Pedal of the Year: Catalinbread Dirty Little Secret
No pedal released in 2009 created as much buzz as the Catalinbread Dirty Little Secret. Word of mouth for the small silver (now available in many colors) pedal was positive from the first web demo onward. Catalinbread calls the DLS a ‘foundation’ pedal – a sonic platform to build the rest of your tone upon. For vintage, Marshall-y goodness, the Dirty Little Secret knows no equal in its price range. After whittling a list of about twenty pedals down to one, the Catalinbread Dirty Little Secret was the last stomp standing, and thus our Pedal of the Year for 2009.
Like the company promised in its unveiling, the DLS controls are simple and effective – Loudness governs output, Tone morphs from smooth and fat to crunchy and cutting, Gain goes from clean and clear to full crunch with harmonics, and the Rock/Rawk switch selects ‘60s and ‘70s JTM/JMP sounds (Rock) or ‘80s JCM tones (Rawk).
This single pedal inspired more internet debate, praise, comradery and demos than we saw any other pedal accomplish this year… and likely the past several years. But most importantly, the Catalinbread Dirty Little Secret inspired a ton of guitarists to PLAY in 2009. That feat alone makes it worthy of our Pedal of the Year award. Bravo C-bread, Bravo!
Random quotes about the DLS from the internet…
“By the sound of it, this pedal may enter the Realm Of Legend.”
“It’s also got that ‘I’m holding this thing back’ instead of ‘I need to make sound come out’ feeling you get from really driven power tubes.”
“I have tried this pedal with many different guitar/amp/speaker combos and it terrorizes each rig.”
“You can’t swing a cat without hitting a Dirty Little Secret demo! But seriously, it’s one cool pedal.”
Did someone say ‘demos’!?
