Giving the Klon thing another go!

rico

I am giving the Klon-esque pedals another go and I have a Mythical Overdrive from @4114Effects on order with true bypass and two clipping options which I am very exited about.

I have only used a RYRA Klone in the past which I'm pretty sure arrived borked so I returned it so my experience has been nil so far.

What do you use and how do you use it?

stickyfiddle

Rockett Archer for me at the moment. I put it in front of all my other drives, set just a hair beyond clean and used whenever I want to push the front end of another pedal, or just the amp itself.

The Archer is nice but quite "gritty/raspy" compared with the Fredric Golden Eagle I had before it. I've switched amps between those two pedals, so it might be a function of the amp as much as the pedals, but I did prefer the GE just a little.

Once the current board-build is done I might switch to a Tumnus if that buys me space to fit something extra on the board, but we'll see  

RandallFlagg

I had a J Rockett Archer and loved it with a Victory V40. I used it with the volume wound up to 3 o clock and just brought in a touch of the pedal gain to add mids and thicken the sound. It really slammed the front of the amp hard and pushed it into a lovely fat grinding overdrive. I wasn't so keen on the Archer with the gain opened up, it got a bit nasally and lost some of that fast attack. I also used it to warm up and fatten a clean sound and add just a hint of grit, it worked lovely for that as well. It was one of those pedals that you really missed when you turned it off.

I have a Strymon Sunset now that has the 'Ge' mode that gets the Klon flavour quite nicely, not quite as nice as the Archer but good enough for my needs.

crunchman

I had a Klon KTR for a while.  It was a very good pedal.  I ended up moving it on, but I have been wondering about something Klon flavoured again.  I'm not quite gelling with my Peacekeeper.  I quite like the look of the Tumnus.

mgaw

RYRA i would try it again 

gubble

I've an EHX Soul Food and some Chinese Klone thingy (it's got a picture of a horse on it - clearly helps the tone).

They make up the main basis for my drive tones. One is set to a really light drive the other something fairly crunchy. Put them both on together and it's really rather good.

slacker

I've got a Klon I bought in 2007. 

I rarely use it at home because it sounds horrible. In rehearsal or at gigs I tend to use it with the gain at 10. This gives it a light overdrive with an eq that cuts through a dense band mix. 

It can be used as a clean boost and the treble/tone control is very versatile. 

I'm fortunate in that mine was so inexpensive I dont have to invent things to justify the high cost. It's a pedal designed for very specific applications. Stick within the limitations, it's fine. 

Lebarque

My old Tumnus was great to step on when I needed a lift for solos or bits where I needed to stick out of the mix. Set pretty clean with volume up higher.

crunchman

slacker said:

It's a pedal designed for very specific applications. Stick within the limitations, it's fine. 

I think that's what I found with it.  There were one or two things that the KTR did like no other pedal I've owned, but it wasn't all that versatile.

slacker

crunchman said:

slacker said:

It's a pedal designed for very specific applications. Stick within the limitations, it's fine. 

I think that's what I found with it.  There were one or two things that the KTR did like no other pedal I've owned, but it wasn't all that versatile.

it's not versatile and I use a Friedman pedal or king of tone at home. My grab and go pedal is a full drive as it has 2 channels.

With an amp on the edge of drive the klon takes it over the edge and adds an eq that places the guitar in the mix without being too loud. It adds something that no other overdrive I've tried does.

ToneControl

I have a Soul Food and a Madbean Sunking

I did have an Ethos, and a Zendrive 2 (valve one)

I find that the OD sounds unpleasant for me on higher settings (except the Zendrive)

I use them to just add a little bit of grit, which is the same as I do on my OD on my HRM Dumble clone

Everyone thinks you have to make it sound like Larry Carlton

ChuckManual

ToneControl said:

I have a Soul Food and a Madbean Sunking

I did have an Ethos, and a Zendrive 2 (valve one)

I find that the OD sounds unpleasant for me on higher settings (except the Zendrive)

I use them to just add a little bit of grit, which is the same as I do on my OD on my HRM Dumble clone

Everyone thinks you have to make it sound like Larry Carlton

This is exactly my set-up; Ethos for hyper Hi-Fi cleans and totally OTT, borderline fuzz, overdrive chaos - and the Zen 2 for *that* super-smooth, polished OD.

However, I didn't find the Zendrive worked very well with Strat-type single coils (Tele bridge is sublime through it though!), so I bought what I thought was a cheap Klon knock-off - the Tone Bakery Creme Brulee...

http://www.tonebakery.com/products/creme-brulee

...and I couldn't be happier! It works superbly with all manner of pick-up types (not just the Strat coils I bought it for) and I've yet to hear a pedal that does it's job better than it already does.

It's a keeper...

