Marshall VT-1 VibraTrem

Just twiddle the knobs and see what comes out! Pretty straightforward. Access to the battery is fiddly, though at least you don't need any tools (except for a coin) and you don't really want to run this on batteries anyway...

Guitar goes into this, then a DDL, then into an amp, sounds great! The unit is very quiet, there is a small change in level - a slight boost - when it's on, but it isn't anything to worry about. I really like the sound, from subtle to dead choppy, great!

I've had this for about 4 years, maybe more. It's been subjected to both a hot humid climate and a cold, damp one without issue. It hasn't been used a whole lot, but the thing is really, really solid and I would definitely gig without a backup.

One point though, I strongly urge anyone to use this pedal with a good power brick. I was running it on batteries for a while, thought it sounded ok, then one day it sounded very, very weak even though the led was still nice and bright. I whacked a regulated 9v supply into it and straight away the effect was really rich and strong, problem solved.

I haven't had to contact them about this stompbox, but I have contacted them in the past with queries about amps and they have always responded promptly and have been extremely helpful. I was considering buying the 'reflector' reverb pedal in the same series as this one, but I saw a number of negative reviews regarding reliability here on HC. I emailed Marshall for comment and as usual they replied very quickly. Not only did they claim to have resolved the known problems, they offered to refund me in full if I bought one and it failed. What more could you ask for?

If it was stolen/lost, I'd buy another one. I like the style and weight almost as much as I like the sound. Shiny knobs are sometimes a bit hard to see, but there are many other fx that have similar, at least these are nicely knurled so sweaty fingers can grip 'em.

Now discontinued though still stocked in some shops, and often coming up on ebay, this pedal is a bargain if you want any of the following;
- stereo split of guitar signal to 2 amps
- tremelo, hard to soft
- panning, fairly basic
- goose signal a bit, add treble, at end of effects chain, in vibrato mode
It is a bit puzzling to use in fact, if you are expecting vibrato, because there ain't none! What the vibrato option seems to do is to put the signal out of phase, thus subjectively boosting your treble and volume. What's crazy about it is that one output still outputs tremelo when the vibrato mode is engaged; on the plus side, this enables you to record 2 tracks of subtly treated guitar simultaneously; on the minus side, so what? I can do that another way and where's my stereo vibrato? The vibrato is pathetic, doesn't even modulate a quarter-tone let alone a semitone. It's an interesting and effective pedal but to call this a vibrato is wrong.

2 small amps, one a 30w transistor bass amp and the other a modded 70s Vibrochamp with a Weber speaker, and a heavily modded System III Strat. I had no noise issues at all with this pedal, as I was using a 9v supply with plenty of headroom; it does have a good sound and is useful as a stereo split box, and for putting back some of the spark into the guitar signal, if placed near the end of the chain. The tremelo effect is very good and pans nicely in stereo, but as a vibrato it's a non-starter and the Marshall Supervibe does that much better; when this effect pedal is chained into that one or vice versa, some extraordinary results can be achieved;add a good slapback or reverb and you're well into Link Wray/Chris Isaacs territory. Time-based stereo effects can often be a curse as well as a blessing; there is always going to be a perceived increase in volume OR change in tone when the effect is switched in, and that's the trouble with this pedal as well as being one of its interesting features. The soud quality is good, very good, but can you use it?

Yes you can depend on it; please ignore the review later on in these pages that seems to take issue with the country of manufacture, I've opened this thing up and it's very well put together. I would use this pedal simply as a signal splitter box at the end of the chain, and put it on a mild vibrato setting which would bring back any lost top end to the guitar signal. For all that, I don't know how often I'd switch it in.

No. See below.

This and the Marshall Supervibe pedal are now discontinued and come up regularly on ebay at a bargain price, usually half of retail price. Both are stereo output, both a bit off-the-wall in their design but extremely well put together. This is a good stereo tremelo/pan pedal but the weak, almost non-existent vibrato lets it down. Then again, the vibrato setting is useful, as noted above, to goose your guitar signal a bit at the end of the chain. However as the Supervibe also does this (arguably better) on certain settings I think that's the one to keep. If the vibrato was a 'proper' vibrato, this would be a very good pedal indeed but I don't think it could be modded. Close but no cigar.

Easy enough. You twiddle the knobs.

