Though I've never met Carl Martin, I feel like I know him after reading the press release for the new Carl Martin DC Drive. It's a versatile drive pedal preparing to join the Carl Martin Vintage Series of pedals.

According to Carl Martin's press release, "Just like Carl, this pedal has a few tricks up its sleeve." At first, I thought those tricks might include things like setting playing cards on fire and pulling a long sheet out of its housing, but they're really just referring to the expansive features within the DC Drive.

In addition to normal level, tone and drive knobs, Carl Martin adds a clean boost after the drive section and a Regular / Fat switch, just like Scientology installed on Kirstie Alley. In regular mode, you get classic Alley from Cheers and Look Who's Talking crisp, clear, classic drive. Switch on over to Fat mode, and shoot yourself back to the future with a modern, tone with more gain.

The Clean Boost is something Martin is especially notorious for. It keeps your signal volume up when you're running clean, and you can use it with overdriven sounds for boosted solo volume as well.

Its die-cast housing follows suit with the rest of the retro-chic Vintage Series pedals. It also features the same chicken-head knobs and Carl Martin graphics.