Anyone own an Ibanez UE405?

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cestlamort
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Anyone own an Ibanez UE405?

Post by cestlamort » Tue Jan 26, 2016 8:06 am

One of my favorite effects ever, which I started using again full time. I had stupidly sold a my old UE405/UE400 rack set up and it took a while to track down good, functional ones to replace it. (Quick description: 2 space racks with 4 analog effects from 1981-3, switchable in any order, plus effects loop. UE400: compressor, phaser, overdrive (or distortion), flanger/chorus. UE405: compressor/limiter, parametric EQ, chorus, analog delay. Both need the footswitch to work).

(I posted the following on TGP, since there was already a thread going):
Random question about the delay on the UE405:

I recently picked up another UE405 (always good to have a spare. Or two.) and it seems to be modulating the delay slightly on the longer repeats. I've had two in the past that did this to an extreme degree (i.e., anything beyond 3 o'clock on the delay time came across as seasick). One I sold as-is; the second was an online purchase with an nice seller (so: returned). All are the x0x style. And I've had ones that didn't show this at all, both in the 9 and x0x style (my current "live" one is beat to heck but sounds great)

Off the cuff guesses:
Failing chip(s)
In need of recalibration (age or someone mucked with stuff)
Power issues (unlikely, but can't be ruled out; it's an old house)
Temperature issues (ditto)


Has anyone experienced warbly delays with UE405 (without the chorus)?

Or, if you have one now, would you mind cranking the delay to check whether you get some warble/modulation on the delay at longer delay times?

I'm just curious about how common this is.

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Re: Anyone own an Ibanez UE405?

Post by fuzzjunkie » Tue Jan 26, 2016 8:56 am

I had a EU-400 back in the 90s and a friend had the Marty Wilson Piper approved EU-405. I don't remember his having any warble, but it was only ten years old then, not thirty!

I would think chip or calibration first. I know that bucket brigade circuits develop noise and warble when pushed to excede specifications to get longer delay times. I think those max out at 350-400ms, so if you're getting more than that someone probably tweaked the delay time and it's out of calibration. If you're not, then one of the chips is likely failing and causing the problem.

I tweaked mine phaser and tube screamer bias to see what different sounds they'd do. The tube screamer can get quite fuzzy :whistle:

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Re: Anyone own an Ibanez UE405?

Post by Ursa Minor » Tue Jan 26, 2016 10:23 am

Is the delay based on the AD80 or the AD9? Different chipsets obviously. But..I've owned a lot of AD80s and they've all been a little different. I've never experienced a seasick sound on the delay though. (Not sure what that would sound like.)

What I have noticed is that when the delay is cranked past 280-300 or more it will often result in that unmistakeable 'chirp' of a BBD chip that is being pushed past its comfortable level of headroom and the only way to clean it up is to recalibrate. You can do it by ear pretty safely but you really need a scope for best results. Sorry if that's not helpful, just what I know.

I've taken some measurements on my AD80s just to get an idea for where the 'optimal' ( I use the term loosely) settings are on the trims. Let me know if you want the info I collected.

Also - does the blend do fully 100% wet? I'm always annoyed at the touchy blend on AD80s and never quite bothered to replaced the pots to give it more range.
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Re: Anyone own an Ibanez UE405?

Post by cestlamort » Tue Jan 26, 2016 10:30 am

fuzzjunkie wrote:I had a EU-400 back in the 90s and a friend had the Marty Wilson Piper approved EU-405. I don't remember his having any warble, but it was only ten years old then, not thirty!

I would think chip or calibration first. I know that bucket brigade circuits develop noise and warble when pushed to excede specifications to get longer delay times. I think those max out at 350-400ms, so if you're getting more than that someone probably tweaked the delay time and it's out of calibration. If you're not, then one of the chips is likely failing and causing the problem.

I tweaked mine phaser and tube screamer bias to see what different sounds they'd do. The tube screamer can get quite fuzzy
I've only encountered ones with the warble in the delay in the last couple of years, so it may be an age-related issue, but only on new-to-me units. One (very good) tech couldn't diagnose the warble in one I had previously, but I didn't take it around to other techs to see if they'd have more luck.

