Build the amp that doesn't exist.
Every amp in Cathode is a live circuit. Designer hands you the soldering iron: open anything, change anything, and hear it respond while you play.
Three depths. One amp. No cliff.
Turn the knobs
Start from any amp you already love playing. Every pot and switch is live, in signal order — same as Player, no ceiling yet.
Swap the parts
Bigger coupling cap. Different tubes. A hotter output transformer. Re-voice the tone stack in block view and hear the difference instantly — no electronics degree required.
Draw the circuit
Full schematic editing on a live canvas. Place parts, wire them, and the amp keeps playing while you work — validated against SPICE ground truth.
The cheapest breadboard you'll ever own.
Building or modding real amps? Prototype the circuit in Designer first — sweep component values while playing through it, check the operating points, and only heat the iron once it sounds right.
When a design is done, export a NAM profile of it. Your capture, from an amp that never existed — we interop, never trap.
Open format. Never trapped.
Your designs are yours — inspect them, script them, take them elsewhere. Cathode is a good place to keep them, not a cage that keeps them.
Built on the same open bridges the community already shares — full format docs ship with launch.
Free minor updates. Major versions are optional paid upgrades at about half price. Three machines, self-serve deactivation, transferable. Buy it once. It's yours.
Founding window. When Designer launches, the early-access list gets 25% off for 90 days. One window, one time, never repeated — after it closes the price is stable for good.