Catalinbread StarCrash Fuzz & SideArm Overdrive – ’70s-style FX
3,8 / 5,0 | 
Catalinbread has announced a duo of pedals, the Starcrash Fuzz and the SideArm Overdrive, that are reminiscent of the 1970s. They also gave some of their classic effects a matching green paint job for the run.
StarCrash Collection
Catlainbread’s StarCrash Collection has new retro ’70s-style effects, and the pedal maker has launched two new models, the Starcrash Fuzz and the SideArm Overdrive. Along with matching artwork for the Katzenkönig, Adineko, Valcoder, and SFT pedals, all of which are part of the ’70s Collection.
We will look at the two new models, as the other four are just a limited-run paint job for part of the launch. Both pedals are launching at $149 each.
Starcrash Fuzz
Essentially a take on the silicon Fuzz Face, the new Starcrash Fuzz looks nice and dirty in a good way. It has controls for Volume, Bias, and Low-Cut. The bias control gives users that dying battery tone and provides the fuzz with a chewy sag. It’s great for adding some extra feel or to get a nice harmonically rich fuzz tone.
Low-Cut
Then, the low-cut filter circuit cuts the bass frequencies from 40Hz to 500Hz, so users can tighten the mud/low end. This pedal will be best run with the volume control up and then adjusted to taste via the guitar volume controls.
As the Bias and Low-Cut will give a slight volume drop, Catalinbread has increased the overall volume of this fuzz to compensate.
SideArm Overdrive
This SideArm Overdrive is based on the 1979 Tubescreamer Overdrive and has been tweaked to add more control. It has controls for Volume, Drive, Tone, and Mids. Catalinbread has adjusted the Sidearm’s “hump frequency”, which sits at 1KHz, but the mids control sits at the typical Tubescreamer frequency of 720Hz, letting users boost or cut this band.
Tone
The overdrive’s Tone is centred at 1KHz; it will then boost lows and cut highs when turned down and the opposite when turned up. Using this with the Mids control will give users more tone-sculpting possibilities than a regular Tubescreamer.
Verdict
Both of these new models offer something extra compared to the original pedals they are based on. Price-wise, they are also pretty affordable and could be great for modern pedal setups with these extended features.
More Information
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