Dunlop TS-1 Tremolo

Perhaps a little harder than your average tremolo to work, but still it only has 3 knobs. All of them function as would be expected, but the speed knob increases dramatically in the upper half of the the dial, which is where I usually have my dial set. The mono/stereo switch on the back of the pedal is labeled backwards which is mildly confusing, but otherwise it isn't too difficult.

I don't try to copy people intentionally, but this tremolo has a very classic sound. It covers both smooth and choppy effects pretty well especially when the intensity is turned up a bit.

The effect itself is pretty quiet, both in front of an amp and through its effect loop. Even in my long chain of effects (I've got 8 strung in a row) it is still quiet. It isn't true bypass, but then again I don't think any of my pedals are. But who cares? All the old guys whose tone we try to imitate didn't have true bypass and yet we drool over their tone.

I was looking for two things in a tremolo. 1) Is it transparent (does it sound like someone is riding my volume knob)? 2) Is there a volume increase or decrease? This pedal met both of my requirements being very transparent and not changing the perceived volume when I click it on or off.

Maybe I shouldn't give it a 10, but there is a reason this was the industry standard stomp box tremolo for years. I've compared it with units much more expensive and the difference in negligible. Why they stopped making this thing will always be a mystery.

I bought mine used. It came more beat up than I was expecting and yet it plays wonderfully. There is rust and all sorts of crap on the outside, but the inside is still clean. All the switches and knobs seem to be operating very cleanly. I'm guessing this pedal is at least 10 years old.

And what kind of question is would I use it without a backup? Of course I would I can't afford another. (I could barely afford this one). But even if I could I wouldn't see a need to have a backup.

Never dealt with them. Doubt they'd be much help with a pedal they don't make any more. If the rest of the reviews on here are indicative of their customer support I don't think its very good.

This pedal is a good match for any style that you could use a tremolo on. Personally I play a lot of classic rock influenced alternative whatever and it fits right in.

If it were stolen I would cry (because these things are getting expensive). Then I would go beat the crap out of whoever stole it and get my pedal back.

This pedal replaced a Line6 ToneCore Tap Tremolo which I bought mainly for the tap feature. There was no comparison between the two. The sound of the Dunlop makes it worth not having a tap. But if I could add something to this pedal to make it better it would be a tap.

The other guitarist in my band (who owns a Vox Tremolo pedal) started suggesting that I use the tremolo more now that I own this. In fact he offered to not use his so I could use mine. This pedal is an obvious improvement over my previous pedal.

I guess the only thing that might confuse some is the stereo/mono switch in the back and the stereo/mono footswitch.

If you are running stereo through it the rear button should be on stereo otherwise set it to mono. With the footswitch on mono both sides will have the same cyle, but if it is on stereo they will be inverted. In other words when the right side is up the left side is down and vice versa. This is cool if you are running to seperate amps or using it outboard in the studio.

There is nothing else like it. I'd give it an 8.5 using one amp just a great quite meat and potatos trem sound that is very amp like. With two amps it's amazing! If you have a rickenbacker try this: plug a stereo cable into the ric-o-sound output and run straight into this, you end up with seperate pickups going to each amp with an inverted tremolo that seems to spin in space. It just doesn't get much cooler than that.

I used it for 11 years without a hitch.

I don't know why dunlop discontinued this. It's the industry standard tremolo unit for god sake! I sold mine for $220 on ebay because they have become so hard to find, but now I want one. Guess I'll have to hit the pawn shops. I think the price has been driven up because a guy from the band 311 uses it alot. I have other tremolos and they sound awesome, but they can't do what this one does.

Very easy to use,has ample features for stomp box effect,Intensity, Shape,Speed.

Gibson Chet Country Gent-'64 jap re issue strat,both'80's Ts1- U/vibe-H/grail-H/rush-50w JCM800 combo.I really like this pedal for what it does on the job,not what it does in at home.I tried it at low vol and was reasonably happy with it, but live is where this baby shines. From swamp to lazy machine-gun no worries at all.The pedal had more warmth than any digital effect ive used, and completely shat on a vibratrem. I guess being an old fart I play a bit loud but Ive never been able to get a good tone out of digital $%^& with menus blah blah blah

built like a brick $%^&house

Been playing 25y all sorts,mainly rock blues prog some jazz,swinging more to jazz-blues+standards.Ive used all sorts of racks,floor systems,pre-amp-this into stereo that,through old musicman fender marshall boogie trying to find the best sound that isnt a pain in the arse to get right from venue to venue.(does anyone remember the ultimate practise/bedroom sound that turned to $%^& when put with a drummer-bass-pissed loud crowd-bad acoustics?)This pedal wont be a problem as its easily tuned to any situation.It sounds beautiful,is piss-easy to use and will stand real work enviroments easily.I guess it would be good to have some sort of expression pedal but shit, how many pedals can ya dance on?