I bought this to use with a Blues Junior and latterly ahve used it with a Peavey Classic 30 with a cab. It sounded ok.

Heres the beef. Its conked out on me. ive used this so little in the 5 -6 years ive had it. Literally for HOURS. Its been in my case for years not ever getting touched, i took it out to have a pootle on it the other day and its doing nothing. It lights up and slightly alters the volume but doesnt modulate in the slightest. Ive used brand new 9v duracells and 2 variable voltage PSUs. Nothing. Ive contacted Marshall and ive heard sweet FA from them. I have a thing with Marshall. I bought a JCM800 Combo brand new in the mid 80's and the thing was the biggest pile of unuseable microphonic shyte i have EVER owned. I dip my toe back in the Marshall pool again many years later and get screwed again.

See above. Should be ashamed of themselves. Buy British. Bollox to that.

Was an OK pedal. Remebering that Vib trem is an effect you dont over do, it would have been sufficient in a live set up. But it didnt work when it was called upon. Ive seen plenty other reports on similar faults on this and other pedals since my regrettable purchase.
Avoid Marshall pedals.

extremley easy to use, and very simple.

I am just blown away with the quality of this pedal for it's price! one of the best things I have ever bought for value. It adds a slight boost in volume when turned on, which I find is good, as it's extremley subtle. I use it before my overdrive/distortion fx as I like it to sound gentle> my fx setup is as follows: JJ Retro Guitar fitted with Bare Knuckle Pickups, a Mule and a BKP90>(pedaltrain2 board)>Keeley Comp>Teese RMC3 Wha>Marshall Vibrotrem>Keeley Fuzz Head>Keeley Katana Boost>Keeley True Bypass Looper (Line 6 Liqua Flange + Boss DD3 MIJ) in the loop, into a Vox VR30. The Vibrotrem is by far the cheapest pedal I own on the board, but don't let this put you off, it sounds great. It has a really nice vibrato as well the tremelo, you can also get a LOT of sounds out of this box. I've not even had it for 2 weeks and I am in love with it already! It's true bypass, and to me it sounds very analog like and always warm. 10/10 I am 100% satisfied with it!

It seems like its really built to last! very well built and made from solid metal, nothing like a boss or line 6, these are much beefier. I have owned an original JH-1, which I now regret selling as it sounded amazing, bought in 1998, I once threw it down a corridor at school several times, and it is still working to this day as far as I know.

I have had no problems with it yet! can't comment.

for it's price you really won't find a better tremelo pedal than this if you want more of a vintage trem, and also need a vibrato. I have actually compared this to a Roger Mayer, Voodoo Labs Boss and Electro Harmonix, this is the one that sounded the best! I thought that the marhsall was a good sise too, but basically if you need a tremolo then I recommend this one, and the vibrato is a beautifull vintage effect, I found I love this maybe more than tremelo for some songs. The pedal can also be used in the studio or live with ease, in fact since getting this pedal, I am starting to hate all other modulation pedals, especially chorus and univibe, vibrato seems better as it is less of an 'effect' you just 'feel' it, hope that makes sense.

this pedal could not be better value! It is better than most boutique pedals I have heard, and it also has a vibrato mode! which is unique, but for ??36.50 it is by far the best quality tremolo pedal and most versitile, plus it sounds amazing! never harsh all my other pedal are real expensive 'boutique' pedals and this stands strong next to them, and it has excellent true bypass circuit that is no different to ??200 + pedals, it sucks no tone at all used with the best leads and setup. It has a vintage warmth, and is actually better than most valve amp tremolo's as its more adjustable.

Didn't get manual. Knobs are metal and easy to use, though small. Agree with a previous reviewer that outputs/inputs are a little confusing to use, but use the mono output for vintage tremolo and the input 2 for intense, staccato tremolo.

Sweet. Don't know why so many dis' the vibrato. If you ever have the need for that tasty intricate Chris Isaak(sp???)pitch bending sound, this pedal has it! The tremolo is every bit as good as the Fender SuperReverb I played back in the 60s. Actually, it's better, because it's just as dramatic and not as noisy. Also I LIKE the subtle boost (VERY suttle) when engaging the tremolo. When I had the SuperReverb, I always had to turn the volume on the amp up a notch so that the sound would carry in a live application. Don't even think of using a battery to power this unit. Seller provided a Dano power supply with purchase. Open it up and see why...no 9 volt battery could power this much circuitry for more than a few minutes! And what rube uses batteries in a pedal anyway when gigging?