...until one of these comes along; https://reverb.com/item/1716762-tone-bakery-creme-de-la-creme-boost-overdrive-pedal

  

rico

Interesting comments, thanks. What would say the limitations are @crunchman @slacker ?

That tone bakery pedal looks awesome and incredible value if the prices on Reverb are to be trusted! @ChuckManual ;

BintyTwanger77

The CB Brothers does the Klon thing so so well.

crunchman

rico said:

Interesting comments, thanks. What would say the limitations are @crunchman @slacker ?

That tone bakery pedal looks awesome and incredible value if the prices on Reverb are to be trusted! @ChuckManual ;;

It's great for low gain stuff.  I did find the mid hump could be a bit overpowering some of the time.  At the time I preferred the Lazy J Cruiser, which was a bit more transparent and had flatter mids.  I evenutally ended up selling the Cruiser as well as it had no tone control, and had slightly too much high end for my liking.  I've currently got a Thorpy Peacekeeper, which is also really good, but I'm actually wondering if I didn't prefer the Klon.

I need to play with the Peacekeeper a bit more though.  It seems to work better with one of my amps than it does with the other.  I think pedal/amp combinations are important.  Some pedals definitely seem to work better with some amps than others.

Watching the That Pedal Show episode on Klones, I was very impressed by the Wampler Tumnus.  It seemed to have a bit more low end than the others.  I am tempted by that.

rico

BintyTwanger77 said:

The CB Brothers does the Klon thing so so well.

I just looked at their website. Their demo is possibly the shittiest thing I have heard.

£350 is far too much for a pedal too, in my opinion of course.

slacker

crunchman said:

rico said:

Interesting comments, thanks. What would say the limitations are @crunchman @slacker ?

That tone bakery pedal looks awesome and incredible value if the prices on Reverb are to be trusted! @ChuckManual ;;

It's great for low gain stuff.  I did find the mid hump could be a bit overpowering some of the time.  At the time I preferred the Lazy J Cruiser, which was a bit more transparent and had flatter mids.  I evenutally ended up selling the Cruiser as well as it had no tone control, and had slightly too much high end for my liking.  I've currently got a Thorpy Peacekeeper, which is also really good, but I'm actually wondering if I didn't prefer the Klon.

I need to play with the Peacekeeper a bit more though.  It seems to work better with one of my amps than it does with the other.  I think pedal/amp combinations are important.  Some pedals definitely seem to work better with some amps than others.

Watching the That Pedal Show episode on Klones, I was very impressed by the Wampler Tumnus.  It seemed to have a bit more low end than the others.  I am tempted by that.

The Klon has two circuits. With the gain on minimum it's a clean boost with a relatively flat eq. As the gain is increased the overdrive circuit adds mids as well as gain. This causes the great low gain/overpowering mids issue that crunchman mentions. 

So the common criticism of the Klone/Klone is a ok/great clean boost and a poor overdrive. IMHO this when it's used solo with a clean amp ie bedroom scenario. 

If you use the pedal with an amp working fairly hard in a band mix (either recording a low power amp or live with a real one) the Klon works with the amp and enhances the mids to cut through a mix. It does it unlike no other overdrive. The TS pedals have a different eq. The flatter ones can 'mush' out with a band. 

If you want a pedal that sounds great solo/bedroom IMHO get the Friedman. If you want to cut through a live band get the Klon(e). 

All IMHO

crunchman

slacker said:

crunchman said:

rico said:

Interesting comments, thanks. What would say the limitations are @crunchman @slacker ?

That tone bakery pedal looks awesome and incredible value if the prices on Reverb are to be trusted! @ChuckManual ;;

It's great for low gain stuff.  I did find the mid hump could be a bit overpowering some of the time.  At the time I preferred the Lazy J Cruiser, which was a bit more transparent and had flatter mids.  I evenutally ended up selling the Cruiser as well as it had no tone control, and had slightly too much high end for my liking.  I've currently got a Thorpy Peacekeeper, which is also really good, but I'm actually wondering if I didn't prefer the Klon.

I need to play with the Peacekeeper a bit more though.  It seems to work better with one of my amps than it does with the other.  I think pedal/amp combinations are important.  Some pedals definitely seem to work better with some amps than others.

Watching the That Pedal Show episode on Klones, I was very impressed by the Wampler Tumnus.  It seemed to have a bit more low end than the others.  I am tempted by that.

The Klon has two circuits. With the gain on minimum it's a clean boost with a relatively flat eq. As the gain is increased the overdrive circuit adds mids as well as gain. This causes the great low gain/overpowering mids issue that crunchman mentions. 

So the common criticism of the Klone/Klone is a ok/great clean boost and a poor overdrive. IMHO this when it's used solo with a clean amp ie bedroom scenario. 