Easy to work with - 2 knobs, inputs and outputs. Stomp it on the on/off switch and magically it comes on. Stomp it again, and it's off. How do those boys do that at Jim Dunlop? Plug this thang into 2 amplifiers and you get a ping pong tremelo effect, kinda sorta like a leslie. Magic I say!

I uses 2 tube amps cause I plays da' blues and r&b and dig the stereo sound swirling back and forth. Kinda makes a man dizzy, dig? I don't try to get the sounds of my favorite artists; I just plug away at my own crappy sound and hope somebody likes it. This thing is a little noisey, but so is the rest of my rig - 2 old Silvertone tube amps that probably could use new tubes, a P90 Gibson 125, and a can o' beer. I don't know what the can o'beer does. It just appeared on my pedal board one night, so I plugged it in and got a real crackly sound from it. Seriously, everything I said is true ('cept for that there beer effect).

Can I depend on it? Does a lumberjack piss in the woods? Sure I depend on it. . . why not? I've stomped it, dropped it, spilled beer on it, and thrown it in a trap case with no problems. Sounds good as ever. I don't think I'll need a backup. If it quits, it quits. I'll just unplug it, plug my axe right into my amps and daisey chain 'em and keep on jammin'. It's not like if it blows or shorts out or something I'll stop playing and say, "Damn, man! Hey everybody, it's time to go home now. I don't have tremelo!" I like it, but it ain't the show - know what I mean?

Never dealt with the company. But hey, with a name like Jim Dunlop, they should be nice. That's a plain name, but they make some pretty damn good boxes from what I've seen. I don't care for a lot of boxes, they just confuse me. Besides, I'm too lazy to study up on all the latest stuff. I don't see how a man has time to actually play with all that new stuff out there to figure out. I'm sticking with reverb, this here TS-1, 2 amps dimed out, and a Telecaster. Takes 10 minutes to set up and I'm ready to gig.

I play blues, like I already said. Been playing since I can remember -about 47 years I guess. I lost count. As for other gear, there ain't none. 2 Silvertones, a Telecaster, and this here box. I like the little booger, but if it gets lost, I'll look for it in my spare time and if I don't find it, I'll still sleep that night and the sun will be up come morning.
Now if I lost my Tele and my amps, that's a different story. But oh well, it ain't gonna happen. On the other hand, if some fool tries to steal my axe and amps and I happen on him, there'll be hell to pay . . . right after I finish stomping HIS sorry ass and taking HIS wallet and whatever else HE have. Don't jack with a workin' man's gear folks. Period. By the way, been there and done that (the stompin' and taking the wallet thing from a thug). Wasn't pretty, not pretty at all. Mic stands make mean clubs. Mind I slept that night, sun rose the next day, I still had my Tele, my amps, and a unexpected tip from that nice man who tried to rob me. And to top that, no remorse. He went to jail don't you know. I ain't been back to that sleezy joint since.

Well, I thought this would be easy to get a good sound out of - and it is - to a certain degree. However, my Marshall Vibratrem [ ?45 Sterling ] was a lot easier - more or less straight out of the box. The problem with the TS1 is that the whole thing is TOO BIG - I wanted a greyhound, and ended up with a St Bernard!The knobs are those annoying chrome affairs, with a small dot on them. I've struggled in a live situation to alter the settings easily. That may be why I'm still unconvinced about it. I'm going to give it a 7 for this reason.

I'm not giving a rating for this, because I've used the pedal thrice - once in rehearsal with my rehearsal pedal board into cheap, very distorted amplification, and twice in a gig situation with my live set up: Strat with Texas Specials, Gibson SG, Pearl Octave, TS808 [Keeley], Seymour Duncan Tweak Fuzz, Red Witch Phaser, Boss V Wah, TS1, Danecho to Fender 75 with Leslie 16 cab. It does sound good, but I've found tweaking it on stage a real problem, and getting the right balance difficult. My Marshall Vibratrem was easier and had a truly acceptable sound for the money I paid for it, perhaps I expect more from a pedal that, although I got it cheap, is supposed to be in a different class. I'm not sure yet whether there is a tone or volume loss to an extent that I am unhappy with. The extreme speed setting is excellent however. So the jury's out at the mo.

It's big and heavy.I've had it 2 weeks. It looks sturdy enough

Don't know yet

I play blues rock.
I'm giving it a 9, but, as soon as my wages are in the bank I'm sourcing a Demeter Tremulator or a Fulltone Supa trem, because they get excellent reviews, and they are smaller and fit on my pedalboard. The Demeter looks really dinky and easy to use, and it's true bypass, plus has a slight boost, and the fulltone has the extra features. Sorry Dunlop, but your pedal is just too big!

