NPD - Catalinbread FN5

I got this in a trade with my luthier. I was at his shop picking up my custom Esquire (pictured below) and noticed the Catalinbread FN5 sitting on his bench. I told him I've heard great things about it on TDPRI. He replied, "You want it? It's Neil Young in a box. Not my cup of tea." He was gonna put it on ebay, so I asked him what he wanted for it. He said he'd prefer a trade for an overdrive that was more to his liking and asked what I had. He was interested in my Keeley Blues Driver, so I traded him straight up. I'll miss the BD-2, but the FN5 is a nice consolation. It's the sound I've always heard in my head, but never quite achieved until now. :grin:

Congrats Rdog!




it's always nice to find a piece of the puzzle



(I'd like to try one of these out myself someday)

Neil Young in a box - that's one crazy box. :-)

Congrats! Will you post a demo of tones?

Neil Young in a box - that's one crazy box. :-)

Congrats! Will you post a demo of tones?

Thanks! I don't have any recording equipment at the moment, but here's a demo straight from the horse's mouth :wink:

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Would love to have one.........congrats!

Where's your amp?

Where's your amp?

Geez, the Micro Cube isn't THAT small, is it? :lol:

It'll be a little while before I have a big amp again. Other priorities at the moment...expecting my second baby girl any day now. :mrgreen:

Nice score ! I love my Cat5. Be sure to try it on 18v, it sounds a lot tighter to me. I don't run it on 9v anymore. I've done entire 4 hour gigs using the FN5 99% of the time for OD. Love that pedal. It's perfect for the Keith sound, but far from a one-trick pony.

Thanks WaylonFan, I'm eager to try it with 18V. Which adapter are you using?

This one : http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/ECB004

Congratulation! One of my favorite dirt boxes. I bought it right after release, and it's still with me. And it's not only Neil Young, but also Black Crowes, which I love too. And it sounds especially good with tele.

That's my old record of this pedal not very nice sound and playing, but that's it:
http://soundcloud.com/jester-fx/deadman-theme-cover

Congratulation! One of my favorite dirt boxes. I bought it right after release, and it's still with me. And it's not only Neil Young, but also Black Crowes, which I love too. And it sounds especially good with tele.

Thanks Jester! I agree that it sounds especially good with a Tele and can do Black Crowes very well. Some of my favorite guitar tones are from Before the Frost...Until the Freeze, and I think the FN5 is great for getting Rich Robinson's gritty sound on that record.

That's my old record of this pedal not very nice sound and playing, but that's it:http://soundcloud.com/jester-fx/deadman-theme-cover

Very cool :cool:

They were actually going for David Lindley in a box when they made that pedal.

I had one. Liked it okay, but the volume increase was just insane. All Catalinbread pedals I've played have had this, which is a little frustrating, but I've set up my DLS Mk II (which is on my board now) as unoffensively as I could. It's weird to look at the knobs and see half of them pointing to zero, but that's the only way I can keep it from doubling my volume, I guess.

They were actually going for David Lindley in a box when they made that pedal.

Never heard that. Interesting. I always considered David Lindley more associated with Dumble amps. The Catalinbread is supposed to emulate cranked Fender 5E3 (hence the "5" in Formula No. 5).

They were actually going for David Lindley in a box when they made that pedal.
Why do you think so?

I had one. Liked it okay, but the volume increase was just insane. All Catalinbread pedals I've played have had this, which is a little frustrating, but I've set up my DLS Mk II (which is on my board now) as unoffensively as I could. It's weird to look at the knobs and see half of them pointing to zero, but that's the only way I can keep it from doubling my volume, I guess.
I had some CB pedals and do not have any issues. I set volume on WIIO and DLS about 12 o'clock, on Fn5 about 11 o'clock. One pedal, which was really loud was SCOD. He had boost, starting from 9 o'clock. But I set it just about 8:30-9 o'clock and that's it. Also, this pedals sounds way better, when set loud.

Never heard that. Interesting. I always considered David Lindley more associated with Dumble amps. The Catalinbread is supposed to emulate cranked Fender 5E3 (hence the "5" in Formula No. 5).

Without any doubt, it's 5E3-style pedal, like CB guys said in their description of these pedal:
http://www.catalinbread.com/FN5

the FN is a real dirty pedal and does not do the edge of breakup very well, at least for me and what I play. It does not sound like a cranked Tweed Deluxe.... and yes, I have a 1949 deluxe to compare my FN5 to. You will notice in their demo's there is no actual Tweed Deluxe for comparison. The FN is also sensitive to the amount of treble that it is fed and if the treble is too low the guitar disappears in the mix pretty easily.

Why do you think so?

A friend of mine helped design the pedal, so I heard this straight from the horse's mouth.

Not going after Lindley's Dumble tones per se, but his amps always sounded like they were about to explode when he played slide.

A friend of mine helped design the pedal, so I heard this straight from the horse's mouth.

Not going after Lindley's Dumble tones per se, but his amps always sounded like they were about to explode when he played slide.

Thanks for info. Also, that's make sense, since I really love how this pedal sounds with slide.

It's weird to look at the knobs and see half of them pointing to zero, but that's the only way I can keep it from doubling my volume, I guess.

That's true. The FN5 has to be set really low not to tear everybody's head off. It is kinda weird looking at a pedal with two out of three dials almost on zero... :shock:

That's true. The FN5 has to be set really low not to tear everybody's head off. It is kinda weird looking at a pedal with two out of three dials almost on zero... :shock:

Oddly, I just looked at the manual for the DLS, and they say 1-2 o clock on the master knob should be unity. WHOA. I hit unity somewhere around 9:00!

That's true. The FN5 has to be set really low not to tear everybody's head off. It is kinda weird looking at a pedal with two out of three dials almost on zero... :shock:

I think it's because the FN5 pedal was designed to be interactive with guitar volume and tone knobs. I'd usually have my pedal volume up above unity, but rolled it back with the guitar to get the edge of break up stuff total volume back down to unity with the amp. I miss that pedal.