These days, you can't so much as glance at a pedalboard without spying any number of Uni-Vibe-derived pedals, but Shin-ei, the Japanese company behind the iconic stompbox (and now based in Austin, Texas), has revived the original with its first pedal in 40 years, the Vibe-Bro.
Based on Honey and Shin-ei Uni-Vibe units from the '60s and '70s, the Vibe-Bro is hand-built using NOS parts, and promises the same pulsating bottom-end as vintage pedals.
The stompbox is available in Vintage Black and Machine Gun Gray finishes, and features true bypass and vintage-style preamp signal-path switching, as well as original vintage Shin-ei logos, date codes and indicia - a vintage-style speed control foot pedal is available separately.
Now, this will be going head to head with Korg's Nuvibe - which was designed with Fumio Mieda, the engineer behind the original Uni-Vibe - and it's similarly pricey at $699 for the pedal and $199 for the matching speed control foot pedal direct from Shin-ei.
However, given the Vibe-Bro has already convinced tonehounds including Eric Johnson, Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Doyle Bramhall II, the modern-day Shin-ei may well have cracked that vintage Uni-Vibe sound after all.
