Catalinbread releases Bitters, a compact pedal take on the Alesis Bitrman

July 10, 2024 · 5 sources

Catalinbread has released the Bitters, a compact pedal based on the Alesis Bitrman, the company's take on the 2004 tabletop effects unit¹². Guitar Pedal X reported the release on July 12, 2024, and MusicRadar reported it the same day¹³. Delicious Audio dated its article July 10, 2024².

The Bitters combines distortion and a dual phaser with one user-selected effect drawn from four modes: Decimator, Bitcrusher, Frequency Modulation and Ring Modulation¹³. According to Guitar Pedal X, the Decimator lowers the sample rate and introduces aliasing; the Bitcrusher reduces fidelity down to one bit and includes a noise gate; Frequency Modulation provides pitch vibrato; and the Ring Modulator introduces additive and subtractive frequencies relative to the input and a carrier frequency¹.

The controls are Distort, Dual (phaser speed), Bitters (intensity or frequency), Dry > Wet Mix and an eight-position Mangler Type / Order dial¹³. The mode dial lists each of the four effects twice, so the selected effect runs either before or after the distortion and phaser¹³. MusicRadar reports that the Distort and Dual controls remove their effects from the signal path when set fully counterclockwise, and that the phaser range runs from "low and syrupy to a lightning fast 20Hz"³.

Sources differ on price. Guitar Pedal X reported $199¹. MusicRadar reported $209 street³, and Guitar World reported $209.99 with a three-year warranty⁴. Guitar Pedal X reported the pedal was available from the Catalinbread Webstore and "imminently at International Dealers"¹; MusicRadar reported it available now³. Sources also differ on the Bitrman's release year: Guitar Pedal X and Delicious Audio give 2002 and 2004 respectively¹², while Guitar World and Gearnews both give 2004⁴⁵.