Caline Wine Cellar pre-amp pedal

Anyone have experience with this pedal or the brand in general? I was thinking of picking one up to play around with after noticing that the Behringer BDI21 is out-of-stock everywhere…

It would be my first pedal - it’s between this and the SanJune compressor. I’m still mid-course, so I’m not good enough to be investing in the Steve Harris SansAmp just yet. :slight_smile: But, I’d like to play around with my tone a bit and see what I can learn from that…

Any input appreciated… Thanks!

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Caline, like Behringer, generally makes cheap knockoff pedals. Also like Behringer, this does not mean they are bad at all (the BDI-21 is amazing, as it sounds like you know already :slight_smile:

I haven’t heard that one but it sounds like it might be another good SansAmp BDDI clone. Worth checking out!

One unfortunate thing I noticed, it doesn’t look like it has a ground lift on the DI. Still, for $40, worth a try.

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Gregor recently did a review of that one :wink:

Seems a bit strange though because that brand is hard to find over here in Europe.

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Caline is a chinese brand, they make a lot of interesting pedals including “double” pedals like a compressor and an overdrive in one box, for example.

The wine cellar is another BDDI clone but with a metal enclosure and not the cheap plastic Behringer box.

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Sounds cool! The harmonics knob sounds the same as the presence knob on the BDI and BDDI.

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@howard - I’m not familiar with this - what’s the advantage to having a ground lift? Thx!

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A ground lift is used to break ground loops. If the DI box and the mixer (or wherever it is going to) are on different grounds, there can be a potential difference and this will cause a 60Hz hum unless you can lift the ground on one end.

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So is it a good idea to avoid a DI box without a ground lift?

(I’m clearly over-thinking this - no idea when, if ever, I’ll need the DI functionality - I’m mainly interested in the pre-amp. But, always good to begin to understand this stuff…)

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Honestly I wouldn’t worry about it and just buy another Di down the line if you need it. I just thought it was a weird omission.

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You can lift the ground in the XLR cable if you ever need to. Just open the connector and clip the wire off pin 1. Mark the cable “ground lift” et voila, ground lift feature for any device you ever buy. Lifetime warranty.

I’m certain @T_dub has something to say about the SanJune compressor.

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Great to know… thx!

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can’t speak to this particular pedal but I have a few caline guitar pedals and they are awesome…I did rcv one that was DOA but they gave me a refund no fuss no muss.

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Yes, the San June is one of my favorite compressors, and it for sure is the best bang for buck, at $66 on Amazon. It really is a great little compressor that performs as good or better then many compressors 2-3x more expensive. I have not found anything in this price range that compares.

Do you have NO pedals or Multi FX units?

If you plan to just get one pedal for now, you might be better off getting the Zoom B1-four.
For $80, not only do you get almost every type of effect in one device, but many of the FX are direct clone / copy of many of the big name, popular ones.
And, although there is not a compressor as good at the San June, there are 5 pretty high quality compressors.
The Zoom allows you to act like you have a ton of pedals to choose from, and you can create your own chains from scratch, or edit the pre-set patches.
It is a great way to learn about fx pedals and how to use them.
Also you can use it with other pedals, so as you start to get pedals, you can still use this in the chain.
Plus it has a tuner, is a headphone amp, has aux in so you can listen to Josh and hear your bass over the headphones when you want to do the course work without disturbing others in the house, and it has drum beats and metronome to assist with practicing.
Everything you can do thru the amp. you can also do thru Headphones.

If you don’t have one already, I would highly recommend this as a start to your FX and Pedal journey.
But if you want to startout with one of those two pedals you inquired about, I can’t speak to the Wine Cellar, and the only thing Caline that I have are my power supplies, but I like them very much.
San June, I can’t speak highly enough about, and that would be my pick.

I love compressors, but if you don’t know much about them, they can seem very underwhelming as an effect , but I would not live without mine, I love compressors, especially when playing aggressively or slapping. the rougher you are in your style, the more a compressor can do for you.

