What's That Dude Play? » Catalinbread

C-bread offers ‘regal’ WIIO

Blake — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 13:16:45 +0000

The fine folks at Portland-based Catalinbread have attempted to put Jimmy Page’s 1970 Royal Albert Hall tone… in a box. The new pedal is said to combine elements of the standard issue WIIO and the company’s Dirty Little Secret to achieve the dynamic response and chirpy-articulate-crunchy tonal pallet of the 1970 performance. The WIIO’s gain stages were restructured, adding the three-band tone stack from the infamous “Jimmy Page Hiwatt”. From the Dirty Little Secret comes the circuitry that contributes to the RAH’s ‘big cabinet feel’. According to the company, the RAH is designed to deliver guitarists an incredible uncompressed and dynamic range that responds to picking hand and and/or volume knob. The RAH is available now direct from Catalinbread.

Catalinbread waves a bigger flag

Blake — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 12:51:48 +0000

The fine folks at Catalinbread are releasing a deluxe version of their popular Semaphore tremolo stomp. The newly expanded Semaphore Tap Tremolo includes eight different waveforms, tap tempo and divide, tap tempo input, and expression pedal capabilities. The controls include Rate, Tap Divide, Shape, Waveshape, Tap and Volume. The top of the pedal also has jacks for Tap In and expression pedal control. According to the builder, the new Semaphore has maximum versatility in a small footprint, making it one of the most powerful tremolos around. The new Semaphore Tap Tremolo will be available on 1 November, priced at around $250.

Naga Viper hisses for C-bread

Blake — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 13:33:32 +0000

Catalinbread continues its ‘pepper’ theme for its boost pedals with the coming addition of the Naga Viper. The new pedal, slated to go on sale in early September, is a booster in the tradition of the Dallas Rangemaster… a popular, vintage treble booster used by the likes of Brian May, Marc Bolan and Tony Iommi. The Naga takes the famous circuit and gives it a bit of additional control with two extra knobs – Range and Heat. The Range knob is a continuous control allows you to go from classic treble-boost to a full-range boost and anywhere in-between. The Heat knob gives you control over the gain level, unlike the original which was fixed at maximum gain.

According to Catalinbread, the Naga Viper is carefully voiced to allow you to boost ‘amp-in-the-box’ style pedals to get saturated sounds at reasonable volume levels. In the C-bread family, the Naga plays well with the Dirty Little Secret MkII and CB30 overdrives. The Naga Viper is priced at $169.

Nothing sheepish about this Manx

Blake — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 01:18:14 +0000

Fresh fuzz offers flexibility of Baxandall tone stack

Few small pedal shops have been as busy churning out new pedals over the past 12 months as Portland’s own Catalinbread. Nick and his crew have continued their amp-in-a-box line with the recent addition of the CB30 drive, but just prior to that another pedal surfaced that piqued our interest. We’re keen on fuzz here at WTDP? – a fact that we really don’t try and hide, so when Catalinbread debuted the awkwardly-titled Manx Loaghtan we knew we needed to grab one. The Manx is yet another take on the classic Big Muff sound, but the C-bread crew has added a new twist with the inclusion of the Baxandall tone stack (more on that below). So, is the bleet of the Manx enough to quash the naaaaaaay-sayers… or is this Muff variant just a goat?

Our silvery Manx sports four knob controls – Treble, Bass, Level and Sustain. The first two are your tone stack controls. Catalinbread explains them thusly: If you crank both Treble and Bass and you get a classic scooped midrange. Back both off, while turning up the Level knob and your midrange content increases. Park the Treble and roll back the Bass and the midrange scoop frequency shifts downward so you have complete control over which frequencies you are cutting. Roll the Bass below noon and you start to add a bump to your midrange which is great for running into a hot amp. The end result is a very versatile Muff sound. The Level knob adjusts the output. The Sustain knob brings in the fuzz.

Let’s check out the warm and fuzzies of doom first. With the Strat, neck pickup, we dial in the full fuzz. With Treble around 10 o’clock, Bass at 3 o’clock, Lever around 11 o’clock and Sustain dimed, here is the Manx charging down the mountain and splashing down in sludge river. Clean first, then the pedal.

