A vibrato unit is an effects unit used to modify the sound of an electric guitar by producing a regular variation in the amplitude of the sound. In all other contexts this effect is known as tremolo rather than vibrato. Effects units are devices that affect the sound of an electric instrument when plugged in to the electrical signal path the instrument sends, most often an electric guitar or bass guitar. ... An electric guitar is a type of guitar with a solid or semi-solid body that utilizes electromagnetic pickups to convert the vibration of the steel-cored strings into electrical current. ... Amplitude is a nonnegative scalar measure of a waves magnitude of oscillation. ... Tremolo is a musical term with two meanings: A rapid repetition of the same note, a rapid variation in the amplitude of a single note, or an alternation between two or more notes. ... Vibrato is a musical effect where the pitch or frequency of a note or sound is quickly and repeatedly raised and lowered over a small distance for the duration of that note or sound. ...

Vibrato units may be individual stomp boxes or built in to multi-effects units, but are traditionally built in to guitar amplifiers. They are particularly used in surf music. A vibrato unit normally has three controls: The TS9 Tubescreamer from Ibanez, a popular stomp box adding vacuum tube-like distortion to the output signal from electric instruments. ... This page is about amplifiers for musical instruments. ... In the early 1960s, one of the most popular forms of rock and roll was surf rock. ...

• Speed controls the frequency of the variation, typically from a maximum (fully clockwise) of five to ten hertz to a minumum which may be as slow as one cycle taking several seconds.
• Depth controls the amplitude of the variation itself. The minimum depth (fully anticlockwise) is typically (but not always) zero, that is no effect on the sound at all; The maximum depth does not normally cut the sound off completely at the cycle minimum, but may reduce it by as much as 6dB, virtually a cut off to the ear.
• An on/off control, traditionally a pull-on switch on the depth potentiometer, a foot switch, or both. The off position bypasses the unit. In the case of an amplifier mounted unit where both switches are supplied, the unit is bypassed if the pull-on switch is off, regardless of the pedal. If the pedal is not plugged in, the unit is turned on and off by the pull-on switch; If the pedal is plugged in, then it controls the unit when the pull-on switch is on.

Sine waves of various frequencies; the lower waves have higher frequencies than those above. ... Amplitude is a nonnegative scalar measure of a waves magnitude of oscillation. ... schematic symbol for a potentiometer Originally the term potentiometer was used to decribe an apparatus used to measure the potential (or voltage) in a circuit by tapping off a portion of a known voltage from a resistive slide wire and comparing it with the unknown voltage by means of a...

Vibrato or tremolo?

The term vibrato unit was introduced on high-end Fender amplifiers in the 1950s, in the same period in which what is now called a tremolo arm was introduced on Fender guitars. There has been much speculation as to why Leo Fender chose to call it a vibrato unit, while he called a device that produced true vibrato a synchronised tremolo, in both cases reversing the established usage. The synchronised tremolo was introduced in 1954 on the first stratocaster guitar; The only previously successful tremolo arm was the Bigsby vibrato tailpiece, often simply called a Bigsby. Early-1960s-style Fender Precision Bass The Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, initially named the Fender Electric Instrument Manufacturing Company, was started by Leo Fender in the 1940s, and is one of the most widely recognised manufacturers of electric guitars, bass guitars and amplifiers. ... A tremolo arm (or whammy bar) is a lever attached to the bridge of an electric guitar that can slacken or elongate the strings temporarily, changing the pitch or creating a vibrato or pitch bend effect. ... Clarence Leonidas Fender (August 10, 1909 - March 21, 1991) was an American luthier who founded Fender Electric Instrument Manufacturing Company, now known as Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, and later founded G&L Musical Products (G&L Guitars). ... Vibrato is a musical effect where the pitch or frequency of a note or sound is quickly and repeatedly raised and lowered over a small distance for the duration of that note or sound. ... A Fender Stratocaster with rosewood fingerboard and three-tone sunburst finish. ...

In both cases, the Fender usage has stuck, with the result that most electric guitarists now use the terms vibrato and tremolo in the opposite senses to all other musicians when describing these hardware devices.

Guitarists do also use true vibrato, either as finger vibrato similar to that produced by movement of the left hand on the violin and other stringed instruments, or by use of the so-called tremolo arm still provided on many electric guitars. And in common with all other musicians, all guitarists from classical to rock use the term vibrato to descibe finger vibrato. The violin is a stringed musical instrument that has four strings tuned a perfect fifth apart. ...