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SurfGuitar101 Forums » Gear »

Permalink Getting a tremolo sound with a fixed bridge guitar.

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As someone who's always interested in new gear for surf musicians, this looks very intriguing.

I'm curious if anyone in our community has ordered one during their pre-sale. I'm tempted, only because interesting options are available to those of us with fixed bridge guitars. No more whammy issues.

https://www.gamechangeraudio.com/shop/bigsby-pedal-limited-offer/

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Hi, I'm Gellert, guitarist for The Fintastics.

https://www.facebook.com/TheFintastics

Interesting, but I’ve paid less for an actual guitar with a good trem.

My Zoom G1Xon pedal has a pedal-controlled pitch change that sounds at least as good as a real vibrato arm. You can hear my use of it on a bass guitar at the end of my recording "Fright Night." This recording is in the 2020 SG101 download collection, and it is also on SoundCloud:
https://soundcloud.com/conswartz/fright-night

I also used the pedal pitch effect with several songs on my Insanitizers "Space Force" CD album including "Space Trip."

This effect sounds great when used for a semi-tone or two. It can be used for larger pitch changes but I don't think they sound as good.

This guitar multi-effects pedal also includes superb compression, spring reverb emulation, delays, and plate reverb, among other effects. Just make sure you never set the gain above 100% anywhere. I saw it available used on Ebay and Reverb for $79 and under.

Insanitizers! http://www.insanitizers.com

Last edited: Jun 23, 2021 21:36:26

game changer stuff costs a fair chunk of money. i like the plus pedal but don’t care for their other stuff.

that said, i’d like to hear it. i’m a huge fan of pitch shifting pedals. wish I still had a whammy.

In this demo video, the music takes away whatever benefits the pedal may have. In my opinion, they should have gotten a professional guitar player (in either the surf or rockabilly community) to demonstrate the effectiveness of its effects. I'm on the fence with this one.

_

Hi, I'm Gellert, guitarist for The Fintastics.

https://www.facebook.com/TheFintastics

Not for me.......but to each his own.

TheFintastics wrote:

In this demo video, the music takes away whatever benefits the pedal may have. In my opinion, they should have gotten a professional guitar player (in either the surf or rockabilly community) to demonstrate the effectiveness of its effects. I'm on the fence with this one.

They probably didn't have many choices for bands there in Latvia.

Otherwise, I'd like to hear a straight demo of it to see how it sounds without the noise of a whole band swirling around it. Integrating the Bigsby parts seems too much of a gimmick to me - they could have designed something to function the same but with fewer parts (and probably cheaper in terms of parts and licensing).

Below is a link to my just-recorded demo of the Zoom G1Xon effects pedal's, "Pedal Pitch" built-in vibrato effect. I had set the effect to a maximum of one semi-tone, which is the pedal's minimum. Just click on the band photo at the bottom of the webpage (just above the index), labeled "Hunt Surf Vibrato-Pedal Plus."

https://insanitizers.com/

First comes the complete song (Huntington Surf), in which the pedal vibrato is frequently used. This is followed by some chords and notes with the pedal vibrato and without band accompaniment. These later chords are played with the same guitar effects as the song, then played with the pedal's splashy spring reverb.

I can't say how long I will leave this reacording up. Any questions?

Insanitizers! http://www.insanitizers.com

Last edited: Jul 01, 2021 19:02:22

That's a very convincing tremolo effect. Especially the sound demo at the very end. Did you hear about the Zoom's effect from another surf guitarist or did you come across it by accident? I think it'd be cool if a guitar came equipped with a digital tremolo bar.

_

Hi, I'm Gellert, guitarist for The Fintastics.

https://www.facebook.com/TheFintastics

I found the vibrato effect in the Zoom pedal after I bought it. I bought it for splashy spring reverb, dual delays, compression, EQ and combining effects into groups I can select among quickly.

Operating the vibrato effect with my foot frees my hands to do maneuvers that simply can not be done while operating a vibrato bar. I can emulate Leo Kottke's slidey tone, for example.

Insanitizers! http://www.insanitizers.com

Last edited: Jul 02, 2021 09:50:00

The best way to get a tremolo effect on a fixed bridge guitar is with a tremolo pedal, amp tremolo or simply the volume knob on the guitar itself.

The Exotic Guitar of Kahuna Kawentzmann

You can get the boy out of the Keynes era, but you can’t get the Keynes era out of the boy.

This discussion is about controlling pitch rather than volume.

Insanitizers! http://www.insanitizers.com

While the pedal appears to be an excellent piece of gear, I couldn’t imagine having to use my foot every time I wanted to dip the trem. I mostly play Gretsch and use a Chet Atkins wire arm. I tend to give the Bigsby just a subtle rub at key points in the song, and speaking only for myself, I think that positioning myself in front of the pedalboard, shifting my weight to my left leg and then trying to duplicate the way I use a Bigsby just wouldn’t work.

I think it’s a great idea, but I’d have to try one before I even considered making the purchase.

The artist formerly known as: Synchro

When Surf Guitar is outlawed only outlaws will play Surf Guitar.

Kawentzmann wrote:

The best way to get a tremolo effect on a fixed bridge guitar is with a tremolo pedal, amp tremolo or simply the volume knob on the guitar itself.

I think along similar lines. I don’t “dive bomb” with any vibrato tailpiece I use, with the possible exception of the Gm chord at the end of Penetration. For the most part, I just give it a very slight rub, which dips the volume slightly.

There has been a lot of discussion regarding Leo Fender’s use of the term tremolo to describe the vibrato tailpieces on his guitars. I have wondered if he chose that term because when a vibrato tailpiece is used subtly, and only to lower pitch, that the reduction of string tension has the effect of lowering the volume during slightly.

Just a thought.

The artist formerly known as: Synchro

When Surf Guitar is outlawed only outlaws will play Surf Guitar.

synchro wrote:

There has been a lot of discussion regarding Leo Fender’s use of the term tremolo to describe the vibrato tailpieces on his guitars. I have wondered if he chose that term because when a vibrato tailpiece is used subtly, and only to lower pitch, that the reduction of string tension has the effect of lowering the volume during slightly.

For your amusement here are the Fender company's current thoughts about vibrato and tremolo terminology and concepts:
https://www.fender.com/articles/tech-talk/pitch-or-volume-the-difference-between-tremolo-and-vibrato

Insanitizers! http://www.insanitizers.com

Squid wrote:

synchro wrote:

There has been a lot of discussion regarding Leo Fender’s use of the term tremolo to describe the vibrato tailpieces on his guitars. I have wondered if he chose that term because when a vibrato tailpiece is used subtly, and only to lower pitch, that the reduction of string tension has the effect of lowering the volume during slightly.

For your amusement here are the Fender company's current thoughts about vibrato and tremolo terminology and concepts:
https://www.fender.com/articles/tech-talk/pitch-or-volume-the-difference-between-tremolo-and-vibrato

That’s the way I’ve always understood it.

The artist formerly known as: Synchro

When Surf Guitar is outlawed only outlaws will play Surf Guitar.

Something very interesting in this video)
image

_

Hi, I'm Gellert, guitarist for The Fintastics.

https://www.facebook.com/TheFintastics

It (The "virtual Jeff") costs $499. https://store.fomofx.com/

The specifications of the G1Xon pedal I demonstrated in an earlier post's link seem about the same. The G1Xon is a small fraction of that price and it does much more (delays, spring reverb, compression, amp modeling). As a foot pedal it is not attached to your guitar front.

Insanitizers! http://www.insanitizers.com

Last edited: Sep 17, 2021 09:44:53

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