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SurfGuitar101 Forums » Gear »

Permalink What's your favorite tremelo?

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What's your favorite and why? I'm doing research for my M3 pickup project guitar.

Demeter Tremulator

The closest thing to a brownface Fender trem I've ever played through.

The Monster Effects Swamp Thang is a close second.

Jack
aka WoodyJ

The Mariners (1964-68, 1996-2005)
The Hula Hounds (1996-current)
The X-Rays (1997-2004)
The Surge! (2004, 2011-2012)
Various non-surf bands that actually made money
(1978-1990)

Guyatone VT-X. A very strong tremolo, that is why I like it. No drop in volume(slight gain actually).

Catlinbread Valcoder is really nice as well, more of an amp tremolo recreation but really nice amp tremolo.

Those are my two favorite, I've tried a lot. Most are acceptable.

I don't like Blackface on board tremolo and I hate Carl Martin. Stay away from either of those.

Last edited: Mar 02, 2012 20:36:34

WoodyJ wrote:

Demeter Tremulator

The closest thing to a brownface Fender trem I've ever
played through.

The Monster Effects Swamp Thang is a close second.

Yep, both are really good, especially the Tremulator. Never had the chance to own one though. Almost bought one several times. Couldn't justify it already getting the sound I wanted out of the Guyatone.

Yea the Demeter Tremulator is really great. At times you can find them on the Gear Page at a reasonable price or trade. Mine was stolen and I miss it every time I use my Boss Tremolo (Boss is not too bad, it's just the Tremulator was great IMHO)

I built a 5G9 clone a few year ago and it has quite hypnotic trem (if I may say so myself). Soundbyte in this link (coupled with a SAR I also built)

http://www.nzguitars.com/forum/download/file.php?id=9262

He who dies with the most tubes... wins

Surf Daddies

Last edited: Mar 02, 2012 23:08:43

I think the question was about a vibrato arm ("whammy bar")for a guitar build, not a tremolo effect pedal

https://www.facebook.com/coffindagger
http://coffindaggers.com/
http://thecoffindaggers.bandcamp.com

TREMOLO EFFECT IN AMP: The tremolo in the mid 60's Ampeg amps labeled "ECHO" hands down..... (I hope this does not constitute sacrilege). The "old" Fender amps (hand wired) sound very good. The "new" Fender amps (printed circuit boards) go dit-dit-dit-dit-dit-dit-dit-dit (mine does). There is a great post on this site from Mel Waldorf called "VIDEO FUN-TRI-ARMOND GRETSCH W/3 Dyna-Sonics" that demonstrates how cool the Ampeg Gemini 1 is !!! NOW WHAMMY BARS ON GUITARS: The Fender Stratocaster vibrato units have always worked well for me (screws or fulcrum) & hold their tuning very well. Bigsby's are also OK..(at least mine is & I used a VIBRAMATE to install it to aviod drilling holes in guitar).

Last edited: Mar 03, 2012 13:19:57

psychonaut wrote:

I think the question was about a vibrato arm ("whammy
bar")for a guitar build, not a tremolo effect pedal

That's cool. Seems lots of posts go off-topic around here Wink

As far as geetar vibrato arms go, I love the strat whammy bar - mine just stays perfectly in tune no matter what, and the arm stays where its put. (Those are my 'player' criteria anyhow).

He who dies with the most tubes... wins

Surf Daddies

Last edited: Mar 03, 2012 12:37:51

wfoguy wrote:

What's your favorite and why? I'm doing research for my
M3 pickup project guitar.

What is the body going to be? That is going to be one of the biggest factors as to which vibrato systems you can put on.

I'm leaning towards a jazzmaster because of the size of the pickups. I have read the previous posts on this subject and saw that several members were pro jazzmaster original. I looked at Wilkinson 5+1 strat copies, Wilkinson 2 post with locking saddles, Bigsbys, reproduction Jazzmasters, Mosrite repros, Strat 6 screw models. I haven't figured out the reasons for why each model has a surf application. Because I'm starting with a clean sheet of paper, I can do anything that is physically possible. Do not forget that I'm a real beginner with playing skills.

