This will be my first in a series of Make Sounds Loudly reviews. Make Sounds Loudly is run by Mark Leahey and I believe will become a popular choice for fuzz lovers in the near future. I'm going to first review the MSL Dirty Boost, great for adding some hair to your clean or overdriven tone as well as providing an awesome boost to fuzz and distortion pedals.
Hardware
The Dirty Boost is extremely easy to dial in given the fact that all you need is a volume and gain knob. Both have a great amount of range and the pedal as a whole is built very solidly. Also it has top mounted input and output checks which are great for saving space on your pedalboard. The finish on this pedal is also a very unique orange and blue speckled paint job, it looks great!
How it Sounds
This boost is certainly not a clean boost, and I like it that way, it almost always adds a little flavor to your overdrive or clean tone. I liked what it did to dirty up my clean tone, adding some grit but not covering up my amp's/guitar's tone. My favorite use for the Dirty Boost was boosting my fuzz pedals, especially the Black Arts Toneworks Pharaoh, which you will hear further down this post.It just seemed to fill in all the frequencies the Pharaoh lacked and made it thicker and more present. One should note that it reacts a little differently from fuzz to fuzz, so be sure to try it with everything. I also tried it with the Make Sounds Loudly Whale's Revenge fuzz/overdrive and it provided a nice boost in bass as well as pushing the Whale's Revenge from a fuzzy overdrive to a thick blooming fuzz that you will hear in the first clip.
Whale's Revenge (Boosted by Dirty Boost) by Mike Fetting
Pharaoh Heavy by Mike Fetting
Final Say
The Dirty Boost is extremely affordable and very easy to integrate into anyone's sonic arsenal, especially if you love your current fuzz but just want to add a little extra punch and gain. If you want a boost to experiment with on your setup, the Dirty Boost would serve as a great, versatile addition to your pedalboard. If your looking for a very transparent clean boost, the DB could work in a pinch but won't be completely clean.
Look for more Make Sounds Loudly reviews in the coming days, Mark is building some great stuff! Check out the MSL Facebook to marvel at more effects and get more info on Make Sounds Loudly.
Thanks for the awesome review Mike! These boosts are now being made in powder-coated enclosures with vinyl labels on top. I can always build them this way to if someone desires to have a label-less hand painted version.
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