Do I need a Dirty Little Secret?

[GLJazz]

Okay okay... Do I need another dirty little secret

This one made by catalinbread. The hype is definitely there, it's got a cool name, a cool look, and some guys swear by the sound. I'd be running a FD2 in to it. Anyone have experience with this? I need to take my orange in to harder territories at volumes before the amp starts to compress itself. If the tone of the DLS is as one of a kind as it gets a rep for, sounds like it could be next in line.

For that matter, maybe I should ditch all my dirt pedals and get a multidrive:bigeyes:

What say you?

GL

 

[drpietrzak]

Re: Do I need a Dirty Little Secret?

I have had one for quite a while now. I use it mostly in the rock mode. It has a nice early plexi voice in that mode. This means less gain than many of the other "Marshall" pedals. It is very similar in voice to my Traynor Bass Master cranked - without killing my ears or peeling the paint. It is not a high gain pedal but moves into more modern Marshall voices in the Rawk mode. I like the pedal a great deal. It loves to be stacked - being hit with a Screwdriver is a really good sound to me. I would say it has low end grunt than many Marhsall pedals, which sits really good in a mix but not what some look at for non-mix or non-band applications.

 

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: Do I need a Dirty Little Secret?

I have a Mk 1 DLS. Love it, but I RARELY use it. It sounds great, though rather cheesy build quality. It really does sound like a Marshall, though. Mk1 DLS is meant to be stacked with other pedals. I heard that the Mk2 is more of a standalone OD.

 

[GLJazz]

Re: Do I need a Dirty Little Secret?

Cool, Thanks for the reviews guys. Sounds like what i was afraid of. I need something versatile and different, not a one trick marshall in a box. Too bad to hear about the build quality too. Alright... the search continues...

 

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: Do I need a Dirty Little Secret?

Ah, you know what you might like?

The HAO Rust Driver!

This it the DLS vs the Rust Driver
http://soundcloud.com/ant01/dls-vs-rust-driver

Rust Driver
http://soundcloud.com/ant01/rust-driver-crunch-lead-boost-1

http://soundcloud.com/ant01/rust-driver-crunch-with-drive-2-1

http://soundcloud.com/ant01/rust-driver-crunch-lead-boost

http://soundcloud.com/ant01/rust-driver-arpeggios

I also have the same clips using the DLS on that Soundcloud page if you look around.

 

[GLJazz]

Re: Do I need a Dirty Little Secret?

That HAO sounds really cool! Reasonable price too.

I should probably break down and go for the Zvex BOR... looks like theres a few decent ones for sale out there in the ballpark of the DLS and HAO.

Or would that be redundant with the fulldrive?

 

[FAC]

Re: Do I need a Dirty Little Secret?

That HAO sounds really cool! Reasonable price too.

I should probably break down and go for the Zvex BOR... looks like theres a few decent ones for sale out there in the ballpark of the DLS and HAO.

I've been using a box of rock for about 5 years now. I got curious and bought a Dirty Little Secret a few months ago, to see how it went up against the Box of Rock. For me, I prefer the Box of Rock. The DLS was a great pedal, and it does what it says (it is a "foundation pedal" that you can stack other pedals into), but I was probably so used to the BOR that I ended up sending the DLS back.

It is worth noting that the BOR has a "low end issue", and when run above noon on the gain, the low end can get out of hand depending on your rig...some folks can't use it because of this. I was used to the bass enhancement, so in comparison, the DLS sounded thinner. It was NOT thinner, just much flatter in terms of bass frequency response versus the BOR.

I will say the DLS had more sound flavors on tap, with the Rock/Rawk modes. Of course, the BOR has a really nice boost side in addition to the distortion side. I would say it is a tossup and that you wouldn't go wrong with either.

 

[drpietrzak]

Re: Do I need a Dirty Little Secret?

I do not think the build quality is subpar on the DLS. At least not relative to my other semi-boutique to boutique pedals.

 

[misterwhizzy]

Re: Do I need a Dirty Little Secret?

You don't need to keep it a secret. You can tell us. We're very accepting here. Just ask John_L or Jolly_Rancher.

 

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: Do I need a Dirty Little Secret?

I do not think the build quality is subpar on the DLS. At least not relative to my other semi-boutique to boutique pedals.

How are a plastic chassis, terrible colour scheme/graphic, flimsy mini toggle, badly aligned screws, and sloppy internal wiring on par?

Have you ever seen the inside of very well-done pedal, such as a HAO Rust Driver or OD-16? Those things are a work of art, both in terms of parts, chassis strength, control position and layout and internal components/wiring/neatness.

