Is the Vega-Trem Ultra Trem as good as they say?

A couple of months back, ‪@VegaTrem‬ sent me this VT1 Ultra Trem to put through its paces. You might have seen it in some of my recent videos. Here's my run-through and my thoughts on this product.
This is not a paid review, but the product was provided to me to use and review as I like.
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[@MaxSalada]

i have one in my YJM strat. I love it. at a guitar camp, i showed it to greg howe and now his kiesel model comes with it.

[@ChrisBrooksGuitar]

Influencing the legends. Way to go!

[@jeffmancuso2715]

Wow, that's some endorsement.

[@rayfromvegas]

I would definitely recommend this unit. I changed 3 of my strats to the Vega Trem.

[@wasichu66]

Spot on. The VT is hands down one of the most prominent improvements on the trem concept in decades. All the advantages of a floating without the drawbacks, and obviously a huge improvement on a crappy standard trem. I'm personally not a good client for guitar myths, but I must say the VT added a vast tonal improvement, more clarity, note separation, sustain... which may seem surprising because of the relative small size of the block. Lastly, the all steel design is just a gorgeous bit of engineering and design. Oh, and sweet playing man!

[@ChrisBrooksGuitar]

Thanks so much.

[@kurnage78]

I have a strat in need of this mod. Great demo Chris!

[@MarkoPavicMusic]

Great demo! Can’t wait to install one

[@catcancrunch7260]

I've been paying the cc off like crazy so I can get one in December, these really do look great, great review thanks for your upload

[@ChrisBrooksGuitar]

My pleasure

[@RobTackettCovers]

Wow, every video I've checked out of guitars that have this trem put on, the sustain is just crazy good...no exception on that Yngwie guitar...thanks for posting this...

[@ChrisBrooksGuitar]

Thanks for checking it out!

[@danrao3707]

These trems are amazing. I own 3 and soon to be more. Something that wasn’t said that should be is the quality of the steel. It’s extremely well machined and very comfortable on the side of your palm. You will also notice a difference in the amount of sustain. Tuning stability is excellent with locking tuners and a graph tech nut or bone with some Big Ben's nut sauce or whatever else you prefer. I don’t own a Fender LSR roller nut but I bet that would be a would be a great match as well.

[@igormpmartins]

That's a really interesting innovation, this bridge pivoting system was really clever. Impressive stability and pitch range. I'll check out someday in the future (right now, it's very expensive in South America). On my strats, I replaced my string trees for Graphtech Tusq XL and that was one of the best (and cheapest) upgrades. Great to see all this evolution.

[@PracticaProphetica]

They are very expensive everywhere!

[@place_desjardins]

Nice review and shredding.

[@ChrisBrooksGuitar]

Thanks!

[@Lesspaw41]

I got one today to pop into my Kiesel tomorrow. Can't wait!

[@sunnys5150]

Chris is amazing!! Ive had a Vega Trem on one of my Strats for few yrs now. Its awesome and im never going back to the orig Strat trem. Vega Trem really killed it! It is far superior than the other aftermarket trems. Its pricey but worth every penny. All quality parts.

[@MercutioUK2006]

That intro! Hell yes mate :) I think that, on balance, the Vega Trem is as good as they say. Being able to experience a full range of motion, without fine tuners, but with stability is the dream!

[@jeffmancuso2715]

This is the best feeling trems, great video.

[@jordanium13]

Sounds buttery smooth. I'd be keen to give one a go at some point.

[@harleyhexxe9806]

Thank you for posting this, I've found this to be very helpful. There is one Strat I'm looking at using this on, and I wasn't aware until now about the proximity of the bar to the volume pot which is something I use a lot when playing. I'll have to figure a way to overcome that obstruction. Cheers

[@jeffmancuso2715]

just ripping at the end. Very cool.

[@robertturner1550]

Vega Trem, graphite nut and Locking tuners is the ticket!

[@tymanngruter1808]

A must have on each guitar with room for a trem! I changed my Wilkinson for it.

[@Duskydog419]

❤❤❤ABSOLUTE MENACE the way you use that!

[@geezberry8889]

i''ve been putting locking saddles on my trems it makes a huge difference in keeping tune

[@sicilianmammalian]

Ive been a bass player my whole life but I bought a strat in 2022 and put a vega trem in, it just seemed like common sense and now I can't imagine using anything else

[@Tony-w5x]

Man, you’re a heck of a guitar player, to put it mildly! Guess I’ll have to snag one of those trems… Really nice, tasteful playing.

[@ChrisBrooksGuitar]

Much appreciated, thanks for the kind words!

[@Tony-w5x]

You are very welcome. Totally my pleasure..

[@SIWagstaff]

Nice one Chris 🎸👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@KirkBullough]

Always love an excuse to hear you play.

[@DaveDurango]

ok, i'm buying one

[@ianedmonds9191]

Seriously the best trem I've ever played including loads of Floyd Rose locking trems. Such a delicate precision feel to it that is unlike anything else on the market.

[@ChrisBrooksGuitar]

I agree!

[@lasyngwieeeiiilarsen7510]

Wowhhh😮❤🤘

[@Aditya_Paliwal_9]

Thanks a lot for the wonderful explanation and killer demonstration Boss! Does the Vega Trem VT1 come with a sustain block attached to it? I remember upgrading the stock sustain block on a Squier with a 37 mm brass block and that significantly improved the resonance and sustain. I am afraid, that this VT1 will rob the strat of the sustain, because you can't use the stock sustain block that comes with the strat. Could you please chime in on that ? Thanks and Regards

[@ChrisBrooksGuitar]

You can Google images of the block. It's not interchangeable with other steel blocks because that's part of the design that allows full floating motion inside a Strat cavity.

