CBX

The Catalinbread CBX recreates the gated reverb sound synonymous with 1980s studio recordings. Lag controls the delay between your pick attack and when the gate engages—the lower half of the knob fine-tunes the response to your picking dynamics. Gate sets the sensitivity threshold: lower settings produce less gating with longer trails, and turning it fully down removes the gate entirely for conventional reverb.

Mix balances wet and dry, Verb adjusts reverb thickness from subtle to massive, and Pre controls the onboard preamp level for gain staging. The gate clamps down on the reverb tail abruptly rather than letting it decay naturally, producing that signature '80s drum room sound. Runs at 100mA minimum on 9–18V DC.

Originally a studio technique using noise gates on reverb returns, the CBX puts that specific sound in pedal format. Works on more than just drums—gated reverb on guitar creates punchy, rhythmic textures that cut cleanly between notes.