Catalinbread Knight School Trem DIY Kit

Catalinbread Knight School Trem DIY Kit

While most guitarists recognize the word "transistor" as the fundamental effects pedal amplification parts, they have several other functions depending on how they're wired. One such function is that of a switch. When voltage is applied to the base pin of a transistor, it "opens" the switch, i.e. connects the other two pins together.

This is how Boss and Ibanez's bypass switching works, in a nutshell. But what if a pedal's input signal was connected to a transistor's collector, and the transistor emitter was connected to ground? When voltage is applied to the transistor base, the signal gets dumped to ground. When the voltage is cut, the signal passes through. Now, what if you could find a way to send a rhythmic positive voltage to that transistor base? It would rhythmically modulate the signal. Uh-oh, this sounds like tremolo!

Of course, there are many ways to achieve this effect, but this is one best suited to DIY. The crudest form of this effect was first developed by Jordan Electronics with their Vico Vibe plug-in unit that definitely does the thing I just described but the LFO's speed range isn't so hot and only does one waveform. BO-RING!

Our Knight School Trem gives you SIX distinct waveforms, a huge speed range control, a depth control and an LED rate indicator that mimics the selected waveform, all in an easy-to-build fully-analog package. Let's go!

Controls
- Rate: Rate of the amplitude modulation.
- Shape switch: Changes between Tri/Saw mode and Sq/Pulse mode. Then tune with the Warp knob.
- Depth: Intensity or "choppiness" of the modulation.
- Warp: Warps the waveform depending on where it's set.

In "Tri/Saw" mode, the Warp knob fully-down is a sawtooth wave or "ramp-up", while fully-up is a reverse sawtooth or "ramp-down", and 12:00 is a traditional triangle wave. When sweeping this knob in "Tri/Saw" mode, it may seem like the tempo changes but it does not, the peaks of the waveform are in different positions.

In "Sq/Pulse" mode, the Warp knob fully-up narrows the "on time" of the square wave, for tiny blips of sound with long pauses in between. At fully-down, the opposite is true, the "off time" is narrowed for tiny bits of "off" sandwiched between long stretches of "on." In the center position, the "on" and "off" times are the same, making a traditional square wave.

DIY Kit information
The circuit board has everything labeled as to what part goes where. You'll find the below image very helpful to identify what parts are what. There's also a video below showing you how the process will go.