Catalinbread launches the Tribute, an overdrive pedal with “a supercharged one-band parametric EQ”

Catalinbread has launched an overdrive pedal with a twist, the Tribute Parametric Overdrive. It boasts “a supercharged one-band parametric EQ” that does the job of a regular tone control and then some, allowing players to dramatically alter the character of their electric guitar tone. 

One immediate application might be to give your sound an upper-mids nasal, just-about-to-sneeze quality akin to Michael Schenker’s cocked-wah sound, in which the wah pedal is parked half-open and used as a filter, adding a musical effervescence to a riff. But Catalinbread has designed the Tribute to be useful in any number of ways.

Its Volume and Drive knobs control output volume and the amount of gain respectively, while the Tone and Freq knobs handle EQ. Select which frequency you want on the Freq knob, then you can apply +/-12dB of boost or cut as appropriate. Simple, but supremely effective, and it can have a transformative effect on your tone.

Once you’re through covering Rock Bottom at the local dive bar – and perhaps on Catalinbread’s suggestion, have also played Knopfler’s super-juicy Money For Nothing riff as a chaser – perhaps you can use the Tribute to dial in an out-of-phase Peter Green sound. No need to get the soldering iron out and mod your guitar. 

The Tribute is also handy tool for sculpting a tone that will cut through a mix, for fattening single-coil electric guitar pickups, or indeed putting those humbuckers on a diet.

Priced $179, the Tribute Parametric Overdrive is available now. For more details, head over to Catalinbread.