Man, it looks cold in Iceland! Beautiful, but cold. Obviously, for those of you who know, the temperature doesn’t affect our friend Ásgeir from Pedal Projects one bit, as he continually churns out gorgeous-looking and sounding pedals from the frozen terrain. His latest offering is the Undertow Tremolo, an all-analog optical machine that features both simple controls and complex sounds – let’s check it out!
The controls on the Undertow are pretty straightforward for a tremolo, but include one that is not found on nearly enough of them. Speed and Depth are pretty essential to make any tremolo pedal work at all, so of course they are both present here, and when working together can give you a range of sounds. Starting off with the knobs dialed down, you conjure up a slight, faint pulse, that can be barely audible if you’d like, just to add a little flavor to your sound. Start turning the controls clockwise, and this puppy really takes off, producing some wonderfully rich, warm and intense throbbing vibe sounds, with a big range in the middle for a multitude of options.
The Volume knob is what I was referring to earlier, as it doesn’t seem to be standard fixture on every trem pedal, for reasons unknown to me and many others. It is definitely present in the Undertow, and can really give a much-needed boost to your rig. Adjusting this control to taste, depending on your setup, yields the ability to really make this effect shine, and become the star of the show in an instant. By using the Volume as an effect booster, the tremolo moves immediately to the forefront of your amp, and is sure to turn some heads when engaged at the right time in your live set.
There’s a toggle switch here, too, and allows selection between Sine wave and Square wave settings. Sine tends to be smoother, a bit more mellow and lying underneath your guitar’s tone, while the Square wave gets incredibly intense, and will produce thick, choppy sounds if given the opportunity. All of these controls work in conjunction to form the basis of the Undertow tremolo – the rest is up to you to figure out how to incorporate it into your rig. Plus, you can even set the brightness of the LED internally, adding one more option to this gorgeous analog stompbox.
Thanks once again to our buddy Ásgeir for sending this smooth, golden beauty across the pond for us to check out. Dynamic, expressive, bold and aesthetically pleasing as well, the Undertow would a perfect fit on many pedalboards, and I’m sure that it will do just that. If you haven’t heard what else has been coming out of Iceland from Pedal Projects, make sure you head over to their website and do just that – you won’t be disappointed!
Submitted by Mike B, Website
Demo Rock pedalboard by West Coast Pedalboard
