GearDump

Catalinbread's New HiWatt Pedal, the WIIO

HarmonyCentral’s forums were alive with talk of a new Catalinbread Pedal called the WIIO. Catalinbread A/B tested the WIIO against a Hiwatt amplifier and the results were close. When polled most people answered which clip they though the Hiwatt was at first they answered incorrectly.

The pedal is based on the sound of a full-stack Hiwatt amp & cabinet combination popularized by guitarists like Pete Townshend of The Who. The clips did not show if this pedal can also reproduce the famous Hiwatt clean tone. The pedal has controls for Treble, Bass, Gain and Master. The paint is clearly reminiscent of the milispec construction Hiwatt featured in the 1970’s.

The WIIO is $159.00. The WIIO is already sold out the initial run of 100 units. Catalinbread indicated that this was a limited run product and that no more would be produced. Catalinbread has produced some other limited run effects emulating different amplifiers including, the Dirty Little Secret based on a Marshall, and an S.F.T. which is based on an old Ampeg Bass Amp though it works for guitar too.

Catalinbread calls the Dirty Little Secret a “foundation of tone”, suggesting it be used more like a pre-amp then a distortion or overdrive. Since the WIIO has not made it into user hands yet speculation is rampant on whether this pedal will work well in the same roll as the Dirty Little Secret.

Barber Electronics has long been known for producing some high quality boutique stompboxes. The Trifecta was a fairly highly anticipated pedal prior to it’s release. We all know a fuzz addict now don’t we?

The pedal features four knobs and a switch. The knobs control volume, gain, tone, and fuzz. The switch selects from three different fuzz sounds. Honestly unless the pedal is dialed in properly the differences are mostly dynamic in nature. By pulling the tone control the pedal goes from a typical big muff style scooped mids to a more boutique styled midrange. Honestly I just leave it pulled and adjust the tone and fuzz to taste since you can get a fatter sound with more controlled high end.

This pedal is a fantastic fuzz for single note lines but doesn’t get muddy when playing chords either. The only strike against the fuzz is that it does not have germanium transistors and so it cannot get those very early Hendrix sounds. Nevertheless this has been a go-to dirt box for my own rig for quite some time. Like many muff pedals, this also works great with an overdrive or compressor out front to alter the tone slightly or to provide a gain boost.

The construction on this pedal is top notch as well. Inside, it is built on a double sided PCB that looks very solid. The Controls are mounted to the housing and not the board as well. As anyone who has done pedal repairs or modifications knows, this is definately a bonus. Barber is an excellent company and person to deal with. He is always prompt in responding to customer e-mails and information requests. Maybe some point in the future I’ll pin him down for an interview.

You can’t go wrong with most of the Barber effects and the Trifecta is no exception. I suggest you give one a whirl at your local Barber dealer.

Special thanks to Proguitarshop.com for their excellent demonstrational videos.
Check them out for any of your pedal needs!