Don't like klon sounds

THR1LLHAU5

I've gone through a bazillion overdrives (or it feels like it) including Timmy style and Klon styles and the only one I always come back to is the OCD... Not sure what it is but it just sounds less like a pedal sitting on top of the amp sound and more like it melds with the tone that's already happening. That said I mostly use drives at home, when I play live in anger it's pretty much straight into the amp so YMMV.

LastMantra

earwighoney said:

ICBM said:

TTBZ said:

No different to a Tubescreamer then really, they sound awful (imo) unless being used as a boost for a dirty amp.

I like Tube Screamers when they're actually adding dirt not volume though - still into a dirty amp, but with the pedal as an overdrive not a boost. They don't have the nasty grating tone either.

Which other overdrives do you like? (Into a clean amp)

I've owned a few OD pedals over the years, never got on with a single one.

Like yourself I also do not really understand the hyperbole for the Klon circuit, does nothing for my ears. 

I wouldn't say there's anything amazing about them, I don't think there's anything wrong with them either though. I've got a golden horse and think it sounds fine. No nasty grating sound from mine.
 
Don't think it really matters how you use them either. It's just a pedal. I use mine for extra dirt and volume, and treble.

EricTheWeary

I was trying to remember what I didn’t like about my Soul Food. I think a) I was looking for something to add bite but not icey and it didn’t seem to add much at all and b) user error of having a relatively low headroom amp that at gigging volumes just compressed up when boosted. So, an overdrive that’s more about character/EQ worked better for me. 

I watched a few videos at the time and the Soul Food seemed enough in the ballpark of every other klone that probably not a pedal type for me. 

ICBM

earwighoney said:

Which other overdrives do you like? (Into a clean amp)

I've owned a few OD pedals over the years, never got on with a single one.

Not many into a totally clean amp. I tend to prefer 'distortion' pedals - ie a harder, more scooped sound like the Boss DS-1 or DF-2, or the OS-2 set more to the DS side - or proper preamp pedals, with or without a valve in. I've got an SD-1 as well, but don't use it much.

I do always set up something like a Tube Screamer or a SD-1 as an 'alternative' middy overdriven sound into a clean channel, but almost never actually use it like that - it's just that it sounds best into the overdrive channel set like that, not used as a 'boost' to 'push' the amp... I've never done that, it always sounds dreadful to me.

slacker said:

If you don't play at volume try a king of tone circuit IMHO great with a clean amp

I'm not sure I actually dislike those... but they're just the blandest, most uninspiring pedal I can remember trying - apart from the Marshall Bluesbreaker, which it's based on.

LastMantra

IC always the contrarian 

Dan_Halen

I’ve got a KTR and, although not used it in anger for a while, think it sounds bloody brilliant as an overdrive. My main amp was always really clean but on the cusp of breaking up (some but not much headroom left) and a bit of gain and volume from the Klon just sounds so fat, rich and just poked through the mix in the right places.

That’s at gig volume though and at home it just sounds like any old overdrive. I’ve also got pedals that sound great at living room volume but found them shit with a band.

Dan_Halen

I also quite like a tubescreamer as an overdrive into a clean amp (with hum-buckers TBF) so I’m obviously a heathen with cloth ears 

Dominic

The Klon circuit is the best overdrive for me in all it's different incarnations .
Enjoying a Decibelics Golden Horse at the moment.

lincolnblue

I use a Fender Blues Deluxe and have it set very clean so from what I've seen I think a Timmy is best for a low gain Overdrive. I use an Emma Electronics Onomatopoeia as 2nd stage and a Thorpy Gunshot for lead stuff. I just want a nice low gain Overdrive for rhythm playing. Not sure what else would be worth looking at...can't easily get to a shop to try lots and need to buy used most likely. Any other suggestions as a low gain drive?

Wazmeister

TheMarlin said:

I don’t like the Klon for gain. But as a clean boost, it’s ace. Tweaks the sound somehow, sounds better, adds a little bottom end, so that’s how I run mine. Tumnus is the best I’ve tried. Gain via a Timmy, and even then, only edge of breakup

This is 100% spot on.

RandallFlagg

Nothing not to like about the Klon tone to my ears in this video, it sounds great. I love how it fattens a clean tone and adds a lovely gritty crunch on top of a driven tone.

I use mine like it set up here with the 63 Tele, more crunch and volume on top of a lightly clipped tone:

Super8

Nobels ODR1 (bass cut version) set to low gain?

Winny_Pooh

Super8 said:

Nobels ODR1 (bass cut version) set to low gain?

Great into a clean amp at any gain setting (I prefer the bass all the way up), the Blackstone Mosfet too and some of the tech 21 character v2 pedals where you can disable the speaker sim.

