Catalinbread Sidearm vs MXR Micro Amp
The Catalinbread Sidearm and the MXR Micro Amp are both pedals sharing transparent, clean boost. The Catalinbread Sidearm leans saturated. The MXR Micro Amp leans warm and compressed. Current prices: $111.99 vs $79.44.
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Blended from circuit-archetype lineage, dynamic feel, tone-signal overlap and tone-vector distance — the tone vector itself is derived from editorial description text, not a measured acoustic signal, so this reflects how similarly the catalog copy describes the two, not a lab measurement. Shown only within a gear class, and only where there's enough evidence to be meaningful.52% — moderately similar
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Genres both listings are associated with.- Rock
- Blues
- Country
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Derived from overlapping tonal signals across both listings.- transparent
- clean boost
Catalinbread Sidearm
Catalinbread · pedal
MXR Micro Amp
MXR · pedal
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Citation/mention fame — how often this gear is cited across artist rigs and gear discussion.$111.99via Reverb
$79.44via Reverb
The Catalinbread Sidearm is a boost and overdrive pedal from Portland, Oregon, designed as a harmonic enhancer and level boost that adds presence and musical saturation at its gain ceiling. Provides clean boost through light overdrive with a transparent character that preserves the fundamental guitar tone while adding harmonic content and presence. Designed for players who need a reliable, musical boost pedal that sounds like more of the same guitar and amp rather than adding obvious pedal character. Made in Portland by Catalinbread.
The MXR Micro Amp is a simple, single-knob clean boost offering up to around 26dB of gain to beef up clean tones, push an amp or overdrive harder, and add volume and body to driven sounds. It is one of the easiest and leanest boosters to use, staying largely transparent, especially with single-coil pickups, while adding warmth, girth, and dimension rather than strong color. Even at its cleanest it adds a little shading, edge, and compression as it drives the preamp, much like pushing up a fader on a mixing desk so the tone gains body and presence. With only a Gain control it is set-and-forget, often used as an always-on tone thickener or a dedicated solo and lead boost. It suits players across blues, rock, and country who want a straightforward, low-noise level lift that fattens the sound without reshaping it.
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Genres this gear is documented as being used in.- Blues Rock
- Metal
- saturated
- warm
- compressed