Catalinbread Octapussy hits the streets
Octave fuzz is one of my favourite effects, and if you’d seen my house you’d know that Pilgrim and I are all about psychedelic 60s and 70s design. So I feel like the Catalinbread Octapussy is practically designed for me. And check it out: that picture above was supplied by Catalinbread but that’s the same model Strat that I have. It’s a sign!
PRESS RELEASE
Catalinbread Octapussy hits the streets.
Dateline: March 5th, 2012 Portland, OR
If you followed the news from NAMM you may have seen this pedal unveiled. Well, Catalinbread is ready to let the cat out of the bag. The Octapussy is an octave-up fuzz in the tradition of the Octavia. But it’s not a clone of that circuit! Nope, it’s an original circuit designed by Howard Gee, utilizing 3 silicon transistors and two diodes that takes the tradition to the next level! Get yourself the ultimate octave fuzz, and launch your sound into the stratosphere.
The Octapussy was designed to be extremely responsive to your guitar and playing. Whether you’re looking for sweet, breathy, delicate octave-up melodies; epic soaring leads that bloom as you hold a bend; or massively huge grinding, industrial-strength power chords. The Octapussy has it! There’s also a slew of other sounds to be had not only in the pedal itself, but also with your playing style and guitar controls.
New pedals from Dwarfcraft
Check out these new goodies from Dwarfcraft. First up is the Zhago, a lean boost with a toggle to introduce a tight, gritty distortion with a strong gate.
Here’s a demo video:
Then there’s the Total Spack Vibes, created for Daniel Spack, member of Collections Of Colonies Of Bees, Volcano Choir, and Group of the Altos. It’s a weaponized overdrive began as a tricked-out version of Dwarfcraft’s popular “The Internet” overdrive pedal, but with an added tone knob and a gain control for the foot switchable gain boost, labeled “harder.” Sounds cool on paper, but according to Dwarfcraft’s Ben and Louise, “HOLY MOLEY. When it came together and hit the testing table, it’s true nature was revealed. EVIL. True, you can get familiar overdrive sounds, and a handy dandy boost, just like you would with The Internet. But in addition to these, you can conjure up a plethora of scratchy harsh treble blasting noise distortion.”
COOL VIDEO ALERT: Seymour Duncan ’59/Custom Hybrid
A few weeks ago I wrote about the ’59/Custom Hybrid which Seymour Duncan announced at NAMM. Check out this new video of Seymour Duncan’s Frank Falbo demoing and discussing the pickup in comparison with a few others. The video offers a nice clear recording of the differences and ‘sames’ between the Custom, the ’59 and the ’59/Custom pickups.
What’s really super mega cool about this pickup is that it’s based on a mod developed by a member of the Seymour Duncan User Group forum. So there ya go – those of you who like to mod your gear and brag about it online (and who doesn’t?), just think – maybe the next time you perform some sweet mod on your guitar or pedal or something, it could end up as a production model.
Maybe.
NAMM 2012: Catalinbread
Catalinbread showed at NAMM for the first time in 2012 with a really cool display. They had plenty of cool new pedals to check out, but in the true spirit of showmanship they drew a lot of attention with a set of special Custom Shop Fuzz Flowers handpainted by Sharlet Thompson. These amazing creations feature the Catalinbread line as well as some special fuzz creations built by Bryan Lundstrom.
Also on show:
Hi! I'm Peter Hodgson. I write for Gibson.com, Australian Guitar, Australian Musician, Mixdown Magazine (including my instructional column, 'Unleash Your Inner Rock God,' which has been running since 2007), guitarworld.com, Tone Deaf, Beat (including their weekly hard rock/metal column Crunch) and The Brag. And I'm Assistant Social Coordinator with Seymour Duncan.
I've been playing guitar since I was 8 years old, and I've been writing for magazines since I was 18. I've also worked as a guitar teacher (up to 50 students a week), a setup tech, a newspaper editor, and I've also dabbled in radio a little bit. I live in Melbourne, Australia, and my hobbies include drinking way too much coffee, and eating way too much Mexican food.
You can check out my guitar playing at Reverbnation or on YouTube, and feel free to email me at iheartguitarblog@gmail.com