Voodoo Lab Micro Vibe

Two Knobs-- how hard can it get?

The controls are very interactive-- it might take a couple minutes to figure out the proper match/contrast for a song's tempo. I mark my two fave positions for gigs as a starting point. It's easy to change on the fly with the big knobs.

This baby is the ticket to Trowerland, for those of us not wealthy enough to cherrypick among overpriced vintage univibes.

I have two friends who own original univibes, and they both suck compared to the Microvibe. We compared 'em at a studio one day, and this box was more USABLE in just about every aspect, and MUCH less noisy.

BUT-- this is an earlier series than the ones out now with the LED's (mine has none-- but it's not a problem, as you can easily tell if it's on or off). I have owned it for a long time (tried it out after the rave review in GP, had to have it immediately after plugging in), and have had ZERO problems with it. NO TONE LOSS, NO TREBLE OR BASS LEVEL CHANGES LIKE OTHER REVIEWS HAVE STATED.

Bottom line: This is a killer pedal, but try it out WITH YOUR OWN RIG before you purchase. I suspect the treble loss others have described is due to impedance loading (from lousy cables, pickups or other effects before it in line), low batteries, who knows? Mine rules, but I have a good rig, and even my Vox Wah is modded for true bypass, so perhaps that is the reason it sounds good.

Very reliable, gigged heavily with it in beer-soaked clubs, never a problem.

It does eat a battery quite fast! I would recommend a power supply, or replacing the 9V prior to each show.

Never had to deal with them.

By far the best univibe clone, especially for the money.

But try it with your rig, especially if you have very high-impedance pickups like Duncan Invader, Dimarzio SDHB or similar...

I just got this pedal earlier this week, and used it for the first time tonight with ma band.

I'd heard various demo's & tried one out myself (surprise) before buying, and had checked the various user reviews posted on sites like this one. I was particularly struck by the reviewer here who talks about the trim pot inside to tweak the treble. But I'd liked what I heard in the shop and thought I'd get one.

It arrived (I got it over the Web) and then I plugged in and ... and ... and ... no treble. My guitar sounded like it had been put through a sock. And an old one at that. So I thought, not to worry, do the trim pot thing. An hour or so later, I was happy - more than happy, it sounded great. Then tonight, I pitch up with the band and during the sound check thought, oh, let's just kick in with the Micro Vibe, see how it sounds. And ... and ... pants. Yuk. So, out came the screwdriver and I did the trim pot thing again, and - heh presto - eventually, after about another 15 min's of fiddling, I got it sussed so the sound sounded great with me playing along with everyone else in the bad. Hurrah. The rest of the evening, whenever I switched it on, I was happy.

The moral of this tale? I don't think the Micro Vibe is actually easy to use at all. I agree with some of the other reviewers, this pedal needs quite a bit of fine-tuning (inside, you have to take the damn thing apart to get at the f'ing trim pot). This is not a take-it-out-of-the-box-and-be-happy pedal. Sure, once you've got it set up properly, you will be (happy). But for some reason, this pedal doesn't seem to (always) come perfect.

The man who found the trim pot and posted the review on Harmony should be knighted. (I'm a Brit - knighting people is a good thing where I come from.) Or maybe he should just get to shag people he'd like to shag. Whatever. He did a good thing by sussing out the trim pot and so a big :-) goes out to him from me.

Once you've set it up right, this pedal's yummy. Surprisingly big for its size (small pedal, big sound), very swirly (if you want it to be), but nicely organic - no harsh, metalic edge to the sound, here. And pretty versatile (albeit, that it'll always sound like what it is - a Univibe clone).

My only slight niggle (apart from having to mess about with the trim pot to get the overall sound right to start with) is that the speed control doesn't seem to go all that fast when on top setting - it might be a little unfair, cos trem's generally in my experience can go a little faster than 'Vibes anyway, but I felt I could use a little more speed, even for a Vibe pedal.

But not bad. Not bad at all.

I've only had a few days. Seems pretty robust, though.

Never had to contact Voodoo Lab

It's a pretty good pedal. I've played the Roger Mayer Voodoo Vibe and the Fulltone Vibe, too. They're both very, very good, but much, much more expensive. I'm not a big 'Vibe pedal fanatic, but I do find it a very useful addition to my board for a few specific uses during our set, so for me it's been a good buy (I don't think I could justify the extra expense of an original Uni Vibe, for example). So, I'm reasonably happy when all's said and done.

I don't know what the deal is with this having to fiddle with trim pot thing - it is a pain in the arse, and personally it does worry me a little that I can't just take the pedal out the box, plug in and get a great sound. But having said that, with a bit of tweaking, I've ended up happy. Maybe Voodoo Lab should encourage users to do the adjustments (fine-tuning to match your guitar ...?) and explain what to do in the instructions (perhaps they could even make it easier to do the tweaking ...?). Or maybe, as has been suggested elswhere, they have a quality control problem - I don't know.

Overall, though, pretty good value, no regrets.It's a good pedal, evne if I've been a bit snooty about it. (But I am a Brit, so what do you expect?)

