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Catalinbread Formula No. 55 Overdrive Effects Pedal
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Catalinbread Formula No. 55 Overdrive Effects Pedal
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Gold Coverage Protection
Protect your gear
Gold Coverage Protection
Gold Coverage goes above and beyond the manufacturer's warranty to protect your gear from unexpected breakdowns, accidental damage from handling and failures. This plan covers your product for one, two, three or up to five years from your date of purchase, costs just pennies per day and gives you a complete "no-worry" solution for protecting your investment.
Gold Coverage Includes:
- Unexpected and unintentional spills, drops and cracks
- Normal wear and tear
- Power surges
- Dust, internal heat and humidity
Other plan features include:
- For products over $200, No Lemon Policy applies. If it fails for the same defect 3 times, it is replaced on the 4th breakdown. (Does not apply to failures due to drops, spills, and cracks)
- For products under $200 experiencing the above failures, a Musician's Friend gift card will be issued for the full price of the product + tax.
- Shipping fees covered if required for repair or replacement
- Plans are transferable in the event merchandise is sold
- Plans are renewable on new gear
*Limitations and exclusions apply. See terms and conditions (Opens in new window) for program details
Term for New Gear begins on date of purchase but does not replace the store return policy or manufacturer coverage.
Get vintage Fender tweed tone right from your pedalboard.
Big and powerful, yet refined, the Formula No. 55 melts into your amp, transforming it into a wide-ranging tweed monster capable of everything from smokey, clean Grant Green jazz tones all the way to full on raging Crazy Horse excursions.
The old amps from the '50s were primitive beasts, and the 5E3 Deluxe was no exception. Its preamp section let a lot of low frequencies through, but then it would encounter an output section (power tubes, output transformer and speaker) that couldn’t handle all that low end, often resulting in a flubby response, especially if you turned the volume up. In fact, if you look at the manual from an old '50s tweed, it advises you to “turn down the volume, should you experience any distortion”. Of course, a lot of guitarists ignored that advice and cranked it up anyway, much to Leo Fender’s chagrin, and the sound of rock was born.
The Formula No. 55 gives you that huge low-end response but was specifically voiced for touch-sensitive dynamics and a fat-but-tight and punchy sound. You can play a palm-muted boogie-woogie rhythm pattern, for example, and if you don’t bear down too hard with your picking attack you’ll get a big chunky, woody sound, the kind of sound that you’d think would flub out if you suddenly started strumming harder. But start thrashing away and the response will get tighter instead of flubbing out!
The Formula No. 55 is a Foundation Overdrive that reproduces, in exacting detail, the preamp section of the classic Fender tweed 5E3 Deluxe using an all-discrete JFET-based signal path. The Volume and Tone controls replicate, part for part, the circuitry of the 5E3, giving you authentic tweed amp response. The output section is designed to give you lots of punch and volume with a low output impedance to drive your amp perfectly.
Set the Hi-Lo button to “Lo” for the cleaner response of a vintage tweed. “Hi” is like hot rodding your amp by swapping in higher gain tubes. Like all Catalinbread pedals, no SMD parts are used for audio circuitry. Only through-hole components selected for tone and response are used such as carbon composition resistors and premium capacitors. The company hand-builds them and tone-tests each one to ensure you get the best.
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Formula No. 55 Overdrive Effects Pedal Specifications:
- Volume: From warm fat jazz clean to thick horn-like barking overdrive.
- Tone: Noon for flat. Turn down for warm, smokey tones. Turn it up to boost upper mids and cut through the mix.
- Presence: Adjusts ~ 5khz range. Set to noon to start. Turn it up for more bite! Turn it down to warm things up.
- Master: Sets output level. Lots of boost on tap.
- Hi-Lo Button:
- Hi/Red: Like swapping in hotter tubes, for more gain, overdrive and attitude.
- Low/Green: Low-gain mode from clean to overdrive
Questions & Answers
Do you have questions about this product?
- Free Standard Ground shipping (48 contiguous states, some overweight and Used/Vintage items excluded).
- Orders placed before 3 p.m. ET usually ship the same business day.
Every guitar or bass you purchase from Musician's Friend (electric or acoustic, New or Open Box) includes two years of protection from manufacturer defects.
Our Gear Advisers are available to guide you through your entire shopping experience. Call or Chat for expert advice and to hear the latest deals.