I owned this pedal exactly 2 days before the footswitch crapped out on me! Granted, it was a used pedal... but there was not a single scratch on it and absolutely no indication of a defect in the switch when I bought it. Upon opening the pedal up, there was absolutely no sign of attempted repairs. So, if you like this pedal, don't buy it used... buy two new ones at a well-discounted price (NEW, WITH WARRANTY ONLY... three years P&L, 5yr.parts only). These things usually go for about $75 online, and just use one of your old (like Dano 9.6v 200mw) power supplies.

Don't know yet. The guy I bought it from is looking into returning it for me, since he bought it new.

You will not find any pedal that is so versatile and sounds so good for such a typically low, discounted price (new, generally around $75). But DO NOT BUY USED. The insides are more crowded than an engine compartment in an American Minivan. Looks like it would cost more to get it fixed than you'd save buying it new and having failures warranteed. I play a "66 Fender Jaguar, recent Jay Turser paisley Tele, Guild Asbory bass, Martin electrified acoustic, accordion, all through a Roland Cube bass amp (which has a factory coaxial speaker that sounds great for many applications). I've been playing in bands since 1965 and currently lead a middle school/high school praise band.

I didn't get a manual with this used pedal, which was OK. Control knobs were self-explanatory. Tried different outputs: very smooth, light to deep natural tremolo from mono- jack; more intense,separated, edge-y tremolo from input 2. Both of these textures have use. Solid metal textured knobs and sturdy button pedal on/off switch.

I ALSO DO NOT UNDERSTAND THE SHARP CRITICISM OF THIS PEDAL'S SOUND. I've been playing since 1964 and used a Fender SuperReverb for years. I know tremolo. MAYBE there is a slight boost in signal with using the trem effect, but I like this. Because oftentimes when I used tremolo on my Fender, I had to SLIGHTLY increase the volume to allow it to carry in the halls we played. Anyway, the increase is very slight. I have used only a power supply with this pedal, and I can say that the tremolo and vibrato can be made as soft or intense as you like, and the sound quality is impressive. The highs and lows carry well through the pedal with tremolo on or off. Less noise than any amp with built-in tremolo that I've owned. If you're into retro surf and 60's sci-fi/grade B spy movie soundtracks, you've got your effect: the vibrato feature. If you never use it, just consider it free because of this unit's price.

This is a used pedal, and it works great. Don't know the history of it, though.

Haven't had to deal with Marshall before.

I played in The Ancestors (see theancestors.com) throughout the 60's and later played 10 years on the road with Cruis-O-Matic, so my forte is 60's one-hit-band tunes from soul to psychedelia. I now lead a middle school/high school praise band at my church. I got this pedal to fill in parts on some of the slow, soulful tunes we now play. I play a 1966 Fender Jaguar (Fiesta Red) and a Jay Turser Sino-Tele that I love (red paisley); a Martin electrified acoustic; a Yamaha SK20 analog synthesizer (all through a Roland Bass Cube amp which is the most versatile amp I've ever owned... and weighs about 30#); accordion; and a Guild Asbory Bass. But I can tell you this pedal would be equally effective in playing tunes by the Prunes (Electric, that is)! Unless it craps out on me in less than a year, I would definitely replace it.

Very easy to get good sounds. Especially if you start with the example settings and work from there.

I think the Vibratrem sounds excellent. I like it a lot more than the Boss Tr-2 and find that it is most of the way to where 'boutique' trems are at. Better than some! The Vibrato effect is also very nice. Those that say the Vibrato and Tremelo sound the same are probably using the second output, which stays on tremelo when vibrato is selected. Vibrato only works on the main output.

Excellent vintage tone.

P.S. Does sound crap on batteries! Use an adaptor at all times.

Seems bulletproof. We'll see...

Havn't had cause as yet...

I love this pedal. It's a keeper. Great vintage tones at a very good price.

It's easy to figure out. Four knobs: Mode for trem or vibrato sound, speed, depth and shape.

As on every modulating effect you have to try a lot of settings to get that sound you want. Just to find out, that you need completely different settings, when that beast joins the sound of your band. But it's possible, and then it sounds damn great.

