Name:Fela
Date:11/18/2008
Build Report:Hi. This is a great sounding tremolo, easy to build and with no strange components.
The 5 degree rate pot fix is a MUST (http://users.pandora.be/orangefg/pulsar_pcb_fix.gif).
It will give you much more depth, and will probably solve the "heartbeat" problem.
Great Great Great

Name:miles
Date:10/7/2008
Build Report:I build it within a day! and it sound nice.. i change the rate pot to linear and it works just fine.. The only down side of this pedal is the heartbeat pulse that you hear when your not playing, and it even make it worst in the chop mode, I hope somebody knows how to fix it! aside from that, it's a nice pedal! try and built one ^_^

Name:Widelec
Date:7/8/2008
Build Report:This is my sixth project from Tonepad. Extremely easy to build - worked at first try.
The only modifications I've done were replacement of OPamp (TL082 instead of TL072)
and BC548 instead of 2N5088.
Thanks Tonepad a lot!

Name:Nathan
Date:5/31/2008
Build Report:I built this for when I am practising with my headphone amp (can't really play a twin reverb in the apartment...). I am really impressed with the sound I can get.

I made a few modifications if anyone is interested. First I used a higher quality single op-amp (NE5534IP), this I find makes an audible difference, it sounds better than TL0xx and has better noise performance. I did not have 0.47uF for C8 and C9, I substituted 0.22uF radial (not so sure if film or multiple dielectric, I got them at a surplus store...looks like a teal colored blob). These caps sound really good but cut down on the range of rate I could get so I increased the 1k1 resistor to even it out. I added an extra switch so the 1k1 can be 10k or 33k, the former giving really high rate and the latter a lower rate. If you do not like the range of rate you are getting I suggest playing with the 1k1 resistor (higher = slower). For the chop switch I used the 0.22uF cap again and I found a 0.047uF green film cap sounded pretty good for the smooth setting.

Look at the layout for the wiring of the rate pot if you want clockwise turns to give the faster rate.

Thank you so much for a great site. This pedal is really fun.

Name:William Fernandes
Date:4/29/2008
Build Report:Great schematic!

There's no kind of trouble on building this pedal!
Good sound, easy to make.

The only mods i've made were replace the 2n3055 by bc548c (i selected those eith the highest hfe)

Name:alex
Date:3/20/2008
Build Report:i just build it! no errors! grate schematic and pcb very easy... tremolo sounds very good!thanks

Name:Tomas
Date:3/15/2008
Build Report:Great schematic, great effect, I just love it. This one is probably the best tremolo pedal so far.. The only thing I was not able to make it work, I had the PDF layout which was wrong. Two pins were connected in a wrong way, but that did not make any problems, I corrected it and is working awsome! As I see this newer layout is OK. Thanks

Name:Aaron
Date:1/17/2008
Build Report:This was my second build and it went really well. Etched my own PCB and soldered it up over a couple of days.

I put the TL072 in the wrong way, and burnt it up the first time I applied power. it took me a few minutes to figure out what was wrong, but once I replaced the burnt one with a new one (inserted correctly this time) it worked like a charm!

I also used a 10K linear pot for the rate pot and it works really well (thanks Russ for that tip!).

I highly recommend this pedal, it's simple to build, and works well.

Has a little noise when set to helicopter mode and the depth is cranked, but when you're playing it's not really noticeable.

Name:Minh
Date:1/16/2008
Build Report:I've finished last week. It's my
second module diy pedal after phase45. I use 2n3904 for transistor.Thanks to tonepad !!!

Name:Franco Zaccra
Date:7/28/2007
Build Report:Hola! vivo en Argentina y este tremolo me encanta! Pude resolver el problema del "pop":

http://www.plexilandia.cl/foro/viewtopic.php?p=45668#45668

Name:Mathieu Gauthier
Date:6/26/2007
Build Report:My first successful build (I blew up a tranny yesterday trying to build the fuzz face), took me 3-4 hours to assemble to whole thing.

I used Xicon film capacitors from mouser for unpolarized caps (these .47uF are HUGE!). I used exact resistor values everwhere.

It is a very nice tremolo, the rate pot is a little difficult to ajust towards the end, i might try that last 5 degree fix thing. The triangle/square wave switch is nice, the effect is hard to notice in clean mode, but with some distortion, you can clearly hear the sound chopping, very nice.

If you have a noisy setup, you might hear pulses in your amp, some kind of "heartbeat" sound, which i guess is normal since the tremolo is applied to the noise.

All in all, smooth build, great tremolo, thanks tonepad!

