James Demeter Introduced the Tremulator, his first production pedal, some 30 years ago. The new Plus version incorporates features that make it a more flexible tremolo, while it retains the analog, optical-based circuitry that was key to the original’s lovely sound.
Housed in a plus-size metal enclosure, the unit reveals hand-wired connections to the jacks, pots, LEDs and footswitch. There’s also a small circuit board that grips the caps, resistors, socket-mounted ICs and VTL5C1 opto-coupler — the heart of the tremolo if you will. Power comes from either a nine-volt battery (you have to remove the bottom plate to access it) or the adapter of your choice. It’s a very tidy package, built in what Demeter dubs his “barn” in Templeton, California.
The Tremulator Plus greatly expands on the control set of the standard two-knob Tremulator by offering depth and speed controls, as well as knobs for wave (normal, square and triangle), bias (just a trimpot on the original Tremulator) and gain. The waveshape selections all offer nicely textured volume modulation, and while I mostly used the normal wave, because it feels so much like classic Fender “vibrato,” there’s plenty to like from the other settings. Triangle reminds me of some old amps I’ve played that bias-shifted the output tubes to create tremolo, and square delivers a staccato modulation that’s cool for accenting breaks, endings and so on. The neat thing is that since the wave selector is actually a potentiometer with a trio of detents, you can find in-between positions (such as when moving from normal to square) that yield intriguing hybrid sounds as one waveshape morphs into the next. The speed range is entirely useable (an LED blinks in time with the rate), and the gain control is handy for adding a little boost to the