DLS sounds very good, but is definitely NOT on par with the best boutique pedals.

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: Do I need a Dirty Little Secret?

How are a plastic chassis, terrible colour scheme/graphic, flimsy mini toggle, badly aligned screws, and sloppy internal wiring on par?

Have you ever seen the inside of very well-done pedal, such as a HAO Rust Driver or OD-16? Those things are a work of art, both in terms of parts, chassis strength, control position and layout and internal components/wiring/neatness.

DLS sounds very good, but is definitely NOT on par with the best boutique pedals.

I'd put this www.runoffgroove.com Thor pedal in the same tonal league as the DLS and it only cost me about $8 to build...

 

[Schappy]

Re: Do I need a Dirty Little Secret?

These are my favorite Marshall Plexi like pedals

DLS
Box Or Rock
Thor
MXR Distortion 3

All of these pedals can be built if you have the know how.

Plenty of info out there to do it.

The DLS is definitely worth it. Version 2 has some capacitors on a switch which increase the gain a bit.

If your run a booster or treble booster or even a OD before the DLS it sounds great.

Other pedals Iver heard alot about but havent played or owned

Lovepedal Purple Plexi
Wampler Plextortion
Menatone King of Britains

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: Do I need a Dirty Little Secret?

These are my favorite Marshall Plexi like pedals

DLS
Box Or Rock
Thor
MXR Distortion 3

All of these pedals can be built if you have the know how.

Plenty of info out there to do it.

The DLS is definitely worth it. Version 2 has some capacitors on a switch which increase the gain a bit.

If your run a booster or treble booster or even a OD before the DLS it sounds great.

Other pedals Iver heard alot about but havent played or owned

Lovepedal Purple Plexi
Wampler Plextortion
Menatone King of Britains

The Rockett Animal pedal is very good sounding also...Listen to the YouTube clips of it,plus reasonably priced..I've read about the Purple Plexi 800 pedal being noisey..

 

[GLJazz]

Re: Do I need a Dirty Little Secret?

Sweet, I've been looking for a project so I think the Thor will get built regardless of another pedal!

What do you guys think of the fulltone gt-500? I've been hearing it's in that same vein and lots of guys go for it over the BoR?

 

[drpietrzak]

Re: Do I need a Dirty Little Secret?

How are a plastic chassis, terrible colour scheme/graphic, flimsy mini toggle, badly aligned screws, and sloppy internal wiring on par?

Have you ever seen the inside of very well-done pedal, such as a HAO Rust Driver or OD-16? Those things are a work of art, both in terms of parts, chassis strength, control position and layout and internal components/wiring/neatness.

DLS sounds very good, but is definitely NOT on par with the best boutique pedals.

Hum ... my CB DLS chassis is not a plastic chassis. Neither are the standard production ones. If yours is plastic you have something odd. The inside of mine is on par with any of the ones you named easily. Are you sure you are talking about the same pedal? Graphics in mine are fine as well.

http://www.catalinbread.com/DLS.html

I own a number of nicely built pedals from Skreddy and Keeley to JHS and the Raptor. I have some idea what a nice pedal is like I think.

 

[drpietrzak]

Re: Do I need a Dirty Little Secret?

Here is a youtube of it inside as well ...

http://www.castlewellairport.com/2010/11/catalinbread-dls-v1-v-v2/

 

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: Do I need a Dirty Little Secret?

Hum ... my CB DLS chassis is not a plastic chassis. Neither are the standard production ones. If yours is plastic you have something odd. The inside of mine is on par with any of the ones you named easily. Are you sure you are talking about the same pedal? Graphics in mine are fine as well.

http://www.catalinbread.com/DLS.html

I own a number of nicely built pedals from Skreddy and Keeley to JHS and the Raptor. I have some idea what a nice pedal is like I think.

I'll snap pics of mine and post 'em.

 

[drpietrzak]

Re: Do I need a Dirty Little Secret?

It sounds like you have a very different version than the typical DLS others would have access to in that case. Where did you find/get it? As it it differs from what I posted here I would not call your experience the typical one. I will drop a note to CB and see when and if they made a plastic chassis version. I have never seen an official release in plastic.

 

[GLJazz]

Re: Do I need a Dirty Little Secret?

Looks like I found a mystery...

 

[drpietrzak]

Re: Do I need a Dirty Little Secret?

Here is the response from Catlinbread:

"Hi Dale!

... There never has been nor will there ever be a DLS made in a plastic box, and I'll put our build quality up against anybody. I don't know where this guy got his info ...

Mike"