make the thick, famous UNI-VIBE sound you know and love from Jimi, Trower, Phish, etc. It sounds best at slower speeds but cool fast too, though not much like a leslie. In VIBRATO mode you hear just the phaser sound, without the dry sound, which is not as useful but some people like it. We sell some awesome Uni-Vibe clones, the Captain Coconut2 has one, the Mojo Vibe, and the Black Cat Vibe. The first CHORUS pedal was available in the mid 70s when the analog delay BUCKET BRIGADE chips were invented. Boss made one of the first ones, the CE-1 chorus ensemble. It delays your signal by a bit, and modulates the delay time (shorter and longer, to the selected speed) to get a natural vibrato. Then, like the UNI-VIBE, it blends in the DRY signal to make the CHORUS sound. Or with no dry signal, you get a pitch shifting vibrato, in Vibrato mode. A chorus pedal with time delay can sound thicker and more sparkly, more like a 12-string sort of sound at some settings. At low speeds you may not be able to tell it's on, just makes everything thick. And at high speeds, a much better Leslie sound can be obtained than a Uni-Vibe.

But, seeing Dunlop wanted to name this Univide Stereo Chorus... and it has chorus and vibrato... with outputs for both or either.. and it sounds chorus'y to me...

i'll just have to say..

Man, isn't that a lush sounding chorus...

Flanger/phaser/chorus... it's all good..

 

[duhvoodooman]

Didn't mean to imply in any way that the UniVibe doesn't have a lush, chorus-y sound--it certainly does! It just doesn't get there exactly the same way that "true" chorus pedals do. In point of fact, most of the time-delay/mix-back effects share some degree of that shimmery chorus sound. That EH Electric Mistress pedal that we both have does a pretty nice chorus sound, too. Being a geek, I just find it interesting to read about the different ways these sounds can be generated....

 

[Tim]

Has anybody tried adding a phaser effect to a chorus effect on any digital modelers? Combining the two could improve the chorus sound.

 

[marnold]

To be honest, I'm not sure what the difference is between a phaser and a flanger.

 

[duhvoodooman]

Read that R.G. Keen link I posted above, and you will. In a nutshell, it has to do with the number of out-of-phase cancellation "notches" that are induced in the wet signal. Phasers typically have two or three. Flangers have many, due to the different way in which the notches are generated.

 

[marnold]

Read that R.G. Keen link I posted above, and you will. In a nutshell, it has to do with the number of out-of-phase cancellation "notches" that are induced in the wet signal. Phasers typically have two or three. Flangers have many, due to the different way in which the notches are generated.

Well, that explains why I was confused. Basically they use the same principle applied slightly differently.

*Edit*

Where I got confused is that so often the key to EVH's "brown sound" is a phaser (as witnessed on "Atomic Punk"), but he also used a flanger on things like "Unchained" and "And the Cradle Will Rock."

Bringing this screaming back on topic, I think I prefer the sound of a flanger over a phaser, but I enjoy my EX-7's Univibe model a lot.

I learned something today.