Dunlop Blue Hippo Optical Tremolo vs JHS Tidewater Tremolo

The Dunlop Blue Hippo Optical Tremolo and the JHS Tidewater Tremolo are both pedals sharing modulated, smooth, spring. The Dunlop Blue Hippo Optical Tremolo leans transparent and warm.

Similarity
citedBlended from circuit-archetype lineage, dynamic feel, tone-signal overlap and tone-vector distance — the tone vector itself is derived from editorial description text, not a measured acoustic signal, so this reflects how similarly the catalog copy describes the two, not a lab measurement. Shown only within a gear class, and only where there's enough evidence to be meaningful.

48% somewhat different

Shared genres
citedGenres both listings are associated with.
  • Classic Rock
  • Country
Shared tone character
citedDerived from overlapping tonal signals across both listings.
  • modulated
  • smooth
  • spring
Citation fame
citedCitation/mention fame — how often this gear is cited across artist rigs and gear discussion.
0%
17%
Price

$148via Reverb

Description

The Dunlop Blue Hippo Optical Tremolo is a vintage reissue tremolo pedal from Dunlop, recreating the optical tremolo circuit of the classic blue Univox Hi-Flier tremolo from the late 1960s. Optical tremolo circuits use an LDR (light-dependent resistor) for smooth, natural amplitude modulation with the rounded waveform character associated with vintage optical tremolo pedals. The Blue Hippo was a limited-production Dunlop reissue.

The JHS Tidewater is a compact optical tremolo pedal that faithfully recreates the warm, vintage amp tremolo character of classic tube amplifiers. Three controls — Volume (output level), Mix (tremolo depth from none to fully wet), and Speed (rate of oscillation) — are complemented by an LED indicator that pulses in sync with the tremolo speed. The Tidewater produces smooth, musical amplitude modulation without the hard-edged choppy character of square-wave tremolo designs. True bypass.

Genres
citedGenres this gear is documented as being used in.
  • Blues
Tonal lean
  • transparent
  • warm

Related searches

Dunlop Blue Hippo Optical Tremolo vs JHS Tidewater Tremolo — Shared Character & Differences — NodeTone