Aceman
I am your doctor of love!
Jesus forgives you.
Who is rocking the new Fender line of pedals?
- Thread starter Aceman
- Start date
Jesus forgives you.
Well, that's reason enough. :/
dystrust
Well-known member
I could, but I'd be lying. The '65 photo setting on the Flint sounds virtually identical to the Tremulator, or a '65 DRRI FWIW; you also get '61 harm and '63 tube settings. On my main board I usually use '63 tube; it sounds like the trem in a Vox AC-30 or Marshall Bluesbreaker.
It's really hard to tell the FRV-1 apart from the '60s reverb setting on the Flint. Back when you could get them for $70-100 used, the FRV was a great value. These days they're going for $150-200, and there are lots of comparable (and more versatile) options at that price point.
The TR-2 isn't a bad pedal, but it's definitely a "jack of all trades, master of none" tremolo. It'll do lots of crazy wave forms that the Flint won't, but it has serious shortcomings if you want it to sound like the trem in a vintage amp. The issues are more related to feel than sound, and they probably wouldn't come across unless you designed your demo to highlight them. All of the trem settings on the Flint are very dynamic and amp-like; if you were playing a Twin or Deluxe you'd have a hard time telling the '65 photo / '60s reverb setting apart from the reverb and trem built into the amp. Meanwhile the TR-2 seems to have this subtle always-on compressor that just squashes the dynamics of anything you play through it. I used to run FRV-1 -> TR-2 and the TR-2's shortcomings were immediately apparent the first time I plugged the Flint into my rig. I'm not saying that the TR-2 sounds bad, it just doesn't sound and feel all that natural or amp-like.
Dave Locher
New member
Here is my thing with these pedals: they are made in China.
As far as I am concerned as soon as a company decides to produce their product in China their comparable products becomes Joyo and Caline, not Strymon or Analogman. So these pedals are not just pricey, they are insanely priced.
Not trying to start any sort of political argument, just saying these seem like MIC Squiers at an American Fender price.
As far as I am concerned as soon as a company decides to produce their product in China their comparable products becomes Joyo and Caline, not Strymon or Analogman. So these pedals are not just pricey, they are insanely priced.
Not trying to start any sort of political argument, just saying these seem like MIC Squiers at an American Fender price.
Aceman
I am your doctor of love!
That might explain all my Mooer pedals...
Aceman
I am your doctor of love!
What cracks me up about this statement, and it isn't you personally, is all of the Tremolo Cork Sniffers.
Like 99.6% of them are all out there doing stuff that a Dano Tuna Melt couldn't handle. I know that of which I speak. See "Where my pedals sleep"
dystrust
Well-known member
I can't say I really followed this... Did you mean they're doing things a Tuna Melt could do?
You've got a pretty impressive tremolo collection, but have you ever played a Flint? I've owned a Flint and TR-2 for years, so I'm pretty familiar with both of them. Prior to the TR-2 I had a Demeter Tremulator, but sold it like a moron. I went and tried another one, but it didn't sound the same as I remembered. Prior to buying the Tremulator, I auditioned the Fulltone, Diaz, and Voodoo Labs tremolos but didn't really care for them. Generally speaking I gravitate toward a Vox / Marshall style tremolo and the Flint is the best example I've come across to date.
Dave Locher
New member
It's not a question of quality, but of price. They produce them in China because it is cheap to do so, then price them as if that is not a factor. I have a Caline pedal and a Danelectro. I have had a couple Joyos and Mooers. They sound great but they were all very inexpensivr. Their dirt boxes are much higher in price than Catalinbread, EQD, JHS, etc. I feel like Fender, Inc is trying to sell me a Joyo R for the price of an Analogman or Strymon. That's all. If the prices were cut in half I'd be excited about them.
You are probably not the only one that feels that way. They are certainly allowed to charge what they want, but we have the freedom to shake our heads and move on, too.
Aceman
I am your doctor of love!
