# Inexpensive Tremolo



## Sunny1433 (Nov 23, 2018)

So, I'm looking to get into tremolo and I've found a Mooer Trelicopter for a good price. Any users of this pedal? What do you think? I've heard about a potential volume drop as a downside of it, any truth in that? Otherwise, any other pedal suggestions?


----------



## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Tremolos generally run the risk of having a detectable volume drop, relative to bypass, simply because what they do is reduce the volume, repetitively. The overall average volume is perceived as a drop, particularly at greatest depth settings. Some tremolos will provide a means for altering the output level to compensate. This one appears not to. I can't speak to what, if any, volume drop there may be.


----------



## Guest (Feb 6, 2019)

I have the Voodoo Lab 4 knob trem. It is nice. A copy of a 50's amp tremolo circuit. The 4th knob is volume. They sell used cheap.


----------



## mister.zed (Jun 8, 2011)

The Trelicopter is a perennial favourite of the guys on That Pedal Show. Here is one example:






I say go for it.


----------



## Sketchy Jeff (Jan 12, 2019)

Trelicopter sounds nice and not to spendy for a basic one. I've got a locally made trem that has a level pot to account for that but there are commercially made trems that do that too. 
Harmonic trem is worth checking out if you have the budget. Joey Landreth is a big fan. 
You're not going to be kicking your trem on and off a lot during a song so the perceived level isn't as big an issue as it would be on a drive pedal etc


----------



## Sunny1433 (Nov 23, 2018)

Sketchy Jeff said:


> Trelicopter sounds nice and not to spendy for a basic one. I've got a locally made trem that has a level pot to account for that but there are commercially made trems that do that too.
> Harmonic trem is worth checking out if you have the budget. Joey Landreth is a big fan.
> You're not going to be kicking your trem on and off a lot during a song so the perceived level isn't as big an issue as it would be on a drive pedal etc


Oh yes I've seen that harmonic tremolo episode so many times. The walrus monument tremolo is the dream, once I save up and the new smaller version comes out.


----------



## Sunny1433 (Nov 23, 2018)

mister.zed said:


> The Trelicopter is a perennial favourite of the guys on That Pedal Show. Here is one example:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Yeah I forgot about that! I think I'm gonna try it out


----------



## Budda (May 29, 2007)

Boss?


----------



## Sunny1433 (Nov 23, 2018)

Budda said:


> Boss?


Someone mentioned the volume drop with boss and it's a little too big for my packed pedalboard... The mooer's size definitely helps


----------



## butterknucket (Feb 5, 2006)

There's always the Boss and the EHX Pulsar.


----------



## troyhead (May 23, 2014)

If you upgrade your amp, sometimes you can get tremolo for free!!


----------



## Sunny1433 (Nov 23, 2018)

troyhead said:


> If you upgrade your amp, sometimes you can get tremolo for free!!


Unfortunately I just did, so no can do for now haha! On the dream wishlist is a Fender Brownface with harmonic tremolo. Might need to get that built though... In a few hundred years.


----------



## Sunny1433 (Nov 23, 2018)

Got the Trelicopter yesterday and been using it for a bit. It's a great little pedal and I can get some really lush layers out of it for awesome chord spreads and fun loops. One interesting thing I learned from that pedal show is to put it before my delay pedal, so that the whole signal modulates including the delayed signal. So much fun! Gonna put the board back together this weekend and maybe see if I can put a picture up


----------



## Sunny1433 (Nov 23, 2018)

Here's the pedalboard! 

EDIT: Can't get the images to work... how do I upload an image?


----------



## Sunny1433 (Nov 23, 2018)

Well, here's a link to my pedalboard  

IMG-20190209-143944

The gear I'm using right now - IMG-20190209-150414

The guitar is a Vintage v100 Lemon Drop Gary Moore/Peter Green Distressed Les Paul
The amps are a Supro 1605R and a Blackstar Artist 15.


----------



## Guncho (Jun 16, 2015)

I owned a Behringer Tremolo for a while and thought it sounded pretty good.


----------



## KapnKrunch (Jul 13, 2016)

I am most impressed with the tremolo on my Traynor GuitarMate. I know that's not applicable here because you are looking for a pedal, but... I just thought that I would inject my own personal preference for the *momentary* switch that I use to control it. I find "always-on" tremolo quite tedious after a few bars. Same for all effects really.

