Modified / circuit bent Alesis Microverb 2 - reclocking knob and switchable MIcroverb 1/2 operating system by circuitbenders.co.uk

If you think you know anything about grainy reverb, then think again. A clocked down Microverb II is a glorious glacial wash of lo-fi noise. At low clock settings its like an ice sheet cracking on a frozen lake!

The Alesis microverb II was released in 1989 and is home to 16 pretty decent budget reverbs for the time, albeit somewhat grainy and nasty ones compared to a modern reverb unit or plugin, but nobody is buying a microverb II these days for good quality reverb.... and thats why we've made it worse, or better depending on your perspective. ;-)

We've added a blue reclocking knob on the front that controls the system clock and processing speed of the FX circuit allowing you to adjust reverbs from short twangs at higher than normal bandwidth and quality, to huge walls of gritty glacial noise where early reflections slowly crunch into existence before crumbling away into a vast suffocatingly dense reverb wash of sound.
The clock speed can be adjusted in at any point for some bizarre realtime control.

As with many processors from this era, the reclocking knob does add a certain amount of high pitched whine at lower clock speeds, but this is not so noticeable when the knob is moving, and can be effectively EQ'd out if the clock speed is stationary. The whine disappears around halfway round the dial in a clockwise direction. A red dot has been added to show the standard factory clock speed for the Microverb II.

To hear a demo take a look at the link below. You'll have to cut and paste it as Reverb don't allow clickable links:

soundcloud.com/circuitbenders-co-uk/reclocked-alesis-microverb-ii-demo

We have also added a switchable operating system:
The Alesis Microverb I and II are pretty much the same unit. Purely in terms of the hardware the two units are absolutely identical other than some minor resistor differences that restrict the bandwidth very slightly on the Microverb I, and the Microverb I system runs slightly slower. In any respect that matters, the operating system is also identical apart from the preset effects parameters. This means that its entirely possible to copy the data on the operating system EPROM of each unit and burn both of them to one higher capacity EPROM, with a switch to select which operating system is in use. The fact that the OS files are so similar also appears to mean that you can make the switch live without the unit crashing, which is unusual for this kind of mod.

This mod essentially gives you the 16 preset reverb effects from both the Microverb I and the Microverb II in one unit. With the switch in the up position the unit is effectively a Microverb I and in the down position its a Microverb II.

The unit is in good condition for a Microverb II. After 40 years they pretty much always have paint chips off the edges of the front and back panel, and thats the case here, but they are pretty minor compared to the state of most of these units.

We can include a power supply if you are in the UK. Anywhere else and you may have to source your own. Bear in mind that it needs to be 9v AC/AC and NOT AC/DC, and like all really early Alesis units it has an incredibly stupid 3.5mm jack power plug. We can include a standard barrel DC plug to 3.5mm jack adapter though, so thats one less thing to worry about!

US BUYERS: If you are buying from the US the shipping price includes a 13% import tariff on the purchase price that your idiot in chief is demanding that you pay. We pay this to Royal Mail and they pay it to US customs so in theory you won't get charged any extra import and handling fees at your end. Thats why the shipping is so ludicrously high.

EU: Sadly we cannot currently ship to EU countries due to the uttely absurd new PPWR packaging recycling rules that demand that regardless of size, every single seller into or within the EU has to pay £100's for recycling licencing and representation in EVERY SINGLE EU country they ever sell to. No small business can afford this