Pretty easy to get a good sound. With only speed and intensity controls to tweak, you can quickly get an idea of the range of sounds available. On my particular unit, settings below 12 o'clock on either speed or intensity don't seem to have much effect. I was able to dial in a classic Trower setting ("bridge of sighs") with no trouble. Other less extreme setting are available though.

I can't compare the Microvibe to a vintage univibe sound since I've never played a vintage univibe. My impression of the Microvibe is that it gives me the sound I've heard some of my favorite recordings. For use with my single coil guitars, I seem to get a better sound if I send a slightly boosted signal to the Microvibe. My only dissappointment with the Microvibe is that it doesn't react well to rolling down my guitar volume. The tone seems to get a thinned out and take on a metallic tinge.

Other than a worn out toggle switch on my Microvibe, none of my Voodoo Lab effects (overdrive, analog chorus, tremelo, proctavia) which have never glitched or otherwise failed to perform. The Microvibe worked flawlessly up to the moment that I accidentally neutered it while poking around the insides. I had it repaired by VL and it works great again! The failure wouldn't have happened if I was more careful. The only component I would worry about is the tiny incandescent bulb inside the unit will probably need replacing from time to time. Trust me, you won't find these bulbs at your local Radio Shack. Also, the bulb's filament could potentially be damaged by shock or vibration, particularly while in use (due to the fragile nature of heated filaments).

As I stated earlier, I had to have my unit serviced due to stupidity on my part. I knew that I had damaged a photo cell but wasn't sure where to obtain them, so I arranged to have it repaired by the fine fellows at Voodoo Lab. They gave me an RMA and told me that they'd call to get my approval to proceed once they had examined the unit. Being impatient, I called the customer service dept. about 12 days later to ask if the unit had been looked at and to my surpise it had already been repaired. I'm not sure about the disconnect with the "we'll call you before we fix it" thing, but I certainly won't object to the fast repair turnaround. Although I had agreed to pay an additional charge for parts, they ended up only charging the flat bench fee for replacing a photo cell, and damaged power jack. They even replaced the incandescent bulb. Way to go Voodoo Lab!

The Microvibe does a more than adequate job whenever I need a univibe effect. I love it's compact size and portability. Battery operation is a plus although it will drain batteries fairly quickly. After all, there is an incandescent bulb in the circuit. I don't doubt that there are better vibe units out there but not in this price range!

Ok I'm posting this because of other reviews describing a "loss of treble" or "too much treble" from the microvibe ! Actually i had 2 microvibe: one 3 years ago and a new one last year. Well they didn't sound the same at all !!! The first one was great, very transparent and i used to use it for clean work mostly. The new one is just *really* bassy (the other reviewers noticed as me a big "loss of treble") and plain unusable for clean work (your sound is muffled). The new one is ok with distortion tough.

So today i decided to open this new microvibe and check why the same pedal can sound so differently. Opening the new one is not easy task but once did, you'll notice a trim pot to the left of the switch. This trim pot is the key to the balance between bass and treble.
Set intensity on 0 and speed whereverr you want. Slowly trim the pot while playing (you'll notice huge tonal difference and more and more treble the more you go to the right). Once you're happy close the thing.
As this effect is very sensitive, it makes a giant difference, I was able to find again the tone of my first microvibe.

So if your microvibe sound bassy or muffled, that's the solution. I think Voodoolab had better quality control a few years ago...

Hope i helped

LARGE KNOBS MAKE IY EASY TO CONTROL WITH YOUR FOOT IN A LIVE SITUATION.

I ONLY PLAY IT CLEAN! PLAYING IT DIRTY IS REALLY MISSING THE WHOLE POINT. I USE A TS-5 FOR O.D. WITHOUT ANY OTHER EFFECTS ON.WE PLAY AN EXTENDED VERSION OF "GOLD DUST WOMAN" I USE IT TO PLAY A SLIDE SOLO (BOTH CONTROLS AT 12:00) I DONT NEED ANY O.D. JUST A LITTLE REV' AND I AM GOOD TO GO. I ALSO USE IT FOR A VERSE OR TWO OF "LITTLE WING" AND "OUGHTA KNOW"(BOTH CONTROLS MAXED) "BLUE ON BLACK" ALSO SOUNDS GOOD ON THIS SETTING. YOU CAN NOT USE BATTERIES WITH THIS PEDAL THEY LAST ABOUT 20 MINS' AC POWER ONLY!. GREAT PULSATING SOUND!IF YOU DON'T BELIEVE ME JUST ASK ANDY SUMMERS. ONCE AGAIN THIS PEDAL SOUNDS GREAT WITHOUT DIST/O.D. IT IS A GREAT PEDAL THAT DOSENT NEED BOOST! BESIDES ANYONE WHO COMBINES PHASE/CHORUS WITH O.D.MUST BE A PERVERT! OR A METTALICA FAN! USED SPARINGLY IT CAN PROVIDE A DRAMATIC LIFT TO YOUR SOUND,OR MORE IMPORTANTLY TO THE OVERALL SOUND OF YOUR BAND.

SO FAR SO GOOD!

GREAT PEDAL.

