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Knight School Trem DIY Kit
Knight School Trem DIY Kit
Knight School Trem DIY Kit
Knight School Trem DIY Kit

Knight School Trem DIY Kit

$99.99

BATCH 1 SHIPS LATE MID MAY

FREE DOMESTIC SHIPPING

3 YEAR WARRANTY

Ever wanted to build your own fully-analog multi-wave tremolo? We got you! Our Knight School Trem kit gives you what you need to build a fully-customizable tremolo pedal that goes far beyond the norm. Featuring two different modes and a waveform Warp knob, you can dial in anything from two types of sawtooth waves and a triangle wave to an adjustable pulse-width square wave with the flick of a switch and the twist of a knob. Tired of trem pedals that are either too fast or too slow? The Knight School Trem gives you the best of both worlds with a super-wide range modulator that won’t leave you wanting more. Add in an adjustable depth control and you’ve got a super full-featured trem that does exactly what you want, and built with your own hands!

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!

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CONTROLS

RATE:  This controls the rate of the amplitude modulation, from extremely slow to super fast.

SHAPE TOGGLE: Changes between Tri/Saw mode and Sq/Pulse mode. This adjusts the shape of the modulation and tuning the shape is done with the Warp knob.

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DEPTH: This controls the depth, or the “intensity” or “choppiness” of the modulation. When it’s all the way down, only a very subtle modulation can be heard. When it’s all the way up, it’s as choppy as it gets.

WARP: This 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.

SOUND EXAMPLE

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.

PLEASE NOTE: There is a minor error on the board printing; one of the capacitor spaces (top right) says “10u” when it in fact needs a 47u capacitor. 

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WATCH IT BEING BUILT

IDENTIFYING THE RESISTORS

This is in the manual, but here it is again:

The color bands correspond to the value, and you are welcome to look up a decoder chart, but here’s the quick and dirty for this kit:

270R: red/violet/brown/gold
820R: grey/red/brown/gold
1K: brown/black/red/gold
10K: brown/black/orange/gold
33K: orange/orange/orange/gold
47K: yellow/violet/orange/gold
100K: brown/black/yellow/gold
150K: brown/green/yellow/gold

POWER SUPPLY

The Knight School Trem accepts a center-negative DC power supply capable of supplying 9 volts. Plugging in anything other than this (center-positive, AC, higher voltage) will damage the pedal, maybe even beyond repair. Check your supply and make sure it says all the right stuff. Plugging in the wrong supply will void the warranty and possibly summon a puff of ozone-tinged smoke. Trust me, you’d hate it.