The Catalinbread Airstrip Preamplifier in Black distills legendary tones of Lou Reed to the fuzzy freakouts of Frank Zappa into a stompbox-sized console preamp with a handful of extras on offer. Capable of every gain sound imaginable from warm, 'mastered'-style cleans to gnarly collapsing fuzz, the Airstrip puts the mixing desk on your pedalboard in a much more manageable package. Push Button This is where the Airstrip goes from a mild-mannered enhancer to a collapsing wall of fuzz with one simple twist. Push governs the gain of a discrete op-amp, based on an old UREI design, which slams the front end of the console preamp. At its minimum value, the op-amp has unity gain and doesn’t affect the operation of the preamp. When the knob is increased, it is highly interactive with the Trim control. When both are set to maximum, the sound transforms into molten fuzz that ducks in between notes for a very cool swell effect. Try turning this knob with Trim set low for a different flavor of distortion. Volume Knob Keeping both Trim and Push controls at their minimum settings and cranking this knob offers a superb and very loud clean boost with a tailored tonal profile that makes your guitar sound pre-mastered right out of the box. Treble Filter Serving up a gentle treble filter, the Tone control cuts treble at its minimum and adds a trebly topnote to the final product at its maximum. Trim Knob This knob controls the amount of gain from the preamp itself, as the knob adjusts a variable resistance from within the circuit. Power Supply The Airstrip accepts a center-negative DC power supply at anything between 9 and 24 volts. The more voltage you give it, the more headroom, volume and clarity you will get.