Catalinbread Tremolo 8 Guitar Effects Pedal with 9V DC Center Negative Power Supply (Black)

The Catalinbread Tremolo 8 Guitar Effects Pedal is only scratching the surface. With eight unique programs, the Tremolo 8 shows you what volume modulation is truly capable of. 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 they started experimenting with more LFOs and more tremolo styles. The Catalinbread really likes the sound of tremolo splashing against a reverb like Magnatones or Vibro Champs, and previous work on the Topanga Burnside reflects this. At the same time, Catalinbread is a sucker for bigger, ethereal reverb, so they decided to add some trim-specific reverb algorithms and subtle tone control. After researching and implementing them to exhaustion, Catalinbread discovered that not all LFOs are created equal, and some are much more equal than others.

Controls

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 a chorus floating on top sounded too good to leave out. When working on Many Worlds, Catalinbread had so much fun with the envelope-controlled phase angle that he wanted something like that in here, so he 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.

Rate

Controls the speed of the term. There are exceptions based on your program take a look at the matrix below to see them.

Mix

Controls the wet/dry mix. Turn the knob clockwise to hear more effect and counterclockwise to hear less.

Space

Controls the parallel reverb mix except for Program 6, where it controls chorus depth.

Tone

In most programs, this is a high-pass filter that occurs between the trim and reverb sections, helping tighten up your sound before it hits deep space. Certain programs use this knob to perform program-specific functions.

Program

This is your program selector. Refer to the program matrix to see what each program does.

Internal Controls

If you unscrew the four screws on the back of the Tremolo 8 and remove the back plate, you will find an adjustable gain trimmer and a buffer switch. An adjustable gain trimmer adds more overall gain to your signal. Turning it up too far introduces distortion.

Buffer Switch

Catalinbread ships the Tremolo8 in buffered or trail mode, so long reverb trails do not cut off when you switch the pedal off. If you would like to change this, remove the back plate and switch it to True bypass.

Power Supply

The Tremolo 8 runs from 9 to 18 volts using a standard DC center-negative power supply for pedals. Make sure you are using a supply that provides at least 60 mA. Running the Tremolo 8 at 9 volts 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 18 volts. The Tremolo 8 does not run on batteries.