Strymon Flint Tremolo and Reverb

Strymon's aim, stated in its amplifier tremolo technology write-up, was "to develop a studio-class pedal that faithfully delivers" three vintage tremolo circuits¹. The result is a digital pedal with what Strymon describes as a high quality analog front end and output section, and true bypass².

Three Fender-style tremolos and three reverbs

The tremolo side offers three types modeled on vintage amplifier circuits, each named for the era of the Fender amp it recreates¹⁵:

Strymon describes these on its product page as "the sonically complex '61 Harmonic Tremolo, the swampy and sultry '63 Power Tube Tremolo," and the '65 Photocell Tremolo⁸. The reverb side offers three types as well⁵:

A Guitar Player review said the Flint "captures the magic of three different classic Fender-style tremolos" as well as three different reverbs⁵.

The controls

The pedal is laid out as two halves, tremolo on the left and reverb on the right, each with its own bypass footswitch and a three-way toggle for selecting the type³. Strymon says the pedal gives you "eight parameters to tweak" for control over both effects².

There is no onboard tap tempo footswitch, but Strymon confirmed an external tap pedal can be used, along with an expression pedal¹. Guitar World's tremolo buying guide also notes "the three different tremolo modes and the optional expression pedal" among the pedal's features¹⁰. On the V2, the Strymon MiniSwitch ($49, sold separately) can recall a favorite setting, switch between that and what is dialed in, and tap in tremolo speeds³.

In stereo, one thing to know: the tremolo outputs the same signal from both the left and right outputs rather than panning between two amps¹.

History and versions

The Flint runs with true bypass and what Strymon calls "a wonderfully voiced analog front-end"⁵, paired with a high quality analog output section.

V2 (2020)

Firmware updates have continued, with later revisions fixing preset and MIDI clock lockups, adding a MIDI CC control for clock division, and adding Nixie 2.0 compatibility.

Black Knob Edition (2020)

In November 2020, after the supplier of the pedal's cream-colored knobs stopped production, Strymon faced a choice: halt production while tooling up a new knob, or keep building. It chose to keep building, with black knobs substituted for the usual cream ones⁶. Strymon was direct about whether anything else differed: "Are there any other differences between Flint and this limited Flint 'Black Knob Edition'? Nope, just the knobs are different"⁶. Strymon also offered a very limited supply of replacement cream-colored knobs⁶.

What reviewers said

Jon of Guitar Noize reviewed the Flint favorably in a video review and article in February 2013¹¹. Another reviewer found that "the sounds you get are worth it, and the slew of options make for endless sonic soundscapes"¹².

Pedal of the Day's 2014 review of the original acknowledged the price but came down on the pedal's side¹²:

Of the V2, Pedal of the Day called it one of the most versatile, well-rounded pedals they had seen⁴. Guitar World's review rated the V2 five stars for sounds, summing it up as:

Videos

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