Never read the manual

Great: No noise at all.
Strange: When plugging it in front of your amp, it raises the volume a little. When plugging it into your FX-loop, it eats volume a bit.
Nice: The tremolo sound is really mellow. You get nice vintage analogue sounds out of that beast. Perfect to me.
Needless: The vibrato. Who the hell needs this unusable crap?

I "only" give a 9 because of this stupid vibrato mode

It's a Marshall. It's built like a .... you know.

n/a

I like this thing, and I don't understand, why so many people here are mad about it. This is the most vintage-sounding and still cheap Tremolo i know, does its job without any noise and is built like a tank. I would buy it again.
I give a 9 because of the volume-problem and because of the senseless vibrato mode.

Its easy to use, 4 knobs, Tremelo or Vibrato knob. Speed Depth and Wave Control are the other 3 knobs. Overall it's very easy to use. But you can't do anything with it that other effects do.

It's a great effect, but its very unsensitive, It goes from full vibrato or tremelo to no vibrato or tremelo. It has vibrato and tremelo effects, but they both sound the same.

It is virtually indistructable. I droped it 5ft on solid concrete, the only thing dented was the concrete. Solid Steel. For electronics its very dipendable.

I play bassicly every style of music, its only good for modern rock. I have a Fender Stratocaster, and I'm using my step dads Traynor amp. Bad combination. If your stuck with it, try heavy distortion with reverb. Boss would be a better choice.

Not to difficult to use. The wave shape control can be a little tricky though.

I bought his effect primarily for a choppy helicopter-type tremolo sound and I admit it does that really well. But only that. You can not possibly get a good bluesy soft trem sound out of this pedal. The Vibrato function is horrid but I have other pedals that do that so I'm not hurt by it. There is a volume boost when the effect is engaged but it doesn't bother me much. My rig is a Fender 60's reissue Strat--modded Rt.66 OD/Comp--E13 Soda Meiser--ProCo Rat--Vibratrem--EHX Flanger Hoax-- Guyatone Micro Delay--Boss Hi Band Flanger--Boss Chorus Ensemble--Line 6 Echo Park--into either Roland JC 120 or Peavy Penta 212. It is quiet and works well with other FX. It is just not versatile enough.

It has cut out on me a few times, so I dont trust it that much. However since tremolo isn't exactly an effect I use all the time I think I could manage if it died out on me on stage.

We'll see....

I play shoegazing instrumental post-rock stuff but I also enjoy bluesy stuff too. This pedal is mediocre at best. I bought it to replace a broken Danelectro Tuna Melt Trem but it was such a let down. I may replace this eventually but I'm not sure what with.

Fairly easy. Speed knob is obvious, as is depth. Mode switch is simple, vibrato or tremolo. Shape knob alters the type of waveform, from triangle which is subtle, to square which is a more full on warble.

Not bad at all. It's better than theold Nobels TRX, but that's the only other tremolo I've owned to compare it with. The tone isn't altered and there is no drop in volume. The Vibrato mode is often slagged off, but it does what it is supposed to without any fuss. I particularly like the fact that it has 2 outputs. In tremolo mode it sounds fantastic with the signal flip-flopping between the two amps - real stereo effect.

I need to hear other pedals to make a proper comparison, but I get the feeling it lacks a certain musicality; it can sound a bit lifeless in some songs with my band.

No problems so far and it is solid metal. Feels indestructable.

For the price of ?35 from www.gak.com I can't complain. It does what it should at a very good price. Has gone into my pedal board straight away.

The pedal is slightly harder to use than the Boss version or the cheaper Dano version. There is a vibrato and tremolo mode. Rather than a simple switch for waveform choice, there is an adjustable knob that starts at triangle and adjusts to square. It takes a while to learn how to tweak your tone but the good news is that this pedal is very tweakable - lots of tone potential. I like it.

I sort of talked about tone potential just above. I think that the adjustable wave shapes and the two modes make for many great sounds. I like the slight db boost. I have most of my pedals set such that there is a slight boost when the efect is heard.

I play either my USA Strat, Tele, PRS Singlecut Soapbar or PRS Santana SE into a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe or my toy amp which is a Vox AD30VT.

I have a Marshall Compressor and a VT-1. Bulletproof pedals.

