Catalinbread Formula 5F6 Foundation Overdrive

High-powered 6L6-driven tweed on the edge of breakup!

One of Catalinbread’s famed Foundation Overdrives, the Formula 5F6 adds vintage Tweed Bassman response and break up into any clean amp. It features traditional gain and volume controls as well as a 3-band eq section.

The tweed Bassman may be the most influential *guitar* amp of all time. Although it was marketed as a bass amp, its treble, middle, bass and presence controls and 4 x 10 configuration were perfect for guitar, as guitarists soon figured out. How influential was the Bassman? Look up the schematic and compare its preamp to that of a Marshall or Vox and you'll see! When a tweed Bassman is set at low to medium volumes, you get a sparkling, harmonically rich tone. Turned up a bit more and it delivers that famous on-edge-of-breakup character that is responsive to your picking attack, a sound so craved by guitarists. Play a ringing open chord and you'll be rewarded with lush harmonic swirl. And then crank the volume up to 12 and you'll get a thick, creamy, meaty crunch - the original genesis for all heavy guitar sounds to come. And if you hit it really hard, you’re rewarded with a slight compression, a slight sag in the response, that feels so good to play.

Centaur Guitar is an authorized Catalinbread dealer!