I’ve had my eye on a couple of Red Witch pedals for years now, and was finally able to try one out this week. It just so happened to be the one I wanted to try the most, too: the Pentavocal Analog Tremolo. A vast array of control knobs and 2 footswitches make up this beastly trem, and when all was said and done, I knew I’d be a fan for life.
The Velocity knob controls the overall Speed of the tremolo, going from super slow to super fast, like most trem pedals do, so nothing new here. Depth add in (or subtracts) the amount of the effects that gets added into your signal chain – again, no new discoveries here, but an always welcome option. I really like the Volume control on the Pentavocal, as you won’t ever need to worry about a drop in your signal when clicking this pedal on, and it can even punch a little added boost in if you need it. The Bottom knob is extremely unique to a trem pedal as well, as it acts as an EQ of sorts, to help adjust the Mids and boost either the Low or High End of the effect. Awesome to have control over that, as it’s not a super-regular option on a lot of tremolos.
The Voicing control knob lets you choose from 5 (Penta) different voices (Vocal) that your pedal will produce, and having that many options yields a ton of different sounds. Low, murky, throbbing trem sounds give way to tight, high, shimmery cleans as you adjust this knob and use it in conjunction with the other four. A real artists’ palette emerges from all the control selections provided by this Red Witch beauty, and hours of fun and experimentation await each user. Tremulate is a cool way to say the On/Off switch, but the Wave switch on the left allows for another funky option, as it flip-flops back and forth between a standard, smooth tremolo sound to an aggressive, hard-nosed choppy sound, giving you vastly different tones at a foot click’s notice.
The only option I would like to see here would be Stereo Out, as this thing would sound unbelievable bouncing back and forth between 2 amps. Regardless, it’s a super-versatile and entertaining tremolo pedal, one that has a multitude of sounds and uses to explore. Check out Red Witch’s site and see what else they have for you!
Submitted by Mike B, Website
