A trip to Athens in 2020 kick-started a pedal collaboration between the British YouTube channel That Pedal Show and Greek stompbox artisans Jam Pedals. A monstrously geeky meeting between the two parts developed into the idea of a collaboration on a harmonic tremolo with a very peculiar character – which is now a thing, called Harmonious Monk.
The pedal can do both Harmonic and Amplitude tremolo, at the switch of a toggle – ere are more details about it:
- All-analog tremolo pedal with both amplitude and harmonic modes
- Master volume knob to enable you to go above and below unity volume
- Depth AND Mix controls so you can get the effect intensity sat perfectly in your tone
- Double-speed switch on the top panel
- Three-band EQ trimmers on the inside for the wet sound
In 2023, a second version of the circuit, named Mk2, added the following features:
- TAP tempo
- Ramp function: holding the TAP switch will ramp to a second speed, with configurable second speed and ramp speed.
- New Legacy mode expands on the mk.1’s functionality with x2 (double) or x1.5 (dotted eighth) speed multipliers.
- New LFO waveform added: Reverse Sawtooth
- CHOP (kill dry) function
- A new internal trimmer to adjust input gain control to make it compatible with any instrument.
- You can now specify the startup state of the mk.2, to ON or OFF upon receiving power.
We’ll let the YouTubers do the rest of the talking about the Jam Pedals Harmonious Monk Mk2, in the videos below. We kept the demos of Mk1 at the bottom.
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Harmonious Monk Mk1
Jam Pedals Harmonious Monk Mk2, Builder’s Notes
We are very excited to bring you the Harmonious Monk, That Pedal Show‘s and our joint take on the best harmonic tremolo to date!
Dan & Mick – Mick & Dan, the stage is yours!
Dan here, Mick here – hello!
We have a deep love for the harmonic tremolo’s unique modulation character: a little bit phase-y and a little bit pulsing. It can add a complete, enveloping texture over your whole guitar tone, or sit more subtly as a fantastic ‘widening’ effect either straight mono or in a wet/dry rig.
We wanted to address some of the issues we found in our other favourite examples of the effect and add a superb amplitude trem to boot; enter the Harmonious Monk, a collaboration between JAM pedals and That Pedal Show!
The Harmonious Monk uses all-analogue circuitry with two selectable LFOs providing varying levels of modulation intensity, available in both Harmonic and Amplitude modes: essentially four core sounds. We have included both depth and mix controls, so you can get it sat just right in your overall tone.
Subtle (-) setting in Amplitude mode offers a plethora of vintage-inspired tremolo tones with all the same adjustability as Harmonic mode. Intense (+) setting brings the chop! Stuttering, staccato pulses that add drama and rhythm to your music right up to a fast warble that can sound truly otherwordly.
We also added a footswitch so you can access two tremolo speeds instantly in any mode; internal trimmers to shape the EQ to your liking, and the ability to either boost or cut the overall output level to suit your rig and other pedals.
The Harmonious Monk covers a huge amount of sonic ground and it will inspire you towards a whole new palette of sounds, textures and music.
We summoned the Harmonious Monk from the waves of JAM pedals’ sonic ocean so that we can all bathe blissfully in its glorious undulating tones. Let there be wobble!
(And yes, Mick’s favourite setting is with everything at two o’clock in Subtle/Harmonic mode!)
WHAT’S NEW in Mk2:
- TAP tempo
- Ramp function: holding the TAP switch will ramp to a second speed. You can determine the second speed, as well as the rate of the ramp between the two tremolo speeds.
- There is a second mode of operation called the Legacy mode which retains and expands on the mk.1’s functionality since now you can choose to have x2 (double) or x1.5 (dotted eighth) speed multiplying options!
- New LFO waveform added: Reverse Sawtooth
- CHOP (kill dry) function
- In addition to the mk.1’s 3 internal EQ trimmers, the mk.2 features a new internal trimmer to adjust input gain control to optimise Harmonious Monk mk.2 for use with guitar, bass, keys, or anything else you might want to throw at it!
- You can now specify the startup state of the mk.2, to ON or OFF upon receiving power!
