Catalinbread SFT Overdrive Effect Pedal

Features:

• To use it as intended, you’ll want your amp set to a relatively clean, flat response.
• In fact, the new SFT is our widest ranging Foundation pedal yet and responds particularly well to fuzzes, boosts, and overdrivers.

Catalinbread SFT Overdrive Effects Pedal

The Catalinbread SFT is an AMPEG voiced foundation overdrive that bridges the ‘Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out!’ (Stones) and the Desert Sound (Stoner) eras.

The SFT was a painstaking undertaking to accomplish. That elusive not-clean yet not-dirty sound. A great tube amp does it. You turn it up halfway or so and there it is – not totally clean but not really crunching either. It breathes. It bounces. It responds. Getting a pedal to do that is not easy. Getting a pedal to do that while also making the pedal able to become a pummeling JFET fuzz pedal is even harder. We persisted until we got there! It was all about gain staging. Finding the right bias points. Tuning the tone stack. Making the circuit resonate just right so the pick attack is right. So the thump of the low E string is right. When you’re finally done it seems obvious. Getting to obvious is not so obvious though!

The SFT is one of our Foundation Overdrives – pedals can give you big, cranked up amp response at non-cranked volumes. To use it as intended, you’ll want your amp set to a relatively clean, flat response. In fact, the new SFT is our widest ranging Foundation pedal yet and responds particularly well to fuzzes, boosts, and overdrivers.

Range of Treble Knob

Turning the Treble control down from noon gives a low-pass shelving response at around 1000hz. Typically you’d turn the Treble down below noon in the following situations: you’ve got the Gain set low for clean response, you’re in Stoner mode dialing in a woolly fuzz tone, or you’re playing bass. Turning up the Treble control first gives you a nice kick in the upper mids from noon to 2:00 and then beyond that the sound will get increasingly more trebly. For most uses on guitar in Stones mode, you’ll probably find yourself setting the Treble from noon to 2:00.

Stones/Stoner Modes

First, let’s talk a bit more about the Stones/Stoner Modes switch. This switch completely reconfigures the SFT and makes it become a completely new beast. Think Jekyll and Hyde! Two pedals in one! Stones Modes is super-refined and Stoner Modes is raw and unleashed!

If you want the most authentic big Ampeg tube amp response, use Stones Modes. If you want a rippin’ high gain distortion sound that can achieve huge fuzz tones, use Stoner Modes.

Range of Bass Knob

Turning the Bass control down from noon gives a high-pass shelving response around 200hz. This allows you to tighten up the response and attenuate those woolly and woofy frequencies. Turning up the Bass control boosts all those frequencies. You’ll notice as the Bass control is turned towards maximum there will be a huge bump in low end. Huge. For most purposes that is too much boost of the low end! That huge amount of low end boost is there so you can crank it for the fuzz setting in Stoner mode.

Volume Knob

The SFT was designed to give a huge amount of output even with clean low gain settings. So, if you’re running the Gain control really low, you’ll find that there is plenty of output on the Volume knob to boost that clean sound quite loud! But if you’re running higher gain sounds, especially in Stoner mode, you’ll find that you won’t have to turn the Volume control up much at all.

Stoner Mode

When you’re in Stoner Mode, the controls still work basically the same way but you’ll find that you will run the Treble, Bass, and Gain Knobs lower than you would in Stones mode due to all the extra gain and frequency content.

And be forewarned! In Stoner Mode, turning up the controls to extreme settings will result in extreme sounds and potentially noise! If you want tighter distortion sounds in Stoner Mode, just start with the Treble, Bass, and Gain Knobs at the lower settings and go from there. Also, don’t forget about the Volume and Tone controls on your guitar. You can use those to tame Stoner mode and still have room to unleash the beast when it’s time.

Gain Knob

In Sones Mode, the range of the Gain Knob has been tuned to be very similar to that of the volume control on a big non-master volume tube amp. So, from minimum Gain to about 10:00, the response will be clean and bright. From 10:00 to noon, you’ll get edge-of-breakup response that is very sensitive to pick attack. From noon to 2:00, you’ll hit the overdrive sweet spot, just like that of most tube amps. And from 2:00 on, you’ll get increasing crunch and saturation.

Designer’s Notes

What was the hardest thing to dial in with the new SFT? That elusive not-clean yet not-dirty sound. A great tube amp does it. You turn it up halfway or so and there it is – not totally clean but not really crunching either. It breathes. It bounces. It responds. Getting a pedal to do that is not easy. Getting a pedal to do that while also making the pedal able to become a pummeling JFET fuzz pedal is even harder. I persisted until I got there! It was all about gain staging. Finding the right bias points. Tuning the tone stack. Making the circuit resonate just right so the pick attack is right. So the thump of the low E string is right. When you’re finally done it seems obvious. Getting to obvious is not so obvious though!

Enjoy your new Catalinbread SFT and I hope it inspires many riffs and songs for you!

-Howard Gee