The Ultimate Analog Stereo Tremolo
When you think about worship guitar tone, the first two effects that probably come to mind are delay and reverb. While you can get a ton of unique and creative tones with just those two effects, I think what can really take your sound to the next level is incorporating modulation. And one of my favorite modulation effects to use is tremolo. Tremolo can add movement and texture to your sound and can take an otherwise simple chord progression and give it a ton of vibe.
Cusack Tap-A-Whirl
Recently I had the opportunity to check out the Cusack Music Tap-A-Whirl V4 analog tap tremolo. The Tap-A-Whirl is a n analog tremolo with all the controls you could ever want. It has been used on a ton of your favorite worship records and this newest version really is the ultimate tremolo pedal. Not only can you quickly dial up an amazing basic trem sound but you can also use it to create unique stereo textures.
All the Features
About 10 years ago I got my first tremolo pedal and it quickly became one of my favorite special effects to use to add some extra movement and vibe to a part. One issue I had back then is that pedal was mono and didn’t have a way to control the speed. The Tap-A-Whirl features stereo inputs and outputs which makes it super convenient for placing it anywhere you want in your signal chain. It also has tap tempo so you can easily tap in the exact speed you want. But my favorite feature of this pedal are the brake foot switches. These switches allow you to ramp up and ramp down the tremolo speed and you can tweak the speed and way that they react with the option knob. This makes this pedal really dynamic and you can get a ton of cool sounds just by using the foot switches to ramp the sound up and down.
The Tap-A-Whirl also features an expression and external tap input. So if you would like to control the pedal externally with an expression pedal or other controller, you can do that. This just adds a lot of flexibility with how you incorporate the pedal into your setup.
In addition to all those features, the pedal has four banks of presets with two presets in each bank. The presets are really easy to navigate on the fly. To navigate through the banks, you step on the left and middle foot switches at the same time. The LED color indicates which bank you are on and the left and right foot switches select the particular preset you want to use.
Layout and Controls
The pedal has a ton of parameters but they are laid out in a way that makes the workflow very straightforward. On the top left there is an Option knob that allows you to select the tap division, fade-in time, and brake speed. Next there is your standard Level, Rate, and Depth knobs. Having a level control is always really nice on modulation pedals because at more extreme settings there can be a perceived loss in volume.
All the way to the right you have a waveform knob that allows you to select between eight banks of waveform shapes each with an A,B, and C slot. This sheer variety of waveforms that you have to select from really makes this pedal unique. You have the standard sine and square waves but this pedal goes way beyond that with a ton of unique waveforms that can give you some really nice rhythmic patterns.
The final control on the face of the pedal is the Stereo Phase knob. This knob will control the stereo panning of the tremolo when you are running the pedal in stereo. This allows you to select whether you want the tremolo to pan back and fourth across the stereo field or if you want it to act like a mono tremolo and be straight up.
Create Stereo Texture
I’ve been testing out the Tap-A-Whirl V4 for the past several weeks and what I love about it is the stereo width you can get from it, especially when incorporating it with delay and reverb. Adding stereo tremolo with a unique pattern to an ambient swell can just give your sound a little extra texture and movement. You can also use it on a big lead tone to give your sound a unique stutter effect. Learn more and hear how I use tremolo to create texture in my guitar playing by checking out the full demo video below.
Learn More About the Cusack Tap-A-Whirl:
https://cusackmusic.com/tap-a-whirl-v4/