I would get the same pedal again. The Boss Tremolo sounds anemic and like Bosss pedals, it's noisey. The Danelectro pedal sounds great but it's plastic. Many of the Boutique Trems are fantastic but $300 for a Trem is too much.

This is a great pedal.

I bought this pedal for that retro tremolo sound (think 60s spy movie)
I mainly play a Shergold through a Laney amp using clean or slightly crunchy sounds. I used to have an amp with built in tremelo and never felt the need for any other FX.

This pedal does the job, kind of. The controls are straightforward enough, it's not hard to get the right kind of sound (though I'm not after anything too radical), but I have a few reservations:

It adds about 3/4 dB of gain. The manual suggests this won't happen if you amp gain is high enough-I beg to differ. If I want to make my guitar get louder I'll turn it up.

It seems to run out of steam the longer it's on. At first I though it was just the battery running out (it seems to eat them), but I tried it with a power supply and found exactly the same. This means that I have to keep tweaking the controls and upping the depth throughout a gig, which I don't expect to happen.

One more point: the "vibrato" effect. Why?

I wouldn't think about buying this pedal again- if it was lost or stolen, I'd look for an alternative.

This is a fairly simple pedal; I have found it easy to get a massive range of sounds by tweaking the 3 knobs; mainly adjusting the speed whilst setting it to the depth. It is not difficult to think of the sound you want in your head and then adjust the pedal to your needs.
My only minor gripe with this is that I prefer switches like on Boss or Digitech pedals as I find the small buttons on this and Big Muffs are inferior.

I use a telecaster in a 60 watt combo with a large pedal board full of effects. I use this in a pedal chain without using an effects loop.
There are any number of different sounds you can achieve with this pedal; you just need to set it right for what you need. Long, held chords on a slow setting sound beautifully warm and vintage. On the other hand you can achieve strange robotic effects if you choose a fast setting, vibrato with a square shape. It is a fairly versatile pedal and it could be used for bands sounding as diverse as Radiohead to Tool.
I find the Vibrato effect to be useable on some settings, for a fairly short time; possibly for intros only (unless you are in a sound-scape based band). However, it is not the best sound I have ever heard in my life.
The tremelo, however, is excelent.

I am pretty sure I have solved the problem some people are having with it just 'dieing'. If you have it turned off, and come back to it after everything being unplugged, you switch the pedal on and it simply bypasses the signal. You will not get any tremelo or vibrato effect and it seems broken. Simply switch between the modes (T/V) and go back to the one you want to use. Voila! It is alive.
This is a strange feature and I will bet this has happened to many people. I had it there for about 2 weeks thinking it was broken.

It is built like a tank and you can trust Marshall.

N/A

I play in a grunge band but I am highly infulenced by bands like Radiohead and Muse as well as the predictable Smashing Pumpkins, Pixies and Alice in Chains.
I use a lot of effect pedals and I like to incorporate differert sounds and textures to my work; as well as experimenting at home. This is a pedal to own if you want more variety in your sound (the vibrato is fairly original so it has appeal to people searching for a strange sound). In terms of comparing with other tremelos, I have only used a couple but this is a good one. Even on its own, without a comparisson, there is a warmth there that you will know sets it apart somewhat.
If I was going to change it a bit, I would possibly swap the virbrato effect for something more widely usable; or possibly just change the sound (as it is not a normal vibrato) however, work with the pedal not against it; you have this sound now see what you can do with it.
To be honest, I don't use tremelo that much in my songs, and I know it would be more useful to other people. However, even though it is not the first pedal I need, I have enjoyed it and I beleive it has some great sounds just waiting to make a track.
If it was stolen I wouldn't replace it purely because it is not essential. However, I would definetly miss it.

This is an easy to set up pedal. Mode, Speed, Depth & Shape knobs. Mode lets you choose between the tremolo or the vibrato setting, speed and depth are self explanatory. Shape is where you get to choose the kind of tremolo you like from smooth triangle wave to square pushing pulsed waves.

This is the best tremolo pedal I have ever had. I have tried Boss, Voodoo Labs, Dunlop, Line 6, Behringer etc. This pedal gets classic tube tremolo sounds...
Now the vibrato is not the vibrato most people are used to. It is in fact a classica vibrato sound like the vintage amps have. I compare it to VOX type of vibrato. This effect sounds like a light tremolo with a hint of detuning...To me is very kick ass!!!