Name:Max Mejia
Date:6/13/2007
Build Report:Hi, I built this pedal on perfboard and it took a lot planning. I used common resistors values i.e used 33k for all 30k,27k,33k and some caps in parallel to give the sum of the .47 caps because I didn't have any on hand. The pedal did not run at first but after some troubleshooting I found out that the parts store had sent me a grong resistor (2.2m) they sent me 2.2k, that is a hughe difference, this is the bias resistor for Q2 transistor. I found out that without the 2.2m resistor the rate will not work. I am very pleased with the sound of this pedal specially the triangle mode it is too cool, I did not get any clicking and grounded the input when in bypass to get rid of any noise. I had same problem everyone is talking about: the rate pot, I found out that leaving it reversed give the best feel so I left it like that. If you leave it clockwise it will let you use only the last 10 degrees. I think that a 100kC (reverse log) will make it more usable. IT IS WAY COOL and I DID IT MYSELF this is my 3rd tonepad pedal and my 20th using pefboard. AWESOME!!!! Exellent for intermediate to advanced Electronics techs.

Name:Nino
Date:5/11/2007
Build Report:Just finished my project and I like this pedal, although I do not like the awful side effect this pedal makes. When I use this in front of my amp, I have no problems except in higher volumes. But in the effects loop it makes horrible pulse sound when oy don't play. Also the switch pops a little bit when I turn the pedal on but that's the switch that makes it. I've checked my grounding and all ok. If someone knows how to fix the pulse, it would be great. Anyway, a great clone from Tonepad!

Name:Geert J.
Date:4/22/2007
Build Report:The pcb fix of Pekka (fixes the rate pot) is still available here:
http://users.pandora.be/orangefg/pulsar_pcb_fix.gif

Name:Paul
Date:2/18/2007
Build Report:A nice cheap trem, I would recommend building the other trem on this site. It cost's a bit more but the features are worth it

Name:morgen
Date:7/28/2006
Build Report:great effect! no problems with the build or components.
couldnt get any 2n5088 over here (israel) so i used bc549b instead (different pinout so pay attention)and linear pots instead of logarythmic ones. besides that, the effect sounds very good. i will be happy to send sound samples or pics if anyone is interested.
thanx tonepad!

Name:Ravi Both
Date:7/1/2006
Build Report:This is my second working pedal, and worked the first time I tested it. Boxing it certainly helped the extra noise it can produce(ticking). The ticking only gets annoying when the depth gets high. The rate fix worked quite well, so thanks for sharing that with us. The chop mode doesn't sound very nice, that's where the ticking is quite annoying. Apart from those negative things, this pedal sounds very nice, thanks tonepad!

Name:Mark M.
Date:5/26/2006
Build Report:Pretty interesting circuit. Fired up right away and works fine with no noise at all.
Thanks TonePad for another fantastic build!!

Name:Thor
Date:1/7/2006
Build Report:great pedal. built it on perfboard and stuck it in a thrift shop metal case.. for just a few bucks, what a great deal.
This can go from very subtle to very extreme, depending on depth and chop settings. Running a fuzz like a mosrite fuzzrite through this sounds really great!

Name:Russ Goudie
Date:8/12/2005
Build Report:This is an add-on to my previous report. This pedal is good in normal mode but after building the board and installing into the box there a very loud and annoying clicking sound when in chop mode. I will move onto the Tremulus Lune now.

Name:Pekka
Date:8/9/2005
Build Report:Found an error in the layout. The fix looks like this: http://www.kotipolttoinen.com/sisalto/kitara/pulsar/kuvat/pulsar_pcb_fix.gif

This fixes the "last five degrees" problem with the rate pot.

Name:Russ Goudie
Date:8/8/2005
Build Report:Great Pedal, has a very nice sound (you can hear the oscillator at high volumes, but not significant). I used 10k linear for the rate pot which makes most of the range usable instead of the last 10 degrees as with the 100k log pot.

Name:Chris Howard
Date:7/11/2005
Build Report:This is a very nice tremolo. I built the Tremulus Lune (which is AWESOME!!!) but this pedal offers a much subtler tremolo with the added bonus of the quirky chop. It reminds me of a reverse reverb in some ways. Used TL082 because that was handy. I've also got the annoying ticking sound, even in bypass mode with full bypass. I'll have to tweak with it to find a solution but it sounds from the other build reports like no one else knows what this is about either. Good pedal all the same.

Name:Robeast
Date:6/10/2005
Build Report:Wow. Another great layout tonepad! I like it very much. The Best tremolo I've ever made. But I think 100k Lin. for Rate pot. would work better.