This pedal has two switches, the usual on/off and one that swtiches between the mono and stereo effects. Two outputs (mono or stereo), a push in/out selector for mono or stereo, and three knobs: intensity, shape, and speed. The intensity knob determines how much of your signal is affected, the speed knob adjusts the speed of the tremolo, and the shape alters the shape of the sound wave...you can go from a smooth sine-wave shape all the way to a square wave and everything in between. The sine gives you a smoother effect, while the square wave adds a little delay where the waveform plateaus. By spending some time fiddling with the knobs, I was able to go from volume swells to shimmery trem. One other cool thing is that the effect LED flashes in time to the effect, so it was fairly easy for me to sync it to whatever song I was writing/playing.

I think this pedal sounds pretty damn good...certainly better than any built-in amp trem I've heard. My main axe right now is an Epiphone 335 Dot with Bigsby through Vox amps (AC30 or Pathfinder). I've found this effect to sound good....it gets a little muddy when too much distortion is added. However, the nice thing is I've been able to get that Johnny Marr sound from The Smiths "How Soon Is Now" all the way to Graham Coxon's queasy-sounding wobble on Blur's "Oily Water"

I've only had this for 6 months, but so far, no problem. The other Dunlop stuff I have has lasted a while, so I'm not anticipating this to be any different.

N/A

I play music that's a cross between Hendrix/Cream/Who/Zeppelin and Beatles/Blur/Suede. I tend to use this pedal for the more trippy, textured parts I lay down when I'm recording, although with the speed turned all the way up, you can get some pretty nasty soloing sounds. I've been playing for 15 years and this is by far the best trem effect I've heard. I'd replace it instantly if it were lost or stolen, as it is a mainstay of my pedalboard. It's not an effect or sound for everybody, but if you're looking for trem, get this pedal.

Others before me have pretty much covered the features. 3 knobs, 2 switches...easy to dial in what you need

Well I hear a lot of people down on this pedal because the tremolo doesn't have a "wobble" to it...the wave shape, whether rounded, or squared off is too symmetrical. I can understand that, I have an old Fender Twin Reverb, as well as an old Supro, and Silvertone all with nice tube trems (The Supro is positively spooky...out-swamps the Fender circuit), but I still can dig the the mono sound of this pedal...but here's the thing, run this baby in stereo mode with two amps!!! I swear to god if you play with the amps, and the pedal settings you get an extremely close Leslie sound. Think of that grinding growling guitar in "No Matter What" by Badfinger. All that's missing I suppose is the slight doppler pitch shift you get from the spinning horns on the top of the Leslie...also works good with 2 amps for making electronic keys sound more "Rhodes" like. 1 point off for lake of mono "wobble"

No problems after 4, or 5 years

Don't know...never had the need to deal with tech. support

Like I said...probably other (Diaz?) pedals better for emulating vintage amp trem, but in the stereo mode 2 thumbs up!

Simple, effective. I have a Rhodes into the box, the box into the "main ins (stereo)" on my Roland JC 120. Got the Suitcase rhodes "vibrato" and if i want, a mean wurly tremelo.

A tad noisy, but what can you expect. Not as good as built in tremolo, but better than almost any other pedal.

Bring extra batteries, this baby likes a fresh 9V every other set if you use it the whole gig. Rugged box, literally a "stomp" box.

I havent dealt with Dunlop, but word is if the pedal breaks, its a $50 bench fee, so you might ask a friend who knows a thing or two about electronics to take a peek before you send it to Dunlop.

I only purchased this unit for use with my Rhodes set-up. The Roland JC-120 amp has seperate R and L amps, so for re-creating the suitcase "vibrato" effect, this pedal really does the trick. Additionally, you can get a wurlitzer-mono tremolo sound. I also find the pedal acts somewhat as a preamp for the rhodes, which is totally passive.

Pretty easy - best if you have 2 amps to take advantage of it's features, but one will suffice! slightly harder to use than a mono pedal but we need our stereo pan right?? I ma giving it a 10 because it is easy as it gets for a panning pedal.

Love that vintage Fender amp tremolo? Me too! This is the ticket my man! It really recreates that perfect throbbing tremolo very well. Think Vibrolux-ish. It has stereo outputs and can pan between two sources for a cool and very effective stereo panning effect!

no problems at all in 6 months. rock solid like the univibe!

don't know, like I said. it's a rock. and it rocks

Get's a nine over all. It's a beautifull sounding pedal with all that shimmer you would expect from a trem pedal. It's very vintage sounding.

I will give a nine, only because I think it should work like the univibe too, with an expression pedal for more control over the speed.

Even though no other tremolo pedals have the sounds or the features of the TS-1, The expression pedal would make it great!

I will give a nine although in it's genre it deserves a 10.

Intensity, Shape, and Speed - what other controls would you want or need?

