Build Your Own Clone Tremolo Clone

Very easy to dial in the sound you want. Controls are nice and simple, only depth and speed.

Construction manual is good.

Since it's home built I'm sure there's some variation in sound quality......

Used mostly with a Squire strat and Ibanez AFS hollow body electric, various amps, Crate G40C and a homebrew tube amp.

Not noisy unless you get the interal level pot set wrong when you set it up.

So far so good, again all depends on your build quality.

Seems good so far. If you read the bulitin board posts on their websites you can find the answer to just about any question you have.

Used for Rock/Blues/Alternative, works well for me.

Playing on and off for the last 15 years.

I would consider building another one if this one got stolen.

Love the sound, like it set pretty slow with the depth just about all the way up. Hate the fact I have to build it to get it at a price that I want to pay.

I built mine from scratch, just bought only the board from BYOC, sourced all the parts myself from their parts list (Mouser, and a couple of others) saved a ton of cash that way. The whole build cost me about $30.

Very good pedal for the money and time I spent on it. Nice quality board.

I think that the speed range covers a good range. Goes faster than I will ever use. Some days I wish the speed would go slower and or deeper depth. Wish I could choose between triangle wave and square wave. Wish I had a Leslie cabinet instead of a pedal.....but then I'm just dreaming.....

2 knobs, very easy to figure out

No added noise, just vintage-style tremelo with true bypass. I tried Demeter, Boss, T-Rex, etc and this one was cheaper and smaller, AND yes, better.

Built it myself, it's never failed. I use it a LOT. Top-notch components.

Via their forum, they will help you if you have trouble building it. this pedal is extremely easy to build - it took me about an hour.

I play rock, I have about 40 pedals. I would have to build this again if it were lost or stolen, for sure. It's completely transparent, doesn't add ANY noise. You just set the internal trimpot for unity gain and don't ever think about it again. The T-Rex sounded good, but it took up too much space for a simple trem pedal, and cost 3x what I paid for this. I call this my 'talent boost'. It's a great pedal, I use it constantly. At the time I bought it, it cost like $65, but I think they've raised their prices. Still, what a deal!

Very easy to use - two controls: Speed & Depth. There's also an internal trimpot that let's you set the output volume for when effect is switched on, so that the perceived volume is the same either on or off.

This is a build-it-yourself kit: the PDF instructions are easy to follow & it's simple to build with some basic soldering skills and a bit of patience.

It's a clone of the EA (Electronics Australia) Tremolo & I used it with a Gibson Les Paul & a Fender Strat into a Fender valve amp. I was a bit disappointed with it & eventually sold it. The speed didn't go slow enough for me & although others have said it sounds like an old Fender tremolo I don't agree - it doesn't have that slightly lopsided sound & there isn't enough depth.

I also don't agree that you can get the 'Bang Bang' or 'Money' sound sfrom it - again there isn't sufficient depth to the sound.

This is a simple pedal, so no choice of wave form. It's also true bypass.

The components are good & the jacks are chassis-mounted (unlike the crappy PCB-mounted ones on most mass-produced pedals) so it's as reliable as you build it!

Great forum on the BYOC website.

Well as I wrote above, I just sold mine, so I'm still looking for the perfect tremolo (which I think is probably only possible with an old Fender valve amp, as the sound of valve amp tremolo is unique). Next on my list are the Fulltone & Demeter pedals.

Build is super easy - no ICs or anything!

The controls are straightforward - set and forget internal volume, speed, depth. Getting a good sound is simple because they're all good.

Flashing LED is a nice feature for setting the rate silently.

This is the only effect between my Rickenbacker 325 and an old silver-side Peavey amp. They're is (maybe) a small amount of hiss, but it's hard to tell. As I said, one could randomly set the knobs and always find a great tone. It sounds almost exactly like the trem on old Fender amps and has a wide variety of speed and depth. Another nice feature is a bit of dead space at the bottom of the depth knob - this lets you get the bare buffer circuit sound, which is useful for a bit of boost or compression.
Think of the sound on "Bang, Bang" - that's what this pedal nails.

The circuit is so simple and the case so durable, I doubt it could break. A nice benefit of DIY is learning the circuit inside out - even if it breaks, you can fix it!

Didn't need to.

I play fifties and sixties style music (Beatles and rockabilly) as well as original stuff. Been playing for 12 years and owned dozens of pedals. I compared this to other trems in the 40-80 dollar range and ultimately chose this because of its reputation and extreme simplicity. I would pick it again in a heartbeat. The only thing it doesn't have is a means of selecting the waveform.

There isn't a better trem in this price range, period.

Very easy to use and quite easy to build as well.

I love the sound of this classic EA tremolo. I made mine about three years ago and it rrelaced a Demeter Tremulator, Fulltone Supa-Trem , Diaz Tremodillo and a Boss tr2.
Very quiet. It's a triangle wave, so it has a very tube amp feel to it. It doesn't do the square wave chop thing but I don't need that.

