Empress Effects Tremolo

Very straight forward and easy to use. One of the most versatile tremolo pedals out there in terms of types of tremolo sounds available from a pedal. I would give this a ten, but I wish that the speed knob had a detent at the 1:2 ratio setting which is what I find I use the most. It can get bumped/changed and I usually need to double check it to make sure the know is at the correct position. Still, I understand that detents would give less fine tuning availability so this is a compromise I can live with (only a very minor nit anyway).

My main stage setup:

Amp: Hughes & Kettner Duotone Combo with custom 2x12 extension cabinet
Guitars: Gibson ES137C with Bare Knuckle Nail Bomb pickups, Swamp Ash Fender Tele with Kinman Broadcaster pickups
Pedals: ISP Decimator, Korg Pitchblack tuner, Custom Wah with Area51 board, Boss DD-3 Digital Delay, Fulltone original White Dejavibe (further custom modded by Mike Fuller), original '60's era MXR grey Flanger, Ernie Ball Volume Jr.,

I've been playing for 35 years, giging regularly, had songs on the radio and in movies and commercials. I've gone through literally hundreds of thousands of dollars of gear over the years seaching for 'that tone' in my head. I finally found it with my current setup which I pretty much haven't changed for the last four years now (except for some minor upgrades like the tuner). I have hundreds of other boutique and standard pedals in my collection but find I generally don't use a lot of effects-real tone comes from the fingers (cliche but true).

As far as trem pedals go, I've had Demeters, Fulltones, Boss, etc.and tried most of the other boutique pedals as well. The Empress is the clear winner for me. Just so you know what to expect, this is NOT one of those swirly thick sounding kinda trem pedals. It is a pristine clean sounding pedal that will not suck any tone and output exactly what you put into it, just with tremolo. Sounds perfect, beautiful with both clean and dirty tones, low and high gain. It is extremely responsive, high fidelity and has a great range of adjustability with various wave forms, ratios, an excellent gain knob, and particularly important-a tap tempo footswich built in. I can't stress the value of this last feature enough as it allows you to change the tempo on the fly effortlessly while playing live. If you just use a 'generic' setting for speed on a trem pedal it can sound OK but never really 'right'. This is a breakthrough in a pedal format, especially since I don't need another external pedal for this function taking up space on my board. Additionally, this pedal adds no noise whatsoever to my signal chain and is also true bypass.

This is one of those pedals that once I tried it in my rig, I knew immediately it was the one. I've had this pedal in my rig for many years now and am still thrilled with it. I often use this pedal (when appropriate) on studio work for industrial/commercial clients.

I haven't had a backup for this pedal since I got it, probably about 4 years ago (don't really remember exactly when). Never had a problem with it and I gig with it weekly. Opening it up, the pedal is made with high quality components and clean soldering. Pots are still clean and smooth sounding after 4 years.

As I mentioned previously, I've never had a problem with the pedal so I haven't had a need for customer service. I will say that when I first bought the pedal, the folks at Empress were extremely courteous and took the time to address all my concerns/inquiries immediately. Once I placed the order I received it extremely quickly, even coming from Canada. I expect the customer service would be just as excellent if ever needed.

Not the cheapest, but not expensive compared to other boutique pedals in its class. This is simply the best tremolo pedal I have found, period. It is the first one I have been completely happy with-I am an extremely satisfied customer and would highly recommend this pedal to anyone. If you are looking for a syrupy sounding dirty pedal (like EH for example) look elsewhere, but this is the one for accurate tremolo in a pedal. If it got stolen I would definitely get another one immediately, whatever the current cost.

Pretty easy to use sounds good i like the standard tube setting 1, the other options are very cool, and im sure will make a few songs very unique, but i havnt found much use for them yet. The square wave is like a slicer, cool for distorted choppy fx. The manual doesnt explain the different rhythm modes in a way i understand, would be nice to see musical notations with accent marks.

Setup: Gibson Sg-Fender Supersonic Head-1960b cab-empress delay tremelo, and trex tonebug verb on fx loop.

This pedal does seem to have a little bit of buzz, even using my Voodoo Labs Pedal power 2 plus. But nothing horrible and you usually cannot hear it under your playing. 8 rating because of buzz. Great for subtle pulsing on cleans, and great for distorted fx.

No problems yet, but only had it for a few weeks.