[@BojanTepic]

✨Vt1✨

[@ianedmonds9191]

Are you playing an Yngwie signature model scalloped neck? Looked a bit like it from some angles and your playing is sensational.

[@ChrisBrooksGuitar]

Thanks very much. The guitar is an ST72-95DSC. It's a YJM-adjacent model. There's a full video about it on my channel before I changed the tremolo.

[@rodrigobelinchon2982]

This looks like one of the most important innovations of the last decades

[@jesusnavarrete1652]

It's just a slightly modified version of the original Fender bridge.  Buscar esto en Google

[@JDB701]

So sometimes I find myself switching between e standard and then a half step down, how would that affect my experience with this trem?

[@ChrisBrooksGuitar]

Same as every other trem really. Less tension will change the balance. That probably won't be an issue if it's just an every now and then thing, but it's really better to just have a guitar set up in one tuning with one gauge and leave it that way.

[@PracticaProphetica]

Tune half a step down and put a capo on the first fret? Take it off when needed? But this will make the bar markers out by one when you have the capo on.

[@donlucas3984]

Superb playing! Does it flutter?

[@ChrisBrooksGuitar]

Sure does 4:07

[@donlucas3984]

​@@ChrisBrooksGuitarThanks, your playing distratcted me! 😂

[@ChrisBrooksGuitar]

🤣

[@lentoneguitar]

What amp profile is the one you are using for this video? I like that tone!

[@ChrisBrooksGuitar]

I'm using the Top Jimi YJM100 with an actual DOD250 pedal in front.

[@fourthofseven]

Can it be used to do subtle bends easily or is strictly for dive bombing, shredding & extreme bends?

[@ChrisBrooksGuitar]

Whatever you like.

[@AJDOLDCHANNELARCHIVE]

Great playing and tone! What pickups have you got in that Strat?

[@ChrisBrooksGuitar]

Much appreciated. Dimario HS3 and HS4

[@jandrogomez]

Hi Chris! I’m considering the VT for my Fender Malmsteen. How is the string spacing? With the original bridge the first string tends to slip off. Cheers!

[@ChrisBrooksGuitar]

Seems to have always been a flaw with the US design, post 1998. At the bridge, my string spacing from low E to high E is 54mm

[@AllofJudea]

How is the tuning stability? I have locking tuners, graph tech nut. Does it reasonably stay in?

[@ChrisBrooksGuitar]

It does. I liked it enough that I have another one coming for another Strat.

[@PracticaProphetica]

Excellent review! Now, to save up the $$$...

[@ChrisBrooksGuitar]

Thanks for watching!

[@musicproductionvideos5019]

Mine is very sensitive. Too much really. Do you know how to make it a little less? I bit more stable I would like it. I use 10's so I use the recommended springs.

[@ChrisBrooksGuitar]

I guess you could try using one of the other springs in the middle position and see how that goes.

[@skaboosh]

Try the heavier springs, also.

[@defin99]

Must get one.

[@jeroen2070]

What happend with the bridge pickup?????

[@ChrisBrooksGuitar]

In what regard?

[@jeroen2070]

​@@ChrisBrooksGuitarGotcha😁 Nice playing!!

[@Marto76Leo]

How about the price point Chris, think it’s as much as a very decent second hand guitar

[@ChrisBrooksGuitar]

Not where I am. That kind of money wouldn't go far on a guitar and it still wouldn't get one with a good tremolo.

[@AdrianFarrell]

Can the maximum upwards pull be set to a specific interval?

[@ChrisBrooksGuitar]

Not that I'm aware, I just do it by ear. Plus, it would still vary from string to string.

[@AdrianFarrell]

​@ChrisBrooksGuitar yes, the way Jeff Beck set his guitar is you get m3rd raise in pitch on the G string, a tone on the B, and a semi-tone on the E when the trem is pulled up max.

[@ChrisBrooksGuitar]

@@AdrianFarrell that's how I've done it in the past on Strat bridges but with this one, it doesn't have any contact with the wood so there's no stopper.

[@kenmasters007]

Do they ever go on sale?

[@ChrisBrooksGuitar]

I'm not sure, but you could probably contact the distributor or local dealers around you. There's a dealer map at vegatrem.com/en/dealers/

[@fredfloyd68]

Fabulous guitars....!!!balanced well...headstock....tremolo seems to work well...let me guess $250 dollars...my 70 was$200 USA....

[@clemguitar63]

Knife Edge Fulcrum Principle...

[@josephkane2312]

I stopped playing Fender years ago over it's poor tremelo, but after seeing this video..

[@martynridley3671]

Yeah, it works well, but they're ridiculously expensive (£240 in UK), so definitely not for me!

[@ChrisBrooksGuitar]

It all depends on what value you put on the solution. That will vary person to person. A one-time buy for years of stability is probably worth more than a lot of the useless shit we spend the same money on that provides no ongoing value to our lives. It's less than a year of HD Netflix, for example. I'll buy one for sure now that I've spent time with it. Just gotta figure out which guitar needs it the most!

[@martynridley3671]

@@ChrisBrooksGuitar Fair enough I suppose, if your style depends upon it a lot, but for average use, I feel it's much too expensive and my silver series Squier strat has been stable enough for the last 30 years; no, not perfect sometimes, but pretty near. £240 is just too much for a pivot.

[@davekiddie4467]

​@ChrisBrooksGuitar just curious. Do you have regular Nichol silver frets or are they stainless steel 😊

[@ChrisBrooksGuitar]

@@davekiddie4467 nickel. I think the only SS guitar I have currently is an Ibanez Prestige.