The late Pink Floyd co-founder’s Selmer Treble N' Bass 50 amp – as well as an additional Vox AC30 and Hiwatt DR103 – has been crammed into the compact stompbox
(Image credit: ThorpyFX)
It wasn’t present for the NAMM 2022 event festivities, but that hasn’t stopped ThorpyFX from capitalizing on the new gear hype currently flooding the community.
As such, the boutique British pedal brand has debuted the Scarlet Tunic – an analog amp-in-a-box “years in the making”, which aims to tap into the tones of late Pink Floyd co-founder, Syd Barrett.
Specifically, the Scarlet Tunic comes loaded with an all-analog emulation of Barrett’s Selmer Treble N’ Bass 50 guitar amp, which saw action during Pink Floyd’s early years.
The pedal itself began life as a one-off custom build for Lee Harris of Nick Mason’s Saucerful of Secrets – a band comprising Mason, Harris, Guy Pratt and Gary Kemp, which performs material from Pink Floyd’s early catalog.
(Image credit: ThorpyFX)
In order to make his Barrett-style tones sound authentic for their upcoming world tour, Harris sounded out a build that would be able to deliver as such, with builder Adrian Thorpe saying the resulting pedal successfully covers the Selmer’s tones.
However, ThorpyFX went full ThorpyFX in the development process, and took the build one-step further. Rather than exclusively offering the Selmer, the company has also sought to serve up sounds of a vintage Vox AC30 and Hiwatt DR103.
The Scarlet Tunic is designed to be integrated into your existing rig or pedalboard, and promises to deliver the classic vintage amp sounds in line with your current guitar amp.
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In operation, there are three central toggle switches and five parameter controllers. Deep and Bright toggles work to change the voicing of the pedal, while Sens (sensitivity) lets you choose between three gain stages.
Elsewhere, straightforward master controls of Master and Gain dictate output and overall drive. Treble, Bass and Presence knobs, the latter of which affects the upper-mid response of the pedal, complete the control set.
Under the hood, it’s fitted with a high-quality transformer that helps the pedal react to the dynamics of your playing akin to a true amp.
The Scarlet Tunic is currently available for £265 (approximately $335).
Matt is a Senior Staff Writer, writing for Guitar World, Guitarist and Total Guitar. He has a Masters in the guitar, a degree in history, and has spent the last 16 years playing everything from blues and jazz to indie and pop. When he’s not combining his passion for writing and music during his day job, Matt records for a number of UK-based bands and songwriters as a session musician.
