Kay Tremolo

Same as the other Kays, the slider switches, which should not really be used, have occasionally poor contact because they are old and need cleaning. Better to add an external stomp switch which I have done. You could also easily add an external pedal to adjust the tremolo speed pot. Pretty simple otherwise. Plug 'em, play 'em, keep the contacts and switch clean.

Unique HARD trmolo. The pedal changes the trem speed. Varying this slow or fast can be cool as an added sound in the mix. At various times I 've played it through a Gibson GA20, reissue Ampeg Jet II and Ampeg B25, Washburn Wing Hawk w/2 HB's, Strat '57 reissue, and best sound with a hand made CooderCaster with a lapsteel pickup for slide.

As with the other Kays these are OLD, plastic and cheap. Need cleaning and care. I have 2 Fuzz, a Kay tremolo, a Kay Wah, and a Kay bass Boost. I have had one need some caps and resisters easily replaced by my amp guy. They come apart real easy to look at, fix or test. Mine are inside a plastic cover with exterior stomp switch to avoid wear and tear.

No original customer support. My amp tech easily fixed my fuzz. The tremolo has not had any problem.

I play pop rock, rock and wish I could play like Buddy Miller. The trem mostly loaned to studio friends for little bits of extra effect. I like playing a Coodercaster with a lap steel pickupand through a GA20 Gibson

Blue plastic wah type rocker. Built circa 1970 I think. I have 3 of them. One is broken. Manual on off switch. Rocker controls rate of tremolo. Switch gets 0 out of 5 for being a pain. Rocker is neat because you can change rate with your foot, but it is touchy. 5/5 for the rocker.

Definitely analog. I dont really use this pedal except when goofing around. When the tremolo SWELLS it kinda sounds overdriven which is neat. You can definitely hear the tremolo when not playing, especially if drive/distortion is on. At fastest rate, sounds like a helicopter which is cool but relatively useless.

Since I have one out of three broken, I guess it should get a 7. BUT, these have never been gigged, hardly ever used, yet one is still worthless.

Kay dropped off the face of the earth a while back. Now they have been resurrected I think, but I haven't given them a call lately.

I have 3 of these because my granparents had a music store 30 years ago and sold them. I don't know how much they cost, I basically inherited them. I have seen used ones go for $70 on ebay. Maybe these are desired, I don't know.

This is a blue plastic rocker pedal. There is no other control on the unit except for the pedal, which controls speed. There is also a slide switch for bypassing, which is annoying. There's no place on the pedal to add a footswitch, so you're either stuck with leaning over to put it on and off, or building a switchable loop around it.
The pedal travel is very touchy. It goes from very fast to pretty slow in about a half an inch.

The sound of the unit is pretty good, considering how cheap and simple it is. It offers one flavor of "repeat percussion" tremolo. It's sort of a choppy sound. Slightly puffy sounding.

It's plastic and it's rare. You think I want this on stage?

Forget it kids...

I'm a pedal junkie. I love tremolos. For all that it lacks in controllability, it sounds great and has a great vibe to it. Its so wacky that you have to love it.