Members steverags Posted May 22, 2006 Members Share Posted May 22, 2006 Ok, I'm on the market for one now, and I'm not looking at the crappy Line 6. From what I've found, there is a tap tremolo made by Emperess and Cusack (Tap-a-Whirl). They are both in the same price range. The Emperess looks cooler (not that I really care), and is slightly smaller, but the Cusack seems to have a cool brake function that speeds up or slows down the speed when you hold down the tap switch. They both look nice and have similar features, but I'm not sure which one to go for. Has anyone out there tried both of these? Or either one? Any feedback would be appreciated! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ZJD Posted May 22, 2006 Members Share Posted May 22, 2006 I like my Tap-A-Whirl, never tried the empresseffects Trem though, but I figured I was done with trying to find the right Trem after I got the TAW...OTOH, I don't think you 'd regret buying either or both. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mattc41 Posted May 22, 2006 Members Share Posted May 22, 2006 i have no experience with the empress trem, but I have the TAW. I love it, the brake function is very cool, i use it alot. im definitely not looking for another trem pedal. the TAW does what i want, and then some, and sounds great. you'll probably be happy either way though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members FastGoKart Posted May 23, 2006 Members Share Posted May 23, 2006 Just got the Empress....it rocks hard. The tube mode is superb! Very nice pedal and options galore. The dude at Empress is super cool and even did some custom mods for me on the tap tempo so I could control it from within my rack. Class act all the way! Do biz with this guy....we need more guys like him building sweet stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mistersuperfly Posted May 23, 2006 Members Share Posted May 23, 2006 I got my empress on saturday, I love it. As far as tone quality goes it sounds amazing, I haven't even scratched the surface on some of the options available. Of course the tap tempo is awesome, but my favorite feature is the rhythm function. It allows the tremolo to accent a certain note in the series.... either the 2nd, 3rd, 4th etc... I'm glad I got mine, it's #35 and I know this pedal will be around for a while. (I also jumped in when it was 199$ CAD instead of 249$!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members PFDarkside Posted May 23, 2006 Members Share Posted May 23, 2006 I love the rate:ratio dial on the Empress, can the Cusak do that? What can the Empress do that a Cusak-modded Seek-Trem can't? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mickaroony Posted May 23, 2006 Members Share Posted May 23, 2006 The only thing I don't like about the empress trem is the colour Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members CallMeBlind Posted May 23, 2006 Members Share Posted May 23, 2006 Just curious if any of those tremolos have got a led for a tap tempo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members whowasthursday Posted May 23, 2006 Members Share Posted May 23, 2006 Hey, the empress can do an effect like the brake too. With a couple of taps, you can set a "fast" speed and a "slow" speed, and then when you tap it will ramp up/down between the two. The empress definitely seems to be like the most versatile trem to date. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mistersuperfly Posted May 23, 2006 Members Share Posted May 23, 2006 Originally posted by CallMeBlind Just curious if any of those tremolos have got a led for a tap tempo. No... I kinda would have liked it to, my one gripe (and I mean ONE gripe). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members CallMeBlind Posted May 24, 2006 Members Share Posted May 24, 2006 I think we've got another tap tremolo here. Fullton Supa-Trem. and i can see extra LED right next to the speed switch. Any opinions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members varialbender Posted May 24, 2006 Members Share Posted May 24, 2006 Fulltone Supa-Trem doesn't have tap. You set the speed on a knob, then press the button to double/halve the speed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BmoreTele Posted May 24, 2006 Members Share Posted May 24, 2006 The Cusack TAW LED does blink at the rate of the tremolo, even when the pedal is off. As far as differences The TAW ramp rate is adjustable. The Empress ramp rate is preset. The Empress has an external gain control, the TAW has an internal gain trimmer. The TAW has a fade in option. The Empress does not. The Empress has square, triangle, and tube ("asymmetric") wave forms. The TAW has square (3 variations), sine, and ramp (asymmetric) wave forms. The Empress has eight "rhythms" - normal plus seven others. The TAW has eight presets - it appears that five of them match up to five of the seven that the Empress has. What