Foxrox Aquavibe

I have been lucky enough to own, over the years, just about every 'vibe' effect pedal available. I received my AquaVibe two days ago. UNREAL! It is just about impossible to get a bad sound out of my AquaVive. AMAZING! FoxRox has included a one sheet 8.5" x 11" instruction document. Very concise and precise info. This is not Rocket Science. It's about the sound people.

I run Fender telecaster > Aquavibe > a RetroKing 18W (Marshall clone) which I set to run clean at 2/3 guitar volume and mildly dirty at full guitar volume. I used several different Chorus and Vibe settings (CH/VB switch) and was simply stunned by the range and the clarity of the effect. The 'CENTER' knob is designed to allow the player to basically control the wobble of the vibe sweep. You have to hear this effect in person to fully appreciate what Dave Fox has accomplished. If you want to hear what this effect actually sounds like check out the AquaVibe videos that have been posted on YouTube.

Having an electronics background I am amazed at the electronic quietness of this effect. All you hear is the effect. No extraneous noise. No hiis. No pops. Just the effect. This daily guitar player is just amazed at the engineering thought that went into the design of this effect. Aquavibe has opened up a whole new can of undreamed oftonal possibilities.

Built like a block house. Even Godzilla would have a tough time damaging this pedal.

I was on the waiting list for about a year and a half. I received regular email notices telling me that I was not forgotten. Heh!

As far as customer support this is the first FoxRox pedal that I have owned. I'm sure there will be others. Heh!

I'm 62 and have been playing since my early teens. Being retired I sometimes play two to four hours a day. I like to noodle. Using the AquaVibe how could you not do Hendrix or Gilmore stuff. The Aquavibe's wide range of tonal variation lends itself to all styles of music. It is best as a lead effect but is also great for spacey chording effects and can really liven up a progression and provide meaning to a song.

I've owned several other vibe pedals. THERE IS NO COMPARISON HERE. The AquaVibe is much, much more than just a Vibe pedal. The sheer range of tonal and spacial manipulation available with the AquaVibe is unimagined by the engineers/manufacturers of all previous Vibe Effect pedals including the original Uni-Vibe. The AquaVibe is the most capable vibe pedal at emulating the original Uni-Vibe. But with the addition of the Center knob and the three adjustable Trimmers there is a much, much wider range of tonal possibility available. This is truly a tool designed with guitar players, not organists in mind. Just nothing short of brilliant!

I paid $315.00 with A/C adapter and shipping. A bit pricey but worth it. This is a stunning effect.

This is my first vibe pedal. It seems really easy to use to me. I have an expression pedal plugged into it to adjust the speed. I love the way this pedal sounds. It is a very versatile pedal. I love the chorus and the vibrato settings. The pedal can be subtle to very wobbly. I haven't had much luck with modulation pedals. They either are two weak or they have a volume drop at stage volumes or they don't like other pedals. The aquavibe loves other pedals, there's volume drop and it can be weak or strong depending on how you set it.

before the aquavibe I have a sparkle drive (used as a boost), micropog, an octron, a modded crybaby - after the aquavibe, a zvex distrotron, deja vu delay. I run stereo into a twin reverb and a deluxe reverb. Overall it's not too noisy. I have noticed a bit of noise at more extreme settings, but it's totally worth it. I didn't get this pedal to sound like Hendrix, rather I wanted a watery modulation pedal that was pro... used with an expression pedal to adjust for speed it's wonderful. It does't really sound like a rotary pedal, it's got it's own sound and, dare I say, 'vibe' I'm a big fan of foxrox pedals....

built like a tank, solid, fits nicely on the pedal board. Note to pedal makers, please make pedals so the jacks are on the top of the pedals... putting them on the sides make fitting them on pedalboards a pain the rear....

Excellent- dave fox is always really cool. Like I said, I'm a big fan of his work!

