Demeter TRM-1 Tremulator

simple no frills beautiful trem at the turn of a couple of knobs. there is also a hidden trim pot that serves to change the waveform of the LFO, though it is a very subtle change probably from sinewave to sawtooth, i wish it had a square setting.

the only problem is that it's kind of a bitch to change batteries because you have to basically take the pedal apart from the seams (i.e. you work with more than 8 screws and need a wrench.)

but it is built like a tank, and if you can afford an 9 volt radio shack type adaptor (with the 1/8" pin) then this will not be an issue.

i play through a 90s american tele and a 90s japanese jazzmaster into a fender twin and a sears silvertone 40 watt.

the pedal is probably the quietest pedal in my lineup. the trem effect is quite possibly one of the more beautiful trem sounds i have heard. i sometimes use a light ultra slow trem to get a sort of wave like motion in my parts. this randomly causes the attack to be lost and through my dd-5 set on reverse it gets your guitar sounding really fluid and suspended in mid-air sort of.

sometimes i use it like a conventional trem and it sounds beautiful either way. a fun setting is the super fast setting it sounds rather disorienting like a strobelight going off really fast.

sometimes i use the pedal without any trem and it noticeably enhances the harmonic content of my tone. that is one of the reasons i bought the pedal because it added depth to my standard guitar tone. according to demeter they have added a 1dB makeup gain stage to compensate for the loss in volume encountered with standard trem pedals (just plug in a danelectro tunamelt and you'll know what i'm talking about), and i believe whatever circuitry is giving the makeup gain totally adds to your tone in a very pleasing and musical way.

sometimes the adaptor socket is sort of shifty and it will cause the pedal to cut out during a show. so i usually use it while recording or if i have a lot of time at the gig to ensure that the pedal stays put (i.e. duct taping the adaptor wire, etc). not recommended if you have to setup in a hurry. though if you want to mess with changing batteries it's built like a tank and will withstand a beating...

i play in a band that is very texturally oriented and this pedal definately adds to our sound in subtle and not so subtle ways. it's the most versatile tremelo pedal i've run across--i never thought i could get this much out of such a simple effect. i've played through the voodoo labs trem, the danelectro tunamelt and a boss tremelo in addition to the amp trems/vibrato on my silvertone and my twin. i almost always pick this over those trems because it has a greater range and superior tone. i only wish they had an accesible knob that allowed you to switch waveforms on the LFO sort of like the boss. I also love the extra harmonic overtones it adds. Did i mention it was versatile?

This thing is simple to operate. Plug in and go.

Think of the hundreds of songs with this type of effect, from the opening chord of 'All I Have To Do Is Dream', to the Smith's 'How Soon Is Now' to Radiohead's The Bends album, this thing has that Fender sine wave trem down. No noise. Very Quiet.

Demeter are also known for their amps and preamps, and I will go so far as to say that this pedal makes my amp sound like a far better amp than it is. It makes my amp sound better. I'm not shitting.

I would gig without it.

Can't say.

I can't say anything bad about this pedal. Unlike many effects which eventually turn into a novelty and wind up back in the tackle box after a couple of weeks, this is a quality instrument in itself. I used to just go straight in, guitar to amp, and the Tremulator is now included in at least half of all the songs I perform. It's a great pedal. I wish they had a Vox style, square-wave pedal. If you want Fender tremolo, you will not be dissappointed.

2 knobs on top and a foot switch. any idiot can use it and get a great sound!

Well I normally play blues/classic rock and my current set up is: 53 Esquire/55 Tele >Keeley Compressor >TS808(rhythm)>TS808(for solos) >H&K Rotosphere >AD80 >Blonde Bassman 2x12 cab/58 Super. I wanted to try a trem pedal and tried them all and it came down to this and a Fulltone, but the Demeter just had more "vibe" to it.

Built like a sh*t brickhouse.

Never needed it, doubt I will.

Overall I hace to say that it's a fantastic addition to my rig. I mean I play only the best and the Demeter is the absolute best in trem pedals!!! Bar None.

They don't get much easier. However, to really, really dial in your tone, you do have to play with the small dial on the side of the pedal.

I have several vintage tweed Fenders, blackface and brown Fenders, Matchless, Vox, THD, and Blockhead amps that I play through 57 and 59 Reissue Les Pauls, 63 Es-335, and several vintage Strats. I quite frankly have never bought a better pedal, and believe me, I have them all. Totally quite regardless of amp and pickup and totally transparent tone. The best money I ever spent on a pedal. The tremolo is right up there with my 59 Tremolux!

Looks like its and solid as a rock

If I every have to contact them, I'll be very surprised.

