Hamer of tremolo pedals?

[Disturber]

I want a tremolo pedal. But I don't want to pay boutique prices for a good pedal.

What should I get if I want a vintage sounding Fendery tremolo pedal? I have been on the look out for an old Schaller for some time but nothing has surfaced used. The Tunamelt is supposed to be good but perhaps not sturdy enough. Give me some advice on what to get...

[cmatthes]

I like the BOSS and VoodooLabs stuff in that low-mid price range. Both are nice Tremolo pedals.

[hardheartedbill]

My fav is the boss PN2. made famous by radiohead. I gave mine to number one son as he loves radionoggin

[moozak]

there are 2 really good ones:

demeter makes 2... i've personally used the TRM-1 and it's to die for... here are both:

http://www.demeteramps.com/products/pedals/trm1.html

http://www.demeteramps.com/products/pedals/strm1.html

and fulltone makes a fantastic one:

http://www.fulltone.com/products/ocd

you might be hard pressed to find better than these... all great pedals.

[JohnnyB]

After trying best trems I could find at the time (including the Voodoo, but not the fulltones), the one that did it for me is the tube-driven Guyatone Flip. With the tube in it it doesn't have a battery option; you have to plug it in. Check out the sound samples.

The upsides: stageworthily rugged, stereo output, two waveforms (progressive swell and square wave), and very wide speed and intensity ranges from slow and nearly imperceptible swell to all-out machine gun. On the sawtooth mode it had a tubier, smoother swell than the Voodoo. The only trem I heard that was more liquid-sounding (but had nowhere near the range) was the built-in on a '50s Electar combo amp.

[Steve Haynie]

Getting the "Hamer" of anything without paying a "boutique" price is going to be tough.

electro-harmonix pedals are usually impressive. Whether or not they make the best tremelo pedal is up to the user.

[cmatthes]

Getting the "Hamer" of anything without paying a "boutique" price is going to be tough.

Yeah - I was thinking more $350 Hamer ('80s/'90s era mentality) than the boo-tikey side of the coin!

[Disturber]

Yeah, I'm thinking the 90's Hamer prices more than the current ones.

The Guyatone seems exceptional. Probably hard to find used though. I've heard good about the Demeter and the prices are good.

I'll keep a look out for these as well as for the schaller TR316, or the older version. They are suposed to sound great.

[velorush]

I like using trem and bought a Fulltone Supatrem from Bloozguy. Can't say enough good things about it, but IIRC it was around $125 with the HFC discount. Right now I just use the tremolo on the TC Electronic Nova Modulator (versatile, and you can link the LFO to another modulation effect like phase or flange).

That said, there are a number of pros (including David Grissom) using Boss tremolos with fine results.

[JohnnyB]

Yeah, I'm thinking the 90's Hamer prices more than the current ones.

The Guyatone seems exceptional. Probably hard to find used though. I've heard good about the Demeter and the prices are good.

I'll keep a look out for these as well as for the schaller TR316, or the older version. They are suposed to sound great.

The Guyatone IS exceptional. I bought mine 13-14 yrs ago (about $259 then) so there's gotta be some used ones out there by now. The GC used center had another pedal from the Flip series (all Flips are tube-driven) for $159, so it's worth keeping an eye out for.

If you want that vintage shimmer, nothing else I've heard (including Voodoo) cops that vibe like this one.

For a cheap but musical trem, look at the Danelectro series and the Guyatone VT-3 from their micro series. They're rugged and sound good, though they don't have the selectable wave forms or the dual range of the VT-X. Still, I have a Guyatone micro reverb pedal from this series and it's very good.

[unfun75]

I like the Voodoo Lab 4-knob. It has a level control which is very helpful. Has that vintage compressed trem sound. Another awesome trem pedal is the Flickinger Vicious Cricket. Very unique in that it has touch sensitivity. Also has a squashed trem like the Voodoo Lab pedal. The Seymour Duncan Shape Shifter is cool if you're into chopping your notes into 1/4's and 1/8's. All three of these pedals can be had for under $150.

[mudshark]

DanElectro Tuna Melt

[tomteriffic]

I've had a Danelectro Tuna Melt knocking around in my pedalboard for several years now. Sounds great and has both sine and square waveforems available. It probably won't hold up to a 300 lb full-on smash, but I don't baby it and has held up fine. And it's hard to beat the price.

[kenjones]

Another vote for the Tuna Melt. You can buy them new for $35. I used one for years until one of the cheap, plastic pot shafts broke off. Didn't figure it was worth fixing. I use the Boss TR-2 now, but I think the Tuna Melt sounds better.

[Victor (Fret Friend)]

Bet you could grab a BOSS for $cheap. Can't sell BOSS for shit over here - I got a brand new MetalZone on eBay & it's only on £25 ($35+)...

[Disturber]

I found this one interesting. Sound clips sounds nice. The old Schaller/Höfner tremolo pedals are known for their warm, great tremolo sounds.

The price on this one is satisfying & Hamer friendly too

http://north-effects.co.uk/schimmer

[Disturber]

http://www.demeteramps.com/products/pedals/trm1.html

I got a great deal on a used TRM-1. It's a really old one too. Sounds great! Thanks for all the advice :-)

[JohnnyB]

http://www.demeteram...edals/trm1.html

I got a great deal on a used TRM-1. It's a really old one too. Sounds great! Thanks for all the advice :-)

If that's the trem Ry Cooder is using, that's a good trem! The sound clips sound spot-on for a good warm trem with lots of range. Enjoy your shimmer.