Sea Blue Minivibe : Tasty!

[bsic]

Got in the door after 8 days out of town and there is a treat waiting for me



So I tried a two-stomp vibe out a few months ago and LOVED it. Here's my take on it- as you have read its not a univibe clone. When I first plugged in, I didnt think Id get so attached to it. Once I learned the subtleties of setting the amplitude appropriately for a given speed, it was insane. It has the magic "grind" that the hendrixy sounds have, without the overall phaseyness... i read this many times before "BJ took the bad sounds out of the univibe" and now, I really really get it. Plugged my picklevibe back in after a week of playing the MV, and it just sounded cheesey and thin in comparison! The MGMV has that roar, mainly with the larger cup size, and thats what I dig. I could dial in a really subtle vibe and just leave the pedal on- it didnt take over my sound like a univibe would.

One thing that really helped at certain settings was to run it into the PGC-- it evened out the volume changes, and allowed those shifting modulation sounds to pop through more.

Also loved running this INTO dirt, not afterwards, to add a more traditional grind to the sound. What a FUN FUN FUN pedal!!

And the paint job is so stunning. A 3D type of finish that moves as you tilt the pedal, really pronounced, just a gorgeous color on top. This and the Spacial Delay are my fav's of Mr. Box's finishes

[melodichaotic]

Bill, very, very NICE!!! Put meeself on the list a while back for one in Sea Blue as well! That's awesome to hear. Hey, who says X-mas/birthdays/etc should happen once a year

Hey, staring at that finish while you miss notes is what it's all about.

[SteveA]

Awesome Catch! Been wanting to tryout one of those for a while Congratulations Bill , i've got so many pedals yet still missing a few

[hawaii121]

+1 on the coolness of this pedal... I have the Mint Green MV and just love this thing. Bill and I exchanged thoughts a while back on the vibes out there and I remember how Bill was liking the Pickle and I was very into the Effectrode Tube (still cool, but too big and kind of takes over your sound a bit like a unvibe). Bjorn's vibe really does that sweet thickening of sound and is fully capable of being an "always on" for certain applications. If you really want the Univibe thing it can still be had with a little help from the TOP. I REALLY like the paint job on the Blue! Jealous...

[SteveA]

Thanks for the input hawaii. I was wondering how it compares to other vibes out there. Definitely looking into this one especially since I love luscious thick tones

[bsic]

I always assumed that what I liked about vibes was the phaseyness. Thats hugely present in the pickle, and very present in Uvibe clones (Ive had the dunlop, and the aquavibe as well).

I erroneously assumed that if BJ took out the phaseyness, this would mainly become a trem pedal of sorts which is an effect Im not really into much. Not the case. There is a low end chewiness, a pitch shift of sorts, along with the volume modulation, that combine and give me the things I liked about vibes ive owned before.. without the phase sounds dominating the tone. Completely satisfied with this!!

Here is one stack I loved back when I was trying out a MGMV (stomp is a switch on this particular older one). Pedal order is vibe -> drives from right to left side of board > pgc -> chorus/delay.




I went on an endless hendrixey solo run for 20 min... chorus added at slow speed, gain down on the SYOD but running the fuzz into it... stopped half way through and literally just started laughing out loud. It was just sick!!! Vibe is on here, but pic snapped with the light off... Yes the nature on the fuzz is all the way down.. im a wussy

[SteveA]

So u usually use the PGC after the drives and before effects. I usually run it the other way around.

[bsic]

Yep- just to add sustain to the drives. I dont typically run comp before drives because it squishes out some dynamics in attack prior to hitting the drive pedals. Dynamic response is what I love so much about the BJFE drives. Now, the PGC is unique in that it doesnt squish as much as the typical compressor... but I just got used to running my drives before the compressor pedal.

[hawaii121]

+1 to bsic - while the MGMV can do a trem kind of thing, that is only one small side of it, and it is MUCH more than that. There is a touch of modulation, pitch shift/swell, plus thickening without excessive emphasis in any of these aspects. I was hesitant to chase down one of these because I was afraid I would spend $650+ on a tremolo kind of pedal. It is far from that and it's has become apparent that there is a small group within the BJFE group who swear this pedal is as much as a "must have" as the HB. Fun to have a modulation kind of effect from Bjorn.

Also, bsic turned me onto the idea of running the PGC after all the dirt and I really like it in this way. I'm actually constructing a new pedal board right now (out of wood - will remain in the home) and I am going to rout out a place on the bottom of the board where for the PGC (and my power supply) as it will stay mostly on in this configuration (leaves extra room on the top for effects I like to tinker with).

[Donner]

Very tasty

One thing I still love doing especially with lower output pups is just leaving the Vibe on and rolling the amplitude in and out with my foot - works kind of like a bigsby on sustained chords ... and it gives a great harmonic boost to the pups when just on without the modulation .... Sea Blue Musical Vitalizer