Demeter TRM-1 Tremulator

I got my Tremulator second hand and it's been on my pedal board for several years now. It's very easy to use as it only has two knobs and little hole on the side for tweakage. Taking the screws out to change the battery is a little annoying and the two pieces of the pedal don't come apart easily, but that can be overcome by an external power source. You gotta use the Dunlop type plug though. Once it's in place on your board there aren't any issues.

It sounds like the trem on a mid-'60s Twin Reverb except it can go faster, slower, deeper, etc.-thus I guess it earns its sex toy name. As a fan of Bo Diddley, Link Wray and John Fogerty it doesn't get any better than this. The pedal also has a slight boost built in so it doesn't loose volume when engaged (it doesn't really gain any either). This is a plus compared to the many pedals that loose volume when you turn them on. You can also set the knobs to zero and use it as a slight volume boost too. It's completely quiet too.

Built like a brick. I've used mine professionally for several years with no issues whatsoever.

I've heard nothing but good things from both live sound engineers and studio engineers about Demeter's quality of service (and goods). I can't say first hand 'cuz I haven't needed them.

I've been playing guitar for 31 years. 25 of those have been either professionally or semi-pro. In that time I've owned all sortsa guitars, amps and pedals. It's rare I come across a piece of gear that I have no issues with. This is one of them.

Only two controls (three with the pot) so very easy. Manual not very helpful, but its not really needed anyway. Lower rating because of sound quality (see below).

I always try pedals just by themselves in the setup to check the functionality. I plugged in, turned the depth all the way up and BLAM. Nothing. The faintest hint of a signal coming through. If you turn the depth down to about 8/9 o'clock then you are almost back to a decent volume, but only with a very slight tremolo. I was so dissapointed i nearly considered taking it back. I set up my effects and put my dod440 Envelope filter after the tremulator and suddenly, one of the most fantastic guitar sounds ever poured out. I'm not sure of the mechanics, but my dod440 made this pedal spring into life and give a simply beautiful fluttering tremelo. It was worth it just for this sound alone, so i was instantly converted. Don't expect fireworks from this pedal by itself, but I'm sure a few other pedals would coax this one out of its shell. Marvellous. One mark off for the stand-alone sound.

Seems tough enough.

Never needed.

A great sound once you've discovvered which pedals work best,

2005 Demeter Tremulator has 3 controls. One pot controls the speed/rate, one controls the depth/intensity and a mini trim pot accessable from the side with a small screwdriver controls the softness/hardness of the effect. It's fairly easy to dial in a vintage tremolo sound, but the hole for the mini pot is a little off center, making fine tuning a bit of a pain. CAUTION You have to be careful adjusting the minipot, as you could easily damage it with too much force. It also uses the Dunlop mini plug adaptor for power(Why not use the standard Boss style?) Nice compact MXR size box. If the bias control was a regular pot and it had a Boss adaptor plug I would rate it a 10.

I use this with my bass rig and other effects for some nice swampy and funky grooves. Fender and Modulus basses into EBS Multicomp-EBS Octabass-Ring Dinger-EBS IQ envelope-MXR EVH Phase 90-Tremulator- Eden Amps-Eden/Mesa Boogie cabs. Plays well with all the other effects and doesn't colour the original bass tones. This is a real musical effect,I don't use it alot but it really shines on some of the selected blues grooves I use it on. Great in combination with the Phase 90 and EBS IQ (extra liquid funk). There is suppose to be a slight volume boost built into the pedal but I don't find it to be louder, but instead it compensates for the tremolo effect and makes it's use seem seamless. Only 2 concerns when the effect is on is that you can hear the throb of the tremolo slighty when not playing (not a biggie) BUT when used with a cabinet with tweeters there is a slight hiss, without the tweeter it's not noticable. I rate it 8 with tweeters, 9 without.

Heavy duty metal box, heavy duty footswitch,looks very well built.

Never dealt with the company direct.

I was looking for a different modulation effect to use on bass and tremolo can give you some nice throbby, swampy sounds. The Demeter delivers these sounds. I've owned a Dunlop Tremolo, not bad but didn't blend as well and is rather large. Does it sound like a Fender Brown/Black/Silver/Purple/Face tremolo I don't know/care. It does have a real organic musical sound and that's what I look for in an effect. It is also very compact and takes up very little space.It is pricey but it's something you will probably have for a long time.

