TR-2 Tremolo Review

Reproduces the classic tremolo effects of vintage '60s amps using a low frequency oscillator (LFO). LFO waveform variable from triangle to square for producing a variety of classic tones.

Ease of Use:	9.6
Sound:	8.4
Reliability:	9.6
Impression:	9.4
Overall rating:	9.3
Users rating:	6.2
Comments:	16

overall: 9.3

Featured review by: GNRAGE_2010, on june 23, 2006

Purchased from: Musicians Friend

Ease of Use: This pedal is very simple to use since it only has 3 knobs; rate, wave, and depth. Rate obviously controls speed, wave is the shape of the sound, and depth is bascially how much of an effect the tremelo has on the sound. // 9

Sound: Right now I have a Fender Stratocaster (not a squire) and am running it through a Fender Stage 160 (older version). The effect always comes through quite well even when strung through several other pedals and doesn't kill the sound of the other pedals either. An example of the type of sound you can get from this pedal is in Green Day's Boulevard of Broken Dreams. // 9

Reliability & Durability: Since it's a Boss pedal you can pretty much expect it to be durable and sturdy. I could use this in a gig confidently without a backup. // 10

Impression: I play many different types of music ranging from Rage Against the Machine to Green Day. I don't really play in covers that implement this pedal but I like using it when making my own material. If it was stolen or lost I'd try to replace it as soon as possible. // 9

overall: 9.5

Reviewed by: Guitar Skater, on january 22, 2005

Price paid: $ 79.99

Purchased from: Toms River Music

Ease of Use: This pedal is exteremely saimple to use. It didn't take me long to find a setting I like, it has 3 knobs so its realitivly easy. The manual came with 3 or 4 example settings and they are all real good settings from in my words you can get simple, slow, medium or fast style of tremolo effect. // 10

Sound: The list of my rig is: Fender Tom DeLonge Strat plugs into my Boss BCB60 pedal board that consists of the Boss Tremolo. Octave, Flanger, Phaser, Chorus and MXR 6 band EQ. The Tr-2 sounds amazing on the fast setting with distortion and on all settings really like clean, boost ect. What I really loved about this pedal is when I use it with the octave, flange, phase ect. it doesn't kill the sound, it plays nice with the other kids. Well I figured out with this pedal you can play Green Day's Boulevard Of Broken Dreams, Blink 182 Here's Your Letter intro and seriously one of the Kill Bill themes. // 8

Reliability & Durability: This pedal is extremely reliable. I just got it last night so it hasn't been used a whole lot, it's one of my favorite pedals on my board I love the sound quality. I don't think I'd need a backup because it (with all my pedals). Is in my pedal board that powers all the pedals and stuff. // 10

Impression: I write some of my own songs really like rock and old school punk. But mainly straight forward rock. I got this pedal because I was looking for something new that I haven't used before and the tremolo is a real cool sound. I play alot of Blink 182, 311, Cky, Green Day, Casualties and stuff. This pedal doesn't need to be used with those bands except as I mentioned before. I tried this product before I bought it so I knew what I was getting and it was Boss and their my all time favorite problem so I'm not worried about it breaking I really don't hate anything aboiut it, it's real simple and thats not a bad thing. // 10

overall: 9.8

Reviewed by: cjb2293, on july 10, 2008

Price paid: $ 100

Purchased from: Guitar Center

Ease of Use: This pedal is fantastic! With the three knobs (rate, depth, and wave) you can get any type of tremolo you would ever need to! You can get that deep, choppy style of tremolo to the mellow, smooth tremolo. The manual that comes with it is also easy to use and explains the pedal thoroughly. // 10

Sound: I run the TR-2 Tremolo pedal through a Marshall MG100HDFX and use a metal muff distortion, Boss TU-2 tuning, and Crybaby Slash wah pedals and it doesn't affect the sound of any of them. It doesn't produce any humming or extra noise on any of the settings, and the effects all sound great (except for the less choppy wave, that sounds slight week if the depth isn't turned up). The main reason I bought this pedal was to use it to play Breaking Benjamins hit song Polyamorous and it sounds exactly like the song! // 9

