BLACK SHEEP

We close the year 2011 by introducing our latest pedal in the Dirty Boy pedal line.

This is a silicon based pedal with a built in booster. Some people will call it a Fuzz while others will call it a Cruncher.

This is a sound that we have not offered before. It is very powerful and probably the loudest pedal that I have ever heard.

If your guitar is too bassy, choose a high frequency to boost. If you have humbuckers and you wish a single-coil sound, choose a higher frequency. If you have a single coil and want to fatten it up, use a low frequency. The same goes with the amp.

This pedal can be used on a microphone for effects, bass guitar, keyboards, nylon electric, horns, digital mixes, the combinations are endless.

I build them with Germanium transistors that are about 40 years old and have smoth clipping, not with silicon transistors that have a tendency to sound like razor blades. Of course, I only have a limited quantity of those transistors so you may want to take this into consideration when ordering.

This pedal has been hugely popular with L.A. based studio musicians as well as Emmy winning producers. It is also great for live performances. These are true Bypass and have an insert for a 9-volt wall wart and have an LED as well for instant recognition.

Let me describe the pedal for you. It is actually a full on psychedelia thing, totally reminescent of the early 60's bands.

Imagine 2 totally separate sounding transistors and a blend pot between them. You can use transistor 1 or transistor 2 or blend them. Now we put a frequency selector in the front and we call it the master tone... At the output of each of those transistors we once again put a separate frequency selector. Mathematically that is 216 separate positions and were you to assume that there are 6 detents in each the volume and the blend pots, you would have then 7776 different combinations ( although I am sure there are some crossovers in there ) my point being that it is a total FACTORY of sound.

One of the great points of this pedal is that it is both a LIVE pedal as well as a STUDIO pedal. Once you find your favorite frequency setting, you mark it or remember it, and live that is the position that you would use as not to confuse anything. In the studio, where you have time to adjust, then you experiment and will find out that it is full of HAPPY ACCIDENTS.

As far as the sound, it can be much narrower then a wild fuzz since the clean signal sounds like it is re-introduced into the path and the notes are more controllable and defined. It also sounds kinda like a synthesizer or maybe like a weird sounding Kazoo but very cool. It can be totally over the top or totally mosquito'y.

I have designed yet another pedal for the new year. It is an octave fuzz.

This pedal is probably one of fattest Octave pedal on the planet. I always have been frustrated with the Octave Up pedals since they all sound so thin and the octave down pedals always get lost once the bass player starts.This pedal is unusual in more then one way.

For one thing, you can control the amount of signal going in with a pot and when reduced, the pot also acts as a tone control as well. The other pot on the pedal is simply a volume so you can control the signal going in as well as going out. As like most of my pedals, I have added a 3 position frequency selector which adds flexibility to the pedal. And if that wasn't enough you will find a smaller knob that when turned one way will turn the pedal into a straight and smooth Fuzz pedal, and if turned in the opposite direction will only add 50% of the octave with any increment in between. This is a totally Germanium pedal which is extremely stable. One must listen to the individual Soundclips as well as the Octo '59 Rock song to realize just how much this pedal can do. Oh and I forgot to mention that the Blend / Fuzz is controlled by its individual foot switch. This pedal has been in planning for a long time and has received extended testing. I am totally stoked with this pedal and hope you will be as well...

This pedal is a very accurate and very flexible sustain pedal. Unlike the square wave fuzz, this is based on sine wave clipping. You have a frequency selector and also a tone control. This pedal utilizes 3 germanium transistors for the softest clipping available. This is a pedal that will best suit the recording artist that needs to have a solo "sit" in a track. A true professional instrument.

The first one is actually a treble booster like the Germanium Boy but with only 2 frequency selections, high and low and a gain knob. The second one is a sustainer with fuzz and volume. The first one can be used individually from the other and the second one can be individually from the booster.

What makes this pedal special is that you can use both the booster and the sustainer simultaniously. It then creates this super wide sound that will exceed any sound that you have ever heard from a single pedal. It is just not louder, but so fat without being choked and keeps all the characteristics that you would expect from a very accurate unit. This is similar to the sound of well known artists that believe in using more then one sustain effect at once but all wrapped up in one unit. Of course you can change the whole width of the sound by selecting the either High or Low position on the booster.

