J. Rockett Audio Designs J. Rockett Mr. Moto Trem-Verb

The J. Rockett Mr. Moto Trem-Verb is a tremolo pedal with a built-in spring reverb, made by J. Rockett Audio Designs. J. Rockett describes it as "a very musical tremolo with a super lush spring reverb as well"¹. The two effects sit in one orange box and can be run independently or together², which puts the classic amp-style pairing of tremolo and reverb on a pedalboard without a second unit.

The pedal is now retired: J. Rockett lists the Mr. Moto among its retired pedals¹.

What it does: tremolo and spring reverb in one box

Tremolo and reverb were the first mass-produced non-gain effects for electric guitar, and their combination was originally built into amplifiers more than five decades ago²⁴. The Mr. Moto recreates that pairing in pedal form: a three-knob tremolo and a one-knob spring reverb in a single enclosure⁵.

The reverb side is fixed rather than tweakable. Delicious Audio reported that it "sounds like a classic and lush spring you'd find in a vintage amp"², and Guitar.com called it "a lush, warm spring reverb that, when blended together with the tremolo, is handy if you're trying to emulate a vintage Fender amp"⁶. The tremolo, in J. Rockett's own description, "can go from a very subtle throb to a choppy rhythmic pulse"¹.

Pedal of the Day framed the appeal of the format:

The controls

The Mr. Moto keeps things simple: three knobs for the tremolo and one for the reverb²⁷⁶.

The Wave knob is the character control. Delicious Audio described it as "a knob that gradually changes the shape of the wave from sine to square"², which moves the tremolo from a smooth, rounded pulse toward a hard, choppy on/off chop. In a That Pedal Show demo, the pedal was described slightly differently, as a blend "between a square wave and a triangle wave"⁵; both descriptions agree on a single knob sweeping between two wave shapes, with the endpoints given differently in each.

Because the Depth control goes all the way to nothing, the two effects are not locked together. Pedal of the Day noted you can "turn the Depth control all the way down" and use the pedal for reverb only⁴, and both Delicious Audio and Pedal of the Day confirmed the effects can be run independently or together²⁴.

The Speedswitch footswitch

The footswitch uses J. Rockett's proprietary Speedswitch system, which allows the part to be quickly replaced when it breaks². For a player who stomps hard or gigs often, that means a worn footswitch is a swap rather than a repair job.

Where it came from

J. Rockett Audio Designs unveiled the Mr. Moto Trem-Verb on June 15, 2022, as a pedal offering the two effects in one orange box². Earlier press coverage from August 2018 described a J. Rockett Mr. Moto pedal combining tremolo with spring reverb⁶⁷, and a That Pedal Show demo from March 2020 covered the same one-knob reverb, three-knob tremolo format⁵, so the design predates the 2022 Trem-Verb announcement. In a 2023 Delicious Audio round-up of reverb pedals with tremolo, the Mr. Moto was listed at $199 and described as "a simple and musical analog/digital tremolo featuring two waveform options with fixed spring reverb"³².

What reviewers and players said

• Pedal of the Day found the tremolo range runs "from a very subtle throb to a choppy rhythmic pulse, from lush beautiful tones to full on surf rock," and suggested settings of Depth at 2 o'clock, Wave all the way left, and reverb at 3 o'clock⁴.
• Guitar.com highlighted the vintage amp angle, calling the reverb handy for emulating a vintage Fender amp when blended with the tremolo⁶.
• Gearnews summed up the format as two vintage amp effects in a single pedal, with the Depth and Speed controls governing how much and how subtle the tremolo is⁷.

On That Pedal Show, Mick and Dan demoed the pedal as "a spring reverb one knob spring reverb and a three knob tremolo in one pedal," walking through the rate and depth knobs and the wave blend⁵.

!That Pedal Show demo of the J. Rockett Mr. Moto⁵

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