I can't think of any reason to not give a 10 for sound. Very excellent sounding tremolo pedal. No volume or tone suction problems for me. I say ignore those reviewers who complain. Maybe they had sucky gear and tried to blame the pedal?

Very strong build.

Respond quickly to e-mails, personal and friendly and helpful.

Best tremolo pedal unless you spend way more money. Buy it. I will be purchasing more pedals from this company.

The TS-1 is fairly easy to use if you know what tremolo is. Plug your guitar into the input and decide if you want stereo or mono output. With regard to the tremolo effect, use ?intensity? to control amplitude, use ?shape? to control trim, and use ?speed? to control velocity. If you don?t know what tremolo is, try it out before you buy into it.

The TS-1 sounds fine to me. I have yet to experience tone suction of any kind. The TS-1 is the first outboard circuit I plug my guitar into. I also use AC power instead of batteries. Tremolo isn?t really about tone. It modifies the amplitude, shape, and velocity of the guitar output, not its frequency. Because of that, I plug into it first.

The TS-1 seems as though it built to take a licking. I have never known Jim Dunlop products to be unreliable. I have been using a Crybaby Wah for years. Outside of routine maintenance, it has held up well.

I always go back to the dealers I purchase from for customer support.

I use tremolo as a main effect. The TS-1 is certainly suited for the job. I am, fortunately, not experiencing any of the problems other reviewers are experiencing. The TS-1 delivers the goods all the time, every time. The TS-1 works great as a standalone or combined with other effects. Set it up with a noise gate, delay, reverb, and as much gain as you dare and you are into a heavy staccato stutter that will blow your pot lights right out of their sockets. I would buy the TS-1 again.

i like this pedal because it's easy to use .Pay attention to intensity level he is soft and cold

it's like an aspirator he 's create a lot of noise, this product sound like a tractor if you want it

i don't depend on it I prefer the new zoom pedal because i like to have a noisy guitar sound because my family like it

i like to play korn cover because it's hard to play and i like to impress my friend and my family but this effect don't fit with me and it's doesn't corresponds with my talent but it's good for my grandfather (vieucriss)

The pedal is simple. You have a Speed knob, shape knob.. which controls whether it is soft tremolo or square wave form. and an intensity knob.. the only thing i found a bit confusing was the stereo button and the two outputs on the back...

When i tested the pedal.. i ran a 75 les paul deluxe into the pedal, then out into a peavey classic 100 head.. it sounded pretty cool... the one thing that i dont like about it though.. to go from hard to soft tremolo you have to actually reach down and turn the knob... there is no footswitch.. i havent really compared it to other pedals, but i do like the fulltone supratrem a lot more.. because it is more versatile and does sound better cuz it doesnt mess with your actually tone and volume as much... and a little smaller too.. but hey.. tremolo is tremolo.. you just have to watch out for volume cuting and tone altering..

thats funny... i am actually fixing this thing for a guy.. he gave it to me because when he put a battery in it .. the pedal worked fine.. but an adapter turned the pedal off.. hmm.. i looked at it.. and i found that one of the components was toasted. yet looked like there was nothing wrong.. other than that it has worked with no fail from a battery 9 volt adapter...

ok.. a 4 because when i emailed them about what happened.. i asked to help me out... and all he told me was.. "it sounds pretty bad... you had better send it to me and ill run a check on it and find out whats wrong".. ok.. not so bad.. but then he gets into "it will cost 50 bucks for me to look at it and run the test...".. ok.. no... thats a third of the whole cost of a new one!!! i wasnt about to send it in and pay this guy to check something that would cost me a little labor and 10 cents to fix.. no way!!!

i know it sounds a little redundant.. but if you are looking for a good tremolo with more versatility, and will be worth more one day.. spend about 70 bucks more and get the fulltone supra-trem.. check the rating.. if you are going to spend that much on something anyway.. just splurge a little more and get one.. you will appreciate it more.. and they arent just a generic tremolo pedal.. its 100% handmade.. until i can get one.. i actually use a danelectro mini tremolo.. i know.. cheap.. but hey.. it does the job for now..

pretty simple, but like any pedal it takes a little time to fine tune exactly what you want out of the thing. we got like three knobs here is no rocket science. besides, simplicity is often best, in my opinion.

