The Vagabond Tremolo embellishes upon one of the most tried and true effects of all time. Tremolo with vintage personality fused with added depth, more speed and more control.
In the simplest terms tremolo modulates volume. This definition doesn’t exude the inflection of wah, the blunt weaponry of fuzz, or the obvious psychedelic ramifications of echo. In spite of the boring definition, tremolo is a defining sound of so many classic songs and artists. Like many other things in music the early classic designs were imperfect, and those imperfections made them what they were. It made them interesting.
Harmonic and Bias Tremolo
Bias Tremolos, like some Fender black face amps create subtle distortions and alter frequency response. Harmonic tremolos, like the older brown face amps weren’t really tremolo at all. They were cross fade effects between high and low-pass filters. Because of the phase shift in the filters, they often have subtle hints of phaser or vibrato.
Both of these tremolo styles use a large bias voltage added to your guitar signal to modulate the volume. (bias tremolos in the power amp and harmonic tremolos in the preamp) The only reason that you don’t hear this added signal is because the LFO is below frequencies our ears can hear. In fact, if you take the grill cloth off the amp you’ll see the speaker moving in rhythm with the effect.
This creates some limitations in these types of effects. If the LFO went any faster you’d hear low frequency hum. If you’ve used bias tremolo before you’ve surely noticed that some sound is always audible. The volume never completely turns to zero. If it went any deeper you’d hear a popping sound as tubes turn completely off.
Tube amp LFOs also had a limited range. Most tube amp LFOs use a phase shift oscillator employing a single triode. This setup doesn’t work over a large frequency range. It can be extended with triode stages and a multigang potentiometer, but this was a time when tubes were at a premium and everything was wired by hand. Most amp companies would opt for simple rather than anything seeming unnecessarily or complicated.
Essential Features
We’ve built a name for ourselves in modulation effects, but tremolo has been notably absent from our effects lineup. This wasn’t for the lack of trying. We went down that rabbit hole many times. Attempting to pair the effect with DLX pedal controls schemes was a common theme. After a while the extra features felt unnecessary. We’d end up bypassing the effect and using the tremolo on the Princeton Reverb we test all new ideas on.
We added the one interesting feature from our tremolo experiments with the Prometheus DLX control scheme: Envelope speed control.
We included a volume control so you there’s no need to worry about the inherent perceived volume loss with tremolos.
Broad modulation range range, going faster and deeper than a tube based circuit ever could. The Vagabond gets near square wave modulation with the maximum intensity setting, and in bias mode cuts the volume down to zero for maximum throb.
While the Vagabond is the first Subdecay tremolo it has been developed through experimentation and exploration of ideas over many years. This time we are excited. We think you will be too!
Warranty & Returns
All New products are covered by the manufacturers new warranty. Please check their website for the length of warranty and warranty conditions. If an item you receive is faulty get in touch with us ASAP. Second Hand products come with a 4 week warranty from us. If there is an issue let us know ASAP! This covers normal use and does not cover accidental damage, misuse, wrong power plugged into it, modding, water damage or any other damage caused by mistreatment. Just treat it nice and all will be good!
Shipping
We send A LOT of packages every week so don't worry about the shipping side of things!
We've never lost a thing and your awesome new gear will be packed up really well to avoid any damage in transit.
If your order comes in before 2pm we will ship it same day. Most of the time we pack things up all the way to 4pm so just call if you need it to leave same day after 2pm.
We ship mainly with Australia Post but may use a courier depending on location and size of the package.
Free Post ships with Australia Post standard and expected shipping times are between 4-6 business days depending on location. It will be longer to outside of metro and rural areas.
Express Post will usually be with you next business day in metro areas of QLD, NSW, SA, VIC and TAS. WA will take 2 days to metro and extra days after that to out side metro and rural areas.
Everything we ship has a tracking number with the exception of some power cables and smaller envelope packages. You will be emailed tracking once your order has been shipped!
