Catalinbread RAH - Royal Albert Hall edition WIIO

Catalinbread

Introducing The Catalinbread RAH

In January 1970 Led Zeppelin hit the stage of London's historic concert hall, Royal Albert Hall. At this performance Jimmy Page (sporting a snazzy argyle sweater) expressed himself masterfully with a broad pallet of tones and GIANT dynamic range. Of course this has a lot to do with Page's playing technique and Gibson Les Paul. His backline amps, Hiwatt "Jimmy Page" heads into Marshall 1982 cabinets filled the entire hall with a cornucopia of colors at levels ranging from a mouse whisper to raveups louder than a jumbo jet taking off only inches over your head.

At Catalinbread we love the RAH performance, but we hadn't considered the possibility of capturing it to put into a pedal… One day our friend Charlie got ahold of Catalinbread's chief circuit designer Howard Gee to ask if we could do it. Charlie said that he'd been trying to get this tone for years and told Howard, if anybody can do it is Catalinbread. Having proven his ability capture the essence and experience of famous amplifiers, Howard began experimenting with what is now the RAH.

So here it is, the Catalinbread RAH (Royal Albert Hall Edition WIIO). To achieve the dynamic response and chirpy-articulate-crunchy tonal pallet of the 1970 performance, Howard combined elements of the WIIO and Dirty Little Secret. He restructured the WIIO's gain stages, adding the 3-band tonestack from the infamous "Jimmy Page Hiwatt". From the Dirty Little Secret he took the circuitry that contributes to it's big cabinet feel.

The RAH is designed to deliver guitarists an incredible dynamic range that responds to picking hand and and/or volume knob. Like a good amplifier the RAH is VERY uncompressed, which means there is little to "hide behind". This pedal is for players who appreciate the rewards and experience of a WIDE dynamic response. Plug the RAH into a clean(ish) tube amplifier, leave the pedal on all the time accessing clean tones rolling back your guitar's volume knob, or turn it on and off as your "gain channel". We're including a HERCO pick, use the nubby edge for chirpy articulation.

We are making the RAH available to you direct. They are only available when we have time to build 'em in tiny little batches.