Jim Dunlop Review: Rotovibe

History:

Purchase: I bought this unit over the internet at guitartek for £139.95. I bought it because I wanted to add a little spice to my basic valve tone.

What I Like About This Jim Dunlop Rotovibe: I generally really like the rotovibe pedal. It has a enveloping warmth and a quality lacking in many similar chorus/vibrato pedals. I knew that I would love the tone because I remember my friend had one and also from listening to perhaps the best known user of the pedal, dear Jimi...unfortuntately I still don't sound like either of these wonderful players but I'm chipping away at that big block of marble! It has these two effects, changable by a little switch on the side which you can press with your foot if you're careful and a larger rotary knob for the intensity of the chosen effect. The pedal part (where you put your wah foot) controls the speed, going from a lovely slow swirl to an intense vibey effect. I love this pedal and it really complements the sound I have which is a seventies Telecaster through oldish valve amps. Like guitars and amps, I think many things were done better in the old days, not just cos I'm getting an old fart, but this sort of gear has a certain quality to it, missing from the new techno age...I think it would suit many styles of music, not just retro sounds like blues, funk and jazz but anything like rock or dance music, you know I bet drums or just about any instrument would sound good through it...quality is quality at the end of the day...

What I Do NOT Like About The Jim Dunlop Rotovibe: The only thing I could say in a negative sense and it's probably more a matter of opinion than a fault, is that the chorus sound has a slightly thinning effect when on heavy, but it's probably more the nature of the beast than anything and my tele which tend to be thinner in tone than fat humbucking gitars!

Jim Dunlop Rotovibe Quality Rating: The construction was very good, solid and dependable and the quality was, as with most Jim Dunlop products, very good. It is built to last with steel construction and the only maintenance I could foresee would be a squirt of WD40 once a decade!

Review Summary: This is a great pedal, creating some fabulous tones and would be useful to most guitarists, keyboardists or even studio engineers who like to experiment a bit...It's not cheap cheap, but it's definetely worth it, as it'll provide years of groovy sounds for you to drift away into the wonderful world of music, the healer, with!

Rating of this Jim Dunlop product: 5

This Jim Dunlop Rotovibe Guitar Effects Review Submitted By: Andy Gunn

Review Date: 2004-11-28