I love about the Cusack - it sounds great, the footswitches are silent and work every time, the tap tempo only needs two taps, the rhythms are musical, and as complex as it is - it's simple to use. The Empress looks quite cool as well. If I didn't already have the Cusack I would have been tempted to get the Empress. Hell, I was tempted. Still am. GAS is a powerful thing. But seriously, the extra couple rhythm patterns aren't worth $249 to me, even in Canadian money. Edit - the Cusack is the only fully analog tap tempo tremolo out there. The Empress uses digital controls of an analog circuit - I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jonny guitar Posted May 24, 2006 Members Share Posted May 24, 2006 Originally posted by BmoreTele As far as differences................ Thanks...I found that very helpful. :wave: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members endo23 Posted May 24, 2006 Members Share Posted May 24, 2006 Wow, one of the most informative posts I've read in a while. If I ever buy another trem, it'll be the Cusack! Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BmoreTele Posted May 24, 2006 Members Share Posted May 24, 2006 The option on the Empress that I didn't mention was the rate/ratio control - You can set the tap tempo to respond in three different ratios to your tap input - 1:1, 1:2, 1;4 - that lets you set some damn quick rates even if you're not that quick with your toes - the Empress uses multiples of what you tap to set the rate. The Cusack doubles the tap on the first five waveforms - sine, ramp, three sqaure waveforms and does a one to one ratio on the last three - waver, echo, ping pong. Equally cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ZJD Posted May 24, 2006 Members Share Posted May 24, 2006 BmoreTele you the mang! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members cusackmusic Posted May 26, 2006 Members Share Posted May 26, 2006 I've had several requests for the ratio setting on the Tap-A-Whirl, and will be adding something for that to the Tap-A-Phase. (I am modding a Tap-A-Whirl right now to add that for a customer in Finland.) I will add that to the next revision of the Tap-A-Whirl as well. Are there any other suggestions as to what else should be adjustable? Also, to set the record straight, the Tap-A-Whirl is a digital circuit controlling an analog signal path. The Audio never sees Digital, but it is controlled by it. By doing this, it allows me to control many features. I had many ideas of what to allow the user to adjust, but wanted only three knobs, so I had to cut a few out. If I get a majority opinion of features to add, I can get those into future designs. Speaking of which, I am finishing the design of the Tap-A-Phase today, so I can have boards here by next weekend (Tonefest!), so if anybody has any ideas, speak now or forever hold your peace! Jon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members varialbender Posted May 26, 2006 Members Share Posted May 26, 2006 JC, you should include a handful of trim pots so that you can get your own general phase sound and deal with your usual outside. That'd make your pedal very usable in many settings, so that the tone junkies could, say, dial in a bit more feedback, and keep their setting that way, but use all the important rate stuff live. I guess that's pretty common to do, as you'll probably want to trim a couple things anyway, like the mix,, but the more the merrier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members cusackmusic Posted May 26, 2006 Members Share Posted May 26, 2006 One thing I noticed is that most have either a mix or a depth. It appears that having both only gives you a little more tweakability. One thing for sure I'm adding is a "Color" pot (External). This will change the center point of the filter, in case you want it more on the high end, or bass end. I also plan on having a Vibe/Phase switch, that will disconnect the summing junction. I thought about keeping mix for this, but if you want vibe, would you really want to be able to mix between vibe and phase? That does basically the same thing as Depth. Anyway, thanks for the feedback. I will still have the Waveform switch, Depth, and Color external. Volume will be internal, possibly feeback internal. It seems that high feedback and low depth is similar to low feedback and high depth, so I'm not sure what I'm going to do there. There are differences between the two, so maybe I'll keep them both. It seems to me the less tweakable the pedal, the more usable it is. I'm trying to find the best settings, and allow changes from there. With alot of knobs, you can run into a bunch of settings that don't work together, and it makes it more difficult to find a setting that you like. I'm trying to limit the knobs/trimmers to ones that are usable together. Jon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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