Harmonic Tremolo - why the fuss?

[JVG]

I’m a big fan of good old ‘amplitude’ tremolo, or whatever you want to call it.

Harmonic tremolo, however, i just don’t get. It sounds ok to my ears, but that’s about it. The product ads and demo videos bang on about the pseudo-univibe sounds it creates. I’ve tried a couple, and it does sound vaguely vibe-ish, but if i want that sound i’ll use an actual univibe style pedal.

Maybe fans of harmonic trem can let me know what i’m missing out on?

[DeathJag]

I'd say because it's pretty unique compared to all other trems? I like it way more than the other kinds, but I do use the chop chop kind too. When you say you don't see the big deal - are you hearing it with a clean tone with few or no effects? I have found that if it is anywhere but the last effect, it loses its luster and kinda sounds weak.

[marqueemoon]

It’s not that I dislike it, but I prefer tremolo and phaser as distinct sounds.

[Embenny]

The fuss is because it sounds unique. It's not a univibe and it's not a phaser.

I encountered it on a brownface amp about 7 years ago, and fell in love. Forgot about it for a while but just discovered a couple weeks ago that my AxeFX has it built in.

When set slow, it adds a lovely complexity to the tone that you just don't get from any other effect. I'm not a fan of it when it's set too fast. The differences from a univibe become less distinct.

It's the type of effect that, when used correctly, isn't that noticeable until you turn it off. I don't mean correctly in the sense of it being the only right way to use it, I just mean that you can successfully do that with it.

There's no way to make a univibe move slowly and subtly enough to do that. I like univibe as well, but that's the big difference with harmonic tremolo in my experience.

[MayTheFuzzBeWithYou]

Hmmmm. My Surfy Trem (kit) has the option to be switched to Harmonic Tremolo - and I thought it could be desirable because of the fact that the old Brownface/Blonde-Oxblood Showman and Bandmaster amps had it (among some others) - and like the Presence knob this would be some kind of holy grail of Surf Tone. Turns out I prefer the Blackface/Silverface Trem tone. Still: good to have it - as some songs may need THAT sound in the future.

[JVG]

…When you say you don't see the big deal - are you hearing it with a clean tone with few or no effects? I have found that if it is anywhere but the last effect, it loses its luster and kinda sounds weak.

Yeah, tried it clean, and at the end of the chain.

Don’t get me wrong - i don’t dislike it, but it generally just leaves me with that ‘meh’ feeling.

Any particular pedal you like for harmonic?

[JVG]

The fuss is because it sounds unique. It's not a univibe and it's not a phaser.

Hmm maybe there’s the issue - i may have been too affected by the demos talking about the pseudo vibe tones, so i’m unintentionally comparing it to a univibe (an effect i absolutely love) instead of letting it be its own thing.

Food for thought, thanks.

[Embenny]

Hmm maybe there’s the issue - i may have been too affected by the demos talking about the pseudo vibe tones, so i’m unintentionally comparing it to a univibe (an effect i absolutely love) instead of letting it be its own thing.

Food for thought, thanks.

Happy to help.

One fundamental difference is that a univibe uses a light bulb and an optical sensor to trigger the effect. That leads to the unique cadence to the waveform. It's kinda like a repeated "fwomp-fwomp-fwomp" that is asymmetrical in its rise and fall.

A harmonic tremolo can technically have any waveform you'd encounter in a regular tremolo - sine, triangle, square, etc. The sine wave type is of course the smoothest. Listen to the beginning of this demo and you'll hear a smooth harmonic tremolo with a slow rate. Definitely different from a univibe.

[DeathJag]

Hmmmm. My Surfy Trem (kit) has the option to be switched to Harmonic Tremolo - and I thought it could be desirable because of the fact that the old Brownface/Blonde-Oxblood Showman and Bandmaster amps had it (among some others) - and like the Presence knob this would be some kind of holy grail of Surf Tone. Turns out I prefer the Blackface/Silverface Trem tone. Still: good to have it - as some songs may need THAT sound in the future.

I have heard nothing without tubes sounds correct, but that new SurfyTrem Deluxe comes pretty close! It's very similar but compared side by side it's a little "clinical." There's some darker strength with the tube version.

I completely agree with Dr. Mike that it doesn't really work when the rate is too fast.

[JSett]

Hmmmm. My Surfy Trem (kit) has the option to be switched to Harmonic Tremolo - and I thought it could be desirable because of the fact that the old Brownface/Blonde-Oxblood Showman and Bandmaster amps had it (among some others) - and like the Presence knob this would be some kind of holy grail of Surf Tone. Turns out I prefer the Blackface/Silverface Trem tone. Still: good to have it - as some songs may need THAT sound in the future.

I have heard nothing without tubes sounds correct, but that new SurfyTrem Deluxe comes pretty close! It's very similar but compared side by side it's a little "clinical." There's some darker strength with the tube version.

I completely agree with Dr. Mike that it doesn't really work when the rate is too fast.

The emulation of it on the Strymon Flint is very, very close.

[Embenny]

I have heard nothing without tubes sounds correct, but that new SurfyTrem Deluxe comes pretty close! It's very similar but compared side by side it's a little "clinical." There's some darker strength with the tube version.

Honestly, many of the pedal demos I've found sound lackluster. Part of me wonders if that's because people are putting it in the wrong point in the signal chain - it really needs to go into the FX loop, which is equivalent to where it's placed in the brownface circuits.

The harmonic trem in my AxeFX III is perfection, however - not only does it nail the Fender brownface tone, it also has adjustable waveforms and crossover frequencies. It also models the non-linearities of the original circuit, which can introduce some distortion into the signal. I suspect that's an element missing from some pedals as well. From my experiments, it sounds like the crossover of the two filters is where it's easiest for a pedal to fail. Too narrow an overlap between them, and it loses that recognizable sound. Too wide and it stops sounding like the original harmonic tremolo and moves into a weird, more phaser-like tone.

[øøøøøøø]

I’m a big fan of good old ‘amplitude’ tremolo, or whatever you want to call it.

Harmonic tremolo, however, i just don’t get. It sounds ok to my ears, but that’s about it. The product ads and demo videos bang on about the pseudo-univibe sounds it creates. I’ve tried a couple, and it does sound vaguely vibe-ish, but if i want that sound i’ll use an actual univibe style pedal.

Maybe fans of harmonic trem can let me know what i’m missing out on?

If you don't like it, you're not missing out on anything.

But if you've never played a brown-Tolex Super, Concert or other amp that has the effect (and are relying only on demo videos and pedals that claim to copy it), I recommend reserving judgment until you've actually heard it.

[del]

The “frequency modulation” setting on the Caroline Parabola is a delight! I think it sounds similar to harmonic term and is great for adding subtle volume modulation that doesn’t dominate the sound of your instrument.

[Embenny]

If you don't like it, you're not missing out on anything.

But if you've never played a brown-Tolex Super, Concert or other amp that has the effect (and are relying only on demo videos and pedals that claim to copy it), I recommend reserving judgment until you've actually heard it.

Totally true. I didn't "get" it until I happened across a '63 Bandmaster at my local shop. The amp had a few gremlins in it that kept me from taking it home, but the harmonic vibrato worked perfectly and was absolutely mesmerizing. That amp just plain made anything plugged into it sound better.

[JVG]

But if you've never played a brown-Tolex Super, Concert or other amp that has the effect (and are relying only on demo videos and pedals that claim to copy it), I recommend reserving judgment until you've actually heard it.

Sadly I haven’t, but definitely keen to.