Hey guys,

What are the better trem pedals out there right now?? I just sold my Fulltone Supa-Trem. It just didn't have the right sound. It's hard to describe, but it wasn't swampy enough for me. I didn't really need all the features it had either. I had a Diaz many years ago, but I can't even remember if it was any good or not.

I'm not looking for anything too fancy (although I'm trying out a Z Vex Seek Trem tomarrow). I just want a good basic amp-trem type of sound.

Thanks!

Head

I played a Demeter the other day and it sounded great. Very realistic amp tremolo sound I thought.

two knobs, one switch, really great aounding trem: demeter tremulator. i haven't played a ton of trems, but that's the best i've heard.

I have owned the Fulltone, Voodoo Labs 4-knob, Demeter, and the Diaz. I have wanted to try the Swamp Thang (and am still considering buying one) as it is supposed to be a Diaz type circuit, with some Diaz shortcomings addressed. Long story short, none of them are perfect, but I kept the Diaz and the Demeter. If the Swamp Thang really is an improved Diaz, I might sell the Diaz, but it would have to be alot better since it has that gawd awful big box (even the new little one is too big). But my Diaz has some shortcomings I have to deal with. It is battery only which I hate, and it isn't true bypass (but only sucks a small amount of tone - if any) but I can live with that. The Swamp Thang addresses both problems, being true bypass and dc powered. It also, supposedly, addresses another complaint some have with the Diaz controls. About the first third of the Dwell knob travel makes no apparent change. Seems useless, then comes on really strong really fast all at once. Also the speed and dwell knobs interact such that adjusting to a different speed, makes you have to readjust the dwell to keep the same level. These problems don't bother me much, but the Swamp Thang is supposed to be smoother. I am really just interested in the final result. The Diaz is the definition of a swampy trem. VERY assymetrical, which I love, and DEEP dwell capabilities. It is a little addictive, and hypnotizing. I love it. It is a sine trem and doesn't offer the machine gun square wave pulse that I don't like much anyway. The Diaz can get fairly fast, and extremely slow trem rates. The Demeter is a wonderful blackface style trem. It is small, has a power jack, and yields a warm slightly assymetrical pulse (more assymetrical than the Fulltone or the Voodoo Labs, at least to my ear). The Demeter doesn't have a speed switch, so the designer put a WIDE amount of variation into the speed control. It goes from pretty darn slow (but not as swampy slow as the Diaz, as I recall) to ludicrous speed. Way faster than any other trem I have played. That makes the speed control a little bit goosy. Don't try to adjust it with your foot, or you'll make huge speed changes. The depth control is not as drastic and if anything is a tad too subtle, quite the opposite of the Diaz Dwell. The Diaz (or Swamp Thang) is your guy if you like in your face hypno-warble, and the Demeter is a great subtle blackface mellow trem. There are also lots of other trems I haven't tried that I am curious about. The Austone, which includes a Vibrato setting sounds very IMO. There are many others. It's one of those effects I love, and wish I had more opportunities to use. I sort of quit looking because there are so many, you could literally try dozens and then only use it once or twice a night. The Demeter and the Diaz pretty much cover my trem moods. Subtle and swampy.

Hey Maple,

Thanks for the great info. I think I may check into the Demeter some more. I may know a guy in town that has a Diaz I could try out.

Head

Hey Head,
I'll have to agree with the majority here. The Demeter Trem is VERY hard to beat. I scored one about a year or so ago and it really has some spectacular tones in it--mild throb to heavy chop. Ry Cooder and Sonny Landreth--need I say more...?
It depends on what amp/rig I'm using, but either the Demeter is in the setup or a Peavey Valverb (tube reverb and trem).

Headshot

If you try a Diaz, you might think about this. I have heard (but can't confirm first hand) that the newer ones aren't as cool as the older ones. They come in so many colors it is hard to judge their age, but generally the new ones all have blinking led's and some have a dc jack. Keep that in mind if one sounds bad and another sounds great, as their may be differences through the years. There are differences in some demeters too, but I don't know if they are audible. They have had knob and switch differences through the years. And I think I have heard (but again can't prove first hand) that older ones weren't true bypass. Some of this is strictly hear-say so take it for what it is worth.

i almost can't believe i'm saying this cuz i loved the Boss PN2 and HATED the TR2, but... the keeley modded TR2 is one great trem. it's silly how good this thing is. worth to check out at least.

i haven't plugged into the bjf wooden tremolo, but i really liked my fulltone supa-trem, and i now own a voodoo lab 4-knob trem that i greatly enjoy as well. my friend's keeley modded tr2 sounds very good.

would like to try a demeter. not that voodoo lab is elite or anything, but for my money ($80) it doesn't get all that much better.