It's been going without incident for three years

Keith at BYOC is very good and responds to queriesquickly.

It sits very well in the mix.

this is the first pedal i have ever built. it is very easy to build if you can read and solder. the pdf instructions are very easy to follow. 2 knobs and on/off switch was all i wanted. simple like the old fender amp vibrato. small size box like mxr pedal so it doesn't take much pedalboard realestate.

i use this with humbuck and single coil guitars. it does add a slight hiss when on, and with the depth up it obviously pulses with the speed. the sound quality is second to none. i use a dr z amp. this pedal is second to last in my pedal chain before the delay. it can easily do CCR type trem or david gilmour like in "money".

i built it and soldered it, so i suppose the reliability is self inflicted. i do gig without a backup. as i said first time build and worked perfectly first time.

the web site is great with the discussion forum. shipping was fast. my kit was missing a resistor, but i had one, so no big deal.

i play in a country/ southern rock band. been playing 25 yrs. i have the best gear and wanted something unique. I really enjoyed building the pedal but moreso painting and labeling the case. all the sounds are usable. i looked at and seriously considered demeter, fulltone and other trems, but decided to save $ and have some fun. i also wanted to experience first hand how to build something like this. if you want to mod it, there are several ideas on web site. it was easy. get one.

2 knobs. So easy it's scary.
That is, of course, once you've built the pedal. I got this kit from the BYOC dealer in the UK. I'm very inexperienced in soldering and electronic and I was able to put this thing tigether in an hour or so. And it worked the first time!

It sounds absolutely gorgeous! Classic, no noncense, sweet tremolo on tap. VERY quiet. It reminds me of the tremolo in my '63 RI Fender Vibroverb wich is about the best tremolo I have ever heard.
There's an internal trimpot so you can set the volume to taste. Really helps that feeling of volume drop when the pedal is on. I highly recommend this tremolo to everyone into that classic sound.

Only had it for a week or two. Anything that might go wrong would be on behalf of my own building skills. Not worried at all though.

Good website! www.buildyourownclone.com
I don't recall the guys name right now, Keith? Anyway, he's really fast when answering questions and he is also very helpful. I will no doubt order from him again.

I play rock/pop in the style of The Band. Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Chris Isaak and others. This pedal absolutely nails the classic tremolo sounds I need. I won't do wacky or extreme sounds but it exells in tastefulness. Great twang man! Also I got it at about half the price of the Voodoo Labs tremolo wich I believe to be in the same range both quality and soundwise.

This is DEAD EASY to get a good tone out of. I am truly amazed...in the last few months I have bought and returned or sold again a Fulltone Supra-Trem (sold again, slight loss, new owner is very happy with it though), Demeter tremolo (returned), and I still have my Nobels TR-X.

This thing suits me WAY better than the others. It reminds me of my old Gibson Starfires' built-in trem. This tremolo fades in and out instead of abruptly going from one to the other. It is a DIY kit, though BYOC offers also to build it for you. It was fairly easy to build...although you DO have to think, plan ahead, read the web pages.

Negatives (which I think are changing) is the web pages are too big (JPEG) to print out on one sheet per image...you lose info. They said they are changing this...we hobbyists usually don't build the things right in front of the PC so it is important.

Also the hole for the DC supply in was too small. I had to make it bigger. No big deal, but if I hadn't just bought a good many sizes hole drill I would have been out of luck.

Have to be really careful in building this, but my rating is for the ease of use of the finished unit. REALLY easy to get a good sound out of..and really responsive controls, and not too many of them (a feature I didn't like about the TR-X...too many parameters).

Also since you build it yourself, you can mod it without fear. They have a few mods for adjusting speed range, etc.

There is a trimpot for adjusting volume when engaged.

This pedal is true-bypass, completely! (i.e. no circuit hanging on the other line...straight through cable when not engaged)

I just built it tonight (I know...honeymoon and all, but I am really sure about this) I have played it through my practice amp and I couldn't stop playing. I was getting "swamp" blues, I got James Bond sounds, got (by playing with the depth) excellent "Wind Cries Mary" vibey sounds out of it.

The DEPTH control on this is just phenomenal. It is perfectly set to let you go from no trem, to just a touch, to noticeable, to severe.

The SPEED control can be a little touchy. But for me it covers all bases...the slower speeds are just rich and good, the faster I usually turn the depth down so it isn't too frantic.

This is the pedal I've been looking for, have had three other trem units, as well as a built-in...this is the best one I have played.

I built it...if it breaks I can fix it. I am pretty good with solder wick, and the only minuses are jst that I would have to buy/find parts...like the standoffs.

I give this good marks though, because it is well thought out, and it is up to you to make sure all solder joints are solid, etc.

They've been responsive, though I didn't have any big issues after receiving the kit.

I LOVE this thing. It is permanent on my pedal board.