Catalinbread Tremolo 8 Pedal Catalinbread

In a past life, this project started as a pedal for our personal enjoyment; a digitized model of the Fender Showman’s “harmonic vibrato”. The experiment was a resounding success, so we started experimenting with more LFOs and more tremolo styles. we really like the sound of tremolo splashing against a reverb like Magnatones or Vibro Champs and our previous work on the Topanga Burnside reflects this. At the same time, we’re a sucker for bigger ethereal reverbs so we decided to add some trem-specific reverb algorithms and a subtle tone control. After researching and implementing them to exhaustion, we discovered that not all LFOs are created equal and some are much more equal than others. A sawtooth LFO leads to wild reverse-esque sonic manipulation and a fluttery compressed sound when set low. A square wave with a duty cycle control (“on” time) leads to a thumping, stuttering reverb sound, so why not turbocharge the square wave to a few kilohertz and churn out some wacky sum and difference frequencies? In a completely different program, trem modulation with chorus floating on top sounded too good to leave out. When working on the Many Worlds we had so much fun with the envelope-controlled phase angle that we wanted something like that in here, so we crafted an envelope-controlled trem rate with adjustable sensitivity and attack/decay, leading to head-spinning effects when letting chords ring out or when cranking some touch-sensitive solos.

The Tremolo8 runs from 9 to 18 volts using a standard DC center-negative power supply for pedals. Make sure you’re using a supply that provides at least 60mA. Running the Tremolo8 at 9V will sound great, but if you want a bit more output, a dry signal boost and increased headroom, try any voltage you like up to 18V! The Tremolo8 does not run on batteries.