The bypass switch seems to make a pop when i first tune it on, but quiet after its been powered on for a bit.

no contact

I am a professional LA recording engineer and musician who has been playing and recording for 10 years, i record all likes of music, and like to play Post Rock. This unit is a bit pricey and i dont need all the extra settings, but the sounds i use are great. Definitely helps my music. I read a bunch of reviews and youtube shootouts and this one seems to be the one to buy.

the Empress tremolo is the best in the world )

Perfect sound !!!

very beautyfull design !!!

speed 1!!

Fantastic for the pedalboards !!!!!

This is really simple. Takes like 10mins literally to understand this pedals functions.

Tap Tempo- really convient
Rate- helps you tap in fast tempos

and then you can scult you tone any way you want
plus how the rhythm will sound, simpler than the cusack tap a whirl that has like 30 waveforms but I guess that has its advantage though I bet noone uses all 30)

This pedal has 3 wave forms and 8 rhythm.

Fender blues deluxe reissued -> Ibanez TS9 Keeley Mod -> Boss OS-2 -> Boss FV-50 -> Empress Tremolo -> digitech whammy -> guitar

Sounds perfect. No flaws. Seriously, this is a tremolo w/ no flaws. No volume drop, presice wave forms, no colouration in tone.

This is your standard tremolo, not flawed like those Boss ones or Electro Harmonix. This is perfect to fill all your tremolo needs.

Hand made in Canada. Repersent!

looks tank but very little delicate.

Steve Bragg is awesome, works really quick.

I wouldn't change a thing about this pedal, its awesome the way it is. AND very small compared to what I imagined it to be.

A little too prices though.

True Bypass, good stuff.

Super Easy. Not as easy as say a Boss Tremolo pedal - but this unit is head and shoulders above any ordinary Trem.

Much like the Empress SuperDelay (another fabulous pedal) you are met with what would seem like a complicated array of knobs and switches. Soon after plugging it in and playing with it for a few minutes though you realize how simple it really is. Great sounds can be dialed in quickly.

One word.

Pristine.

A common problem with most Tremolos is volume loss. My signal actually gets louder when I switch this unit on. Unlike other units, this pedal has a gain (volume) knob. But again, above the gain, the sound quality is absolutely pristine. And again, much like the SuperDelay, it's like having studio rack quality sound packed into a pedal.

The signal path is also 100% analog for you sound enthusiasts out there. It's controlled digitally, but the sound path is all analog.

I've only had it for a couple weeks but it feels nice and solid. I'm not sure if it would survive being thrown out of a plane, but it seems dependable enough.

I actually feel like I have a new friend in the music and gear world. I ordered the SuperDelay and liked it so much I actually called Empress. Steve Bragg (owner & builder) answered the phone and took the order personally for the tremolo. He was also anxious to hear how I liked it and wanted my critique.

I've seen several posts on The Gear Page forum where people have had questions about his products and I've seen him personally address them. It's like he keeps an eye out for what people are saying about his products. He definitely wants his customers to be satisfied.

I play blues, rock, jazz, as well as playing in a church worship band. I've been playing for 27 years. All of my pedals are hand-made boutique, top quality. The superdelay and the tremolo are prominent on my board and I'm proud to own them.

If it were lost or stolen? I've already insured them.

This tremolo is very unique in the way it gives options in rhythm on top of the normal tremolo. It's a very cool way to add a lot of flavor to what you're playing. It's one of those pedals that helps create new feels and moods in my playing. I suddenly find myself playing to the tremolo.

Why every rating on these products aren't 10's is beyond me because there simply isn't anything else out there that compares.

I only recently bought this and its the first trem that I've owned. I wanted one with "options" which this one definitely has. Tap tempo was key but with 3 waveforms and an accent selector it offers more than a standard trem. Its pretty straight fwd as far as use and the more I play around with it the more I feel that all the options are usable.

I use a tele custom and LP with a BadCat Head and it sounds great. Just below half volume is clean and smooth. The boost it gets after 1/2 way is very transparent and will allow the trem sounds to cut through a mix live. I use a slow phaser and OD before it and love the sound I can get, especially with the square wave setting.

Too early to tell yet but its built tough and with care. Solid metal casing, small but solid switches, and smooth action knobs. Everything feels solid. It also now has a 4-yr warranty. I know they believe in their products.

Haven't needed too much support but I know Steve would email me back if I needed something or had a question.

I play mainly rock with hooks and riffs but also like to drift off into dream land. I've been playing for 20 years off and on. I would definitely buy this one again if needed. So far my favorite feature is the tap tempo mode with the square wave but its an inspiring tool to use so all features will be used.

Now that I've tried it and used the various options I have thought of some other features that would be great.
It would be great to have tap tempo for 2-spd mode as well as being able to manually overide the speed in all modes. And being able to save the speeds as you switch between modes would be nice.

