Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Guitars, Amps and Effects => Topic started by: Brow on June 09, 2006, 11:55:09 AM
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Hey guys.
I'm thinking about getting a Tremolo pedal for when I can afford to build my new pedalboard and just wondered which 1's you guys would recommend I check out?
The 3 I'm considering at the minute are:
Marshall VT1 Vibratrem
Electro Harmonix Pulsar
BOSS TR2 Tremolo
I'm not looking for any super high end or expensive Tremolo pedal, as it's not an effect I can envisage using all that much.
Also, I'll be using the pedal in a pedal loop, so it'll be out of the signal path when I'm not using it. So I don't mind if it's not true bypass
Thanx for any suggestions.
Brow
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I use the Boss TR2 with the C4 capacitor cut out (you do it with wire cutters) - It has a good range from the classic tube amp tremolo sound on Fairport Coventions 'Jack of Diamonds' to wacky surf stuff. It doesn't sound too bad to me, although it doesn't go into real extreme trem areas.
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Thanx for your reply Elliott.
I've heard both good and bad things about the BOSS TR2, but haven't spent that much time with 1 myself so I haven't got an opinion of it yet.
Why did you cut the C4 Capacitor out of yours?
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^ i have the boss tr2. It's nice for a vintage-type trem, but there's the volume drop issue (when you hit a chord, it seems to start on the "silence" bit instead of the loud bit of the stutter (assuming a square wave tremolo) and also is a bit quieter than your un-effected tone). also, i think that cap removal just plain makes the tone better, from what I hear, but I haven't tried it myself.
There are lots of mods available if you search the net for the boss tr2, which'll fix the problems.
I'm sure a boutique pedal would be better, but i'm like you- I rarely ever use mine, lol. I'll probably mod mine when I get round to it. This is nothing really to do with the quality of the effect- I just plain don't use tremolo all that much, lol.
Just basically try everything in your price range, and remember you can mod the boss one.
:drink:
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Hey Dave, thanx for your post.
I've heard alot of good/bad things about both the BOSS and Marshall Tremolo pedals. A local shop about 4 miles away has both, so s'ppose I could go down 1 day and try them out :)
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ive tried the keeley mod TR-2 and i would say it sounds great... very full and open much improved
if not for me i would go for the catalin bread semaphore :D
why not try http://www.buildyourownclone.com/trem.html
:D
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ive tried the keeley mod TR-2 and i would say it sounds great... very full and open much improved
if not for me i would go for the catalin bread semaphore :D
why not try http://www.buildyourownclone.com/trem.html
:D
Thanx for the suggestions :)
The Keeley modded 1 is a little too expensive for me at £125 but thanx for the suggestion :)
I've looked at the BYOC Pedals before but they've actually stopped shipping them to the UK. Maybe someone in the States would be willing to ship me 1, oh TO :wink: :twisted:
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Hey Dave, thanx for your post.
I've heard alot of good/bad things about both the BOSS and Marshall Tremolo pedals. A local shop about 4 miles away has both, so s'ppose I could go down 1 day and try them out :)
no problem, brow, glad to help. I think I tried the marshall one ages ago (like 3 years), and truth be told, at that stage I was trying out the overdrive or compression pedals (forget which, lol)- just the shop I was in had all the marshall pedals on a powered-board, so I figured I might as well try them all out!
So yeah, I don't really remember much about the marshall one, lol.
If you do decide to go for the keeley one, it's always worth bearing in mind, price-wise: should I go for a good, but flawed pedal that has been modded/improved by keeley (or analogman, or whoever) or should you go for a boutique pedal which has been designed as excellent from the ground up?
I have no idea, as I haven't tried any keeley mod pedals, nor any boutique tremolos (and very few boutique pedals of any type, but I've tried one or two), but it's worth bearing in mind- and hopefully one of the other pedal gurus can help you more with this...
the best bang for budget option is probably to buy the boss, and mod it yourself- but that's dependent on how good you are at soldering, and also whether the mod actually helps much (I haven't tried it on mine yet, I assume it helps at least a bit, but maybe not earth-shattering)... (oh, or the build your own clone, that'd be good value too, presumably)
Ah, I see this post is up to my usual standard. Leaving the threadstarter with more questions than he originally had. And next to no answers, in return! :lol:
sorry, brow...