With the Sustain full right, the tone wools up nice. The separate Bass and Treble controls also allow for increased control over the texture of the effect. More Treble adds a bit of edge, which is better to cut through in a sea of sound. Peg the Bass and you’ll get an even darker boom in your doom. Sliding up the selector to the bridge pickup, we roll the fuzz back a bit for a more ‘refined’ delivery. With Treble at 3 o’clock and Bass, Level and Sustain all at noon, here is the Manx… grazing. Clean first, then we got the bleet!

The increased Treble gives the muted riffage a brighter texture that can push ‘biting’ territory if further applied. Over to the Les Paul, we bring things back a bit further for some subtle fuzzed-out riffage. With Treble at noon, Bass at 2 o’clock, Level at 11 o’clock and Sustain at 9 o’clock, here’s the Manx with the Steepwater blues. The tone moves clean to dirty.

The Catalinbread Manx Loaghtan is a hearty fuzz with the ability to move from doom territory to rock and blues land with little effort. The inclusion of the Baxandall tone stack creates more possibilities for tone shaping than the typical Volume/Fuzz control combination found on many boutique builds. With a snazzy new paint job en route and a sub-$200 price tag, the Manx Loaghtan is worthy of a test drive for anyone looking for a versatile fuzz box with equal parts of brawn and bite on tap. That’s our opinion anyway… your mileage my vary!

PLEASE NOTE: All YMMV Review clips are played through a Fender ’65 Princeton Reverb RI using Lava Clear Connect cables. No reverb or other effects were added to the clips. Guitars used in this review include a 1979 Gibson Les Paul Custom and a 1998 Fender American Deluxe Stratocaster.

Catalinbread revamps drive line

Blake — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 00:08:45 +0000

New DLS Mk II, CB30 highlight pedal makeovers

The fine folks at Portland-based pedalsmiths Catalinbread have revamped their line of their drive/dirt line including a Mk II version of their popular Marshall-in-a-box Dirty Little Secret pedal and the all-new CB30. The DLS MkII is an overdrive pedal designed to bring players the sound and response of a ’70s-era Marshall amplifier. It, like other pedals in C-bread’s ‘amp drive’ range of pedals, is designed to be a ‘foundation’ overdrive pedal – it’s an “always on” pedal that forms the core of the player’s guitar sound which can be enhanced and embellished by adding boosters, fuzzes, filters, and other overdrives in front of it and riding the instrument volume knob – just as if it was in front of a real amp.

The CB30 is the company’s newest creation, designed to give players jangly, dynamic, responsive overdriven tones, just like its British 30-watt counterpart. The tone controls work exactly the same way as the actual amp, where the more the treble and bass increase, the more scooped the mids become, making it capable of being quite hollow and jangly. The CB30 can be dialed in for that immediate attack, compressed mid range honk, finished by the shimmery high end jangle, an elusive sound for many players.

In addition to the new offerings, the Wiio, SFT and Formula No. 5 also get facelifts in the process. All of the newly-enhanced drives carry a price tag of $189.

C-bread breeds a Manx Loaghtan

Blake — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 13:14:41 +0000

The Catalinbread crew have been prototyping a new fuzz pedal – their own take on the popular Ram’s Head Muff. Comically dubbed Manx Loaghtan – a breed of sheep native to the Isle of Man – the pedal is said to boast a sort of ‘flute-like sing’ with nice upper harmonics ringing through with no compromise between too bright and too bassy. The new fuzz also is said to be long on usable sustain and great for heavy, chunky chords. C-bread mentioned selling the first batch of these direct for only $100. You might want to drop them a line if you’re interested in adding this wool to your wardrobe!

Catalinbread’s Perseus fuzz now available

Blake — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 14:40:09 +0000

The crew at Catalinbread sent out a note saying their new Perseus sub-octave fuzz pedal has hit the streets. Perseus is an octave-down fuzz that allows you to select either one or two octaves down mixed with a fuzz sound that you can blend to any mix of the two you want, including just the fuzz or just the sub-octave. The Perseus has three knobs – Volume, Blend and Cut – and an octave switch. The Blend allows you mix the fuzz and octave tones. The Cut controls bass response. Turn the Cut control full-counterclockwise for maximum bass frequency domination. Turn it clockwise to trim the fat. The pedal retails for around $160. Demo video below!

