Treble Booster Question--Catalinbread Naga Viper VS Galileo

[Hahndo]

Hi folks,

I'm not sure if this post is in the right place, but I'm wondering if anyone here has any experience with Catalinbread treble booster pedals, namely the Naga Viper and the Galileo. They seem to be very similar; indeed, the Galileo seems to be built upon the Naga Viper's architecture. I'm just wondering, if you had to make a choice, which one?

I love the Brian May AC-30 tone that the Galileo emulates, but i'm looking to get that fat, wild tone that Marc Bolan got through his LP--aided by a Dallas Rangemaster. (Which the Naga Viper is based upon.)

I realize that, based on my descriptions and what I'm going for, the Naga Viper seems to be the choice, but am wondering about actual experience with these pedals, not company descriptions. Anybody use either of these pedals?

Cheers!

 

[c_wester]

Catalinbread rocks! I have poured many a salaries to them.


I recommend the RAH pedal for a clean sound.

 

[Zoso]

Hi folks,

I'm not sure if this post is in the right place, but I'm wondering if anyone here has any experience with Catalinbread treble booster pedals, namely the Naga Viper and the Galileo. They seem to be very similar; indeed, the Galileo seems to be built upon the Naga Viper's architecture. I'm just wondering, if you had to make a choice, which one?

I love the Brian May AC-30 tone that the Galileo emulates, but i'm looking to get that fat, wild tone that Marc Bolan got through his LP--aided by a Dallas Rangemaster. (Which the Naga Viper is based upon.)

I realize that, based on my descriptions and what I'm going for, the Naga Viper seems to be the choice, but am wondering about actual experience with these pedals, not company descriptions. Anybody use either of these pedals?

Cheers!

The Galileo gives you the Vox + Rangemaster stack, so if you are looking for just the Rangemaster portion of the equation, you might want to look elsewhere. I live the Galileo in certain contexts, but it has too much gain for my typical sound. It's hard for me to dial in a fat, moderate gain that still retains some heft.

 

[Kris Ford]

Sabra Cadabra maybe?:hmm
(Modded Rangemaster with Laney Supergroup preamp section?)

Or maybe check out a HBE Germainia, has a stock Rangemaster mode, and a full range mode which is a nice n nasty germanium driven fuzz.
Also has a Q setting to tweak the mids.


I tried to get on with that pedal, but treble boosters and JMP2203s just don't play well together, and are much better suited for NON master volume amps.
Kinda wish I didn't trade it off, would love to try it with my '75 Orange OR120.

 

[Mats A]

My brother built a Range Master Treble Booster but added a bass control so that it works better with modern amps. People like Brian May and others use the normal input and not the treble boosted on their amps. Also the trick with Treble Boosters to get a Brian May and many others type of sound is that you must have the Treble Booster after the guitar. These old Treble Boosters have such a low input impedance that they take away a lot of the top end and you get more of a mid boost type sound. But if you put a pedal with a buffered input before it you lose that and just get a very trebly tone.

 

[AA00475Bassman]

Toneman Rangemaster I've had one for years love this pedal .

 

[TM1]

Toneman Rangemaster I've had one for years love this pedal .

Thanks!! I built alot of them too. But around 2009 it became very hard to get decent transistors that were priced reasonable. I remember buying a 100 from a guy in U.K. and him telling me that he would replace any bad one.. Yeah.. expensive lesson as I had 48 bad ones and he never returned any of my emails. I think I paid $4.50 each for them.
I started building them in 1997 when basically nobody here except for a few ex-pats from the U.K. knew what they were. I had an original(still do, but have 2 now) and used that to build mine and built them exactly like the original Dallas unit except as a floor pedal; carbon comp resistors, Sozo caps OC44 x-sistor and a 3PDT switch with a LED and made them switchable for Treble & Normal boost.
I just had to laff as within a couple of years of me building them, everyone and their Uncle Bob was an "expert" on making them. all the ones I've tried just don't sound like mine(which sounds like the original..).
Anyway, sorry to be so wordy here, but thanks "AA00475Bassman"!

 

[AA00475Bassman]

Thank you Tm1 for building the Rangemaster , the pedal is really killer with the neck pickup on a strat ! I just bought a Gibson 1957 GA 9 Friday very eager to use your pedal with my R8's and this amp !