Pedals

[AZanshin]

I was wondering if a pedal like the Boss TR-2 Tremolo Pedal would allow me to make sounds like a whammy bar or would that be done with a a vibrato pedal such as an Behringer ULTRA VIBRATO UV300?

[jmstritt]

I don't know about the Behringer pedal, but the tremolo pedal will make a sound like the tremolo on an amplifier. Boss DID make a pedal called the VB-2 Vibrato that you may still find out there.

[AZanshin]

So what am after is an Vibrato pedal then to achieve the sound of a whammy bar?

The reason am after a pedal is that am not to found of the idea of installing a bigsby on to Archtop or Sheraton.

[jmstritt]

Well the problem is that things aren't always what they seem. The actual effect of using a bigsy would be called vibrato. However if you look at an old Fender amp they have a Vibrato channel, but the effect is really and "off and on" volume fluctuation which really is Tremolo. On the other hand you will see whammy bars referred to as tremolo units whereas they actually produce vibrato.

The long and short of it is that tremolo is a volume effect, vibrato is a pitch bending effect, but the terminology is sometimes used interchangeably. So while in the Boss product line I can tell you that tremolo actually is tremolo and vibrato actually is vibrato, but there are many vibrato pedals out there that produce a tremolo effect and vice versa.

So the short version is, try before you buy.

[Dad3353]

Originally Posted by AZanshin

I was wondering if a pedal like the Boss TR-2 Tremolo Pedal would allow me to make sounds like a whammy bar or would that be done with a a vibrato pedal such as an Behringer ULTRA VIBRATO UV300?

Good evening, AZanshin...

If you wish to simulate a 'whammy' bar (I've never liked that term; I much prefer 'vibrato'...) to change the pitch of the note, you'll probably need a 'whammy' pedal, such as the DigiTech WH4. This will allow complete 'dive-bombing', as with a Fender Strat, or a lighter effect, as with a Bigsby.
If, on the other hand, you only wish for a tremolo effect, as heard with older Fender amps (amongst others...), a tremolo pedal will do fine. A quick visit to Youtube should bring up a fair number of demos; I use the Boss Fender Deluxe emulator, which has such an effect, with reverb too. There is typically much less control with these 'stomp boxes', and the effect can be tiring. There are probably pedal versions (as in 'swell pedal'...), which would allow finer control, but no name comes to mind.
Hope this helps...

[AZanshin]

Originally Posted by Dad3353

Good evening, AZanshin...

If you wish to simulate a 'whammy' bar (I've never liked that term; I much prefer 'vibrato'...) to change the pitch of the note, you'll probably need a 'whammy' pedal, such as the DigiTech WH4. This will allow complete 'dive-bombing', as with a Fender Strat, or a lighter effect, as with a Bigsby.
If, on the other hand, you only wish for a tremolo effect, as heard with older Fender amps (amongst others...), a tremolo pedal will do fine. A quick visit to Youtube should bring up a fair number of demos; I use the Boss Fender Deluxe emulator, which has such an effect, with reverb too. There is typically much less control with these 'stomp boxes', and the effect can be tiring. There are probably pedal versions (as in 'swell pedal'...), which would allow finer control, but no name comes to mind.
Hope this helps...

Thanks Dad for that I wanted to use the term vibrato too but I wasn't too sure if people would confuse it with the tremolo like so many others do on the internet.

That digitech looks like it will do the job, I won't be using the dive-bombing though lool since I play traditional jazz and soul & R&B.

Thanks again.

[David B]

How about something like this?

YouTube Video