Made of solid metal. Built like a tank...

I play rock in the vein of The Cure, Interpol etc. This pedal excells in warm tones...

Once you figure out the trick to maximizing this pedals full potential, it's extremely easy to use. Like most most pedal it has Speed, Depth, and Shape knobs, pretty Self explanatory.

When I first bought this pedal, I thought it was quite mediocre. The tones really were weak, and even though Marshall claimed this to be passive (true?) bypass, there was a 30% drop in signal when the effect was bypassed. I was pissed, and was going to return it or sell it on ebay or something. Then I decided to try using a 9 VOLT adapter instead of a battery and SHAZAM... this Pedal went from a 4 to a 10 in sound quality. If you own this pedal and haven't tried an adapter, by all means buy an adapter and give a spin. You'll be surprised!

Built like a frickin' tank, I could probably hammer nails with this thing.

I have been playing guitar since 1977, and this is the very first Marshall product I have ever owned. In the 80's and 90's I used Carvin X-100B amps and loved them so much I never got a Marshall amp. But now I wouldn't mind having a handwired reissue plexi.

I'll give it a 9 because of the drop in quality when using a battery, again if you own this pedal, USE A 9 VOLT ADAPTER and it's sound quality will dramtically improve!

The pedal is quite simple,three classic controls for tremolo and vibrato with the first knob selecting one of the two. In low light condition,on stage, the line on the knobs is not very visible. For the rest is ok.

I use a stratocaster and a fender deville 4x10. Doesn't make noise,a true bypass system doesn't touch your sound quality;it gives just a little of high frequences when on. However for my tastes the quality is very good,it seems to play on a vintage amp!

I'm having it for a short time,I can't say more.

I 've just registered it on the marshall site,a very confortable way.

You know I play rock,I like the old sound,the beatles,floyd, stones,led zeppelin but also u2 radiohead, kula shaker and hush.It is a very good pedal,you can trust!

not the easiest in comparison to ther stomp boxes,so that could be much better

ok i found the vibrato effects useless,and the tremelo was ok but not anything special

havent had any trouble

dont know

not too good go out and buy a Boss TR-2 or a DOD Vibrotang anything,this is problem the worst trem and vibrato pedal around. so unless you're paying under ?20.00 quid i say its over priced

Very easy to use, just turn the knobs and find what you like

I love it. I'm surprised at the bum rap this pedal is getting, I think it sounds great, and can achieve a wide range of tones. I have owned two of these, the first one died on me quite prematurely, so I was hesitant to get another, but got a really good deal. Somehow, I think my second one sounds much better and works better overall than the first one I had, must have been bad from the factory. Oh well, it lives in the midst of a huge chain of effects right now, and does exactly what I want it to do, I love it.

Well as I said, I'm a little wary, but so far so good. Its very solid, but I hope the electronics on the one I have now are more sound than the first one I owned.

???

Overall I think this pedal is being way over-criticized. It's very versitile, sounds great, and looks pretty. As long as it keeps working, I'll be very happy with it.

This pedal is very simple to use. I use the tremolo side of it mainly and despite the extreme temptations, i only use it occasionally. I bought it used with no manual included, but i very rarely read manuals, prefer to experiment with it myself and see what it can do.

My live set up is: PRS CE24 - Boss CS3 - Vibratrem - Boss GE7 - Boss DD3 - Boss CE2 - Boss PH3 - Marshall AVT150 half stack. As you can probably guess, this pedal lives with a lot of Boss pedals but fits in beautifully. I have not been able to replicate what this baby is capable of anywhere else and after a bit of experimenting, found a fantastic effect tip. using a crisp distortion (eg, a cranked marshall plexi)drop the volume on your guitar to about 5-6, whack the vibratrem on and belt out a single chord allowing it to fade. As the note/chord fades out, a clipping tremolo wave begins to fade in. I used this in one song and our singer began jumping around screaming "thats amazing".

This pedal goes to every gig and gets used a lot in the studio. It has had the crap kicked out of it on many occasions but has never once let me down. Typical marshall build quiality.

Who, what?

