T.C. Jauernig Electronics Luxury Twin-Rate Tremolo

This little stompbox is a breeze to use. Four controls: volume, depth, rate one and rate two. Three switches: On/off (Bypass), setting one and setting two.

Set up the speeds you want for the two individual rates. Set the depth to the feel you like and volume level. Away you do! Surf's up!

I'm using the Luxury Twin-Rate Tremolo with a PRS McCarty and a Dr. Z Carmen Ghia amp. Other items on my pedal board are an Ernie Ball volume pedal, Maxon CP-101 Compressor, Wampler Ecstasy Drive, Boss DD-6 delay and Boss RV-5 reverb.

I'm not after the sound of any artist, I'm just after a tremolo that I like and isn't a joke. This tremolo is better than the real deal and much quieter in operation. No obnoxious pulse like some tremolos can be - but a great workable wave. It doesn't color the tone of my guitar either and it is True Bypass. I find myself not using a chorus pedal like I use to. I love this sound for slow ballads and blues.

Great little box and quality parts. I believe I can depend on it. It's my understanding Buddy Whittington owns one and a few other Dr. Z players. Glad I got it. No regrets.

Never had to contact them. Small enough company that it shouldn't be a challenge to get help. Most boutique makers are easy to contact and I don't think Jauernig would be any different.

I play rock, blues, jazz adn country. Whatever is thrown on my music rack. I've been playing for forty-three years and this is one my all time favorite boxes. My only wish might be that there was a greater range in the depth control, but that could be easily taken care of with a pot change. However, I'm more than happy with it as it is. My favorite feature is having two rates to choose from so I can instantly go from a fast rate to a slower rate in a song transition.

It inspires me to do new things and gives me another "color to paint with". If I lost it or it was stolen - I'd definitely buy another without hesitation.

In spite of what the other reviewers say, this pedal definitely cuts treble; depth control maxed-out doesn't go deep enough for my taste and sounds more like an undulating wave. Volume control is a good feature.

Too early to tell but an examination of the interior reveals very nice looking workmanship.

Mr. Jauernig is very prompt with his emails.

I've heard better; if lost or stolen, I wouldn't replace it.

Very simple. More knobs than your average trem but it is still simple. You have the ability to fix problems trems have. For example you can set the volume of the pedal when the trem is on so there isn't a volume gain or drop unless you want a drop or gain. That comes in handy. More makers should have this feature.

I have several amps and guitars and it sounds great with all of them. I've had or tried several trems and it beats them all. ( Boss, Fulltone, Austone... ) The two speeds are also set individually. It isn't just a 1/2 speed or double speed like on some pedals. You set them exactly where you want them. Doesn't cut bass or treble. Doesn't sound too warm or mushy-just right.

Very solid. I also have the luxury Drive nad the DGTM. They're all great and reliable.

I have exchanged emails with TC Jauernig and he's quick and helpful.

Great features and it doesn't cost an arm and a leg.

This pedal is ridiculously simple to use!!

It's perfect, doesn't color the tone of your guitar whatsoever!

I've been stompin' on it like crazy and it has yet to fail me!

I play indie/experimental/rock and this pedal is perfect for that Johnny Greenwood feel! It's is simply delicious. All that I play this through is a fulldrive 2 and a Boss DD-5, through two Fender Blues Juniors (Linked in Stereo) and it sounds really REALLY good. I recommend this pedal to anyone! The two different rates is such a nice feature!

Very straightfoward

I use a G&L Asat and an Aria Pro 2 TA-60 (335 copy) into either a Blues Junior or a Gretsch 6163 Chet Aitkens piggyback. This unit is not noisy.
After years away from guitar (I'm primarily a keyboard player) I've gone guitar/pedal crazy. It is a disease - I hope there's a cure but I'm not holding my breath. Here's the thing about tremolo - there are many types and working through them is a minefield. Originally the tremolo i had in my head was the one on old Goldentone amp (an Aussie classic I sadly sold years ago). The Gretsch amp tremolo nails that sound well - it's a smooth sine wave. The Jauernig is something else - the much-touted Fender Blackface sound. Initially I was disappointed at not getting the effect I wanted (the Danelectro Wasabi Chorus-Trem does well in this respect) but I've come to appreciate the LTRT for what it is and I'm loving that BF sound,
I've A/Bed, no A/B/C/D/Eed this pedal with 5 tremolos and one feature stands out overall - this pedal has tone in abundance. It makes you sound better - richer, fuller. This is the opposite of 'tone sucking' (is that 'tone-blowing'?)The closest I got to this with the other pedals was an Ibanez Soundtank, which is impressive and worth getting if you can't afford this.