Reliability & Durability: This is a very dependable pedal. I have it strapped to my Pedaltrain Pedalboard, and through all of the abuse I've put it through so far, it holds up like steel. This is clearly the only tremolo pedal you will ever need. While you are jumping around on stage, you can be promised that this pedal won't let you down. // 10

Impression: For over 2 years now I've been playing metal, rock, and the occasional blues music. This pedal does a great job at covering artists like Breaking Benjamin, Green Day, etc. I would recommend this pedal to everyone, especially blues players. If I somehow Busted the thing (very unlikely) I would have to get 100 more dollars just to re-buy this pedal. // 10

overall: 8.3

Reviewed by: guitar999111, on december 04, 2007

Price paid: $ 70

Purchased from: eBay

Ease of Use: It only has three knobs so it's pretty easy to get a good sound out of. There is rate (speed) depth (volume) and wave (jagged to soft). I thought it had been broken for about 3 months but the other day I tried it and it worked fine. I had tried batteries and an adapter but I just found out the adapter was broken and I'm guessing the batteries were dead but. The manual has a few presets but they are pretty simple to find out on your own. My only complaint is about the sound. // 9

Sound: I'm using a Gibson SG > Crybaby GCB-95 > Morley Little Alligator > TR-2 > Fender Princeton 112 Plus. There is no extra noise on it no matter what you set it to. It seems like a true-bypass circut but I'm not sure. However my one complaint is that when turned on, the volume, even when it's on the "high point" of the volume, is way lower than what it is without it on. I've tried moving it and it doesn't make a difference. // 6

Reliability & Durability: Two words: It's Boss. I've known people that have Boss gear from the late '70s-'80s and they work. I've had it about a year and it's held up great. I would use it on a gig without a backup easily because these things are built to withstand stuff that a cockroach gets killed from. // 10

Impression: I play heavy metal and mostly got it for BLS "Bridge To Cross". I've been playing for a while now and have compared this to a DigiTech MultiFX pedal I borrowed from a friend and this blows it away. I hate the volume drop when it shouldn't drop the volume but oh well. If it was stolen I'd get pissed because they stole it but I probably wouldn't buy a new one. // 8

overall: 9.5

Reviewed by: mrpotter, on january 05, 2008

Price paid: $ 99.99

Purchased from: Guitar Center

Ease of Use: This is a very easy product to use. It's very easy to get the sound you want. You can go from some Buffalo Springfield's "Stop, Hey, What's That Sound" to some Audioslave's "Like A Stone" with the turn of a couple knobs. It has a depth knob, which determines how dramatic the tremolo will be, a wave frequency knob, which allows you to choose anywhere between a curved vibe or a stop and go vibe. Then you have a rate knob which lets you choose how fast it goes. // 10

Sound: My setup is pretty simple. Goes from my 1981 Fender Bullet, to my Slash Crybaby wah, to my Marshall Jackhammer, to it, to a Crate Amp. There is no noise that I've noticed and the effects are always clear. My band enjoys doing some Audioslave, and any really Tom Morello impression that we jam to. // 10

Reliability & Durability: Durability I'm not so sure of. Even though it's housed in metal, it seem weak from what I've felt on it. But, then again I really don't know because I don't make it a habbit of dropping my equipment. And I'd probably not keep a backup, because if it dose break, it's not something I couldn't go on with. // 8

