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Martin GPC-13E Demo | PG Plays

Watch Alex Maier of Superdanger Studios cover all the ways this sleek Grand Performance acoustic-electric excels.

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A once-obscure preset on an ’80s Yamaha multi-effect becomes the foundation for a fun and varied ambience machine.

Many very pretty ambient reverb textures. Intuitive, fun operation. Solid construction. Cool textures beyond the ambient/shoegaze sphere.

There are cheaper ways to approximate the sounds of Slowdive.

$209

Catalinbread Soft Focus
ehx.com

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If there is a prettiest work in the shoegaze canon, Slowdive’s Souvlaki is arguably the one. Souvlaki is probably also the reason the Catalinbread FX-40 Soft Focus exists. The FX-40 Soft Focus, you see, is inspired by the sounds of the “Soft Focus” preset on the Yamaha FX500, a still-inexpensive multi-effects unit that debuted in the waning days of the 1980s. Though definitive documentation about when Slowdive used the FX500 is spotty, guitarists Neil Halstead and Christian Savill have both alluded to using it. As Slowdive enjoyed an unexpected renaissance over the last decade, word got around among curious guitarists that the FX500, and the Soft Focus preset in particular, might have been responsible for Souvlaki’s highly intoxicating, dream-picture textures.

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Catalinbread Element Series Overdrive, Distortion & Fuzz Demos PG Plays

Watch John Bohlinger test out the range and roar of these high-quality, sweet-spot boxes.

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