Ok all you Bass Players, I haven't forgotten about you. There seems to be a hole in the marketplace for effects for the bass players, just like at one time there wasn't much available for left hand players. Hence I created the "Bass Bully."

What began this whole madness was when we noticed in one of the top studios in Los Angeles a Bass rig they had installed in a Lunch Box. After some inquiry, it turned out to be an old German Bass circuitry that they used for both Direct Recording and Boost and Fuzz. I traced the origin of that bass and formulated a way to put it into a pedal without changing the circuitry. So it is a global system which means that your bass instrument both Volume and Tone need to be turned all the way up, then you control Volume and Tone only from the pedal.

And yes you may hear a little scratching in the pots but it is irrelevant since you don't usually change the amount  of fuzz while you are playing. That is true to the original design and identical transistors create that unbelievable fuzz sound.

To begin with, it has an EQ circuit built in the pedal which I feel is superior to the circuit included in most basic basses. Most basic basses have a capacitor to ground for tone control. This EQ is based on a blend of capacitance, and that alone is worth the cost of admission.

The first position on the pedal is a Boost Feature. It does just that, boosts your signal and somehow adds a GLOW to your sound. This circuit is based on an INDUCTOR circuit like the wah pedals have. It is very cool. ( also worth the cost of admission )

The 2nd position on the pedal is a simple Fuzz. It is incredibly smooth and actually amazing since most of you know how difficult is is to fuzz a bass signal. Bass players have been forced to use guitar pedals up to now until the "BASS BULLY" arrived.

3rd position is like using 2 pedals in one. One is the Bass Boost, the other the Bass Fuzz. They are wired in series so the signal will go through the boost before getting to the fuzz so you can blend the two. Why you ask add a boost and a fuzz, well if you want that totally over the top, Farty 60's Sly and the Family Stone sound, there it is... You will have tons of fun with this pedal and it is beyond belief in the studio...

In short - The absolute perfect booster pedal for the front end of your vintage mid-gain amps such as  Plexi Marshall, Orange, Hiwatt or Vox.

The new "Ball Buster" is the latest offering from Dirty Boy Pedals... It was conceived to be used to drive the front end of your old "one trick pony" amp and give you a whole new array of amazing and usable guitar tones.

GAIN KNOB - When the pedal is first engaged you'll notice an instant 10db (approx.) of clean pure boost ... as the knob is turned clockwise the pedal starts to explode with gain and natural compression... When fully clockwise you'll find yourself in Fuzz territory.

TREBLE/BASS KNOBS - Both perfectly voiced for guitar. The TREBLE can go from that perfectly transparent sheen to that old British cut with a simple twist of the knob, always rich and solid without that paper thin brittle high end thing that most pedals have. When the BASS knob is counter clockwise it is flat... As you turn it clockwise you'll hear your signal get rich and lush in a matter of seconds. It has been voiced so that you only get the usable bass frequencies that actually make your guitar signal fatter... Not that typical woofy, flubby thing that just makes your guitar harder to play... Both of these knobs used in conjunction w/the H-M-L switch is where the fun begins...

H-M-L SWITCH - The H-M-L switch does for your guitar signal much like what a mastering engineer does for your CD (In order to make your CD tracks as loud and as punchy as possible, many mastering engineers will often get rid or "shave" unusable low end frequencies that just cloud up the mix and eat up the energy of the track...getting rid of the unusable bass frequencies will actually give you more bottom end) The H-M-L switch allows you to shave or get rid of those unwanted unusable bass frequencies that just make your sound muddy, tubby and hard to play. Once you have gotten rid of those unusable bass frequencies, use the Bass knob to add in the right amount of usable bass frequencies to help get that super-rich lush bottom end that is perfect for both the fattest of leads as well as keeping that "tight low end chord thing" going on for Rhythm. Just plug the Ball Buster into the bass channel of an old plexi and you'll understand what I'm talkin' about.

The Ball Buster is also true bypass so as to not alter your "bypassed signal" and can be used with a 9vdc power supply if desired.

We have finally posted a soundclip for the Ballbuster. I have decided to make it a song rather then individual position sound clips. This song really rocks and is a great representation of what the pedal does. For some reason, this pedal has been super popular with major guitars players that are playing large venues like Colisseums and Madison Square Garden. Once you hear the clips you will understand why...