Impression: My style of music is weird. It's emo/alternative/blues/metal all wrapped in a big tortilla shell. So for us getting our own sound, this was a great pedal for me to get. I've been playing for 3 years now and I own a Slash Crybaby Wah, my pride and joy there, The Boss TR-2, Marshall Jackhammer distortion pedal, a Crate amp, an old '50s Montgomery Ward 45W amp, and a Shechter Diamond Series, and the best for last, my 1981 Fender Bullet. If this pedal was stolen, I'd beat up whoever took it. Bt on the off chance that I don't find the guy, I'd def. buy one. It's a great peice of equipment. What I love about it is that it's easy to use, but has alotof variety. The bad thing is that it dosen't have numbers to know where you are on the knobs. You just have to feel it out a little. My fav feature is the stop and start feature. Kinda like a killswitch. So yea if you're considering this pedal get it asap! // 10

Comments

[hippieboy444]

okay.. this sounds cool. might get one

[copet]

I don't imagine myself ever investing in a tremolo pedal, the effect just seems to be scantly used, and I generally don't like how it sounds. Can anyone name some popular songs that use it?

[the_maestro]

copet wrote:

the effect just seems to be scantly used, and I generally don't like how it sounds. Can anyone name some popular songs that use it?

so because other people don't use it, you shouldn't?

I bought one and its a lot of fun to mess with and with a light tremolo a clean part sounds really good

[DiveRightIn63]

"Take Me Back" by Story of the Year, "Anthem of our Dying Day" by Story of the Year barely uses it, and "Polyamorous" by Breaking Benjamin uses it.

[VetteHeadV8]

The most well-known modern example is "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" by Green Day, but I also use mine for the intro to "Polyamorous" by Breaking Benjamin and "Broken Home" by Papa Roach

[iTzMaTT]

Instead of purchasing this pedal you could get an amplifier, preferably the Spider III series, which have various effects such as a Tremolo Sweep (this pedal effect). Now with that you can simply purchase a channel switcher which is under 50$ CDN and there you go!
Although it depends if you like Line 6 Spiders and if you already have a good amplifier.

[Bansaw]

guerrilla radio too. even tho i play bass i use a metal zone and tremolo to play the intro. its fun.

[SweetFancyMoses]

Tremolo pedals are the balls. Poison the Well and mewithoutYou have both used them to great effect. When its subtle its awesome and the extreme settings can be pretty useful. Boss makes a pretty good tremolo but it does drop on the volume. To get one that doesn't reduce the volume you kinda have to go boutique and thereby expensive.

[Two-headedboy]

soon as i turn it on i just like to play arpeggio's. it's so 50's-modern-awsome

[mudchair]

iTzMaTT wrote:

Instead of purchasing this pedal you could get an amplifier, preferably the Spider III series, which have various effects such as a Tremolo Sweep (this pedal effect). Now with that you can simply purchase a channel switcher which is under 50$ CDN and there you go!
Although it depends if you like Line 6 Spiders and if you already have a good amplifier.

Dear god.

[muso_ chris]

mudchair wrote:

iTzMaTT wrote:

Instead of purchasing this pedal you could get an amplifier, preferably the Spider III series, which have various effects such as a Tremolo Sweep (this pedal effect). Now with that you can simply purchase a channel switcher which is under 50$ CDN and there you go!
Although it depends if you like Line 6 Spiders and if you already have a good amplifier.


Dear god.

hahahahahahahaha

[f1sk]

hmm, havning a rough time deciding between this and the EHX pulsar

[qotsa1998]

copet wrote:

the effect just seems to be scantly used, and I generally don't like how it sounds. Can anyone name some popular songs that use it?

The solo in The Strokes' song Juicebox uses it, as well as in the intro a little. The Smith's song How Soon is Now, altho it is an 80's song, makes excellent use of this throughout the song. If the volume didnt drop with it on, i would get one of these after my delay. I guess ill go with the EHX, depending on the price.

[~Shred Hero~]

Line 6 Spiders

Tisk tisk.

[Anson93]

~Shred Hero~ wrote:

Line 6 Spiders

Tisk tisk.

about 5% of guitarists (including a ranger friend of mine) love them and the rest despise them.

[guitar masterx1]

can u turn off the effect after ur done with something like an intro really easyly?