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In a world where analog guitar amps and effects are being digitally modeled and recreated as computer programs, Dirty Boy is fighting back by releasing the SilverBOY, the first preamp pedal inspired by a digital plugin.
The pedal originated in plugin form as the SilverBOY TSM-AI amp, a virtual amplifier created in collaboration with Two notes Audio Engineering for their GENOME platform. That digital amp captured the spirit of the original Dirty Boy Preamp.
The plugin sounded so good that the Dirty Boy team felt it needed to exist in hardware form, and the SilverBOY was born.
‘SilverBOY was born as code. Now it exists as hardware. It’s the first time we’ve built an analog circuit from a virtual amp — reversing the whole industry’s direction,’ said Danny Gomez, Dirty Boy owner.
They worked backwards, capturing the feel, responsiveness, and sound of the virtual TSM-AI amp to shape the tone of the SilverBOY, then rebuilt it in physical form.
What is the SilverBOY?
The SilverBOY is a fully analog amp simulator made for direct LINE use, a highly-tweakable preamp for your amp’s FX loop, or a tube-like boost to drive the front end of your amp – capable of producing anything from sparkly cleans to snarling, collapsing fuzz-soak saturation.
The pedal is housed in a gnarly-looking enclosure with a DIY feel. The front of the pedal is completely packed with knobs to dial in your tone, including everything from Volume and Drive to a 3-band EQ section and a knob for the Variac Simulator, which emulates amp sag and creates voltage-starved fuzz sounds.
As far as jacks go, the SilverBOY offers an input jack, a stereo LINE IN jack with a level control, a headphone jack, a PREAMP output, and an Emulated output.
The SilverBOY also features a built-in 2×12 cabinet emulation.
Head over to the Dirty Boy website to learn more about the SilverBOY.