Catalinbread Formula 5F6 Overdrive

Problems with your sound?

Do you play a high-powered clean amp such as a Twin and can’t get a good cranked response at the real-world gig volumes you have to play at?

Do you play a smaller amp at home but it’s still too loud to give you a great amp response?

Or maybe you have a two-channel amp but hate the dirty channel?

Perhaps you can play as loud as you want but you crave more touch sensitivity in your rig.

Or maybe you’re having trouble integrating fuzzes into your rig? Too loud or they just don’t sound right because your amp tone is too clean. The dirty channel of your amp makes the fuzz sound thin, farty, and pinched-off?

Adding the Formula 5F6 to your rig will solve all these problems. It will become the foundation of your pedalboard because it is the pedal that enhances the response of all your other pedals.

Catalinbread’s foundation range represents pretty much all the classic amp configurations.

GAIN

The Gain knob controls the gain, obviously, but circuit-wise it is identical to the “Bright Volume” control on the tweed Bassman.

So, turned down low, you’ll get those great sparkly cleans. Turned up midway or so and you’ll get that elusive touch-sensitive response where you can play clean or dirty just by varying your picking attack.

Cranked all the way up you’ll get the gain structure of a Bassman on 12, thick and overdriven, but still sounding very California.

Like the Bright Vol channel on a Bassman, this control gives a brighter tone when the Gain is turned down due to its brightness circuit. As you turn the Gain up, the brightness circuit has less and less effect.

Get nice clean tones with a beautiful sparkle, and turn up the gain for awesome warmth

In general, the higher you set the Gain knob, the less Bass you’ll need. And, the lower you set the Gain knob, the less Treble you’ll need. So, the optimum setting of the tone controls will be determined by where you’re running the Gain knob. This is true for the real amp as well!

VOLUME

This is the master volume that controls the output of the pedal.

The lower you set the Gain knob the higher you’ll want to run the Volume.

For the best clean and on-edge-of-breakup response, turn the Volume all the way up. Start with the Gain control at minimum, and then slowly bring up the Gain control to the desired response.

This will give you the most authentic Bassman experience!

In general, for best results set the pedal slightly louder when on compared to bypassed.

TREBLE, MIDDLE, and BASS tone controls

These controls reproduce exactly, part-for-part, the tone circuit (“tone stack”) of the tweed Bassman.

If you’re familiar with the tone controls on that amp, you’ll already know how these work!

The circuit was carefully tuned around this tone stack to give great tones, no matter how the tone knobs are set.

Don’t be afraid to try things like full Mid and no Treble or Bass, even full Treble with no Mid or Bass. You’ll find a huge universe of useful tones to make your part stand out in the mix.

The Middle knob can be thought of as a sort of other “gain” knob.

The higher the mids are set, the more dense and focused the tone will be. So if you’re going for the maximum cranked sound, try cranking the Middle control as well as the Gain. Conversely, if you’re going for the cleanest sound, try reducing the Middle but boost- ing the Treble and perhaps even the Bass control.

You could just set all the tone knobs at noon and go from there but also try this: start with all the tone knobs at minimum.

You’ll hear that the pedal is producing the full tone but it is not getting out. This is because the tone stack is later in the preamp after the two gain stages. Later black- and silver-face designs put the tone controls way up front in the preamp. So with the tone knobs at minimium, play and begin increasing the Treble control until it feels about right.

Turn the pedal off and on so you know the difference between the bypassed sound and what the pedal is doing. Slowly bring up the Middle until the sound fills out enough. Finally, you may decide you don’t need any Bass boosting at all.

YOUR GUITAR’S VOLUME KNOB

Your guitar’s volume knob is part of the Formula 5F6’s controls!

Even with the Gain on the pedal cranked, you can get great clean sounds by turning your guitar down.

The 5F6 responds beautifully which is why it is a Foundation Overdrive. You can leave it on all night and vary between clean and crunch from your guitar’s volume knob.

For more, add fuzz, boost, or dirt in front of the 5F6 to get a huge sound with complete dynamic control!