Alternate to Boss Vibrato pedal

[fakeocaster]

As you know these arent made any more and the existing ones go for silly money on ebay.


Is there any currently available pedal which is even close?

[cacibi]

Well - he's sold out right now, but BYOC was offering a VB-2 kit:

BYOC Vibrato

[kyle1167]

Kris,
Do you have the BYOC vibrato? if not have you heard them? I'm interested in getting a vibrato also.

[cacibi]

I don't have the vibrato, but I've built the 808 clone, AD-80, Tonebender and Tribooster and I can tell you that they all live up to their descriptions on the BYOC site. I was going to pull the trigger and get one before they ran out of kits. According to the forum they will have more in stock next month. Check out the discussion board on the BYOC site or post their to get feedback from folks that have one.

Currently I'm using a Keeley modded TR-2, which I love and is in the same price range. I've been so impressed with the BYOC stuff and have a lot of fun building them - so, will probably get one of those as well.

[kp8]

There is the Austone, which is prolly as much as the VB2 gets now on eBay. and there are mods for the Boss Chorus that make it into a vibrato pedal (essentially removing the summed orgininal signal).... and there are cheapies like the Dano chicken salad and the FX-22 Vibrothang. Marshall also makes a supercraptacular vibrato pedal.. In other words... you are pretty much sunk. If you (like me) want good quality troo pitch shifting vibrato... you have to home cook one or shell out the stoopid cash for one ....

-k

[fakeocaster]

The idea of modding a Boss chorus is tempting tho...

has anyone done it ?Is there much involved etc?


Thanks for all the responses so far.Keep em coming!

[Joel Terry]

Originally Posted by fakeocaster

The idea of modding a Boss chorus is tempting tho...

has anyone done it ?Is there much involved etc?


Thanks for all the responses so far.Keep em coming!

RD, I recently sent a BOSS CE-5 Chorus Ensemble to the FX Doctor for his CE-5 vibrato modification.

Believe me--Josh (the "FX Doctor" himself) does a fantastic job: The CE-5 makes for a really good, strong-sounding vibrato. However, it isn't the same style of vibrato as the legendary BOSS VB-2 Vibrato. The modified CE-5 comes close, but no cigar. The VB-2 magnificently, cleanly, and smoothly bends notes and chords up and down; instead, the modified CE-5 sounds more like strong detuning modulation--a slightly chorused, metallic detuning.

I know you're probably saying, "Well, what's the flippin' difference?" Frankly, it's difficult to verbally describe--but there is a noticeable difference. I suggest you listen to Josh's .mp3 samples of his CE-5 vibrato modification. Here's the.mp3 of the modified CE-5 "vibrato" pedal set at a moderate depth and a moderate rate; here's the .mp3 of the modified CE-5 set at near-maximum depth and a fast rate.

Again, Josh's mods are fantastic. Don't get me wrong. It's just that, in my opinion, there's only one pedal currently in production that can truly nail the sound of the VB-2, and that pedal is the BOSS PS-5 SUPER Shifter pedal.

One of the PS-5's many different (and useful) modes is called "FLUTTER." To get a true recreation of the VB-2's super-smooth, non-chorused vibrato, you just turn to the "FLUTTER" mode; then, set the PITCH knob to whatever degree/width of bend you want (and you can really get some absolutely sick-sounding, extremely wide bends!) and then adjust the SPEED (the inner knob of the concentric/"stacked" knob to the far left) to however fast you want the vibrato rate.

The only drawback--and it's a rather significant drawback--is that the PS-5's "FLUTTER" is an unlatched mode only. In other words, the effect stays on as long as you hold your foot down on the pedal; when you let up, the effect turns off. (I've looked into getting a switchable latch/unlatch mod for the PS-5's "FLUTTER" mode, but no one's offering it or even attempting it.)

So, you might want to give the modified CE-5 a whirl, or at least play around with a PS-5's "FLUTTER" mode.

I hope this helps.

Joel

[kp8]

Joel, as always a fountain of "boss" knowledge. I've got more and more Boss stuff hitting my board each year it seems. The PS-5 is a wicked fun pedal indeed. I've got that and 2 more Boss pedals on my wish list as well. Last year i upgraded to the BF-3 and love it. But still would love to know why Boss is so dead set against ever reissuing any old pedals -or- why they don't come up wth a VB-3. I am sure they would sell many of them. The PN 2 and the VB 2 are 2 pedals i deeply regret not snagging when they were around. Though i will say this, as cool as a the VB 2 is.... i am still not sure it sounds as good as an old Magnatone, still i would kill for one. The Austone Vibro-Stomp is supposed to rock, but you could buy a whole MIM tele for that price... whew... tho that is about what VB 2s fetch used, if not more.

oh well....

[mad dog]

That Austone Vibrostomp is a worthy pedal. I play magnatones all the time, can't do w/o that true pitch shift vibrato on other amps. The Vstomp delivers. Not quite the same as the in-amp effect, but close. Has it's own special something. A very warm pedal, throws a bit of boost in the mix. Just as intense as the Magnatone, integrates somehow differently with the amp tones because it's in front, not wired in. Whatever, a great-sounding pedal. You'll ***** when you pay the freight, then won't think of the money ever again as you use it.