Catalinbread Formula 5F6 Tweed Bassman Foundation Overdrive Pedal

Catalinbread Formula 5F6 Tweed Bassman Foundation Overdrive Pedal

The Formula 5F6 provides high-powered 6L6-driven tweed on the edge of breakup! This incredible design from Catalinbread lends itself to almost any musical style, from the classic Strat-Bassman bluestones of Buddy Guy and Otis Rush to artists like Jimmie and Stevie Ray Vaughn, Robbie Robertson, Robben Ford, all the way to heavier styles by stacking boost, overdrive, or fuzz pedals into it. The Formula 5F6 won’t just make you play old music, it will take you where your imagination takes you!

Reproduce The Key Circuit Elements of the Bassman ‘5F6’

What Catalinbread did with the Formula 5F6 was reproduce the key circuit elements of the Bassman ‘5F6’ preamp circuit's bright channel using JFETs instead of tubes and then fine-tuned and refined it for ultimate low to medium gain response in front of any good amp set clean. You get the same preamp structure (gain stage -> volume control -> gain stage -> tone stack) as the Bassman, key to getting not just the tone, but the feel and response right.

Treble/Mid/Bass Knob

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, or 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.

Volume Knob

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 and start with the Gain control at the minimum and then slowly bring up the Gain control to the desired response. This will give you the most authentic Bassman experience!

Gain Knob

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