Ugly Truth: Fulltone Catalyst

Lately I noticed that a couple of the Fulltone pedals have been marked down to a reasonable price. $80 for a Fulltone pedal used to be unheard of. The Catalyst and Fat Boost have both been marked to a discount price. I don't keep tabs on Fulltone, so I don't know when this happened, but everything looks like it has been recently. Used prices are still floating around previous levels. I was reading about the Catalyst on some forums and found where someone was over the moon to find one used for $99. I had a little experiences with the pedal a few years ago. I was playing some sessions with a group of guys, and used some borrowed gear. I dug the pedal then, but it was traded/sold. I haven't thought much about the pedal since, but when I saw that it was so affordable I decided to visit it again.

It's Flexible

You read the description on the Fulltone website and it makes this pedal sound like it can do anything. Boost, Overdrive, Distortion, and Fuzz. There are tons of pedal that want to do "everything" but few actually do more than one thing very well. Once you start to play with this pedal, you notice that it achieves several sounds. You might not like all of them, but there is probably a few you might. I ran this into my Vox AC15. It wasn't magic right away. I am a pretty big fan of the Vox on its own, but I did like the Catalyst as a Boost/light OD. It thickened up the sound and acted like a nice EQ. It sounded nice with Chords, but I think this pedal is more flexible than articulate.

It's Underwhelming. 

For a pedal that debuted well over $100, it kinda under-preform. This pedals actually acts better when the front of the pedal is hit pretty hard. I put a Klone in front of this pedal and it really opened up. This pedal seems to have plenty of head room, which is odd for a dirt box. So I'm guessing that it's a holdover from it being capable of a clean boost. However the boost isn't very "clean". It colors the tone in a very noticeable way. I liked it with my Vox. But I found that heavier gain setting were better with my American voiced amp.

I Like It

But I don't love it. It comes up a little short of awesome. My biggest complaint is that is not articulate enough. Chords sound thick and rich, but the single note runs don't translate well. Also, picking patterns get muddy. That's my biggest complaint, but you don't buy a fuzz to be clean and clear. But you think that your fuzz could be a boost, or work as and overdrive... So maybe Fulltone didn't really hit it out of the park with this one.

Conclusion

Fulltone may be clearing out the Catalyst and Fat Boost. They aren't the most popular pedals. They haven't been updated. Mine still say V1 on the PCB. This pedal is a little confused, but it still has a some good sounds. Its flexibility and versatility are what set this pedal apart. Would it be better if you had single pedals that did fantastic jobs of each one of the things that this pedal can do? Of course. However, this pedal is enough to do several different functions, and it has a voice that is unique. If you considered picking one of these up, then it may be time to grab one.

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Hands On Review Of The Electo Harmonix Crayon Overdrive

There has been a lot of talk about this little pedal. Most web-stores don't even have the Crayon on there sites yet. A local store selling through Reverb.com was able to hook me up with one. The main thing is that everyone wants to know what other pedal it sounds like. Well I've tried it out and I can now tell you. However, that would be blowing my load a little too soon. So here's what owning and using this particular pedal has shown me.

It's Pretty Good. 

A lot of people liked what they heard from the EHX video demos. The Soul Food was a huge hit, so when they debuted a new light/medium overdrive peoples ears perked up. The Four knobs are a departure from most of their small drive pedals. Giving us Bass and Treble to manipulate is a step up. The clipping is musical and satisfying. The Bass and Treble are responsive and flexible. The Gain take you from clean to filthy with a twist. There is plenty of meat on these bones too. Playing a Tele through a Vox AC15 you'd expect twangy and spanky, but with this pedal engaged you plenty of grunt to thicken up that Tele sound.

The Name Is A Little Silly, Considering...

This pedal is one of the best clean boosts with the gain dialed back. It really preserves the sound of your guitar when playing through it. It doesn't jack with your tone in a bad way. Tube screamers will always add that mid-hump, but this pedal, when set correctly, will give you your tone right back to you, only louder. But not much louder. Much of the volume remain hidden until you start to add gain. But that is the reason to buy an overdrive, right? Besides being named after a childish art utensil, "coloring you tone" is considered a no-no, so when the hype video said the pedal did just that, well, it was a little bit of a face-palm moment.

