What are some good Trem pedals these days?

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MechaBulletBill
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Re: What are some good Trem pedals these days?

Post by MechaBulletBill » Mon Aug 13, 2018 7:26 am

Slight spam but... the BBE Tremor sounds eerliy close to the optical tremolo on a Fender amp, but with far greater range of speed and depth. No tap, but you can set two different speeds and switch between them (arguably better than tap). And cheap!

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Re: What are some good Trem pedals these days?

Post by shoule79 » Mon Aug 13, 2018 4:44 pm

marqueemoon wrote:
Sun Aug 12, 2018 11:25 pm
oid wrote:
Sun Aug 12, 2018 10:08 pm
raindog13 wrote:
Sun Aug 12, 2018 5:29 pm
You're gonna think that I'm fucking daft, but honestly, when I had my Boss TR-2, I found it super versatile. It's got speed, depth, and waveform control. No tap tempo though.
TR-2 is a fantastic trem, really wish they would update it with tap temp.
They should do a Waza PN-2 with tap tempo.
This 1000X

Lack of tap tempo (and the ridiculously small range of usable speed) are my only complaints about this pedal. Its still on my board, and not going anywhere though.

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Re: What are some good Trem pedals these days?

Post by marqueemoon » Mon Aug 13, 2018 6:33 pm

shoule79 wrote:
Mon Aug 13, 2018 4:44 pm
marqueemoon wrote:
Sun Aug 12, 2018 11:25 pm
oid wrote:
Sun Aug 12, 2018 10:08 pm


TR-2 is a fantastic trem, really wish they would update it with tap temp.
They should do a Waza PN-2 with tap tempo.
This 1000X

Lack of tap tempo (and the ridiculously small range of usable speed) are my only complaints about this pedal. Its still on my board, and not going anywhere though.
True, the speed range isn’t great. This and the size have kept if off of my main board.

I don’t really care about tap tempo on a tremolo to be honest, but it’s a thing people seem to want.

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Re: What are some good Trem pedals these days?

Post by Shadoweclipse13 » Mon Aug 13, 2018 6:59 pm

marqueemoon wrote:
Mon Aug 13, 2018 6:33 pm
I don’t really care about tap tempo on a tremolo to be honest, but it’s a thing people seem to want.
I'm the same. My trem is almost always on, and I've never felt the need for tap tempo personally. I do think have a footswitch that alternates between two speeds would be cool as hell though. I'm not a huge fan of the placement of the footswitches, but that's why I've had this hankering for one of The Big Chill trems from Jam Pedals. That thing sounds really good.
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Re: What are some good Trem pedals these days?

Post by Zork » Tue Aug 14, 2018 12:57 pm


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Re: What are some good Trem pedals these days?

Post by Chip Korea » Tue Aug 14, 2018 2:35 pm

fortytwo wrote:
Mon Aug 13, 2018 6:09 am
Tap tempo tends to drift, because using a tap tempo is not locked in with the rest of the music, like if you had everything sync'd to a timecode.
I've fancied a Stone Deaf Tremotron. It can be midi synced so if you play to a click or drum machine it shouldn't drift. And two tremolos that can be run together. Looks brilliant. Anyone used one?

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Re: What are some good Trem pedals these days?

Post by Unicorn Warrior » Tue Aug 14, 2018 3:58 pm

fuzzjunkie wrote:
Mon Aug 13, 2018 6:02 am
What was too limiting about the Flint? I thought that was supposed to be top of the food chain as far as amp emulating tremolo pedals go? I only have the El Capistan from Strymon, but it seems to do what it says on the tin.
I really liked the Flint. While it did the optical thing well, it also had great Reverb. I think it was a matter of the unit not offering more versatility. It did have tap-tempo, the downside as that it required the external switch. Another downside to that is the lack of sub-division (to my knowledge).

While everything that it did was great, my most use came from that optical trem feature. I had other reverbs holding the fort down. So basically, it was overkill and underkill if that makes sense.

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Re: What are some good Trem pedals these days?

Post by Sid Nitzerglobin » Tue Aug 14, 2018 4:20 pm

Chip Korea wrote:
Tue Aug 14, 2018 2:35 pm
fortytwo wrote:
Mon Aug 13, 2018 6:09 am
Tap tempo tends to drift, because using a tap tempo is not locked in with the rest of the music, like if you had everything sync'd to a timecode.
I've fancied a Stone Deaf Tremotron. It can be midi synced so if you play to a click or drum machine it shouldn't drift. And two tremolos that can be run together. Looks brilliant. Anyone used one?
My friend had one, he was really hooked by the sync capabilities but they turned out not to work for him (I think he eventually got it synching but it didn't reset the clock/start on the one when engaging it unsynched IIRC). I played w/ it for about 10-15 minutes but it was pretty far down on my list of "tremolo pedals I want to use" from an ergonomics and sound perspective, YMMV of course ;)

Of the trems I've had I could probably live pretty happily w/ just the Tap-a-whirl, the Flint, the Empress Trem, or the Monument, but I stay mostly more on the amp trem side of the sounds rather than the super wacky, stuttery, ducking stuff.