Oh, and I love that its made in Canada!

Not quite a 10 because there is more to this than your typical single-function tremolo pedal, but it???s really not all that complicated. If you can???t figure it all out on your own the instructions that ship with the unit clearly explain how everything works. And if you still have any problems at that point, maybe you should just plug straight into your amp forget about effect pedals.

Controls are depth, rate, rhythm (unique feature ??? see notes below), gain, plus 3-position toggle switches for waveform (triangle, tube, square) and speed mode (standard, tap tempo, dual-speed). The rate knob doubles as the multiplier (1:1, 1:2, up to 1:4) for the tap tempo mode. And the tap tempo footswitch doubles as the speed selector when operating in 2-speed mode.

Tremolo is my favorite effect and I was looking for something that would deliver vintage-style tremolo with some added flexibility. I play with mostly clean tones, so I was also looking for something that would be quiet and transparent, preferably with true-bypass on/off switching.

The Empress Tremolo delivered all of that and more. It???s got a great analog tremolo sound that covers everything from deep, swampy, throbs to manic, staccato stutters. The ranges of both the rate and depth controls far exceed any other pedal or built-in amp trem I???ve used, especially when you add the 3 possible wave shapes. The depth control is extremely effective, giving you everything from a light shimmer to a thick, rich wobble. The 2-speed mode includes a ramping effect that smoothly transitions from one speed to the other, much like an old Leslie speed control. Very nice! Tap-tempo mode, of course, is great for matching tremolo pulses to the music. The ???rhythm??? feature is unique to the Empress design (as far as I know) and allows you to emphasize selected pulses with 8 different settings possible. I???m still getting used to this one, myself, but it really adds a whole new dimension to the tremolo effect. This feature will be fun to explore.

And the Empress Tremolo does all of this without changing the core tone of the guitar and does it with absolutely no added noise. This unit was obviously well engineered. Kudos to Empress for coming up with an original take on an old effect and for outstanding execution of that design.

Haven???t owned it long enough to comment about longevity, but it appears to be extremely well constructed and all switches and jacks are solid. It???s built as well as any pedal I???ve seen and better than most.

Side note: This is a good looking pedal, too. Nice paint job (as long as you like orange) with classy-looking metal (aluminum?) knobs. Sharp!

I've exchanged a few emails with Steve at Empress and he???s always responded promptly. Through those exchanges it was clear to me that he cares about his product AND about his customers. Empress also offers an extended warranty (4 years as opposed to the standard 2 years) by simply registering the serial number with them. I plan to register, but I hope I never have to worry about testing the warranty.

Who says you can???t build a better mousetrap? Empress has taken a tried and true effect, added a few interesting ??? and very useful ??? twists, and created a high-quality device that has ended my search for a great tremolo pedal.

In my 30+ years of playing guitar, I???ve gone through a lot of gear and my current collection includes a couple Strat???s, a couple Tele???s, and a Gretsch, which all get plugged into either a Fender Deluxe Reverb or a Mission 5E3. This pedal works well with any and all combinations and is a definite keeper. I would highly recommend Empress to anyone looking for a tremolo unit. You???ll find some that are cheaper (and a few that are more expensive), but I can???t imagine you???d find one that???s better.

The only thing that keeps this from being a perfect '10' is the price. There are a lot of tremolo pedals out there for less money that will get the job done. However, I wanted something that would do more than just "get the job done", so I was willing to spend a little extra. Given the features it offers and the build quality that???s evident, I think it was worth every penny I paid for it. In fact, the Empress Tremolo may well be the best pedal purchase I???ve made.
If I woke up tomorrow and the pedal was gone, I'd buy another one in a heartbeat.

Very well laid out and simple to use. Ships with a brief explanation and that's all that's needed.

I've been building a clean rig to AB with my higher gain rig. I've tried just about everything out there. My studio looks like a music store. Over a dozen guitars, a half dozen amps, 40+ effects pedals. Over 45 years of stuff I've used at one time or another.

I wanted to come up with perfect clean tones. As pure and vintage as I could get. Any "bells and whistles" would have to be transparent when not in use and add only what they're designed for without effecting the tone of the guitar / amp when turned on. This meant no multi effects units, no digital modelers, a pure or near pure analog signal path.

While I could have had an amp built with effects onboard I decided to use outboard rather than onboard effects so I could take them completely out of the circuit when not in use.

I ordered a pair of top quality Weber 12A150T 25 watt AlNiCo speakers and installed them in a 2X12 Ear Candy cab (the best).

