“The Tritone was universally loved by the crew but the vibes clashed with the palette of the Soft Focus Deluxe”: Catalinbread is selling off its prototype guitar pedals, and the first is a “B-side” pitch echo from its smash-hit shoegaze stompbox

Stompbox designers are an obsessive breed. If they are not playing the guitar, you’ll probably find them at the breadboard, workshopping circuit designs, prototyping. Brian Wampler once told us that is both job and a hobby.

But what happens to all those circuits that didn’t make to the market? Most go nowhere. Some get resurrected. At Catalinbread, however, you might now find them in the Proto Club, a new scheme in which the pedals that made it to the prototype stage are sold to the public at a discounted rate.