Please keep in mind that the Aquarium runs at 18v only.
The Aquarium is our take on the authentic analog modulation tones of the classic ‘Univibe’ pedal, built to inspire your creativity yet designed to be simple to use.
The goal was to design a pedal that creates the beautiful three-dimensional chorus/vibrato tones of an original ‘Vibe, yet maintain our commitment to simplicity of operation, tonal flexibility, and beautiful modern pedalboard-friendly design.
Years of research and consultation with pro-players, culminated in a desire for a feature set not found on the original units to help resolve solve some of the downsides of these vintage effects such as volume drop and tonal loss.
The Aquarium features true 100% analog circuitry, dual speed controls, true bypass switching, board friendly top mounted jacks, and runs on 18V, key to obtaining those classic rich deep ‘Vibe tones from the analog bulb circuitry within.
Below is a breakdown of how the unique intuitive control set works on the Aquarium, feel free to let your inspiration guide your creativity and enjoyment!
VOLUME
Vibe pedals often suck volume and get lost in a mix when engaged. That’s a fact.
That’s why we felt the need for a master output volume to cut or boost it where necessary.
Unity volume is around 55% rotation, this makes it very useful to boost the front end of the amp with the Vibe itself (highly recommended!).
TONE
Simple yet hugely effective Tone control to balance the overall bass/treble.
In many ‘Vibe pedals you can notice a slight "tone loss”: your tone can often become overly “bright” because of the complex phase shifting effect.
With this dedicated Tone control you’ll be able to resolve this.
MIX
This is an idea given by some pro players in Italy which told me that while working in a professional recording Studio, with many ‘Vibe pedals they often split their guitar signal and do parallel mixing to “preserve” the integrity of the dry signal and just add a little bit of vibe on top of it.
Adding our Mix control allows to do this internally within the Aquarium itself.
This ability to be blend the dry signal with the wet gives a huge range of versatility.
Mix is operational in two different ways called “Mix Modes” chosen by the dedicated toggle switch: “B” (Blend) or “M” (Mix).
BLEND MODE: Allows everything from 100% full wet effect with the knob all the way up to 100% dry with the knob fully down, and all points in-between to find your own perfect balance of sound.
MIX MODE: The dry signal is always at 100% and the Mix knob just controls the volume level of the wet vibe sound added on top of it. This mode maintains all the integrity of the clean sound with its bottom end and attack, yet creates a different approach a classic vibe sound with many more subtle sound shades available.
DEPTH
Amplitude of the LFO modulation (classic control on a Vibe)
SPEED 1 / SPEED 2
The pedal is equipped with two independent speed controls (Speed 1, Speed 2). The two small LEDs below indicate which speed is in use currently. The two speeds can be chosen using the dedicated footswitch (Speed 1/Speed2).
But this is not all, with our clever “Inertia toggle” switch you also choose ‘how fast’ you want to morph between the two speeds set by selecting one of “I” (Instant), “M” (medium) or “S” (slow) change.
This will give the ‘acceleration’ a ramp feel when switching from speed 1 to 2 and vice versa, creating a beautiful classic rotary speaker like effect.
There’s also a “Momentary Speed Change” function: you just press and hold the “Speed1/Speed2” footswitch to momentary swap between the two speeds controls with a Medium inertia.
Please keep in mind that the Aquarium runs at 18v only.