ZVEX Effects Vexter Sonar Tremolo Pedal

The ZVEX Sonar isn’t your typical tremolo pedal. A dream for experimentalists, the scintillating Sonar can chop up practically any audio signal fed through it to create warped, idiosyncratic sounds that’ll add intrigue to any music you make with it!

Designed for Distorted Tones

One of the most unique aspects of ZVEX’s Sonar is its ability to cut down a high-gain signal to silence. This is unlike most other tremolo pedals on the market, which are designed for use with clean tones and therefore unable to take a distorted sound “down to zero” – so to speak.

The ZVEX Sonar is different; engineered to be used in conjunction with high-gain amps and pedals. Chuck something like a ZVEX Fuzz Factory in front of it and you’ll form chaotic, world-ending tones to scare any listener! However, the ZVEX Sonar can also sound gorgeously transparent like a traditional tremolo pedal, making it adaptable for all kinds of guitar textures and musical styles.

Fun Hidden Features 

If you really like to manipulate your tones to create crazy effects and soundscapes, the ZVEX Sonar allows you to increase or decrease its tempo and affect its duty cycle (amount of time the trem is ON in a given cycle) on-the-fly – and even change both simultaneously!

The unit also has ‘Tap Tempo’ switch for synchronising the tremolo effect in time with accompaniment, and a slew of advanced hidden features (‘Attack’, ‘Release’ and ‘Depth’ controls). To access these parameters, you need to hold down the tap button for one second. Keep holding the tap button and the yellow LEDs should start slowly flashing. The ‘Speed’ knob is now ‘Attack’, the ‘Duty’ knob is ‘Release’, and the ‘Delta’ knob is now ‘Depth’. The original parameters will not change unless you move the knobs. 

Controls

• Volume: Park this all the way clockwise for slightly over unity gain. If you need more gain (on either “clean” or “machine” modes), a trimmer is inside the pedal that can be pushed harder clockwise. This will break-up the “clean” signal though.
• Speed: Manual control of tempo. ‘Attack’ (hidden function) controls how quickly audio reaches peak volume of tremolo.
• Duty: Controls duration of peak audio, the “on” portion of tremolo. ‘Release’ (hidden function) affects how quickly audio ramps down from peak.
• Delta: Controls the rate of change when unit is in “Arrow Up/Down Mode”. ‘Depth’ (hidden function) controls minimum volume of quiet portion of tremolo.

Switches

• Bypass: Effect on/off.
• Tap Tempo: Calculates tempo by taking the last two user taps. Always overrides a manually set tempo. The pedal will allow tempos as slow as 4 seconds per cycle. This switch also functions as a “shift key” to access ‘Hidden Wave Shaping’ functions.
• Clean/Machine Mini Toggle Switch: “Clean” is a relatively clean sound based on our Super Hard On boost. “Machine” is our gnarly cross-over distortion circuit.
• Tap Tempo Mini Toggle Switch: Allows user to set tempo to 2x or 4x original tap rate.
• Arrow Up/Down: Controls the up or down direction of auto parameter change, also selects which parameters are being changed. Please refer to the back of this page for more detail on this function.

Specifications

• Voltage: 9V (Centre Negative), Battery Included
• Current Draw: 10mA
• Pedal Dimensions (LxWxH):  4.70″ x 2.38″ x 1.82″