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I'm looking to buy a vibrato pedal for guitar and organ. I tried searching and it seems there is a lot of love for the malekko vibrato. I've kind of narrowed my search to that and the TC electronics shaker. The shaker is cheaper and has more versatility. The shaker also has the hold function which is cool. Has anyone had any experiences with these two? Are there any other vibratos out there I should be looking at?

I've got a TC Electronic. No experience with the Malekko.

As you've stated, the Shaker is cheap and versatile. I like, but do not love it. I've got some issues with it. (I'd prefer if it were analog, but it's not.) The TonePrints and the latching are really what make it interesting, because other than that it's a pretty straight ahead vibrato. I use it primarily as a fake Leslie when I make fake organ sounds with octave down/octave down fuzz pedals. It does a fairly passable Leslie for not too much money. Sounds nice enough. The RISE TIME control is very nice with that. I just loaded the Juan Alderete TonePrint and, man, it's wild. Not sure it's something I'd really have any use for, but it's sure fun to play with. I've got my eye on some other probably more usable TonePrints I wanna try.

My main problem with the Shaker is described in this exchange with TC Support:

chankgeez wrote:I've noticed that the Tone Control is still active in the Latch Mode. Meaning that it still effects the signal whether the latch switch is depressed or not. In other words, the signal is not totally bypassed. Is there some way to defeat the tone control while in Latch Mode or make it so it only effects the vibrato'd signal. Sometimes I want my straight signal and the vibrato'd signal to differ tonally, e.g. a dark vibrato vs. a bright clean tone. Thank you.

TC Support wrote:Hi chankgeez,

I confirmed this with our Shaker, there is no way to defeat this functionality.

Best regards,

Shawn

So, I guess it depends on how much you wanna spend, how much you'll be using it and what you really want out of the pedal.

I wanna try the Diamond Vibrato and the Kilpatrick Audio Vibro Man. Those're both relatively expensive though.

Dr Scientist Cosmichorus is an ultra kickass vibrato

Boss vb2 if you have the money.

I'll agree with bukowski about the cosmichorus. You can get some wild sounds out of that thing.

I have a Boss VB-2 and it is pretty awesome. I love using the hold function to get effects similar to Coxon's glitchy sound on Blur's "On your own" but it also sounds good doing slow wobbling sounds; it sounds so "transparent" for lack of a better word. However, as everyone knows it is very expensive but the Cosmichorus seems to be a more viable alternative and does sound amazing to me; definitely going to be trying on out when Ryan releases the new version. I have no real experience with other vibratos though, so I can't really compare the VB-2 to others unfortunately.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W691DU8bop4[/youtube]

I love to hear Juan's playing, but as far as a demo goes, it's about as useful as one of my favorite least useful demos:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoSD4_JOufQ[/youtube]

Awesome. Thanks for the info guys. I might have to keep my eye on the B/S/T section for a cosmichorus. If it's as versatile as the tremolessence then I'd say we have a winner.

I've got the malekko, and as far as straight forward vibrato goes, it's a winner in my books.
I use it all the time. Sounds good, looks good, and feels pretty solid.
Kinda pricey though, and I never see them pop up used.

Thomas2508 wrote:Awesome. Thanks for the info guys. I might have to keep my eye on the B/S/T section for a cosmichorus. If it's as versatile as the tremolessence then I'd say we have a winner.

Totally is. I had one of the first versions, which has less options and still got some pretty awesome vibrato sounds out of it.

I've never tried to get vibrato sounds out of my cosmichorus....
I finally have a reason to get out of bed now!

Thomas2508 wrote:Awesome. Thanks for the info guys. I might have to keep my eye on the B/S/T section for a cosmichorus. If it's as versatile as the tremolessence then I'd say we have a winner.

http://www.ilovefuzz.com/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=27535

Nice lookin cosmi for sale in that thread. space6oy is good peeps.

Also worth noting that Ryan is releasing cosmichorus v3 pretty soon.

Yeah. I've actually dealt with space6oy before. He is a good dude. Got a ss/BS hawk from him.

I'm thinking about just waiting for the v.3 cosmi. After listening to the demos

I tried the TC Electronic Shaker, sounded great with fuzz but it wasn't the same when I used it clean. There was a subtle volume drop and a decrease of the low frequencies, plus the level of vibrato wasn't too extreme for my taste since I was looking for something more crazy than my univibe's vibrato mode.

Any opinions of the Malekko Vibrato? I would like to know how it sounds with and without fuzz (I have an MJM London Fuzz).

MALEKKOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!
I have it and love it and use it all the time. Other than my first pedal, a DS-1, it's the longest I've ever kept a pedal. I haven't been into to pedals for suuuuper long but still. It's beautiful. It's probably on about 10-50% of the time. It can sound a little lofi but using a 12v adapter, it sounds shiny and clean. But I way prefer the 9v tone. Don't think twice! The only bad thing is that I wish it could go slower but it's not that big of a deal. If it were too slow, you wouldn't even notice.

Stonergrunge wrote:I tried the TC Electronic Shaker, sounded great with fuzz but it wasn't the same when I used it clean. There was a subtle volume drop and a decrease of the low frequencies, plus the level of vibrato wasn't too extreme for my taste since I was looking for something more crazy than my univibe's vibrato mode.

Did you actually own the pedal, Stonergrunge, or did you play it in a store or something?

Some of the TonePrints can get pretty extreme.

Hadn't noticed the other problems you mentioned, but as I've said, it's not perfect. I'll have to listen and hear if I can notice 'em.