Another great option is any effect that can be controlled with an expression pedal. For example, I use wah in the same way as I use tremolo -- as a *special* effect, not as an ongoing "automated" processor. This puts me in charge, not the gear.

Just my two cents. Fairly irrelevant to the OP's request. Maybe just suggesting, you might save your money for a more controllable unit.

Cheap is a good place to start though...

At least check out the old Traynor tremolo as a reference.


----------



## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

In many instances, tremolo speed is adjusted via a single variable resistance to ground, making it ideal for replacing the Rate control with a foot pedal. It's a mod to an existing pedal, I realize, but a feasible one.


----------



## TheYanChamp (Mar 6, 2009)

It's not too bad eh. I still miss my supa-trem. Had the speed button to ramp the speed up and down like a Leslie. I'll never own a trem without that function again!

Was pleasantly surprised that I could program the boss ms3 to do that via toggle switch or expression pedal. 

Sent from my H3223 using Tapatalk


----------



## High/Deaf (Aug 19, 2009)

KapnKrunch said:


> I am most impressed with the tremolo on my Traynor GuitarMate. I know that's not applicable here because you are looking for a pedal, but... I just thought that I would inject my own personal preference for the *momentary* switch that I use to control it. I find "always-on" tremolo quite tedious after a few bars. Same for all effects really.


I'm the same with tremolo. Not a big fan in the first place, 
and on through the whole song seems too much (except for certain tremolo signature tunes, like Crimson and Clover). 

The KPA has a tremolo-type effect that I stumbled over and just love, and it's not even an actual tremolo. I think it's a delay with ring modulator or something like that (I'll check when I play later today). 

The nice part is it has ducking set up so the initial note doesn't modulate, it's only the notes that sustain for more than a second or so that do. The effect is subtle and very 3D. I have it as an f/s-able effect one of my clean Fender presets. I use it more than I thought I would (again, not being a lover of trems - I don't and have never owned a dedicated trem pedal).


----------



## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

High/Deaf said:


> I'm the same with tremolo. Not a big fan in the first place,
> and on through the whole song seems too much (except for certain tremolo signature tunes, like Crimson and Clover).
> 
> The KPA has a tremolo-type effect that I stumbled over and just love, and it's not even an actual tremolo. I think it's a delay with ring modulator or something like that (I'll check when I play later today).
> ...


Ducking can be a very useful feature in pedals.
One of the virtues of harmonic tremolos - which provide separate counterswept modulation of highs and lows - is that one gets the_ feel _of modulation, but the signal never fully "goes away". As such, it becomes something that is possible to leave on for an extended period, without being disruptive.


----------



## KapnKrunch (Jul 13, 2016)

High/Deaf said:


> (except for certain tremolo signature tunes, like Crimson and Clover).


My fave:_ Mary Anne with the Shaky Hand 
_
Off topic! I also love the other innocent, double-entendre pop songs by The Who: _Pictures of Lily_ and _Squeeze Box._


----------



## Guest (Feb 10, 2019)

This is a really great use of the tremolo:


----------



## KapnKrunch (Jul 13, 2016)

@Sunny1433 

Voodoo Labs Tremolo | Amps & Pedals | Regina | Kijiji


----------



## SAE Effects (Jul 6, 2015)

Player99 said:


> This is a really great use of the tremolo:


Great pick. Forgot how great that song and band was!


----------



## Guest (Feb 12, 2019)

KapnKrunch said:


> @Sunny1433
> 
> Voodoo Labs Tremolo | Amps & Pedals | Regina | Kijiji


AS I said earlier, that is the one I have had for years. It is a really good one. I find with the trem mix or blend knob at zero trem, the pedal itself ads a retro flavour to my tone. Combine that with the output volume knob it can be a really nice boost. I would like to add a switch to mine so I can set the blend knob and the switch will engage the trem. This way I can have the pedal on for the flavour but no trem then hit the new switch to engage to trem at the preset blend.


----------



## Sunny1433 (Nov 23, 2018)

That's a pretty neat idea! I've actiactu been really enjoying my Trelicopter. It definitely does what I needed which is a subtle effect for specific songs. It also has a bit of boost built in I think, which is really nice! 