I play many different styles of music from early blues to modern hardcore and this pedal can sit in with any style what so ever. If you are thinking about getting a tremolo pedal, this is the one you want. Compared it to the Boss model and there was no competition. an awesome pedal and is at a fantastically low price

Very easy to figure out. No need for manual at all. There is a mode selector for Tremolo or Vibrato....choose your mode and tweak your rate, depth and for tremolo choose the shape of your waveform. Simple stuff!!!
I have a Vox AC30TB with the exceptional vox valve tremolo and vibrato built in, however i only use the brilliant channel on the amp, so a trem pedal was the call of the day for me. To set the unit up i match the pulse time of the VT-1 tremolo with the amps slowest trem speed setting, which is still fast enough, and that is the perfect rate for all of my applications of tremolo. Then i connect back into my brilliant channel and i use the pedals tremolo when required.

When i got this pedal first i was using batteries for power and i had all kinds of problems with the sound....firstly the batteries run down quickly, very very quickly, so problems with volume drop and very weak effect sounds would occur. I thought i had bought a dud or else the pedal was just crap...UNTIL, i constructed a pedal board and powered all my effects from the Boss TU-2 tuner. When this pedal is supplied with constant full power it works a treat.
I only use the tremolo effect and it cuts through lovely with a nice sparkle. It doesnt impose any tonal change only great tremolo comparible to the natural valve vox trem on the amp with the added bonus of being used on the brilliant channel.

In a previous band, i was the only guitar player so i used two marshall JCM602 amps run in sterio from this pedal (one at each side of the stage). That was an amazing setup and the pedal was fantastic for this use. Also the tremolo jumped between the two amps for an amazing tremolo effect, hopping from one side of the stage to the other. Since then i have joined another band and bought the Vox AC30 amp which is my absolute pride and joy along with some lovely telecasters. My sterio setup is sadly in the past to make way for another great guitar player in the band, but the trem still sounds great and i am a happier man with my present setup now anyway.
I run this unit after my wah and overdrive pedals, but before delay and reverb. I find effect placement is a very important thing but different people like different placements so there is no real right and wrong way....just whatever suits yourself.

The other guitar player in my band has the Boss tremolo which sounds great aswell but is not any better in sound quality than the VT-1. But with the VT-1 you have the option of sterio output and the use of a nice vibrato sound too. VT-1, is a better deal in my opinion.

I bought mine about 4 years ago. Never let me down. Built strong and durable.

Thought at first i had a dud BUT Use power supply and not batteries for best use....no problems with good constant power supply. Good strong effect and no volume loss.

Never needed...wouldnt bother!!!

Our band plays alt. rock stuff and i use this sparingly in some songs throughout gigs, rehersals and recordings. Sounds great but tremolo is not something you want to overdo IMO!!!
It does the job for me with no hassles and i dont wish it did anything better, which makes it perfect for me.
If this went awol on me i would buy another one, wouldnt fork out big bucks for a boutique tremolo...it doesnt get enough use....anyone with a boutique tremolo pedal has way too much money or just no sense!!! Overdrives are a different ballgame!!!
Anyway i have the best tremolo ever built into my amp and this little pedal is every bit as effective.

really easy to use but it has the shape button and the Vibrato mode, so it's richer than a simple Tremolo. There might be a manual, but sincerely no use for it.

At first I tried this in the Effect Loop, and it's definitely not its place even if I found it logical there. So now it's in front of the amp and it's working well. I use it for twangy sounds and warm jazzy progression both with single coils and humbuckers and it works fine. Some call it digital, I call it precise, I don't want to loose definition in complex chords just because a dorkey told a cutoff would sound analog. Maybe a LoFi HiFi knob would make everyone happy. I send it to a TS9 then to my Laney LC15R, the sound is cool. Vibrato is a great addition since I didn't buy it for this, in open tuning you can get some interesting Stones-ey sounds. Both Vibrato and tremolo with low depth values add amplitude to arpeggios, middle position on the Tele the sound is really good. Stereo setups may also be interesting but I didn't test yet. The trem is generally more nervous than what you have on a Fender kind of trem, some say more mechanical, maybe due to the traingle waveform.

The box seems solid, we'll see...

No idea, if it breaks I'll go see my tech.

I was looking for a DanO Tuna Melt, I got this one used, it does the job pretty well. The vibrato is an interesting add on, it's not the big magical thing of my sound but I really like to play with it. At this price I would certainly buy it once again. I'm not into Hi Cost vintage hardware thing, if it does the job it's OK. And it does.

