“Tremolo and reverb have been paired together for decades because they do something simple and musical”: Source Audio’s Pathways is a state-of-the-art reverb and tremolo pedal for vintage enthusiasts and modern tone-seekers alike

The combination of reverb and tremolo is nothing new. It was popularised by the runaway success of Fender amps in the early ‘60s.

But Source Audio is betting that players will find something new in the combination once they plug in its new Pathways reverb and tremolo pedal.

This presents the classic sounds as we have heard them before. For those with an ear for vintage electric guitar tones, who might have longed to have owned a Vibroverb in perfect working order, this could be the amp-like secret sauce they have been waiting for, the splash of spring reverb with the heady throb of tremolo.

But then with seven different reverb engines – including one that’s described as “reverb echo” and takes inspiration from analogue and BBD-driven delay pedals – plus a trio of tremolo modes, there is a great plain of tone to explore.

Source Audio says it has taken the reverb/tremolo idea and run with it, promising a “wider range of textures, moving from tight, immediate sounds to expansive ambience”. It is a compact, pedalboard-friendly stompbox for “vintage tones, always-on essentials, and modern soundscapes”.

This being a Source Audio build, we’ve got full stereo operation, MIDI connectivity, and you can save 128 presets all accessible from the pedal or via MIDI.

Deep edits can be performed via the Neuro 3 app. Hook it up to your laptop via USB-C and you’re good to go – that also goes for accessing the presets library that other guitarists, including Source Audio artists, have created.

Players can also avail themselves of an external expression pedal, using it to ramp up the rate of the tremolo, or perhaps increase the size of the reverb, making Pathways a powerful performance tool. It’s pretty cool, and it has a cactus on the enclosure.

Pathways Reverb & Tremolo: Official Source Audio Demo - YouTube

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The sounds run the gamut from the quotidian to the flat-out exotic. The aforementioned Echo Reverb is not something you find on every reverb pedal, even the digital ones. It can be used for thickening your tone – ideal for wiry single-coil tones – or when you need something with a bit more physicality than a plain old reverb, and has a maximum delay time of 288ms.

The familiar reverbs, well, you know how they’ll sound; there’s Spring, Tank and Plate, and Hall as well, because every player needs the big room style of reverb at one time or another. There is Room reverb too, because every player needs that, and Slap Reverb, a “short, percussive echo” inspired by slapback tape delay.

As for your tremolo, you have Optical, Bias and Harmonic. Together? Well, this sounds nice. It ain’t cheap at £/$349. But Source Audio does not do things by haves. Head over to Source Audio for more details.