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C
Mini-
Deja’Vibe
What was an “original Univibe?” It was an four-stage phaser effect made between late-1968 and 1973 designed
to replicate a Leslie rotating speaker by using a tiny incandescent light bulb shining on four photo-resistors
housed under an aluminum shroud. This odd circuit offered a watery, thick, and unique blend of pitch-bend
vibrato and chorus-like phase-shifting. Although it didn’t sound too much like a Leslie, its sound took on a life of
its own, a sound heard on many recordings by Jimi Hendrix, Frank Marino, David Gilmour, and Robin Trower.
Original Univibes were extremely large, heavy effects boxes mated to an external wah-type foot-pedal control-
ling the modulation speed via a 5 pin, quick-disconnect cable. Old ‘vibes were very inconsistent from one unit to
the next and were prone to malfunctioning, with no one knowing how to fix them let alone how to make them
sound good again....well, almost no one. I started out in the ‘80’s collecting, dealing, and repairing ’vibes, which
lead me to the idea of re-designing and building a bullet-proof new ‘vibe clone in a smaller footprint.
Enter the Fulltone Deja’Vibe in 1993 with the goal of making a True-Bypass ‘vibe that was more reliable and that
was 1/4 the “original Univibe’s” astronomical used-market selling price! I have been making “the exact original
Univibe clone” ever since, with Robin Trower and many others using them exclusively the entire time.
Fulltone is the only ‘vibe-maker using original-specification Glass sealed custom-made photocells, the only one
using a custom-made dual Opto-Resistor for the external speed controller, and the only using original
Panasonic/Masushita 2SC828 transistors. CS-MDV-1’s require an 18 volt DC power supply and we recommend
the Fulltone FPS-3 which is included. with US, Canada, & Japan sales only, and can only be used in those
countries as well. You don’t have to be a huge Trower or Hendrix fan to appreciate the MDV-1, you just have to
appreciate that massive pulsating wall of sound it creates when you switch it on.
Play on!
Michael Fuller
Model CS-MDV-1
Congratulations on your purchase of the