Absolutely easy. Four knobs, one switch.

I'm using this thing in different setups. (1) Framus Sorella -> Compressor -> Wah -> VibraTrem -> Polytone MegaBrute. (2) Strat -> Compressor -> Wah -> VibraTrem -> Phaser -> Randall RM4 Preamp -> Marshall Power Amp.
The sound I prefer is a trem sound on a rather slow setting (something I always liked in Marc Ribot's playing), and I mostly use it for clan sounds. I had compared a lot of trem pedals before buying this one. When switched on, I found this one a lot less noisy than the Ibanez sound tank, the Schaller tremolo, Electro Harmonics' "the worm" (terrible effect!) and some other pedals I don't remember. I did not note any coloring of the sound when switched off - as far as I can see, the bypass does a good job.
Soundwise, the only other pedal that came close to the sound I wanted was the Boss pedal. If you like a rather soft setting, you'll have to be very precise in using the knobs on the VibraTrem, since it has a very wide range of speed settings. I found that it was easier to use to find and fine tune a good sound on the Boss - hence a 9 for the vibra trem.
Where to place it in your effects chain? As I said, I'm using this before getting into the preamp, and I'm happy with the sound I'm getting. If I wanted a harsh stuttering distorted sound though, I think I'd place it behind the preamp.
I'd also like to comment on the volume boost: Like other reviewers, I noted a boost in volume when the VibraTrem is switched on. This is a feature that I consider a plus! When using other tremolo pedals not at home or in a music store, but playing in a band, I always got the impression that once you switch the pedal on, you can't hear the guitar as well as before. I think this lies in the nature of tremolo effects: The peak tremolo volume is exactly as loud as the unprocessed sound, and inbetween the effects obviously produces gaps, so the overall hearing impression is that the guitar is not as present. So this is what actually is pretty smart about the VibraTrem: When switched on, the peak volume is louder than the original sound, but within a band context (at least for my uses) you don't really think that it's louder. It just keeps the guitar where it was.

I haven't had any problems with it. But as other used pointed out: I eats batteries. But once you know that you can bring enough batteries or a power supply.

Never dealt with them.

I got this pedal three months ago, since then I have used it frequently for both rehearsals and gigs (funk, jazz ballads, trip hop). If it got lost I'd get another one, and I wouldn't trade it for any other tremolo pedal you can get at more or less that price (I haven't tried the Fulltone or the Roger Mayer which are a lot more expensive). This is a very nice effect, with a volume boost that I found very useful. It has true bypass. And all that at a very reasonable price.

Its pretty easy to use if you know what the dials mean. which the instructions tell you.and if its used, u can download them from the web.

Epiphone SG G400/Squier Strat ----> Danelectro Danowah ----> Marshall Jackhammer ----> Marshall MG100DFX combo amp. i place this in the effects loop after my Rocktek CHR1 Chorus.

Theres virtually no difference in noise when you are not playing, and there is a slight volume boost when its on.i rectify this by changing the FX loop mix dial on my amp to about 2 o clock so theres a little more of the dry signal. The next point is something i MUST STRESS with this pedal. IT EATS BATTERIES MORE THAN MY MATE'S IBANEZ BASS CHORUS. and that ate a lot.basically you need to have this after your pre amp (that is it has to be in an fx loop) to sound good at any kind of volume. if you put it before distortion pedal (or between your guitar and amp) and turn the distortion up both effects will sound weak to the point you cant hear them at any high volume. keep it in your effects loop or before your distortion pedal. another thing is, DONT USE BATTERIES. use a power supply so your always getting the most you can out of it. i hardly use the tremelo except to make wierd noises, but the vibrato is VERY GOOD if you know how to use it. its a very very good effect, its just gotta be put where it wants to be

its as hard as nails, heavy as my dad and has lasted me about 4 months now. iv never heard of one dying so i dont know how half of the reviews say they died after 2 days. maybe the batteries just ran out...........i never use any backup (rebellious am i) because i cant afford them.....yet....

never really dealt with the company, but Jim Marshall does look like a friendly man in the manual....

I play mainly rock & roll, high gain stuff, and this is great for intros and outros to songs and for rhythm licks and solos alike, just put it where it likes to be, know how to use it, and theres infinite fun to be had!