The Return of a Catalinbread Classic
The Varioboost marks the return of one of Catalinbread’s most oft-requested legacy pedals, enhanced with a sizzling pre-boost soft-clipping control. Just like the original pedal, the Varioboost provides 12dB of boost or cut from 70Hz to 1.4kHz using the Freq control, along with a healthy injection of gain on top for hard-hitting boost utility. However, this pedal is no mere reissue — an all-new Pre control grants you access to a clipping circuit placed before the frequency boost for an even raunchier flavor. Combined with the flexible Post (volume) control, the Varioboost excels at everything from subtle EQ sculpting to squeaky-clean boost to slamming the front end of your amplifier into sweet saturation. Whether you’re a die-hard jazzer looking to smooth over your signal’s top end or a metal-obsessed guitarist aiming to surgically trim out your signal’s midrange, the Catalinbread Varioboost is a superb boost that tackles clean, dirty, and even overdrive tones with equal aplomb.
Related Videos: Varioboost Preamplifier Pedal
Pre-EQ soft clipping
A feature not found in Catalinbread’s original Varioboost, this pedal’s Pre knob supercharges your signal with additional heat. This control remains out of the circuit when set completely counterclockwise, and it slowly adds a touch of rich, tasteful soft clipping into your pre-EQ boost signal the higher you turn it. When testing the pedal out at Sweetwater, we particularly enjoyed how diming the control cascades the post-EQ op-amp into a much more saturated sound than was possible with the original Varioboost!
Catalinbread: gear that makes you want to play
The self-avowed gearheads at Catalinbread focus on making musical devices they want to use — “gear that gets us excited and inspires us to play.” The result of that authentic focus and unwavering integrity is the type of innovation that isn’t market-driven; Catalinbread creates its own market for products players love, whether overdrive, delay/reverb, fuzz/distortion, or tremolo/modulation pedals — many of which are available at Sweetwater.
Catalinbread Varioboost Features:
- Ultra-versatile boost pedal, capable of taking on both clean and dirty boost duties with surgical EQ sculpting
- Set your frequency from 70Hz to 1.4kHz using the Freq knob, then boost/cut it by 12dB using the Level control
- Pre knob injects your signal with a pre-EQ soft-clipping circuit that imparts additional gain and character; can also be used to slam the post-EQ op-amp for hard-hitting breakup
- Powerful Post (volume) control puts plenty of clean gain on top when the Pre knob is minimized