Gravitas is very cool, but has a pervasively grungy/funky quality soundwise that, while cool, kind of steps on it's ability to stand in for the amp trems super convincingly for me. If that sonic quality works for you (it really does for me, just not quite for when I want bias or photocoupler sounds which is a lot of the time) it's got options and sounds out the yin yang and all the midi/tap synch options for presets or tempo.

The Zvex Sonar is pretty great too, sounds like a pedal, but seems to work a bit better standing in for the amp sounds I'm looking for.
Last edited by Sid Nitzerglobin on Tue Aug 14, 2018 5:01 pm, edited 5 times in total.

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Re: What are some good Trem pedals these days?

Post by shoule79 » Tue Aug 14, 2018 4:26 pm

marqueemoon wrote:
Mon Aug 13, 2018 6:33 pm
True, the speed range isn’t great. This and the size have kept if off of my main board.

I don’t really care about tap tempo on a tremolo to be honest, but it’s a thing people seem to want.
Ditto on the tap tempo, but its nice to have.

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Re: What are some good Trem pedals these days?

Post by MechaBulletBill » Sat Aug 18, 2018 4:55 am

cb semaphore in uk(no affiliation)

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Re: What are some good Trem pedals these days?

Post by Gavanti » Sat Aug 18, 2018 5:27 am

When I replaced my flint, I tried a few trem pedals and eventually settled on a used Monument because of its flexibility. I’ve found it easy to work with and consistently good tonally, and it has tap tempo, expression, and momentary capability. About the only thing that tempts me now is a Rolo Twin Peaks.

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Re: What are some good Trem pedals these days?

Post by Shadoweclipse13 » Sat Aug 18, 2018 10:15 am

Gavanti wrote:
Sat Aug 18, 2018 5:27 am
When I replaced my flint, I tried a few trem pedals and eventually settled on a used Monument because of its flexibility. I’ve found it easy to work with and consistently good tonally, and it has tap tempo, expression, and momentary capability. About the only thing that tempts me now is a Rolo Twin Peaks.
Twin Peaks is a damn good sounding trem. I kinda want one too...
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Re: What are some good Trem pedals these days?

Post by tele_pathic » Sun Aug 19, 2018 11:09 am

I have the Stone Deaf Tremotron, and I love, LOVE it!!! Tap tempo, tons of tripppy wave patterns, expression pedal jack which can use a $50 EHX expression pedal to change rate, depth, or wave form. It can be subtle, it can be tripppy and it’s fantastic. All analog, so its super warm.

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Re: What are some good Trem pedals these days?

Post by Unicorn Warrior » Sun Aug 19, 2018 5:52 pm

tele_pathic wrote:
Sun Aug 19, 2018 11:09 am
I have the Stone Deaf Tremotron, and I love, LOVE it!!! Tap tempo, tons of tripppy wave patterns, expression pedal jack which can use a $50 EHX expression pedal to change rate, depth, or wave form. It can be subtle, it can be tripppy and it’s fantastic. All analog, so its super warm.

I was wondering about that stone def pedal. I was going to purchase one once at vintage king in Nashville but I didn't because the employee there told me it wasn't subtle. I def need subtle..but I also def need whacky. So it can do subtle relatively easy?

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Re: What are some good Trem pedals these days?

Post by tele_pathic » Sun Aug 19, 2018 8:52 pm

Unicorn Warrior wrote:
Sun Aug 19, 2018 5:52 pm
tele_pathic wrote:
Sun Aug 19, 2018 11:09 am
I have the Stone Deaf Tremotron, and I love, LOVE it!!! Tap tempo, tons of tripppy wave patterns, expression pedal jack which can use a $50 EHX expression pedal to change rate, depth, or wave form. It can be subtle, it can be tripppy and it’s fantastic. All analog, so its super warm.

I was wondering about that stone def pedal. I was going to purchase one once at vintage king in Nashville but I didn't because the employee there told me it wasn't subtle. I def need subtle..but I also def need whacky. So it can do subtle relatively easy?
Well, it’s got a depth knob to make it subtle. And it can get wacky. That’s what’s so cool about it. It’s an analog tremolo with a digital brain. SO its got the warmth of analog. The expression pedal, as I mentioned, can control depth, speed, and/or waveform. Think of Link Wray’s Rumble. The tremolo is on the whole time, right. But about 2/3 of the way through, he really increases the depth and maybe even the speed to some serious tremolo action. The expression pedal in can do exactly that sound. Not too many ANALOG trem pedals can do that. It’s not cheap, but it is hands down the best tremolo pedal I’ve ever heard and played. And add in tap tempo: not many trem pedals are this featured packed. Cool graphics to boot.

Now, it is a dual tremolo, meaning there are two tremolos in it. It’s hard to describe: hit YouTube for some good demos. To be honest, though, I never use the second tremolo. I just can’t get the timing right for the second one.

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