The Catalinbread SFT is an AMPEG® inspired foundation overdrive that bridges the "Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out (Stones) and the Desert Sound (Stoner) eras.
We’ve always been smitten by AMPEG®. Early on the company was a Jazz purist company, completely overlooking (possibly looking down on) more popular genres like Country & Western and Rock that FENDER® and MARSHALL® openly embraced. From a design standpoint they took more queues from the hifi world than they did from guitarists as evidenced by their tube complements, gain stages without cathode capacitors, and implementation of the Baxandall tone controls. And they we’re no slouches to innovation either, “Flip-top” combos is a great example. Not to mention there is at least one model of amplifier that had a torsion bar to adjust the tightness of the speaker baffle!
GUITARS AND THE SFT
Like the actual amp, the SFT is responsive to the type of guitar you’re playing into it,
especially in Stones mode. If you’re playing vintage output Fender guitars, the tone will
stay cleaner longer as you turn up the Gain knob. If you’re playing a humbucker or other
higher-output style of pickup, the SFT will break up sooner on the Gain knob. But you’ll
always be able to get cleans by turning your guitar’s volume down.
BASS GUITARS AND THE SFT
And of course the SFT works great on bass. The SFT can be used to warm up a sterile
sounding solid-state bass amp without adding any overdrive. Just set the Gain control
low and also start with the Treble and Bass controls low and dial up as needed. The SFT
will give you a much nicer playing feel that is more responsive to your playing and a
great woody bass tone. For overdriven and fuzzed-out bass tones, most of the
information given above in this guide applies as well
Tech:
Power Source 9-18V DC power supply (sold separately)
Power Usage 4mA
Height 1.96"
Width 2.36"
Depth 4.33"
Weight .40 lbs.
