Harmonic Tremolo

lincolnblue

What is the difference between a Tremolo and a harmonic Tremolo pedal?

BintyTwanger77

Standard tremolo modulates the volume, harmonic tremolo modulates the low and high frequencies of your signal. I think that's right.

menamestom

Harmonic tremolo souds a bit vibe-like and I think has some phase shifting going on along with the amplitude modulation.

brojangles

I think that's right too. Harmonic tremolo sounds a bit more phasey - 

EricTheWeary

I have a harmonic tremolo voicing on a multi fx I have and I've heard a few others. I do wonder how accurate it is as it tends to be quite phasey ( as @brojangles described)?

 It was a feature of vintage amps ( abandoned to some extent as difficult/ expensive to make with valve technology I gather)and yet it's not a sound I think I have really heard on records of the period. Not that I've looked maybe but it's not a sound in my head ( unlike the vibrato on  Magnatone amps for example). 

Anyone know of examples of it's use before it's digital reinvention? 

brojangles

A TGP thread suggests this Beach Boys song. I think the Bo Diddley sound - which might be a Magnatone - isn't that far off either.

EricTheWeary

brojangles said:

A TGP thread suggests this Beach Boys song. I think the Bo Diddley sound - which might be a Magnatone - isn't that far off either.

Cheers, I'll try to have a listen later.

The Magnatone thing is fairly clear on some of the Lonnie Mack records ( mid sixties I think). Gospel blues singer, guitarist Robert Ward used it to great as well. He re-recorded some stuff ( in the eighties I think) on the album Fear No Evil which is a brilliant guitar sound. 

[ Google says Fear no Evil was 1990] 

EricTheWeary

brojangles said:

A TGP thread suggests this Beach Boys song. I think the Bo Diddley sound - which might be a Magnatone - isn't that far off either.

https://youtu.be/pexTUl2ITyU

Yeh, it’s that sound. Funny, if I’d heard that Beach Boys track  I’d have assumed something more like phaser. Maybe it is a sound I’ve heard more often and never realised it. 

impmann

EricTheWeary said:

brojangles said:

A TGP thread suggests this Beach Boys song. I think the Bo Diddley sound - which might be a Magnatone - isn't that far off either.

https://youtu.be/pexTUl2ITyU

Yeh, it’s that sound. Funny, if I’d heard that Beach Boys track  I’d have assumed something more like phaser. Maybe it is a sound I’ve heard more often and never realised it. 

Oh man... that Supro pedal sounds epic. Major GAS attack

ChuckManual

impmann said:

EricTheWeary said:

https://youtu.be/pexTUl2ITyU

Oh man... that Supro pedal sounds epic. Major GAS attack

That bit from 1:37 with the SG is probably my most watched YouTube clip.

However, I found the Source Audio Vertigo to be the better sounding (and infinitely more flexible) pedal.

JohnPerry

Love the Vertigo. Best pedal trem I've had, of many