Marshall in a Box Showdown — Catalinbread Dirty Little Secret vs. Zvex Distortron

[aektzis91]

Get rid of that Zvex, because the DLS is light-years better!!

[anth202]

nice riffs. what amp you using?

[crxshdxmmy]

@anth202 This was done on a Mesa Rectoverb 50 combo. Check out some of my older clips for a couple demos of that amp.

[MichelVonBerlin]

well done!!!!!!

[tidalwavesideburns]

I think it sounds like ass, but that's probably because of the guitar.

It sounds like it hasn't had a proper set up in a while and the strings are buzzing or something I don't know, but there's this undertone ruining the whole thing. Then again, it might as well be a stratocaster as these things seem to sound this way.

[faunoram]

the DLS is for me !

[ngronlund]

The DLS has some swirl going on like a top quality amp. The DTron has more of a stompbox sound.

[DSilvergun]

I would have liked to see the OCD thrown into the mix for this review.

[rifkijohngm]

I still have my JCM 900 and the DLS sounds exactly like a Marshall (imo)

[goerge4]

i have the distortron.. by itself, it's good..with a band..it's awesome..! .. i have a jtm45 and it sounds just like it.. dead on.. congrats Zvex

[tymanson]

AWSOME review/demo, very helpfull. I'm mulling over a used DTron I saw at a store. I think I like the DTon over the DLS. That sounded pretty cool with them both on, hehe.

[maubahia]

Ops... Essa guitarra tá meio desafinada hein... Alías, na minha opnião essa demo não tá legal não, apesar da boa vontade do guitarrista.

[mattsynth]

DLS is the clear winner for me, much cleaner and brighter distortion.

[lidorit3]

So, which one is better ?

[crxshdxmmy]

Sorta subjective, really. You (listen and then) tell me.

[lidorit3]

Ok, but you tried them and compared them, so if you had to choose between these pedals, who did you choose ?

[crxshdxmmy]

I don't have either of them anymore, but if I was going to buy one again..... I'd probably get a Dirty Little Secret.

[paulefty]

Nice demo!

What's that song at 2:27 ? sounds so familiar...!

[crxshdxmmy]

Maybe it's close to something else, but that's one of the first little tunes I ever came up with actually. I call it "Gravity" and my (former) midwestern band used to rock it out quite a bit.

[paulefty]

Ooh. Wow yeah I guess it's close to something else, or maybe it's just the chords you used, not the progression. Anyhow, it's real nice guitarwork!

[crxshdxmmy]

3-chord rock at it's best. :D

[ThyJimster]

It helps to keep you guitar in tune.

[copilottheband]

not surprising. Zvex gets a lot of mileage out of his designs. Notice the Crackle OK on several of his pedals? That's right, there's a SHO in there. Even in the Johnny Octave!

[crxshdxmmy]

While "Crackle OK" does appear on several of his pedals, Zach doesn't exactly pack an SHO into each one. It has more to do with the design of the pedal and, if I understand correctly, the biasing that occurs when gain is increased or decreased.

But your point is well taken, Vex has some nice, useful, and creative designs.

[copilottheband]

no, i've seen the schematics for this and several of his pedals. They are SHOs. the SHO is a very simple BS170 based circuit. It's easy to use it for multiple gain stages.

[crxshdxmmy]

As have I. And the BoR/Distortron is not an SHO.

[copilottheband]

Im not saying it's JUST a SHO. I'm saying he uses the same BS170 circuit for gain stages. The Johnny Octave has 4 SHOs, for example. And I know for a fact the BoR has a SHO. So does the Box of Metal...

[underwoodblog]

yes, you're right. most of the zvex pedals based of one ore more sho's with some extras.

the distortron has a sho in the gain stage and the box is a distortron with a second sho in the post boost.

[rjpilot]

Do you find that either A. Clean up better with Vol knob. B. Get muddy?...more than the other?

How about single note articulation?

Thanks for doing a demo of these two. I am in the market for a distortion and I am actually vacillating between these two pedals.

[marcelcruzeiro]

I like DLS better.

[nicethugbert]

What are you pluging them into? How are you recording this?

[crxshdxmmy]

Guitar & Amp were G&L ASAT and Mesa Rectoverb 50.

I recorded each pedal individually (except for the humbuckers section) using a PreSonus Inspire 1394 & Shure SM57.

[GtrGeorge]

The Catalinbread really rocks! It is much more musical..and probably works so much better in a mix. Well done CatalinBread!!! -from a tone freak

[MisterKuss]

Wow! The Catalinbread really rocks! It sounds almost like an amp. The Z.Vex sounds like a ... pedal ;-(

I think the "Rock" setting on the DLS will sound much better if you run the pedal on 18V. I'm just building a clone on veroboard :-)

[MdMrMat]

Are you running these at 9v or 18v? Tks,

[crxshdxmmy]

9V adapter.

[zwiebackdude]

whats the song at the beginning?

[crxshdxmmy]

Third Strike, City's on Fire

[LPMojoGL]

The Zvex dist reminds me of old Helmet tone.

[UntalentedGearhead]

Great video, thanks so much. I say the DLS wins. I owned a Box of Rock and just sold it and ordered the DLS.

[crxshdxmmy]

Thanks! I had actually bought the DTron and was borrowing a DLS... but shortly after doing this little comparison, I traded in my DTron for DLS. I found that the RAWK mode a bit more appealing than the hi-gain mode on the DTron, but the real winner for me was the vertical orientation, works better on my board. Probably a little silly, but IMO, the lo-gain and Rock modes are pretty much a wash, so the preferred orientation and RAWK mode tipped the scales for me. Both are VERY good pedals though.

[thisfallingpart]

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[crxshdxmmy]

Apologies.