DAWKINS Preamp - SLO emulation

Thick and meaty is one way to describe DAWKINS, a preamp co-designed by Vogart Audio and Liberatoe, which replicates the clean and gain channels of certain Californian high-gain amps (the gain channels are very chewy, and this made me think it was replicating a Mesa, but in fact it’s a Soldano, which goes to show how much I know about those amps). Because it is a preamp, it is meant to run through your amp’s FX Loop, although combining it with a power amp/cab (or sims/IRs) will do the trick. I had DAWKINS running into the Tweedle Deux, to access its Marshall/Celestion Cab Sim, then out to a power amp sim, and it sounds amazing.

DAWKINS consists of two channels, although three, depending on how you arrange the pedal. The Red channel consists of both Clean and Dirty, and depending on the toggle selector. With the channel selector up, Green is Dirty and Red is Clean, whereas with the toggle down, you have two Dirty channels (both Green & Red). Switching between Green and Red is accomplished via the footswitch and a 0.5 sec hold (a faster click turns the pedal on/off).

The Clean is crystal clear, yet full-bodied with a smooth sparkle. This is one of the better cleans I’ve heard in a pedal meant primarily for hi-gain playing, and there are characteristics of both Fender and Marshall cleans in that channel. Far from being bland, it obviously is highly usable for clean playing, but as important as a pedal platform for ambient/modulation, as well as dirt.

Whether on Green or Red, the two channels are identical, although they may have slightly different tonal characteristics even with the same settings due to tolerance of the parts (particularly potentiometers). On that note, I did reference in the demo how the Red channel seemed to have more punch and boldness, whereas the Green channel seemed more saturated and hairy (maybe a touch more mid-scooped). Those differences are subtle, and perhaps my old ears are not hearing what I think they are. Regardless, the basis behind being able to switch from Red to Green, even if identical, would be to have one channel for crunch/rhythm and the other for lead, or to switch from clean to dirty, as the case may be. Although the gain on this preamp is thick, chunky and brooding, it is harmonically rich and very much has vacuum tube traits and clipping responses. The result is being able to enjoy playing some blustering riffs with far less ear fatigue, or that dreaded ringing after a jam.

Another point of interest not raised in the video is the turning the bass knob all the way right (or nearly so, from 4-o’clock onward) to produce an ‘extreme’ thump or bottom end. This may not be apparent with small speakers, but I was informed that with larger 4x4 cabinets it is very apparent.

To reiterate, this is a genuine preamp, and it needs to be connected to into an FX Loop, or run directly to the FX Return, and not the amp’s IN jack (you need to bypass the amp’s preamp). Dawkins does have a lot of volume capability to drive a power amp, and so, levels do not have to be very high and then dialed in to taste. On that note, Dawkins has a high input impedance and low output impedance, therefore it will not modify any effects before or after. And although Dawkins is boosted internally (from 9V 100mA input to 18V) for high headroom, it is surprisingly quiet, thanks to a stabilization circuit. It is available as a pedal (about one pound or 459g) or as a module (about half-pound or 208g) intended for a Liberatoe Platform system.