Catalinbread Formula 51 Overdrive Pedal

General

Taking all its cues from vintage guitar amplifiers from the forties, the Catalinbread Formula 51 overdrive is the child of a time when Fender had just dropped the first Champ, which later became the Champ 800. After making a few changes to the circuit, Fender introduced the 5F1: better known as the Tweed Champ, an amp that, via nothing more than a single volume pot, was able to span a plethora of tonal profiles - all the way from biting cleans to brick-wall distortions. The more humble and lightweight Catalinbread Formula 51 is home to all of this, and even leaves space for that much-sought-after Tweed-style dynamic response.

The Catalinbread Formula 51: Specialised Design

Taking a different route when compared to most amp-in-a-box pedals, the Formula 51 is built out of a preamp, a discrete power amp simulator and an output transformer. It's this layout that shapes the outstanding dynamic response of this stompbox and, combined with your playing and the provided controls, that response can be bent in any direction. A sweet detail is the tone pot, which uses the same mid-scoop control as the Framus Cobra amplifier - a mod that flips from the mid-profile of the Tweed to the mid-scooped output of the Champ. Stack the Formula 51 with other pedals or power it at 18V to gain extra headroom.

• Please note: A power supply does not come included with this pedal.