Catalinbread Super Charged Overdrive (SCO)Review
Catalinbread SCO Specs
The Catalinbread Super Charged Overdrive (SCO) is your basic distortion pedal but with a few twists. The SCO does not
contain any diodes to achieve the overdrive effect. Instead multiple moderate gain stages are cascaded (kind of like a
Mesa Boogie preamp) to generate distortion. One will also notice there is no tone control on the SCO, instead the Contour
control functions more like a presence control on a amp.
Roll the Contour back counter clockwise and the box sounds a like a pushed open back tweed. Full clockwise and you begin
to hear sounds reminiscent of a 100W non-master volume through a 4x12 cabinet.
As with all Catalinbread products the SCO is equiped with true bypass.
Catalinbread SCO Sound Clips
Thought I would take a different approach to the sound clips as there are already quite a few Catalinbread SCO sound clips
available on the 'Net. Instead I played the same lick using multiple guitars both with and without the Catalinbread SCO
engaged.
Signal path is as such: guitar, Catalinbread SCO, Pedal Snake (review coming), Fender Silver Faced Champ cranked (with Weber
eMiniMass set on 2), Sennheiser e609S, M-Audio Audio Buddy, Cakewalk Pro Audio 9.
Settings on the Catalinbread SCO are volume = 2 O'clock, Contour = noon, Gain = 9 O'clock. Guitars used in this order:
EBMM Axis Super Sport bridge pickup
EBMM Axis Super Sport bridge pickup - SCO engaged
Tokai Les Paul Reborn bridge pickup
Tokai Les Paul Reborn bridge pickup - SCO engaged
Fender Strat - neck pickup
Fender Strat - neck pickup - SCO engaged
Catalinbread SCO Sound Clips
Catalinbread SCO Impressions
This is a neat distortion unit that responds well to guitar volume changes. After dialing in a AC/DC sound with my Fender
Champ and the SCO rolling back the guitar's volume worked well for the rhythm parts and cranking the guitar's volume produced
enough umph for the lead section. Think about it like having a 2 channel amp without having to tap dance on the channel
select switch.
Using the Fender Champ and its little 8" speaker the SCO sounded best with the contour past the 12 O'clock position. This
could be due to the Champ's open back design and the SCO emulating a open backed tweed at settings lower than noon. Also,
I really liked the sound when the gain was rolled back on the SCO and volume turned up. The SCO really pushed the Champ
into a really nice overdrive with a completely different tone than a Tubescreamer.
Overall I was very pleased with the Catalinbread SCO and will keep this unit on my pedal board. |
