Fulltone Supa-Trem Tremelo

Easy and straightforward; the half-speed switch makes tempo matching easier, but I think I'd find baked-on index markings around the speed knob helpful.

Exceptionally smooth and *quiet*; made the Boss trem I tried next to it sound like something from Fisher-Price. The sweetening it gives with the mix all the way down allows me to get a pleasing tone through a Blues Jr. even at ridiculously low (weeknight, apartment) volume; it's even better at higher volumes. I play a Yamaha SA2100 (ES-335 w/coil-splitters on the push button vol), but had an interesting experience this summer with a harp player plugging his green bullet into it; it really thickened his tone and he loved the "hard" setting for sustain-style play.
I've also plugged a send from a Mackie 1202 into the SupraTrem when I used to play acoustic through it; it sounded great, though the "sweetening" trick wasn't as pronounced or as beneficial. I don't use it on the acoustic any more because I got a Pendulem Audio stereo pre- and the S'Trem doesn't do stereo.

I've had it a couple of years and haven't had a problem; looks and feels bulletproof. Batteries last a good while if I remember to unplug; the tone quality decreases for maybe an hour as the battery goes; it does not crap out in the middle of a song.

No experience, but I get a good vibe from the hand-numbered boxes that Fulltone products come in.

My wife (bass) and I are a developing duo act; been playing seriously for four years; gig 4 times a month, most steadily at an art gallery. We adapt lesser-known songs from blues, R&B, soul, and funk. The 'Trem's tone sweetening has become a major characteristic of our sound, and the limited use of the actual tremlo is smooth and powerful. I'd *have* to replace it if I lost it.

Pretty dang easy... every knob does what it says it does. Like with any tremelo effect you have to mess around with the mix or depth control to get it to your taste. I didn't have any problems getting what I wanted out of the pedal.

The sound is the best. Kudos to Mike Fuller for taking the time and having the ears to get it really right. Tremelo is kind of an afterthough to some people I guess, but I'm kind of a picky nut about it -- my favorite trem sound is the brown-face era Fender Deluxe style tremelo. I tried just about every trem pedal out there, Diaz, Dunlop, Voodoo Labs, Ibanez, Boss, Matchless (terrible!), Demeter, Shcaller, and they all had some drawback, usually the trem wasn't smooth enough, or they didn't have true bypass, they didn't compensate for trem volume loss, or you couldn't tweak it enough, etc. The Fulltone has the best sound, and the controls have the most usuable range of any of the pedals. Also their is an internal trimpot that lets you tweak it a bit more. (I preffered to back this off a bit from the factory setting to get a bit more smoothness.) The only thing keeping teh Sup-Trem from being the absolute king of trem pedals is that is doesn't have a stereo feature, which was one thing I liked about the Dunlop, but that's a very minor point as I don't often run in stereo. However, hard tremelo in stereo is a *very* cool sound. But I'm sure that adding this feature would probably make an already expensive pedal astronomical in cost. I use the pedal with a variety of amps and guitars, an 1960 tweed Bassman, '55 tweed Super, and a VHT Pitbull .45, usually with a Les Paul, Tele or Strat.

As with all of Mike's stuff, you could drop it off the Empire state building and it would probably still work fine -- very rugged, and I anticipate no problems whatsoever.

Mike's reputation for high-quality products, excellent customer service and general availability to answer questions, etc is well known. Every time I have dealt with him the support has been the best. I wish everyone ran their business like Mike.

I play rock & roll, blues, funk, and R & B, "roots" type of music -- this pedal works perfectly, as none of my gigging amps have tremelo built in and I really depend on a good tremelo sound for certain tunes. The only reason I give this pedal a "9" rather than a "10" is it's so expensive, however I can't complain as I bought it used.

See other reviews for descriptions of controls.
Ease of use... You're kidding, right? As easy as falling off a log. All the controls say what they do and do what they say. If you're dense enough to need the manual you probably won't be able to read it.
One minor demerit: The Hard/Soft switch could really use a status LED. Otherwise you don't know which mode it will be in when you switch it on. Mike Fuller will retrofit one for $20. He mentioned it would affect battery life (presumably why he doesn't add it in the first place). I'd like to see him add the status LED to the stock configuration.

