Tremolessence as a clean boost?

[Bartimaeus]

So I was at practice yesterday and thought that having a little boost in volume would be killer for a certain section in a song, so I set my Tremolessence to a boost as I wasn't using trem on that song. However, even with the depth at zero, the trem was still ever so faintly noticeable. Very subtle, but definitely there. Is that just the nature of the unit? I can't decide if it's significant enough to make me use another pedal for a boost (and have to deal with having an extra pedal to carry around).

Anyone else try the Tremolessence as a boost? How did you like it?

[t-rey]

I used to use mine in a similar way. Just really sweetened the toanz I had going on. Never noticed any tremoloing, but I play a low volumes.

[rustywire]

I enjoy using it as you describe. The super shallow trem adds subtle movement that really sweetens sustained notes.

[Uncle Grandfather]

If I want modulation i want modulation. If I want a boost then I want a boost. Amazingly useful pedal for tremolo, but not as a boost for my purposes. You may learn to like the subtle coloration/modulation.

[Atrox]

I use the RRR as a boost from time to time. Works perfectly as a line driver too.

[Ryan]

Some pedals are more suited to not having any wet signal at all vs others, say when they have a mix control.. the Tremolessence is all wet, the signal is always connected to the LDR and always 100% wet so even at the min there's still a subtle response... although I feel that the next level of subtlety would be turning the pedal off.

To get the least throb possible you should use the triangle setting, it's a little weaker than the square wave, and you can set the rate to the minimum too, then the change is very very subtle.

If you're just going to use the boost all the time with no tremoloing you could just use it in Hold mode.. just pure clean boost and treble control.

[t-rey]

Oh yeah, hold mode, that's what I was doing.

[Ryan]

kind of a pain as you have to flick the toggle then turn the pedal on, but after that you can clean boost all day and night. One day I'd like to make the hold mode slicker with the micro switching...

[Uncle Grandfather]

One day I'd like to make the hold mode slicker with the micro switching...

cooooooooooool. do it

[t-rey]

I'd seriously consider buying some sort of boost/buffer that sounds like the tremolessence in hold mode

[Bartimaeus]

Thanks for the responses, everyone! The Reverberator is a great little booster, but I use reverb so much that it never gets a chance to be used as a booster.

Ryan, I tried those settings and they worked great! Very subtle indeed!

I'd seriously consider buying some sort of boost/buffer that sounds like the tremolessence in hold mode

That's definitely a cool idea. It'd be a nice little tone shaper to have at the end of one's chain, so you could quickly adjust things during a live setting esp. Does the Tremolessence do something to your tone? I can't tell if it's just particularly transparent so that it feels like its affecting one's tone by being so clear sounding.

[Ryan]

I use the same buffers and basically the same boosters in all my pedals, the Cleanness and Elements and Trem all have the same input and output sections with the same inverting gain section. The Reverberator has a non-inverting boost but they're all set up the exact same way, transparent as possible. (Inverting vs non-inverting doesn't really sound any different, just two different ways to use an op amp depending on the situation, and all my circuits are in phase at the output with the input, no over-all inversions ever.)

[t-rey]

Hmmm....I guess the treble control on the Trem really made it stand out to me. Time to play with the Elements as an eq/booster and see if there is a Cleanness in my future

[Ryan]

To use the Elements like that set it up like this:

Gain knob: 0
Volume knob: 100
Mix knob: 100

Gain toggle: down
Clip toggle: middle
Bass toggle: down
Midrange toggle: down

Bass knob: 50
Mid knob: 50
Treble knob: 50

Now you have a clean boost platform with as much clean headroom as the Elements can do. It's not quite as clean as the Cleanness or Trem but it'll still do a nice clean boost.

[t-rey]

Thanks!