“It can transform your amp, but it’s equally adept as a boost and drive”: Dirty Boy Preamp review

The Dirty Boy name has been around for quite a while, but this new preamp pedal represents a new chapter for the boutique gear company whose founder, Alex Saraceno (father of the Kingdom Come and ex-Poison guitarist Blues Saraceno), has now retired.

The brand has been acquired by musician and product designer Danny Gomez, who is known for his proprietary TAE (Tube Amp Emulation) technology. The Dirty Boy Preamp is the first product under the new regime and is based on an a amplifier designed by Alex Saraceno. What you get is a fully analogue amp modeller in pedal form that can be used in a number of ways.

The pedal features two outputs. One delivers the raw sound of the preamp for use with a power amp and speaker setup, maybe plugged into the effects return of a conventional guitar amp.

Alternatively, it can be used as a conventional boost/drive stompbox in front of an amp. The other output has nicely authentic speaker emulation based on a 4x12 Celestion Greenback cabinet so can be used straight into a mixing desk or PA for live use, or to send a signal to a DAW for recording.

The Gain, Tone and Volume array allows the dialling in of some powerful amp tones from cleanish through to full-on raunch, which work great however you use the pedal – all nicely responsive to playing dynamics with smooth volume knob clean-up.

Extra variation is provided by a Variac knob, as found on the original amp, which allows voltage levels to be adjusted, effectively starving the amp of power.

Roll it back too far and you’ll get sputtery gated sounds, but before that there’s the opportunity for some cool variations on the core sound; our particular sweet spot had an edgier crunch and a leaner midrange.

Verdict

A multi-use asset that is its own thing but is still firmly in the ballpark of familiar rock tones, the Dirty Boy preamp delivers an impressive driven valve-amp sound without valves.

It can transform your amp by being a different voice driving its power section, but it’s equally adept as a boost and drive into the front-end.

It’s also an easily portable backup for an amp, or the key component of a fly-rig compact pedalboard.

Specs

• PRICE: $331/£256
• ORIGIN: Spain
• TYPE: Preamp pedal
• FEATURES: True bypass, Variac simulator, Speaker emulated output (closed-back w/ 4x12 ‘Greenback’)
• CONTROLS: Variac, Gain, Tone, Volume, Bypass footswitch
• CONNECTIONS: Standard input, standard preamp output, standard emulated output
• POWER: 9V DC adaptor (not supplied)
• DIMENSIONS: 90 (w) x 120 (d) x 50mm (h)
• CONTACT: Dirty Boy