Overall, I was very lucky to obtain an aquavibe. I have been on the waiting list for a long time. when I got the email that one was ready - I jumped at it - like charley and the chocolate factory. I sold a bunch of other pedals on ebay to cover the cost and I haven't looked back. I play original music that ranges from horror-surf music - to david lynch cinematic stuff - to fuzzed out fast stuff. The only thing I wish it had was stereo outs... maybe on the aquavibe II - lol....

The aquavibe is easy to setup I used a Boss PSA-120S 500ma adaptor plugged it in and it worked :) sounds great. The manual that comes with it explains everything in detail. There are 3 trim pots but only 2 are useful. I find the center pot a bit of a pain to use
but you can get the classic univbe sound or all kinds of other different cool sounds easily.

For the longest time I have been searching for the perfect univibe clone as it is so hard and expensive to get a vintage vibe.
I have owned and tried most of the popular vibe clones but was never really convinced or happy with any of them.

I have a friend who has an original univibe and I always wanted to get that same magical organic sound that he gets from his univibe.

Last year a friend of his bought a Foxrox Captain coconut 1 from someone and called me over so I can hear it. We used the vibe section of the pedal next to the real vibe and after tweaking with the center pot, speed, width and volume we where able to get the 2 units to sound identical.
I was blown away, the fact that I heard a clone that sounded as good as a real vibe was amazing.

I looked at Foxrox web site and saw that he wasn't making the coconuts anymore but made the aquavibe.
I went on his list and soon enough I got the pedal.
I was worried that maybe the newer version of this single pedal would not deliver sound the same as the CC1 that I heard.
I called my buddy who owns the real vibe and he called his friend with the coconut and we did a show down.

Both units sounded just right, very beautiful lush, organic and great bass. Everything a real vibe has and more. when compared to the real univibe.
In the beginning I didn't really like the center pot because it was a pain to get the right sweet spot but once I got use to it I quickly got around to getting the sound I wanted which was a clone of the vibe but at the same time I got other great sounds by playing around with center pot.

Aquavibe is made of solid metal case and very well constructed internally. It's built like a tank! What I love about it is that its a small pedal that easily fits in a gig back along with all the other pedals and it delivers the real univibe sound!!!
The real univibe is huge. Dave made a pedal 1/3 the size that sounds identical and its compact :)
I also like that It has a stereo input for a expression pedal to control the speed. I love it. Its everything and more.

Dave is a great guy. After I went on his list I got an email shortly with details on how to purchase the unit.
When I got the unit I had a problem with a power supply I was using and I emailed Dave for help.
He was very helpful and kind and he figured out my problem real quick.

I use 100 watt 73 Marshall with a basket weave stack and a 70's Twin reverb. I have a strat, tele and a 80s charvel guitar along with my flying V. I have the following pedals as well phase 90, EH small stone, vintage EH electric mistress, EVH flanger, vintage Boss Ce-2 Chorus, TC electronics chorus, vintage 60s clyde wah, vintage Colorsound Wah, they are all hooked up with the Voodoolab Ground control and switcher.

I tried the unit with humbucker and single coil pickups and it delivers the same organic lush holy grail sound every time.
It sounds great in clean or with overdrive and even full solo tone. I use a buffer before the unit and I have no problems.

I have been playing guitar since mid 70s My influences are Jimi and Gilmore,and these guys are masters of the vibe, that's why I always dreamed of having a real univibe but now I have the Aquavibe :)

I don't have much more to say because I found the holy grail of vibes.
If you are looking for the perfect vibe clone this is it.
Finally after all these years I found it with the aquavibe :)
Dave Fox really ROX!

After an 8 month wait of the Aquavibe wait list, I finally received mine about 6 weeks ago. I am excited to be the first person to review it here on Harmony Central!

My signal chain (aka "street cred"):

PRS Single Cut Trem > Fulltone Clyde Wah > Fox Rox Octron > Fox Rox Aquavibe > Fulltone OCD > Fox Rox ZIM #1 > Fox Rox ZIM #2 > MI Audio Boost n Buff > Boss FV500L Volume Pedal > TC Electronics Nova Delay > EA Tremolo > Dr. Z Z28 (all pedals are powered with a Voodoo Labs Pedal Power 2 and wired up with George L cable)

Now on to the Aquavibe itself:

Controls:

Speed (large knob), Center and Width (small knobs), Chorus/Vibrato (small toggle switch). In addition to these surface mounted controls there is also a expression pedal input as well as two internal trim knobs, one for input impedance and one for output volume.

