Catalinbread announces Carbide distortion pedal

June 14, 2023 · 4 sources

Catalinbread has launched the Carbide, a high-gain distortion pedal based on the Boss HM-2 "chainsaw" tone, Delicious Audio reported on June 14, 2023¹. Guitar World and MusicRadar reported the pedal the following two days²³.

The Catalinbread Carbide splits the guitar signal into two parallel paths. The Dry path runs through a clean boost that the maker says is configured for downtuned instruments; the Wet path runs through the distortion circuit, which emulates an HM-2 with all four knobs at 10¹. Each path has its own volume knob, and the two are mixed in parallel¹⁴. A third knob, Emphasis, sits after the mix and tightens the extreme low end while cutting treble¹³. Guitar World notes there are no conventional Gain or Tone controls and no mini-toggles, mode switches or internal options, just three dials and a footswitch².

Gearnews reports that the Carbide keeps the HM-2's three frequency boosts, at 87Hz, 958Hz and 1279Hz, and that Emphasis adjusts two filters at once, one at 63Hz and a treble shelving filter⁴. The pedal accepts a center-negative DC power supply from 9 to 15 volts⁴.

Guitar World gives the US retail price as $189.99²; Gearnews lists an MSRP of USD 189.99⁴. MusicRadar gives the price as £/$189³.