Spotted a BOSS TR-2 Tremolo pedal in a local Crack Generators today, £30 which seemed reasonable but is the TR-2 capable of a "choppy" tremolo? on/off almost delay type sound.
Any other suggestions for cheap tremolo pedals?
Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2011 11:27 pm
by Freddy V-C
I have no experience of the Boss TR-2, but I got my Danelectro Tuna Melt for £15 from Progrockabuse and it does that harsh, choppy sound really well.
Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2011 11:29 pm
by benecol
It's a well thought of little trem; £30's a nice price too. Never had a go on one, so can't tell you how choppy it'd get though. I'd buy it off you if you didn't like it.
Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2011 11:40 pm
by lorez
Like benecol said, buy it and see if you don't like it flip it, I'll call 2nd dibs
I was looking for a choppy tremolo once and tried it but it wasn't as extreme as I was looking for though
Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2011 7:37 am
by johnnyseven
I have a TR2 with the Monte Allums mod, I think it's great. It will do square wave but I don't think it does the choppy sound you're after. Gor yhat price it's worth a punt though.
Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2011 7:38 am
by johnnyseven
I have a TR2 with the Monte Allums mod, I think it's great. It will do square wave but I don't think it does the choppy sound you're after. Gor yhat price it's worth a punt though.
Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2011 9:50 am
by Johno
I've had a TR-2 for years, great trem. I set it to about 4 o'clock on the rate & depth for a 'nuggets' type trem sound.
I also swapped out one of the resistors for a lesser value so it gives a bit of boost.
Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2011 10:28 am
by Bacchus
I loved the Tuna Melt when I had one, but couldn't live with the volume drop you'd get when you had the rate and depth up full and the switch set to square. I love that sort of granuley texture but I suppose a volume drop is just an unavoidable part of that.
Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2011 10:37 am
by Doog
It sounds like it does PRETTY "on/off"-y, check out 1:16 onwards here:
[youtube][/youtube]
Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2011 10:44 am
by johnnyseven
It has a knob which allows you to transition between triangular and square wave - which I thought gave a choppy sound. Someone once asked this same question on a forum (not sure if it was SS) and I replied that it did choppy sounds and someone disagreed with me and said that it didn't. I figured maybe my definition of choppy wasn't the same as other people's so I don't really know if it does that sound, but what I do know is that mine sounds great, if you get the Monte Allums mod he changes a few components out to improve the sound and adds a volume knob which is very useful.
Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2011 11:03 am
by Doog
Maybe it doesn't quite go 100% "chop"; there's still some signal audible when the wave is in the "off" position of its cycle.
The Tuna Melt is definitely pure ON/OFF in Hard mode, although it IS made by homophobes, or on behalf of them..
Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2011 11:39 am
by lorez
J7 I think it was to me when i was looking for something like the vox repeat percussion pedal and i did want that really hard chop ala spaceman 3. These are great pedals though and for £30 its a steal.
Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2011 12:05 pm
by jamba72
I had several Boss pedals but the fact that they all arent true bypass S U C K S . Just try 6 of them in line, you will hear the tone sucking..
I build all my favorite classic stompboxes by myself, Ibanez Tube Screamer, DOD Distortion, Fuzz Face, Tone Bender, Mesa Boogie Emulation, Tremolo is next..
about 30 euros each, with True Bypass, LED and neg ground.
Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2011 12:39 pm
by johnnyseven
jamba72 wrote:I had several Boss pedals but the fact that they all arent true bypass S U C K S . Just try 6 of them in line, you will hear the tone sucking..
I've just gone back to using a load of Boss pedals in my chain after having used a load of true bypass pedals for a long time and have found the opposite of this to be true, no tone sucking at all. You'll have much more of an issue using a run of true bypass pedals with no buffer at the start of the chain.
Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2011 12:59 pm
by Mike
BacchusPaul wrote:I loved the Tuna Melt when I had one, but couldn't live with the volume drop you'd get when you had the rate and depth up full and the switch set to square. I love that sort of granuley texture but I suppose a volume drop is just an unavoidable part of that.
Well some Tremolo pedals have an internal trim so you can even boost if you want to make your tremolo'd sound stand out, if that's your thing.
*ahem*
Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2011 1:17 pm
by Johno
Mike wrote:
BacchusPaul wrote:I loved the Tuna Melt when I had one, but couldn't live with the volume drop you'd get when you had the rate and depth up full and the switch set to square. I love that sort of granuley texture but I suppose a volume drop is just an unavoidable part of that.
Well some Tremolo pedals have an internal trim so you can even boost if you want to make your tremolo'd sound stand out, if that's your thing.
As a co incidence when I wrote my original post "how soon is now" was playing on the radio. I'm after something like that or just a smidgen more extreme.
I've considered building myself one after my success with the harmonic energizer, but the parts seem a little confusing. Plus if I had the cash I'd put an order in to Mike for one of his or maybe a custom dual with an echo base
Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2011 2:45 pm
by Mike
Johno wrote:
Mike wrote:
BacchusPaul wrote:I loved the Tuna Melt when I had one, but couldn't live with the volume drop you'd get when you had the rate and depth up full and the switch set to square. I love that sort of granuley texture but I suppose a volume drop is just an unavoidable part of that.
Well some Tremolo pedals have an internal trim so you can even boost if you want to make your tremolo'd sound stand out, if that's your thing.
rps-10 wrote:As a co incidence when I wrote my original post "how soon is now" was playing on the radio. I'm after something like that or just a smidgen more extreme.
I've considered building myself one after my success with the harmonic energizer, but the parts seem a little confusing. Plus if I had the cash I'd put an order in to Mike for one of his or maybe a custom dual with an echo base
Alas the Echo Base board is large. It don't share a bed with noone. Plus that would be 10 knobs.
TEN KNOBS.
Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2011 3:21 pm
by timhulio
The EA tremolo sounds good and has a boost. I built Stacey one. Personally, I prefer the sound of the Schaller tremolo. However I've had it on my board for two years and I've yet to find a use for tremolo in a song!