I had a builder design an amp that would produce approx. 30 watts with just one single preamp stage and two cathode biased EL34s in the output stage. A custom designed effects loop being the only addition to a very pure signal path.

My guitar of choice for this application was a John Suhr Classic T with three pickups, 5 way switching, an unfinished Pau Ferro neck and fretboard with an alder body and a solid mount strat type bridge rather than the tele box bridge. I wanted smooth and articulate.

I then began looking for 4 effect types that would be up to the standards of the rest of the rig. This was no easy task. I wanted a reverb, a delay, a chorus, and a tremolo.

Of all the Tremolos on the market, both locally and on the net, with price being no object, The Empress Tremolo was the only one I found that was perfect for the rig. Truely. I'm pretty much a total tone freak and the slightest imperfections, (especially on a clean tone), make me crazy. I wanted something I could put in the loop and not know it's there when it's not being used. I wanted a Tremolo that would not alter my base volume level or tone quality when turned on. I wanted a ghost that would enhance rather than over power the voice of an angel.

In the end there was no competition. Vintage units, new units, pure analog this and overpriced that. The Empress Tremolo took first place in every catagory I rated them in. It was the most transparent. It had the smoothest entrance and exit. It had the most beautiful wave shape available, (3 offered with my favorite being "tube"). Added to that it offered the ability to ramp up and down very smoothly from one tremolo speed to another as well as the ability to accent selected "pulses" of the tremolo to provide a musical rhythmic beat if desired. The Empress had already won the competition with it's basics. The added abilities are just cream on top. It just does more and better at quieter levels than any other unit I tried.

I've only owned it for a short time so I will not rate it's reliability. It's construction appears to be excellent and highly road worthy. Time will tell.

I've interacted with Empress both over the phone as well as on the net and they've been most helpful. Zero hassles. No problems. Interested in my opinions. Very willing to help.

Building the perfect clean rig has turned out to be harder than building it's high gain partner. With higher gain music being so popular these days it seems that a lot of gear is designed to meet the requirements of a distorted tone with little regard to it's clean counterpart.For example, I have 5 delay pedals, (all of which sound great with high gain), that I've decided not to use with the clean rig. In fact, I'm still looking. I will not use an effect in the loop unless it fits my requirements perfectly.

The Empress Tremolo is perfect for me. The best of the best. I pray it's reliability turns out as well as everything else about it. I've considered buying a second one for backup and would replace it with the same model if this one was lost. They're not cheap, but I do consider them fairly priced for all the good attributes they bring to the table. For my clean rig this is a permanent piece of gear. Finding something that meets your needs so perfectly makes it a value at any price.

If you just want a tremolo ... it's a 10. Couldn't be easier ...
If you want to use the rhythm patterns, you need some time figure it out because there is no description of the single patterns. But that's not too much work and you will learn to handle them very fast. Learning by doing ... ;)

There is a little toggle-switch on the left which selects 3 modes. First "tap tempo". Yeah, that's why I buyed that pedal. Tap in your tempo and if your drummer slows down, tap in again. Forget all about asynchron trems! In this mode the speed switch is used to select the ratio which is used to convert your foot-taps. 1:1, 1:2 or 1:4.
The second mode is "normal", the tap-momentary-switch has no function, so it's like your old-school tremolo.
And the last one is called "two speed". In this mode you select your first speed-setting with the speed knob (yeah, it's that easy, REALLY! ;)), stomp on the tap-switch and set your second speed-setting. Now you can switch between those 2 settings AND the tremolo will ramp between them. Those rampings are the best few seconds I had in the last weeks ;)

The depth-knob does what it's called after ... wow. And with the gain-knob you can solve the psycho-acoustic volume-loss when you engage the tremolo. It can also boost your sound, if you want that!

There is no battery-clip so you can only use it with a dc-wallet. No problem for me and other pedalboard-users, I think.

First, the pedal is dead-quiet. There is a LITTLE LFO throb if the effect is activated, but it's hardly noticeable so it hardly disturbs.

There are 3 types of tremolo selectable by the right toggle-switch. First the standard triangle-tremolo. A nice tremolo if you don't want something special only a mild sound-break-sound-break...-effect.
The second one in the middle-position is my favorite! It's called "tube" and simulates an tube-like tremolo. The wave is asymmetrical and I think it's a more "living" tremolo. I couldn't get that sound out of my beloved pink Nobels TR-X!
The last one is called "hard" and that's what it sounds like. on-off-on-off-on. Yeah, great for synthi-stuff!