I tend to buy either version on sight if priced reasonably (should have kept the first "keepers" back in 2007 or so), and I've gone through a number of these, since they've almost all had little quirks, such as the chorus or phaser having a significant boost. For example, my current live one has way way way too much volume in the compressor and a broken "instapatch" knob, but is otherwise perfect. (I picked up a maxon-branded backup/replacement but haven't run played it enough yet to trust it live.)

The Marty Willson-Piper/Peter Buck connection on these had absolutely nothing to do with my initial interest. Nope, nothing at all...

The delay is really close to an AD80 (which was my first pedal ever, ruining me for almost all other delays). I never really liked the AD9 or Maxon versions, but the one in the UE405 is really good. It goes to 100% wet (or at least should, I haven't checked). I'd maybe be interested in the settings if I take it in to get 'scoped. I made a quick sample of what a really sick one sounded like (for when I sent one back to the seller). I'll see if I can track it down.

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Re: Anyone own an Ibanez UE405?

Post by Ursa Minor » Tue Jan 26, 2016 10:54 am

Would be really cool to hear that sample. I'm curious - it doesn't sound like anything I've heard a delay do - I wonder if it's even a problem with the delay circuit at all? Does it sound like a modulated repeat - ala memory man or something? I wonder if another effect or something in the chain and patching circuitry is bleeding through at higher delay settings. Would be interesting if you could simply isolate the delay portion to rule that out.

BTW - AD80s are one of the best! I feel a little weird not owning one at the moment. I VERY stupidly sold my first. It was just perfect (and deliciously beat up) and I didn't realize that they could vary enough to make a difference. Everything was just dialed in on that one - all the others that followed just failed to capture the same magic. I got tired of flipping of them to try to get that back.
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Re: Anyone own an Ibanez UE405?

Post by cestlamort » Tue Jan 26, 2016 2:07 pm

I'll try to track down the recording (a scratch voice memo on a since-upgraded phone). It sounded almost like the delay pitch/speed was being controlled by a random carrier or oscillator. (Not in a good way.)

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Re: Anyone own an Ibanez UE405?

Post by Ursa Minor » Tue Jan 26, 2016 2:14 pm

:o :squint:
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Re: Anyone own an Ibanez UE405?

Post by 59 Restorer » Thu Jan 28, 2016 1:32 pm

I have the UE 405 and to be honest haven't used it in sometime. I will test it and get back to you in the next couple of days,hopefully sooner. Back when I used it quite a bit I never noticed anything with the delay. Its the unit with the 9 series style footswitches.

Its such a great stereo unit.

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Re: Anyone own an Ibanez UE405?

Post by PJazzmaster » Thu Jan 28, 2016 2:10 pm

If it only had an analog delay combined with the tubescremer ::) But no... I don't really need Chorus, Compression or whatever... maybe only EQ but also not really.
Thats the reason why I'd never buy the UE 300 and why I sold my UE 305..... both are nice units but don't do the job for me since they offer things that I simply don't need.
Yes I know, this thread is s about the UE 400 series ... but same principle with the 400's

If there was an UE 303 (with TS, Delay and whatever...let's say EQ) I'd be all over it ... but no... :(

In any case: great sounding units... IF you need such effects .....

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Re: Anyone own an Ibanez UE405?

Post by cestlamort » Thu Jan 28, 2016 3:25 pm

Thanks!
It's an odd issue in that most I've played have been fine (maybe 8 in all), but two out of the last four had it to the extreme, with the latest one showing slight pitch shifting at longer settings.

I'm using the comp nearly all of the time (albeit with a 12 string), overdrive some, delay 100% of the time and (lately) lots of chorus (in stereo if possible). I really like the phaser on the UE400, too.

Supposedly, the UE300 has a "real" tubescreamer in it. I do know that the delay in the UE305 felt/sounded closer to an AD9 than AD80. I can't say whether there's a difference in the delay between the earlier (x0x) and later (9) switch versions of the UE405. I just wish the effects loop were footswitchable (instead of the master or: switchable for loop/master).

There actually was a UE303b - auto wah, comp, chorus/flanger. I long wished for a UE405 with an overdrive and/or phaser.

Tangent:
I was really happy using a UE400/UE405/Yamaha FX500 set up for quite a while. But then, I wanted a Space Station, and it was a hassle to have racks and pedals. So, I switched over to all pedals, selling the Ibanez racks to fund the ever-changing pedalboard. Then I came across a beat up UE400 somewhere and soon found a UE405 at an antique mall.... I soon went hunting for better examples of each and, as they've gone up in price in the last 7-10 years, I picked up any that seemed reasonable. Now instead of piles of pedals at home, I have stacks of racks.