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@T_dub gave some good advice there, I still think of the Zoom units as some of the best money I have ever spent on gear. You can always sell it later too. They are the best and least expensive way I know of to learn how pedals work together.

Plus, some of the digital effects are actually really good regardless of them being inexpensive bundled together; Zoom ships a good set of compressors, and I like their modulations as well.

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@T_dub - thanks very much - really appreciate that info. I did pick up the Wine Cellar, as it was $35 new on ebay and ebay gave me $10 off - for $25, I can’t pass it up. But, I’ll grab the Zoom as well. Sounds like a great way to experiment with and learn about different pedal types.

If you don’t mind, what power supplies are you happy with? I’ve been looking at reviews, and half the people say a given supply great, and the other half say it’s noisy - hard to know who to believe. Appreciate any input…

Thanks again!

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They are Caline power supplies.
I don’t recall the name or model number, but they are around $36, and 8 ports. 6 ports are 300ma 9v
One is 500 MA 9-12-15-18v selectable
Tge last is 300ma 9-15-300v selectable

Tgere is only one Caline PS that is configured like that.
I will look fir a link later when on mu computer.

If you are looking for a dingle PS, any brand will do, just make sure it is Center tip Negative and min 150ma, ip yo 500ma

If you just want to get a PS got the wine cellar, it will run around $7-$8
And is probably ok to get the 100to 150ma

If you get the Zoom B1-four, which will ho great with the wine cellar, then you will need to buy another PS for it, and that will be another $8z. Gor the Xoom B1-Four the PS you get MUST BE 500mA

So, if you just spend the $36 now, the PS block will power both the Wine Cellar AND the Zoom, and have room fir 6 more standard pedals.
You have one port that could do 9-15-18, at 300ma
And
Five ports that can do 300ma at 9v

Most standard, single pedals rum on
9v-100ma center tip negative power supply.

Sometimes you gind ones that fun on 12v or 15v. And 18v
Often thise pedals come with a special PS for that pedal. Exceptions being the Xoom which you need to buy a pS for

Many pS Bricks out there, have more ports, or cost a few bucks less, but this one I got is tge only one that offers six at 9v and 300ma with two more offering 400ma snd 500ma gor 12-15-18v
Most of gge ithers will offer
8 ports at 100ma - 9v
1 port at 300ma 9-12-15-18v
1 port at 500ma 9-15-18v

Now, that will do the trick in many cases.
And i cant say that it will not work over time, but INE, when talking about Cheaply made electronics, they tend to burn out after a short time., especially if they are maxed out.

If you take 8 pedals tgat are each 9x -100Ma
And used a pS brick that has 8 ports that supply 9v 100ma

Now, that will run your pedals, and if it were a high quality PS, it may do the trick for a long time
But
If it is cheaply made, and has cheap wires, and components, then if you run it full tilt, it may be prone to die out prematurely, and then you need to buy another one., and by that time, you will have spent more then if you just bought one that cost more in the first place.

Now, all that said, there are still many variables that determine the load on the PS so it is still good to research it a little on your own.
Some variables
To max out that pS, all 8 pedals would need to be on, and all 8 would need yo be at max draw. So to fully max that unit is a rarity, but IMO it is not worth the chance when we are talking about spending $24 and Saving $12 instead of just paying the $36 to start with
Other variables will be power source to the PS, the quality of other pedals you add, how many hours / days / weeks you will run your pedalboard.

And many things i am sure to be missing.

I will post s link yo the one i am using, and a few other people on this forum are using as well.
When I get a chance yo get to it

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@T_dub - again, greatly appreciate the info. Thanks for taking the time to share that.

It seems like this power supply is the one you’re talking about… Putting it on the list for my next order…

Thx much!

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Yep, thats the one, sorry for the late reply, been a little busy the past few days.

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