Not a bad effect. i got it for 20 bucks from an ex-bandmate so i can't complain (or maybe i can). the effect is just not a warm, senuous, panty wetting sound. it sometimes sounds digital and stale. it has a wide range of possibilities because of the 'speed' knob, but nothing that will blow you away. you listen to a real tremelo from a vintage, say fender amp and you will wish you could get that sound, but alas, if you're like me, you can't afford that shit and you got a cheap amp head, like a sovtek or something. so, you gotta make due with something like a dunlop tremelo.

i didn't really NEED a tremelo when i bought this, nor is it completely integral to the music i play, i just love all kinds of effects and for 20 bucks i couldn't pass it up. i haven't played that many tremelo pedals (come to think of it there aren't many, i guess people just don't use it much anymore), but this one didn't blow me away as sound sweet. it doesn't sound bad, but not great. once you get over the initial rush of having a new effect and operating a tremelo pedal, you might get tired of this one. i always debate selling mine (anybody wanna buy?) but then again, when will i get another tremelo (or any effect) for 20 bucks?

also note: you get a lose of volume and tone that is significant. the volume loss is pretty bad and pisses me off, especially in a live situation it's not cool. also, once again, the bane of my existence, the damn thing does not have a true bypass. forget to leave this thing unplugged and the battery muncher starts eating away and you'll be down at the gas station buying more batteries every other day. pedals without true bypass are just a shit load of trouble so unless you got some super pedal that you can't live without, don't get one, they are not worth it.

sounds pretty good with distortion though, probably better than clean, this thing just does strange things to my tone. i'm not a tone nazi like some people, but i can tell i difference.

uh, had it for a while but don't use it that much. i suppose it's reliable, but then again i'm not a reliable person to ask. but the black rubber things that go around the knob are always coming off, sounds dumb i know but everyone i know that has one of these says the same thing. i would gig without a backup because you don't absolutely have to have a tremelo, i don't care who you are...

n/a

wish it had true bypass. why can't cheap ass pedal makers get that into their heads? no one likes tone deterioration or volume shifts. plus, no one likes to spend their saving on more batteries. why do we use batteries? because no one likes plugging in more cords for adapters and probably like me they already blew up there adaptor on something (opps). it is nice to have if you can get it cheap. but don't go out of your way for it. ever heard a band that uses tremelo on every track? i don't think so. obviously you won't use this a whole lot, so don't spend a lot of money on this if you must get it, it's not that great a pedal. if it were lost, i'd find something else cooler. i'd be pissed i lost an effect for 20 bucks, but oh well...

these damn things are over 100 bucks new! think of all the cool stuff you can get instead: boss bluesdriver, small stone phaser, a flanger... hell, for that kind of money you could almost get a used memoryman which will amaze instead of disappoint, like this one.

It's fairly easy to use. Had a little difficulty hearing the exact difference between the "shape" settings (sine or block). Two knobs, intensity & speed are enough for me.

It sounds what it's supposed to sound like for me. It's not as deep and rich as the tube driven tremolo of a Twin though. If you mess around with different settings you should be able to get some good sounds out of it. It don't think this one has true bypass, but I don't detect any tone sucking when I use it. The stereo output is really great. If you use with two seperate amps it'll sound almost like a phaser on slower speed settings, really nice!

This one hasn't let me down so far, and I think it will last for a while...

N/A

I play blues, soul and funk and this pedal works for me. It's probably not the best out there, but it does a good job for a reasonable price. I love the stereo output, that really does it for me!

Three knobs, on/off switch, dialing in a sound is fairly easy. I'm into the smooth, not to intense, slightly moderato tremolo sound and found it within five minutes.

The Intensity and Speed knobs can be a little sensitive in their respective areas. On the intensity I'da given the smoothness more breathing room and not as stacato. On the speed I would prefer not as fast of a transition from moderato to allegro, it practically moves directly from one to the other with nothing in between at about 12-2 o 'clock.

Steel chassis makes for a very sturdy unit.

Never had to deal with them yet.

I play blues, and I find about half of my original set does well with a tremolo, this is a very good one, and plus, it was practically free, so I'm not complaining. I've heard wonders about the Fulltone Supa-Trem, and if tremolo became a BIG deal, I'd check that one out first.

VERY EASY TO USE, NO BAD SOUNDS IN IT. MANUAL IS NOT GREAT BUT ITS OK, BECAUSE ITS EASY / INTUITIVE ANYWAY.

I NEVER THOUGHT ID OWN A TREM. PEDAL. I BOUGHT THIS ONLY FOR ONE OR TWO SONGS WE DO. BUT I FOUND MUCH MORE PRACTICAL USE FOR IT NOW THAT I HAVE IT.ITS NOT NOISEY.MY SET UP VARIES DEPENDING ON WHAT IM PLAYING.GUITARS USED MOST ARE PRS. CE 22,FENDER STRAT, ROADHOUSE,FENDER STRAT BIG APPLE.GIBSON LES PAUL STUDIO,FENDER TELE DELUXE. GIBSON S/G 1967. ETC.AMPS OLD 50 WATT MARSHALL 4 INPUT NON MASTER TYPE. FENDER PROSONIC WITH FENDER SFX.SILVERFACE PRINCETON,TRACE ELLIOT VELLOCETTE W/10 SPEAKER. MESA BOOGIE 2/90 ETC.EFFECTS INCLUDE LEXICON REVERB,FULLTONE ,VISUAL SOUND,VOODOO LABS BUDDA,BARBER TONE PUMP,KORG G-4,HUGHS AND KETTNER ROTOSPHERE,Z VEX SEEK WHA.ETC.. CAN GET ANY SOUND OF TREMLO I HEAR IF I HAVE ENOUGH TIME TO TWEEK.

