Xotic SL Drive vs Catalinbread Dirty Little Secret vs 70s Marshall JMP
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- Опубликовано: 8 сен 2024
- Battle royal between beautiful vintage tones: a 1970s Pre-Master Volume Marshall JMP, Xotic SL Drive, and the Catalinbread DLS. How do the pedals hold up to the original? Pretty well if you ask me.
We test them where it matters: pedal stacking and guitar volume knob interaction. Let me know which one you prefer :)
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Liked SL best, actual Marshall worst.
+Craig Martin , me too!!
I thought B was the worst, too; but I think that they maybe had trouble placing the microphone to make recording the Marshall equal to the 15w Fender. I'm guessing that if we were standing there in the store with them, the Marshall would have sounded much different.
I actually guessed B was most likely the Marshall, but only because it sounded so different from the other two. I figured they had trouble recording a 100w amp.
+coarselyground agreed. in person, that Marshall is undeniable.
The 100 Watt Marshall wasn't cranked enough to get the gain and saturation, that these pedals were designed to achieve in low volumes. Would've been a totally different story had the Marshall been dimed to its volume of doom and destruction.
In person the marshall would destroy those pedals. Especially if the marshall was actually allowed to be cranked like it's supposed to
I liked A the most.
Thanks for uploading.
The Marshall cleaned up best, for sure. But I liked the SL Drive's drive tone best.
Great demo and interesting results! I strongly recommend to use the Dirty Little Secret with 18v rather than 9v, to get decent headroom. This is also recommended in the manual. DLS with 9v saturates "too soon" with humbuckers, in my opinion.
hands down, tone A was best overall.
Funny "B" was my least favorite! Hahaha "A" then "C"
Same
1:1 same. was veeery surprised.
Interesting. I thought that A was the DLS, B was the SL Drive and C was the JMP. I honestly didn’t care much for the real amp, i found the Catalinbread to be the most “amp-like” and “spongy” if you want to go for buzzwords. Cool shootout
This video definitely sold me on the Dirty Little Secret.
Ooh, I hope you dig it!
GREAT demo! Great choice of pedals to A/B and great format to involve viewers--keeps our interest and perks our ears, unlike 99% of the other vids, good or not. Thanks!
First I reversed B and C, but the stacking fuzz put me back on the right path !
A is my favorite ! Awesome sound.
Thanks for the demo. I liked both pedals for their tone and clarity, and the Marshall least. The Marshall tone was too bassy for my taste. Maybe an EQ adjustment on the amp would have made a difference. For the price I would hope so. Both pedals were excellent. Think I'll buy an xotic SP and pass on acquiring another amp.
+rbauer1632 Thanks for commenting: I totally get what you mean. A lot of bass comes out of those 4x12 speakers. The strength of the 1x10 Princeton is how direct and focused the tone is. The Marshall sounded huge in the room, but the Princeton definitely mic'ed better; that's probably why they were such popular studio amps...
Very obvious that the "B" tone was the 70's JMP.
I was actually not surprised that B was the real Plexi. 100 watts and all of the distortion was in the power amp. They didnt design for preamp distortion until the JCMs. You would be deaf now if you got it to sound like those pedals.
Jesse Breuer yep! Your right...
First, the original plexi was very easy to spot. Second, people who rate it lower then pedals simply do not understand how to set this amp and also why it was (and actually is) so immensively popular in studious all over the world. There are some very simple reasons for that. First, it works amazingly well with boosters of all kinds, second, it sits in the mix perfectly. just take a strat, plug it in JMP and play Little Wing intro. You will be blown away instantly.
it's obvious that B is Marshall tube... but I'm surprised that A is not catlinbread
I've owned all 3.
I prefer the SL Drive into a clean amp. It sounds great but it's also easy to control in a normal live situation. It's also the most versatile as it has enough compressed gain on tap to do 80's soaring lead stuff as well. The moment I heard B's less gainey structure, it was clear that was the plexi.
As for the DLS, I just don't get the hype. It's brutally bright and brittle on the top end no matter what you do. When I had one, it literally hurt my ears (tried the MII and MIII versions).
Thanks for the comment. I agree they voiced that SL drive perfectly for a clean amp :)
Same here (although I own a clone, not an actual Plexi) and I agree. Even on many of the demos on RUclips I can hear the DLS has a shrill, buzzy quality on the top end and I didn’t like the way the pedal cleaned up or how the EQ / gain worked.
HOLY CRAP! i loved A the whole clip and thought for SURE it was the Marshall. happy it was the SL cuz i JUST ordered one to with my EP Booster and 18volt doublers. WHOO FRIGGIN HOOO
Can't believe I guessed correct. Happy too because I just picked up an SL drive. Chose it over the Marvel Drive for size and ease of use. So glad. Thanks for doing this!