#Alltremololivesmatter
I have never played a Flint - but I have read and seen enough to know it is a top notch box.
And yes - I'm saying that a Tuna Melt COULD do most of what people do with one anyway. People are surprisingly uncreative. Not all - but 99.6%....I understand that people prefer their bias lopsidedness from this or that amp, or opt or harmonic etc...but again, that is because like you, they seek a simple amp tremolo sound.
PFDarkside
of the Forum
Does anyone know if Strymon builds their own pedals in house? Owning, running and maintaining SMT machines is pricey at the volumes that guitar pedals sell. That can be a contributing factor to cost.
Its interesting to see how each of the “boutique” companies builds pedals. Analogman was one of the first and is still hand building with through hole components. Earthquaker started like this but is now doing through hole on a more mass produced scale. Wampler went through both phases and Brian has mentioned he wants to design pedals, not run a electronics manufacturing company, so he transistioned all his designs to SMT and outsourced the building to Boutique Amps Distribution. (The company that builds Morgan, Friedman, Toneking Soldano, etc.)
The really interesting thing is nothing says you can’t get the same quality from a factory in China as from the US. One difference is contract vs. direct (presumably with Josh of JHS overseeing his production it’s one step closer) and of course original designs vs direct clones, whatever that means in the pedal world now. You can probably run a shadow pedal company pretty easily now, just order off the menu that Donner, Mooer and Amazon all do, get your logo screened and boom, you are now a pedal company!
PFDarkside
of the Forum
My favorite two features of the Shape Shifter are tap with subdivisions and the Shape control that lets you move the peak of the wave. Just a little tweak really makes it sound like an amp to me.
Well, I bought a Smolder Acoustic OD today. I was surprised to find that it was made in China and a little disappointed once considering the cost. However, it is a super solid build with excellent fit and finish and the pots, jacks and switch are all very substantial.
The actual effect is pretty great too. Played through my SWR California Blonde it really nails what I was looking for, which is extra harmonic content and sustain with ragged edges. It retains the sound of individual strings while strumming barre chords without creating a wall of noise and plays well with other pedals too.
There is much more to experiment with so I'll stop there for now but so far, my takeaway is that the Smolder is superior to every single OD pedal I have run my Martin through.
The actual effect is pretty great too. Played through my SWR California Blonde it really nails what I was looking for, which is extra harmonic content and sustain with ragged edges. It retains the sound of individual strings while strumming barre chords without creating a wall of noise and plays well with other pedals too.
There is much more to experiment with so I'll stop there for now but so far, my takeaway is that the Smolder is superior to every single OD pedal I have run my Martin through.
Aceman
I am your doctor of love!
I agree that tap is nice, but it is a convenience.
And as for "mimicking" the trem on an amp - if that was really your goal, you bought a tremolo in line with that amp in the first place. And most amps try to cop the Fender vibe anyway.
Like I said - the number of people that really do that....I need tap this beat and match a Vox warble exactly, and then change it to Fender....not enough to justify one brand making those features, let alone all the people who do. Not hating - just saying 90%+ of all Tremolo I have ever heard could be handled by the Tuna Melt.
But more Tremolos is more tremolos, and cool features are cool. And yeah - I love playing with bias knobs and such!
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GuitarStv
Sock Market Trader
I used to think that a tap tempo was an amazing idea for a tremolo . . . but over the years it seems like tap is kinda pointless. None of the drummers I play with keep a beat perfectly enough to allow me to keep the trem in sync with them. A trem that's slightly out of sync with the drums/bass is infinitely worse to my ears than one that's way out of sync for some reason.
GuitarStv
Sock Market Trader
Yeah . . . but if you're recording it doesn't take any extra time to just pause for a second and twist the knob to line up the trem with the beat.
Powdered Toast Man
New member
I've got the Tre-Verb! I used to have one of the Boss FRV-1 pedals but I replaced it with the Tre-Verb. It does all what the former reverb did and it's also a tremolo pedal.
Does it sound great? Absolutely yes.