LOOKS EXTREMELY STOUT,HAD IT ABOUT TWO YEARS.NO PROBLEMO,DON;T USE A BACK UP, DON'T THINK I NEED ONE EITHER.

NEVER HAD TO DEAL WITH THEM.

I PLAY ALMOST ALL STYLES,THIS FITS IN WHEREVER I NEED IT TO.BEEN PLAYING ALMOST 30 YEARS.IF STOLEN I WOULD BUY IT AGAIN.IT HAS THIS THICK BUTTERY SWAMP THING GOING I REALLY LOVE.IT ALLWAYS SOUNDS BETTER WHEN IM PLAYING WITH THE BAND, WHICH IS A PLEASENT SUPRISE. ALLMOST ALLWAYS USE IT IN STEREO.DID NOT COMPARE TO OTHER UNITS BECAUSE MOST OTHERS WEREN'T STEREO, AND IT GOT BETTER THAN AVERAGE REVUES IN HARMONY.GREAT PEDALS INSPIRE YOU TO BECOME PASSIONATE AND INTO ANOTHER LEVEL OFTHE MUSIC AND THIS PEDAL DOES.

Very easy to use pedal. Straight forward with three knobs for Intensity, Shape and Speed. Has one input two putputs depending, I assume, if you want stereo or mono out, and an AC adapter. It also has a switch to switch stereo or mono near the inputs and two footswitches for bypass and mono/stereo. I just don't get this, all these stereo switches. Oh well I use it mono so what the hell. For my requirements, mono, it is quite easy. BTW bought it used so I have no manual.

Well I really like how it sounds. It does not affect the guitar's tone. Does subtle tremolo to square wave tremolo. I really like it although I have heard of some people who really dislike it. As I said I really like the variety of tremolo settings you can get with it. I use this pedal through a long chain of effects and it really complements my playing.

I've used it repeated times. The footswitch looks sturdy and the housing is very string. Weighs enough to cause serious damage if hurled at somebody. Looks like it will last for a long time.

I like it a lot. May look a bit complicated to set it up stereo but that is not a concern for me.

I would definitely buy it again if I lose it or if it were stolen.

Anyway remmeber that you are the ultimate judge. Try it out first with your own gear or as close as possible to your own.

It is as easy as it could be for a stereo tremolo/pan pedal. There is an "Intensity" knob which is basically a depth control. There is a "Shape" knob that according to the manual "allows you to adjust the shape of the waveform that modulates the Tremolo." At its fully counterclockwise setting it is a sine wave; at its fully clockwise setting it is a square wave, and in between it is a triangular or trapezoidal wave. The "Speed" knob controls the rate of the tremolo. Of course, there is a bypass footswitch; I am not sure if it is true bypass or not. However, the 7/18/96 Harmony-Central review of the Voodoo Lab Tremolo says, "The Dunlop does not have true bypass either." I guess I'll have to take his word for it, since I haven't opened mine up to see for myself. There is also a footswitch called "Mono/Stereo," which is how you choose between tremolo and pan modes. Rest assured, this has nothing to do with whether your input connection setup is mono or stereo. The back features an input jack with a push knob which selects between a regular mono 1/4" plug and a stereo 1/4" plug with a ring, tip and a sleeve. There are two output jacks, one for the tip and the other for the ring. Power is either by battery, or by "9Volt regulated adapter with a 5.5/2.1mm coax plug and negative tip" (i.e., center-negative).
When I was looking for a tremolo pedal, I read every review I could find in the Harmony-Central forum. I compiled a master list of features of all of the devices. This is not to say that the Dunlop has all these features, but you may find this list helpful in evaluating your own personal needs. Here is my master list: multiple waveforms, multiple waveforms footswitch, rate control by pedal, volume boost when on, LED for rate, circuit technology (tube, digital or analog), multiple tremolos in one box, stereo capability, rate fine tuning, rate doubler footswitch, high frequency tone bypass, true bypass, point-to-point wiring, built in EQ, mix control, battery or AC adaptor input, random variation of the rate so that it is not metronome-like. Out of all these capabilities, the Dunlop TS-1 Tremolo has multiple waveforms, LED for rate, stereo capability and multiple power options; the fact that it doubles as a panner makes for a better value.
For my setup, stereo is mandatory. That eliminated all comers except for the TS-1, the Boss PN-2 (no longer in production), and the 3ms stereo tremulus lune (for which no Harmony-Central reviews were available, but I did find it listed on the 3ms website).

