Tru-Fi Ultra Tremolo

The Tru-Fi Ultra Tremolo is a tremolo pedal built around a circuit with a long history: Tru-Fi describes it as a take off of the Schaller Tremolo, which Schaller branded for the Kent guitar company 50 years ago¹. It is an amplitude tremolo, meaning it chops the volume of the signal to create the pulsing effect, and the maker calls it "the best sounding amplitude tremelo I've ever heard"¹.

Guitar Pedal X reviewed the pedal on 1 May 2024 and listed it at $199 from the Tru-Fi Webstore in the US; the same review gives a UK price of £199 at Joe's Pedals².

What it does and the controls

Tru-Fi describes the Ultra Tremolo as a simple pedal with a speed range switch and Rate and Depth controls¹. The speed range switch sets which band of speeds the Rate knob covers, in the same spirit as the original Kent unit the design is based on, which carried a basic Depth, Speed and a Fast Slow switch¹.

The maker also updated the original design in one small way: "I updated some parts to make the unit more useful, I put in a blinking LED, and it sounds exactly to the original"¹. The blinking LED gives a visual cue for the tremolo's pulse, something the vintage unit did not offer.

On the sound, the maker's own account is that "I plugged it in and I was just shocked at fat, warm and huge it sounded"¹. Tru-Fi also says the pedal pulses when you put gain into it, almost Vibe like, which points at pairing it with overdrive, distortion or fuzz ahead of it on the board¹.

Guitar Pedal X's Stefan Karlsson offered one practical setting tip in his review: "the ideal Depth for optimal texture and tonality is around Noon"². His review notes that higher settings darken the voicing of the Depth control, so players chasing the pedal's clearest texture have a starting point at the middle of the dial².

A transistor circuit from the Schaller-built Kent Tremolo

The Ultra Tremolo is not a digital design. Tru-Fi frames it for players who want "an old school Tremolo with transistors, old school resistors and cap....that does a few things EXTREMELY WEL"¹. There is no DSP chip in the circuit; it is a discrete transistor design descended from the Schaller-built tremolo that carried the Kent brand name half a century ago¹.

The maker's connection to the original is a personal one. In the story behind the Compact Ultra Tremolo, Tru-Fi's maker writes: "20 years ago, I was in a pawn shop in Brooklyn, NY", where he found the original Kent tremolo³. That find led to both versions of the pedal.

The Compact version

Tru-Fi also makes the Compact Ultra Tremolo, which the maker describes as "the same as the Vintage series Ultra Tremolo" in a smaller and modern enclosure³. The maker says of it that "it sounds exactly to the original" Kent tremolo, and that "wonderful pulsing warm Trem tones abound from this"³. The Compact keeps the same basic control set of Depth, Speed and a Fast Slow switch, and adds one trick of its own: "You can EVEN dial Depth knob to Zero and just use it as a PURE BOOST", which links it to the boost family as well as tremolo³. The Compact was released 20 years after the original was found in the Brooklyn pawn shop³.

For where this pedal sits among its peers, see the tremolo pedals type page.

Videos

Click to load

Questions