Between the Xotic and the Marvel, there was no wrong choice to make: great units!
Of course C + fuzz sounds the best. Of course it does.
Catalinbread sounded unbelievable... awesome pedal👏👏👏
dude that sl sound dang good
Definitely. Beautiful pedal.
I guessed the pedals correctly, and I must say, the SL Drive was the clear winner for me. From the very beginning, I was more impressed with the tone AND versatility of the SL Drive. At about test two, I made my guesses for what tones A, B, and C were, and just as I thought, the SL Drive was my favorite. Great video!
+Stev0BabaGhanoush Thanks! The SL is a killer pedal: the way it saturates is unreal :)
Interesting comparison. "B" is pretty much immediately recognizable as the JMP...if you know what Greenback speakers sound like. "A" sounds very dynamic, but you can sort of tell that it's a pedal. In this demo "C" sounds a lot like "B", especially in the higher gain sounds, except with an old-style treble booster in front of it which is a good thing if that's what you're going for. My thinking is that if you tweak the tone controls on the DLS you could get very close to the straight JMP sound...especially if you play thru Greenbacks.
C WAS MY FAV
vegan x Great pedal. I especially loved how it reacted with my volume knob :)
I was totally stooped, I thought for sure the DLS was B, and I liked C best of all. DERP! I currently use a Rook and I love it I may have to check one of these bad boys out. In my humble opinion the Marshall cleaned up very nice right behind the Catalinbread. Overdriven I like C, then A, Marshall ...Last. Wow, I play through an old Fender tweed Blues deluxe RI, and a Mini Rectifier (AWESOME) so I am curious to see how this would sound through both setups. Believe it or not the Boogie actually takes pedals better than the Fender, so here i go. Thanks man great demo!!
+voodoochilezee I think I am the only guitarist that has never played through a Rectifier... Maybe it's about time I check one out. Great insights and thanks for commenting.
Love that the cheapest pedal is my favorite tone😁
+JayLeonardJ, I immediately reacted to "B" as something was wrong with the sound, perhaps due to mic placement or even poor mic quality. It sounded really "small" and nasal. Would you say the recorded sound is fair to what you guys heard in the room?
Late to the party as it were but my two cents... to really compare, I would imagine using the same cab for all three sounds would give the best chance to really make comparisons. Now the different speaker and its miking makes the big differences, and it was easy to guess that A and C were through the Fender due to overall similarity. I think this video also shows very clearly why a plexi can be so much fun live but the tinier fenders so cool in the studio. Keep up the good work, JLJ - I love the enthusiasm! Music is supposed to be fun and exciting!
+Kari Abspoel Great comment! A shared cab was an original option for us. We decided against it cause of all these pedal's claims of making a 1x10 Princeton sound like a 4x12: we wanted to test that for ourselves. However, all your observations are right on the money. We tried to do the best we can with the micing (in retrospect, I should have put a Hi-Pass filter on the Marshall). Thanks for commenting :)
Well, it's always a compromise of sorts - as long as you weren't in the room, you have a "compromised" view. Still, I think your idea of seeing if the pedals did what they promised worked out really well, because I think the Fender recorded the best!
still liking the solidgoldfx if 6 was 9? I'm thinking of buying the BC 108 one
Awesome demo! was hoping C was the DLS... and it was! :D just ordered one now.
what were your settings on the princeton?
Looks like the Marshall is modded?
I usually dial Princetons with treble on 6-7 and move up the bass till the mids sound right (around 3-4). Good luck. :)
the DLS for the win!!
I agree that A sounded best here, but I have a DLS and it sounds way better live than in this video.
Woah, I liked the Xotic the most and the Marshall the least...
Being Canadian is truly great isn't it. I was always wondering why you were so happy
+Jesse Belanger You got that right, eh!
I’m just sitting here watching your video and hoping that A is a pedal so I can buy it and put it on my pedalboard. I like it best whether it’s the real deal or a pedal.
Edit: it’s the smallest, cheapest pedal, so take my money!
That’s crazy. I preferred A, C, then B. The Marshall in the first clip sounded so... ‘transistory,’ the way I remember my pos solid state Ampeg practice amp when I was 13....
This video is a great demonstration of the reason dirt pedals were invented. You couldnt get that sound even out of the real marshall in the 70s at a usable volume. So you used a big muff into the marshall or a tube screamer or rat into a fender. Now the pedals can actually sound like the cranked marshall when used with the fender.