Let me explain why stereo is mandatory for my setup. I have a Fender Princeton Chorus (2x10", 2x25W stereo amp). When using a tremolo effects pedal along with the Princeton Chorus, it is important to consider where it should be hooked up. The mono effects loop is wired before the reverb and chorus, and the stereo effects loop is wired after the reverb and chorus. If you place the tremolo in the mono effects loop, the effect will be degraded in direct proportion to an increase of the reverb level. Therefore, it is very desirable to place the tremolo *after* the reverb. On a Princeton Chorus, this means that it should be placed in the stereo effects loop. If you wish to use the stereo chorus along with the tremolo, then you will need a stereo tremolo to preserve the stereo chorus image. To confirm that tremolo should be placed after the reverb, I made a post on the Vintage Fender Amps section of the Fender Discussion Page on the Fender website: "In a vintage Fender amp, is the tremolo wired before the reverb or after it?" I received a reply which said, "After the reverb. A few Gibson/Epiphone and Valco-built amps put the reverb after the tremolo." I have seen the schematic for a '65 Deluxe Reverb reissue, and I believe that to be correct statement.
The TS-1 "Intensity," "Shape," and "Speed" knobs make for a wide variety of tones. It goes from very subtle to heavy, in both tremolo and pan modes. If the rumor is indeed correct that the TS-1 is not true bypass, I wouldn't know it otherwise, for I do not detect any negative impact on my sound when it's turned off. The stereo pan mode is pretty cool when using headphones on my Princeton, especially with the stereo chorus turned on.
My guitars are a Fender Eric Clapton signature Strat, a Fender 90's Tele Deluxe (retrofitted with Joe Barden dual blade humbuckers), and an Epiphone Les Paul Double Cut (P-90s). I think that the TS-1 sounds great, especially compared to the tremolo in my Zoom 509, Zoom 503 (reverb *after* tremolo on the Fender clean emulation setting--ugh!), and Digitech XP-200, all of which are digital. I'm not a fan of digital anything, and I think I've given digital more than a fair try.
If it was tube and point-to-point wiring would it sound better? I suppose so, therefore I will knock it down some. But, that also would make the cost unreasonable.

The "Stereo/Mono Button" only gives me stereo when pushed in. This is supposed to be mono input mode! I can only assume that the switch was wired backwards at the factory. Otherwise, everything seems good. It doesn't bother me and I'm just going to leave it that way.

I first became interested in tremolo through playing organ at my church. Unlike a typical guitar effects box, an organ tremolo has a fixed rate and depth. Yet, it still manages to work well regardless of the tempo of the piece. I had to give some thought as to why that is. Here is my theory. In "Making the Connection: the Fender Pro Audio Primer" by Tom Butler (1994) it says, "3dB is the smallest perceptible change most people can hear,though it represents a doubling (or halving) or the power; 6dB is a clearly noticeable change and 10dB represents a perceived doubling (or halving) of the sound, while representing a ten to one power ratio; 12 dB is a lot of eq..." (p. 184). I believe that if you keep the volume fluctuations low, you can set the tremolo to a level where the listener can discern that a volume effect is operating, but the depth of the effect will not mess up the timing and rhythmn of the performer. This is how I use the effect--to add a gentle throb (at a fairly high rate) to the volume. On an organ, tremolo works great with the woodwind stops. On a guitar, it sounds great for clean channel playing along with chorus, reverb, and flanging. Of course, at higher depth settings the effect has more bite, but you pretty much have to synchronize the tremolo with the tempo of the tune. That's where the flashing LED can be helpful. I suppose if you are interested in special effects, you could use the square wave along with a high depth to simulate a Marine helicopter.
One thing about Jim Dunlop pedals is that they look so cool. The TS-1 is very colorful, and the knobs are '50s (chromed and domed) Telecaster style. What a great touch! In fact, I've got a number of Dunlop pedals and I like how they all look. I dig the chrome. The Fulltone website disses the Dunlop TS-1 for its paint job. My reply is: "When the Fulltone gets stereo capability, then come back and talk to me." In the meantime, I've got a cool looking stereo pedal which sounds great to me.
Some of the best known Fender amps have a built-in tremolo. While I have always liked the reverb and chorus alone on the Princeton Chorus, a tremolo effects pedal can be an excellent addition for clean channel playing.

It's not very difficult with only three knobs. The "shape" knob needs to be messed with a little bit to get it figured out and to find your desired sound but it's no big confusing stuff. "Speed" regulates the speed of the tremolo (duh) and the intensity knob regulates how intense the trem gets (hence the name "intensity"). Not a very difficult thing to figure out.

I use a Fender Jazzmaster with a Fender Twin Reverb amp so pretty much anything sounds good through this amp. Very very low noise-- if there is actually any at all, i can't tell. Sounds good when combined with big muff pi distortion pedals (i use two at once at times) and with the Digitech whammy II to make R2D2 noises. Excellent sound.

