Catalinbread Naga Viper MKII Treble Boost Pedal
Product information for Catalinbread Naga Viper MKII Treble Boost Pedal
The humble treble booster is one of rock 'n' roll's most fundamental effects and the new Catalinbread Naga Viper MKII takes the beloved simple circuit to its logical limit. It features an attenuation knob to tame the input signal for more Rangemaster flavor, upgraded to a new higher-gain transistor for even more heat and tinkered with the noise floor for hiccup-free pedalboard integration. This control acts like a level control for everything in front of the Naga Viper, letting you shave some heat from the incoming signal before it runs through the proverbial gears of the booster. This leads to less saturation and undesirable effects and more treble-boosting goodness going into your amp.Advanced ControlsThe transistor in the Naga Viper has been replaced and the circuit tastefully reworked to accommodate players of all stripes. Some players will leave the Attenuate control all the way up, and this design choice is for them. By swapping out the transistor, the Naga Viper is even hotter than before, with extended ranges for both Heat and Boost controls. Diming both controls now gives a slight edge compared to V1, opening up the range of the attenuator as well. Though the actual production number of the Rangemaster is unknown, the general consensus is that not many were ever manufactured. While the majority of those released contained the same value for the boost potentiometer, some much rarer versions purportedly contained a different value that is said to make the tone hotter and a touch ‘gainier’. Catalinbread agrees that the newest version contains that uncommon value to extract a little ‘more’ from this circuit. None of the legendary Rangemaster players had many controls to work with, hence the reconfigured circuit with that ethos in mind. The knobs on the Naga Viper aren’t there for constant twiddling, just set it up how it works for you once, then leave it alone and play that thang.Power SupplyYou can use a variety of power sources to power your Naga Viper. It supports standard DC power supplies from 9 to 18 volts or a 9V battery. Do not give the Naga Viper AC or a center-positive supply.HEAT ControlYou can think of this as the Naga Viper’s gain knob. When it’s all the way down, you get that classic treble booster response, that is to say a slightly dirty boost, and rolling this control up intensifies the grit until it’s a drive unit unto itself.BOOST ControlThis sets the output level of the Naga Viper. According to ancient pedal texts, the classic Rangemaster design is dependent on a certain value in this position, but a small number of outliers found their way into recording studios with a value that made the circuit ‘a little hotter.’ Catalinbread has elected to use this rarer value to up the output significantly to give you more from even the most stubborn amps.RANGE Control This controls the amount of bass frequencies let into the booster. Historically, the input and output capacitors of the treble booster are tiny, which lets in very few bass frequencies and less overall gain. You can find this setting with the knob maxed.ATTN ControlShort for attenuate. The treble booster is a simple, straightforward circuit; it boosts what you give it. But because the originals were designed to run as a guitarist’s only effect, they don’t really take other gain devices as well as they could. As such, vital notes of the treble boost’s flavor can be easily lost in modern pedal setups, with some guitarists running one or more ‘always-on’ devices.
