Guyatone GST-C04 Ultrem

Ok, I???ll be the first one to review this bad boy.
With the range of options offered, it???s about as easy to use as they could probably make it.
Two stomp switches; one to activate effect, one for control* (for tap tempo, momentary, etc)
3 toggle switches; 1 to activate panning, 1 to activate signal blend (which lets you choose if you want some of your dry signal to come through with the effect, or not), 1 for tempo speed ratio switching (wave per bpm, wave x2 per bpm, wave x4 per bpm)
2 ???press/turn??? knobs*; 1 for choosing wave modes & for choosing effect modes (tap, tempo, momentary, etc), and 1 for dialed speed & bpm or m/sec switching.
2 pots; 1 for saturation (which is actually overdrive, and a pretty good sounding one at that) & 1 for tremolo depth.
There???s a little bit of a learning curve, but I managed to get the hang of how it worked within 10 minutes without reading the manual. Though I may be missing something.

This thing sounds great. Better than any other tremolo pedal/unit I have & just as good if not better than any of my amp???s tremolos really. I needed a tap tempo tremolo that sounded amp quality (warm, organic) AND had tap tempo so I don???t have to judge by eye and ultimately always be off. This thing does the ???chop??? as good as any great ???choppy??? tremolo pedal over all 6 waves. This is where the blend switch can come in as very handy (I do need to play with it more though. That could be one potential ???complaint???. That you don???t have control of the amount of dry signal blend. But it does sound great at the setting they have it at). The Ultrem is a hybrid pedal. As the manual says, it???s putting through a 100% analog signal path, and I believe them. This pedal sounds just as good as my Tremulous Lune. But somehow Guyatone figured out how to hook up a controller section to utilize tap tempo with a pure analog signal. It???s noiseless. I did have some light led ticking coming through my AC30 at first. But I rechecked all my cables and power and figured out what was wrong and it was gone. Compared to the Line6 Tap Tremolo, Ultrem slays that across the board, especially in sound, tone, and lack of noise. You get what you pay for with Line6. Compared to the Boss PN-2, I know the PN-2 has mojo, but with that pedal going in the neighborhood of $150-200, that would make the Ultrem worth $1500-2000 comparatively. Compared to the Tremulous Lune, Ultrem sounds just as good. It doesn???t have ALL the tweakability of a pimped out Lune, but with 6 great sounding waves & Tap Tempo & panning capabilities, the Ultrem will now be my main gigging & probably recording tremolo. (Though in the Lune???s defense, I built my Lune and it only cost about $60 for all the parts and is a very versatile tremolo. It???s still one of my top 10 favorite pedals).

I???m a little wary of this unit. The toggle switches are tiny, thus scare me. Seems like I could break those pretty easy if not careful. The Ultrem is ???pretty??? and looks like no other effects unit I have. Akin to say a newer Stanton DJ mixer. It???s a lot tougher than it looks, but the toggles and ???press/turn??? switches look like they could be damaged easily with you aren???t careful. It seems more like a tabletop unit, except with 2 stomp switches.

I think Godlyke does the CS for Guyatone in the US. Have heard good things about them.

I really wish harmony central would work it out to include .5???s. You know, like 5 lines of code is all it takes. Anyway this is a strong 9.5 so, yeah, I???m gonna give it a 10. I don???t do 10 normally, but this isn???t a normal circumstance. I???ll state the few things I don???t like or wish were features first. The toggles as noted above, seem fragile. Control of the amount of blend signal. Ability for separate rates and wave options for panning (or I guess mono/mono) out ex: left: 80 BPM square, right: 120 BPM sawtooth. Some ability to fine tuning (spacing, symmetry, smoothness, etc). These come to mind. However, these grievances aside, this is possibly the greatest tremolo unit I???ve ever used. With that said, the $375 price tag doesn???t seem so bad at all. I was pretty wary of spending that sorta cash on a tremolo pedal. But this tremolo unit is pretty much the tremolo of tremolos. I mean, it???s analog, with tap tempo!? Brilliant! Its tap tempo ability makes it a huge asset for live and recording in terms of syncing to a live band or saving time getting the exact bpms in a studio. It sounds about as good as it gets and I have a feeling if you did a shootout with some vintage tube amp tremolos against this unit, you wouldn???t be able to tell the difference. Panning is just awesome. As much as I griped about there not being any control for the amount of Blend, the preset Blend toggle is extremely appreciated (and tasteful) and all tremolos should have something akin to that ability. 6 waves, 6 effect modes, it go???s as slow or as fast as you could possibly ever want, it does subtle trem to absolute chop, and with an expression pedal (which I haven???t tried yet) you apparently can do waveshifting and a whole slew of other things. I was worried that it would be on the big side, but it???s basically the same size as a reissued Russian big muff or new small stone/clone. All in all, there???s nothing else on the market quite like it that I???ve found. Some Line6 products can do panning tremolo. But none of those have all the tremolo options and possibilities the Ultrem has. Nor do they sound as good as the analog warmth of the Ultrem (Line6 really can???t do true warmth at all). Ultrem can basically handle any tremolo need you have. It truly is top notch gear and possibly a future classic.