Tell me about Catalinbread Varioboost

[MikeSelmer]

Hi all. This pedal looks interesting, but I can't find too much info on it. I was thinking of using it to push the heavily overdriven amp into singing lead. Can this pedal do it? Also, can anybody shed some light on the half-cocked was thing it can do? Any info on how the pedal works as a lead boost appreciated!

MIKE

 

[Jacobpaul81]

Works like an EQ.

It can kick your amp up quite a bit. Not really a gain booster though. It's pretty darn clean. Comparing it the Timmy, which some people think of a as a clean boost, the Timmy adds noticable distortion to the signal. Not so with the varioboost.

As for the cocked wah thing. It's an EQ, but with only two knobs. The two knobs do exactly what they say. One controls the HZ from 70-1400. The other controls the amount of Boost, or Cut. So you can boost high end, or cut high end. Boost low end, or cut low end. you can boost mids or cut mids. This get's you cocked wah tones. It can also make an Overdrive sound like a fuzz! :AOK

 

[erksin]

Hey Mike -

This is a great video demo of the VariO - should answer a lot of your questions.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?d...l=1&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0

It really depends on how much headroom your amp has, but there is potentially quite a bit of gain on tap (I'm talking low gain OD here - not distortion level gain). The amount of gain you can dial in is also very dependant on what freqs you are boosting and by how much.

Let me know if you have any other questions - I'd be glad to help!

 

[SunnyRollins]

it's nice to achive that intense "half cocked wah" sound associated with Michael Schenker, for example.
...or get it with a clean sound, which is nice!!

 

[Mitch T]

You mean the recent Varioboost Pro or the older Varioboost ?
I tried the Varioboost Pro and really, really liked it. Very flexible with the parametriq EQ and still the punch and clarity of the mosfet boost. Very good idea, very well executed.

 

[SunnyRollins]

Hey Mike -

This is a great video demo of the VariO - should answer a lot of your questions.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?d...l=1&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0

It really depends on how much headroom your amp has, but there is potentially quite a bit of gain on tap (I'm talking low gain OD here - not distortion level gain). The amount of gain you can dial in is also very dependant on what freqs you are boosting and by how much.

Let me know if you have any other questions - I'd be glad to help!

Erksin, how does the VariO match with the Honey bee?

 

[playon]

Hi all. This pedal looks interesting, but I can't find too much info on it. I was thinking of using it to push the heavily overdriven amp into singing lead. Can this pedal do it? Also, can anybody shed some light on the half-cocked was thing it can do? Any info on how the pedal works as a lead boost appreciated!

MIKE

To push your amp like that you might want to try a treble-boost type pedal. My Divided by 13 DynaRanger does that great.

 

[erksin]

Erksin, how does the VariO match with the Honey bee?

Really well actually - still keeps the dynamics intact, etc.

 

[erksin]

To push your amp like that you might want to try a treble-boost type pedal. My Divided by 13 DynaRanger does that great.

The VariO cops a VERY convincing treble booster sound - I've A/B'd it with my Scott's Crispy Cream and its really difficult to tell them apart tone-wise...