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Parent article: Best Guitar Pedals
Our Top Tremolo Pedal Pick
Wampler Latitude Deluxe
Wampler gets five timing sub divisions, three different waveforms, and a five band EQ into the Latitude Deluxe. On top of all the control, it just sounds fantastic. Our favorite, by a fairly wide margin.
A good tremolo pedal can provide quality in a number of different ways.
Primarily, you can have things like selectable waveforms, multiple tweaking options or even a tap tempo control. This roundup is a collection of tremolo pedals that have these quality markers while still maintaining a reasonable price tag.
As price gets lower and quality goes higher, value increases.
If you have questions, feel free to leave them in the comments section at the bottom of the page.
You can also browse other types of effects in our best guitar pedals roundup.
Best Tremolo Pedal Recommendations (Top 5 Picks)
Tremolo Pedals | DETAILS | RATING | TRY |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Wampler Latitude Deluxe Tremolo
| 96 RATING Detail | |
 | Strymon Flint Tremolo
| 93 RATING Detail | |
 | Fulltone Supa Trem 2
| 92 RATING Detail | |
 | Keeley DynaTrem
| 91 RATING Detail | |
 | Seymour Duncan Shape Shifter
| 89 RATING Detail |
1. Wampler Latitude Deluxe Tremolo
The Latitude Deluxe Tremolo from Wampler is similar in design to the Strymon Flint, especially in that it boasts a lot of customization options.
Wampler uses digital technology to control an analog signal path, making room for features like the tap-tempo button, multiple time divisions and selectable waveforms.
Anyone from a garage band electric player to the seasoned performer will find plenty of use for this tremolo pedal.
With so much emphasis on customization, session guitarists and studio rigs could benefit even more, simply because the Latitude will allow you to accommodate a wide range of sounds.
IDEAL FOR: Rhythm guitar
THE PROS
THE CONS
2. Keeley DynaTrem
Robert Keeley makes a ton of fantastic pedals and the DynaTrem might just be one of my favorites.
It’s addictive to play, because it actually responds to the intensity and rhythm of your playing.
This means you don't need to make adjustments on the fly via the rate and depth knobs. Instead, both settings are designed to follow your strumming and/or picking cadence. You can also control the subtlety of the effect by the intensity level of your own playing, which gets you great results on both extremes.
Whether you need something calm and ambiguous or aggressive and defined, the DynaTrem will respond appropriately.
IDEAL FOR: Live performance
THE PROS
THE CONS
3. Strymon Flint Tremolo and Reverb
The Strymon Flint tremolo combines two effects that have been traditionally handled by amplifiers with analog circuitry, with both tremolo and reverb.
The Flint is actually an analog simulation that uses a SHARC DSP analog processor and does an excellent job of imitating this classic combination of sounds. In total, there are six different effect flavors.
I’d recommend checking out the owner's manual, even if you’re just considering buying one and don’t yet own it.
The Flint sounds great and is especially ideal for those that want the added reverb tones.
IDEAL FOR: Reverb fans
THE PROS
THE CONS
4. Fulltone Supa-Trem 2
While the original Supa-Trem was fantastic in its own right, the second installment of this pedal adds some features that make it the clear favorite of the two. In particular, a tap-tempo button and waveform selector that weren’t present in the original, give a boost to the Supa Trem 2.
It's also completely analog without any DSP (digital signal processing) components. Instead, Fuller opts for a JFET (junction field effect transistor) amplifier.
This pedal is a winner if you’re a member of the analog-only club.
You can tell that Fulltone takes pride in this product and has gone through a lot of work to make sure it’s worth the money you spend.
IDEAL FOR: Recording, vintage styles (analog)
THE PROS
THE CONS
5. Seymour Duncan Shape Shifter
Yes, Seymour Duncan makes pedals.
Maybe you knew that, but it surprised me when I found this gem during my research. It claims to be the most feature-packed tremolo pedal in existence. And while I’m not certain I would say that, I'd concede that the Shape Shifter is one of the more versatile and complete tremolo pedals available.
First, the unit is stereo with two ins and outs, which allow you to phase the signal back and forth from 0 to 180 degrees via a phase knob that sits in the middle of the pedal.