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Re: Anyone own an Ibanez UE405?

Post by PJazzmaster » Thu Jan 28, 2016 3:29 pm

cestlamort wrote: There actually was a UE303b - auto wah, comp, chorus/flanger. I long wished for a UE405 with an overdrive and/or phaser.
Ah, yes, the bass model, I almost forgot about it!
Then I'd demand the UE307 :freako:

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Re: Anyone own an Ibanez UE405?

Post by 59 Restorer » Sun Jan 31, 2016 7:54 pm

Finally dug out my UE405 tonight and no warbles on my repeates. The unit still sounds very solid on all effects, and with all running at the same time.

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Re: Anyone own an Ibanez UE405?

Post by cestlamort » Mon Feb 01, 2016 8:00 am

59 Restorer wrote:Finally dug out my UE405 tonight and no warbles on my repeates. The unit still sounds very solid on all effects, and with all running at the same time.
Cool. Good to hear.

After playing some more with the new unit, it may be that my mind was playing tricks on me (see tangential footnote below) and there was barely any warble or wobble when less than maxed. Maybe a tiny bit of something, but nothing you'd notice if you weren't looking for it and especially not in a band context.

I did a/b it with another one and there are some differences in where the knobs go to get the same sounds (across all effects). Disclosure: the second one is a Maxon branded UE405 and should be running on 100v instead of 120v. The seller said he never had issues with the power (in fact, he never even noticed it), and I haven't yet (after a couple of hours). It did sound different (delay was a little "thicker") but not sure I'd pick up the difference (or care) in a band context. I'll switch one of these out with my "live" one after our show next Saturday (my biggest paranoia, and why I have more than one of these: something going awry on stage). Not sure how I ended up with a mountain of Ibanez rack gear (well, I know how it happened - I kept buying them - I just didn't expect to). 3 x UE405, 2 x UE400, 1 x AD202 = Analog Monolith. Just like Kubrick's Monolith in 2001, but with the cool Ibanez knobs.

Tangential footnote (as if the above ramble wasn't haphazard enough, but I'll swing back around again): I took a history of popular music class at UC Santa Cruz way back when, and (rock historian) Greil Marcus guest lectured one day, offering distinctly Greil Marcus-ian perspectives on all sorts of stuff. He kept going on and on about the Geto Boys "Mind playing tricks on me" which is fine, of course, but it was just really surreal and/or sad to do so in front of a lecture hall of "free thinking" (i.e. trustafarian) relatively-privileged kids. I got up and left when he started talking about Nirvana's "Polly" being the same "Pauline" as the Sex Pistols in "Bodies". (Or at least I'd like to think I got up and left -- I probably just doodled in my notes and muttered under my breath). I also accidentally showed up on "Grateful Dead Day" a couple weeks later where the prof (Murray ____?) expanded his daily name-dropping of Bob Weir to a full 2 hr lecture. I did leave that one, doing a full-Victorian "turned on his heel and left". And, speaking of Weir, to bring it all full circle: Ibanez first developed the UE700 (Phaser, Compressor, Distortion, Flanger and Graphic EQ) for the very same Bob Weir, who was tired of dealing with all sorts of effects live. The UE400 and UE405 were the next generation after the extremely short-lived (and rare) UE700.

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Re: Anyone own an Ibanez UE405?

Post by cestlamort » Mon Jan 15, 2018 8:17 am

Fast forward a couple years, and I've really enjoyed using the UE400>UE405 set up, often with a FX500 at the end. Nice to go back to my nostalgic old signal chain.

I ended up sending back the really warbly delay unit, but the Maxon has been fine, and I also tracked down a 405 without issue. (The UE400 still does have a slight boost with the chorus/flanger, but that can be useful).

Wishlist: If I had better tech skills (or, more accurately, *any* tech skills), I'd mod the loop to be footswichable (maybe via the Master switch) and also add a blend knob for the loop.

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Re: Anyone own an Ibanez UE405?

Post by derekstudt » Mon Jan 15, 2018 5:13 pm

I had a UE400 (version without the delay) for about 12 years and then sold it for a Jekyll and Hyde plus some extra cash. In retrospect, I should have kept the UE400.

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