The manual suggest a tone tip: leave the unit on all the time, adjust the mix control so that the soft setting does not modulate the signal then switch between the hard (trem) and soft (non-trem) settings. When set this way the unit does indeed fluff out the lower mids in very musical manner. However, I ended up just using it in the normal manner at a gig primarily because I couldn't dial the hard setting in to my liking.
I'm no longer buying vintage amps. I own a Top Hat Club Royale and will soon own a Clark Beaufort. Guitars are PRS Standard 22 with Dragon PUs, Fender '57 Vintage RI strat with Duncan Antiquity II PUs and G&L ASAT-3 with Duncan Vintage Staggered strat PUs.
In soft mode this pedal perfectly captures the hang of trem circuits in vintage amps (I've owned Fenders and Supros mainly). The Speed control is terrific. That makes this pedal much more versatile than the trem circuits in amps and much quieter (as in whisper quiet).
A brilliant piece of engineering.

I don't bring backup pedals. If they go out, I do without them for the gig. BTW, I've only had one pedal give out on me in 32 years of playing. Full Tone pedals are built like tanks.
BTW, I don't understand folks who dog Mike about the footswitch quality - what are these guys doing with these pedals?

Personally, I've had great support from Mike.
Note: Mike is one of those folks who doesn't suffer fools terribly well (I'm another). He can be gruff at times even surly but when it comes right down to it you get what you need from this guy. He truly cares about how well his stuff is working in your rig. I'll take that any day over someone who's courteous but clueless.
I'd also like to mention Rock City Music in Spokane Washington (509) 327-2990. These guys had a killer price on a unit in stock and totally delivered. If you're ever in a postion to mail order a Full Tone product, by all means give these guys a try! Total 10 in every respect.

I was looking to cop that vintage trem hang and this pedal totally delivered. Except for the lack of a Hard/Soft status LED, it does everthing I ask of it.
Value... I am an unabashed fan of Mr. Fuller's work. I'm completely spoiled by my Full Drive 2 and Supa-Trem. Except for my original TS-808 and Boss DM-2 analog delays (Full Tone doesn't make analog delays) I cannot consider owning anything less than Full Tone quality. I just can't justify NOT spending the extra $$$ for Full Tone quality and sound. I think they are head and shoulders above most other pedal manufacturers (certainly the Boss, Ibanez and DOD stuff). Full Tone is in a completely different league.
This is the one you want!

Has more features than most trems. Footswitch for half speed/full speed (stays in tempo), led shows speed of trem (even when effect is not switched on), and hard/soft footswitch (machine gun stutter to vintage trem sound). Knobs for rate and mix. True bypass.

This is the best sounding trem going. I tried the Dunlop, Boss, VooDoo Labs (close second -- less features), Demeter and Diaz pedals. As far as quality of trem, it is smooth and warm or can stutter like a demon -- depends on what you want. It has it! Nice feature is that if you put mix on lowest setting, and use it in "soft mode" you have a boost pedal -- hit it and you get a nice boost in level.

Fulltone builds quality stuff. Switches are heavy duty, housing is solid. I have been all over this thing with my boots on, it hasn't even flinched. Have had it on the floor for a while now, have ordered a pedal board and roadcase -- it should last a long time.

Again, Fulltone is Michael Fuller. He answers phones and email and will take the time needed to answer any questions. He believes in what he builds and stands behind his products.

I use trem as a main effect on a few tunes -- it nails that. I use it mixed real low with the dry signal to just add a touch of effect -- it nails that. The little boost thing with the mix way down is what sold the pedal to me over the Voodoo Labs pedal. Fuller got it right on this pedal.

Within 30 seconds I was finding tremolo sounds I had always searched for with this pedal. It does a realistic Fender-style trem as well a "slice and dice" exagerated helicopter tremolo as well. It is slower than any internal fender amp trem and gets very fast, but never blends itself into a blur-this pedal has USABLE range!

