Stompbox designers are an obsessive breed. If they are not playing the guitar, you’ll probably find them at the breadboard, workshopping circuit designs, prototyping. Brian Wampler once told us that is both job and a hobby.
But what happens to all those circuits that didn’t make to the market? Most go nowhere. Some get resurrected. At Catalinbread, however, you might now find them in the Proto Club, a new scheme in which the pedals that made it to the prototype stage are sold to the public at a discounted rate.
The first pedal in the Proto Club is a very different kind of delay pedal that was originally intended to be one of the modes on the brand’s shoegaze-in-a-box Soft Focus Deluxe pedal, and it is called the Tritone Proto 227. We called it a delay but it’s technically a “pitch echo”, and it comes in the Portland, Oregon guitar effects pedal brand’s familiar four-knob compact enclosure.
Catalinbread calls it a Soft Focus “B-side” – which is promising. The Man Who Sold The World was a B-side. Green Onions was a B-side. The Beach Boys’ Gold Only Knows was a B-side… You get the point. This could be a classic.
Certainly, giving its limited release, it will definitely have a collectibility factor. And used with the Soft Focus Deluxe, it could extend the pedal’s sonic universe.
“The Tritone, was universally loved by the crew but the vibes clashed with the palette of the Soft Focus Deluxe a little too hard,” says Catalinbread. “It’s been on some of our own pedalboards for some time. Unfortunately, it’s stayed there away from public eyes and ears, but fortunately, it fits the exact vibe of the Proto Club!”
In this instance, the vibe is experimental. This should reward adventurous tone-seekers, with the capability to create three-note arpeggios out of the repeats, as a “call-and-response type octave-up” effect runs in tandem with a perfect fifth. And it’s not just for electric guitar. In fact, this might actually be more useful for some synth players.
As per many of these Catalinbread four-knob designs, there is an all-important Mix knob to control the wet/dry blend. There’s an Echo dial for controlling feedback, i.e. the number of repeats, and if you crank this setting to expect some oscillation. Dog owners, be warned. From experience, this oscillation makes them howl.
The Time knob sets the delay time. While the “Triton” dial provides the Tritone Proto 227’s USP.
There is a lot more where this came from.
“We have tons of effects on our breadboards and programming suites that we can’t squeeze into the release schedule, things that don’t quite fit into our lineup, circuits with too niche of an audience, or ‘our versions’ of beloved classics,” says Catalinbread.
The Tritone Proto 227 is available now, until 9 July. See Catalinbread for more details. It’s priced £110/$149.
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