Catalinbread Naga Viper Booster

$179.99
SKU
GH-853710004017-1
The Naga Viper is a booster in the grand old tradition of the Dallas Rangemaster "Treble-Booster".
The Rangemaster has been used by many influential British guitarists including Tony Iommi, Brian May, Marc Bolan, and KK Downing and Glen Tipton of Judas Priest. These guitarists, while completely unique in their styles, share the Rangemaster secret of boosting their cranked tube amps into a juicy, harmonic-laden rock tone that always cuts through the mix. The Naga Viper is our version of this famous circuit and it enhances the classic circuit with the addition of two extra controls - Range and Heat. The original Rangemaster had just one control - Boost. The Range knob is a continuous control allows you to go from classic treble-boost to a full-range boost and anywhere in-between. The original could only function as a "treble-booster". The Heat knob gives you control over the gain level, unlike the original which was fixed at maximum gain. Why a "treble-booster"? Well, it is not like merely turning up the treble control on an EQ pedal. Besides enhancing treble response, it adds its own subtle harmonic distortion and gives you a lot of "push" to really saturate the front-end of your tube amp. But remember, the Naga Viper has a Range control that allows you to dial in exactly what frequencies get boosted. The traditional way to use a treble-booster is to plug it straight into an already cranked and overdriven tube amp like the Marshalls, Laneys, and Voxes the British guitarists used. Since the amps were already cranked up, a full-range boost would result in a muddy sound with no definition. That is why we want to boost "treble"! But in this modern era of electric guitar, many guitarists use overdrive pedals that emulate the sounds of cranked big amps into their smaller combos. The Naga Viper is carefully voiced to allow you to boost your "amp-in-the-box" pedals too to get those famous juicy, saturated sounds at "reasonable" volume levels! In particular, the Naga Viper was made to go with our Dirty Little Secret and CB30 overdrives. • The BOOST control sets the output level of the Naga Viper. For overdriving amps or overdrive pedals, you'll normally want to set this control fairly high. You'll notice that as you turn this control you'll hear a slight whooshing or crackle type sound - this is normal and is due to the traditional Rangemaster circuit used for the Boost control. • The HEAT control sets the gain level of the Naga Viper. At full CCW, you will get a clean boost. At full CW, you will get the traditional Rangemaster response which is a slightly dirty boosted sound that doesn't sound that great into a clean amp but into an overdriven amp it is like magic! For dirty boosting, start with the Heat control turned all the way up and then back it off slightly if necessary to get the over- drive sound you are looking for. At full CCW, you will get a clean boost which works great as a "MORE" pedal, making your sound louder with a nice presence into either a clean or dirty amp. • The RANGE control sets the frequency response of the Naga Viper. For the classic treble-booster response, turn this control full CW. If you find you could use some more fullness, turn the Range knob back until you get what you're after. This knob is particularly useful for dialing in a thinner sounding single coil guitar or if you are boosting a Fender style amp or an overdrive pedal . With the Range set around noon, you'll find that the frequency response is fairly "flat" with a slight enhancement to the treble frequencies. As you turn the Range control CCW from noon, bass frequencies will start to get boosted as well.
More Information
Manufacturer Catalinbread
Pre-Release N/A
Power 9V DC
Pro Only N/A
MIDI No
Instrument Guitar
Rental Only N/A
Current Draw (mA) N/A
PS Included N/A
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