A Trio Of New Valve Pedals From Blackstar Dept. 10 Pedals

£227.00

Catalinbread have released two brand new pedals in a special edition combo box, the DREAMCOAT and the SKEWER. The pedals will be sold exclusively as a box set for one month and at a discounted rate. After the first month, people can get each pedal à la carte but at full retail price. The pedals were designed to be used individually, but they really come to life when used together. The artwork of the two pedals flow into each other as one cohesive piece.


Dreamcoat
What began as an exploration of a deeply specific '60s and '70s English classic rock tone, evolved into a multidimensional gain machine capable of anything between unruly sputtery fuzz and classic rock chime. This is not meant to make you sound like a classic rock god, it is meant to inspire you from using some of the same tools they used that would otherwise be inaccessible in pedal form. The heart and soul of the Dreamcoat is a near-exact recreation of the preamp circuit from the Aiwa TP-1011 reel-to-reel deck that can be found in '60s and '70s classic rock recordings. All of the functionality of that unit is present, from sparkling cleans to powerful crunch and glassy leads, but the “Sat” control gives you an extra layer of grunt, allowing the Dreamcoat to range between near-dry tonal indifference to complete “melting-amp” Neil Young-esque tweed sounds. A certain classic rock sound wasn’t just a tape deck, though. The famous user of this tape deck also installed a passive inductor-based frequency “booster” into his guitar that cut both sides of the spectrum around the resonant frequency of their guitar pickups, giving the appearance of a frequency boostinstalled a passive inductor-based frequency “booster” into their guitars that cut both sides of the spectrum around the resonant frequency of their guitar, giving the appearance of frequency boost. To that end, we’ve added a frequency booster circuit that doesn’t cut anything, giving you a richer tone with a little oomph where it counts. To top it all off, we’ve included a clean blend circuit that begins after the frequency boost and ends after the tape preamp, so you can EQ the sum of your clean tone and dirt, all while preserving your pick attack and presence. The whole shebang runs at 20V, just a hair higher than the original Aiwa, expanding its capabilities and delivering tons of headroom.

Current draw: 44mA
Input impedance: >1MΩ
Output impedance: <5KΩ
Dimensions: 4.33” X 2.36” X 1.93”
Weight: 0.4 lbs


Skewer
One of the most recognizable pieces of gear in classic rock canon is the old Hornby-Skewes Treble Booster, a version of the classic effect used by too many artists to list. While almost all of them used a Rangemaster, the Hornby-Skewes version came stock with a silicon transistor for a more biting sound that cut through even the densest of mixes. The SKEWER stays true to that circuit, giving the old JHS unit the same treatment as our Naga Viper. This lets you dial in the desired frequency range from rich and full to treble-heavy, as well as control the amount of boost. You can also vary the amount of transistor gain for some extra juice. Some players had their original Treble Booster modded to play nicer with the rest of their gear. We’ve taken the liberty of giving you that mod as well, which is fully adjustable via the trimpot inside. Further enhancements include a noise reduction filter and anti-pop switch circuitry. This one bites just a little harder than our Naga Viper, and sounds fantastic with the DREAMCOAT.

Current draw: 1mA
Input impedance: 100k
Output impedance: 8k
Dimensions: 4.33” X 2.36” X 1.93”
Weight: 0.46 lbs