NAMM: Catalinbread reveals custom prototype

Blake — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 07:58:37 +0000

The folks at Catalinbread are not prone to work up custom pedals by request, but when a band the crew digs comes calling… well, it’s just kinda hard to say ‘no’. Enter the Dead Merkin… a variant of the Merkin fuzz done special for Dead Meadow guitarist Jason Simon. The Dead Merkin is almost identical to the commercial Merkin fuzz, but the crew added a clean blend to this one. Will the Dead Merkin become part of the Catalinbread line? Or will the gang opt to release a limited number of them? Or will the only way to ever hear the Dead Merkin in the flesh be by attending a Dead Meadow show?! Stay tuned!

C-Bread, Heir to the Kingdom of Argos!

Blake — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 14:18:07 +0000

The fine folks at Oregon-based Catalinbread want you to hear something. Something pretty cool. It is an audio demo of a new pedal that, if all of the parts and such ship as expected, the company is probably building right now. The stomp is called Perseus. That is really all that is known about it at this point so there is no photo to show or controls to ponder. Listening to the clip you can hear the fuzzy/synthy/octavy tones and lay a guess on what the pedal can offer… but we’re not sure that’s the whole story. Head over here and give a listen and tell us what you think the Perseus is… besides tasty sounding!

C-bread rolls out Stereo Semaphore Tap Tremolo

Blake — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 12:52:40 +0000

We remember seeing the prototype of this one and thinking it was the biggest, most tweakable C-bread pedal we’d seen. Then, the conjecture was that it was a stereo tremolo. Flash forward and lo and behold, we have the Stereo Semaphore Tap Tremolo pedal. Nick recently posted a photo of the first production SSTT on the company’s facebook page… and it’s quite a looker. Knob controls on the new pedal include Rate, Tap Divide, Shape, Waveshape, Depth and Volume. The pedal has an extra footswitch for the tap function.

Catalinbread’s ‘villainous’ echo lives!

Blake — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 13:10:43 +0000

The crew at Catalinbread have another new pedal to unleash on the world soon. This time around the Northwesterners set their sights on an ambient delay with a unique Cut control… and are calling it the Montavillian Echo. The Cut functions to sweep from about 400Hz to about 1500Hz, lowpass filter… When the knee sweeps to the high side it gives a nice little bump in the mids right before the subtle fall off, according to C-bread. With max 600ms delay time, the Montavillian also is a “companderless” echo, which results in the repeats trailing off ‘almost forever’ over the horizon. Take a closer look at the new pedal after the jump!

Catalinbread mesmerizes with the Pareidolia

Blake — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 13:35:17 +0000

Portlanders do tremolo with a twist

Three things are becoming evermore common coming out of the Pacific Northwest – gloomy weather, terrific seafood and quality effects pedals. The latest subject in the final category comes from the fine folks at Catalinbread, which steered away from the amp-in-a-box trend they had been following with the Dirty Little Secret, Wiio and Formula No. 5 and moved to a sort of modulation gumbo with the release of Pareidolia Harmonic Mesmerizer. Equal parts Tremolo, Vibrato and Filter, the Pareidolia has its roots in the 1961 Fender Twin Amp, with offered a vibrato that favored tremolo voicings. So… does the Pareidolia deliver the trance-inducing swirl it suggests?

The Catalinbread Pareidolia comes in the bog-standard white pedal box affixed with a swirly logo sticker and a smaller C-bread logo sticker on the side with the model name and paint color. The pedal comes in several different color combinations. Our review stomp is ‘Sublime’. Inside the box, you’ll find the Pareidolia is snugged away in a linen pouch… and that’s it! The pedal itself hosts three knob controls… Depth, Rate and Volume. In Catalinbread’s words, the Depth control is able to go from just a slight shimmer in your sound to undulating ocean waves. The Rate ranges from molasses slow phase sweeps to lush tremolo and skittery chops. The Volume controls the loudness and was designed to pull double duty as a fantastic boost when the Depth is off. The pedal also has a 9v-18v DC center negative input for power. The Pareidolia cannot be run on batteries.

