Spaceman Effects Voyager II

The Spaceman Effects Voyager II is a fully analog, optical tremolo pedal with a twist: it responds to your playing. A dynamic envelope control tracks your attack and alters the tremolo's speed or depth in real time, so the effect shifts with how hard or softly you play rather than running at one fixed setting¹. On top of the tremolo, it carries a preamp and overdrive section with Gain and Level controls, and two footswitches so the drive and the tremolo can be used independently².

Spaceman builds the Voyager II in limited, signed and numbered runs, and the batches offered so far are sold out². It lists at $399.00 to $429.00 USD depending on the edition².

An optical tremolo that follows your playing

Most tremolo pedals cycle at whatever speed you dial in and stay there. The Voyager II instead uses dynamic envelope control, reading your picking dynamics and changing the tremolo's speed or depth as you play¹. Spaceman offers this in two modes, selected by a switch².

• Freq mode: the tremolo speed ramps up as you play and slows back down with a softer touch².
• Fade mode: the tremolo depth fades out the harder you play, then fades back in with a gentle attack or at the end of a phrase².

The Fade behavior carries over from the original Voyager I, where Spaceman described it the same way: a heavy hand fades out the tremolo effect, with the tremolo fading back in during light playing or sustained phrases³. The practical difference between the modes is which parameter moves: Freq changes how fast the pulse runs, while Fade changes how deep it is.

The tremolo itself is optical, meaning the signal is controlled by a light-dependent element rather than a transistor chopping the audio, and the LFO driving it is analog with a choice of waveshapes²¹.

The controls and footswitches

The Voyager II's control panel covers both the tremolo and the drive side of the pedal².

The two waveshapes give distinct characters. Spaceman describes the Triangle wave as "a wonderfully smooth tremolo" and the Square wave as producing "a choppier effect"².

The second footswitch exists because Spaceman considers the overdrive section a pedal in its own right. As the maker puts it²:

With the tremolo stopped, the Voyager II works as a preamp/overdrive with Gain and Level, covering everything from clean unity gain to a boost to overdrive². With the tremolo running, the drive colors the signal before the pulsing optical stage.

History: from the Dynamic Optical Tremolo to Voyager II

The Voyager II is a reissue of Spaceman's earlier Dynamic Optical Tremolo, the Voyager I⁴. When Spaceman announced the Voyager II in December 2024, Guitar Pedal X described it as a return of that circuit with a few changes: the control formerly labeled Frequency was relabeled as Speed, the Freq/Fade mode switch was flipped to Fade/Freq, and a separate Overdrive Bypass footswitch was added⁴.

The Voyager I itself remains listed by Spaceman as an Optical Analog Tremolo, with editions such as the Pink Edition shown as sold out³. The Voyager II was launched as a Through-Hole Components Release rather than a Standard Series pedal, meaning it uses full-size through-hole components instead of the smaller parts found in Spaceman's more affordable machine-made lines⁴.

Guitar Pedal X's Stefan Karlsson, writing at the December 2024 announcement, called it "a really cool Tremolo pedal for sure" and noted it as a viable wishlist target, adding that while he personally favors harmonic tremolos, he likes dynamic envelope follower tremolo types overall⁴.

The Voyager I's preamp also lives on elsewhere in the Spaceman range: the Apollo VIIb Voyager preamp/overdrive pedal is derived from the Voyager tremolo's preamp circuit.

Videos

Click to load

Click to load

Click to load

Questions