Ibanez UE-405, anyone?

bassteban · #1 09-15-2008, 02:15 PM

Just snagged one w/the footpedal & a rack for $200 BIN. Score?

bongomania · #2 09-15-2008, 02:43 PM

That's a fair price, depending on condition. It's a great unit. Little bit noisy, little bit of low end loss, but super fat awesome tones.

bassteban · #3 09-15-2008, 02:59 PM

Right on. My rig's already a bit boomy at times, & I'm sure you're much pickier about noise than me(can't byotch 'bout something you can't hear

). Thanks.

**SoComSurfing** · #4 09-15-2008, 07:24 PM

I loved the unit when I had one on "extended loan" years ago. I'm a big fan of most of the Ibanez -8 and -9 series effects, so it was right up my alley. I'd say that's a good price since the one I borrowed from work ended up selling at something like $400 about 6 years ago.

bassteban · #5 09-17-2008, 08:07 AM

Cool- I'm pretty jazzed about this one. It will likely stay at home for wankshedding/songwriting/recording binges, but it sure would look(and sound, I bet)cool on top of my D-180. Does anyone know which delay's circuitry the one in the 405 is most similar to?

BmoreTele · #6 09-17-2008, 04:43 PM

I got a UE-405 about six months ago and it is the center of my Hellcat VI rig. I got the x0x version, the one before the 9 version.

The delay and the chorus are great. The comp is decent. I'm still tweaking with the Para EQ. I like being able to switch up the order of the fx. I would like it more if I could switch up the order of the built in fx loop, but you can't have everything.

The $200 price is par for the course, but when you consider that you're getting the exact same circuitry as the AD89 (AD9), CS505 (CS9), and CP835 (CP9), plus a cool para EQ, it's a steal.

bassteban · #7 09-22-2008, 04:33 PM

5 minute review: Comp- subtle, not bad. Chorus- also not too over-the-top. Useable. EQ- not sure if I 'need' it, but it may prove handy someday. Delay- this is what I bought the thing for, w/no regrets. Just a bit of murk on the repeats. Not a very long delay, but I've read that there is/are internal trimpot(s)that can increase the time(albeit w/additional murkiness/distortion, which I'm OK with); I'll have to check it out. Self-oscillates nicely, but it's easy to keep it just hovering above that zone. Real-time tweaking of repeats, blend & time is the reason for analog delay, IMO.
Super-short slapback delays are also wicked nice here.

bassteban · #8 10-06-2008, 02:15 PM

Yanked the top/cover off- man there's a lotta trimpots in there! The chassis is stamped 'Maxon'- woohoo.
I turned the delay section's 'clock' trimpot all the way up, yielding slightly longer max delay time & a bit more dirt on the repeats(both pluses for me). Strangely, the shortest time seems unaffected; there's still a short0enough setting for sweet slapback.
I also fiddled w/the chorus' clock trimpot; turned it up in hopes of more range at the slower settings, but didn't spend enough time to verify much in the way of differences.
The trimpots are nearly all labelled- there's a couple marked 'bias' that I'm not touching.
I'm still loving this thing, although the deal I got was fair; the footpedal wire is damaged in a couple of spots and the plug is jacked up- anyone know where to get a replacement(plug or pedal)?

bongomania · #9 10-06-2008, 03:42 PM

Pretty sure there is no place to buy a new one other than if you get lucky on Ebay. I have seen the pedal/cord/plug by itself once or twice... over a few years time...

OTOH I have seen one instance where the user removed both the plug and the jack, and replaced them with a modern multi-pin plug and locking jack. As long as you have the right number of pins, and don't make a mistake when soldering the various wires, that's a good solution.