Looks very well made.

I haven't been in contact but I will!

I play a lot of styles - blues and jazz mainly. The guitar is a renewed interest for me and this pedal has excited me in that. I love the sound - even as a clean boost it's great. I already have two (I told you I was sick!). It's the best Blackface sound I've tried and the only improvement i could suggest would be a wave modulation option - if I could get that sine wave trem with this tone I'd be in heaven!

Simple set of controls that are nicely interactive and easy to dial in for a variety of great tones. More about this covered in the Sound Quality section.

INITIAL SUMMARY FOR THOSE WHO DON'T WANT TO READ A FULL-REVIEW:

The T.C. Jauernig Electronics Luxury Twin-Rate Trem is a fantastic all-analog, true-bypass trem pedal, and at $156 SHIPPED it's an absolute STEAL. You're getting two trems in one pedal, with the ability to switch back and forth between the two speeds by clicking a switch for a really cool effect that goes beyond just your standard single-speed trem.

NOW, here's the LONGER VERSION:

I've been running this pedal through my Dr. Z Ghia and KT-45 for two months now, and it works great with either of them to yield a variety of very amp-like trem sounds.

SPEED: I set one setting on the pedal to be sort of leslie-slow. I'm not saying that it SOUNDS like a leslie (it's not supposed to), but that's a frame of reference for approximately how slow I set the modulation -- 'leslie slow' isn't all that slow and this pedal is capable of going all the way down to a turtle-paced throb.

I then set the other side up even faster, but still so it will be in time with the other setting to sound almost like a fast leslie speed-wise. Setting the pedal up like this allows you to switch back and forth between the slow and fast settings on the same song so that it's still in time with the beat on either speed setting. Really a neat feature, and if you manipulate between the two settings while you're playing, you can get a really cool and unique sea-sick kind of feel. So that takes care of the speed control aspects of the pedal.

The DEPTH control is pretty straight forward, and it is a universal control in that is shared by both speed settings of the pedal. It goes from a very obvious, deep pulse, all the way to "is this even a trem pedal or is it just a boost?" setting. Which segues perfectly to the next feature/control...

...the VOLUME control. This control is also universal to both speed settings, and the basic function this control serves is to allow you to set the pedal so that it's at unity volume with the bypassed level of your amp (or slightly quieter or slightly louder for whatever you prefer). This control goes beyond just that basic function though, and really lets you control how the trem sound interacts with your amp.

For example, if you crank the volume up you can actually get a pretty hefty signal boost (and it's a fantastic sounding boost on it's own too by the way, which is a neat extra with this pedal), which pushes a tube amp harder when your trem sound is engaged giving a great trem w/ amp breakup sound that's VERY tube-trem-like.

Another example would be setting the volume level slightly lower than unity with your amp so that it cleans your amp sound up a bit if you've got your amp already set up to overdrive on it's own. This is helpful because it allows you to go from an overdriven amp tone when the pedal is bypassed, to a cleaner trem sound for your "clean" tone.

While this pedal is great as far as features on a trem pedal go, the only thing that truly matters is great tone, and that's there in spades with this pedal. If it didn't have at least one great trem sound, it wouldn't be on my board -- in other words having two mediocre trem sounds would be kind of pointless in my opinion. There are MANY different GREAT tones in this pedal that are nothing short of AMAZING.

Made as well as any stomp box I've ever used... I've only had it for two months, but I think most boutique stomp boxes are pretty bullet-proof in general. Even if it did have some kind of issue, pedals are not signal path critical in that you can just pull them off your board and finish the gig... not nearly as critical as having your amp crap out on you for example. If tremolo is absolutely critical to your sound, then yeah, you should have a back up no matter how well built a pedal is. I'd be willing to say that this pedal is going to be more reliable over time than any built-in tube amp trem, and just as good as any other boutique stomper, so I'll give the highest marks in this category.

