JAM Big Chill review

The Big Chill, from Greek effects-maker JAM, offers vintage-style sounds with a range of practical features.

You can choose from three tremolo waveforms - sine, triangle and square - and have the option of two speeds, selectable by a second footswitch.

Each speed is set with its own knob, while there's an internal control to set the second speed quieter or louder than the first.

There's also a knob for tremolo depth and one for the output volume that offers a useful boost (set the trem depth to zero for boost only); you can also use external expression pedals to control tremolo depth and the second tremolo speed.

A third footswitch brings in the CHOP effect, a more brutal square wave on/off tremolo that chops the audio into segments.

The classy range of sounds, including vintage Fender, should suit most players' tremolo needs, but it's the switching and control that set this apart from other pedals. While the vintage tone hits the spot, versatility is the key word here.