This pedal has two knobs (depth and speed), and an on/off switch-- easy enough. However, it also has a semi-secret waveform trim pot that you can only adjust with a screwdriver through a little hole in the left side of the pedal. I think the idea here is probably that this keeps you from having to re-find your preferred waveform every time you use the pedal (as the knobs can be easily thrown off just in the process of handling the pedal), but still it is a bit of a pain in the ass. I don't always remember to bring a screwdriver with me, you know? Other than that, the design is great.

I use this pedal with a wide variety of instruments and amps and other pedals. I'm a tremolo nut: I love tremolo... and I love this pedal. Most tremolo pedals suck your tone or eat your volume-- not this one! It sounds great. There's no noise, no sound coloration at all, and it's actually got a slight built-in volume BOOST which balances out the drop in overall volume (which is part-and-parcel with tremolo). In other words, this pedal is nothing but awesome, fully-adjustable tremolo, with no bullshit. I've never been so happy with a pedal before in my life, and doubt I ever will be again.

You could use this thing to hammer steel, you're not going to break it unless you throw it off a building or something. Mine came with a faulty footswitch, but that was easily and instantly dealt with, and I have no further worries or concerns on the reliability front. As for gigging without backup, I think it's a good idea to ALWAYS have a backup, but as my backup is a crappy p.o.s. boss unit, let's just pray it never comes to that.

Let's just say that taking this pedal in for repair was one of the nicest experiences of my life. Mine came with a faulty footswitch, which I tried to ignore for a while (sometimes when I stepped on it, the LED would turn on but there'd be nothing, no effect, no sound, nothing... then I'd turn it off and on again and it'd work perfectly). Finally I realized that the problem wasn't going to just magically go away, so I emailed Demeter and asked them what I could do. Their customer support guy (Adam) responded within minutes and invited me up to have coffee the next day (they're based in L.A., near where I live). So the next day I went over and hung out for a bit, petting the rabbits that live in their office and talking to Mr. Demeter (the pedal's inventor), while the guys in the back looked over my pedal. I left about a half hour later with no bill, a perfectly-functioning tremolo unit, and a smile on my face. It actually made me GLAD that my pedal had come with a faulty switch.

I play many different styles of music (rock, blues, country, metal, experimental, etc.) and as far as I can tell, tremolo has a home in all of them. I've been playing music since I was 8 and this pedal is hands-down the best tremolo unit I have ever heard. It's expensive, but if it were lost or stolen, I would probably buy TWO more, in case another one were stolen. I love this pedal that much, I swear to god.

I am writng this review as sort of a confessional moment... Years ago I owned a Demeter Tremulator pedal and loved it. It was always faithful, it was sturdy and reliable, had emough features to keep me interested, and kept quiet. Well, damn these guitar magazines, because they caused me to stray and start looking at overblown trem floozies. In a moment of weakness, I let my head get turned and traded my Old Faithful in on some flavor of the month ( I don't recall what because I'm sure it was gone in a matter of weeks..). From there on and for several years I embarked on a whole series of meaningless relationships with more buxom, younger hotties. I guess you could call it my mid-life tremolo crisis. Recently, while I was about to enter into yet another hollow relationship with some Asian floozy, I realized that all along I was just searching for that old, comfortable tremolo shoe. I made contact with my old friend via the internet and as luck would have it, she took me back. And am I ever grateful. Always there when I need her, always know what to expect, and still has enough surprises in her to keep me interested. I'm not proud of the fact that I strayed and ruined a good thing, and I'm not going to even get into the costs involed. But I am here to stay and I want the world to know it.

You must adjust the internal knob, accessible through the side of the pedal to get optimum tone and throb ( I wish there was a dial on top for changes on the fly ).

Otherwise just speed and depth on top.........just turn them till you like the sound.

With all due respect to the gentlman below.........I think his review is invalid for one simple reason........he states in the review he didn't take the time to adjust the internal trimmer knob to his liking. This trimmer is easily adjusted by putting a small screwdriver through the hole in the side of the pedal.

When I first received mine I was'nt blown away by the sound either....it was almost to choppy which made feeling the rythmn of the pulse a little weird.......I now keep the trimmer almost all the way down and I love the sound......It's very beautiful and organic sounding, lush thick, hypnotic pulses, the classic sound your looking for....I've owned a ceaser diaz tremodillo, a Line 6 tremolo "park pedal " and others....and I like this the best ( I've always been into tremolo as you can tell ).

