Friedman Dirty Shirley
More than a preamp pedal.
Similar to the BE-OD, the Dirty Shirley pedal is designed to make any clean amp sound like the Friedman Dirty Shirley 40-watt amplifier. While Friedman have succeeded in recreating the Friedman Brown-Eye tone with their BE-OD pedal, they have accomplished a hell of a lot more than that with the Dirty Shirley! It is very versatile and will easily get you the harmonically rich overdrive that you would expect from an all-valve amplifier, including the high sensitivity to your playing dynamics and guitar volume.
The controls are the same as you would find on the Dirty Shirley amp: 3-band EQ, volume, gain and presence. Unlike the BE-OD, the Dirty Shirley is not an all-or-nothing pedal, when it comes to gain. On the lowest setting, you will get a very full-sounding medium-gain tone. Max it out and you are firmly in hard rock and metal territory. The 3-band EQ will ensure the pedal plays well with your particular setup and the presence control further mimics the tonal options of the Dirty Shirley amplifier. If the amount of gain available is not to your liking, there is also an internal gain trim pot that can adjust it further. You will need to remove the backplate to access this. Personally, I have it maxed out, because on full gain the Dirty Shirely sounds absolutely glorious.
The Dirty Shirely responds very well to your playing dynamics and guitar volume. This is particularly great since you can just set the gain at noon, and go from light drive to distortion with your guitar volume alone. If you already have an amp with plenty of gain, the Dirty Shirley will work wonders to push it further and saturate your tone.
The tight switch is similar to the tight control on the BE-OD. The positioning of the switch on the side of the pedal near the input jack is a bit awkward, especially on a busy pedalboard. Turning it on will add some compression and result in a tighter, more modern sound. It may not be as versatile as the BE-OD, but Dave Friedman tuned the 2 settings very well! It is a subtle effect too, so don’t expect it to completely change how the pedal sounds and reacts. Add a compression pedal, if you want an even more modern sound.
Compared to the BE-OD, the Dirty Shirley sounds much fuller. In a recording scenario, you might prefer the focussed tone of the BE-OD, but for practising and playing alone, the Dirty Shirley will almost always sound better. Furthermore, if you max out the internal gain trim pot and turn down the mids, it sounds extremely similar to the BE-OD. The Dirty Shirley is easier to dial in too. The BE-OD gives you the tools to make your setup sound like a BE-100. The Dirty Shirley just sounded great no matter what settings I tried. You can cover a very diverse setlist with this pedal! In fact, it has replaced the Fulltone OCD as my go-to distortion/overdrive pedal. Perfect timing too, as Fulltone pedals are no longer in production!
On their website, Friedman describe the Dirty Shirley as an overdrive pedal, but it can also be used as a preamp! By connecting the pedal directly to your FX loop's return input, you can bypass the tonal characteristics of your amplifier. It sounds great, but I personally preferred it going into the front of the Revv D20, without bypassing the preamp.
Bottom Line
The Friedman Dirty Shirley is an extremely versatile pedal. Just like the amp of the same name, it will cover vintage Marshall and BE-100 distortion tones, as well as light gain scenarios. While primarily designed for hard rock and metal, it will do much more than that with unmatched clarity and response. The £170 price tag may seem a bit steep, but given the amount of value you get from this pedal, it is quite reasonable.