Tone Report Weekly 176 | Page 56

GEAR SPOTLIGHT SUBDECAY VAGABOND TREMOLO REVIEW BY DAVID A. EVANS STREET PRICE $169.00 Not more than 20 miles from the Tone Report’s office is Newberg, Oregon’s own Subdecay Studios. And its latest pedal, the Vagabond Tremolo, will please the heck out of lovers of tremolo and modulation effects. According to Subdecay, the Vagabond offers not one, but two types of tremolo, each based on vintage technology from the ‘70s to deliver tone which is reminiscent of tube-based tremolos of the ‘50s and ‘60s. Because of technological improvements since those faraway decades, 56 GEAR SPOTLIGHT // the Vagabond offers a bit more flexibility in its tremolo. Not only can it go deeper, it will also go faster. The first mode, Bias, offers a traditional reverb that might be found in a Fender amplifier from the ‘50s or ‘60s. Bias tremolo actually works on a different principle than does the pedal’s other mode, Harmonic tremolo. A genuine tube amplifier’s trem section produces the tremolo effect by changing the bias of the tubes. The bias tremolo works on the principle of Subdecay Vagabond Tremolo reducing, or increasing the flow of electrons. The result: a pulsating, smooth tremolo which tends to sound quite deep. Subdecay is onto something good here, because the Vagabond’s version fulfilled the fantasy of playing through a genuine tube amplifier. The Vagabond features an Envelope Drift control which I found particularly fun to play with in the Bias and Harmonic modes. When the knob is set to noon, the pedal delivers the rich, smooth tremolo one would expect. However, when