Caroline Parabola Tremolo
Today we'll be taking a look at the Caroline Parabola Tremolo.
Regarding the pedals origins.
"The Parabola is a solid state, transistor generated waveform tremolo.
The oscillator is strongly influenced by the vintage Schaller
TR-68/TR-316 “West Germany” tremolo pedals that I fell in love with in
the 1990s."
This is all well and good, but what does this actually mean? If you aren't familiar with the Schaller tremolo then I guess you'll never know?
We will do some deeper analysis here and show you exactly what you're getting.
Controls:
Output Volume: Gives you up to 12db of boost. More than enough to compensate for any volume issues, and can also be used as a boost if needed.
Invader Preamp: Adds grit/drive to the signal
Depth: Controls the depth of the tremolo
Speed: Controls the speed of the tremolo
AM/FM: AM mode is standard tremolo, FM mode increases the base signal so that the volume doesn't go to off, so it sounds less harsh. That's typically what a depth knob does on other square wave trems. IE raise the base signal.
FST/SLOW: Controls the range of speed knob
Havoc: Increases the depth and speed when depressed.
AM Mode Various Depth Settings
Here we can see AM Mode, as we crank the depth setting, what we would typically see as depth is not affected. What is affected is the duty cycle. The ratio of on/off time in the given tremolo cycle.
We can also see here, we are getting a fairly square wave here. This is what you can expect out of this tremolo. There are no additional shapes.
FM Mode Various Depths
We can see in FM mode, it acts more like depth. Increasing the lowest point in the trem cycle so that your playing sits underneath. It sounds very nice.
The Parabola is not the slowest or fastest Trem out there. But it offers a good useable range of speeds.
Minimum Speed: 540ms/cycle
Maximum Speed: 80ms/cycle
Sound wise, this thing is impressive. For being such a basic pedal in the wave form shape department, it sounds great. The pre-amp, output volume and wave form have a lot to do with that. It takes distortion very well, and it sounds very good on clean settings as well.
The construction seems rugged. I really enjoy seeing some sturdy big knobs!
The Havoc switch is fun as well and works pretty flawlessly.
Pro's
Sounds fantastic
Great construction
Both volume and preamp adjustments
Con's
Speed Range Isn't Huge
Only 1 wave form
Invader Preamp: Adds grit/drive to the signal
Depth: Controls the depth of the tremolo
Speed: Controls the speed of the tremolo
AM/FM: AM mode is standard tremolo, FM mode increases the base signal so that the volume doesn't go to off, so it sounds less harsh. That's typically what a depth knob does on other square wave trems. IE raise the base signal.
FST/SLOW: Controls the range of speed knob
Havoc: Increases the depth and speed when depressed.
AM Mode Various Depth Settings
Here we can see AM Mode, as we crank the depth setting, what we would typically see as depth is not affected. What is affected is the duty cycle. The ratio of on/off time in the given tremolo cycle.
We can also see here, we are getting a fairly square wave here. This is what you can expect out of this tremolo. There are no additional shapes.
FM Mode Various Depths
We can see in FM mode, it acts more like depth. Increasing the lowest point in the trem cycle so that your playing sits underneath. It sounds very nice.
The Parabola is not the slowest or fastest Trem out there. But it offers a good useable range of speeds.
Minimum Speed: 540ms/cycle
Maximum Speed: 80ms/cycle
Sound wise, this thing is impressive. For being such a basic pedal in the wave form shape department, it sounds great. The pre-amp, output volume and wave form have a lot to do with that. It takes distortion very well, and it sounds very good on clean settings as well.
The construction seems rugged. I really enjoy seeing some sturdy big knobs!
The Havoc switch is fun as well and works pretty flawlessly.
Pro's
Sounds fantastic
Great construction
Both volume and preamp adjustments
Con's
Speed Range Isn't Huge
Only 1 wave form
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