the knob is adjusted
to the left of noon,
the tremolo becomes
responsive to playing
dynamics—strum or
pluck hard and the
tremolo slows down.
With the knob to the
right of noon, the effect
speeds up in proportion
to the intensity of the
player’s attack.
My favorite of the two
settings, the Harmonic
mode, truly won me over.
I must admit that I am
a sucker for any pedal
which sounds remotely
like a Uni-Vibe. To my
surprise, the Vagabond
fits perfectly into that
category. Its harmonic
mode produces tremolo
by sweeping between a
high- and low-pass filter.
To my ears, the effect
sounds a heck of a lot
like a phaser combined
with a vibrato, which is
to say that it sounded
like a Uni-Vibe. And, oh,
what a vibe it was! The
rich, moody sweep of the
pedal; the deep sonic
troughs which led to ear-
pleasing peaks: it was all
there, all of it. But the
Harmonic mode need not
take a person into Uni-
Vibe territory, however.
Alterations in the speed
and intensity softened
the psychedelic edge,
but still let the tremolo
hypnotize me with its
charm.
Curiously, the waveform
of the tremolo seemed
to change when the
pedal was in its highest
Intensity setting. Perhaps
I am just imagining
things, but the pedal
performed like a square
wave tremolo when in
the Bias mode and like
something similar when
in the Harmonic mode. I
say similar because the
Harmonic mode seemed
to only partially blend
the dry signal with the
wet signal. In the Bias
mode, the tremolo
seemed to turn the
signal on and off as
a square wave tremolo
seems to do.
I’d recommend the
Vagabond to anyone in
search of a tremolo that
retains the best of the
classics while adding
a few interesting
twists of its own.
WHAT WE LIKE
Smooth, deep
tremolo as if from
a tube amplifier; vibe-
like tremolo for those
psychedelic moments
CONCERNS
It’s not a concern,
but a request: a jack
for an expression pedal
to control at least one
parameter would suit
this pedal just fine.
Given the range of
warm, tube-like textures
the pedal produces, and
given the excellent vibe-
like Harmonic setting,
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