Catalinbread Formula No. 5: Wow, wow, WOW!

[BAN]

Picked up one of these from Tone Factor and my face has been frozen in a shit-eating grin ever since. This is one of the best honeymoons I've had. I am SO happy with this pedal.

[justnick]

It is an awesome pedal.

I did a comparison demo with my vintage 5B3. As you'll see the pedal compares amazingly well and in some ways has advantages over the amp. I didn't do a perfect job with the demo (the amp is a bit further from the mic than the pedal) but you'll get the idea.

http://vimeo.com/16352882

[orogeny]

i'm pretty impressed with that one myself. i think it might be their best drive pedal, even if it isn't their best seller.

[Blunder]

Thanks for the kind words, fellas.

Nick, your comparison video was very cool.

Glad that you are digging it BAN. Hope that it continues to bring a smile to your face every time you kick it on.:beer

[Steve73]

Here is a short demo I did of the Formula 5 as well. Tweed in spades!

sLGGkVf4Thc

[tnt365]

wow, now I want one...

[Agitator]

I love the Formula 5. I love the DLS, too, although I decided that I don't like that sound for my own playing (one reason I've never owned a Marshall) and got rid of it. It certainly is good at what it does, though, and I've still got my F5 and an SFT for when I want to crunch it up.

[BAN]

Warning: Long post with some thoughts I've posted on another forum ...

On a personal note, I took some time off from CBread products after the whole WIIO thing. It kind of left a bad taste in my mouth and I just figured I'd spend my money elsewhere and moved on to other things. But then I decided that was very silly indeed. I've been unprofessional and emotional before and plenty of folks have given me second chances. So having had really good CB pedal experiences before, I decided to check this pedal out. One big reason (as shown in this thread already) is that it's one of the few pedals out there where I haven't seen a single demo that makes it sound bad.

And it lived up to all my expectations This is tweed in a box. This is Americana in a box. This is a fine honeymoon so far, and I hope it continues. Killer, killer pedal!

What I love about it is that it's not a straight ahead pristine OD. It's wooly and raunchy and at the higher gain levels you might be able to say you hear some fuzz there. I am definitely one who prefers my ODs to be "fuzzy."

Last night I spent about 5 hours doing the a/b/c/d thing with this pedal and the HBOD, TBIAC, and Screw Driver Deluxe. Now, I know these are very different pedals, but they are all pedals that can give some nice Americana tones. The way it's looking now, I'm pretty sure those 3 are going to go up on the block and I'm going to stick with the Fn5.

I use my SD differently than a lot of folks; I have the pre-gain all the way off or to about 9:00 maximum and I typically use it as a low gain OD. So, I definitely get some overlap between it and the Fn5.

I can also set it up to sound fairly close to the Honey Bee, at least the way I use the HBOD. The way I use the HB is gain all the way up and Nature knob all the way up, too. This setting is where the Fn5 begins in terms of its gain range, and I REALLY like the low gain OD tones in the Catalinbread pedal.

Basically, I'm going to resort to a crap cliche that I always see on these boards, which is that the Fn5 comes very close to achieving the tone I have in my head. I love alt-country/americana music and all the pedals listed above (SD, HB, TBIAC) are ones I've used to try to get those tones out of my Blackface Fender style amp. All of them work well for that, too, but this pedal gets closer to the sound I've been searching for (since about 1990) than any of the others.

It also works VERY well with the volume control of the guitar. Clean up is excellent and the cleaned up sounds aren't dull and muted but really sound like a cranked amp cleaning up with the volume control of the guitar. Some sparkly, vibrant cleans with the volume rolled down.

All TGP reviews require at least one criticism, so here's my mild one: I do find it to be a bit bright, and I run the tone at around 9:00-10:00 most of the time, especially at lower gain settings. But luckily the tone control works well enough to deal with this. If I had to make one addition to this pedal, it would be something like the cut control on many Menatone pedals that comes post distortion and can be taken out of the circuit at full CCW.

I played it again for about an hour this morning before work and I'm still liking it quite a bit. Got some great Billy Gibbons tones this a.m. and that started the day off right.

[soli528]

not to poke a hornet's nest, but what is/was the whole WIIO thing?
I've had my eyes on a Fn5 for a while but I haven't had the best results with several CB pedals and my rig.

[cas29]

Here is a short demo I did of the Formula 5 as well. Tweed in spades!

sLGGkVf4Thc

Good lord for a split second there I was confused why the lead and drums didnt start up and Mic starting to sing!! Soo good!

[BAN]

not to poke a hornet's nest, but what is/was the whole WIIO thing?
I've had my eyes on a Fn5 for a while but I haven't had the best results with several CB pedals and my rig.

Just internet nonsense. A search here and on other forums will hip you to the "controversy," but I'd say your time is better spent heading over to tonefactor.com and buying a Formula No. 5. It wasn't a big deal in the grand scheme of things, and the WIIO remains a killer pedal.

[Cream]

Has anyone compared the Les Lius to the No. 5?

[InAbsentia]

I just traded off my Screwdriver, and you're already making me want this as a replacement.. hate this place sometimes.. :lol:

[Orbis_Mortis]

Glad to hear these reviews because I have one on the way. Can't Wait!!!