:drink:
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no problem, brow, glad to help. I think I tried the marshall one ages ago (like 3 years), and truth be told, at that stage I was trying out the overdrive or compression pedals (forget which, lol)- just the shop I was in had all the marshall pedals on a powered-board, so I figured I might as well try them all out!
So yeah, I don't really remember much about the marshall one, lol.
If you do decide to go for the keeley one, it's always worth bearing in mind, price-wise: should I go for a good, but flawed pedal that has been modded/improved by keeley (or analogman, or whoever) or should you go for a boutique pedal which has been designed as excellent from the ground up?
I have no idea, as I haven't tried any keeley mod pedals, nor any boutique tremolos (and very few boutique pedals of any type, but I've tried one or two), but it's worth bearing in mind- and hopefully one of the other pedal gurus can help you more with this...
the best bang for budget option is probably to buy the boss, and mod it yourself- but that's dependent on how good you are at soldering, and also whether the mod actually helps much (I haven't tried it on mine yet, I assume it helps at least a bit, but maybe not earth-shattering)... (oh, or the build your own clone, that'd be good value too, presumably)
Ah, I see this post is up to my usual standard. Leaving the threadstarter with more questions than he originally had. And next to no answers, in return! :lol:
sorry, brow...
:drink:
No worries mate :D
Truth be told, I'm not really looking for a high end or 'boo-teek' Tremolo. Just something that sounds ok and gives me a Tremolo effect :lol:
I'll more than likely try the 2 pedals out at my local shop and then decide from there. Although, the BOSS Tremolos are quite abundunt on Ebay UK at the minute :wink:
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i think you should get the TR2 boss stock pedal
lets see if in future i can come up with any mods for it
im digging in modding for now
however i think the best is still the BYOC is the best for its price since you are not really particular about tremolo
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if you REALLY don't think you'll use it much, how about the behringer one? It's about £15, lol.
but yeah, other than that, i say the boss one- at least you can mod it in the future, if you do find you'll use it...
:drink:
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Brow - have you considered the Behringer cheapo - its circuit board is pretty similar to the TR2 (as in a Tom Petty, RHCP type of similarity) and for an effect you dont think you'll use much its good value for money.
As to the C4 capacitor - there is a huge discussion about the mod on the Harmony Central review - it is an easy mod - it really opens the tone out, you get more extremity of tremolo (although not into wacky trem) and it seems to cure the problem in the cycle that Dave MC is talking about. In fact I think the Keeley mod is pointless (although you get a volume control) as the C4 cap cutting mod does the trick for me.
As I say its not bad: i wouldn't buy another trem - there is a tiny volume drop when you engage it, but it gets you into 60s Fender/Vox amp mode easily.
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^ ah cool, I'll have to try that simple cutting mod, then!
:drink:
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Go for the Behringer. If you really want extreme tremolo, wire in a kill switch.
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Danelectro Tuna Melt. It's a fantastic, cost effective pedal. Not edable though.
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Cheers for the posts and suggestions guys.
I'm a little apprehensive about both the Behringer and Danelectro mini pedals, as I gig alot and need something I can rely on and not have to worry if I'll snap the pedal if I stand on it too hard :lol:
I think I'll go into town next week and try the BOSS and Marshall Tremolo's and see how I like them :)
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Cheers for the posts and suggestions guys.
I'm a little apprehensive about both the Behringer and Danelectro mini pedals, as I gig alot and need something I can rely on and not have to worry if I'll snap the pedal if I stand on it too hard :lol:
I think I'll go into town next week and try the BOSS and Marshall Tremolo's and see how I like them :)
I gigged my Danelectro - despite the plastic case it's very robust. It withstood my leaden booted style of being switched on and off!
