JHS Pedals Unicorn V2

Love this unicorn

This is actually my 3rd univibe. I got it mainly because of the tap tempo feature. I am glad I did, will be selling others. It sounds great, is well built, pots feel solid, tap tempo works as it should. The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars for feature is it is not designed with the opportunity to use a battery.

Best features but not the best sound you can get

After watching both the 'JHS Show' and 'That Pedal Show' episodes on Univibe, I couldn't help but do my own shootout between JHS Unicorn v2, Fulltone Déja Vibe mk2, and Jam Pedals RetroVibe mk2.

I only tested the 'chorus' setting, and I used a Tele with Noiseless pickups, an (old US-made) Hod Rod Deluxe and a G2 switcher.

Result: the tap tempo on the Unicorn is great! Sound was good, but as with most JHS pedals a little bit too bright for my ears. I'm sure, this vibe won't get lost in the mix, but played on it's own – for my personal taste – it lacks some warm lo-mids/bass frequencies that I love.

The Dèja Vibe was almost perfect, not changing my original tone, but adding a great vibe. Con: bigger enclosure and it needs a 18V power supply.

The RetroVibe was kind of the opposite of the Unicorn: sound a bit dark, perhaps too dark in some setups, might get lost in the mix without an additional treble booster, no tap tempo, needs a special type of expression pedal to control speed by foot. And it does change the original tone, adding warm warpy beautiful magic that hit me in the face.

I would love a combination of all three: tap tempo and small enclosure of the Unicorn, no brightening or darkening of tone (like the Dèja Vibe), and the magic of RetroVibe.

But I had to chose and went for MAGIC!

So much potential...

My Unicorn came with a faulty tap tempo switch, so it went back. Despite that, some considerations:

- The vibrato (dry) mode sounds pretty good, the tone maintains its tonal integrity and the effect itself is neat.

- The univibe (wet) mode left me with mixed feelings. While the effect itself sounds gorgeous and expressive, the effect noticeably thins out the tone, taking off some of its low-mids/mids while boosting highs and deep throbby lows. Depending on your setup, this might be an advantage with distortion, as it will keep it from becoming too messy and muddy.

- The real bummer is that if you're using humbuckers or a hotter (boosted) signal before the Unicorn, the pedal will begin to clip in a nasty way. If used into distortion, the distortion itself will completely mask it off, but when using cleans it's pretty noticeable. This will only happen on the wet/univibe mode.

- Controls are very handy (especially subdivisions and volume knobs), but I would sacrifice the speed knob for a tone knob (as long as your Unicorn doesn't have a faulty tap tempo like mine did).

Buy, if you're use single coils exclusively. Don't, if you prefer humbuckers.

Great Univibe

This is the only modulation effect I use, mainly home playing and occasional recording.

Overall this is great vibe, very flexible with a wide range of sounds achievable.

The ability to set the volume control is useful and the sweep allows for subtle changes.

The ratio control for 1/4 notes etc. is the best feature... makes adjustment on the fly very easy.

I was not 100% happy with build quality, There is a small gap where the power input doesn't line up precisely with pedal case - wasn't enough to make me return it but does raise a question on QC!