The last riff before the fuzz was used... the SL sounded killer
The low-gain example was an instant giveaway for the real Marshall. Plexi's don't have a ton of gain without some sort of modding. The classic 'Plexi' albums usually involved some sort of gain or boost in front of them, most notably the preamp of an Echoplex tape unit (EVH) or an early fuzz like the Maestro Fuzz Tone (Jimmy Page.) Also, the speakers make a huuuge difference when doing comparisons - perhaps use a neutral head (Mesa Lonestar clean e.g.) through the same cab next time when demoing pedals.
I have absolutely no idea, because I cant tell you what this specific Marshall is supposed to sound like (or any, really). I only know of a vague Marshall-esque sound. But if I were to guess, Id say A) Catalinbread B) Plexi and C) Xotic. I liked A and B the best. A is the biggest sounding, but B has a cleaner, less modern sound (again Im just sort of guessing thats what it is). C sounded good but just doesnt do something for me. edit: got the plexi right then. I think the pedals are either set with too much gain or are built with too much. But this at least shows a pedal can sound as good, if different, as a real amp.
J583 Great observations! There are definitely a lot of available saturation on those pedals. I believe the SL and the Catalinbread were around 10:30 on the gain pot during this one.
I dug the DLS most of all, very clear and present, SL I could see for just doing classic tones. The Marshall’s clean was actually very nice I must say 👍🏻
....and I just received my DLS today, loving it!!!
It is a fun pedal! Glad you dig it :)
@@JayLeonardJ what are the settings you used for the DLS. I'm interested in getting the JMP sound
OMG, I liked the pedals better..lol
What mode were the SL Drive and DLS MKIII in? To have a fair comparison between those two, in particular with the fuzz, I would think super bass mode would work better for both pedals. Interesting demo, but lacking some important details.
Thanks for commenting! The pedals were both in Super Lead mode because that was the setting that best matched the amp we were using. Although fuzz definitely sounds better for the Super Bass settings, it would give the pedals an unfair advantage over the amp to change it.
+JayLeonardJ Thanks for the reply. Amazing how both pedals sounded better than the actual amp did. Cheers.
I liked sl best and dls least. very fun vid Jay!
Thanks!
Nice demo! Very entertaining.
Thanks!
I liked the XL drive the least distorted in the first clip, but the DLS least in the third, I think the gain was turned up a little bit too much on the SL and the mids were cut too much on the DLS. I liked the DLS as much as the Marshall, but the Marshall wasn't turned up enough so the pedals had more gain.
The Marshall I think cleaned up the most although I liked the DLS best clean.
Great analysis. Thanks for writing.
Mind Blown. The Marshall sounded like garbage and the DLS through the Princeton was the clear winner.
The first one, that Xotic Sl drive sounds a bit lack of bass and with too aggressive mids. Let's say it sounds like an emulation. The point is the Marshall itself sounds cheap compared to the Catalinbread DLS. It barely handles the fuzz pedal, sounding confused and oversaturated. I really think those guys in Catalinbread have made a terribly glorious pedal.
+Fernando OC Yes they did :)
+JayLeonardJ Man, I purchased the Catalinbread, mainly because of your video. That pedal is amazing, it behaves just like an amp! The thing is that in your comparison I really thought the DLS was the actual amp!! It was very funny to see you getting crazy about the DLS at the end of the video. Great reviews. Keep on doing that good work, you genious! But one thing... You should relate the pedal to some reference songs Or at least similar tone. For example, the superbass mode is totally Jimi Hendrix and everyone should know. I bought it just expecting that and it didn't dissapoint me. It's just the best MIAB pedal around.
+Fernando OC So glad you dig the Catalinbread as much as I do! It's always great to hear success stories from my awesome group of subscribers! Thanks for the constructive criticism; I'll try to be more conscious of it moving forward :)
or like i know,they have no idea how to set up a 100 watt marshall
Xotic SL Drive ran at 18volts is even better with more headroom and much cleaner overdrive. Great demo btw
Good tip, thanks!
@@JayLeonardJ didn't think you'd reply, video is 5 years old lol, Jay I know you probably get this a lot but your the most exciting guitar player to watch play nevermind your amazing ability on the instrument. Always look forward to your videos, I have the SL Drive on my pedalboard since 2013 and I don't think I'm ever really gonna change it as it just works so well with any amp. Keep posted your content, all the best Andy.
C sounds awesome to me. A sounds very similar to C. B is my least favorite. What a shock! Why does it sound so dull, were you guys not able to crank it up? interesting! It's good to hear a comparison between the pedals vs the real deal
the seeker Thanks for liking my video! The gains on the pedals were both around 11 o'clock and the Marshall amp was just shy of cranked.