Tim is a really nice guy who's always been fast at responding to my e-mails. He's also here in Wisconsin, so it's about as local as it gets for support in the boutique gear market... That and I always expect the best out of Wisconsinites... Yeah, we have a few jerks living in this state too, but I think in general you'll meet some of the nicest people you've ever met here. OK, I'm done gushing with Wisconsin pride now, back to topic... ;-)

It's been a long time since I posted a review about anything on Harmony Central, but I felt this pedal was deserving of a few minutes of my time.

Tim Jauernig is building some fantastic stuff, and w/ players such as Buddy Whittington using his pedals, I think he's only going to gain popularity. Plus he's in my neck of the woods, and I've gotta support my fellow Wisconsinites! It may seem like there's some degree of hype in this review, but these are just my honest (and very excited) opinions about of this pedal. The only real problem I've run into with this pedal is deciding HOW to set it up, as there are so many great possibilities and sounds that live inside of this cool blue-green box. At the very affordable price of $156 shipped, I may even have to pick up a second one - it's THAT good.

Very easy to use, no manual required. Had great tones going as soon as I plugged in.

Very nice pedal, will NOT affect your tone at all. This is one of the reasons I bought this pedal. They guarenteed me it would not affect my tone. Absolutely quite, no noise when in bypass. Works well with other affects.

Just got it, I believe they will stand by their product if I have a problem. Seems well built.

Very easy to deal with, answered all e-mail quickly. Very informative, seem like nice folks.

I play blues rock, mixed with some older stuff. This pedal works great for all your tremolo needs. I really like how you can have 2 different settings, one fast, and one slower, to switch back and forth. I makes this pedal way more versitile than your standard tremolo. Great tones, and matches my gear perfectly. Compared to other pedals, and it seemed like the best buy and quality.

The pedals is very simple to operate. The pedal was shipped with a paper that provides in depth information about the pedal and circuit design. I'm pulling the following description directly from www.tcjeffects.com because there is an accurate description posted on the site........The Luxury Twin-Rate Tremolo is a true bypass, foot switching dual speed tremolo. There are two independent rate controls that the user can select. This enables both a slow and fast speed setting from one unit. Each speed control has its own individual range, with the second being capable of faster rates than the first when set to the highest settings. There is also a rate indicator LED for a visual representation of the selected rate setting. A green LED indicates when the second rate control is active. A volume control allows the user to adjust the volume of the effect. No drop in volume here like so many amp tremolos. A depth control lets the user adjust from subtle to deep tremolo effects.

I own many boutique pedals (Fulltone, Blackbox, Foxrox, Keeley, etc.) and have read hundreds of reviews on this site. I have personally never posted a review on this site but feel this pedal and Tim Jauernig deserve some visibilty for what they have to offer.

This pedal sounds fantastic to my ears. This is my first tremolo pedal but to compare I have a 1964 Gibson Falcon amp that has an exceptional tremolo. This pedal comes strikingly close to the original tremolo on the Falcon. While this pedal doesn't create various different forms of tremolo, it does nail a vintage tremolo sound. The pedal is true bypass and is dead quiet.

I've had the pedal now for a few months. No problems to date and after looking inside the pedal I don't expect to have any problems in the future. It's built by hand and that is obvious by the point to point wiring and clean construction. If something did happen to the pedal, I'm sure that Tim would do everything possible to resolve the issue - no worries at all!

I feel confident that a backup isn't needed for this pedal.

First of all, most boutique pedal makers are great people and stand behind their products. Tim Jauernig is truly unbelievable because he never tried to convince me once to buy any of his pedals. Tim simply answered all of my questions and encouraged me to listen to some sound clips of his pedals. I have to admit that I was leery on his tremolo pedal since the pedals design is different from most of the popular vintage tremolos. I'm glad I went ahead and purchased the pedal because it's a great tremolo. I actually ended up buying 3 of his pedals after he offered me a package price.

I have been playing for about 16 years. I play blues and classic rock music. If the pedal was stolen, I would contact Tim immediatly and buy another one.