The best! Don't hesitate.

Nothing to it.

1. Depth
2. Red LED (effect engaged)
3. Speed
4. Stompswitch
5. 9 Volt adapter

Also has a small trimmer thing on the side, adjustable with a very small tip flathead screwdriver.

How complex is that? This this is way easy to get a killer sound out of. I didn't get a manual, but one would have been nice. Like for starters, I'm not sure if this thing even takes a batter. If it does, access don't look to be easy.

I've had a bunch of tremolo pedals, and got this one off a whim. After trying some Boss, VooDoo Lab (the VooDoo Lab trem wasn't bad, just not as good as this one), and several others, I decided to try this one as I heard everybody talking about how good they sounded.

Well, this sounds amazing. I use it in the loop of my VHT Pittbull 45 all the time. If has a footswitchable loop, so it's like having a built in amp tremolo. Sounds VERY VERY good that way. Now that I have a good sounding trem, I tend to use the VHT for the stuff I was using the Gibson Ranger amp for, unless I'm just playing my Gibson 330, then the Ranger is the preferred amp.

I also use it in the loop of my solid state Gibson Gold Chorus amp, and it sounds just as good. I'll either use it in the mono loop for that HUGE throbbing sound, or in one side of the stereo loop (The Gold has 2 loops...) for a 'cheap' stereo tremolo sound.

The built in tremolo on my old 4-10 Gibson Ranger amp sounds better to me then the Demeter does. I also played a REALLY good sounding old Fender Super, and I liked the trem a little better as well. Most of the other amps I've played with onboard trem pale in comparison to this. Again, this is being ultra picky, as there is NOTHING wrong with the way the Demeter sounds, but I prefer the Ranger just a tad more. I've spend a bit of time using the onboard trem, and the Demeter up front, comparing them. The Demeter does have more range AND depth then the old Gibson amp does.

I'm still gonna give it a 10, as this is the best sounding tremolo pedal I've yet to use or own, period. In my mind, no other pedal really compares to this one.

This is one of the best built pedals I have. Unless you manage to knob the shaft off one of the pots, I don't really see anything that can go wrong with it.

Not sure about this one. I emailed them a few times and didn't get a responce. I was wondering if it took a battery or not, but I don't believe it does. When I get real curious, I'll call them.

I've been playing for over 20 years. I own way too much stuff to list, but this is one of my core pedals. I use it constantly with a VHT Pittbull 45, and it is a BIG part of my sound. I use it in the loop along with a Electro Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man, and can get some amazing tones with it.

I'd HAVE to replace this if anything ever happened to it, I'm just not happy with any other tremolo pedal. Granted, I havn't played ALL of them, but I've had 7-8 different ones. This to me, is the closest sounding one to a built in amp trem.

I just got it today from demeter (its a demo from NAMM)--This thing is a sinch...2 knobs speed and depth, with a trim pot on the inside(can be accessed with a small screwdriver through a hole....no need for me to do it so im leaving it the way it is)...very simple to operate(no manual supplied, no manual needed)...very easy to use....just plug it in and go!

this is where this pedalseperate itself from every other trem....sound quality is superb! it sounds better than all the other tre pedals i have tried and all the amp trems on every fender i have tried (some blackfaces, SF's, new models, and Vibroking)...it has incredible range for a trem....from throbbing to choppy and everything in between....just sit down and mess with it and you can fine tune thetrem you want with the tremulator. this is the only pedal i have EVER encountered that does not color a signal or drop frequencies or volume or anything....it is amazng!!!! Dead Quiet with True Bypass!...my tubes from my amp make more noise than the pedal does! if you are getting this thinking that its gonna make you sound better it doesnt!...i mean, it is absolutely perfect....it is a compliment to the tone you already have...every nuance and all my original signal is there, just with tremolo now! absolutely remarkable! i wish these guys made some more stompboxes...but they dont....just rackmounts...but think of it this way....this is rackmount quality in a stompbox! the best trem period! now i know why people say when you have this pedal along with tremolo on your amp(we are talking blackfaces, brownfaces, tweeds) they disconnect the amp tremolo in favor of this....i have never heard anything better!...not even fulltone!

Just got it today....i would definitely gig with it without a backup..its a 2 piece steel chassis similar to an MXR box...this thing looks like it could take some heavy abuse...i dont see this little guy breking down anytime soon....if it does i will write a followup, but after reading alot of reviews in here about the tremulator it sounds like its a sturdy as a mule wthout the worry of breaking down on you.

the folks at demeter took 2 weeks to ship it (ugh!) but aside from that they answered my emails, and questions i had over the phone and gave me a tracking number for the package....very helpful! as far as customer service goes they are at the pinnacle of kindness and customer service along with paul crowther, bob weil, and mike fuller! you guys all rock!

