I’ve been using a Smallbox pedal into a clean Origin 50 for my main rhythm tone for probably a little over a year now, and it does a great pushed Plexi impression. With the volume high (3 o’clockish) and the gain somewhat low (10 o’clock), it really nails the compression and dynamics I’ve heard on records for years, and it responds well to overdrives when that amount of gain isn’t enough.
I also have a BE-OD, and I can’t sing its praises. Way too much gain even with the internal trimpot set very low and the gain dialed back to nearly zero. It can make acceptable, somewhat musical sounds used as a preamp running directly into the effects return, but unlike Wampler, I can’t say every Friedman pedal is to my liking. I find my Revv G4 has way more versatility and way better tones for high-gain uses.
Regardless, I’m pretty sure the Dirty Shirley, as a mid-gain type of beast, is likely very versatile and definitely worth trying.