The new version which I own has metal-shaft-pots and smaller toggle-switches, so there is no danger about kicking/breaking/smacking/... them off.

They used a standard 3PDT for bypassing like I do when I build me a little fuzz or whatever, the solderpoints look really good so I think I will have some nice decades with it!

GREAT! I emailed with Steve about some details, talked about their upcoming delay ... He answers really fast, is VERY nice and seems to care about his pedal-users.

My setup is Godin Montreal -> some stuff like ProCo Rat, Z.Vex Fuzz Factory, Z.Vex Ooh Wah, Digitech Synth Wah, Ibanez PM7, Ernie Ball Jr. VP, rehoused Danelectro Chicken Salad, Digitech DigiDelay and Line6 DL4. That into an Acoustic G100T (a Mesa/Boogie Mark-Series-clone ... build in the 70s/80s). The tremolo sits after distortion/filter-stuff/modulation and before the delays.
I play Jazz/Electro/Indie so I need some synth-like sounds. With the empress tremolo and it's hard-setting and the build-in rhythm-patterns I can use it for a lot of danceable electro-stuff.
If I want to create some pad-like stuff and need a bit of life in them I can use the tube-setting and I have a great organic-sounding tremolo. And even if I got some Nancy Sinatra-attitude (we all know "Bang Bang" ...), the empress satisfies my secret wishes ;)

In Germany you would call it "Eierlegende Wollmilchsau" which means a unit which can do a WHOLE lot of things and all perfect.

If an %&#"?? would steal it, I would let him first eat his guts and then kick his ass over to the next continent. If my empress tremolo was in his ass and I'd kicked it with him, I would buy another one in the next 10seconds. 9...8.... ;)

More controls than most trems, but they're all well labelled and obvious. Depth, rate, post gain (thank you!), rhythm (incredible feature), plus 3-way toggles for waveform (triangle, tube, square) and speed mode (standard, tap tempo, dualspeed). A one-page manual was included but it's hardly necessary.

My ONLY issue with it: when in tap tempo mode, the rate knob is used to select the rhythm division (1:1, 1:2, up through and past 1:4). Problem for me is, it's a smooth knob, with no detents -- if I need to quickly switch from say 1:1 to 1:2, I gotta bend down and look REAL close and be VERY accurate with the knob to get it to land right on 1:2, otherwise when I tap in the tempo it'll always be a little off. Notches for quickly dropping the knob onto these values would be super handy. Also a notch for 1:3 would be appreciated. But these are all weak complaints, since most trems don't give you this feature AT ALL, so thanks Empress!

With all these features, it sounds like one o' them digital devices we all hate, right? But that's Steve's genius -- the signal path is pure analog for uncompromising sound quality, but the controller is digitally programmed. We need more FX designers using this philosophy.

It's worth noting that this box is AC-only, no battery; if you're not the pedalboard type then you might see this as a problem, but I'm running it off a DC Brick so that's fine with me.

Beautiful smooth analog trem sound. The range of the controls is wondrous; at full depth on square wave I can almost get a complete gate effect. The tube waveform sounds very much like an old amp trem. Makeup gain is clean and there's plenty of it. Sound quality? It's silent; what goes in is what comes out, except tremolo'd -- no added noise. With my dirtboxes in front, I can hear the dirt noise being trem'd, but that's just what you would expect. I kinda like that sound anyway.

The box is beautiful and solid (all metal), nice paintjob, jacks feel solid. I haven't had it open yet. My only reliability concern is that the pots stick out rather high off the case; I could imagine myself kicking one off in a drunken performance stupor.

I exchanged numerous email witticisms with Steve, the creator of this genius device, and he is very responsive and open to suggestions. I'm sure if I ever have a problem with it he'll be glad to help me out.

I'm playing a Tele through numerous gizmos into a Fender amp, doing everything from triphop electronica to altcountry dub. I have always loved the trem sound but was frustrated by the lack of control in most tremolos; the Empress is the final answer to all of that. I'm confident I will never need another tremolo -- this is the one.

In shopping around I did compare the Empress to every other trem I could find. Nothing else came close on features and control, and now that I have it, I can't imagine anything else could sound better. If you're reading this you are clearly shopping for a trem -- STOP HERE. Get the Empress. You will NOT be sorry.

Everything is pretty well laid out on this pedal. With a bit of experimenting you can get some very original sounds unlike other units out there.

It is possible to get a Johnny Marr type tremolo out of this pedal using the square wave setting. I use a Telecaster running through a Tonebone Classic Distortion and then to a Clark 59 type Bassman amp. With this particular setup I hear no noise or pulsing coming from the Empress Tremolo unit.

