Catalinbread Epoch Boost Preamp/Buffer 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.

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.

You’ve heard the rumors: Some of rock ‘n’ roll’s greatest tones were achieved without pedals. Not so fast! While that’s technically true, some of the most venerable guitar gods relied on an old tape echo unit to help achieve their legendary tones. This unit is the Maestro Echoplex EP-3. While some guitarists made great use of its echo effect, others dragged one to every gig just for its magical preamp. This preamp circuit was wired always-on, and so even those using it as an echo effect received significant tonal enhancements from the preamp circuit as well. Everyone from Eddie Van Halen to East Bay Ray of the Dead Kennedys relied on the EP-3 preamp to take their sound to previously unreachable heights. And now you can also, with our Epoch Boost.Mastering PedalThe Epoch Boost is referred to as a mastering pedal, because it sounds like your base tone, but sculpted to perfection by a mastering engineer. This is accomplished by employing the same internal circuitry as a real EP-3, from the NOS Orange Drop capacitors to the output mixer stage that acts as a rudimentary frequency selector it’s all there.Internal VoltageLiberty is taken for kicking the internal voltage up to 22 volts, just like the original unit, giving you unparalleled headroom and clarity. Switchable Hi-Z Input BufferIncluded switchable hi-Z input buffer if you’d like to use the Epoch Boost as your only pedal. The Boost control gives you just the EP-3 tone when rolled off, but adds up to 20dB of crystal-clear boost as you crank it.