Catalinbread reached into the late ’80s and pulled out a forgotten gem—that studio rack unit everyone wanted but nobody could afford. The one that ended up on records by Trey Anastasio, Neil Young, Mac DeMarco. Not because it was flashy, but because it felt like space you could live inside.
The CB Paint distills that unit into eight patches, each one lifted directly from the original’s algorithms. Patches one through six are hall and room sounds that grow progressively larger—from a small wooden room to a cathedral with no visible ceiling. Patch seven is gated reverb, that huge drum sound that defined an era. Patch eight is the wild card: reverse reverb that rushes backward like tape played in a dream, Neil Young’s weapon of choice for making his guitar scream into the void .
Three knobs. That’s it. Onset controls pre-delay—how long before the reverb catches up with you. Tone is a two-pole lowpass filter that smooths out the digital highs, turning bright reflections into warm fog. Mix lets you hover anywhere between bone-dry and fully submerged .
Put it before your amp and that reverse patch turns into controlled chaos—feedback that swims and swirls, notes that arrive before you play them . Put it in the loop and it’s lush, endless, the sound of memories dissolving.
No menus. No presets beyond the eight on the dial. Just the sound of 1989, reimagined for people who weren’t there but wish they were.
