ok who has used the catalinbread merkin

[friendship]

Spill the dang beans. Weave me a rich tapestry of its sound. I'm idly thinking about Fuzzrite type pedals and this one seems like it might be a great modern refinement?

[grygrx]

detailed personal opinion: meh

[Ro_S]

I have merkin. It's great. I think Catalinbread added an extra gain to the vintage Fuzzrite circuit.

yum, yum, yum. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMe2Sfe8c9A

p.s. if you're interested in a more direct clone of the Fuzzrite, PM me.

[Eivind August]

Had it for a short while, wasn't really impressed by it. Felt that it lacked character or whatever. But it didn't suck, you might dig it.

[zRobertez]

And Elvind August has secretly revealed his opinions of friendship

[Eivind August]

Haha, yeah.

Nah, if you wanna use it as a kinda stereotypical old-school fuzz for the occasional 60s psych rock or Stooges sound, it would probably do the job. But if you're looking for a great fuzz to use often, I would look elsewhere. I dunno, but remember that I returned it after a couple of days. Might be that I didn't find the sweet spots, but that shouldn't really have been too hard with such a simple layout.

[friendship]

haha "if you're into characterless boring pedals then you'll love it!"

Yeah I thought the Catalinbread video for it didn't make it sound very interesting, but in the Chicago Music Exchange one it sounds pretty different/awesome. Maybe this is a pedal made or broken by amp choice. What do you think, Ro_S?

[KaosCill8r]

Merkin fuzz! I would have a hard time putting a pedal on my board named after a pubic wig that hookers used to hide their std,s from the punters. It sounds like a good modern clone of a classic. Though I would get someone on the shark tank to build you a decent fuzzrite clone. I think you would get better value for your money and a better sounding pedal.

[friendship]

Merkin fuzz! I would have a hard time putting a pedal on my board named after a pubic wig that hookers used to hide their std,s from the punters. It sounds like a good modern clone of a classic. Though I would get someone on the shark tank to build you a decent fuzzrite clone. I think you would get better value for your money and a better sounding pedal.

Yeah not a bad idea.

There's also the Mahoney Fuzztite (née Acid Tone) which is cheaper and the builder claims to have done a lot of experimenting, hopefully addressing any limitations of the circuit, so that's cool. I wonder how that one is...

[Tristan]

Yeah, or check the newly developed Fuzz Righteous from culturejam right here on ILF, it seems pretty badass.

[D.o.S.]

if you wanna use it as a kinda stereotypical old-school fuzz for the occasional 60s psych rock or Stooges sound, it would probably do the job. But if you're looking for a great fuzz to use often, I would look elsewhere.

Are you suggesting that you wouldn't use a Stooges fuzz often, and/or that it isn't a great fuzz?

[Ro_S]

Nah, if you wanna use it as a kinda stereotypical old-school fuzz for the occasional 60s psych rock or Stooges sound, it would probably do the job. But if you're looking for a great fuzz to use often, I would look elsewhere. I dunno, but remember that I returned it after a couple of days. Might be that I didn't find the sweet spots, but that shouldn't really have been too hard with such a simple layout.

Yeah I thought the Catalinbread video for it didn't make it sound very interesting, but in the Chicago Music Exchange one it sounds pretty different/awesome. Maybe this is a pedal made or broken by amp choice. What do you think, Ro_S?

Well I love that 60s garage/psych sound, so that's why I appreciate the Merkin so much. It's right up my alley and I'm a pretty rudimentary player and it suits me.

The Merkin is a keeper for me. I also like the Fuzzrite circuit a lot too.

Their applications aren't as versatile as many other fuzzes. But If I had to limit myself to handful of fuzzes, this is one fuzz type I'd certainly want to include.

Catalinbread - and I'd apply this to Earthquaker Devices too - seem to have an excellent design ear for vintage style and musical sounds, so I trust them to do a good job with re-working and improving an old circuit.

I didn't think too much of the Chicago Music Exch demo. Maybe listen to other demos.

I do a couple of Fuzzrite clones; I'll PM you.

[Eivind August]

Well, the reason I bought it was to get those garage-y Stooges tones and the 60s era psychedelic rock sound. What I meant is that it feels like a boring version of that sound, like something you would hear from a half-arsed coverband or whatever. It wasn't... wild enough? I think what I like about alot of those old school tones are that they have subtle flaws and idiosyncrasies, didn't reallt get that from the Merkin. To me it sounded a bit flat. But as has been mentioned, might have been combination of amp and sucky playing on my part that made it fail for me.

[UnicornTrap]

i had one - returned it because i'm a super knob twiddler. I mostly returned it because it was very horrible on bass and (bass) synth. I ended up with a scarab deluxe for those kinda tones