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I gigged my Danelectro - despite the plastic case it's very robust. It withstood my leaden booted style of being switched on and off!
The main reason I was a little apprehensive is that I have 1 of those Danelectro Mini Octave pedals and I've tried to gig with it and aswell as having difficulty actually hitting the switch, I've always had a thought in the back of my mind that i'd stand on it too much and break it :roll:
As some people that have met me in person know, I'm not the least clumsy person on earth :lol: :wink:
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hmm i wouldnt want to go for daneclectro or especially behringer
behringer adds noises to your sound because of the cheaply made parts
the danelectro however although not very sturdy built but can be a good thing to exprimenting with modding
can obtain the sound
but wont be able to withstand shock
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Thinking about it, I'll be using the pedal in 1 channel of a Looper pedal, so I won't actually have toswitch the pedal itself on/off as I'll be using a Looper for that.
I may have secured a BOSS Tremolo for £20 so I'll wait and see :)
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hmm that would be cool
however if it was me i would go for the BYOC pedal instead
because its smaller haha
and i prefer the heavy duty on/off switch on the BYOC
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hmm that would be cool
however if it was me i would go for the BYOC pedal instead
because its smaller haha
and i prefer the heavy duty on/off switch on the BYOC
Yeah, I can see your reasoning behind that :)
Like i say, BOSS switches are usually ok, and I'll be using it through 1 channel of a Looper with switching relays, so I should be ok :)
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oh but another thing
i can save more space with BYOC
ahaha
i dont like Boss design
boring and big.................
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oh but another thing
i can save more space with BYOC
ahaha
i dont like Boss design
boring and big.................
That's true about the big n boring designs.
The Kings of stupidly oversize pedal enclosures is Electro harmonix though :roll: :twisted:
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wahaha
i happen to see an open electro flange
and i go like WHAT THE HECK! WASTE SPACE!!!!
the parts inside are like everything is big............
and also happen to see a very very old model of a big muff... and man! ITS HUGE!
yet doesnt convince much of me for anything
however i like the box... you know that wooden box to put the pedal in... man it looks cool to me! haha
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Yeah, some of their pedals are stupidly sized.
I have a Russian big Muff and opened it up 1 time to have a look inside and it's like a circuit board inside a biscuit tin!
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but despite its big
for once i thought the parts would be big as wel so easier for repair work
however the truth is those stuffs are pretty hardcore to fix at times
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but despite its big
for once i thought the parts would be big as wel so easier for repair work
however the truth is those stuffs are pretty hardcore to fix at times
I've never tried to fix 1 to be honest. I only opened it up because I was bored :)
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I'd go with the Marshall if you just want a fairly cheap Trem effect you can gig with.
I've got a couple of the Marshall pedals and they're pretty robust, and sound good enough for the price.
Dunno about how easy it is to mod, I've never tried it.
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I think this is a good deal, an effect with true bypass from a boutique manufacturer but at a decent price.
http://www.carlmartin.com/
The Surf Trem
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Cheers for the posts guys :)
I own the Marshall Compressor and have owned the Guvnor 2 in the past, so I know I can rely on Marshall pedals.
That Carl Martin Surf Trem looks really interesting! And it's only £50 which is actually cheaper than a new BOSS TR2 Tremolo!
If I can find some sound clips of it, I may have a contender to a used BOSS Tremolos throne :D
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I've been offered a BOSS Tremolo for £20, so i think I've found a winner :D
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i owned a TR2 Keeley and it's really good but quite expensive :(
Now i use a Behringer Tremolo and it works great with my amp.
Of course i feel a loss of something in the sound but it do the job perfectly just for a few seconds in songs.
Very cheap.
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I just ordered the best Tremolo in the whole world:
http://www.empresseffects.com/tremolo.php
Listen to the clips - I CAN'T SLEEP BEFORE I HAVE IT !!!!
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Oh don't start me Gassing for one of these!!!
:wink: