SCOD
Catalinbread SCOD: SuperCharged OverDrive. This pedal is really more of a distortion pedal than an overdrive. This is not only borne out by the sonic character of the pedal, but also by a review of the schematics of the pedal. This pedal goes through many more gain stages than a typical overdrive or fuzz pedal. So despite being named an "Overdrive", we are comfortable categorizing it as a distortion. We hope after hearing it, you agree. We managed to buy a custom SCOD. We happened to catch Nicholas Harris on chat through Facebook if memory serves correct. We convinced him to make us an "absinthe" powdercoat instead of his usual orange or silver, and Marshall knobs instead of his usual "1400" style knobs. Clever salesman...
The Supercharged Overdrive is no longer being made.
- Thermionic Studios has one(1) Supercharged Overdrive available for rental.
Controls
- Knob 1 - "Volume": Turning the knob clockwise increases the volume.
- Knob 2 - "Contour": Contour is a bit different from a traditional "tone" knob. It doesn't roll off highs like most tone knobs. The contour is better represented by a "peak" in the frequency response of the pedal, and turning the knob counter-clockwise shifts this peak into the bass frequencies of the signal, while clockwise shifts the peak towards the treble frequencies.
- Knob 3 - "Gain": Turning the knob clockwise increases the distortion.
- Footswitch - "On/Off": The footswitch toggles the pedal between active ("on"), and bypassed ("off").
Bypass:True
The Catalinbread SuperCharged Overdrive is True Bypass.
General Information
The Catalinbread SCOD was an attempt on the part of Catalinbread to build an emulator for the distortion sound of a cranked Orange amp into a pedal. Catalinbread no longer produces this pedal; it was discontinued sometime around 2011. We own a custom-made (special color and knobs) SCOD made for us many moons ago. We'll eventually get around to posting a picture of it...
Since these pedals are no longer available, if you should wish to build your own, your best option would probably be to order The Kit, or The PCB from Fuzzdog's Pedal Parts in the UK.
There was quite a bit of work done by people on the Free Stompboxes web site forums to trace and get a "freeware" version of the SCOD up and running, but the thread peters out as people are unable to recreate the "magic" of the Catalinbread version. However, there was a couple of nice schematics that were drawn up, and from all appearances put into the public domain.
Pedal Manual
We are unaware of any pedal manual issued by Catalinbread for the SuperCharged Overdrive pedal. Lacking such a Owner's Manual, we believe this wiki page to be the best instruction on how to use this pedal.
Phase Inversion: No
Our review of the schematics of this pedal suggests that the Output signal is not inverted from the Input signal.
| Schematic ID | Electronic Part | Action | Phase State |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q1 | BS170 | Inverts | Inverted |
| "Nutcruncher" Stage #1, #5 | CD4007 | Inverts | Reverted |
| "Nutcruncher" Stage #13, #8 | CD4007 | Inverts | Inverted |
| "Nutcruncher" Stage #12 (shared) | CD4007 | Inverts | Reverted |
| Q2 | BS170 | Does not invert | Reverted |
This will need to be borne out by testing and observation.
Schematic
Retrieved from the Revolution Deux journal, which got it from the FreeStompboxes.org discussion forums:
Also retrieved from Revolution Deux (which also originally pulled from FreeStompboxes.org forums), this breaks down the CD4007UBE IC:
Artists
We are currently unaware of any artists actively using the pedal now, or who have in the past.
Lost History
This was found on the Revolution Deux blog journal as an old text scrape from the Catalinbread website... As mentioned above, neither this pedal, nor any web page, nor any of the associated text, is available from Catalinbread.
"SuperCharged OD The audio equivalent of a forced induction high displacement big block make up the heart of the SCOD's "distortion powerplant". It is designed like a tube amp, fine tuned cascaded gain stages cause the distortion, not diodes. We knew we had a winner when it made our 5W 6V6 amp push air like a full stack. This pedal rocks harder than a Heart 8-track in a Hemi Cuda outside of a high school in 1978!
The tone for leads is balanced, focused, and sustains forever. Chords are chunky, tight, and resonant. Turn the GAIN and CONTOUR down for hi-wattage British sounds. Increasing the GAIN brings you into more modern saturation teritories without un-natural compression.Crank the CONTOUR knob and you tighten up the lowend adding resonance of a sealed 4x12.
The SCOD is capable of huge amounts of output and the gain can be down right METAL. Inspite of this the noise level is remarkably low. The distortion is natural without the buzzy "chopping" or "squaring" of your guitar's signal as often associated with high gain and metal pedals. This means you can play chords with your SCOD and not cause bizarre intermodulation.
Don't be surprised to find your daily 30 minute practice session lasting an hour or more with the SCOD. This pedal is truly inspiring."
- Additional Sources