Videos
The Vagabond Tremolo embellishes upon one of the most tried and true effects of all time. Tremolo with vintage personality fused with added depth, more speed and more control.
In the simplest terms tremolo modulates volume. This definition doesn’t exude the inflection of wah, the blunt weaponry of fuzz, or the obvious psychedelic ramifications of echo. In spite of the boring definition, tremolo is a defining sound of so many classic songs and artists. Like many other things in music the early classic designs were imperfect, and those imperfections made them what they were. It made them interesting.
Harmonic and Bias Tremolo
Bias Tremolos, like some Fender black face amps create subtle distortions and alter frequency response. Harmonic tremolos, like the older brown face amps weren’t really tremolo at all. They were cross fade effects between high and low-pass filters. Because of the phase shift in the filters, they often have subtle hints of phaser or vibrato.
Both of these tremolo styles use a large bias voltage added to your guitar signal to modulate the volume. (bias tremolos in the power amp and harmonic tremolos in the preamp) The only reason that you don’t hear this added signal is because the LFO is below frequencies our ears can hear. In fact, if you take the grill cloth off the amp you’ll see the speaker moving in rhythm with the effect.
This creates some limitations in these types of effects. If the LFO went any faster you’d hear low frequency hum. If you’ve used bias tremolo before you’ve surely noticed that some sound is always audible. The volume never completely turns to zero. If it went any deeper you’d hear a popping sound as tubes turn completely off.
Tube amp LFOs also had a limited range. Most tube amp LFOs use a phase shift oscillator employing a single triode. This setup doesn’t work over a large frequency range. It can be extended with triode stages and a multigang potentiometer, but this was a time when tubes were at a premium and everything was wired by hand. Most amp companies would opt for simple rather than anything seeming unnecessarily or complicated.
Essential Features
We’ve built a name for ourselves in modulation effects, but tremolo has been notably absent from our effects lineup. This wasn’t for the lack of trying. We went down that rabbit hole many times. Attempting to pair the effect with DLX pedal controls schemes was a common theme. After a while the extra features felt unnecessary. We’d end up bypassing the effect and using the tremolo on the Princeton Reverb we test all new ideas on.
We added the one interesting feature from our tremolo experiments with the Prometheus DLX control scheme: Envelope speed control.
We included a volume control so you there’s no need to worry about the inherent perceived volume loss with tremolos.
Broad modulation range range, going faster and deeper than a tube based circuit ever could. The Vagabond gets near square wave modulation with the maximum intensity setting, and in bias mode cuts the volume down to zero for maximum throb.
While the Vagabond is the first Subdecay tremolo it has been developed through experimentation and exploration of ideas over many years. This time we are excited. We think you will be too!
Warranty & Returns
All New products are covered by the manufacturers new warranty. Please check their website for the length of warranty and warranty conditions. If an item you receive is faulty get in touch with us ASAP. Second Hand products come with a 4 week warranty from us. If there is an issue let us know ASAP! This covers normal use and does not cover accidental damage, misuse, wrong power plugged into it, modding, water damage or any other damage caused by mistreatment. Just treat it nice and all will be good!
Shipping
We send A LOT of packages every week so don't worry about the shipping side of things!
We've never lost a thing and your awesome new gear will be packed up really well to avoid any damage in transit.
If your order comes in before 2pm we will ship it same day. Most of the time we pack things up all the way to 4pm so just call if you need it to leave same day after 2pm.
We ship mainly with Australia Post but may use a courier depending on location and size of the package.
Free Post ships with Australia Post standard and expected shipping times are between 4-6 business days depending on location. It will be longer to outside of metro and rural areas.
Express Post will usually be with you next business day in metro areas of QLD, NSW, SA, VIC and TAS. WA will take 2 days to metro and extra days after that to out side metro and rural areas.
Everything we ship has a tracking number with the exception of some power cables and smaller envelope packages. You will be emailed tracking once your order has been shipped!
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