The Catalinbread Tremol8 is a tremolo pedal with built-in digital reverb, made by Catalinbread. It is a compact digital pedal with eight operating modes, and each mode offers a different kind of volume modulation paired with its own complementary flavor of reverb1. Guitar World described the concept as blending tremolo effects with tweakable reverb in the manner of the Strymon Flint, Keeley Hydra and Fender Tre-Verb2.
What it does
The eight modes are the heart of the pedal. The first half of the rotary switch covers the main wave shapes: sine, square and sawtooth. From there the modes get more specialised, taking in a harmonic tremolo, a sine wave with chorus, an envelope-controlled mode, and a super-fast square wave intended for ring modulator effects1.
The harmonic tremolo mode is based on the second channel of an early-60s Fender Showman amp, the circuit that produced the split-band pulsing of the original1.
The reverb side is matched to the tremolo rather than being a one-size-fits-all wash. Guitar.com's reviewer found the reverbs range from tight and medium-length in three of the first four modes to long and ethereal in the harmonic and envelope modes1. Catalinbread itself pointed to the sound of tremolo splashing against a reverb like the Magnatone or the Vibro Champ, alongside bigger ethereal reverbs2.
Controls and setup
The pedal's controls center on a rotary switch for the eight modes, and it includes a switch for true or buffered bypass1.
Tremolo works by modulating volume, so a perceived drop in level is a common complaint with the effect. The Tremol8 has a trimpot inside the pedal for boosting the gain to compensate1. It is an internal control, so you will need to open the pedal up to set it.
Power comes from a 9V to 18V supply2, which gives headroom above a standard 9V feed if you want it.
What reviewers said
Guitar.com's review, by Richard Purvis, was positive. The reviewer summed up the pedal this way1:
"the main one being the more than slightly significant fact that it sounds lovely"
The same review noted that the two effects work together so thoroughly that you forget the possibility of hearing one without the other, which the reviewer took as a strength of the overall sound1. The reviewer also remarked that there is a champagne sparkle to the black enclosure that looks very handsome1.
Where it sits in Catalinbread's range
The Tremol8 pairs tremolo with reverb in one box, which places it alongside Catalinbread's reverb-focused pedals such as the Topanga Spring Reverb, the Talisman Ghost and the CB Paint. If you are mainly after the volume-modulation side, the tremolo pedals page covers the type more broadly; if the reverb half is the draw, see Reverb Pedals21.
Videos
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Questions
Is the Catalinbread Tremol8 analog or digital?
The Tremol8 is a digital pedal. Guitar.com's review describes it as a compact digital tremolo pedal with eight operating modes, each pairing a different kind of volume modulation with its own complementary reverb. The reverb side is digital as well, which is what lets the pedal produce reverbs ranging from tight and medium-length to long and ethereal.
Is the Tremol8 true bypass?
The Tremol8 offers a choice rather than a fixed bypass type: it has a switch for true or buffered bypass. That lets you set it to true bypass when you want the signal to pass untouched when the pedal is off, or to buffered bypass if you prefer the pedal to drive long cable runs or a large pedalboard.
What voltage does the Catalinbread Tremol8 use?
According to Guitar World, the Catalinbread Tremol8 runs on 9V to 18V power. That range gives some headroom over a standard 9V supply, but a regular 9V DC pedal supply within that range is enough to run it.
Does tremolo lower the volume on the Tremol8?
Tremolo works by modulating volume, so a perceived drop in level is a common complaint. The Tremol8 addresses this with a trimpot inside the pedal for boosting the gain to compensate, as noted in Guitar.com's review. Setting that internal control lets you bring the effect level back up to match your bypassed sound.
What does the Tremol8 cost?
Guitar World reported in May 2023 that the Tremol8 was available for $219 in the United States. That was the listed price at launch, reported at the time of the pedal's release.
Sources (2)
- Catalinbread Tremol8: a modern take on the oldest pair of effects, Guitar.com, 2023-08-14
- The worlds of reverb and tremolo come crashing together in Catalinbread's new Tremol8 pedal, Guitar World, 2023-05-11
