Bearfoot Mint Green mini vibe, just opened and tried it out!!

[humblepie]

I just unwrapped this last night and holy moly what a beautiful effect.

Its really hard to categorize this effect. It covers a lot of ground. I can see me using a setting on this pedal to eliminate the need for a chorus pedal. It does a trem effect so well. It also does a univibe that's a bit different, but a difference I can grow to prefer.

I do have one issue, and that is, that the gain increase is really a bit too hot. It can almost overdrive my amps on its own.

The center knob controls this, and I realize that part of the magic lies in this aspect of the pedal. The problem is that to use this pedal with the rest of my effects means I have to reset the gain levels On all my drive pedals, or possibly use a compressor to keep things under control. The signal does get quite a bit hotter and louder.
It also means that the signal is smacking the front end of my Pitbull CL5034 really hard and my settings on the amp might need to change to allow for a smooth use.
But then when I turn it off, I don't like any of my settings!!!
I've tried it in the loop and in front of my ODs, mostly the same result in both positions.

Don't get me wrong, this pedal is a beauty and a winner. I just didn't anticipate needing to cut it so much of a wide berth in order to use it.
Are there any internal trimpots or adjustments that can be utilized? Anybody had any similar experience as me? What can you recommend?
Anybody?

 

[BoiceBox]

I am using one and don't have an issue with it. Why do you need to turn the gain up so much that it causes trouble?

 

[humblepie]

I'm not turning up the gain. The pedal adds quite a bit of gain when I turn it on.
The middle knob increases the gain, but also the lovely harmonic content. If I turn that knob 100% counter clockwise, the gain is reduced substantially (still hotter than when it's off) but with that setting the tonalities that are so desirable are diminished.

All settings on this pedal sound pretty good, not a bad tone to be had, what I'm saying is that a majority of the best settings, those that involve moving the middle knob in the clockwise direction, add a good bit of gain to the signal.

 

[BoiceBox]

I am certainly no expert, and perhaps Donner will chime in with some ideas for you. It is a fun pedal and I hope you find a good way to use it.

I believe that the center knob controls only the output of the pedal. IF that is the case then the enhanced tones you are hearing could be a result of either the interaction with the amplifier (or other effects) due to increased output volume, or the perception of a different tonality due to the volume increase. More volume can sometimes be perceived as better tone, I have experienced it many times with acoustic instruments.

I checked out Mike Herman's demo, and I notice that at no point does he raise the output control past what appears to be roughly unity gain. My pedal is locked away right now, but I think unity is about the same spot on mine, somewhere around 11 o'clock. It sounds like yours may be acting differently, in which case talking directly to BearFoot might be the thing to do.

 

[humblepie]

Boice, I'm sure you are co-rrect!!
The output increase just drives the pedals inherent harmonic content a little harder into the signal and into what is already present in the signal chain, whether that's pedals or the amp itself.
The three knobs on the mini vibe seem so interactive, and it's true that regardless of the collateral issues, there isn't a bad setting on this pedal. It's a winner!

 

[Don Rusk]

... well glad youre diggin it mostly .......

The Mini Vibe is also a harmonic booster as you have noticed ... and I really like it with the vibe amplitude turned down into a dirt box or edgy amp as a booster ..... then when you roll up the amplitude you get integrated vibe....

Most people dont use vibe that much so its nice to have a booster that also modulates


Originally the Minivibes middle knob was an internal trimmer on the BJFe version and it was brought out on top to be easier to adjust.......... and meany people later needed to be able to keep it at unity or even below so we adjusted the range on the middle knob to do just that...and so now its unity setting is about 11 oclock and you can back it off if you have a noisy rig and its boosting and modulating your noise.....


I have a bigger knob on my amplitude pot so I just foot dial in the occaisional vibe and use the harmonins booster all the time........ hope that helps !

 

[meterman]

man that demo sounds great! I've only played a BJF version but it absolutely floored me, such a beautiful ethereal shimmering sound.