Piece of cake. Just two knobs. It seems to me, though, that there are sweet spots between the two, that can be tough to find on the fly.

I play a Strat/Tele/PRS into a Mesa Tremoverb.
I've mainly ended up using this as a chorus substitute. I much prefer it's 'organic-ness' to the typically messy chorus sound.
It also does sound better than the 'vibes' in my Line6 MM4.

HOWEVER, I do have one big beef with this thing. It completely sucks the high-end out of my tone when it's on. Since other reviews here contradict this fact, it makes me wonder if I've gotten a lemon. Regardless, it makes the bridge pickup on my tele sound like the neck pickup. This is borderline unacceptable!

With that aside, the actual effect is fantastic. Nice swirl....

I have no doubt this thing will outlive me.

I emailed them three weeks ago with a question about the pedal power, and I haven't gotten any response. This is the only basis I have to form an opinion of their support.

I have very conflicting feelings about this thing. I really like the effect when I use it here at home, but on a gig, the treble attenuation causes my sound to get lost in the mix. Swirling vortex of mud. I suppose I could run it into an EQ pedal to restore the high-end, but that idea is completely ludicrous to me, due to the noise as well as the price of this pedal.
Eventually, I will replace this pedal, probably with a Fulltone.

I strongly recommend that you A/B this with other 'vibe' pedals before you buy!

Two knobs, not much else as far as control..speed is from way too slow to not fast enough

Way too trebly....not enough bottom...boosts treble to unacceptable levels and cuts bottom end

Effect is too transparent..must be turned all the way up to be heard

Recommended settings (only 2 out of all possibilities) are decent, but don't really do it for me..don't really come through that strong and are basically useless if you have tremolo as an option, which I do on all my silverface Fender amps

Sounds like a weak tremolo...never heard a real Univibe, but this doesn't do the trick for me...doesn't sound like a Leslie at all IMHO

Seems to modulate the low mid frequencies (in a warble kind of sound) and leave the highs boosted and stingingly overaccented - actually makes my original tubescreamer and my Reverend Drivetrain suck

Seems well built enough

Never called em

Voodoo Lab seems like a cool company and their pedals seem well built. I bought this pedal unheard, wanting a cool vibe-ey sound like Stevie's "Cold Shot" but this particular pedal's sound is weak. If I could have 25 pedals at my disposal I could find a place for it. Unfortunately, real estate on the stages I play is not that generous, so I will stick to my Drivetrain and MIJ Boss CE-2 Chorus pedal (and my Teese RMC-1 wah when on especially spacious stages)

OH SO easy. Can't dial in a BAD sounds

Love Hendrix ,Trower etc.... so I knew what i was looking for. Wanted a dunlop, heard so much bad press (even from my local guitar shop) that i decided against it. Traded a POS guitar for this one. Love the sound. Some folks say you loose bass through here, well i have to say if that's the case, then you need to pick up a Blackface Fender Bassman. Cause she's sweet! Sounds wonderful. I bet my neighbors are gonna call the cops any second.
I don't like the way it mixes with a distortion box. I have a TS-9 (the real deal) and it sounds ....good when run after the Micro Vibe, but totally synthetic when run before it, although smoother. You be the judges. I'd love to hear some feedback from some of you as to what you think of this. I think pure tube-amp-cranked-all-the-way -up is the way to go with this one. But it's BEAUTIFUL on clean Fender tones. I don't own a Marshall, this one makes me wish i did.

This little device has made me play more than the past few vintage strats, and amps i have purchased. I like it.

9 for the click, but hey, ....

dunno. Can't say y et, But from what i've heard and felt, she's a tough one.

Never had to. But heard NOTHING but good things about Voodoo Labs.
This is from Nashville musician's and guitar store guys who know their shit.

She's good. If you KNOW what you are looking for, buy it. I'm young, as far as these things go, 29. But my bro is 43, and was a Hendrix freak from the word go. I was raised on that stuff. For a Pedal it's really great.

Pretty easy to use. Two big knobs to set the speed and intensity and a true Bypass on/off switch.

Various strats into vintage Marshalls and Fenders. I found this unit to be quiet enough. Who cares about some noise if you're using single coil p/u's into vintage amps?
I used to own a Dunlop Uni-vibe and I sold it because there was always a volume drop when switching the pedal on. I also think the micro vibe sounds more organic and fatter.

Yeah, I gig without a backup.

never contacted voodoo labs

Two knobs. Pretty easy unless your like, me. So anal about sound that after a while, I can't be objective.

I have an American standard strat, chain is strat, crybaby, ts-9(808)
mod,Rat, Microvibe, 2 different echos, into a 63 reissue Vibroverb. I also have a Hamer Mirage that I do not use with the Microvibe because the Microvibe demands a Stat! Hendrix, Trower, etal.
I emailed Voodoolab with a question about THE Jimi, Trower setting and I received a reply from them telling me to turn the intensity all the way up and to put the speed at 11:30. That did it! You do it too.

Voodoolab stuff is tuff, tuff, tuff.

See above

Better than Uni-vibe reissue, as good as deja-vibe, which sorta nails it down, don't it.