Catalinbread Formula No. 55 Foundation Overdrive Guitar Effects Pedal

The good: tweed amp tone in spades. Thick, responsive, touch sensitive. The controls are very interactive as on a tweed amp. you can get a really nice low overdrive, little bit of grit tone, like blue note jazz in the 50s. You can get ridiculous amounts of tweed deluxe on 11 gain.It works best when you use it like an amp. Set the knobs to noon to start, bring your amp volume down, and control the level of drive with your guitar's volume knob.The bad:Dark, very darkly voiced.Also applies a TON of compression. Tube amps add compression, more and more as they distort. This ads a ton of compression. For example. I have a trem pedal running in front of it. when I engage the Formula 55, the trem effect vanishes, because there's so much compression going on.It sounds better, to me, at 18 volts than at 9. It has more headroom and less compression, which is saying somethingFor my uses, it has way way more gain than I want or need. but it sounds as a low gain pedal. Just be prepared for a dark voicing and a lot of compression

Sounded nothing like the demos I’ve heard. Expected thick, Neil Young tweed overdrive. Got none of that. More of a (very loud) clean boost that adds bass. On the “high” setting and maxed out gain, got a little (very little) overdrive. Used a 50s Fender strat into various amps. My tubescreamer has more overdrive. Sent it back.

Grit from slight od to downright grungy Neil tone.Responds well with volume on your guitar.It's a nice Deluxe in a pedal with gobs of drive.

Sending back, didn’t work.Opened up the box, looked good. Plugged into a snark 9v dc supply (compatible), no joy. Opened up the back and installed 9v (compatible), no joy.Glad I paid 185 for a box that does nothing.

I have an actual 5e3 Deluxe and this pedal does an excellent job in emulating that amp. While it does have limited versatility, if you are looking for a pedal version of a 5e3 that you can use in front of a good “pedal amp” it could be construed as a good value for the money.

Awesome pedal! Definitely has that old Tweed sound. Stack it for even better sounds

Sent mine back. No power cord, no instructions or tips on settings for various tones, sound or compression etc. If it’s of any value technically, they need a huge dose of marketing help.

Good pedal, sounds great with my small tube amp; gives some of that classic rock sound, or other sounds if mess with it.