It Gets You Close To That Sound With Minimal Effort

If you look at my pedal board, you will see that I like stacking my gain pedals. I have a Soul Food almost always on and cranked up to push the next pedal (Tube Screamer/OCD/Super Badass). Some times I'll run the TS into the OCD to get really noisy. I like combining Overdrives with other pedals to simulate the effect of a overdriven amp while keeping to bedroom levels. Not to say that other pedals need  a another in front of it, but this pedal has gotten pushed-a-little-too-hard (in a good way) sound all by it's self. There are a lot of things that I like about the Soul Food in this pedal, but mixed with better EQ and great clipping section.

In Conclusion

If you are in the market for a single pedal to do must of the heavy lifting of your dirt section and don't want to full with stacking different pedals, then this might be right up your ally. What the Soul Food lacks in flexibility, The Crayon Does rather well, with the bonus of being transparent in the best way possible. This pedal is a little more than just the "pre" section of you gain section. It has the grunt to be your entire overdrive section. It does play well with other though. Especially if the other pedal is heavier. All in all this pedal is a great box. Even if it turns out to be heavily "inspired" by another pedal, this pedal is a great addition to an already pretty stellar list of pedals in EHX's line.

Ugly Truth About EHX Crayon Overdrive

So EXH have done it again. They have birthed a new pedal that everyone (that pays attention to such things) is talking about. I noticed a post this morning about these colorful pedal. I first thought that it was something old catalog that hadn't seen the light of day in ages. It doesn't seem to really fit in with the modern aesthetic that EHX drive pedl have been given lately. It almost looks more at home with the Pitch Fork or Key Board modulators put out recently. Looks aside, this pedal has gotten my attention. It's is a low gain overdrive that adds 'color' to your sound. Whatever that means... Electro Harmonix released a promo video that makes it looks like the bee's knees, but given their long list of drive boxes, do we even needs this thing?

It Is A Light Overdrive

With a million klones out their, why do we need yet another light overdrive? The Klon is the end-all be-all right? Well, even with the relationship that the Soul Food pedal and Klon share, there are still those that tamper with the circut. I've considered having mine modded to add more bass with the JHS Meat and Potatoes mod. There is room for improvement. However JSH add a oddly placed knob on the side of the pedal. The layout of the pedal does not allow for it to be front facing. Is this an attempt to to capitalize on that trend without hindering the Soul Food's reputation and sales?

There Is Another Crayon

So remember when I called "crayon" a dumb name for a pedal? Well, looks like JHS disagrees with me too. Sure, pedals color our tone, but do we really want to name a pedal after a waxy, fagile relic of our childhood? Two major pedal manufactors do. I will admit, I like the designs that EHX have done for the Crayon. JHS has done a modern flat design that has always appealed to me. The two of these pedal coming out like this is almost uncanny, but they appear to be different enough to be unrelated. Will one maker bend and rename their box? Have we run out of good names to call these things? I do see a trend in EHX pedal names though. Glove, Food, River, Fork, Key... They are just looking around the room and naming things! 

"What should I name this pedal? Where did that crayon come from? Wait! That's it!" Honestly, look around the room you are in. If you look hard enough, you'll find a crayon... Somewhere. Please, people in  charge of naming these things, talk to the guy that names the Earthquaker Devices pedals. Get some tips. 

Im Going To Buy It

Yes, I have a problem. I own too many dirt pedals. The problem is that they are all so different (yet all the same). And for the most part, they are affordable. There is no pedal I enjoy more than a dirt pedal. I love them. I always like to see how they effect my tone. EHX has made them rather affordable and to me, that is a recipe for disaster. I've already hounded my local music store about getting one. When I inquired about the availability of the Crayon, my friendly pedal pusher asked me "How do you know about that?!" I make it my business to know these things. And I follow EHX on Twitter...

Want more on the Crayon? Check this out!