One of my favorite overdrive pedals from Catalinbread is their Formula No. 5 – it hasn’t left my board in years, and I can always find a use for it somewhere in my playing, regardless of style or volume. That said, I was super-stoked to test out it’s big brother, the Formula 5F6, whose circuit is based on the old tweed Bassman amplifiers. As soon as I plugged it in, I loved the sound, and after messing around with it for a while, I was sold.

I adjusted the knobs to relatively normal settings and hit the footswitch. At first, I was puzzled about the lack of drive coming through the pedal, but loved the clarity and tone nonetheless. Then I realized my guitar’s volume was down about halfway, and once I cranked it back to full power, this pedal took off! Playing around with the EQ section of the 5F6 is great fun, as its 3 separate controls allow for a multitude of sonic textures, and can really make your tone sound brilliant in a number of different ways. I kept the Gain control at about 2:00, as that was the perfect spot for me to really drive my amp and get those beautiful Bassman sounds. Of course, rolling it back produced some gorgeous clean tones, especially when working together with my guitar’s volume knob, and was a mad powerhouse when turned up past 3:00.

Simply put, this is one of the cleanest, classic-sounding overdrive pedals I’ve come across in a long time, and fits right in with any style of music, particularly if you’re looking for a good old-fashioned classic rock tone. Another overdrive into the books for the folks at Catalinbread, and another out-of-the-park home run. Great EQ section, great Gain tones, great overall power AND it plays nice with other pedals – what more could you need?

Features:
Authentic tweed Bassman tone and response
Amazing dynamics via touch or guitar volume control
Ideal for stacking with fuzzes, ODs, and boosts.
Exact three knob tonestack circuitry reproduced from the 5F6 amp

Submitted by Mike B, Website

More info at:

GET EXCLUSIVE UPDATES, CONTEST INFO, SEE OUR LATEST DEMO VIDEOS AND MORE: