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Tremolo


Doug

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I have an old Heathkit solid state amp that originally came with tremolo. It doesn't work anymore - that's OK the amp sounds like shit anyway.

 

I do, however crave the effect. I have a Peavey Classic 30 that I play my 535 through that I am happy with. I know in a perfect world I'd own an old Fender with a great sounding trem built in, but I don't and I'm a bit pressed for funds of late.

 

Does anyone know of a good sounding pedal that I should look into? Or even have one that they'd have with them at PSP4 that I could hear?

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I have an old Heathkit solid state amp that originally came with tremolo. It doesn't work anymore - that's OK the amp sounds like shit anyway.

 

I do, however crave the effect. I have a Peavey Classic 30 that I play my 535 through that I am happy with. I know in a perfect world I'd own an old Fender with a great sounding trem built in, but I don't and I'm a bit pressed for funds of late.

 

Does anyone know of a good sounding pedal that I should look into? Or even have one that they'd have with them at PSP4 that I could hear?

 

Get yourself a bigsby for that 535! Or look into a KBP810 RD amp, its got a built in tube drive tremolo effect.

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I have a Fulltone Supa Trem which I like a lot.

 

Tal

 

 

I just got one too and It think it sounds great. It is simple and effective and you can pick up a new one from Fulltone in the seconds bin for quite a bit less than a cosmeticly perfect one. My second has the word "Rate" a little off from where it should be so the knob covers up the letter e, no big deal, worth the savings.

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Keep in mind as a purist, there is a difference between tremolo and vibrato. Old Gibson amps used tremolo, which varied the volume at a periodic pulsating rate. Old Fenders used vibrato, which varied the pitch at a periodic pulsating rate.

 

Vibrato_and_tremolo_graph.PNG

 

I myself prefer the tremolo and Warren Haynes has made good use of his CAE Super Trem (rack tremolo), but others speak highly of the Roger Mayer Voodoo Vibe (pedal vibrato).

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Keep in mind as a purist, there is a difference between tremelo and vibrato. Old Gibson amps used tremelo, which varied the volume at a periodic pulsating rate. Old Fenders used vibrato, which varied the pitch at a periodic pulsating rate.

 

Vibrato_and_tremolo_graph.PNG

 

I myself prefer the tremelo and Warren Haynes has made good use of his CAE Super Trem (rack tremelo), but others speak highly of the Roger Mayer Voodoo Vibe (pedal vibrato).

 

Did the old Fenders really have vibrato ? I always thought it was really tremelo with an inacurate name of vibrato. Live and learn, I guess.

 

Tal

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Did the old Fenders really have vibrato ? I always thought it was really tremelo with an inacurate name of vibrato. Live and learn, I guess.

 

Tal

There were actually different flavors at different times. Back in the '60s, before their use fell to the wayside as a gimic of the day, there was a marked difference in the sound of the two and this was pointed out to me by my favorite store's owner, who was a dealer of both.

 

Looks like not all old Fenders used the pitch shift.

See Bulldog's response in the attached link for an explanation

Flavors of Tremolo/Vibrato

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Did the old Fenders really have vibrato ? I always thought it was really tremelo with an inacurate name of vibrato. Live and learn, I guess.

 

Tal

 

 

tweeds didn't. i had '59-'60 Tremolux for many years. blackfaces and after don't, despite "vibrato" channel label. have never heard blonde or brown-era.

 

a pretty good pedal: Menatone Pleasure Trem

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Doug,

If you get a fulltone deja vibe, and you are able to, could you post a sound clip? That's a pedal I'm interested in.

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Keep in mind as a purist, there is a difference between tremolo and vibrato. Old Gibson amps used tremolo, which varied the volume at a periodic pulsating rate. Old Fenders used vibrato, which varied the pitch at a periodic pulsating rate.

 

Vibrato_and_tremolo_graph.PNG

 

I myself prefer the tremolo and Warren Haynes has made good use of his CAE Super Trem (rack tremolo), but others speak highly of the Roger Mayer Voodoo Vibe (pedal vibrato).

 

Good distinction, Mark. I 'think' that both gibsons and fenders used tremolo with Magnatone being the company/amp that had a real vibrato circuit. Lonnie Mack was a guitarist that used Magnatone on his early recordings. A friend of mine has a late 50s Mag that I had the pleasure of using one night when my own amp blew a rectifier tube. That was one fun fun night with the 535 thru a Mag... oh yeh!

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Ironically, the deja-vibe is an updated version of the univibe, which was intended neither as tremolo nor vibrato, but rather as a Leslie (doppler) simulator ...

 

Like Randy, I've thought Magnatone was the amp co. known for a "vibrato" circuit that actually shifted pitch.

 

I've got the Demeter tremulato pedal, which does a good imitation of the fender trem. Bought it cause "I Only Have Eyes for You" was on our setlist for a while.

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I just got one too and It think it sounds great. It is simple and effective and you can pick up a new one from Fulltone in the seconds bin for quite a bit less than a cosmeticly perfect one. My second has the word "Rate" a little off from where it should be so the knob covers up the letter e, no big deal, worth the savings.

 

 

So this means you've got a Fulltone with a RAT control?

Excellent.

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the boss tremolo is pretty good, and probably still inexpensive

This. Bang for buck, it is REALLY hard to turn away from Boss (Roland). They are built like tanks too. That was one of the reasons I had NO issue going with Roland with their amps. They are probably the most consistently reliable electronics company I have come across in music.

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I use a T-Rex tremster. Its a really nice trem pedal. But like most pedals I tried it just doesnt compare to the lush dimensionality of a on board tube driven tremolo. At least stomps tend to be quieter.

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Doug,

If you get a fulltone deja vibe, and you are able to, could you post a sound clip? That's a pedal I'm interested in.

 

I've got the Mini Deja Vibe 2 which has the circuitry, but in a pedal form that lets you set the speed control. Besides the vibe sound, its got a true vibrato (pitch modulation). Its a different sound than a tremolo. They do the vibrato about 3 1/2 mins in on this video.

 

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at the time, i insisted on have a tap tempo, which i didn't realize was such an expensive thing. ended up with a seymour duncan shape shifter, which i'm quite happy with. not too pricey, but it does a whole lot of tremming. fairly intuitive; i'm much better at making it do what i want now, from subtle to swampy to helicoptery.

 

shape shifter

 

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