CATALINBREAD / SOFT FOCUS Gold

Catalinbread SOFT FOCUS Gold is the SOFT FOCUS Gold version of the 2024 limited production.

The Yamaha FX500 half-rack multi-effects pedal was sold from around 1989 to 1992. The ‘Soft Focus’ patch on it was widely used by shoegaze bands in the early 90s, such as Slowdive on their second album ‘Souvlaki’. Catalinbread.

The Catalinbread SOFT FOCUS is a shoegaze pedal with its roots in the Soft Focus patch.
The heart of SOFT FOCUS is a heavily modified plate reverb, which is split into three signal paths.
One is a symphonic chorus modulator, the second is an octave up mixed with the reverb and the third is a reverb-only tone.
The MOD knob adjusts the chorus speed for pass 1 and the SYMPH knob adjusts the octave volume for pass 2.

Catalinbread has thoroughly compared the tone with the original FX500. The original patch has a delay with a fixed time, but we eliminated this delay because it would eat into the memory if left in place. You can also place a delay pedal of your choice in front of it to get closer to the original patch.

■ Controls.
SYMPH: Adjusts the octave volume.
MOD: Adjusts the chorus speed.
VERB: Adjusts the length of the reverb pass.
MIX: Adjusts the dry/wet balance.
VOL: Adjusts the volume.

An internal switch allows you to switch between true bypass and buffered bypass (trail).

SOFT FOCUS Gold is powered by a DC 9-18V centre-negative adaptor. Batteries are not available.