From our North American vintage point, Australia almost feels like a separate world as far as pedal releases are concerned – and we are sure that pedal builders based in Oceania wish they were just a little closer to us. Luckily, Melbourne-based YouTuber Brett Kingman keeps us up to date with the latest releases from that part of the world, and the Colortone RoundHouse looks particularly intriguing.
This is a very tweakable 3-mode modulation pedal with a preamp and a spring reverb (voiced after the Silverface amp’s one) that does Harmonic Tremolo, Optical Tremolo, and Uni-Vibe. These effects can be blended in with the clean signal to taste using the Mix knob.
A Wave toggle allows assigning the LFO waveform to sine, square and triangle oscillation patterns. The shape of the LFO can be further changed through the Phase knob, which changes the peak of the wave either towards the beginning or end of the cycle, creating a more pulsating effect.
The preamp section is controlled via the Grain knob, which adds tubelike pre-saturation to the effect, and the smaller Cut/Boost knob, which adjusts the output level by +/- 4db.
The Tap Tempo footswitch has a secondary function that, when held, activates a momentary Speed multiplier which ramps the speed up to a multiple of the current setting.
Check out the videos, below.
Colortone RoundHouse, Builder’s Notes
RoundHouse is Colortones luscious multi mode tremolo pedal featuring three modulation modes.
- Optical Tremolo
- Harmonic Tremolo
- Vibe
The Reverb and Saturation (Grain) controls at the input of the circuit can be dialed in to excite the pulse and sustain of the effect.
Additional controls include: – Mode – Speed – Depth – Boost – Reverb – Grain – Phase – Waveshape Select – Momentary Speed Multiply and tap tempo.
CONTROLS
MODULATION MODE SWITCH
Selects between:
- Optical Tremolo
- Harmonic Tremolo (Magnatone style Harmonic Tremolo)
- Vibe
WAVE SHAPE SWITCH
Select between Triangle, Sine and Square Wave. (Square is not selectable in Vibe mode)
SPEED
Adjust Speed of the modulation
MIX
Adjust the Mix / Depth of the effect with the Dry signal
REVERB
The Reverb knob controls the intensity/mix of reverb added to the input feeding the modulation circuit. It is a classic Silverface amp style reverb with a static decay time.
GRAIN
Increasing the Grain amount adds an analog tubelike pre-saturation to the effect. At max it boosts/compresses the level slightly adding a soft overdrive.
PHASE
Adjusting the Phase knob from its center position will change the duration of the ‘on time’ either towards the beginning or end of the wave cycle resulting in the modulation ‘pulse’ feeling more asymetrical or staccato.
BOOST
Add or Cut the output Level by +- 4db
TAP
Manually set Tempo with by Tapping the Footswitch. Set to 1:1 Tempo.
A sustained hold on the Tap switch activates the Speed multiplier which, while depressed, ramps the speed up to a multiple of the current setting. At slower modulation speeds the ramp time is relatively slow, emulating a mechanical rotary speaker changing speed.
BYPASS
Activates Relay Based Soft Touch True Bypass
