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Distortion: Germanium or Silicon?
Posted: Sat Jun 29, 2019 9:05 am
by misterfolkertsma
So, Catalinbread have two versions of their Karma Suture pedal. One is Germanium, the other is Silicon.
https://www.catalinbread.com/index.php? ... -suture-ge
https://www.catalinbread.com/index.php? ... -suture-si
What differences do you guys think I can expect between these two designs?
(Mainly for the R30 amp)
Re: Distortion: Germanium or Silicon?
Posted: Mon Jul 01, 2019 9:44 pm
by Les Paul Lover
Germanium diodes tend to sound a little smoother and more compressed.
That said..... in a big muff PI type circuit, it's splitting hairs as it's not the delicate circuit. It's pretty gainy dirty whatever.
In other pedals, with an OD circuit that can actually clean up, the difference might be more obvious.
Re: Distortion: Germanium or Silicon?
Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2019 7:17 pm
by misterfolkertsma
So, I hit up Catalinbread and they pretty much said the same thing. Germanium will sound smoother, saggier and less direct.
Having said that, I went ahead and ordered the Silicon version since I already have a Germanium fuzz pedal.
All I can say is, wow! Super happy about this pedal, such a nice direct sound for when you want that rhythm distortion. Can easily recommend it for an Orange
Re: Distortion: Germanium or Silicon?
Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2019 10:36 pm
by northernguitarguy
Right on! How are you running your amp with this pedal?
Re: Distortion: Germanium or Silicon?
Posted: Tue Jul 16, 2019 9:10 am
by Les Paul Lover
misterfolkertsma wrote: ↑Thu Jul 11, 2019 7:17 pm
So, I hit up Catalinbread and they pretty much said the same thing. Germanium will sound smoother, saggier and less direct.
Having said that, I went ahead and ordered the Silicon version since I already have a Germanium fuzz pedal.
All I can say is, wow! Super happy about this pedal, such a nice direct sound for when you want that rhythm distortion. Can easily recommend it for an Orange
Good news!!!
How does it mesh with your R30? Is that for your clean or dirty channel?
Re: Distortion: Germanium or Silicon?
Posted: Sun Aug 25, 2019 9:49 am
by misterfolkertsma
Sorry for not replying!
Depending on volume. I like the natural channel when there’s an opportunity to go full-blast, if it needs to be a bit more manageable I go for the dirty channel: gain between 11 and 1, volume to taste.
The pedal is very flexible, easily gives you some of that gainy-feeling that you’re sometimes missing out of the R30. But you can set it up to be very direct and rhythmic too, anything between Television and ColourHaze is possible in my opinion...
Re: Distortion: Germanium or Silicon?
Posted: Sun Oct 06, 2019 2:17 pm
by groundmeat
Catalinbread pedals in general are just plain fantastic. Probably one of THE BEST pedal makers out there currently. Their Topanga spring reverb pedal is the only pedal I've ever heard that sounded DEAD ON 100% like a REAL spring reverb. Real spring reverb has that unmistakable Fender-ish drippy/poppy kinda sound on the trails of it, and usually pedals can never duplicate that quality. But somehow someway Catalinbread did it. They also have a Talisman plate reverb pedal which sounds amazing too, just like the old studio plate reverbs from the 70's. They tend to be more expensive than other pedals, but the sound quality you get out of them is second to none.
The only minus I can attribute to Catalinbread pedals: I've been looking for a good highly functional analog/tape echo style pedal lately, preferably one with a tap tempo on-board or at least a jack for an external tap tempo button. They do have a Belle Epoch pedal which is supposed to be a Maestro Echoplex tape echo kinda thing. And it nails the sound dead on, but it has no tap tempo. Which is just a preference, not really a REAL drawback. But if I'm nitpicking, that's the ONLY thing I can criticize them for.
