Best DIY Tremolo pedal

[Dave Z]

those of you whove built tremolo pedals, what's the design you thought worked best? Runoffgroove eatrem? Smallbear tremulous bear? any others?

thanks!

[DWBH]

There's Tremulus Lune, Pulsar, EAtrem....

I have the same doubt. Can't decide between these three above...

[mattpocket]

The tremulous lune is highly regarded by some veterans round here, although a lot of people go with the EA trem.... hit the sound samples hard and go from there...

Matt

[rubix cube]

I've not built the EAtrem, but of the other two I'd go for the Trem Lune.  Very clean sounding, you can set the gain for unity or above (or have a volume control for quite a bit of variable gain), and the LFO is extremely versatile.  I noticed that the Trem Lune has been updated recently on the commonsound website, so it varies very slightly from the tonepad project.

[QSQCaito]

Well.. this is the kinf of thread that is not that welcomed lately. This is the same as the "best fuzz ever" it's all relative, and there can be as many answers as users in this forum. It'd be better to ask what kind of tremolo you like, level of difficulty, etc.

The only I can say is that the tremulus lune is optical tremolo, and you can have almost as many knobs as you like(tonepad, i think). And a simple tremolo and very popular. The EA trem.


Bye bye, hope it helps

DAC

PS There's a thread about the brownface tremolo, which has been lately trying to reproduce. It's a mixture of trem with phase .. something like that.

[mattpocket]

At the risk of turning this into an OT argument I would say curb this thread now...

Nothing anyone can say will really ever* convince you that any one pedal is better than another... everyone wants something different, and the only way you can find out is by picking one yourself, doing the research, and playing around...

*within reason

edit: Some of the vets who have been here a long time, do not appreciate "best to build" threads like this, because there is simply so many that get started... some people enjoy a debate about the best pedal, others dont... noone can blame you for starting it though, it is a frustrating business trying to pick which one to build... we've all been there, but I think a lot of people have realised that the best option is to read build reports, reviews, etc... there are actually quite a few reviews of DIY pedals on harmony central for example, and try a search for "tremulous lune build report" or "ea trem build report" they will tell you a lot about the characters of the different pedals, and what problems might concern you in the build...

Hope that helps...

Matt

[The Tone God]

"Best" threads are pointless as there is no "best" only what is best for you so the question is self defeating. I'm sure this is not what the OP wants to hear as they are probably just trying to decided what to build. What would help in forming a better response would be some more information like what sound were looking for, what type of music you play, the level of complexity of the project, any specific features, etc.

Give as much information as possible when posting a question folks.

Andrew

[Shed_FX]

If you are looking for versatility..... Lovetone Wobulator is pretty cool. Just needs final debugging and final circuit board changes! 

(Should be done soon)

[jlullo]

i've only built the ea trem.... i think it sounds really really good, and is very warm sounding.  I'd highly recommend that pedal if you are looking for a simpler design with less versitility than a TL

[markm]

Built the "lune" for the hell-of-it and was never impressed by it.
I know I am in the minority about this but, along with the fact that it has too many knobs for me personally, it also seemed quite "sterile" to me and lacked and personality.
With that said, I cannot deny the popularity that the Trem Lune has amongst the members of the board here nor can anyone ignore it's versatility. If you're into getting ALOT of different effect from a Trem build, then the Lune is the one for you.
Me, I play Country & Western so, most of that outer-space hippie UFO sounding stuff doesn't quite do it for me!! 
Doesn't mean you won't like it though, I just happen to go for more of the Vintage-type vibe for a Spaghetti-Western sound....or Surf!
My faves ('til the BrownFace circuit evolves!  ) are these;

http://aronnelson.com/gallery/album76/ROG_EA_Tremelo_LAYOUT
http://aronnelson.com/gallery/album76/Hearthrob_Tremolo_LAYOUT

DISCLAIMER;  this is just MY opinion and does not mean any of these builds are better than any other!

[searoad]

im interested in the Hearthrob (thx mark!)

anyway for the "best"
u would like to try the sequenced tremolo
think of those zvex tremolo pedals and goatkeeper lightfoot tremolo
for diy project check the vanishing point sequencer

[oldrocker]

It's not the best but there's also the Kay Trem but it's not what most would recommend.  It's simple to build though.

[spudulike]

Demeter Tremulator.

[syndromet]

I love my Kay trem. Kind of dirty and very vintagy. Can go from ultra fast helicopter chop-sounds to great surf sounds.

[blanik]

actually, i'll renew the question with more presicion, i totaly love the tremolo on my Twin Reverb SF, i also have a trem on my old Peavey Classic 75 but it doesn't come close to the fender...

what tremolo circuit would be closest to the tremolo on my Fender Twin SF..?

is there a tremolo wich is a copy of the fender circuit? (except with some transistors instead of the tube)...

R.

[petemoore]

what tremolo circuit would be closest to the tremolo on my Fender Twin SF..?
  Perhaps exactly what a FTSF reverb is, does and schematic is available...
  The Lune is a full featured tremolo. Lots of LFO control, possibly more than you need, requiring a large or tight box, probably offers enough control to fairly replicate the twins lfo waveshape[s, but it's of course in a different position in the signal chain, and has other differences.
 

[Eric H]

actually, i'll renew the question with more presicion, i totaly love the tremolo on my Twin Reverb SF, i also have a trem on my old Peavey Classic 75 but it doesn't come close to the fender...

what tremolo circuit would be closest to the tremolo on my Fender Twin SF..?

is there a tremolo wich is a copy of the fender circuit? (except with some transistors instead of the tube)...

R.

I believe the EA comes very close to Fender trem-land. Mine is a very musical beast.

Memory tells me that RG had a transistor Fender-trem clone somewhere in the stygian depths of his website (mosfet based, and high-voltage, though) --you'll have to look for yourself, though 

-Eric

[Dave Z]

Well.. this is the kinf of thread that is not that welcomed lately. This is the same as the "best fuzz ever" it's all relative, and there can be as many answers as users in this forum. It'd be better to ask what kind of tremolo you like, level of difficulty, etc.

Well...what I said was "the design you thought worked best" - a bit different than my post's title suggested (but hey it's a title...) which I thought was clear enough but I'll clarify: a successful design is reasonable to build, reliable, AND sounds good.

Also I wanted to get an idea of what locales & projects were out there, all of you helped out there, thanks.

[squidsquad]

*Best* is a word to avoid....but here's a tidbit of info:  The EA trem is an easy build & has a nice *soft* sound.  Some wish it could get choppier/have more depth....but that is not it's strength.

[The Tone God]

Well...what I said was "the design you thought worked best" - a bit different than my post's title suggested (but hey it's a title...) which I thought was clear enough but I'll clarify: a successful design is reasonable to build, reliable, AND sounds good.

Better clarification is appreciated but there is one problem with that statement and that is the "sounds good" part. What is "good" is a subjective thing thus hard to give a clear answer instead opening up to opinions which may not match your own. We tend to be careful around here to not point someone's efforts toward a project they may not like so we do ask for what you had in mind to give a better idea of what to give suggests for. Trems come in many types. Hard, soft, fast, slow, warm, cold, vintage, modern, clear, smooth, swing, simple, complex, easy to build, tough, etc.

Another point is the "reliable" statement. Often IMHO reliability, while not exclusive to, has more to do with build quality then circuit design so that metric is hard to determine.

Andrew