Analogue tremolo meets gritty gain in Mattoverse Electronics' TremStortion

Mattoverse Electronics has performed a neat trick in guitar effects mixology by blending a potent drive circuit with a complex analogue tremolo for a most intriguing boutique stompbox. 

The TremStortion has a regular sized enclosure and a super-simple setup that will be familiar to anyone who has used either effect. 

There are five knobs, the top two control the Rate and Depth of the tremolo, the bottom two Output and Gain, while the red rotary control in the centre selects from eight waveforms so you can shape the tremolo just how you like it.

There is also a three-way toggle switch for positioning the tremelo pre- or post-gain, while the middle position looks like a fun "inverted" position for a more experimental option. After all, you don't by a tremolo-distortion hybrid to play it safe. 

A by-pass footswitch turns the effect on and off while a tap-tempo footswitch allows you to override the Rate control and set the tremolo tempo mid-song. The accompanying LED will flash in time to let you know what's going on with the tempo.

Mattoverse says that the TremStortion can be run super-clean or fully distorted. The eight wave forms include: "amp up, ramp down, square, triangle, sine, sweep, random pulse, and random slopes". 

What else? It takes 9VDC to power the unit and is true bypass.

The price is $179 direct from the Mattoverse webstore or alternatively you can visit their store at Reverb.com where it is listed at the UK price of £149.97 plus shipping.

Jonathan Horsley

Jonathan Horsley has been writing about guitars and guitar culture since 2005, playing them since 1990, and regularly contributes to MusicRadar, Total Guitar and Guitar World. He uses Jazz III nylon picks, 10s during the week, 9s at the weekend, and shamefully still struggles with rhythm figure one of Van Halen’s Panama.

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