Catalinbread Formula No. 5 tweed-style overdrive effects pedal

General

The Catalinbread Formula No. 5 is inspired by the 5E3 circuit used in vintage tweed amplifiers. The character of the 5E3 is pretty unique given that it is actually an inefficient system. It makes the bass sound loose and the midrange muddy, while the treble cuts through just about anything. You would think that this sounds far from ideal and yet this is the basis of 50 years of music history! Catalinbread has recreated this sound perfectly with the Formula 5 by using cascaded JFET gain. The result is a warmer sound with more dynamics than would be the case with diode clipping. Catalinbread also chose capacitors with stong midrange and polished trebles.

Formula No. 5: secret formula

The tone control can be used to reduce the trebles, depending on the Gain setting. With Gain at maximum, the tone control has little effect, but at lower levels it has more. In this, the Formula No. 5 captures the true essence of the 5E3 circuits found in vintage tweed amps. Another similarity is that you can use the volume control on your guitar to get a variety of sounds from the Catalinbread effects pedal. This means you can always leave the pedal on. Combining the pedal with another fuzz or boost pedal is no problem either. For the true tweed enthusiast Catalinbread have cooked up the perfect secret formula. Now it's time to feast on the Formula 5.

Catalinbread effects pedals: handmade in America

In Portland, Oregon, a small team with diverse backgrounds and different areas of expertise, work together to develop high-quality effects pedals. Their goal is to develop guitar effects that become an integral part of your own sound. That's why their slogan is "Mechanisms of Music". The hand-crafted stomp boxes respond perfectly to the subtleties in your playing and so become an extension of your creative expression. Catalinbread brings back traditional sounds, in a compact format with enhanced functionality. They are constantly developing and innovating with the aim of becoming an essential part of your pedal board now and in the future.