So far i have had no problems with it. Of couse, i have only had it for about 2 weeks but i don't think i should have any problem with it.

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I really have no complaints about it and it's just really cool since it fits my style which is heavy trippy feedbcking junk core. If stolen i would definetly get another after murdering the one who took this favorite toy. the only thing left to be desired is fuzzy shag carpet covering the outside instead of the ugly purple paint.

The Shape knob was a little confusing at first because i lacked the manual which would have explained it right away. as it is, it took me about 6 minutes to perfect the use of this knob, so it is pretty easy to use.

i use a jazzmaster into a superrack head and a two twelve cab. the trem can go anywhere from silky to fat. the stereo pan is a good effect to have, although i cant use it in shows because i am too poor to afford two amps. it sounds good after a distortion although the rem can get annoying if you have the shape to the right. its pretty good but nothing really special in this catagory. At first i thought this pedal was pretty clean, but after comparing it to a fultone, i knew better, but then again, what sounds as good as a fultone or lovetone??? This pedal distorts like a MAD DOg if your batteries are low, i recommend a power suppy, so you dont even have to worry about it.

its in a big metal box,i would go to a gig without a backup. DUnlop is pretty reliable, just not the best there is.(which is pretty weird because 4 of my pedals are made by them.

ehhh, i never talked to them.

i play effects/noise music. it's a good dependable tremelo. if it were lost or stolen, i would probably look at a FUltone SupaTrem, realize that i couldn't afford it, and buy this trem again. the stereo option will be hard to give up if i ever get two amps for shows. ive compared this trem to: COlorsound TRemelo FUltone SupaTrem BOss TRemelo DOD Vibrothang
this trem is by far better than the boss or dod cheapo's, and not nearly as clean or good as the colorsound or fultone counterparts. i dint like the way the fultone was setup, the hard/soft switch instead of the knob, but that is just personal preference. the colorsound pedal didnt even have a shape change of any kind, but it was still good. i wish this pedal had a little cleaner sound, but its not bad for the money, and i would definately buy it again.

The three knobs are straightforward: depth, shape, and speed. One reason I bought this was the shape knob, giving more versatility than pedals with a smooth/square wave switch with two settings or pedals with no settigs at all (e.g., the Tremadillo). The other big selling point was the LED that allows you to see how fast the signal is being cutout. If only it could be on all the time like the old BOSS pedal. There is a stereo pan setting, but I never used it. The manual explains it all.

The tremolo effect is nice by itself, but it's noticeably quieter, which ultimately why I ended up selling it. Perhaps it was my guitars (in particular the Epiphone Sorrento), because I didn't notice this when I was trying it in the store. 10 for the sound, 3 for the quietness.

A sturdy steel case that I would not have been afraid to hurl into a wall had I a worse temper.

Didn't take advantage, though perhaps I should have.

I couldn't use this pedal because of the volume cut. It might make a useful studio toy. More interesting is the Volume+ pedal that Dunlop made, which had a volume and tremolo mode, using the pedal as the speed control. I actually bought one of these at first ($100 used!), but my ineptitude with pedals was distracting, and the LEDs were at the front of the pedal which made them hard to see. I have a feeling that being a VOLUME pedal, it doesn't suffer from the lowered volume, but I'll never know now.

Two switches, three dials, one input, two outputs, and an extra switch for stereo input. A bit confusing at first, but sounds good without much trouble. The manual is pretty much "duh" information, but the explanation for the shape knob was handy.

Quiet on, quiet off. Your signal gets faintly quieter when you fire it up, but not too bad. The shape knob is really cool. Cranked to extreme left, it makes a sine wave oscillation in volume (like old Vox amps), in the middle it makes a trapezoidal wave, and extreme right it acts like an on/off switch. When you run it in pan mode through two amps, it sounds great. The speeds range from less then one pulse per second to about ten or eleven pulses per second.

It's in a thick steel case, so I trust that it won't crush under my girth, but I haven't had it too long so I can't say how it's going to survive. Seems sturdy enough.

I had a Rotovibe puke on me and they took about two months to get it back to me. Then they told me that they had replaced the whole unit, which was ironic because I had put a piece of yellow tape on it and it was still there. To top it off, it puked again and took another two months to fix. It has worked flawlessly since, except one LED is dead. Take your chances.

This is a really cool effect. It adds a cool throbbing texture to my bass sound, and is cool for otherwise boring bass lines. Definitely a better buy than the Diaz tremolo pedal, which cost more, didn't have a stereo option, and had no LED's. In the stereo pan mode, you can really impress people when your signal suddenly changes sides of the room on them. Even the color was cool. It has been easy on batteries except when I left it plugged in overnight (which was silly).