The SupaTrem replaced a Diaz Tremodillo that I had been using and was just too noisy in bypass mode. Also has a killer hidden feature: set to "soft" mode, turn mix control to 0, and you get a great "boost" from this pedal! Then, simply hit the Hard/soft switch to activate tremolo! You can leave it on like this all gig!

Built to last. Rugged construction.

After 2 weeks with this pedal I called Mike to mod my pedal, adding a on/off led and moving the rate/speed led toward the rate knob. I thought that this mod would make the pedal more functional, because you could visually see the speed preset BEFORE clicking the effect on. Mike agreed it was a good idea, and said that he would eventually make it a standard feature on all SupaTrems. He turned the mod around fast, and was very receptive to input regarding his product.

If you want THE trem pedal,cut to the chase and get a SupaTrem. Quieter than a Diaz, gets more exagerated than a THROB, yet very easy to use. Within 10 seconds you will be smiling with this pedal!

As pedals go, the Supa-Trem is large and boxy -- and that's good! The footswitches (full/half speed, bypass, hard/soft) are spaced far enough apart for my size 12 Doc Martens to stomp on without interference. In comparison, I tried a Diaz Tremodillo pedal and it was NOT foot-friendly.
The knobs (speed and mix) have a wide range. There is an LED that blinks at the current speed setting whenever the effect is engaged. The LED is dark when the effect is bypassed. The combination of controls makes it easy to repeatedly dial in the right sound -- although I have two small strips of electrical tape on my Supa-Trem to mark my favorite speed and mix setting.
My only complaint is with the 4 screws that must be removed from the bottom plate to get at the battery. The screws on my pedal don't have a good alignment with the holes. I'm concerned that I might end up stripping the holes after opening up the unit a few times (remember, Fulltone recommends using carbon batteries).

KILLER TONE at last! I'm using the Supa-Trem with a Telecaster and an old lap steel, going into a Fender Blues DeVille 4x10 tube combo amp. This is the best setup I've had in 20 years of playing.
The Supa-Trem provides a mild gain boost and extra highs when you kick it in. This lets you use a hard, warbling tremelo without disappearing from your band's live mix. My favorite setting is to use the "soft" switch with the mix knob set low. This provides just the right amount of extra gain and subtle tremelo to drive my tube amp into blues-tone heaven. Set the mix knob higher and you'll be shaking like a spy movie soundtrack.
I had the chance to A/B compare the Fulltone Supa-Trem with a Diaz Tremodillo and the Dunlop Tremolo box. The Fulltone sounded cleaner and more "authentic" than either pedal. My second choice was the Dunlop with its funky variable waveform switch and stereo outputs.

PRO: Lifetime warranty, and the box is built like a tank.
CON: The screw hole alignment on the bottom plate is not quite right. Also, the knob and footswitch labels are decals and look like they'll probably wear off someday.

I'll never sell this pedal. It's a classic.

Extremely Quite!! This sounds BETTER than any tremolo from any amp!I know that's a strong statement but it's true.Has a true half speed switch, true bypass & hard/soft switch; rate & speed knobs.You can NOT get a bad sound out of this. Goes from very subtle to intense(and anywhere in between.

So quite that you don't even know it's on.I had a Diaz Tremodillo that was so noisy that they sent me another and I sold it as soon as I heard this one.The tone is fat and transparent.I did a session two days after I bought it and everyone loved it(especially the engineer!)

I'd bet my life on this!Anything that Mike Fuller makes you could never have to worry about. Besides it has a lifetime warranty.

I've talked to Mike Fuller alot.Very informative and helpful and a real supportive guy.He's like the rest of us;on the search for TONE. (He's also a GREAT guitar player!!)Everytime I've talked to him I've learned something new about equipment(and I've been playing for thirty years!)Use CARBON BATTRIES for BETTER TONE!! besides they only cost about 70 cents and last almost as long.

I would get another one in a second. It's very musicial. I've tried all the other ones and NOTHING comes close!!! Very Quite and has TRUE bypass & True half speed. It doesn't alter your true guitar tone or sound. Records exceptionally well.