[catalinbread]

Just internet nonsense. A search here and on other forums will hip you to the "controversy," but I'd say your time is better spent heading over to tonefactor.com and buying a Formula No. 5. It wasn't a big deal in the grand scheme of things, and the WIIO remains a killer pedal.

Internets indeed... We did make our share of communication mis-steps. It may seem bizarre to some folks, but we really want the merit of the circuits to carry the pedal NOT hype alone. WIIO hype was really uncomfortable for us to witness and completely unexpected... Folks flipping WIIO for $800 on Craigslist BEFORE we had even shipped them!? Without anybody hearing them!? Like wow! I felt badly for folks who didn't have a chance to snag one to make music with!
:eeks

Thanks for your support BAN! It really means alot to us that you're making music with our warez!

[capt4inslow]

Here is a short demo I did of the Formula 5 as well. Tweed in spades!

sLGGkVf4Thc


Holy crap I know what pedal I'm getting next.

[analogic]

I've been looking at this pretty seriously myself. May need to take the plunge.

[amphead777]

I've been using a LP Woodrow for tweed tones for quite a while. I love it's sensitivity to the guitars volume, and picking style. Now, because of this damn forum I'm going to get a #5. I have too,no real choice!!

[Cream]

Man, I really want to pit my LL head to head with this. The nearest dealer is 3 hours away so that ain't gonna happen.

I haven't heard enough clips of the No. 5 at lower gain. My LL excels at lower to mid gain but that clip that was posted of the No. 5 seems amazing for higher gain, my-neighbors-will-be-over-any-second, Neil Young riffage.

[BAN]

Experimentation can be costly. In all my playing last night I didn't stack the HBOD into the Fn5. I just did and the sound is HUGE and retains all the touch sensitivity and clean up of both pedals. I had tried it the other way around last night and thought it was nothing special at all, but HBOD > Fn5 is some serious goodness.

Now I might have to keep the Honey Bee. Damn.

Best part is it works great in two different ways:
1. Honey Bee on as base dirty-clean tone and then step in the Formula to go full dirt or ...
2. Use the Formula as you normally would and then kick on the HBOD for a huge sound, almost like you turned on another amp or jacked into a bigger cabinet.

And this from someone who has no interest in messing with stacking most of the time.

[100JH]

I am really leaning to the CB SFT pedal for my stones stuff, any reason why I should consider the Formula No. 5 instead? Anybody played both side by side than can clearly describe the difference between the two?

Please be gentle, a CB virgin here...

[erksin]

I am really leaning to the CB SFT pedal for my stones stuff, any reason why I should consider the Formula No. 5 instead? Anybody played both side by side than can clearly describe the difference between the two?

Please be gentle, a CB virgin here...

IMO the difference is EQ spread - like the difference you hear in the live stuff vs. the studio recordings.

SFT = Ya-Yas
Fn5 = Sticky Fingers/Exile

[colin617]

Internets indeed... We did make our share of communication mis-steps. It may seem bizarre to some folks, but we really want the merit of the circuits to carry the pedal NOT hype alone. WIIO hype was really uncomfortable for us to witness and completely unexpected... Folks flipping WIIO for $800 on Craigslist BEFORE we had even shipped them!? Without anybody hearing them!? Like wow! I felt badly for folks who didn't have a chance to snag one to make music with!
:eeks

Thanks for your support BAN! It really means alot to us that you're making music with our warez!

Might have been over-hyped, but I love my WIIO. It works great for times when I can't crank my Custom 50.

Thanks for the great pedal!

[Agitator]

IMO the difference is EQ spread - like the difference you hear in the live stuff vs. the studio recordings.

SFT = Ya-Yas
Fn5 = Sticky Fingers/Exile
I think the SFT is also smoother, and the FN5 is rougher, or grittier, like the amp is about to melt down completely.

[monkmiles]

Here is a short demo I did of the Formula 5 as well. Tweed in spades!


Wow, that sounded great. What were the settings on the F#5?

[david(j)]

Might have been over-hyped, but I love my WIIO. It works great for times when I can't crank my Custom 50.

Thanks for the great pedal!

I'm right there with you. Love me some Cbread pedals.
The WIIO was my most recent, and methinks I'll be hanging on to it a while!

It's sitting right next to my DLS on my board...very happy couple.

[erksin]

I think the SFT is also smoother, and the FN5 is rougher, or grittier, like the amp is about to melt down completely.

Really depends on where you set the Treble control on the SFT - it'll get pretty aggressive if you want.

[BAN]

I think the SFT is also smoother, and the FN5 is rougher, or grittier, like the amp is about to melt down completely.

The Fn5 doesn't have to be "amp in meltdown." I am absolutely loving the low gain sounds in this pedal. With the gain all the way off, there is some really nice, touch sensitive low-gain OD to be had, at least with a tele.

[Steve73]

Wow, that sounded great. What were the settings on the F#5?

Thanks, it's an excellent pedal for that kind of stuff. Volume was at 11 o' clock, Tone was 3 o' clock and the Gain was maxed. The pickups I was using are fairly low output as well.

[fuzz_factor]

I think the SFT is also smoother, and the FN5 is rougher, or grittier, like the amp is about to melt down completely.

The SFT also does a 'relatively clean, but cranked power amp grind' kind of thing really well. What I'm thinking here is old blues records where they used whatever amp, turned up loud, but before you had really high gain, cascaded pre-amp gain amp designed.

Hope that made sense.