Review

With so many great Univibe pedals on the market to choose from its kind of hard to find something that is out of the ordinary and incorporates new ideas into the mix. Retaining the Univibes classic underwater sound effect that it is known for the Effectrode Tube Vibe takes it to another level with a pure tube signal path. Don't make the mistake of thinking the tubes are there forjust show. There is almost 300 volts running through them and these tubes get warm just like a tube amp. Phil was kind enough to send us one for review and this pedal has to be heard to be believed, it sounds that good.

As well as being the only tube driven Vibe on the market it is also the most adjustable. What does that mean to you? Well, if you are looking for your own custom vibe sound it means the world. If you are just looking for the original vibe tone there are others out there that do the job for less. The Tube Vibe is much more. Opening it up and experimenting with the DIP switches is where you control the magic.

The Tube Vibe was packed extremely well and included easy to follow instructions and its own power supply. The pedal is striking to look at. With its cream chicken head knobs, purple finish and chrome tube guards it will definitely attract the guitarists in the room asking "What the *&&%*^ is that ?"

The Tube Vibe has 2 modes. One for classic Univibe tone and one that does a wah type vibe. An original sounding effect that has to be heard to be fully appreciated. In Vibe mode you have 2 different voicings a square wave voicing that is similar to the original vibe as we know it and has that familiar vibe "throb." The second voicing in vibe mode is a triwave that is smoother and lends itself more to smoother lush tube driven phase and chorus tones. Next to the DIP switches inside the unit is also a width trimmer that can be user adjusted to change the intensity of the sweep to achieve a more transparent effected tone if so desired. The Tube Vibe covers a lot of ground.

Don't make the mistake of thinking this is just another vibe clone. Think of it as the first tube driven, analog, modulation multieffector and you wont be far off. The shimmering tones and user controlled parameters of the effected signal to be had from the Tube Vibe are outstanding.

Not only can the Tube Vibe beautifully recreate the classic Univibe sound but it also excels at chorus, phaser, trem and vibrato tones all adjustable with the internal trim pots as mentioned before. Lush organic tones blend in with your original base tone instead of taking it over. This can be suited to taste with the "blend " control. The "blend" control on the top of the unit controls how much of you original sound vs. effected sound you want. A very nice feature if you are into tweaking this pedal to suit your own needs.

Usually a volume control is not noteworthy but in this case it is. Unity <same volume as your dry tone> gain is at the 12 o'clock mark on the volume knob. At full volume you actually are boosting the signal 6 dB. This is worth talking about as other vibes I have used just hit unity at full volume and when the sweep effect was at certain points it almost seemed like a volume drop was happening. Its great to have that extra push if you need it. It has an expression pedal jack that can be used to control the effects speed while playing live. A plain old passive volume pedal will work for this. A very handy feature to have that not all vibe units have.

Granted a tube driven Vibe in this price range is not for everyone but if you are looking for tube modulation that is highly tweakable , sounds amazing and is alone in its class look no further than the Effectrode Tube Vibe.

To read more about the Effectrode Tube Vibe and other Effectrode products please visit

Tube-Vibe specs

The Tube-Vibe uses only top quality MIL-SPEC NOS tubes in the phase shifter section. The signal path in the original Uni-Vibe is solid-state and is based on cheap silicon transistors at 3 cents a piece.

A new magic ratio for the phase shift stagger tuned capacitors was empirically derived for the Tube-Vibetm. It's response is fine-tuned and voiced for electric guitar. The capacitors in the Uni-Vibe phase shifter circuit were intended to simulate a Hi-Lo Leslie rotating speaker system, usually meant to be applied to church organs. Not exactly Rock'n'Roll.

High, one megaohm input impedance ensures a wide open and clear tone. The input resistance of the Uni-Vibe is only 69Kohm. This is low enough to load the output of a guitar and dull the sound or cause significant treble loss to single coil pickups.

Unique blend control allows mixing of dry & vibrato signals to produce beautiful phase-chorused tones. No other vibe pedal hits the 'sweet spot' like this one.

Hyper-bright, daylight visible LED pulsates with modulation speed for visual song tempo matching.

Internal trim pot. allows the darkness of the vibe to be adjusted as desired. Factory set for maximum 'chewiness'.

Internal DIP switch allows selection between two entirely different LFO wave shapes. One voicing is similar to the original Uni-Vibe with rising peaks. The other is a smoothed triangle wave, which produces a more uniform sweep.

Another internal DIP configures the Tube-Vibe for either vibe mode or vibe-wah mode. More subtle than wah-wah and very cool sounding.

The only vibe with a configurable LFO. The Tube-Vibe adds a new dimension to the meaning of 'custom' - it can be configured to generate any waveshape to give a unique signature throb, thickness & tone.

This effects pedal was designed and audio tested using both humbucking & single coil pickups. The all-tube signal path is capable of accepting input from high output active pickups such as EMG85's and "LiveWires". If you do succeed in overdriving this pedal then you'll be experiencing super smooth, class-A, tube overdrive!

Tough prismatic purple powder coat finish.

Supplied with wall-wart power adaptor.