Walrus Audio Monument Harmonic Tap Tremolo

The Walrus Audio Monument Harmonic Tap Tremolo is a tremolo pedal from Walrus Audio that offers two tremolo types in one box: a standard amplitude tremolo and a harmonic mode. In harmonic mode, a low-pass and a high-pass version of your guitar signal are modulated 180 degrees out of phase, so high and low frequencies rise and fall opposite each other, which Walrus Audio describes as producing "a rich, luscious, warm pulsating modulation capable of peaks and valleys as smooth or as jagged as the real ones that our dear mother nature created long ago"¹²³. The Monument V2 followed on March 18, 2019 at a retail price of $199⁴, fitting the same circuit as the original in an enclosure roughly half the size⁵, and the line continues in the Monumental Harmonic Stereo Tremolo.

Walrus Audio says the pedal produces "a rich, luscious, warm pulsating modulation capable of peaks and valleys as smooth or as jagged as the real ones that our dear mother nature created long ago"¹²³. The enclosure artwork, by Chris Castro, is inspired by the red-sand desert landscape of Monument Valley⁴.

A harmonic tremolo inspired by Fender Brownface amps

Most tremolo pedals do one thing: they turn the volume of your signal up and down. The Monument's harmonic mode takes the rarer approach found on Fender Brownface amps of the early 1960s. MusicRadar's Trevor Curwen explains that it is "based on that rarer take on the effect as found on Fender 'brownface' amps. Its method of modulating low-pass and high-pass" versions of the signal against each other gives it a character with a touch of phase shifting⁸. A toggle switch selects between that harmonic mode and a standard, traditional tremolo sound⁹.

On That Pedal Show, Walrus Audio's representatives described how the design came about and what makes the circuit demanding to build¹⁰:

They also said the pedal "really was just kind of born out of an obsession with the sounds that we were hearing from a record", referring to the sounds Blake Mills was putting out¹⁰.

The controls

The Monument V2 carries Rate, Depth and Volume knobs alongside Division and Shape controls, with tap tempo on a second footswitch¹¹¹².

The random Monument Mode is, in Pedal of the Day's words, "a random shape producer, perfect for experimentation and non-conformist noise creation"¹².

The bypass switch does more than switch the effect. When the pedal is off, press and hold it to momentarily activate the tremolo for a burst of texture, and release to turn it off again⁶¹³⁵. When the pedal is on, press and hold the bypass switch to ramp the tremolo rate up, and release to ramp it back down to your previously set tempo¹³. The side jack can be assigned on the fly to external tap tempo or to expression control over Rate, Depth, Shape or Tap Multiplier⁷¹².

Power

Walrus Audio recommends an isolated power supply for the V2, does not recommend daisy chain power supplies, and does not include a power supply with the pedal⁷.

From the original Monument to V2

The original Monument Harmonic Tap Tempo Tremolo set the template, and the Monument V2, announced March 18, 2019, kept the same circuit but squeezed it into an enclosure roughly half the size⁵, measuring 4.77 x 2.9 x 2.3 inches⁷. On That Pedal Show, the Walrus team put it simply: "this is all the same builders just squeezed them" into the smaller box¹⁰.

The V2 changes, per Walrus Audio⁷⁴:

• Converted to a smaller enclosure
• Expanded side jack capability: external tempo or assignable expression control
• Improved tremolo response across all rates
• Top mounted jacks
• Momentary speed ramping triggered by holding the bypass switch⁵

Expression and tap input, which were separate jacks on the original, were consolidated into one side jack on the V2⁵. The original's Expression In jack controlled Rate with a TRS cable and expression pedal, and its Tap In jack took an optional external aux tap switch⁹.

What reviewers said

MusicRadar, looking back at the V2 launch, said it had dubbed the original Monument "a practical pedal offering an excellent variety of sonic options with the bonus of plenty of expressive control"¹⁴. The original Monument was launched in 2017¹⁴.

A demo by German dude of the brand new Walrus Audio Monument Harmonic Tap Tremolo walked through the pedal when it was new², describing it as producing "a rich, luscious, warm pulsating modulation capable of peaks and valleys as smooth or as jagged as the real ones that our dear mother nature created long ago"¹²³.

Click to load

Versions and editions

Beyond the V1 and V2, the Monument line has appeared in several editions and one major successor¹⁵¹⁶⁴:

• Obsidian Edition: a V2 finish variant, offered new and later as a sold-out blemished unit⁷
• Blemished units: V2 units sold at a discount with cosmetic-only flaws, such as scratches or dents in the finish⁷
• Monumental Harmonic Stereo Tremolo (2024): the successor, an analog, optical tremolo with true stereo input and output, three onboard presets, a Tap/Ramp footswitch, a Pan control and internal dip switches for Tap/Exp configuration¹⁷

Guitar World's review of the Monumental praised its feature set as "a pretty comprehensive feature set" for onstage use but listed among its cons that "It is pricey"¹⁸¹⁹. Premier Guitar's reviewer of the Monumental noted "the proximity of the tap-tempo switch to the bypass" switch as a point of friction²⁰. Guitar Pedal X summed up the evolution: "The Monument evolves and becomes fully stereo with additional parameters and capabilities"²¹.

Videos

Click to load

Click to load

Questions