"VS." Vertigo Tremolo:
​Mission of Burma Limited Edition

PURCHASE FROM THE MUSIC EMPORIUM

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?" 

 “While in Mission of Burma, Lou Giordano made me a custom tremolo pedal which made possible the extreme pulse for the song 'Trem 2.' Until I was introduced to the Vertigo, I had not been able to recreate that sound in any other device.”
​                                                                                                            -Roger Miller

PURCHASE THE "VS." VERTIGO TREMOLO FROM THE MUSIC EMPORIUM

The Legend of Burma

Trouser Press said of Mission of Burma; “During its original existence, Mission of Burma was one of the most important American bands surviving outside the major-label record industry. The Boston band’s thrilling and challenging vocal rock is both intellectually and emotionally engaging. Staking out bracing post-pop guitar turf with hard edges and sharp corners.”

....But who are Mission of Burma? Like many great bands, they came and went far too quickly. Their initial career lasted all of 4 years. When it was over we were left with two great records (Signals, Calls, and Marches (EP) and Vs.) and the memories of bombastic shows that electrified post-punk audiences through America and the UK. Burma's art school approach to musical arrangements, lyrics and songwriting had left its mark. Following their breakup in '83, something amazing happened - their audience and their influence grew well beyond the scope of the band's original run. With a far-reaching list of legendary bands including R.E.M., Sonic Youth, The Pixies, Foo Fighters, and The Replacements citing Burma as an influence, they were coaxed out of retirement in 2002. Their celebrated return was received with sold-out shows around the country and prompted the recording of four more stellar studio albums. The legend of Burma continues to evolve...

Roger Miller Demonstrates the Vertigo Tremolo

We recently had the pleasure of spending some time with Mission of Burma guitarist Roger Miller at The Music Emporium in Lexington, Massachusetts. Roger ripped into the presets he created for the Vertigo Tremolo and blew us all away with a few classic Burma riffs. We also talked with our friend John Beaudette about the events leading to the release of the special edition VS. Vertigo Tremolo.

Roger Miller Demonstrates the Vertigo Tremolo

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Some additional footage from our interview with Roger Clark Miller. In this video Roger talks about origins of his custom built Vacu-Trem and how its unique tremolo effect was captured in the "VS." Vertigo Tremolo. We also get to hear the additional tremolo effects created by Roger, which use the Vertigo's ability to combine tremolo effects with phase and pitch modulation as well as its expression pedal capabilities.

Additional clips of the "VS." Vertigo's bonus presets created by Roger Clark Miller

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE VERTIGO TREMOLO

The Tale of the "Vacu-Trem"

The custom presets in the Mission of Burma/Vertigo Tremolo perfectly match the guitar tones from three specific Burma recordings, “Secrets,” "Tremelo" and “Trem Two.”  The guitar tracks on each of the songs were originally recorded with a one-of-a-kind tremolo that came to be known as the "Vacu-Trem," a pedal built specifically for Roger Miller. Miller described the Vacu-Trem as, "a tremolo unit on steroids – this unit can tremolo so fast that it actually amplitude modulates and sounds like I’m playing three or four chords 1/16th step apart from each other." The Vacu-Trem was designed by Lou Giordano, an MIT educated electrical engineer and record producer at Fort Apache Studios in Boston, Massachusetts. Giordano is also known for recordings he produced with a wide range of bands including, Husker Du, Sugar, Goo Goo Dolls, and Taking Back Sunday.  The Vertigo Tremolo’s extreme LFO rates and variable wave shapes perfectly replicate the sound of the original Giordano engineered pedal.

​In addition to the Mission of Burma presets, this special edition Vertigo also includes three unique effects personally created by Roger Miller. The sounds explore the Vertigo's phase and pitch modulation capabilities combined with adjustable tremolo shapes, resulting in a range of non-traditional tremolo variations that border on chorus and rotating speaker effects. has cancelation.

• SECRETS

• TREMELO

• TREM TWO

• ROTATIONARY RCM

• UFO RCM

• SHIFTED RCM

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• "SECRETS"

  This heavily accelerated bias tremolo captures the effect heard on the opening notes of the song "Secrets," the first track of the Vs. album. Prior to plugging into the Vertigo Tremolo, Roger Miller was unable to find a tremolo pedal that matched the speed of his Lou Giordano engineered pedal.  The original Vertigo Tremolo stays true to the modulation rates of classic Fender Deluxe Reverb amps, but (semi) secretly the pedal has far more muscle under the hood. The Neuro Editor offers the option of reseting the pedal's minimum and maximum tremolo speeds. The "Secrets" tremolo boost its max speed from the standard 10Hz to as high as 50Hz - that's a lotta tremolo.
• "TREMELO"

  This preset replicates the effect from the Burma track, "Tremelo," a song never officially released on a studio record, but was a part of the band's early live sets. The song eventually founds its place as the opening track on Burma's 1985 release, The Horrible Truth About Burma, a live album documenting the band's 1983 farwell tour. The sound features a moderate tremolo rate with a harder chop than a traditional bias tremolo. The Vertigo's SHAPE knob allows you to gradually change the tremolo wave shape from a hard square wave, to a traditional bias tremolo, to a reverse sawtooth wave. This preset leans heavy on the square wave.
• "TREM TWO"

  A nice slow tremolo with a quick attack. The key to using this preset while playing the "Trem Two" riff (the third track on the Vs. album) is to "pick in the hollow" of the tremolo pattern. This way every note fades in on a constant rhythm. It can be a tricky technique to master, but when you're in the groove, the sound is spectacular. 
• "ROTATIONARY RCM"

