Zeppelin Design Labs Quaverato

The Quaverato is a harmonic tremolo pedal from Zeppelin Design Labs of Chicago, released on August 13, 2018¹. What sets it apart from most tremolo pedals is its hybrid design: the controls are digital, but the signal path, the part your guitar actually passes through, is all-analog²¹³. It runs in two modes, Traditional (In-Phase) tremolo, which is the ordinary volume-swell tremolo most players know, and Harmonic (Out-Of-Phase) tremolo, which splits the signal into frequency bands and modulates them against each other⁴.

It was sold two ways from launch: ready-to-play at $189, or as a DIY kit at $89¹. Zeppelin Design Labs describes the design goal as "Digitally controlled, all analog signal path combining maximum flexibility with great tone"⁴.

Harmonic tremolo versus regular tremolo

A traditional tremolo raises and lowers the volume of the whole signal together. Harmonic tremolo works differently: the Quaverato splits the signal into LOW and HIGH frequency bands and modulates them out of phase, so as one band swells the other dips. The result is a moving, almost phaser-like character rather than a straight volume pulse. The pedal offers both modes, and Pedal of the Day noted that you can isolate and adjust the two frequency bands exactly as needed via two internal trim pots².

Controls and internal trim pots

The Quaverato carries four main controls plus an adjustable LFO wave shape, so you can dial the modulation from smooth to more abrupt pulses⁵. There is also up to 15dB of gain on tap⁴.

Inside the pedal, three trim pots shape the effect further:

• LOW and HIGH trim pots: isolate and fine-tune the two frequency bands that harmonic mode modulates²
• Gain trimpot: sets the boost range the external knob is allowed to sweep, from a milder drive to a more distorted sound near the +15dB maximum²

Two footswitches handle the rest. A tap-tempo switch sets tempos quickly, and the bypass switch can run in either toggle or momentary mode¹. Bypassing is done with a relay-controlled true-bypass scheme that includes click suppression for quiet switching⁴.

MIDI control

MIDI was promised at launch and arrived as a mod released on November 16, 2018⁵³. The modification adds full MIDI functionality, giving remote control over every feature of the pedal⁶. It was offered three ways:

• A new pedal with full MIDI capability: $108 as a DIY kit or $238 ready-to-play⁶

Zeppelin Design Labs' product page now lists full MIDI implementation as an option on the pedal itself⁴. The control software is open source, developed in the Arduino environment, and the maker claims it is easy to update with new features and hackable by Arduino users¹³.

The DIY kit

The Quaverato was designed and can be built in Chicago, and you can buy it ready-made or as a kit to build yourself⁵. Zeppelin Design Labs rates the kit as intermediate skill⁴, so it suits players with some soldering experience. Pedal of the Day put it the same way: the pedal can be ordered already built, or built yourself "if you are feeling frisky and have a decent soldering hand"². In the UK the kit was sold through Break The Machine, and in the EU through Floating Point Audio⁴.

What reviewers said

gearnews' Jef found the demo "sounds nice and organic with plenty of character" and thought it should appeal to anyone looking for something traditional with more flexible modern controls⁵. Pedal of the Day went further, calling it:

Pedal of the Day, September 12, 2018²

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