I have owned this pedal for about six months now and have had only one issue which was easily solved by getting in touch with Steve at Empress. He was quick to respond and the problem was solved.

WOW!!!!!! This is the Tremolo pedal I've been waiting 15 years for. The 1st time I tried to lock up a tremolo to a click track I dreamed of the day someone would make a tap tremolo. And without going digital, I haven't been able to until the Empress Effects Tremolo. Other companies have done it...(ie Line6) but they all sound like complete CRAP!!!! Steve has made the ULTIMATE Tremolo pedal...It sounds impecable, it has more options for sounds than any other Tremolo pedal I've played!!!! There was a one page manual, but the pedal is pretty self explanitory. Good sounds begin as soon as you plug it in and turn it on!

Mike Scheuchzer
MercyMe

Sounds are amazing...I say Sounds because because it's not just 1 tremolo...you get tons of options with this pedal!

I haven't had it long, but it seems to be very well built.

Steve was AWESOME!!!!!! He worked with me and built mine just for me with a slight mod to the Tap feature so it would work in better conjunction with my pedal board setup.

This the last Tremolo pedal I will buy. Unless it's lost or stolen, then I may buy 2 more just to have a back up....I love this pedal.

this is quickly becoming one of my favorite pedals on my board. anything you can think of that a tremolo can do, this pedal has it. and it does it in an intuitive, straightforward way. i've been looking for a tremolo with a tap feature, and more importantly, one that MULTIPLIES the tempo for fast stutters IN TIME! i was very excited when i found out about this pedal, and it certainly has not disappointed. you'll have it figured out in no time, and this a testament to it's good design.

in a word...wonderful. i use tremolo for a rhythmic stutter, for vibey, ambient tones, and for lonesome cowboy type sounds. it can do them all. at first, i thought it didn't do "swampy" that well. but then i realized you have to back the depth off a little. i'm so used to having that depth knob cranked on every trem i've owned...and that's not the case with the empress. full depth means a serious cut with this pedal.

plenty of make-up gain, which is so key for a good tremolo. also, i love that when you change tempos with either the two-speed setting or the tap it ramps up or down instead of just abruptly changing. that's attention to detail, and that's classy.

if i had to quibble about one feature, i do sort of wish that the tap tempo multiplier worked with whatever is tapped in. in other words, once the tempo is set, a twist of the speed knob would double it, or quadruple it. but that's splitting hairs, and it doesn't take away from what a fine pedal this is.

i've been playing shows extensively with the pedal since i received it, and so far it is 100% reliable...and i can't claim to be gentle. the one thing that makes me mildly nervous are the plastic shafts of the pots. but i understand that if you're going with pcb-mounted pots, your choices are limited. outside of that, the switch is a heavy duty 3pdt and a carling for the tap. the enclosure is hammond i believe. all solid parts. you're getting your money's worth.

poor steve has emailed me twice to ask if i'm happy with my purchase, but i've been playing so much i haven't had time to sit down and reply! i think that's very kind. i'm a little jealous that the reviewer below me got his with an led that flashes in tempo...didn't know that was an option! but yes, steve...i am sooo happy with my purchase! :)

i used to own this alesis ampliton. it was a tremolo of sorts with a tap tempo/multiplier feature. i hated that thing. but i got addicted to all it could do, so i begrudgingly allowed it to remain on my pedal board for longer than it deserved. all the while, hoping and praying that some inspired genius would give me a true-bypass tremolo with all the features i dreamed of without the idiotic design of that alesis. the empress is that pedal.

the rhythm feature is a true marvel of engineering. as a matter of fact, it is probably the most innovative thing i've ever seen on a tremolo. it creates the most interesting accents and textures, particularly if you find just the right one to set against the rhythm of a given tune. really impressive feature.

btw, this pedal is orange. like parking cone orange. it looked reddish in the pictures, but no...it's orange. when i (excitedly) received the package in the mail, i pulled this baby out and i went..."whoa. that's orange." just a head's up, in case you hate the color orange :)

this pedal is nothing short of fantastic. i can't wait to hear what empress comes out with next, because if this tremolo is any indication, it's going to be good!

OK, here's my honeymoon review of this unique trem pedal. First off, it is a very intuitive unit. Excellent design and execution. Go to the website for all the details, but here's the basics: You can set trem speed manually via a knob, via tap-tempo, or you can set two independent speeds via the knob, then switch between them by tapping the tap-footswitch. It ramps smoothly up and down between the speeds similar to a leslie speaker speeding up and down. Very cool, and much more useful than the fast-slow swith on the supatrem, becuase you don't necessarily want to just halve or double your speed. The empress gives you total control.