Who is this aimed at: Players who like simple amp-style reverb and tremolo. No it's not going to give you all the sky's the limit options of some of the fancier reverbs on the market. If you like spring reverb and fewer knobs to deal with then you'll like this. There are significant differences in the modes as well. The 63 is very bright and washy. The 65 sounds pretty much like the onboard spring reverb on a Fender amp. And they have a plate setting which sounds pretty good too. I generally keep the settings fairly low as it can get pretty splashy.
The tremolo has the three types that have shown up on Fender amps. Opto-coupler style (choppy Blackface amp), tube-bias style (smaller BF and brown amps), and harmonic vibrato (Brownface Super). I actually owned a brown 1960 Super and was able to compare it's harmonic vibrato with the Tre-Verb's version. They didn't sound exactly the same, but that could be due to a number of reasons - like which particular amp did Fender model the pedal after? Were the components in my amp's trem circuit all exactly on-spec? They were pretty close though. The tube-bias trem sounds fantastic. Again, this isn't one of those "Swiss army knife" trem pedals with every option under the sun. If you like Fender amp tremolo - then here you go.
One of the really cool features is a little switch on the back of the pedal which allows you to switch the order of the effects in the unit. So you can have reverb before tremolo (as it would be on an actual Fender amp) or you can put the reverb after the tremolo.
As far as construction is concerned, everything about the pedal screams high quality. I know Fender's previous efforts at effects pedals have been underwhelming, but this new series really seems like they're going ALL IN. The enclosure is brushed aluminum. It feels SOLID. There's a good weight to the unit. All the knobs and switches feel high quality. Oh, and the LED light up indicators on the knobs - how has no one done this before? It's AWESOME. But, if you're old and/or no fun you can disable the lights with a simple switch on the back. I've owned the Tre-Verb since March 2020 and I've had zero issues with it so far.
Of note: The Tre-Verb cannot run on battery power. There's no battery compartment. The power draw on it is 500ma so be aware it needs some juice.
Does it sound great? Absolutely yes.
Who is this aimed at: Players who like simple amp-style reverb and tremolo. No it's not going to give you all the sky's the limit options of some of the fancier reverbs on the market. If you like spring reverb and fewer knobs to deal with then you'll like this. There are significant differences in the modes as well. The 63 is very bright and washy. The 65 sounds pretty much like the onboard spring reverb on a Fender amp. And they have a plate setting which sounds pretty good too. I generally keep the settings fairly low as it can get pretty splashy.
The tremolo has the three types that have shown up on Fender amps. Opto-coupler style (choppy Blackface amp), tube-bias style (smaller BF and brown amps), and harmonic vibrato (Brownface Super). I actually owned a brown 1960 Super and was able to compare it's harmonic vibrato with the Tre-Verb's version. They didn't sound exactly the same, but that could be due to a number of reasons - like which particular amp did Fender model the pedal after? Were the components in my amp's trem circuit all exactly on-spec? They were pretty close though. The tube-bias trem sounds fantastic. Again, this isn't one of those "Swiss army knife" trem pedals with every option under the sun. If you like Fender amp tremolo - then here you go.
One of the really cool features is a little switch on the back of the pedal which allows you to switch the order of the effects in the unit. So you can have reverb before tremolo (as it would be on an actual Fender amp) or you can put the reverb after the tremolo.
As far as construction is concerned, everything about the pedal screams high quality. I know Fender's previous efforts at effects pedals have been underwhelming, but this new series really seems like they're going ALL IN. The enclosure is brushed aluminum. It feels SOLID. There's a good weight to the unit. All the knobs and switches feel high quality. Oh, and the LED light up indicators on the knobs - how has no one done this before? It's AWESOME. But, if you're old and/or no fun you can disable the lights with a simple switch on the back. I've owned the Tre-Verb since March 2020 and I've had zero issues with it so far.
Of note: The Tre-Verb cannot run on battery power. There's no battery compartment. The power draw on it is 500ma so be aware it needs some juice.
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