Furthermore, you have a waveform and symmetry knob that sit above the traditional depth and speed controls.
The only major drawback is the lack of an external volume control.
It’s possible they deal with it internally, but it’s a big feature to leave out of a $200 boutique tremolo.
IDEAL FOR: Those wanting a non-reverb tremolo pedal
THE PROS
THE CONS
Value
If we take the approximate retail of these tremolo pedals and plot them against the ratings for each one, you can get a rough idea of which ones provide the most value for what you pay.
Here's the graph for the five tremolo pedals we've covered in this article:
We can plot the approximate retail value of each tremolo pedal with the rating given in our reviews to give us a rough picture of the value provided by each one. Lower and further to the right is better.
In the above graph, you can see that there isn't really a clear value winner, though the Fulltone Supa Trem 2 and Keeley DynaTrem probably make the strongest case. They're the cheapest and both still rated over 90 percent.
Desirable Tremolo Features
What features should we look for? We can take the information covered and setup a brief, simple list of features that we’d like to have in our tremolo pedal. That list would include, but is not limited to, the following:
- Basic Modulation Customization Options (rate, depth, etc.)
- Community Approval and Reputation
- Makeup Gain Control (for lost volume)
- Selectable Waveforms (Square, Peak and Sine)
- Tap Tempo or Timing Customization Options
Conclusion
It’s likely that there are plenty of note-worthy tremolo pedals that I failed to mention here.
As I’ve said from the beginning, finding the best tremolo pedal, or collection of pedals, will have some subjectivity attached to it.
This list is not to say that all other tremolo pedals are terrible or that everything mentioned here will be an ideal fit for you. These are the pedals I think are worth your time and that I would (or have) pursued on my own.
Your Thoughts & Opinions
A lot of times that information is helpful to people who don’t know what to look for.
If you have thoughts about what should have been included here, help other folks out by sharing in the comments section below.
Works Cited
Brewster, David M. (2003). Introduction to Guitar Tone & Effects: An Essential Manual for Getting the Best Sounds from Electric Guitars, Amplifiers, Effect Pedals, and Digital Processors. Hal Leonard Corporation. p. 30. ISBN 9781617743757.
Hunter, Dave (2004). Guitar Effects Pedals: The Practical Handbook. Backbeat. p. 11. ISBN 9780879308063.
Tremolo (electronic effect) Wikipedia. Wikipedia Foundation, Inc., August 11th, 2015. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tremolo
DynaTrem Dynamic Tremolo Keeley. Robert Keeley Electronics, 2016. https://robertkeeley.com/product/dynatrem/
Keeley, Robert. 1st ed. Robert Keeley Electronics, 2015. Web. August 18th, 2015. PDF
Boss Mod Squad Boss US. Roland Corporation, 2015. http://www.bossus.com/community/boss_users_group/
11 Tremolo Pedals Guitar Player Magazine. New Bay Media, February 26th, 2008. http://www.guitarplayer.com/miscellaneous/1139/11-tremolo-pedals/
Strymon Flint Pedal Review Premier Guitar. Premier Guitar, September 5th, 2012. http://www.premierguitar.com/articles/Strymon_Flint_Pedal_Review
Strymon. 1st ed. Damage Control LLC, 2012. Web. August 19th, 2015.
Flint Strymon. Damage Control Engineering, 2015. http://www.strymon.net/products/flint/
Wampler Pedals: Latitude Deluxe Wampler Pedals. Wampler Pedals Inc., 2015. Wampler Latitude Deluxe Tremolo
Supa-Trem2 Stereo Tremolo / Auto-Panner Fulltone. Fulltone Musical Products, 2015. http://www.fulltone.com/products/supa-trem2
Shapeshifter Seymour Duncan. Seymour Duncan, 2011. http://www.seymourduncan.com/pedals/shapeshifter/
TRM1 Tremolo Diamond Guitar Pedals. Diamond Pedals, 2015. http://www.diamondpedals.com/products/tremolo/
Tremolo User Manual v 1.03. Diamond Pedals, November 17th, 2009. PDF
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