# Harmonic Tremolo pedal?



## cbriere (Sep 29, 2020)

What are your thoughts on this Fender Harmonic Tremolo Design?
Worth it to have a pedal to recreate the sound?


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## fogdart (Mar 22, 2017)

I’m a big fan of harmonic tremolo. I’ve got a Walrus Audio Monument (V2) that does fantastic harmonic trem sounds as well other more standard trem sounds. However, I use it predominantly for its harmonic trem.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

RG Keen post a solid-state work-alike on his GEOFEX site a number of years back - http://www.geofex.com/FX_images/FakeFenderVib3.pdf . I built it from a layout someone else made for it ( R.G.´s Fake Fender/Brownface/Vibratone Layout here ), and like it very much. Walt Jones, who makes the Korora pedals, introduced his Merlo harmonic tremolo last year, that has a number of options not normally found. But then, digital pedals are like that.

Harmonic tremolo is often confused with Uni-Vibe...and for very good reasons. Because they produce wide-and-shallow dips, rather than pronounced notches and peaks, vibes never sound like the signal has "gone away". It's always there, but more relaxed and animated-sounding. Same thing with harmonic tremolo, compared to traditional bias/optical tremolo. When the sound gets louder and quieter, in total, it tends to be something one can only put up with for an extended period if it's subtle and slow. Otherwise, it becomes annoying. Harmonic tremolo, on the other hand, provides reciprocally shifting volume level of highs and lows, so that the signal never seems to "go away". It's just shifting around in the background. That tends to make it something you don't mind leaving on for a while. Ry Cooder, and other slide players like JOey Landreth, are big fans of harmonic tremolo.


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## player99 (Sep 5, 2019)

@mhammer is the Voodoo Lab trem harmonic? I don't think it is but the sounds from the demos posted here are obtainable using the blend knob.



Voodoo Lab - Tremolo


​







​






The Voodoo Lab Tremolo re-creates the buttery, seductive tone of a vintage tube amp tremolo. This is accomplished by using the same lamp and photocell assembly found in many popular vintage amps.
This pedal also features a slope control which lets you adjust the feel from a traditional soothing tremolo to a hard “machine-gun” stutter. Speed and intensity controls provide a wide range to include very slow and deep sounds. A volume control lets you cut or boost the output level. Now you can add warm, mind-bending trem vibes to any amp with the most versatile tremolo available.

“Nicely voiced, with very slow and very fast speeds...” _-Guitar Player_

*Tremolo features:*







Authentic lamp and photocell tremolo circuit







Slope control for waveform tweaking







Ultra wide range of Speed and Intensity settings







Compact, pedalboard friendly size







True bypass switching with LED







Runs on a 9V battery







Hand built in the U.S.A.







5-year warranty*​


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## Hammerhands (Dec 19, 2016)

I was able to create a harmonic tremolo patch on a Boss GT-001, and changing the BPM I could make it sound a bit like The Smith's - How Soon is Now.

You can probably do that on many multi-effects units.

It's an addictive sound.


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## Merlin (Feb 23, 2009)

Source Audio's Vertigo has a great harmonic tremolo. It does optical as well.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

player99 said:


> @mhammer is the Voodoo Lab trem harmonic? I don't think it is but the sounds from the demos posted here are obtainable using the blend knob.


No. I gather it provides flexible shaping of traditional tremolo effect, though.

These days, analog harmonic tremolos are few and far between, since they involve more complex circuits. The brunt of harmonic tremolos I tend to see are digital. That's not a bad thing.

Mark


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## player99 (Sep 5, 2019)

mhammer said:


> No. I gather it provides flexible shaping of traditional tremolo effect, though.
> 
> These days, analog harmonic tremolos are few and far between, since they involve more complex circuits. The brunt of harmonic tremolos I tend to see are digital. That's not a bad thing.
> 
> Mark


Do you think if I was to have both on my board would I notice a huge difference between the VL and a harmonic trem?


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## ga20t (Jul 22, 2010)

I had the Flint and a few others and have settled on the Source Audio Vertigo. It's my favourite effect alongside a 6g15, a Leslie and a good Univibe and I wouldn't be willing to go without it. Whatever you do, strongly consider a stereo capable option as that sound is breathtakingly beautiful in the room. A mono sounds pretty fantastic run alongside a clean amp as well though.


