Fulltone Deja'Vibe 2

just plug it in and go. There are very few controls so it's just a case of using some common sense.

It's a nice sounding pedal. Not amazing. The vibrato sounds nowhere near as rich and characterful as a Boss VB2 and the chorus sounds nowhere near as good as a Boss CE1 but I guess this pedal isn't supposed to. It's supposed to replicate a Uni-Vibe, which is does fairly well. Although, as someone else pointed out Fulltone should make a real, proper ((Stereo)) version of the DV2 rather than the half hearted one they have put out.

Built like a tank. Never had any problems with reliabilty. Has a built in power supply rather than a loathsome wall-wart and the build quality is very high .. mil-spec I would say.

This is where Fulltone fall down. Mike Fuller is very rude basically. Too arrogant to accept any advice, criticism or suggestions from his customers. His gruff manner is mildly amusing initially (although it does take you aback) but after the same consistent rudeness every time you need to ask a question you end up growing weary of it and (in my case) decide to just take your business elsewhere. There are plenty of wonderful boutique pedal makers (at least as good as Fulltone if not better) who really know how to treat their customers with respect.

Fulltone pedals are beautifully built .. but sadly are slightly easier on the eye than on the ear. They don't sound as good as Fulltone like to claim. Also their customer support is so bad as to be worthless. They tend to treat their customers with contempt for some reason.

Pretty easy to use. Intensity knob, vibrato/chorus and modern/vintage knobs, on/off and a pedal to step on for the tempo of the pulse. No batteries needed. That's it.

Me into a Mex Strat. Then into the fulltone dejavibe 2. Then to a fulldrive 2 and then into a Bogner extasy. Then into my ears. That's my magic circle.
To my ears the pedal sounds best when intensity is cranked up to the most. Very much Woodstock-Hendrix then. Thickens a lot. If someone is looking for a true leslie effect by using this stereo deja 2 I would say: keep searching. I have been playing over a tube-driven leslie with my guitar before and it sounded different. But this dejavibe 2 stereo does something else and that is Woodstock. Hendrix did not play thru a leslie at woodstock. But he played thru a vibe. And the vibe that Mike Fuller did with this is the closest I ever heard to that legendary sound. And I have heard all of them vibes on the market. So if you really want to have a leslie sound with your guitar go and by a tube-driven Leslie. But that is something different from what Hendrix sounded.

I own this pedal since 2 years. No problem. If 2 years is enough to give a 10 then I give a 10.

Never needed to contact Mr. Fuller.

Though I am a Hendrixist I am often playing with heavy distortion. The deja 2 cuts through the zzzzzzzzzzzz. Very magic. If it was stolen my neighbours would wonder why I am permanently screaming since a month.
Seriously: I would immediately try to buy another.

Dirt simple.
Just plug in, select MODERN or VINTAGE / CHORUS or VIBRATO,
tap the switch, rock the speed to your liking, and play like
GOD... or Satan.

Fender Strat (96, 50th anniv.) with DiMarzio Virtual Vintage Solo pickups in all 3 locations and strings from .056" to .013" INTO Goeffrey Teese's RMC-3 (THE BEST) wah INTO Fulltone's Octavia INTO Fulltone's 70' INTO subject univibe INTO Lexicon's MPX-1 (set on Cathedral) INTO Mesa's Triaxis Preamp (set on either 4 or 6) INTO Mesa's Simul2:90 Power amp INTO 2 Mesa 4x12 Recto cabs loaded with Vintage 30s and placed 6ft apart. All my cables are Monster's Studio Pro. Yes. That's right. I didn't skimp on anything here and I'm VERY satisfied with the luscious "Liquid Blue" tone that I "pour" out
of my system. $$$Expensive$$$, but well worth the work and effort.

This setup, as good as it sounds, still produces some static background noise which is quite noticeable when playing at low volume and with the Lexicon looped out of the signal path, but I'm convinced that this is the price you pay for wanting to play through a totally analog and tube amplified system. However, the beauty of the digital signal processing in the Lexicon is that when you loop the Lex back in, the filters in the Lex completely wash out the static and you've got nothing but your soul coming through like Thunder and Lightning.

SO. ABOUT THE STEREO DEJA VIBE II:
The vibe sounds absolutely fantastic WHEN PLAYED IN MONO ONLY. If you hook up the extra cable for "STEREO", you're in for a big disappointment... The "rotation" effect is still there, but the chorus effect literally disappears from the total sound output. I was hoping to get the heavy rotation and chorus effect oscillating from one cab to the other, but all I got was a stale pulse that killed all inspiration to keep playing that night. In my opinion, if I were Mr. Fuller, I would design a vibe that was strictly a no-compromise full stereo unit. Fulltone may very well make the best affordable mono vibe today, but why stop there? Why make a halfass stereo vibe and give some other company or genious out there the opportunity to make something a "hellofalot" better? I say: "Go all the way and do it right the first time". MAKE A REAL STEREO VIBE MIKE! You could call it the "STEREO" Deja Vibe III.
Score: 10 in mono + 0 in stereo = 5 avg.

