If anyone is as much as a fan of vibrato as me, and aware of the Boss VB-2, you will know that the pedal, discontinued in the '80s, is pretty much the pinnacle of vibrato-in-a-stompbox. As displayed here.

Anyway, there have been several attempts, from the hideous Marshall Vibratrem, which is a bastardised Tremolo-Vibrato effect, to the luscious, but highly unaffordable and ridiculous to power (18v!?!?!?), Diamond Vibrato. There are also various Chorus-Vibrato pedals, but again, these simply do not stand up as the kind of vibrato I'd expect or would use often enough to justify the £100+ they are asking for.

I should say at this point, I'm not after the Leslie, '60s, surf type vibrato. I basically want the Boss VB-2, but without the RIDICULOUS ASKING PRICE!



And so, after a good two years of searching, and having conceded defeat and resorted to buying the £20, brand new, Behringer clone of the VB-2, I discover that TC Electronic have cloned the VB-2. It's selling for £110, having been released about six months ago. It's a very tempting proposition; true bypass (unlike Boss pedals), and although it doesn't have the extreme reach (in the depth mode, or speed) that the VB-2 does, it has the lush, mid-speed setting that I'd use it for live.

To me, it sounds like the shit. They're a good company, without being so 'big name' that they can bring something out, regardless of quality, and expect to flog it off by the thousand (Boss Metal pedals...). Does anyone have any experience with this? I'm resigned to buying one new, something I don't like to do very often, since I'm on a budget, and will have to wait a few months to get it, but in the meantime, has anyone played one? Or even own one? Any opinion would be welcome.



On a side note, the Behringer is actually not half bad. You get a pretty decent replication of the effect, and a 'true' vibrato (in that it changes the pitch) rather than a Tremolo type con trying to pass itself off as a vibrato as so many companies do. And for less than a night out, how can you complain? I'm certainly not, although, as it's Behringer, things are to be expected. It hums like a bitch, and I would never play with it live (hence why the TC true bypass is so appealing), and, if you know anything about Behringer pedals, you know they are like goldfish; the vast majority don't live longer two weeks. Whilst THIS VIDEO attests to the contrary, I wouldn't like to breathe on it or expose it to direct sunlight, lest it gave up the will to live (and yes, that was just an excuse to post that, frankly, hilarious video, narrated, it would seem, by Ross Noble, who appears to own both a Fuzz Factory and, more excitingly, a Digitech XP-300). Enjoy the linkage mother-fuckers.

So, opinions? Or, if anyone likes vibrato as much as I do, would anyone be tempted by this? Fanx.

The behringer may not sound all that horrible, but they are not (from personal experience) great pedals. They get the job done, but they don't really sound amazing or unique at all. I think they sound like cheap effects. However, the biggest judge on how a pedal sounds is yourself. If you play a gig, no one other than you is really gonna be able to tell if you're using a $2000 pedal or a $20 pedal, just saying. The hiss from using it will obviously bother you, but no one in an audience would really notice. So if you can get by the problems (I never can) then the behringer should be fine.
Also, behringer pedals can last a while. They are DEFINITELY not built as well as other pedals, but if you treat them well, they should be ok. Again, its a matter of you overcoming the name "Behringer" on the pedal. Personally, I can never overcome playing through a pedal that I don't think is great.

The TC is definitely a better built pedal, and most likely sounds better if you're just playing by yourself in your room. Personally, I would get this because like I mentioned above, I need to know I'm playing through a solid pedal. TC makes really great stuff, definitely a trust-worthy brand. Also, this pedal is a lot more versatile, you can get a TON of different sounds to come out of this thing.
The behringer will only do vibrato, and it will do it fine. But the TC will do the vibrato well, and other things. Definitely worth the price, I think.
I do not own that specific pedal, but I do know that TC is a very respected and good brand. And all the demos sound great!

So I'd go with the TC because it is the better sounding pedal and its from solid brand. As for the behringer, if you can get by the fact that the pedal is a behringer and you can live with the sound, then go for that because you will save a lot of money. I just want to stress the fact that the hiss and mediocre sound will not affect your live performance at a bar gig, because no one will notice. Unless a guitar guru is in the crowd.

Band page - facebook.com/petersdenial or petersdenial.net

Check it out if you have nothing better to do.

Yeah, cheers, I should say I have bought the Behringer, as in a few months ago, and it was only as a stop gap, never with the intention to record and/or play live with it, having already got the Boss ME-50, which has a pretty decent replication of the VB-2, though, as it's part of a multi-fx unit...it's not exactly easy to gig with. It does hiss, but it's also shitty things, like the jack plugs being crappy and loose, and the fact that, as I said, I fear it will fall apart if removed from its spot on my bedroom floor.

So it's not a case of 'either or', or even 'if' I will get the TC. I'm pretty certain, unless a cheaper VB-2 clone comes out, or Diamond drops its asking price significantly, I'll get it. For the record, what's your experience of TC pedals? I have to admit mine is absolutely zero, so was just interested; how do they hold up? How do they sound etc.

I only really included the bit about Behringer because, for £20, you get a lot more than you'd expect, as I certainly wasn't expecting it to sound as good as it did when I first plugged it in. But yeah, more interested in the TC pedal.

Yea, if you have other problems with the Behringer like you've mentioned, then it's not worth it. The jacks being crappy is a definite drag for gigging. I get what you're saying.

I've owned the TC Nova Delay and it was a great pedal. The sound was crisp, and the build was solid. I eventually traded it in because I wanted to get an analogue delay to achieve more organic sounds. But while I had the pedal, it was awesome. Super reliable, I never had any issues with it. It was kinda on the large size, but I see that the Vibrato pedal doesn't look as big. But still, the build was awesome. Very sturdy, I would feel very confident gigging with that.

As for the sound, like I mentioned, it was pristine. Super clear, great quality, didn't suck any tone from my amp. Great features on the pedal, like the 2290 ms of delay and the 9 programmable presets. I've heard this for every TC pedal: the sound is consistently great. But one thing I should mention is that it runs on a 12 volt adapter as oppose to the normal 9 volt, so i had to use it's original power supply. Not too big of an issue, but I think it's worth mentioning. Not sure if that's the case with the vibrato though.

Any TC pedal is a good buy, great brand. Heck, talking about them makes me want to get one again!

Band page - facebook.com/petersdenial or petersdenial.net

Check it out if you have nothing better to do.