In the 1960s, Chicago's Valco Company produced amplifiers under its own Valco brand, as well as for several other brands, including the former SUPRO, National, and Gretsch. Many of these amps were small, low-powered tube amps known for their incredible sound, especially when pushed hard, and many of the amps Valco produced featured unique tube-driven tremolo effects. The tremolo sound had a hypnotic shimmer, but it could also produce hard, choppy tremolo. And when combined with the amplifier's impressive distortion, it creates a moving percussive and rhythmic pulse. Catalinbread Valcoder is a tremolo effect that redesigns the tube tremolo found in tube amps such as Valco. The Input and Output controls are independent, allowing you to reproduce everything from clean tremolo sounds to the unique tone created by saturated vacuum tubes in the tremolo circuit. Valcoder features a discrete analog LFO circuit inspired by the Valco tube tremolo circuit of the 60s. Lower Depth and Rate settings produce a smooth, well-defined tremolo sound that's especially great for playing complex chords with the neck pickup. If you set the Depth and Rate knobs higher, you get a hard rhythmic chop tremolo, creating a tense and energetic tremolo sound with added distortion. Valcoder features a dynamic and responsive JFET-based audio path with a light vintage tube amp-style compression undertone. Setting the Input knob higher increases the output of the front stage of the circuit, resulting in more compression. The Output knob allows you to set it to unity gain or boost. Valcoder can also be used as a booster for an even more vintage sounding flavor. By setting the Depth knob to minimum and increasing the Input and Output to maximum, you can create a booster with a warm, rough, and light distortion of about +10dB. You can also freely adjust the volume by adjusting the Output. You can also use it as a constant-on booster/preamp when you want to add a vintage sound vibe to your tone and add some punch to bring the sound forward.The Catalinbread Valcoder is powered by a standard center negative DC 9V to 18V adapter. A voltage of 9V produces a soft pick attack and a strong compression sound, while a voltage of 18V increases the output level and produces a slightly cleaner, lighter compression sound. The tremolo effect is stronger with 18V. Batteries cannot be used. Current consumption: 15mA ●Control DEPT: Adjusts the tremolo depth. At the minimum setting it acts as a booster. SPEED: Adjusts the speed of the tremolo. INPUT: Adjusts the signal level to the input stage. Higher settings increase compression and can also add distortion. OUTPUT: Adjusts the output volume.