If you use the pedal with an amp working fairly hard in a band mix (either recording a low power amp or live with a real one) the Klon works with the amp and enhances the mids to cut through a mix. It does it unlike no other overdrive. The TS pedals have a different eq. The flatter ones can 'mush' out with a band. 

If you want a pedal that sounds great solo/bedroom IMHO get the Friedman. If you want to cut through a live band get the Klon(e). 

All IMHO

Interesting what you say about TS pedals.  They do need that mid hump.  Something like the FD2 in flat mids mode does tend to lack character and disappear.

Completely different kind of pedal, but I got rid of a version 1 OCD because it disappeared in a mix even though it sounded great in isolation.  The later versions of the OCD have more mids (athough nowhere near TS level), and work better live.

My number one amp is a Lazy J so that tweed style circuit tends to have quite a lot of mids to start with.  I've heard a klone stacked with an OCD into a Blackface style amp and it sounded absolutely epic.  With the Tweed style circuit I'm not sure that it would have worked so well.

The other low gain overdrive/boost that I've tried and really liked is the Xotic RC Booster.  I've never actually owned one though.

Majorscale

Have a couple of klones, an ARC and a Pedal Projects, both of which are very good. I have them before my OD pedals and use the Klone as a gainy boost. Pushes through the mix well.

currently my favourite boost is a Bearfoot Baby Pink Booster. I run this at th end of the chain and it's like my amp has gained a few speaker cabs, such a great pedal (and buffer too!)

slacker

crunchman said:

slacker said:

crunchman said:

rico said:

Interesting comments, thanks. What would say the limitations are @crunchman @slacker ?

That tone bakery pedal looks awesome and incredible value if the prices on Reverb are to be trusted! @ChuckManual ;;

It's great for low gain stuff.  I did find the mid hump could be a bit overpowering some of the time.  At the time I preferred the Lazy J Cruiser, which was a bit more transparent and had flatter mids.  I evenutally ended up selling the Cruiser as well as it had no tone control, and had slightly too much high end for my liking.  I've currently got a Thorpy Peacekeeper, which is also really good, but I'm actually wondering if I didn't prefer the Klon.

I need to play with the Peacekeeper a bit more though.  It seems to work better with one of my amps than it does with the other.  I think pedal/amp combinations are important.  Some pedals definitely seem to work better with some amps than others.

Watching the That Pedal Show episode on Klones, I was very impressed by the Wampler Tumnus.  It seemed to have a bit more low end than the others.  I am tempted by that.

The Klon has two circuits. With the gain on minimum it's a clean boost with a relatively flat eq. As the gain is increased the overdrive circuit adds mids as well as gain. This causes the great low gain/overpowering mids issue that crunchman mentions. 

So the common criticism of the Klone/Klone is a ok/great clean boost and a poor overdrive. IMHO this when it's used solo with a clean amp ie bedroom scenario. 

If you use the pedal with an amp working fairly hard in a band mix (either recording a low power amp or live with a real one) the Klon works with the amp and enhances the mids to cut through a mix. It does it unlike no other overdrive. The TS pedals have a different eq. The flatter ones can 'mush' out with a band. 

If you want a pedal that sounds great solo/bedroom IMHO get the Friedman. If you want to cut through a live band get the Klon(e). 

All IMHO

Interesting what you say about TS pedals.  They do need that mid hump.  Something like the FD2 in flat mids mode does tend to lack character and disappear.

Completely different kind of pedal, but I got rid of a version 1 OCD because it disappeared in a mix even though it sounded great in isolation.  The later versions of the OCD have more mids (athough nowhere near TS level), and work better live.

My number one amp is a Lazy J so that tweed style circuit tends to have quite a lot of mids to start with.  I've heard a klone stacked with an OCD into a Blackface style amp and it sounded absolutely epic.  With the Tweed style circuit I'm not sure that it would have worked so well.

The other low gain overdrive/boost that I've tried and really liked is the Xotic RC Booster.  I've never actually owned one though.

Mike Fuller revoiced the FD2 with switchable mids. I've got the FM version and comp cut mode is a lot better than FM mode for live or band work. 

PhilKing

I have an original Klon, which a friend used to fine tune some clones (@juansolo), and I have several of his clones that I use in one of two ways.  The first is as a cleanish boost, and the second it as a mid boost with some gain.  Even with the original Klon I never run it beyond 1 o'clock on any of the controls, as I find it can get a bit flabby if you really use it as a drive.  Just recently I picked up a J Rockett Archer and Archer Ikon.  I use the Ikon for the clean boost and the Archer for the hairier sound.   I actually prefer John's clones, but the Archers fit the pedalboard better, and in a band situation, the difference is probably negligible.