Diving into the Pareidolia, we dial up a touch of pulse and swirl for the neck pick-up on the Strat. With Depth dimed, Rate at 11 o’clock and Volume at noon, here’s a little bluesy progression. First dry, then wet.

You get a taste of the low-end pulse emitted by the Paredolia here. The beat is nestled in the ebb of a rash of waves set by the pedal’s Rate control. You can also hear the root Trem/Vibe foundation of the pedal. Down to the bridge pick-up, we dial back the Depth to get a bit more chop in this chordal progression. With the Depth at 10 o’clock, Rate at 3 o’clock and Volume still at noon, here’s a quick bit of waver. First clean, then the Pareidolia.

The Pareidolia maintains a bit of its signature pulse, even when the Depth is dialed back, though it does start to take on more of the characteristics found in most tremolo-style pedals. Over to the Les Paul, we go for more push with a grunge riff from a Seattle supergroup. With the Depth at 2 o’clock, Rate at noon and Volume run to 1 o’clock, it’s time to reach down… dry first, then the effect.

Here is where the pedal really starts to shine. The power of the humbuckers gives the pulse better definition and a real kick once you start turning that Depth knob to the right. Add some dirt to the that Temple of the Dog riff and you’re there!

The Pareidolia Harmonic Mesmerizer is yet another unique sounding pedal from the C-bread crew. The Oregon-based gurus have become the Pixar of pedalsmiths with a solid streak of winners dating back to before What’s That Dude Play? even existed. The Pareidolia’s signature sound is both audibly cool and musically useable – not exactly a no-brainer to achieve in a single stomp these days. The sub-$200 price tag also is appealing to the money-conscious musician. If you are in the market for a part-Tremolo, part-Vibrato and all-hip pedal to add a little oomph to your swirl, then the Pareidolia Harmonic Mesmerizer might be your ticket. That’s our opinion anyway… your mileage may vary.

Catalinbread gives glimpse of new proto

Blake — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 13:09:04 +0000

Ok, right out of the gate… No. We don’t know what this is, other than – from the looks of it – the biggest, most control-ladened pedal the C-bread team has ever shown off. We’ve got two footswitches, one with one LED… the other with two. There are six 1/4″ jacks along the back. Now, from the looks of the knob control labeling – Vol, Shape, Wave, Depth etc… it may be that we’re looking at a stereo tremolo or the like. But right now, the C-bread crew ain’t talking, so it’s all conjecture. When we know for sure, you’ll know for sure! While you wait, take a closer look at the prototype – first and second pass – after the jump!

Catalinbread flashes its Merkin

Blake — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 00:10:10 +0000

The fine folks at Catalinbread have a new fuzz pedal on the way. Called the Merkin, the stomp aims to please fans of ’60s and ’70s-era fuzz tones with a three silicon transistor circuit cut from the cloth of a popular vintage fuzz. The Merkin sports two knob controls – Volume and Texture – and is supposed to be available very soon… like in a couple of weeks soon! No firm word on pricing, but we expect to would be in the standard $150 to $180 range for most two knob Catalinbread releases. The C-bread team have put together a lengthy demo video showcasing the Merkin’s versatility with both guitar and bass. Take a closer look (and listen!) at the goodness after the jump!

Catalinbread debuts Pareidolia tones

Blake — Thu, 20 May 2010 13:16:37 +0000

A little late on this one, but the cats at Catalinbread posted some sound samples from their latest invention – the Pareidolia Harmonic Mesmerizer. Based on the vibrato/tremolo tones from a 60s-era Fender Twin, the crew added in more range of speeds and more depth. The result isn’t quite a vibe, a phaser, a tremolo or a filter, but in reality it is all of these things. The pedal boasts a complex modulation that is quite literally a mesmerizing effect, thus the name. Go here to listen to some of the clips from the stomp. The Pareidolia Harmonic Mesmerizer (prototype pictured left) is expected to be available later this summer.