Name:slow diver
Date:4/27/2005
Build Report:anyone knows a way to fix the problem with the rate knob.
like said before, the really useful range of the rate knob is in the last 10 degrees.
it would be very nice if anyone who solved the problem could help me...
finally, this is a very fine pedal. i recommend it.
tonepad rocks

Name:Tom Marschal from Berlin
Date:2/24/2005
Build Report:Here's another thing I found out. The thing is much quieter if you run it with a regulated power supply at 4.5 to 6 V. Yippieh!

Name:Pekka
Date:10/19/2004
Build Report:Nice little gadget. I really like the chopping effect. Speed is a bit tricky to set because the usefull speed range is in the last 5 degrees (or so) of the turn. But adding a resies resistor of about 20k's might help?

Name:Felipe
Date:10/12/2004
Build Report:Felipe, Brazil.
Really nice build! It's my first modulation pedal that I built sucesfully. It didn't worked at the first time, as I expected, there was a short circuit. Press n' Peel isn't very easy to find here, so I do all my PCBs in hand, and this time I had to do it twice. The only problem is the small noise it does when you are not playing, specially when the chop is on. I had to use slightly different values on some components to make it, since I didn't had them and couldn't be bothered to look after, like: 220k resistors instead of 200k, 33k instead of 30k, and I think there as something else, but the bigger change is the chop cap. I used a 0.01uF instead of the 0.022uF listed. Sounded good.

Name:Hammer
Date:9/7/2004
Build Report:Very cool project !!!! (it's my number 25). All the original components easy to buy even in Argentina (my country). I build the PCB printing the sheet in a laser printer and then transferring
this one embedding the paper with thinner, very amazing results, but sometimes problems appears (not this time), because press'n peel is too expensive here. Great sound and absolutely noiseless. I used a DPDT as chop switch, adding a green led conected at the free pins to indicate their activation.
Nice work, Tonepad ....and thank you again !!!!

Name:Tom from Berlin
Date:8/2/2004
Build Report:Great effect. Built it, worked immediately. As this is an EH workalike, it has a certain weirdness to it. Rate is a bit tricky, as mentioned before, but okay... In order to prevent ticking in bypass mode, it's important to ground the effect input. You must know, there's more than one way to wire a DPDT switch for true bypass mode... Have a look at other schematics on the net which include DPDT wiring and You'll find out how to do it. Tonepad rules.

Name:Tim
Date:7/28/2004
Build Report:Well I got the effect working and it really is a cool tremelo sound. The only problem is when it is bypasses I can hear a ticking that is getting through. I don't understand how this is happening since I am using true bypass. Could it besomething in the ground? If anyone has any ideas please let me know.

Name:loki
Date:4/8/2004
Build Report:Great effect, noiseless, no pops, no nothing! just perfect! it was my first build ever, and i'm proud of it...
the rate pot is harsh as someone already pointed out... i try to substitute it with a linear pot but no change.
i was thinking about adding a led which pulses in synch with the pulsation, but i don't know where to connect it... any hint?

Name:Gringo
Date:11/21/2003
Build Report:I don't know how the original sound was, but i really like this one!! Great for clean sounds with subtle settings, i love the chop mode for distorted sounds (megadeth, slayer). When used in dist channel, the pop-pop is quite present when you are not playing, but you can trem-feedback like a maniac ;)

I'm using BC549c as usual (no 2n5088 around here) and a tl082. Tried a Ti RC4559, and i think it sounds a little bit better, as according to reports (4559 is very good for clean sounds, more headroom, yadda yadda...).

Tried a mod for reducing the pop consisten in replacing c3 with a 2.2uF, but just made it worse, some people say it has worked for them, but not for me...

Very silent build, thanks again Tonepad ;)

Name:Tommy
Date:11/6/2003
Build Report:After solving all my problems with BC309 I used instead of 2n5088(different pinouts) the effect began to sound really good. Speed pot is too much logaritmic with the original value of all the components but with a bit of patient you can obtain all the speed rates you need. Really cool project, build it!

Name:Violet
Date:11/3/2003
Build Report:Huh, I made this one :)
The parts are very close to each one so it was a bit tricky to put it all together... I got it worked right after i solder it - I was surprised, because I expected missing smth :)
So I got an expressive flashing tremolo. Not so bad.

Name:Matteo
Date:10/7/2003
Build Report:From Matteo, Italy.
Pulsar was my first home made effect but I had not big problems.
My Pulsar works good, only the speed pot is a bit brutal, I used first log pot and then linear pot but it's the same.
Anyway Pulsar pulse very well, and this is the most important thing. Chop mode is really helicopter mode and triangle mode give a cosmic tremolo that I love.
Thanks to tonepad.