You can choose 1:1, 1:2, or 1:4 multiplier for the tap temp. you can also choose from one of 8 rhythms other than a standard trem. Definitely check out the sound samples on the empress website to hear a few of the rhythms in action. They are a bit of a novelty, but could be very useful for some specialized guitar parts, especially if you play guitar for Radiohead. There is also an external makeup gain knob, which is invaluable, in my opinion. Internal pots are no good for this function, as the amount of makeup gain necessary to maintain the illusion of unity gain varies with the speed and depth of the trem effect. I also had an extra LED added that shows trem speed when the pedal is on or bypassed.

There is a standard "depth" knob, but instead of a waveform knob like some units have (i.e. voodoolabs 4 knob), it has a 3-position toggle to choose from 3 set waveforms:

"Triangle" -think brownface bias-vary trem, nice and smooth

"Tube" -asymmetric, similar to blackface fender opto trem, but minus the ticking. It's also similar to trem on my AC30TBX, though with much more control of course

"Square" - which is your typical choppy stutter effect, especially at full depth.

The combination of features make it an incredibly useful trem in a live setting. Nothing out there is this convenient and feature packed.

The pedal maintains your tone very well. You can turn the depth all the way down, level match the gain knob, and click the pedal on and off and the sound is virtually identical. The unit is true bypass, and very quiet when turned on; no throb or hiss like some other units.

However it doesn't matter how convenient or quiet the thing is if it doesn't sound good. First, let me say that I am a trem fanatic. I use the effect a lot, and have been through a few other trem pedals (TR2, voodoolab 4 knob, pleasuretrem, supatrem, etc, and have several vintage fenders and vox amps with real tube trem). The waveforms are the most important thing to me, and the waveforms on the empress are perfect.

Before I got the pedal I thought that I might wish it had a continuously variable knob, but I like being able to quickly switch between what are, to me, the most useful waveforms out there. I can get all the subtle variations with the depth knob and I don't wish (at this point) that it had a waveform "knob", though I kinda wish I could select the waveforms via a footswitch.

Looks clean and well built on the inside, but this unit is new, so I have no experience here. It does come with a 2-yr warranty, however.

I have spoken on the phone with Steve, who was very friendly and helpful. However email response has been slow/unreliable, which is somewhat annoying.

If tremolo is a big part of your sound, or even if you just use it occasionally in a live setting, the features of the empress trem are incrediby useful. The cusack is the only other tap-tremp trem out there, but I feel the Empress has better features.

First off, the cusack has no dedicated speed knob for standard use. You must tap and hold the footswitch and wait for the trem to speed up or slow down to the desire setting. This seems inconvenient if you are trying to dial in a speficic speed. Also the empress has the 2-speed feature that the cusack lacks. The cusack has more waveforms, but they are very specialized and far less useful than the 3 on the empress, and the empress adds the rhythms which are fun. And finally, the cusack lacks a makeup gain knob which is a deal breaker for me. It is also more expensive than the Empress, though price was not a consideration for me.

I don't wish to criticize the Cusack- although I've never used it, I'm sure its a fine pedal, but the Empress has the features that are much more useful for me, and I think, most players.

extremely well laid out, you will have the features figured out within minutes, then you will spend hours working on using it in new and creative ways!! No manual is needed.

I think it sounds great! it does not have coloration, which is something I think I am used to having, but the sound is extremely usable and it can do the swamp thang or a pop type trem and get into some wackiness as well. perfect for calling up nearly anything you can hear in your head!

I have only had it a short time, but it has been great so far and Steve is great to work with, so I cannot imagine their being a problem!

Steve was awesome! He got this out to me in a flash as I sold a supatrem to buy this and needed it for a session. My experience with him has been perfect so far!

I have played for 15 years professionally and semi-professionally. I play alot of worhsip music these days, which is very textural. I have tried most trems on the market, but desparately wanted a tap temp function along with great quality sound. tried line 6 and it just did not cut it. i loved the trem in the mm4, but no tap control, and I love the sound of the supatrem..but again, not controllable via tap. this trem has all the features I was looking for and more, 3 waveform modes, different pulse settings, true bypass, tap tempo, this is the bomb!!! buy it and tell your friends about it! I believe in this pedal and tell anyone who will listen about it!!!