I basically bought this because i already liked the tone from my amp and guitar and wanted the absolute best tremolo pedal to play through my Marshall TSL 100, without modifying the head. When i was faced with the task of finding the best, i tried them all!! and wasnt really pleased....until i tried the fulltone. i was ready to lay cash down for it, until i read the reviews about the tremulator right here at harmony central. People on here said it was the best,rating the fulltone supa trem #2, and to tell you the truth it is... and for a first time, i bought a pedal without ever trying it...but you know what...all the people that submitted about this pedal were right! it is the best stompbox trem you can get! period. It is lush and warm with really really slow trem to very speedy tremolo sounds, plus as stated in previous reviews.. with knobs all the way at 0 you can get a 1 DB clean boost....really sweet! if you are looking for a trem pedal because you dont like your amps trem or your amp doesnt have it, this is it! it accentuates your tone, and playing perfecty with absolutely stunning tremolo! definitley check it out!

It's pretty ease to use. Two knobs on the top: DEPTH and SPEED. A TRIM POT accessed throught the side allows you to affect the slope, waveform,amplitude, whatever. This has to be done with a tiny screwdriver; a knob would be nice and make it easier. That is why I give this an 8. The manual is brief but most of what you need is pretty much there. The pedal is true bypass.

The tremelo effect is excellent. The stock set up is very vintage and musical sounding. Turning the trim pot clockwise allows for staccato helicopter like sounds. This seems to affect the gain minimally. The pedal is quiet and very musical and warm sounding. I'm happy with it.

I really wanted to cop REM's "Monster" CD sound and this does it and a whole lot more.

M Y S E T U P:
GUITAR: 99% of the time I play Sadowsky guitars and most of that is with a Sadowsky vintage style strat: alder body, maple 'board, Sadowsky custom electronics, Kinman AVn Blues pickups. My other is an HSH model. I also have two PRS which I rarely touch.

AMP: Soldano X99 preamp and Soldano SLO-100-->Daedelus 2x10 and Soldano 4x12 cabs.

FX: Tremulator, Carl Martin Compressor/Limiter, Teese RMC Picture Wah

Reliable. Built like a WWF Diva.

I called to ask questions before and after I purchased this and the folks at Demeter were accessable, helpful, and nice. I gave them a 9 because I haven't used them a lot to feel them out. I have a feeling they'd be excellent.

I just e-mailed them to see if they could mod my unit to put a knob on the side to turn the trim pot. We'll see.

I write and play classic & pop rock,metal, blues, and a bit of funk, rarely country. I've been playing for about 21 year. If this were stolen I'd buy it again.

This is like splitting hairs with the hardest choice between the Demeter and Fulltone. While some say you should try several brands I'm not sure: this makes for more torture. If I had only one unit I'd never know the difference --the extra 1% I'm missing or gaining--and wouldn't have this infantile mental anguish of a decision. (All pedals below are true bypass.)

DEMETER TREMULATOR stays! So simple to use, so fine sounding--rich, juicy, musical--gorgeous. Whenever I used the Demeter I always got a great tremelo sound easily and quickly: no fuss, no muss. With the two units below I had to play around with the knobs too get sounds close to the Demeter. Tremulator can do a great chop staccato helicopter (Anthrax "Black Lodge") thing by turning the trim pot accessed through the side of the unit but this slightly increases the gain. Agan, Demeter should put on a knob to allow easier immediate access to this trim pot control. This box is incorporated into my rig for sure. A keeper.

FULLTONE SUPA-TREM can almost get the Demeter sound but can't quite match the soul, warmth or human breath-like quality of the Tremulator. It is more versatile with foot switches for two speeds and the slope of the waveform. It's better for live performance if you use a lot of tremelo in your music: four variations at the touch of two footswitches. If I used a lot of tremelo in my live sets I'd have gotten the Fulltone Supatrem instead of the Demeter Tremulator. I don't observe the boost that some folks have complained about. The tone is a micronotch below the Demeter.

Is this cool:"If you can't decide then keep both" said my wife. Ain't she sweet? In my own heart I cannot see having two tremelo pedals at my feet...I think.

VOODOO LAB TREMELO is nice but the knobs are very close together and hard to manipulate unless you have small fingers...like a fetus. Very nice sound but not quite up to par with the other two units. Clearly it is the best bang for buck and if one is strapped for cash it is a no brainer: Voodoo Lab. It has but doesn't really need the output level control since the other two tremelos lack it and I don't see the need for it with my gear.