Name:Geert J.
Date:9/19/2003
Build Report:The Pulsar sounds great and is virtually noiseless. Layout is great, pedal was assembled very quickly.
I did make a very stupid mistake. The transistors I used (BC550 I believe) as an alternative to the american 2n5088, apparently had a different pinout. I gave up looking after 4 hours or so. A friend of mine solved the problem.
Something to watch out for...


Name:mamo
Date:5/22/2003
Build Report:beautiful sound and really a great layout for this project.
I think it's one of the best stomp-box I have built 'till now.
thanks to tonepad !!

Name:Stu
Date:5/19/2003
Build Report:Nice sounding tremelo, tiny bit noisey (as I expect in just about any tremelo), did it on easy enough on a perfboard, tho i have been making pedals for a while. Sounds really sweet on my bass too :) Thanks for another great project Francisco and Matt.

Name:Alex C
Date:1/26/2003
Build Report:This was my second successful pedal (first was the Tweak-o from Small Bear) and the first I've put in a Hammond box. Since I'm pretty much a beginner, I had a lot of problems (electrolytic capacitors polarized incorrectly, bad layout inside the box- at one point I grew extremely frustrated at the thing for not working when the effect was switched on- then I realized I had wired the in/out on the wrong side of the box). So, all errors were my fault, or to blame it on something else, the fault of my inexperience. Finally got it working though, great sound! Very versatile with chop switch and very smooth sounding. There's a great feeling of accomplishment after making an fx pedal, and pride in a job well done. Tonepad rocks! After I finish writing this, I'm off to find my next tonepad project. Thanks!!

Name:Neil Oler
Date:12/10/2002
Build Report:Just finished building this little bugger to put in a Tele (more on that later I hope), and it works like a dream. I had a problem at first with the volume dropping to about half and a loud pulsing sound, but it turns out that I had one tiny little wire shorting the 9v to the out (so don't do that). Once I got that taken care of it, worked like a charm.

It's quiet (you can hear a SLIGHT pulsing sound, but that's with your half stack at 6 when it should only need to be at 3), it's really fun to play around with, and the depth knob is almost like a blend knob, you can get it to chop alot or to get a level signal paired with a chop. The hard/soft switch is subtle or strong, depending on the depth knob, but it's a setting that is really cool about this pedal. Definetly one of the cooler pedals I've heard, and worth the $50 to build it (I built mine for less, but I don't have it in a box). Thanks again guys!

Name:Marin
Date:10/24/2002
Build Report:Great tremolo pedal, although i havent heard many different units...i suppose its not natural sounding,its more weird and funny. both trem and chop mode are useful, depth control nice, but speed is the worse in this pedal. very non linear. I tried different pot settings with different rotation/resistance diagrams, but near linear speed change is something i cant achieve. I also have very annoying thicking heard when not playing, especially in chop mode. since no one complained i guess its only my problem. If somebody can help with this, please let me know.
My mods: R14-R15 25K log pot instead of combination; R10 500K log pot, R11 5.6K for greater depth range; R16 can be lowered up to ~680 ohm for up to 1000 bpm max speed. I used BC549C transistors.

Name:mike krueger
Date:9/27/2002
Build Report:really nice afternoon build, nice sound. i love the switch, give you a huge range of options. Great layout, great site!
m.

Name:JOHN WHITE
Date:9/13/2002
Build Report:This is definitely one of my favorite fx I built so far!!! Ran into a minor problema, but Matt at TONEPAD helped me out. Thanx, Matt!!! This sound kix a**!!!, if you ask me. A fun project to do. Now I´m off to another TONEPAD.COM project. P.S.- This fx is noiseless!!! An important feature!

Name:Joep Remkes
Date:7/7/2002
Build Report:This one worked right away. PCB is very good and easy to wire. The one thing is that I wired the Rate pot the other way around (funny result with a logarithmic pot). The effect is noiseless!!! The second good result (the Tube Screamer was first) and now I'm working on the orange squeezer.

The sound of this effect is really funny, listen to the mp3 and you know it.

Happy building,

Joep

Name:Dade,Italy
Date:5/15/2002
Build Report:Very nice effect with no problems in building it.Simple board layout and ez assembling deliver a good sound,making this effect one of my favourite and funny ones

Name:J Doughty
Date:4/12/2002
Build Report:Cool tremolo. I love mine. No problems in building it. Small PCB, nice and quiet. More of an effect-sounding tremolo, than a natural amp sounding one.

Name:A Colman
Date:3/25/2002
Build Report:Inmediately upon receiving my Email notice of the new post I set out to build it.Single day project and problem free.Used a TLO82 with no ill effects as expected.The sound takes while to get used to but quite pleasing to the ear.One thing I like about Tonepad is that the efx are noiseless!.Got to learn some surf tunes now for sure.Keep'em comming.
A Colman