The BJFE Saffron Yellow Tremolo!!! I posted a pic and a bit about it a couple months ago. Trems never stayed around till SYT. I didn't know trem could be so cool. It has a warm feeling and does so well at any setting. It's sampled on my "Fun With BJFE" cd along with 8 other BJFE peds. E mail me for a copy(my addy is on my toyz profile) SYT is stuck on my Worm Wagon board right now. It and MGMV have helped take me to another level of tasty.

I had a new Fulltone Supra-Trem and I thought it was the best sounding trem I've owned, and I've got a bias trem CVR! But the box was too big and the switches were in a funny spot for me, so I sold it and bought a Demeter. I really like the size and simpliticy of the Demeter, but I thought the Supra-Trem really sounded a lot better. I'm not a big fan of the BF tremelo circuits, which the Demeter does really well, so... Anyway, when I can swing the bucks, I'm going to get a Swamp Thang.

I just wrote on a tremolo thread on the Gearpage forum;
"I have the Powerglide along with some other trems like Demeter and Frantone.
The Powerglide is a great tremolo, big headroom, very transparent. I wanted it to get a little deeper/more swampy at max depth and then the Brown mod was offered. So now it's back at Ed for the new Brown option.
Exceptional build quality, great service frome a serious maker, comprehensive features and with the new Black/Brown switch I expect it to be the best tremolo out there."
"Both the Frantone and Demeter are great tremolos. The Demeter has some mids and bottom added giving it a somewhat 'warm' character. But for more complex sounds it gets a little muddy compared to the Powerglide. The Powerglide has this great definition and solidness when working with complex sounds, like the Frantone, just more of it."
http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showthread.php?s=&postid=465223#post465223

As said above the Powerglide now has a switch to choose between a Blackface or Brownface asymetrical type tremolo.
http://www.toneczareffects.com/lg-pedals-trem.htm

If you're looking for swampy I'd stay away from the Demeter - I've got one and love it but it's the blackface sound vs. brownface. I would agree that it definitely warms up your tone.

Check out the Auralux KingTrem - http://www.auraluxamps.com/king.html - kind of a trem/univibe thing.

...and would someone please pick one of the Area 51s up?

http://www.area51tubeaudiodesigns.com/bmt60trem.htm

What is the difference between Blackface and Brownface style trem? I have a blackface Bandmaster (currently out of commision) that has trem... well Fender calls it "vibrato", so I know what that sounds like.

Head

Hi,

I tried out a Z Vex Seek Trem yesterday. A friend of mine works for Zack, and brought me one to try. It's a really cool pedal!! The ONLY downfall is the fact that it doesn't have a "mix" control. If it did I would have bought it on the stop. It can do vintage style trem, well almost, due to the missing mix control, and also very cool paterns that no other trem pedal can do. It won't do a subtle trem though because you can't blend dry signal back in. I was thinking of somehow making a loop box that has a blend control. I'm still going to check out the Demeter as well.

So in summary, this is about the coolest tremolo pedal there is, but would be the end all if it had a mix circuit.

Head

SWAMP THANG!!!

The Swamp Thang is a little to big for my board.

Head

Actually the newer small Swamp Thang looks like it is built into the same box as a London Fuzz, and the jacks are at the top of the box. That means it will actually fit in about the same space as an MXR pedal (if you count the space needed for the side maounted jacks of the MXR), but will stand alot taller. I think I am going to get one and compare it to the Tremodillo. The Tremodillo is beautiful and small, but the Swamp Thang is true bypass and battery free.

That powerglide might be cool, but for $325?? And I agree that the Demeter (or any BF trem) doesn't really qualify as swampy. They are warm and very usable though. The rockers like ZZ Top, REM, etc have gotten great mileage out of the swampy Tremodillo sound, but the blues slide players really like the BF subtle trem. everyone who heres the Brownface bias trem loves it, but forget about getting that out of a pedal.

Sounds like we need another Tremolo comparison......

Anybody want to volunteer - lead - loan pedals ????

mapleneck had an excellent post several months back concerning the differences between black/brownface tremolos and why you can't really duplicate the brownface trem in a pedal (not that the swamp thing or one of those units might not sound good but they won't sound the same as a real brownie trem) but, unfortunately, the search utility is acting up again.

The Brownface trem actually modulates the bias voltage of the power tubes. The Blackface uses an opto-isolator (like an LED and light sensitive resistor in a package) to cyclically attenuate the signal by that resistance value getting getting larger/smaller. Maybe he'll jump in w/ a more complete/accurate explanation here. At any rate, they use different mechanisms and sound different - the blackface sounds more like you sitting there turning your volume knob up and down where the brownface does that but gets some phasey/univibe-ish character at the same time.

Here's something for you - www.muzique.com/trem.htm