Guyatone VT-X Tremolo

Very simple setup, you'll be able to get great sounds from it right out of the box. No manual to speak of, but not really necessary.

This is a tube driven tremelo that comes equipped with an NOS JAN Philips 12AX7WA. Not a bad sounding tube, but since I have the benefit of a nice tube collection I tested about 8 different types before settling on the 60's era GE JAN 5751, a lower gain version of the 12AX7. Since stepping on this pedal does give a boost to the signal and adds some small amount of distortion to your signal I found the 5751 to be as close to the bypassed signal. The speed knob and intensity knob are very wide ranging, probably the most range I've seen on a trem pedal or trem equipped amp. There is a cool fast/slow switch that allows for twice the speed combinations too.There is another switch for either warbling, soft edge tremelo to helicopter like hard wave chops. Very interesting. The last control is a tone knob that is also very useful. The switch is silent and you can't hear when it is engaged. There's a 12VDC wallwart for power and if you have 2 amps plugged in to this unit at once you'll hear amazing stereo sounds similar to my old Magnatone 280 with extension speakers (except the Maggie has true vibrato, but this comes close!)The tremelo is honestly the best I've heard including brown and blackface Fender amps. I highly recommend it.

Seems very well built, the case is thick steel and the 12AX7 is shock mounted. The switch is silent and appears well made.

I've only emailed the Guyatone US Distributer, Godlyke. They were very friendly and I had no problems.

I play "Desert-Surf" instro music with my band the Cadillac Hitmen and tremelo is an integral part of my sound. I've been playing for almost 20 years and have owned many of the amps that this pedal was built to emulate. It does a VERY good job in that regard. I tested a lot of the competition before settling on the VTX and I'm very happy I found it. Like I said, I love the sound and I recommend it very highly.

If you know why you bought this pedal, the control will be very intuitive. Took me 30 seconds to dial in the sound I wanted.

Okay here's the deal...I'm giving it a 9 because:

When I first turned on the pedal, it really dropped the output level considerably. However, the tremolo that was coming out was sweet and fat sounding! No annoying ticking/clicking and it sounds equivalent to a Fender tremolo, except now you. have the ability to use normal or emphasis (choppy, helicopter, etc.)

Since the preamp section is powered by a 12AX7 (a crappy GT with teenie tiny plates), I replaced it with a new GT 12AX7EI with nice big plates and the level drop is no more (actually it boosts ever so slightly).

I'm giving this an 8 because it seems as though the cord on the power supply is a bit flimsy. It's worked great so far with no problems!!

The chassis is heavy-duty and the footswitch and switches are quality. The knobs are a little small and not very solid feeling, but they are working great as well.

I e-mailed Kevin at Godlyke, Inc. (US distributor) and have gotten nothing but helpful prompt responses. When I was worried about the level drop, he informed me of my options to resolve the problem. He even faxed me the schematic for the pedal! Excellent Customer Service!

I have also dealt with him when I needed to replace another Guyatone pedal. He even remembered my name from the warranty card. Great guy!

Overall, I'd say that the price goes more for design, because no pedal has $200 worth of parts in it (not that I know of anyway). However, this is the best tremolo I have ever heard, hands down.