Probably wouldn't survive a plane crash, but then again, neither would you. If you shell out alot of $$$ for the good stuff, take good care of it... man.

Haven't had any need to buy extra parts from Fulltone, but I did e-mail Mr. Fuller asking him why my $425.00 "STEREO" vibe sounded so lame in stereo. Mike said it was because the four photo cells that work together in mono get split when the vibe operates in stereo. I guess what happens is that two cells feed one channel (right) and the other two remaining cells feed the other channel (left). My analogy
to this design is this: You go into a 5-star restaurant, order one of those famous 5-star dishes, and have to split it with a good friend who unexpectedly shows up, but only wants to chew the food and put it back on your plate for you to eat... and enjoy...NOT! Better have your friend buy his own meal so that you can both enjoy the evening together. HINT: Use a parallel circuit design that utilizes a full
set of cells for each channel.

I create my own huricane of sound that's propelled by a strong Spanish classical wind, pulsed by a sonic wave of Middle Eastern (harmonic minor scale) thunder, and pelted by billions of blues-toned rain drops.

I've played guitar for 15 yrs. now, but it's gonna take all my life
to play all the music I want to hear.

If I lost this vibe, I'd buy the mono version instead.

This pedal is self-explanatory and sounds good at just about any setting.

I am very happy with the sounds obtainable with this pedal.

Since the pedal is still fairly new I can only go on the fact that, I have never had a problem with a Fulltone pedal and the are built to take just about anything you can throw at them.

I have never had a problem with any of my Fulltone products so I can not truthfully say one way or the other.

I play mostly Blues based Rock the pedal fits perfectly in this realm. I have been playing for about ten years. I do regret buying the stereo version though and the speed pot. is hard to fine tune with the foot pedal within the faster speed settings. I had planed to use this in a stereo amp set-up and after purchasing it found that it should be used in the front of the effects chain which prevents me from using it to split the stereo signal without bypassing many effects going to one of the amps. If I had to do it over again I would buy the Dejavibe non-stereo non-foot controlled version. My current setup is: Fender Strat or Tele into a Vox Wah w/Fulltone true bypass switch retrofit - Stereo Dejavibe 2 used in mono - Ultimate Octave - Full Drive 2 - ADA Flanger w/Fulltone true bypass switch retrofit going into any of the following amps: Fender Blues Jr., Fender Bassman, Fender Hot Rod Deville or Carvin X-100. I will probably replace the ADA with a Fulltone Choralflange, which I will use to split the stereo signal and go to a two-amp setup. I am also looking for a delay unit that will not compromise the sound quality of these other pedals. The sounds are all Pristine and even though the pedal did not fit all of my expectations I will have to give it 9 overall.

Very easy to use for basic Univibe sounds. Only one intensity knob to adjust for chorus or vibrato. The chorus/vib select switch and the vintage/modern switch are the only other controls besides the foot pedal that regulates effect speed. The footpedal being part of the unit is a great idea (like the Dunlop Rotovibe). However, it is not as user friendly as you might think. It takes A LOT of getting used to to try to match the speed of the effect to a song tempo, particulary if it is a fast pulse youb are after. The unit does not do much for most of the pedal's sweep, then it gets real fast in a small amount of travel. For this, I'm taking off a few points.

The guitars I tested this unit with were historic Les Pauls and several Strats and Teles. I ran the unit through a Victoria Double Deluxe (incredible amp!), a Demeter TGA-3 and a blackface Twin. The true bypass of this unit does a great job at maintaining your signal. I must say that I am not knocked out by the Deja 2. I really wanted to be, since my favorite effects are vibe and trem. I tried the unit at a boutique store in Chicago, and was not that impressed, particularly for the money. I later had the opportunity to get one used (but mint in box) and hoped it would sound better. It does not sound bad, but it does not sound spectacular. For instance, I have an old PE Vibe Unit that kills the Deja 2. The Deja 2 can't match the bigger sound of the PE Vibe Unit. Also, the pulse of the chorus effect is not nearly as groovin'. I also gig with a very old Rotovibe that sounds better, and the pedal speed control is much more happening. I know many of the Rotovibes sound bad, but this one sounds great. I fully expected the Deja 2 to be at least as good as my other 2 units. To me,he Deja 2 sounds good, but not as good as some others I own.

This thing is sturdy. I can't imagine something going wrong with it. If I do use it on a gig, a backup won't be neccesary.

I e-mailed the company about the pedal speed problem 3 times. He said he would look into it and was working on it. Have not heard back yet but this man stands behind his stuff. I own other Fulltone products and have been pleased - plus all warranty work is handled by Mike Fuller, not the music store you purchased it from.

I play in a band that covers everyting from Todd Rundgren to lots of Steely Dan to some of the newer stuff. I've been playing for 25 years, most of that professionally. I own some pretty nice gear, and love great effects. That's why I so wanted this to be a great product, like the Clyde wah, which is the best on the planet. In my very humble opinion, the deja 2 falls short of some of the other Fulltone stuff. If it were stolen, I would get something else. This is too expensive to not be the best sounding, most versatile vibe unit out there.