The DeArmond Model 800 Trem-Trol is a volume and tremolo pedal that DeArmond introduced during the late '40s. Guitar World's Chris Gill describes it as the big brother of the Model 60 Tremolo Control, and it belongs to the same family of units as the DeArmond Tremolo Control, the effect that helped start the standalone guitar pedal1.
What it does
The Model 800 combines volume control with tremolo, the effect that varies a note's volume rhythmically. It is one of three variations DeArmond produced, and Gill calls it "probably the most 'pedalboard friendly' model of the three variations," even though it is "longer and bulkier than an average wah pedal"1.
One detail matters for anyone putting one on a board: there is no footswitch in the usual sense. "The only way to bypass the tremolo effect is via a slider switch on the side"1, so a player works the pedal with the hand for volume and reaches to the side to switch the effect off.
Place in the Trem-Trol family
The Model 800 sits alongside its smaller stablemate, the Model 60 Tremolo Control, in DeArmond's tremolo range, and its size and layout make it the version best suited to a pedalboard of the three variations1. For the wider history of the DeArmond tremolo designs, including the original Tremolo Control units, see the DeArmond Tremolo Control page.
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Caleb Deike
Caleb Deike
Sources (1)
- The world's first guitar 'pedal': DeArmond Tremolo Control, Guitar World, 2026-09-13
