Shin-ei recaptures original Uni-Vibe with Vibe-Bro guitar effects pedal

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New stompbox marks the company's first product in 40 years

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.

Michael Astley-Brown
Michael Astley-Brown

Mike is Editor-in-Chief of GuitarWorld.com, in addition to being an offset fiend and recovering pedal addict. He has a master's degree in journalism, and has spent the past decade writing and editing for guitar publications including MusicRadar, Total Guitar and Guitarist, as well as a decade-and-a-half performing in bands of variable genre (and quality). In his free time, you'll find him making progressive instrumental rock under the nom de plume Maebe.