Dolamo D-4 Distortion

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howmuch
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Post by howmuch »

This is another cheap Plexitone clone like the Mosky Plexi-m and the Caline English Man.
I'd say this is the best of the bunch, IMHO.

There are two interesting things with this pedal:
1. The PCB says "CP-14 Caline CP14 v2.1 2018/11/12".
2. To generate the -9V from a 9V supply, it uses an XLSEMI XL6008E1 instead of the usual 7660 or 1044.
I haven't seen one of these in pedals before.
Note the inductor in the photos. This thing's oscillator frequency is 400kHz.

Since the components are SMD, I can't check all the cap values but as far as the resistors go, the circuit
for the audio path looks like it follows the Caline English Man (no surprises there) apart from R9,
which is 47k in the Dolamo compared to 22k in the English Man. This gives the Dolamo a slight boost at the
last op amp stage and accounts (at least partly) for a perceived higher noise floor when comparing the
two pedals with their Levels set at the same rotation.

There's one particular area where the Dolamo beat the English Man (in the setup I just used, YMMV).
With Tone and Level maxed, the English Man began to squeal with the Gain at 9 o'clock and higher. The Dolamo didn't squeal at any Gain setting.
I've seen a YT video of the English Man where they're playing through the squeal, so I don't think it's just mine.

So, for what it's worth, here's my opinion of three cheap Plexitone clones:

Mosky Plexi-m
Mine had an annoying background fizz on note decay due to a bad (fake?) op amp. Once I put a new op amp in, it sounded good.
But I shouldn't have to "fix" a new pedal, no matter how cheap it is. :x
This seems to be a common problem with these pedals, at least ones bought in 2021.
If you're lucky, you might get a good one. Then again, you might not. Do you feel lucky? :wink:

Caline English Man
Very good. PTH components, so easier for mods. Might squeal at some settings.

Dolamo D-4 Distortion
Excellent. Physically bigger than the Plexi-m and smaller than the English Man.
I prefer the round knobs on this to the ones on the English Man.
SMD components might put some people off, but it sounds great and is so cheap. I can't fault it. :)
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