Source Audio released a limited edition of their Vertigo Tremolo in collaboration with Mission of Burma’s Roger Miller as a Music Emporium exclusive.
The guitarist of the legendary post-punk band worked closely with the manufacturer’s engineers to recreate a mode voiced after his signature custom and extremely rare Vacu-Trem pedal. The case of the pedal features the graphics of the cover of the band’s popular album “Vs.”
The original circuit featured a hard chopping wave shape with above average tremolo speed. Miller worked side-by-side with company owner Roger Smith to perfectly match the Vacu-Trem sounds in this special and limited edition of Vertigo.
The pedals’ layout remains faithful to the original, with knobs for Depth, Speed, Shape and Level. However, the 3 tremolo modes is where the magic happens:
- Trem: this is the mode voiced after the band’s song “Tremelo.”
- Secrets: an accelerated tremolo that captures the effect heard on the opening notes of the song “Secrets,” the first track of the Vs. album, with speeds as high as 50Hz.
- Two: a mode that recreates the effect on the Mission of Burma song “Trem Two.”
A second bank of presets is accessible by bypassing the pedal then press and hold the footswitch for around 8 seconds until the center LED turns from red to green (which indicates you are in the other bank).
These are the presets in the 2nd bank:
- Preset “Rotationary RCM”
- Preset “UFO RCM”
- Preset “Shifted RCM”
As all the most recent Source Audio pedals, this version of the Vertigo can be edited in depth via the company’s free Neuro app.
Here’s the video of the pedal featuring Roger Miller himself.
Source Audio Vertigo Tremolo Mission of Burma LTD Edition, Builder’s Notes
Source Audio is proud to introduce a limited edition version of the Vertigo Tremolo with album cover graphics from Mission of Burma’s post-punk masterpiece, Vs. Each tremolo effect in this pedal was personally overseen by Burma’s guitarist and founding band member Roger Miller to perfectly match his legendary, one-of-a-kind Vacu-Trem, a tremolo pedal custom designed by Fort Apache Studio engineer Lou Giordano in 1980.
We are very happy to team up with our friends at The Music Emporium (a mecca for boutique and vintage guitar aficionados, located in Lexington, Massachusetts) for the release of this pedal. The Limited Edition Mission of Burma Tremolo is available exclusively at the Music Emporium. Source Audio, the Music Emporium and Mission of Burma are all deeply-rooted in Boston, a town with a rich rock music and music technology legacy, and Mission of Burma are an essential part of that musical heritage. Eliot Hunt of the Music Emporium said, “We couldn’t be more excited to be a part of this home-town project. For us, it really captures what makes Boston’s music community amazing – a strong DIY ethos, innovative music & ideas, and a collaborative spirit. To have that embodied in such a unique, beautiful sounding (& looking) pedal…what’s cooler or more inspiring than that?”