  The Vertigo Tremolo has two preset banks. By default the Mission of Burma Tremolo is in Red (a.k.a. "Preset") Mode, indicated by the red LED.  If you bypass the pedal then press and hold the footswitch the center LED will switch to green after about 8 seconds, indicating that you are in WYSIWYG mode (a.k.a "What You See Is What You Get" mode, meaning it functions like a traditional pedal and the physical position of each knob reflects the setting of that parameter). In WYSIWYG mode the TREM position on the center toggle switch engages the "Rotationary RCM" settings. The preset conjures the sonic reflections of a Leslie rotating speaker with subtle pitch and phase modulation mixed with a smooth tremolo. 
• "UFO RCM"

  The SECRETS toggle position in Green Mode houses the "UFO RCM" preset. Roger Miller's prefered setting of this Opto Tremolo effect is to set the SHAPE knob fully clockwise for a Reverse Saw Tooth tremolo. The Reverse Saw Tooth wave has a very sudden attack and slower decay creating an extremely percussive effect.
• "SHIFTED RCM"

  The TWO position on the toggle switch features the "Shifted RCM" preset. This effect is a very musical combination of phaser and tremolo, creating a slow moving phase effect behind a much quicker tremolo chop. 

Burma and Beyond...

The journey of Burma continues, both inside and out. After the initial breakup of Mission of Burma, Roger Miller and tape manipulator, Martin Swope formed the band Birdsongs of the Mesozoic, who released their first album in 1983.  Miller also launched  the Alloy Orchestra and Trinary System projects in the 2000s. Bassist Clint Conley who penned the Burma anthems "Academy Fight Song" and "...That's When I Reach For My Revolver,"  re-ignited his singer/songwriter powers with the band Consonant in the 2000s.  Drummer Pete Prescott formed Volcano Suns in 1983, and is currently in the band Minibeast.  Every one of the post Burma project maintains the band's ethos of artistic integrity and musical discovery.

Miller's most recent release is titled, "Eight Dream Interpretations For Solo Electric Guitar Ensemble." It's an exploratory solo guitar looping project inspired by Miller's nocturnal subconscious. "The music is organized by dreams," tells Miller, "so it's very psychedelic and surreal." 

Roger Clark Miller performs "Dream Interpretations #17"

Roger Clark Miller's current pedalboard.

The Dream Interpretations project embraces the unique characteristics and features of a wide collection of new and vintage gear including his Fender Strat, three lap-steel guitars, a Boomerang Looper, and a powerful pedalboard that includes Source Audio's Vertigo Tremolo, Nemesis Delay, and Kingmaker Fuzz. 

Features and Specifications

• Pedal Features
• Neuro Editor Features
• MIDI Features
• Specifications

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• Six Preset Positions: Use the Vertigo's three-position toggle switch and two preset banks to save six easily accessible presets.
• Growing Library of Published Presets: For quick access to a world of great tones, try sampling sounds from a vast collection of published presets created by the Source Audio team and the ever-growing Neuro Community.
• Stereo Input and Output Jacks — Create deep and wide stereo modulation.
• Universal Bypass — Select either analog buffered or relay based True Bypass.
• Expression Control — Compatible with Source Audio expression pedals and the Hot Hand 3 Universal Wireless Effects Controller.​

Connect the Vertigo Tremolo to the Neuro Desktop Editor (a free download for Mac or Windows computers) or the Neuro Mobile App (free for iPhone and Android) and explore the power of effect downloading, customization, and sharing that comes with every One Series pedal.

• Free Effect Downloads — Choose from our vast collection additional tremolo algorithms.
• Customize Effects — Tweak an extensive range of additional parameters.
• Save and Share Customized Presets – Once you’ve fine-tuned an effect, save it to your personal effects collection and share it with the growing community of Neuro users.
• Download Presets — Explore Source Audio’s ever-expanding library of free effect presets.
• Simple Connection — The Neuro App. connects with the Vertigo via the mobile device’s headphone jack and Stereo Input 2 on the pedal. A Neuro App connector cable (1/8” to 1/4”) is included with the pedal.

When combined with the SA168 MIDI Adapter or Neuro Hub, the Vertigo Tremolo responds to MIDI Program Change (PC) and Continuous Controller (CC) with most 3rd party MIDI controllers. The USB port handles communication between the Vertigo and digital audio workstations (DAW) on Mac and Windows machines as well as external MIDI controllers with USB host support (we recommend the DMC.micro from Disaster Area Designs)

• MIDI Mapping – Use the Neuro Desktop Editor to easily map MIDI Continuous Controller (CC) messages to a comprehensive list of parameters.​
• The Neuro Hub - Connect the Vertigo to the Neuro Hub and use MIDI PC and CC messages to control parameters or recall presets. 
  ​Additionally, the Vertigo can be added to Hub Scenes and can be recalled with MIDI PC messages, giving you the full access to 128 preset slots. 

• Includes 9v DC power supply (300mA / Negative Tip)
• Includes 1/8” to 1/4” cable for Neuro Mobile App connection.
• Power Consumption — 165mA
• USB port — Connects to Mac or Windows PC for firmware updates and the forthcoming in-depth effects editing software.
• Brushed anodized aluminum housing.
• Dimensions: L: 4.5 in./11.4cm x W: 2.75 in./7cm x H: 2 in./5.1cm (including knobs)

Download "VS." Vertigo Tremolo Images

Click the links below to download the "VS." Vertigo Tremolo image package. The "Medium Resolution" folder contains images optimized for online use. The "High Resolution" folder contains images more suitable for print.

DOWNLOAD Medium Resolution/Web Quality Images
DOWNLOAD High Resolution/Print Quality Images

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Vertigo Tremolo: User Manual and Documentation

Vertigo Tremolo User Manual