Player99 said:


> AS I said earlier, that is the one I have had for years. It is a really good one. I find with the trem mix or blend knob at zero trem, the pedal itself ads a retro flavour to my tone. Combine that with the output volume knob it can be a really nice boost. I would like to add a switch to mine so I can set the blend knob and the switch will engage the trem. This way I can have the pedal on for the flavour but no trem then hit the new switch to engage to trem at the preset blend.


----------



## troyhead (May 23, 2014)

KapnKrunch said:


> I just thought that I would inject my own personal preference for the *momentary* switch that I use to control it. I find "always-on" tremolo quite tedious after a few bars. Same for all effects really.





High/Deaf said:


> I'm the same with tremolo. Not a big fan in the first place, and on through the whole song seems too much


This is a little off-topic, but for anyone who wants to change how their pedals work or experiment with all kinds of different sonic possibilities, look into one of the full-featured loop-switchers like the Boss ES-5 / ES-8. You can setup patches so that the bypass switches operate as either *latching* or *momentary*, so you could turn any (or all) of your effects into momentary-switching pedals with no modifications. Add to that on-the-fly pedal rearrangement, series & parallel routing, and much more, and you have a lot of ways to make your existing pedals sound quite a bit different. For delay pedals that have a feedback loop or wet/dry outputs, you could put that into a loop of the looper and swap whatever pedal(s) you wanted into the delay's feedback loop without ever rewiring anything (kind of what @mhammer mentioned in the vocoder thread).


----------



## butterknucket (Feb 5, 2006)

If you have children, you could bribe one of them to rapidly vary the volume control on your guitar while you're playing. 

Sorry....


----------



## Guest (Feb 13, 2019)

butterknucket said:


> If you have children, you could bribe one of them to rapidly vary the volume control on your guitar while you're playing.
> 
> Sorry....


Not if you play strip clubs.


----------



## butterknucket (Feb 5, 2006)

Player99 said:


> Not if you play strip clubs.


Everyone knows strip clubs have DJ's.


----------



## Guest (Feb 14, 2019)

butterknucket said:


> Everyone knows strip clubs have DJ's.


This bar has a band:


----------



## butterknucket (Feb 5, 2006)

Player99 said:


> This bar has a band:


I was talking about the real world.


----------



## Guest (Feb 14, 2019)




----------



## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

troyhead said:


> This is a little off-topic, but for anyone who wants to change how their pedals work or experiment with all kinds of different sonic possibilities, look into one of the full-featured loop-switchers like the Boss ES-5 / ES-8. You can setup patches so that the bypass switches operate as either *latching* or *momentary*, so you could turn any (or all) of your effects into momentary-switching pedals with no modifications. Add to that on-the-fly pedal rearrangement, series & parallel routing, and much more, and you have a lot of ways to make your existing pedals sound quite a bit different. For delay pedals that have a feedback loop or wet/dry outputs, you could put that into a loop of the looper and swap whatever pedal(s) you wanted into the delay's feedback loop without ever rewiring anything (kind of what @mhammer mentioned in the vocoder thread).


Some pedal-makers build in a momentary vs latching option. I know the Chase Bliss pedals do and I think others do as well. Thankfully, "pedalboard management" units are starting to include momentary capabilities as well. I've been a longtime fan of the electronic switch from Craig Anderton's "Electronic Projects for Musicians", which one can easily configure as momentary or latching. Some effects (e.g., chorus, overdrive) one tends to leave on for an extended period, while others (e.g., ring modulator, hard-chop tremolo) might only be used for a single riff. Momentary (AKA non-latched) switching makes for more fluid use of that second type. The effect only remains engaged for as long as you hold your foot down, and cancelling the effect only requires lifting your foot up.


----------



## butterknucket (Feb 5, 2006)

I had a '69 Traynor Guitar Mate that had pretty nice tremolo. 

The cool thing too was when you cranked both the speed and intensity, it started doing this thing where it sounded like the amp was going to break, but in a cool way.


----------



## RYAN1987M (Feb 19, 2019)

I'm a big fan of the SolidGoldFX Stutter Lite - it can be had used for cheap. They're Canadian, the build quality is rock solid, and there is a volume knob to compensate for any perceived volume loss (as the OP mentioned).


----------

