🇺🇸【 Catalinbread 】 Sidearm (‘70s Collection)
The Sidearm is the fresh-faced green overdrive you’ve been pining for! While honoring the original 1979 circuit’s sound, the Sidearm 70 overdrive’s expanded gain range offers more breakup than ever, while lower gain settings clean up with exceptional saturation and clarity, much like a colored boost. Expanded EQ in the form of Tone and Mids controls increase the Sidearm 70’s tonal range, which far exceeds vintage units; Sweetwater guitarists appreciate being able to tailor drive tones to specific rigs rather than adapting entire rigs to the overdrive. Rhythm players in heavy or down-tuned genres are sure to value the body that the Sidearm 70’s Mids parameter brings to high and low power chord voicings, while the tilt-style tone control’s airy character is perfect for preserving highs and addressing the enduring “mid-hump” conundrum that sometimes leaves tone feeling inorganic. Kick on the Sidearm 70, and faces are sure to light up as you nail your finest riff with the right balance of clarity, grit, and mix-cutting punch!
Controls
VOLUME: Affirmative..
MIDS: Engages a mids control centered at ~720Hz. 720Hz is the “mid hump” frequency of the original Tube Screamer, which means that the circuit attenuates frequencies above 720Hz at 3dB per octave, which gives the original its characteristic tone. The Sidearm moves that cut to 1KHz, opening up the upper mids, but the Mids control retains the cut or boost at 720Hz. Turning this up boosts the 720Hz band and turning it down scoops out the same band. The bandwidth of this control is such that the edges glance the 1KHz cut for a harmonious mids enhancement. The center is flat.
TONE: This is a tilt EQ centered at 1KHz. When you turn it up above noon, frequencies above 1KHz are boosted and frequencies below are cut. Turning it down yields the opposite effect. Because this control’s center frequency is relatively high, the circuit has been tweaked so that the treble is boosted slightly less than the bass when either side is maxed. (The latest revision, not this one, will have a very gentle treble filter that shaves off harsh frequencies above 16KHz.)
DRIVE: Adds gain. Much more than a regular Tube Screamer (and much less, too). Goes from clean to very dirty.
You can power your SideArm with any good quality filtered and regulated 9-18v DC power supply with a center-negative tipped plug designed for use with effects pedals.