Lets talk tremolo

baggybill

Hey there,

after posting on the pedals you've sold thread, I've started foolishly gassing over the spaceman voyager tremolo. Currently I have a Cardinal V2 tremolo used as a Harmonic tremolo but standard tremolos isn't really its strength in my opinion. 

I've watched the youtube videos of the voyager and I like the combination of the overdrive, optical tremolo and must of all the speed dynamics (if thats how you say it) in that the trem gets slower the softer you play. Now I'm aware getting one these pedals would be like looking for unicorn poo and probably just as extortionate. So is there anything else I should be considering before embarking on this futile grail quest? either purchased or as a kit (DIY) 


Cheers Baggy

AntonHunter

I'm really happy with my Subdecay Vagabond for both harmonic and "normal" trem. Big selling point is the envelope drift knob, so I can speed up or slow down the rate by picking harder. Gets nice and uneven :-)

Moe_Zambeek

Pigtronix tremvelope also does envelope-controlled trem, either speed, depth, or both can be controlled by your picking dynamics and in both directions. They are quite big and run on 18v but they’re nice trems and can be had for just over a ton.

Gassage

The Supro is a brilliant pedal.

personalnadir

Copilot FX Autodialer will turn the envelope of your signal into expression input for any pedal with expression input. So you can always add an envelope control to any trem with compatible input.

Hattigol

Gassage said:

The Supro is a brilliant pedal.

I found the Supro truly awful personally. 

Surely you need to try the Origin RevivalTrem? The best pedal ever IMHO.

jellybelly

The line 6 m-series has envelope control for tremolos and a bunch of other effects (vibrato etc) and very well implemented it is too. It's quite a common thing now. The trem sounds it produces are great - the opto trem in particular but the 'panner' makes for a great bog standard trem with different wave shapes too. 

So a £50 M5 might also be worth considering before you drop a large fraction of £1k on an esoteric pedal. 

stickyfiddle

I love the Walrus Monument - it's the only tremolo I've ever really bonded with. 

[repeats call for someone to make a dual-trem pedal with one side set to a ratio of the other and both harmonic/normal switchable - I think I saw one released early this year but can't find it now.]

Andy_Strings

I've always had a Strymon Flint as my 'plug & play' trem/reverb for plain amps.  A Milkman F-Stop has just come my way and to me, it's more like an original built in bias trem than anything I've played before. No frills, just 2 knobs like an amp. Flint going up for sale.

english_bob

jellybelly said:

The line 6 m-series has envelope control for tremolos and a bunch of other effects (vibrato etc) and very well implemented it is too. It's quite a common thing now. The trem sounds it produces are great - the opto trem in particular but the 'panner' makes for a great bog standard trem with different wave shapes too. 

So a £50 M5 might also be worth considering before you drop a large fraction of £1k on an esoteric pedal. 

I'm a big fan of the M5, particularly if you have the ability to hook it up to an expression pedal and send it MIDI messages, but I'd stop short of describing the tremolo sounds as "great". They're fine, and very tweakable, but a bit... flat?

personalnadir

Might be worth looking at CopperSounds Loma Prieta. Never used it, but the grit option might be up your street.

As the Stone Deaf Tremotron (one of the best looking pedals out there) has plenty of midi controls, I’ve actually used a Zoia to modulate it’s depth in response to my playing dynamics.

jellybelly

english_bob said:

jellybelly said:

The line 6 m-series has envelope control for tremolos and a bunch of other effects (vibrato etc) and very well implemented it is too. It's quite a common thing now. The trem sounds it produces are great - the opto trem in particular but the 'panner' makes for a great bog standard trem with different wave shapes too. 

So a £50 M5 might also be worth considering before you drop a large fraction of £1k on an esoteric pedal. 

I'm a big fan of the M5, particularly if you have the ability to hook it up to an expression pedal and send it MIDI messages, but I'd stop short of describing the tremolo sounds as "great". They're fine, and very tweakable, but a bit... flat?

Yeah I think that's fair. 'fine' or 'the audience won't notice' also acceptable descriptions. I actually like the triangular waveform on the panner best, gigged it for a bit when I was using an m9. I was a much younger man back then though, wet behind the ears, hadn't heard of Strymon. Now...

baggybill

Thanks for the replies

I used to have a flint and it was a fine pedal no doubt really good harmonic settings and a plate reverb to die for.......hmm

the subdecay looks like it might be close to what I'm after, I'll look in to that, Has anyone had any experience with the VFE old school trem? any good? looks like its discontinued but sound fairly nice (not optical mind)

thanks you've gave me some more things to look at  

If i didn't care for the envelope thing how would the supatrem and gravitas hold up? worth a look or not?

Thanks again

meltedbuzzbox

I have no idea what the price is like nowdays but the moogerfooger mf102 (ring mod) is an awesome tremolo (honestly)

gatheredinsong

baggybill said:

Has anyone had any experience with the VFE old school trem? any good? looks like its discontinued but sound fairly nice (not optical mind)

@JezWynd has one, I believe.

I really like the Swamp Thang I have currently. It's not very flexible, but sounds great for that brown face type thing. Or rather thang. 

Weaver85

I find with tremolo I don’t need anything too fancy with a tonne of different modes and wave shapes. The source audio throbby works great for me. 

Weaver85

meltedbuzzbox said:

I have no idea what the price is like nowdays but the moogerfooger mf102 (ring mod) is an awesome tremolo (honestly)

Excellent pedal..... though other than the delay, I found those moogs more suitable to synths rather than guitars 

Teyeplayer

gatheredinsong said:

baggybill said:

Has anyone had any experience with the VFE old school trem? any good? looks like its discontinued but sound fairly nice (not optical mind)

@JezWynd has one, I believe.

I really like the Swamp Thang I have currently. It's not very flexible, but sounds great for that brown face type thing. Or rather thang. 

+1 for the swamp thang. There are also plenty of decent kits of it about, so if you are happy to make it yourself you can have a great sounding trem for the price of Sunday lunch at the local pub. 

Lewy

Hattigol said:

Gassage said:

The Supro is a brilliant pedal.

I found the Supro truly awful personally. 

Surely you need to try the Origin RevivalTrem? The best pedal ever IMHO.

I agree (I've got one) but it doesn't vary tremolo speed with picking dynamics which looks like a requirement for the OP. 

JezWynd

gatheredinsong said:

baggybill said:

Has anyone had any experience with the VFE old school trem? any good? looks like its discontinued but sound fairly nice (not optical mind)

@JezWynd has one, I believe.

I really like the Swamp Thang I have currently. It's not very flexible, but sounds great for that brown face type thing. Or rather thang. 

There are a few different versions/revisions of the VFE Old School, at least one does have pick sensitive response. The version I have doesn't feature the sensitivity control and the shape of the waveform does not change very much, although you get a somewhat choppy sound using the Wave or Starve (its called either depending upon version). To quote Peter Rutter - The STARVE knob lowers the bottom of the tremolo sweep, creating a choppier effect, but as its name implies, it also starves the amplifier and reduces its headroom. The result is a gritty, aggressive tremolo chop that is great for rhythmic tremolo effects. It's a nice trem sound to have, very atmospheric. I also use the trem on my amp and a have a TR-2 on hand for a more vanilla chop style. 

gatheredinsong

When you said you were getting one I watched a few demos... some great sounds in those.