I think a lot of the sound had to do with the speaker complements. The small Princeton speaker/cab made the tone super direct and in your face. The 4x12 added a big bottom end and an overall more scooped sound. The Marshall filled up the room so much more than the Princeton, but that doesn't really come through when you put the mic in front of it.
I guess that is why all our favorite rockers preferred those smaller boxy sounding combos in the studio and those giant room-filling stacks live :)
That explains everything thankyou. I've never had any experience with a marshall plexi. I use a small marshall avt with a rah that's pretty loud, so I can only imagine the plexi causes the entire room to vibrate.
the marshall lacked mid punch. were the mids dimed? I like the pedals cut much more than the marshall, though maybe just the mids were low, amp not cranked, master volume used?
Speakers are everything! The Princeton and Pedal rig can sound better than the Plexi if you like the speaker better. This test should have been run all through the same speaker...
Very true. However, this shootout was a response the the claim that a pedal can make a small Princeton combo sound like a Marshall. That's why we made the decision to keep the speakers stock. Thanks for watching :)
SL drive sounded awesome
I knew A was the SL drive wich I just bought, it has more gain.
I like the Xotic SL drive.
Great demo! BTW I totally guessed wrong, I thought that the real Marshall was "A".
My favourite was definately "A" the SL Drive but to me, the DLS III sounded like it was recorded a bit lower than the SL Drive, that could make a huge difference in perceived tone. Tones that are louder always sound better, even if it is the same amp -tone, if I'm correct I think that it's probably a toss-up between the two.
At any rate, we're so lucky to have sooooo many great choices these days in being able to get killer rock guitar sounds at affordable prices and being able to get these sounds without going deaf in the process!
Liked the SL most and the actual amp the least. I thought I would like the Catalinbread most but my ears went for SL drive
Probably shoulda gone with a 50w Marshall, or a Deluxe Reverb, instead of the Princeton; woulda gotten the tones a bit closer. Level matching had to be difficult. Possibly the best tone woulda been the SL Drive into the Marshall; I'd like to have heard that, for funsies.
Great idea. The reason why we chose to use the Princeton was because all the copy about these pedals mention it turning your Princeton into a Marshall stack; we wanted to test out that theory. Thanks for writing in :)
I bought an SL Drive, and I'm loving it; the 'poke' and articulation are amazing through my original Blackface Super Reverb, but dang near anything sounds amazing through that amp.It's reminiscent of a jumpered Super Lead Plexi, but I use a modified version of the Super Bass setting, cuz my Strat needs a little help in the midrange for the gained-out sounds.
A Xotic SL
B Marshall
C Catalinbread DLS
very cool guy, im definately getting that x otic sldrive, thats what i want distortion yet clean tone and roll back the volume and clean . fucking awesome , thank you for the great demonstration, i gotta learn that lick you played with the 6 were 9 pedal,very smoking stuff. many thanks. and in also getting alittle fender too, best of both worlds .!!!
Anyone who knows the song playing back at the beginning??
The pedals sounded much better than the Marshall amp :-)
+Jojo270573 Yeah, it kinda makes me want to buy an old Princeton :)
+Jojo270573 I just got one of these with a '68 Fender Super Reverb and it blew my mind how good it sounded for a pedal. In conjunction with the alnico magnets in the Super Reverb, it gained a little smoother tone than when played through a ceramic magnet speakers in a Twin or Deluxe as well, which I liked a lot but still sounds something like a cranked plexi.
DLS for me - I did not expect that.
A sounds best by itself and with the clean up but C is best with fuzz. Did not like B
Wow, I'm astonished. I actually liked the amp the least before the I found out which they were...
I thought this was a demo?... that was clearly a guitar lesson
haha, thanks. I really appreciate it :)
B was Marshall all the way from your first strum, had to skip to the end just to make myself feel smart.
Tune that guitar!!!
Sorry dude but it's too late, I already filmed the video ;)
The Catalinbread kicks butt!
Nice demo.
I know B is the real one, but I think A is better!
Xotic SL win
I preferred b and a, I didn't care for C. xotic was much better in my opinion
I am sooo surprised, I thought the result was a joke!! That xotic sounds big. What do you think of that xotic compared with JHS products (charlie brown, angry charlie)? thx
+Julien Herrero thanks for commenting. IMO, 60s Marshall = Charlie Brown, 70s Marshall = Xotic, 80s Marshall = Angry Charlie. Can't go wrong with either.
+JayLeonardJ Thank you for the information and great channel by the way, very pleasant to watch and awesome playing. Glad I found it
Hi. Did you run the princeton and the Marshall through the same speakers? If not, this could be misleading, no?