The Aquavibe is not as easy as other vibes that I have owned/tried. But it is far more flexible thanks to it's "Center" control. With the "Center" control and the way it works in conjunction with the "Width" control, you are able to dial in a vast variety of Vibe sounds. Anything from very subtle to deep, throbby Vibe sounds are easily found with patience and experimentation.

I use it with an expression pedal (Boss FV500h) to control the speed and have found it to work great with this pedal. It took just a small amount of tweaking to discover how I wanted to set it and off I went. With the expression pedal in its minimum position the speed is nice and slow. As you bring the pedal up the speeds ramps evenly and becomes very throbby and aggressive at full tilt. An expression pedal really brings this pedal to life.

I have not touched the internal trim pots.

I was a long time Sweet Sound Mojovibe user. I have also played extensively with the Fulltone Mini-Dejavibe and the Voodoo Labs Microvibe.

In my opinion, all of these others vibes don't even compare with the sound quality, build quality and flexibility of the Aquavibe.

In "Chorus" mode you can access all your classic vibe sounds, plus other unconventional ones. You can dial it to be very subtle to ver thick. Very slow (almost phase like) to fast and throbby. The only problem with all these sounds is I can't really decide where to leave the controls at! It is a blast to tweak.

In "Vibrato" mode you can dial in some other really cool tones that I was really not expecting. With every other vibe I have tried, the vibrato mode was a total throw away, but not with the Aquavibe. In a recent recording session I was doing, I used the "Vibrato" mode a lot more than the "Chorus" mode. You can do some really cool things with it when double tracking guitars to add some great dimension to your guitar parts. Awesome!

I did extensive experimentation with the Aquavibe and where to place it in my signal chain. I like the way it sounds when ran before my drive pedals compared to after them. When placed after them, the vibe sounded a lot more modern (more like a phase pedal). When placed before the drives the Aquavibe has a much more organic nature to it.

I haven't noticed that the Aquavibe is affected by a buffer before or after it. I run my Clyde wah and Octron before the Aquavibe and it handles both of them very well. This was an issue I had with my Mojovibe. It really didn't like to have buffers before it.

Being true bypass, there is no effect on your signal when the effect is turned off. I think it is also important to note that you can turn the width knob all the way down when the effect is engaged and it basically sounds just like your bypassed tone. This proves to me just how organic and transparent the Aquavibe circuit really is. There is nothing "processed" or "clinical" sounding about this unit.

I own several Fox Rox pedals (two ZIM's and an Octron) and the build quality of them is one of the main reasons why. I do not think there is a more rugged pedal made today than a Fox Rox pedal. Dave does use circuit boards but (and this is a big BUT) all the switches and pots are chassis mounted. He has custom enclosures made that are very heavy and virtually indestructible. He uses very high quality switches, pots, knobs, etc. In my view, he sets the bench mark for pedal build quality.

Dave is easily reachable by email. He is very busy and probably won't be able to engage in a long discussion with you about the virtues of electric guitar tone,....but he will follow up with you and meet your needs.

After I ordered my second ZIM via foxroxelectronics.com I didn't hear anything from him for a few days and began to wonder what was going on. I shot him an email just to make sure that he got my order. The next day the pedal showed up in my mail box. So, he might not be the best at communication, but in my experience, he will always follow through with your order in a timely manner.

I play a lot....both live and session work and I demand great performance from my gear. I don't own a lot of stuff, but the gear I have must sound great and be built to last. These are the primary reasons why I have been drawn to Fox Rox. The Aquavibe is no exception and I would recommend it to anyone who is looking for a tremendous sounding vibe that offers unheard of flexibility in a Vibe unit. Get on the wait list now!