Captain Coconut 2 Owner's Manual

Provibe

The Provibe is based on the coolest phase shifter of all time, the classic Uni-Vibe. The Uni-Vibe was introduced in the late 1960’s and was made popular by Jimi Hendrix and Robin Trower. It was originally meant to be a Leslie simulator, but it’s unique psychedelic phasing sound has given the Uni-Vibe it’s own special place in the history of guitar effects, and it’s a sound that is that similar, but very different from a real Leslie.
The Uni-vibe was discontinued in the early 1970’s, and aside from some custom-built rack units, the Provibe was the first effects box to bring back the classic sound and circuitry of the elusive Uni-vibe. The Foxrox Provibe was first made available in 1992. Each one was custom built, and there were two different versions before production ended in 1994.

For Captain Coconut, the Provibe received a facelift. The best sounding, widest range photo cells were chosen delivering a rich, 3-D sound that rivals the best sounding Univibes. The modulation circuit was modified so that all of the parameters are more extreme than what’s found on original Uni-Vibes, or any of their “clones”. The fastest setting is faster, the slowest setting is slower and the widest setting is wider (on the original Uni-Vibe the control was called INTENSITY, on the Provibe, the same control is called WIDTH). Also, the circuit is modified so that the sweep remains wide at the slower settings, instead of becoming narrow and stopping. An exclusive Provibe feature was retained - the CENTER control. This control allows you to fine-tune the sweep of the Vibe, making it possible to dial in a wider range of sounds when compared to any of the original Univibes. For Captain Coconut 2, another exclusive Provibe feature was brought back, ECS - Envelope Controlled Speed. This allows you to control the speed of the Vibe with the dynamics of your playing.

The Provibe’s placement in your signal chain plays a big part in the way it sounds. Any added treble boost, overdrive or fuzz before the Provibe will accentuate the effect, while overdrive or fuzz after the Provibe will tend to mask the effect. Refer to section 8, Getting the best sounds, for more information on getting the sounds you’re looking for.

With it’s lush tone, extended parameters, and exclusive features, the Provibe stands far above all the other Uni-Vibe clones, and original Uni-Vibes as well.

Controls

WIDTH - Controls the intensity for the vibe effect. This control is called “INTENSITY” on the original Uni-Vibe. Turning it clockwise increases the range of the sweep. At it’s minimum setting, the sweep stops. At this setting, the CENTER control becomes a manual phasing control. At its maximum setting, the sweep turns into a see-sick wobble that is more extreme than the original Uni-Vibe. The best settings range from 10:00 to 3:00.

CENTER - Controls the center of the sweep. You can dial in the exact amount of "off-center" wobble which is something that makes this effect unique. On the original UniVibe this parameter was available only as a trim pot located on the circuit board. This means that whatever setting it was left on would determine how the vibe sounds. Of course, this setting varied from unit to unit. One might sound bright, one might sound dark, and it was all due to that darned internal adjustment. On the Provibe, there is no internal adjustment. Instead, the adjustment is brought out to the front panel so that it can be used to fine-tune the sound of the vibe. Turn it counter clockwise and the sweep swings towards the low side, delivering a dark tone. Turn it clockwise and the sweep swings towards the high side, producing a brighter tone. In between the high and low side, there’s that watery phase shift that is the essence of the vibe. By playing with the CENTER and WIDTH controls, you can fine-tune the sweep to deliver the exact range, and high/low balance that you’re looking for.
As mentioned above, the CENTER control can also be used as a manual phasing control. When the WIDTH control is turned all the way down, the vibe stops spinning and it just sits in one part of the phase shift. Subtle changes in the CENTER control can produce huge tonal changes. You can experiment by setting up a clean sound and turning the WIDTH all the way down. Now, set the CENTER control at around 10:00. Strum a chord, and nudge the CENTER control clockwise ever so slightly. Strum a chord - keep doing this and you’ll find a sweet spot where slight CENTER changes produce incredible results. Try recording guitar tracks using the CENTER control this way. There are a lot of great tones to be found - you should definitely take the time to explore this feature.

VOLUME - Depending on how you set up the WIDTH and CENTER controls, you may need to make slight volume adjustments. The Provibe offers more available gain at it’s output than other similar units.

SPEED - Aside from its obvious function, controlling speed, the SPEED control has a few different modes.

SPEED CONTROL - Controls the speed of the sweep when the ECS / SPEED switch is in the SPEED position, and there is nothing plugged into the SPEED jacks.