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## Brian Johnston (Feb 24, 2019)

If your tremolo is anything like your Drive Factory, it will be incredible. For those unaware of the Drive Factory, you have to look into it. Friggin' amazing!


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

player99 said:


> Do you think if I was to have both on my board would I notice a huge difference between the VL and a harmonic trem?


Absolutely.
Now, would you notice the difference if you had a Uni-Vibe and added a harmonic tremolo to your board? Maybe, maybe not. It would depend on how you use the vibe.

I guess the question is whether you have use for this sound.


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## player99 (Sep 5, 2019)

mhammer said:


> Absolutely.
> Now, would you notice the difference if you had a Uni-Vibe and added a harmonic tremolo to your board? Maybe, maybe not. It would depend on how you use the vibe.
> 
> I guess the question is whether you have use for this sound.


I have a Fultone Deja Vibe 2.


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## sulphur (Jun 2, 2011)

I have one of these I like a lot, the v1 as there's a newer version.


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## fretzel (Aug 8, 2014)

The EB Expression Trem has harmonic trem on it.


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## cbriere (Sep 29, 2020)

Thanks for your reactions.
i have not been a fan and i do not play for long time with "standard" tremolo (like the one on Deluxe Reverb as an example).
But i am tweaking this little circuit now witch plays with the treble and bass, going back and forth between the two.
The circuit is not a new thing, its a JFET reproduction of the Brownface circuit (done with 2 x 12ax7) 
And i found that it makes you want to play slow tunes and it gets inspiring.


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## player99 (Sep 5, 2019)

When will I see it here?






Home | Brière pedals


brierepedals.com Guitar pedal overdrive boutique for SRV sound and Rock sound.




www.brierepedals.com


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

cbriere said:


> Thanks for your reactions.
> i have not been a fan and i do not play for long time with "standard" tremolo (like the one on Deluxe Reverb as an example).
> But i am tweaking this little circuit now witch plays with the treble and bass, going back and forth between the two.
> The circuit is not a new thing, its a JFET reproduction of the Brownface circuit (done with 2 x 12ax7)
> And i found that it makes you want to play slow tunes and it gets inspiring.


Any sense of what the optimal "breakpoint" (the split between higher and lower frequency content) is? My gut tells me it can't be too high, or else the modulated lows start to feel like a regular tremolo; the idea being that it should not ever feel/sound like the brunt of the signal is getting louder and softer. In that respect, the shallowness of the frequency split (6db/oct) works to our advantage, since the "lows" still include mids and highs at a lower level, and the "highs" include mids and lows the same way. When I have a chance, I'll have to tinker with mine.

One thing I have not seen - although it may be out there, just not stumbled onto yet - is whether sweeps *other* than anti-phase work as well or maybe even better. Standard harmonic tremolo uses opposite-phase sweep/modulation of highs and lows, basically inverting the LFO such that as one side gets louder, the other side gets softer. But would use of a quadrature LFO, with outputs at 90 and 270 degrees out of phase, in addition to 180 degrees, provide some interesting forms of HT? I wonder.


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## cbriere (Sep 29, 2020)

Hi Mark,
I found this circuit to give a lot as far as possibilities like you said about the phases pulsations of the 2 signals. I think that is a thing to try. But on my side i have tries different tweaks. The basic controls are of course Speed and Depth. But i plan to put a bass/Treble blend. So that this control be able to give the optimal blend of Bass/Treble depending on the setup (guitar, amp, pedal used). Other tweaks i tried are, separate control of Depth for Bass and treble but it doesn't not seams to be worth it. Also i tried to change the frequencies cut of the Low/High pass filters. That too doesn't give much improvement in the feel of the sound effect. It seems that Leo has found the optimal point there too.


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## player99 (Sep 5, 2019)

cbriere said:


> Hi Mark,
> I found this circuit to give a lot as far as possibilities like you said about the phases pulsations of the 2 signals. I think that is a thing to try. But on my side i have tries different tweaks. The basic controls are of course Speed and Depth. But i plan to put a bass/Treble blend. So that this control be able to give the optimal blend of Bass/Treble depending on the setup (guitar, amp, pedal used). Other tweaks i tried are, separate control of Depth for Bass and treble but it doesn't not seams to be worth it. Also i tried to change the frequencies cut of the Low/High pass filters. That too doesn't give much improvement in the feel of the sound effect. It seems that Leo has found the optimal point there too.


