Strymon Flint Harmonic Tremolo

Verne Bunsen

Hero Member
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I recently put a Strymon Flint on my board and, I'll spare you the suspense, it's pretty flippin' sweet. My dad asked me about the Harmonic Tremolo on it, specifically how I thought it compared to the Catalinbread Pareidolia, which he used to own and liked quite a lot. So, for purposes of demonstration and comparison, I did this. And I was pretty satisfied with how it turned out, so I thought I'd share!

The standard by which I judge all things harmonic tremolo is without a doubt Carl Verheyen's beautiful demonstration of a 1961 Fender Brownface TwinAmp, as seen here:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rnva4acvQsw[/youtube]

And since the Catalinbread Pareidolia is the other data point, here is Howard Gee re-creating that demonstration with the Catalinbread pedal:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26WaBqKpxzA[/youtube]

And here (audio only, my mug is not suitable for video formats) is my rendition using the Strymon Flint.

[soundcloud]https://soundcloud.com/vb-tunes/strymon-flint-harmonic-tremolo[/soundcloud]

The Flint is in an FX Loop in my Helix, after the amp which is the Helix model of a Fender Deluxe Reverb. I’m playing my Nashville Tele with Revel Steel Pole Tele Mojo pickups, in the bridge pickup in keeping with Carl’s performance. I'm no Carl, nor am I a Howard, but I hope that I've done the pedal and the tune some justice here. (I mildly biffed the last chord, but it was otherwise my best take so I had to go with it....) I think it sounds great!
 
The Flint has been a dream come true for me. Proper spring reverb and tremolo tone has been a bit of a tone quest for me since taking the plunge to modeling with Helix, I think I’m finally there! While it isn’t what’s demonstrated here (this is harmonic trem into plate reverb), the Flint spring reverb into the tube trem nails what I have missed about my Fender combos. I am whole!
 
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