We used the Princeton speaker for the Princeton on purpose. All the ad copy on the pedals states how they can give a small combo the thump of a 4x12 Marshall; we wanted to test that theory and put a small amp against the real thing.
Thanks for the reply Jay.
what is that second clip you played. I learned it a long time ago but dont remember where!
Wilson Pickett - I'm In Love. One of my all time favs
fuuuuuuuuuck.. I said it loud repeatedly "the B really fuking sucks" :-O the best to me was the SP..holly shit
and i thought A was the marshall while B was the SL drive.
Way preferred the SL Drive. Sounds great!
Tone A the best=sl drive! The best xotic.
how did you stacked the pedals with fuzz? was it fuzz first or the overdrive came first in the chain?
+Martin Pagulayan I went fuzz then MIAB. Thanks for watching
+JayLeonardJ oh i see. I like how creamy the sound came out when the dls was stacked with the fuzz. Great vid man!
What settings were used on the Princeton?
Guessing around 6-7 on the Treble and the Bass was a few clicks below where it started feeling flabby
Kudos to Xotic...
A sound like a beast
Catlinbread DLS is a lot better than the other two, on my computer speakers it's much better
Catlin bred was miles better than the real thing.
DLS for the win!!!!!!!!
A: SL Drive
B: Marshall
C: Dirty Little Secret
Seriously you couldn't find someone that could play guitar better than this dude?
A - Plexi
B - Xotic
C - DLS
We're the early 70's a not so good era for Marshall? The amp sounded muddy, dull and listless. Way too much bass for my ears. Maybe it needs tubes or the cab speakers replaced... I have an SL Drive on order but I really enjoyed the tones of the DLS as well. Thanks for an excellent demo!
where is the Plexi ..??
Poser ..!! thats a JMP
anyways, I just sold my 1973 JMP 50, and bought a SL Drive, it sounds more open
+j.alfred Brown Great Eye... I totally mind farted that! It's probably from reading the word "plexi" all over the Catalinbread and Xotic literature that day (mixed with a few pints of beer).
Luckily, we are using an early '70s pre-Master JMP, so the tone should takes us pretty close to where we wanted it to go.
Thanks for catching the error, I'll change the title of the video :)
PS - The SL Drive is awesome!
what is that transition music
Catalinbread with if 6was9 was best!!!
Dig the Collins!
Amazing guitar!
Meh, those pedals will sound very different depending on the speakers they are run thru, and how the amp circuit is tuned.
I should actually say that when you make this kinda things you must tell people that you do that to let people be seriously convinced that a pedal could sound better than a head. You and other vendors around the world are very smart and funny because first of all, you should have been able to put the mic into the 1960ax or TV whatever, in the right angle of the speaker, then you can talk about battle. Nice move dude! Now all the kids in the world are convinced that you can have the legendary Marshall tone with 170$ of xotic pedal instead of the head... 👏👏👏👏👏
C Marshall amp
So SL Drive or DLS for you Jay?
Ooh, I would say the Catalinbread is great as a stacker and the SL is great as a forefront pedal. The DLS is a little looser, less compressed, and lower gain; the SL is tighter, more compressed and in your face. Both are great pedals
The Catalinbread DLS pedal sounds more Marshall than that good old Marshall. Incredible but true.
the DLS did sound like he had the mids down quite significantly... I could top that with mine through my Super Reverb.
I usually dime my miids and keep the highs on the DLS up too... I was surprised it was coming from a pedal!
This Catalinbread DLS pedal is not really intended to be a distortion or overdrive pedal, but a foundation one. Just deal with it as you would with a real amp. Set it at the end of your effects chain, after your wah, overdrive and distortion and BEFORE delay and reverb. The real amp just has to be clean enough to reproduce the sound you're looking for. I found much better to set the amp equalizer flat and then find the sweet spot in the catalinbread's eq, with the Superbass mode on and very little gain. The superlead is interesting too but the tonal palette is, let say narrow in comparison. In fact, the superlead mode is more of an overdrive pedal, but hands down the best overdrive pedal out there if you're looking for that marshall flavor. You just have to know your gear well.
Fernando OC see I liked the super lead mode myself... gets me more gain and extra mids, which pairs great with my Super Reverb amp. But yes, it's a foundation pedal, so amps with a lot of headroom and lots of clean compression like a Super or Twin Reverb make a good choice, as you still get your compression from your amp (or a compressor pedal).
do you really have to show how cool you are by drinking beer on camera?
+Rich Veeck nope, just how thirsty I am :)