Catalinbread Soft Focus

The Catalinbread Soft Focus is a reverb pedal from Catalinbread, released in 2022, that packs the shoegaze sound of the Yamaha FX500 rack unit into a stompbox. At its heart is a heavily modified plate reverb with adjustable decay time, which is then split into three concurrent signal paths: a multi-voiced chorus modulating the wet signal, a shimmering octave-up effect, and a clean path that leaves the reverb untouched¹². Catalinbread describes the result as "an instant shoegaze button"¹.

The pedal is named for patch 40, "Soft Focus," on the Yamaha FX500, a preset that mixed chorus, delay and reverb and was used heavily by Slowdive on their album Souvlaki³². Catalinbread says its version is not an exact recreation of the patch but was exhaustively compared against the company's own FX500¹.

A reverb split into three paths

The signal flow is what sets the Soft Focus apart from a plain reverb pedal. The dry guitar signal passes through untouched on one path. The wet side starts as a plate-style reverb whose decay time you can adjust, and that reverb is then split: one branch runs through a multi-voiced chorus, and another through a subtle octave-up effect that Catalinbread calls Symphony⁸¹¹. MusicRadar's Jonathan Horsley described the design as taking "the plate reverb and splits it into three paths, sending one through a multi-voiced chorus, the other through a" shimmering octave-up¹¹.

The octave-up is deliberately understated. Catalinbread's manual says the Symph knob "mixes in a slight octave effect on the wet reverb signal," and while subtle, it shifts the mood of the reverb by adding harmonic content¹. Premier Guitar's reviewer put it simply: "Symph adds in an octave-up signal"¹³.

The controls

The control set is small and interactive. Catalinbread says every knob is musically interactive, giving a versatile palette usable in a wide variety of styles, and that for full quintessential shoegaze sounds you max all the knobs and adjust the mix to taste⁶.

The Mix control is worth noting against the pedal's inspiration. Guitar World pointed out that the original FX500 patch had no mix control, and Catalinbread added one³. Catalinbread's manual frames the additions as "addressing the most glaring issues of the original unit: no mix control, a sub-par preamp, and a ghastly tone-sucking by"pass¹.

Power and bypass

The Soft Focus runs from 9 to 18 volts using a standard DC center-negative power supply, and Catalinbread says to make sure the supply provides at least 100mA¹¹⁰. There is no battery option: "The Soft Focus does not run on batteries"¹⁶¹⁴. Running at 9V sounds great, according to Catalinbread, but higher voltages up to 18V give a bit more output, a dry signal boost and increased headroom¹⁴.

For switching, gearnews reported both True and Buffered bypass modes are available, so you can set the pedal up to taste⁷. In buffer/trails mode the bypass signal remains usable, which is what makes the Vol knob's dry gain work as a clean boost with the effect off¹¹⁰.

From the Yamaha FX500 to the Soft Focus

The Yamaha FX500 was a rack multi-effects unit of the early '90s, and its patch 40, "Soft Focus," became a signature of the era's indie and shoegaze guitarists³²¹. Catalinbread's manual says the patch "was widely used in the '90s by early shoegaze bands, most notably Slowdive on S"ouvlaki¹. Delicious Audio adds that Souvlaki was produced in collaboration with Brian Eno².

Catalinbread's take is an interpretation rather than a clone. Premier Guitar's reviewer wrote that the pedal "may be more an interpretation of the FX500 Soft Focus preset than a to-the-letter emulation," and that "Catalinbread sells itself a little short by so strongly emphasizing it as such," meaning the shoegaze-in-a-box framing undersells a more versatile pedal¹³. Guitar World's Michael Astley-Brown took a similar view, writing that "Catalinbread's offering might just have the simplicity and versatility to win over a wider range of guitarists, however"³.

The enclosure leans into the '90s rack aesthetic: Guitar.com described "a glossy black shell with 90s inspired digital-display-like text in a vibrant green"⁴.

Versions: Gold, Ghost and Deluxe

Since the 2022 release, Catalinbread has issued several variations.

• Soft Focus Gold (2024): A visual update with a gold-on-black finish. Gearnews reported it also "addressed the previous bypass with the signal loss issue of those old effects racks," and it keeps the Mix control¹⁵.
• Soft Focus Ghost: A variant in which the Mod knob acts as a master depth control for all modulation, and the Vol knob's pre-effect gain on the dry signal can serve as a clean boost in buffer/trails mode¹⁶.
• Soft Focus Deluxe: The major expansion, reviewed below.

The Deluxe, covered in depth on its own page, is a dual-footswitch multi-effect that adds delay and distortion to the original's modulated reverb and shimmer algorithms, including emulations of both the delay and reverb stages of the Yamaha FX500¹⁷¹⁸. Its six modes range from Mode 1, which reproduces the classic Soft Focus patch with reverb, slight shimmer, chorus-like modulation and smooth compression, to Mode 5, which adds a major third to the octave up, and Mode 6, which brings delay with momentary mix expression control for sudden time warps and swells¹⁷. The distortion circuits are footswitchable and run in series or parallel via a mini-toggle, and a multi-function jack handles expression control or tap tempo¹⁸.

Guitar.com's Jason Mays reviewed the Deluxe in June 2025, praising its reverb and delay while criticizing its distortion tones. Delicious Audio's Paolo De Gregorio concluded that "this Deluxe version provides guitarists interested in that genre with a multi-effect solution that can satisfy most, if" not all their needs¹⁷.

What reviewers said

Coverage of the original pedal was largely positive about the concept. Gearnews noted the pedal "seeks to mimic the Yamaha FX500 effects unit, specifically the Soft Focus patch," and suggested players who want more shoegaze-oriented tones "may also want to check out the Keeley Loomer as it has a lot more to offer in terms of Shoegaze-style tones. Plus" it has fuzz⁷. MusicRadar confirmed the X40 Soft Focus Reverb was available now at launch, running on 9V or 18V DC from a pedalboard supply¹¹.

Delicious Audio's buying guide for ambient and shoegaze reverbs describes the Soft Focus as "A digital pedal that recreates the Yamaha FX500 patch used by Slowdive in their album 'Souvlaki.'"⁹, while RockBoard's maker-sourced page lists the circuit type as hybrid⁸. The two characterizations differ, and both are given here as stated.

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