Product: Peavey Univerb II
Price Paid: US $150 used
Submitted
01/03/2001
at
02:47am
by
Axeman
Email: AxemanVR<at>aol dot com
Ease of Use
:
9
Easy enough to use (for what it is), yet still takes some tweaking for the best signal to noise ratio.
On the front panel the Univerb II provides controls for INPUT level, EFFECT MIX and OUTPUT levels as well as BANK and TYPE SELECT knobs.
On the rear panel there are 1/4" jacks for left and right stereo INPUT and OUTPUT connections (left is for mono use) and power supply input. There is also a 1/4" plug in for a DEFEAT (effects bypass) switch located on back.
Sound Quality
:
7
I used my Univerb II specifically for PA use, running it through the effects sends and return on my board...
Well, it's OK for a digital contraption, but I can't say I really "loved" it.
I guess the problem I had with it (and most digital reverbs) is that it sounds fine when buried somewhere in the mix, but when trying to use it in a situation where you want the reverb to be upfront and obvious, you can clearly hear that cold, sterile digital "edge" and fake sounding tail end.
It did have some nice echo effects (gated and reverse echos) as well as spatial and panning delays.
I docked a couple points just because it sounded digital, otherwise I guess it wasn't all that bad - while it worked, that is (see below):
Reliability
:
2
It worked fine, when I first got it, but after a year or so I started having trouble with it. Every once in a while I'd hear this weird distorted noise coming from my sound system. It took me a while, but I finally traced it down to the Univerb.
It kept getting worse and eventually started making this obnoxious ping ponging sound everytime I turned it on. Although it would go away after a while, I couldn't trust it any longer so I finally took it out of my setup and ripped the guts out (I kept the rack mount case for some future project).
Anyway, I can't say whether this is a widespread problem with these things but mine ended up to be totally unreliable, thus the low rating in this catagory...
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Overall Rating
:
3
If you find a used one of these for real cheap, then you might consider getting one (just hope that it doesn't crap out on you), otherwise there are a lot of new digital reverbs to choose from these days. Personally, I would never buy one again.
Actually I am leaning more heavily towards spring and tube reverb units (the reviews on the Peavey Valverb sound good). I know, I know, spring reverb: boingy.. noisy.. analog... Well, let me just say that I think it's worth the trade-off for that warm, lush and full sound compared to cold and sterile digital stuff I've heard lately...