If you are going to do a Jazzmaster body then put in a Jazzmaster trem. That trem unit is mostly what is responsible for a Jazzmaster's sound. All of that extra low angled space. Easier to find a body with a Jazzmaster trem unit rout then a strat rout.

Jazzmasters have subtle trem, and have a wide range of expression.
Bigbys are subtle trems with lesser range of expressions(depends on the spring though).
Mosrite trems are very sublte and usually have amazingly buttery action
Strat trems are very acute trems, lots of range of expression but that expression happens very quicky.

Jazzmaster is my favorite trem system. You can do a lot more with them than any of the others, in my opinion. They sit in a much better place during playing, for me.

Believe it or not, this has been the smoothest and most tuning reliable trem I've every owned. This would be the "Schaller"/Fender logo'd trem on my '86 MIJ Strat. Originally a "locking" trem. I remove the lock from behind the nut and replaced the nut with a Wilkensen roller nut. Additionally the the big "chunk" the fine tuners screw into is a cheap casting and the fine tuners tend to strip out, I repaired that with "Mr. Gasket - Forma-Thread" about almost 20 years ago. This Strat is my "full floating" trem Strat, on all my others, I use a vintage style trem with 5 springs and sucked down on the top of the body.

image

While the Demeter is a great pedal, I found that the inbuilt volume boost went back to below unity when the depth was cranked, thus rendering it fairly redundant. Also, you need a tiny, jewellers screwdriver to change the bias (wave slope symmetry).

The Diamond Tremolo slays it. Both are optical tremolo's, but the Diamond has way more versatility.

Also, if you're after a true Brown Face style trem, I'd recommend the Catalinbread Pariedolia. It incorporates the touch of vibrato/phase that the original units had (I don't know that for sure personally, but there's info on the Catalinbread website) I think other pedals that tout as offering "brownface" sounds are probably just using marketing hyberbole. They are for the most part just high quality, probably optical sine wave trems.

Or if you're after vox repeat percussion tremolo there's the Earthquaker Hummingbird.

Also...an Analogman modded Boss TR-2 is great.

Last edited: Mar 04, 2012 17:07:51

oh, you guys are gonna laugh at this--the danolectro tuna melt tremolo is my personal favorite---cheap. it has 2 modes and is cheap. you know that i'm sure. great garage band sound.
my mustang III has a pretty good tremolo but i haven't messed with it much.
Lame Sorry

Enjoying the surf,sun and sand!!

I'm confused...
vibrato on a guitar or trem effect?
guitar, mustang vibrato, hands down.
effect, Carl Martin, although I had a 70s Kustom amp that used to shock me all the time and it had a pretty bitchen tremolo.
and to vintagesurfdude,
I had a Fender performer years ago that had a tailpiece kinda like that!
and to think, I let that guitar go for $100

MXR Stereo Tremolo is what I use. Vibrato: Mosrite Vibramute.

The Hicadoolas

Guitar trem? Bigsby. But without the tension bar. Otherwise, Jazzmaster/Jag.

http://www.reverbnation.com/thedeadranchhands

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZEW74mHjQk

Nothing lame about the Tuna Melt at all, it's a great sounding tremolo!
Admittedly, mine did stop working recently, but for $35 it gave me many years of great service. I'm thinking about splurging this time and getting a Cool Cat Tremolo for $40.

zzero wrote:

oh, you guys are gonna laugh at this--the danolectro tuna melt tremolo is my personal favorite---cheap. it has 2 modes and is cheap. you know that i'm sure. great garage band sound.
my mustang III has a pretty good tremolo but i haven't messed with it much.
Lame Sorry

Paul
Atomic Mosquitos
Bug music for bug people is here!
Killers from Space

I blame Leo Fender for this thread.

image

image

http://www.reverbnation.com/thedeadranchhands

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZEW74mHjQk

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