An overall volume is good to have.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

The Blend and Volume controls are both good ideas. Simple, easy to implement, and intuitive.

The Merlo video I showed above provides a lot more options, but I guess that's what digital can do. Walt explains more about the controls and different functional outcomes in this video. Some can be easily implemented in analog, and some not so much.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Robert Keeley entered the reverb/tremolo game, releasing his Hydra pedal today. Looks like the Strymon Flint has some competition.


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## pickslide (May 9, 2006)

Ehx mod 11 has a pretty good harmonic trem setting plus standard trem, vibrato and others


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Thanks for mentioning that one. Also a good pedal, and great value for the money.
Guitar players are spoiled when it comes to gear these days. So many multi-faceted pedals for peanuts, so many well-made budget instruments.


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## player99 (Sep 5, 2019)

Another feature you could incorporate in an analog trem is a switch that turns off or bypasses the blend knob, but still allows the trem circuit to be in play. I have the Voodoo Lab 4 knob tremolo and it's based on an old amp circuit. It definitely adds a nice vintage character with the trem blend at zero. I would like to get someone to add a switch that would do just that. Bypass the blend, which in turn bypasses the trem and lets me switch between blend at zero and blend where the knob is set. An LED would also be a good thing to add to the switch so I could know what setting the switch is at. The other reason for this addition is there is a big change in tone and volume when the trem is engaged. It would be nice to have the trem tone / character when the trem is on and off.


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## cbriere (Sep 29, 2020)

Quick update on my design. I just finished the pcb and the pedal will be Harmonic Tremolo with: Speed, Intensity, Blend and Volume. I have focused on the speed to have a broad range. The intensity gets over modulated at max, witch i found usefull as it almost generate a chopping signal. Also the blend cuts out totally the bass on one side and the treble modulation on the other side, in the middle its 50/50 blend, really usefull. I will put a video as soon as completed.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Looking forward to it.


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## Larrivee (Nov 16, 2014)

mhammer said:


> Thanks for mentioning that one. Also a good pedal, and great value for the money.
> Guitar players are spoiled when it comes to gear these days. So many multi-faceted pedals for peanuts, so many well-made budget instruments.



Exactly!! That's why we gotta buy as much as we can!


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## cbriere (Sep 29, 2020)

here is a demo of Harmo-Trem pedal.


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## cboutilier (Jan 12, 2016)

IMO the only better tremolo is a Leslie, or the the stereo tremolo on the flagship Magnatones.


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## DaddyDog (Apr 21, 2017)

cbriere said:


> here is a demo of Harmo-Trem pedal.


Nice! Is there a package deal with the Drive Factory? asking for a friend ;-)


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Is there some means, internally, to shift the crossover point, say by jumpers or dipswitch? The fast/slow option is a good feature. One of the things I've done on past tremolo pedals is keep the LFO-rate LED flashing, but dim it in bypass, and brighten it in effect mode. Much cheaper than those RGB LED-washers, but then the caveat is one has to remember the relative brightness, or be able to create a difference in brightness that is visible in bypass but not blinding in effect-mode.


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## cboutilier (Jan 12, 2016)

I'm hoping to pick up the new Fender Reverb and Trem pedal to finish off my board.


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## cbriere (Sep 29, 2020)

DaddyDog said:


> Nice! Is there a package deal with the Drive Factory? asking for a friend ;-)


Please ask him to contact me, we should be able to do something for a two pedal set.  





Contact Us | Brière pedals







www.brierepedals.com


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## cbriere (Sep 29, 2020)

mhammer said:


> Is there some means, internally, to shift the crossover point, say by jumpers or dipswitch? The fast/slow option is a good feature. One of the things I've done on past tremolo pedals is keep the LFO-rate LED flashing, but dim it in bypass, and brighten it in effect mode. Much cheaper than those RGB LED-washers, but then the caveat is one has to remember the relative brightness, or be able to create a difference in brightness that is visible in bypass but not blinding in effect-mode.


Hi Mark, i have tried some different cut off frequencies with this design and i did not find other set points that were interesting enough to change it. Or maybe you what other ideas in mind about this mod?