MAXIMUM SPEED CONTROL - Limits the maximum speed when the ECS / SPEED switch is in the SPEED position, and there is a speed pedal plugged into the SPEED jack.

ECS SENSITIVITY - Controls the sensitivity of the ECS circuit when the ECS / SPEED switch is in the ECS position. Refer to the section on ECS for more information.

SPEED PEDAL JACK - The speed pedal jack allows you to hook up a remote pedal, or potentiometer to control the speed. A passive expression pedal is recommended. Check with your dealer for recommended models. Also, a special cable is required for hooking up a standard volume pedal. The cable needed is a Y cable with a STEREO 1/4” TRS connector at one end which brakes out to two MONO 1/4” TS plugs - one with it’s TIP going to the TIP of the Stereo connector, the other with it’s TIP going to the RING of the Stereo connector. This type of cable is commonly used for interfacing signal processors with channel inserts on mixing consoles, and is available at most music stores.
This circuit offers better performance when compared to other pedal-controlled vibe effects. In addition, the SPEED control can be used to set the maximum speed that the pedal will reach when pressed down all the way. If you hook up a speed pedal and you notice that it won’t go fast, check the SPEED control and make sure it’s turned up. Protection circuitry is used, making it almost impossible to damage the speed control circuit by improperly wiring the speed control.

CHORUS / VIBRATO SWITCH - The Provibe has two basic modes, CHORUS and VIBRATO. In CHORUS mode the phase-shifted signal is mixed with the dry signal, resulting in the phasing sound that the Vibe is famous for. In Vibrato mode, only the phase-shifted sound is sent to the output, without being mixes with the dry signal. The result is a pitch vibrato with no phasing qualities. The Vibe effect is most famous for the CHORUS sound. Vibrato mode is rarely used, however it is the only way to get certain vintage sounds. When playing around with Vibrato mode, you can get the best sounds by choosing a medium speed and a pretty low WIDTH setting. The CENTER control does very little in VIBRATO mode.

ECS / SPEED SWITCH - This switch lets you select how you would like the speed to be controlled. In the SPEED position, the speed is controlled by either the SPEED control exclusively (when no speed pedal is plugged in), or by the SPEED control and a speed pedal (when a speed pedal is plugged in). When using a speed pedal, the SPEED control is used to select the maximum speed. When the ECS is selected, speed control is handed over to the ECS circuit, which uses the dynamics of your playing to control the speed.

ECS - Envelope Controlled Speed - This is a feature that is exclusive to the Foxrox Provibe. The small version of the Provibe which was in production during 1993 and 1994 had this feature, and now it’s back in Captain Coconut 2. By allowing you to control the speed with the dynamics of your playing, you can get very musical speed variation without having to put your foot on a speed pedal, freeing it up for other effects, such as a wah wah pedal. Also, ECS lets you express yourself in ways that you never could with a speed pedal. Hit the strings hard and it spins fast, let them die down and the spinning slows down. In order to accommodate different pickup output levels, and different playing styles, the SPEED control is converted into an ECS sensitivity control.

ECS SENSITIVITY - This is also covered in the description of the SPEED control, but here’s more information having to do with sensitivity adjustments and getting the best sound from ECS.

The ECS circuit is intentionally set up to be very sensitive. The best settings for most people are around 10% to 50%. As you turn the sensitivity up, you’ll notice that it’s very easy to get fast speeds even when playing softly. You might wonder why it’s so sensitive. The reason is because a lot of players rely on their guitar's volume control for continuously changing levels while playing. By turning up the volume on your guitar, you can effectively make the vibe spin faster. The added sensitivity is also useful for getting speed variations while playing single note runs, which do not create as much voltage as full chords. Once you master the ECS feature, you’ll be getting some of the most expressive vibe sounds possible.

ECS and FUZZ - The ECS circuit responds to the dynamics of the signal that’s fed to the Provibe. This means that if you kick in the FuzzFoot, or any other level - boosting effect before the Provibe, it will affect your ECS setting by making it spin faster. To avoid this, you can either not use ECS with level boosting effects, or patch the Provibe before any level boosting effects. There are pros and cons to both arrangements, you decide what you like best. Give yourself a good amount of time to get used to ECS, it will be well worth it.

Foxrox Provibe Original version, produced in 1992. This was the very first stomp box to recreate the sounds of the classic Uni-Vibe. Included a feature that is exclusive to the Foxrox Provibe, the CENTER control.

Foxrox Provibe Second version, produced in 1993 & 1994. This was a smaller, more compact version of the original Provibe. It included two exclusive FOXROX features, the CENTER control and ECS (Envelope Controlled Speed).