I play regularly in a classic rock/dance/GB band.....I have top notch amps, guitars and other effects.........I've been playing 25+ years.......since this effect is'nt heard often ( especially in a GB band) it always sounds cool when I put it on ( my bandmates love it ! ). It seems to add a bit of a retro feel to the song. I only use it perhaps in 2 or 3 songs out of three sets or so.........but it is a very cool effect. Quiet as a church mouse as well. Top notch all around.

Seems well built to me...............I looked inside mine and was very comfortable with the layout.........also I use a 9 volt in mine....( it draws very little power and the battery will last quite a long time )..........so the mini power plug is'nt an issue to me....but it seems they really should update that on future models.......I can see the gentmans point below on that one.

Bought it factory direct..........very friendly and helful...Dealt with someone named Adam. Very nice fellow.

Overall this is a great pedal to achieve that classic throb and pulse...the pedal does have a very slight boost when you kick it in....but I personally like that feature, it's very pleasing and unobtrusive.....also, although it's not a true bypass( most of my other pedals are ).......I can detect no degradation or alteration in my signal.....in fact.......because of the buffer they use in the pedal it helps to drive the signal through long cable runs.......so in a way it improves your signal.

The manual is minimal. Thats okay, it is only two knobs, it is a tremolo.

I don't get it. I really researched this, I already owned a Nobels TR-X tremolo that I wasn't all that happy with, but after buying this pedal (without being able to try it) I am liking the TR-X much better. I played with the Tremulator for a good long while, and it seemed like "good sound" just eluded me. None of it sounded like a "natural" (I know..there is no such thing, but I mean on my old Gibson Starfire I had a built in tremolo, or on Fender amps, they sound "natural") tremolo to me. It sounded way to a-rythmic. No swing to the cycles, the LFO sound...more on that later, for me, I don't know if I got a bad one, because it really is getting great reviews below..but I couldn't get good sounds out of it.

I tried different setups, not that important really because in the end I took EVERYTHING else out of the effects line, and only had my strat->Tremulator->amp... I tried two different amps as well.

Again, maybe mine is a lemon, but while it wasn't noisy on the clean channel, it was terribly noisy on the lead channels of both amps (Carvin Vintage 33 and a Peavey Classic 30 BT) and remember, I mentioned I already have a Nobels tremolo I wasn't crazy about...I USED to think the Nobels was noisy, but I tried it out (had it up for sale even, I was so sure I was going to love the Tremulator. That's another thing, keep in mind I REALLY wanted to like this pedal and I didn't have inflated expectations about it) just after trying the Tremulator with the exact same setup and it was quieter. I don't recommend either of them though...if you are looking for a tremolo, I'd advse you to move along...nothing to see here.

Something that bothered me right at the start too...for some unfathomable reason they chose NOT to use a standard jack for the 9vdc power in!! They used a "mini plug". Nice call Demeter. Cause, you know, only just about every damn power supply has the standard type, NOT a mini-plug. So there was that...(more on that in reliability).

And the sound. The sound really messed up my guitars sound. The tone was less defined and bassy. I tried checking also by turning both speed and intensity to 0, so no effect and yeah...it colors the tone a LOT. It isn't a terribly color, less defined, more bassy, lose some highs. There is a tone adjustment you can access from outside and to be fair I didn't try to adjust it, since by then I knew from other things I was going to return it and it is factory set.

Still, the sound is pinched, the LFO sounds "geeky" to me, not smooth, doesn't swing at all, and is too noticeable. I tried playing with intensity right around where it is barely too much, but I couldn't dial in THAT sound.

In short, I've owned amps with built-in tremolo (I wouldn't bring it up but this pedal is especially marketed as "just like a built-in" and at least the one pedal I tried was not close even.

I already complained about the non-standard power supply jack. When I (was forced to, since I didn't have a mini-plug power plug) opened up the pedal to put in the battery (here again...never gave a thought to a "trapdoor" kind of battery holder, that actually held the battery?) 4 screws, have to seperate the two halves, the leads to the battery plug were short so you end up fiddling with them fumbling around to get it in there...it is open to the components (probably why the leads are so short..using THAT to stop it from coming into contact with the chips) it is just badly designed inside. It may work forever, I don't know, but this is not a cheap pedal for a tremolo really, and they scrimped like this is a prototype. No battery compartment, just some loose foam-rubber for a battery holder.

Solid case.

