Empty Head Effects Big Talker

The Big Talker by Empty Head Effects is dual tremolo pedal that looks daunting at first sight. But after a short onboarding period, it’s a lot of fun and can get you very unique sounds.

There are a lot of controls with cryptic labels on it, so let’s decipher these first:

• Tremolo A: TOPIC A is speed and the upper INTENSITY is depth. This tremolo can either be shaped like a square wave or random LFO, switchable via CONFUSION. When it’s set to random (toggle down), you can’t control the speed, so TOPIC A does nothing in this mode.
• Tremolo B: Speed and depth are CROSSTALK and the second INTENSITY, respectively. It seems to be more of a smooth sinus wave tremolo. SUBJECT MATTER toggles this between a normal tremolo to an envelope-controlled trem. The harder you play, the faster the LFO oscillates. Here CROSSTALK sets the maximum speed. When you play an note and let it ring out, you can hear the LFO getting slower as the note dies down. CONCENTRATION controls the sensitivity of the envelope-control.
• TACT is a volume control with quite a bit of boost on tap. Signal flow is boost/volume → Tremolo A → Tremolo B

To be honest, I’m not much of a tremolo user. However, the Big Talker offers something special here. If there has ever been a creative way to turn the volume up and down, this is it. I love how the combined tremolos create this diffused soundscape when dialed in just right.

Signal Chain

• Gretsch Electromatic Jet G5230, blacktop filtertron neck pickup, tuned to C-standard with LaBella Jazz Flats*
• Big Talker
• Mixwave Benson Chimera Plugin*. Turned up the gain a bit to fit the vibe of the track
• A bit of room-like reverb from the Valhalla Vintage Verb plugin

Get detailed specs on Empty Head Effects' website

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