Catalinbread Cold One

The Punkifier Revisited: From ’90s Chaos to Modern Saturation

The Catalinbread Cold One draws direct inspiration from the DOD Punkifier, an unconventional ’90s saturation pedal known for its abrasive sounds and uncompromising character. While the original already blended fuzz and distortion, the Cold One takes the concept much further by clearly separating the circuit’s different voices and considerably expanding their control range.

This pedal is not designed to reproduce a tame overdrive or perfectly smooth distortion. It is aimed at musicians drawn to rough textures, distorted attacks and sounds that push beyond the boundaries. The Cold One retains the punk, garage and alternative spirit of its inspiration, while adding a particularly addictive experimental dimension.

A fuzz, distortion and glitch pedal for musicians who like to push beyond the boundaries

The Cold One is equally suited to guitarists looking to thicken up a rock riff and experimental musicians searching for detuned, chopped or almost synth-like sounds. Its controls remain intuitive enough to quickly find an effective saturation sound, while their interaction also rewards musicians who enjoy spending time exploring their pedalboard.

It will naturally find its place in punk, garage rock, noise rock, grunge, stoner, alternative rock, indie and psychedelic settings. The Glitch section also opens up exciting possibilities for dissonant layers, deconstructed intros, abrasive ambient passages or deliberately unstable solos.

Thanks to its blend of fuzz and distortion, it can also be used with bass. By reducing the gain of the distortion section, it can retain a response close to that of a clean channel, while the Fuzz Blend precisely controls the amount of saturated signal. An ideal approach for adding grit without sacrificing all the definition of your playing or the weight of the low end.

Three independent circuits and a Glitch control to explore

The Cold One combines three distinct saturation characters: an adjustable distortion, a classic fuzz and a glitchy fuzz with arpeggiated accents. Each can be used on its own or blended with the others. This architecture lets you move from a nervous crunch to a massive fuzz, then to deliberately unstable textures, without changing pedals.

The Gain knob acts only on the distortion section. At low settings, it adds a slight coloration and a more open response, useful for preserving dynamics or building a clean/saturated blend. As the gain is increased, the sound gains compression, bite and density to tackle the heaviest riffs.

The Fuzz Blend control adjusts the balance of fuzz and distortion in the final signal. It can emphasize a more structured attack, thicken distortion with added grit or, conversely, let the fuzz take over completely. The Glitch knob operates within the fuzz section: it gradually shifts the classic voice toward a glitchy, arpeggiated texture that is much more fractured.

The Tone control takes an active approach, boosting either the low or high frequencies rather than simply removing part of the spectrum. The Vol control then adjusts the output level, allowing you to balance the pedal with your bypassed sound, drive an amplifier’s input or stand out during a solo.

Buffers are present at the input and output to ensure stable integration into a complete effects chain. The Cold One can therefore be placed in different positions on your pedalboard depending on the desired result: at the beginning of the chain to preserve a direct interaction with the guitar, or after other effects to transform an already colored signal.

The Sound

The Catalinbread Cold One delivers a deliberately expressive, edgy and imperfect saturation—in the best sense of the word. Its distortion can remain relatively articulate at low gain, while the fuzz adds a thicker, raspier and wilder character. Blending the two produces solid riffs, wide chords and leads that retain plenty of dimension.

The Glitch mode is the pedal’s true playground. It introduces unstable reactions and arpeggiated resonances that make the sound feel as though it is fracturing or folding back in on itself. Depending on the settings of the guitar, amplifier and other effects, the Cold One can shift from a grainy fuzz to an almost electronic texture, ideal for creating a distinctive personal sound.

Powered at 18 Volts, it offers greater dynamics, headroom and attack precision. At 9 Volts, its behavior remains softer and more immediate, with saturation arriving more quickly. In both cases, the pedal responds effectively to playing nuances and changes to the guitar’s volume knob.

Technical specifications

Effects	Distortion / Overdrive / Fuzz, Fuzz, Buffer, Distortion	EQ	Yes
Format	Pedal	Use	electric bass, electric guitar

Three saturation sections	distortion, classic fuzz and glitchy/arp fuzz	Fuzz Blend	balance between fuzz and distortion
Tone	active EQ with boosted low or high frequencies	Vol	output level
Glitch	blend between classic fuzz and glitchy/arp fuzz	Gain	Quantity of gain applied to the distortion section