Korora Audio Merlo

The Korora Audio Merlo is a harmonic tremolo pedal from Korora Audio of Seattle, Washington, introduced as the maker's second effect¹². Where a standard tremolo simply raises and lowers volume, the Merlo's harmonic circuit splits the signal into frequency bands and moves between them, so the tone shifts along with the level. It offers three waveforms and a coloring circuit built around four frequency bands rather than the usual two, all interacting with the shape of the tremolo¹.

Korora Audio describes the pedal as more than a vintage circuit copy:

Korora Audio, quoted by Daniel Seah at guitar.com²

Controls, tone modes and tap tempo

The Merlo's top toggle switch selects between three tone-shaping modes¹:

The flat mode in the top position leaves the tremolo's tone alone, the mid-peak mode pushes the mids forward, and the bottom position rolls off the highs for a warmer sound¹.

Rate is handled by a tap tempo footswitch that glides into a rate change, so the speed moves smoothly to the new setting rather than jumping². The pedal also carries a soft touch true bypass switch and top mounted jacks, which suits small boards where jacks on the sides would crowd neighboring pedals².

Where it came from

Korora Audio launched the Merlo at the Summer show in 2019 as the company's second effect¹. It was introduced to a wider audience in June 2020 at $249², and by November 2020 it was reported as shipping¹.

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