If you know what a tremolo pedal is it's pretty easy to use. The manual doesn't really do much to help you with the advanced stuff, but whatever. The 2-speed was the only thing I needed some tinkering with to figure out - but it wasn't to long before I was ready to go.

Tom Anderson Hollow Drop Top --> MXR EQ --> MXR Phase 90 --> Barber Tone Press --> Vox Valvetone --> Bogner Shiva Amp FX Loop --> EMPRESS TREMOLO --> Ernie Ball Volume --> Boss DD-20 Delay --> Back to the Bogner and out to your ears.

Oooooh yeah. As far as the coloration of your input sound goes - it doesn't color the sound...but I do notice a slight compression of the signal. I'm not sure if this was intended by the company, or if it's just tremolo...but in any case, it doesn't seem to affect the sound much. If anything, the little bit of compression helps keep things a little more focused. I don't notice any noise on this pedal at all. This thing has all the features I've been looking for in a trem pedal. Ever since getting rid of my rack and midi-control, I've been shopping for effects that sound great and are as versatile as my old rack. This one definately fits the bill.

So far so good. As the last ready said, these things are brand new. Mine's been through several gigs already, and so far it's ticking just fine. I've got all my pedals mounted securly on a board and they're transported well. I think I'm more worried about a beer-spill than I am getting beat up.

Steve at Empress was a treat to work with. For a while it seemed like the Canadian border patrol might have snatched my pedal - but Steve took care of it. I'm happy.

I love this thing. There's not really a whole lot more a guy could want on a tremolo pedal...and it sounds real good. It's not the cheapest one on the market, but it's not the most expensive either. I'd say if you're really bent on a good quality pedal, this is definately one to try out. I confess that I didn't try out a lot of others. I did my research though, and sound usually wasn't the gripes when it came to some other higher-end trems, it was usually lack of a certain feature or it being too small, or something like that. When a friend showed me this one it looked like someone was reading my mind. Nice job fella(s). btw - if anyone has questions about this pedal and wants a 3rd party perspective, go ahead and drop me an email.

Plug in and go- all the sounds here are good. The manual is a pretty basic printed sheet, but that's about all you need

Very clean- true bypass. The pedal doesn't seem to colour the guitar sound at all, unlike some others. I use a Reverend Club King and a Gretsch 6120GA amongst others through a '68 Princeton Reverb. All the usual tremolo bases are covered here, but it has to be said the range of adjustment for each parameter is superb- seems simple but a lot of Fx builders seem to get it wrong. Three waveforms available, square, triangle and tube. The tube mode stood up very well to my Princeton's bias modulated all tube tremolo. The 6db gain control is more than enough to tweak the perceived volume loss with the pedal on.
Next up is a two speed mode. This seems to be creeping in to modulation Fx- presumably to give some kind of Leslie rotor speed up effect. In actual use, I found it quaint, but I haven't found a practical use for it (yet)You can select a multiplier for the 2nd speed manually via the ratio knob.
Now, the Rhythm control is where it gets interesting. Up to 8 rhythms are available, tho' No.1 is actually straight trem. The result is the tremolo effect is modulated by a second pulse, set to a function of the primary, with an accent, which gives pulse effect. Not very scientifically explained, but the manual isn't too technical about it either. The end result is a lot of fun, and sonically pleasing. How it works in a live band scenario I'm not too sure. Generally you can get away with one tremolo off tempo cutting across the song tempo, but two? It'll send the drummer crazy but that's a reasonable trade-off!! Hah ha- sorry skin beaters-just kidding.
Finally, the unit has the usual Tap Tempo function, with the footswitch thoughtfully placed slightly higher than the bypass switch to avoid inadvertantly clicking the wrong one. Nice touch.

Just out of the factory, so can't comment. Seems well put together- 4 IC's on a T shaped board plus the usual support components-nice wiring and solder work. No battery option?

As above

I play all types of retro from swampy delta to surf to Shadows stuff. Pro and semi pro for 35+ years. All my amps are old Fenders or custom stuff like a Juke 1210 and a Matchless Chieftain. I think this is an excellent piece of gear, similar to the Tremorama but better featured. I sold a new Voodoo Labs Tremolo ( nice sounding but a pretty tame unit by comparison) to buy this for the features.
I think the switches on the front are a little fragile looking- sliders may be a better choice IMO. Also the barrel knobs are set quite high which makes them more vulnerable than necessary with no real ergonomic gain. There is no battery option, it needs a 9V power supply to operate. Why? Power consumption too high? Other than those small criticisms. an excellent pedal, and I have been through most of the currently available units.