I've been playing for 30+ years. Now I mostly play blues. Sometimes a tremolo is really nice for some swamp blues, slide, etc. Not the pedal I had though. Have a Strat, ES335, a few tube amps, and lots of other pedals.

This pedal was a huge dissapointment to me. It just doesn't do it for me. I found I liked my old Nobels better after having had experience with this pedal, it's a LOT less expensive and better. But for anyone looking, I would move on and try some other tremolos. If it was between this and a Nobels I'd take the Nobels.

Very very easy.Just two Pots and a complex range of waveforms.The manual is perfect, but you really don't need it to reach a good Trem sound in few minutes.

My setup : Stratocaster American Standard w/ Dimarzio Virtual Heavy Blues on the Bridge > RMC1 Wah > MG MuffFeliz Fuzz > Tremulator > Phase 90 > Laney all valve vc30. The Tremulator is ultra quiet and works very good w/ any another pedal. Great !!!!!

Now yes.
Before i've a Fender Amp w/ tremolo but unfortunately it's stolen.
The tremulator is perfect and i can carrying it to anywhere when i want. Really the best !

I needed a little repair and Mr. Adam Fifield was hyper kind. This is the guy !!! He helped me asap. No comentaries. G R E A T !!!!!!!

I play 70's Rock'n'Roll and Blues. I play guitar since 12 y.o. and now i'm 41.If my Tremulator were stolen for sure i will buy another no doubt ! Just loved it entirely . There's Not defects.
In comparisson w all others Tremolos pedals than i had the Tremulator is the KING really !!!!

Two knobs, depth and rate, and a waveform trim pot that you don't actually need to touch - the default is pretty sweet.

Good sounds are essentially automatic. Seriously.

Setup: Carvin DC135 ---> Roger Mayer Voodoo-Axe ---> Tremulator ---> Carvin SX100. Which will, by Zeus, one day be a Carvin Nomad or Bel-Air, I vow.

I am a tremolo junkie. I love the sound. The quest for a satisfactory tremolo pedal was a near-obsession for me for a goodly while. This outperforms everything else I heard or tried... especially that POS tone-wrecking Boss pedal. Ew. The Tremulator has an incredible tone - almost perfect transferrence of my original sound, without volume loss and far less high-end cut than most tremolo pedals. The sound is lush and gorgeous, and the pedal stays quiet when I stop playing.

I got this for, well, tremolo sounds - Elvis Costello and Johnny Greenwood. It covers the ground easily. Great clean, great dirty.

Warning - if the amp is heavily distorted, you lose the tremolo. This applies to all tremolos. To resolve this, either put it in an effects loop or run clean and semi-dirty with heavier distortion from pedals before it in the chain.

Basically, this is as good a tremolo as you'll find. I even A/B'ed it against a Fender amp's built in tremolo. Guess which won (Hint: Not the fender)

It's solid. I'd worry a little about the switch if I was a heavy-footer stomper, but it should survive normal use easily. Just use common sense, and you'll be fine.

Haven't had to deal with them

I play whatever - indie-rock-punkish-jazzy-folky-yadda-yadda-yadda. My main influences are Elvis Costello, Radiohead, The Wrens, TV On The Radio, David Bowie, The Pixies... I've been playing for five years. If it was stolen, I'd utterly replace it using the money raised by selling the organs of the thief on the black market.

I compared it to all manner of other trems - the Boss trem had lousy tone, the Voodoo Labs trem had better tone than the Boss, but still not that great, the Fulltone Trem had some dandy extra switches, but the tone still was weaker and more restricted.

I kind of wish it had a, say, half-speed switch or a hard/soft switch, but it's not necessary.

It's awesome. Awesome squared, mayhaps.

Very easy. only two knobs. Self Explanatory.

Amazing. With p90s, buckers, or singles, it is a very organic sounding pedal. Really shines through an effects loop, but still stands out above the rest in front of the amp. Not an X-TREME DUDE type of pedal. Classic throbbing trem. The 1db boost effectively prevents volume loss, and even makes it realy good for boosting solos if the depth is all the way down. Very musical, You'll never know it's there. One of my top 10 best pedals i've ever owned.

Never had a problem in three years, and the batter lasts for freakin' ever.

?

Excellent. Maybe not for experimental noise rock space cadets because it's a very unassuming pedal, no chopped up square wave options. Smooth rolling tremelo that will complement most sounds. Very fendery, you can play it by itself even in the most subtle sparse arrangement and you'll love every nuance of it.