The Demeter TRM-1 Tremulator is a tremelo stomp box with depth and speed knobs; on/off foot switch and output/inputs. It's almost as simple as an MXR Phase 90.

The Tremulator has a very round tremelo tone. It doesn't have the hard end or edgey pulse of a Fulltone Supa Trem. I own a Fulltone Supa Tem as well and it's also a fine sounding piece.
The best way to describe the Tremulator is to hear the vibrato of a quality blackface Fender amp. The Tremulator is very similar.
My current set-up is various Gibson and Fender guitars; McInturff Empress; PRS McCarty and Parker Fly Classic with a Matchless Hot Box; Maxon 808; Tremulator; Prescription Vibe Unit; H&K Rotosphere; and Vox Wah through either an Alessandro Redbone; Kendrick Gusher; Top Hat Ambassador; white Marshall 35th Anniversary 1987 and 1960AXW cabinet. My pedal set-up is streamlined when using a channel switching amp to just the Tremulator and Maxon Phase Tone.
The Tremulator is a quality unit that gives quality tone.

I bought it a month ago.
So far so good.

Haven't had the need to contact them.

I play classic rock and the Tremulator is very classic sounding.
If brutal is the way you hear tone, then stay away from the Tremulator. I know that sounds snobbish, but hey, the word artist and music are very misused words these days.
If you want a very classic sounding tremelo, this is your baby.
Listen to Gov Mule's Wandering Child and you'll have an idea of how the Tremular sounds with a Les Paul through a Marshall. I don't know if Warren Haynes uses one, but it's very close to that sound.
Again, a quality piece of ear candy.

Very simple piece of equipment. Two controls - one to vary the speed of the pulses, the other to vary the depth.

I use a very straightforward set-up: Danelectro U2 re-issue -> tremulator -> Vox Cambridge 30R...classic retro-trash rock 'n' roll! The Vox has a built-in tremolo effect so it may be instructive to compare the two. The Vox trem is better integrated with the amp & has a "softer" quality. The tremolo effect tends to be smoother & more classically retro. However, the Vox is a cheap piece of shit and the depth control on my amp got blown out during a power surge. It still works and sounds great but its weak. No such problems with the Tremulator. It can do the retro rockabilly/psychobilly thang as well as more arty-punk-like swellings. I find the Tremulator to be very versatile with a variety of useful settings altho personally I prefer tremolo as a slow-motion effect rather than a ripple. It sounds great with fuzztone, violently psychotic. It has tremendous clarity & brilliance & adds an extra twang to your sound. One drawback is that the volume level decreases/increases depending on where you set the depth. This makes it difficult to use the Tremulator solely as an effect since the volume changes are highly noticeable. I tend to use the effect all the time so it doesn't really bother me.

Perfect! I have owned this thing for 6 1/2 yrs & I have never, repeat NEVER, had any problems. Always performs perfectly. I tend to use the mains rather than batteries.

Never had to

I love this thing unequivically. Tremolo is my favorite effect. Why don't manufacturers build this effect into their amps anymore? The holy grail is to get a Vox AC15 or early-'60's Fender amp but since that is somewhat expensive, the next option is a quality stompbox. Some people have complained that the Tremulator is overpriced but I pay for quality of tone and not loads of useless features. The sound is superb...I cannot think of a single criticism to make regarding it. Its the best piece of electronic equipment that I have ever purchased.

Rate and depth knobs with an interior trim pot. Ver easy to get a great sound

I'm playing this into a signal split between a Dr Z Maz 18 Jr. and a tweed delume. This is last in my chain after 2 or three distortions (TS-808, menatone, Klon, Lovetone, etc). Guitars = 59 strat or a '66 tele.

Tremelo is a very subjective effect. This box is a bvlackface fender sort of trem. Ver clean and even with the same sort of medium depth that one gets in a blackface trem. It is deeper and vibier than a Fulltone Supa-Trem. It is also very quiet, much more so thasn the Diaz Tremidillo. The Diaz is more of a brownface trem, more uneven, deeper and psychodelic. But the Diaz has a horrible bypass (no matter what you do, there is a clicking in the signal), so it's out of the question. The capabilities of the old Boss pan/trem are pretty cool, but the quality of the trem itself falls short of this box.

By the way, I think some of the reviewers are wrong that this is true bypass, it is not. Anyway, this is the best blackface type non-amp trem out there.

I have one of the first ones that came out. The footswitch has been glitchy of late, but generally view worries. Do gig without as backup because, when it comres down to it, tremelo is not a necessary part of my sound.

N/A

This is as good as you are going to do on the blackface tremelo front. Pricey but worth it in the end. What someone needs to do is make a brownface based pedeal with true bypass.