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## cbriere (Sep 29, 2020)

cboutilier said:


> IMO the only better tremolo is a Leslie, or the the stereo tremolo on the flagship Magnatones.


i also own the BOSS RT-20 Rotary ensemble (the big twin pedal) and i think this is another type of effect and i like them both for the own qualities. same thing for the Univibe CoolCat Vibe Danelectro pedal.


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## cboutilier (Jan 12, 2016)

cbriere said:


> i also own the BOSS RT-20 Rotary ensemble (the big twin pedal) and i think this is another type of effect and i like them both for the own qualities. same thing for the Univibe CoolCat Vibe Danelectro pedal.


I have an early 70s Leslie 825. I suspect your pedal is easier to transport.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

cbriere said:


> Hi Mark, i have tried some different cut off frequencies with this design and i did not find other set points that were interesting enough to change it. Or maybe you what other ideas in mind about this mod?


I couldn't tell if it was inherent to the pedal, or simply a result of the frequency response of the speakers in my monitor, but the bandwidth of the lower band sounded too wide to me, enough to make the modulation of the lower band feel like a regular tremolo modulating the whole signal. My initial response was to think that maybe the crossover point could be bumped down a bit to nudge more signal to the upper band and less to the lower one.

But like I say, that may be an artifact of both Youtube and the speakers in my monitor. I will defer to other opinions here about tone. The fact remains that you did it, it looks great, and has useful features.

FETs or LDRs? And if FETs, which ones?


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## cbriere (Sep 29, 2020)

mhammer said:


> I couldn't tell if it was inherent to the pedal, or simply a result of the frequency response of the speakers in my monitor, but the bandwidth of the lower band sounded too wide to me, enough to make the modulation of the lower band feel like a regular tremolo modulating the whole signal. My initial response was to think that maybe the crossover point could be bumped down a bit to nudge more signal to the upper band and less to the lower one.
> 
> But like I say, that may be an artifact of both Youtube and the speakers in my monitor. I will defer to other opinions here about tone. The fact remains that you did it, it looks great, and has useful features.
> 
> FETs or LDRs? And if FETs, which ones?


i actually have the possibility to add a BLEND knob to the pedal so it could be adjusted with more bass or more treble. My first build had that capability, so on the extreme CCW knob position you have only the bass pumping and with the knob full CW you have only the treble doing the tremolo. Now the actual pedal has the setting in the center position fixed with 2 resistors on the board. I found that a FAST knob and FS would be more interesting feature.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

cbriere said:


> i actually have the possibility to add a BLEND knob to the pedal so it could be adjusted with more bass or more treble. My first build had that capability, so on the extreme CCW knob position you have only the bass pumping and with the knob full CW you have only the treble doing the tremolo. Now the actual pedal has the setting in the center position fixed with 2 resistors on the board. I found that a FAST knob and FS would be more interesting feature.


If it had ramping, definitely. But again, that's one guy's perspective. Ramping is dispensable for other players.
Do you consider this a (visualy professional) prototype, a beta version, or the final version? Maybe an internal trimmer for blend-setting might be useful as a kind of set-and-forget to match different rigs. Not so much for achieving different kinds of effects, in the manner you described (and abandoned), but just for fine-tweaking to suit different amps or guitars. If you've finalized everything and the boards have been ordered, then never mind. But if you're still open to pre-production tweaks, that would be my suggestion.


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## SarahSimm (Feb 3, 2021)

I'm not a tremolo owner (however I use it sometimes in my stompbox), but I've played with it a couple of times.
As for me, Vertigo tremolo by Source Audio is a pick
I mean
just look at how chill Andy is


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## madhermit (Dec 31, 2017)

I looked for a harmonic trem for a while from 2019-2020. Since then, MXR and Jam Pedals have released one each, and probably a few others.
I ended up getting the Supro 1310. It’s great, has an expression pedal input, and one of the few that can run on a 9v battery.






I also got a Keeley Super Mod Workstation later that I had been eyeballing for a long time that has a good harmonic trem too among it’s many other effects, including reverb and delay.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

The Brière HT-1 Harmo-Trem showed up in the weekly e-mail I get from effectsdatabase, along with the Drive Factory and Disto Drive.


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