Catalinbread channels the Yamaha FX500 for its Soft Focus Reverb Instant Shoegaze effect pedal

I’m not usually one to get excited about Mono Reverb pedals - but Catalinbread definitely have a special pedal on their hands here. Grabbing the Soft Focus Reverb algorithm from Yamaha’s late 80’s budget FX500 Rack Multi-FX - it splits a Plate Reverb algorithm into 3 separate paths - one which adds a subtle Upper Octave, one which adds Chorusing Modulation, and the 3rd of which passes the Reverb effect through unadulterated.

You then have 3 independent controls to fine-tune each of the paths - the Symph knob controls the degree of Upper Octave Mix, Mod is the Modulation Rate of the Chorusing, and Verb is the Reverb Decay Time. All 3 paths are blended together on the output - and the Mix knob enables you to further tweak the Dry to Wet Mix (something you could not do on the FX500) - before you adjust the Volume to attain Unity level or slight accentuation if you so wish.

All this combined produces a really cool Instant Shoegaze effect - which gives you that self same signature sound which Slowdive and Souvlaki got from their use of the Yamaha FX500.

Controls - Symph (Upper Octave Mix), Mod (Chorusing Rate), Verb (Reverb Decay Time), Mix (Dry>Wet), Volume (Output/Gain).

The only thing the pedal is missing for me really is stereo output - which I do get with my OBNE Screen Violence - which does all that clever Reverb / Chorusing Shoegaze stuff in stereo - but does not have the subtle Upper Octave of the Soft Focus.

There’s much I really like about the Soft Focus - and I may very well get it in just as a texturizer - which I then run in turn through a further stereo reverb.

For fans of Slowdive and Souvlaki - this is the perfect box to give you their core sound from their 90’s heyday.

Pricing is reasonable at $209 / £179 - available imminently at leading dealers in Europe (end of month or so I reckon) - and is probably on sale everywhere in the USA already.

I have it down as a nice-to-have for me currently - I’m definitely a fan of those Shoegaze smeary reverb sounds - so it’s quite likely that I will snap one up eventually. But it’s not quite yet a major priority for me.

Great concept though with great execution - it really does most everything it should - with some further icing on top!