I'ds never use a ds-1 or derivative into a clean amp... just too buzzy. But I do agree with ICBM that a bluesbreaker is naff. 

slacker

ICBM said:LastMantra said:

IC always the contrarian 

earwighoney said:

Which other overdrives do you like? (Into a clean amp)

I've owned a few OD pedals over the years, never got on with a single one.

Not many into a totally clean amp. I tend to prefer 'distortion' pedals - ie a harder, more scooped sound like the Boss DS-1 or DF-2, or the OS-2 set more to the DS side - or proper preamp pedals, with or without a valve in. I've got an SD-1 as well, but don't use it much.

I do always set up something like a Tube Screamer or a SD-1 as an 'alternative' middy overdriven sound into a clean channel, but almost never actually use it like that - it's just that it sounds best into the overdrive channel set like that, not used as a 'boost' to 'push' the amp... I've never done that, it always sounds dreadful to me.

slacker said:

If you don't play at volume try a king of tone circuit IMHO great with a clean amp

I'm not sure I actually dislike those... but they're just the blandest, most uninspiring pedal I can remember trying - apart from the Marshall Bluesbreaker, which it's based on.

This is the problem. We all use different gear and have different ears,  I can recommend a KOT as an alternative  for a Klon and someone else uses a DS1 or an OCD. 

What is clean ? What is breakup? I wish I had £1 every time someone on YouTube says here's my clean tone and it sounds like the Who in Leeds.

Using words to describe sounds ends up as the definition of transparent being anything but. 

All we can do is ask for help and try out the suggestions. I've been surprised by pedals. 

ICBM

slacker said:

This is the problem. We all use different gear and have different ears,  I can recommend a KOT as an alternative  for a Klon and someone else uses a DS1 or an OCD. 

What is clean ? What is breakup? I wish I had £1 every time someone on YouTube says here's my clean tone and it sounds like the Who in Leeds.

Using words to describe sounds ends up as the definition of transparent being anything but. 

All we can do is ask for help and try out the suggestions. I've been surprised by pedals. 

This. I hear the nasty grating tone in the Klon circuit but a lot of people clearly don't. I love the DS-1 but a lot of people list it as their most hated pedal .

I'm reasonably good at analysing and describing sounds, and I can usually hear what it is that people like about things even when I don't, but I can't say personal prejudice never comes into it.

I can't bear the sound of the Boss Katana and love the Mesa Dual Rectifier, but I'm quite certain there are some people who are the opposite...

Fiddlesticks_

lincolnblue said:

I use a Fender Blues Deluxe and have it set very clean so from what I've seen I think a Timmy is best for a low gain Overdrive. I use an Emma Electronics Onomatopoeia as 2nd stage and a Thorpy Gunshot for lead stuff. I just want a nice low gain Overdrive for rhythm playing. Not sure what else would be worth looking at...can't easily get to a shop to try lots and need to buy used most likely. Any other suggestions as a low gain drive?

Have you considered setting the amp’s other channel to a low gain overdrive and using the channel footswitch to go between that and the cleaner channel?

TINMAN82

ICBM said:

slacker said:

If you don't play at volume try a king of tone circuit IMHO great with a clean amp

I'm not sure I actually dislike those... but they're just the blandest, most uninspiring pedal I can remember trying - apart from the Marshall Bluesbreaker, which it's based on.

“Most uninspiring pedal I can remember trying”… this sort of statement sets my BS detector off, I’m afraid.

Which King of Tone circuit? Duellist? Blues Power? How much time have you personally spent with these pedals through different types of quality gear? For what genre of music?

I’ve been playing a Blues Power through a DRRI all morning and it’s anything but bland, in any setting. No one who’s actually used one could describe it as such. The DS1 is absolute crap by comparison (for a blues tone, the intended genre of the KoT being in the name).

ICBM

TINMAN82 said:

“Most uninspiring pedal I can remember trying”… this sort of statement sets my BS detector off, I’m afraid.

Which King of Tone circuit? Duellist? Blues Power? How much time have you personally spent with these pedals through different types of quality gear? For what genre of music?

I’ve been playing a Blues Power through a DRRI all morning and it’s anything but bland, in any setting. No one who’s actually used one could describe it as such. The DS1 is absolute crap by comparison (for a blues tone, the intended genre of the KoT being in the name).

No idea. Just the one, second hand, maroon/purple colour, no idea about whatever spec it was.

Anyway, it was the blandest and most boring-sounding overdrive pedal I can remember trying, other than the original Bluesbreaker which is just completely nondescript - and that's entirely serious, not BS. I can't imagine wanting to use one for any style of music or into any amp. I can't remember what type of amp I was trying it with, but the sort of pedals I like don't require a specific amp to sound good. And I'm quite familiar with "quality gear".

Like I said, we all hear things differently.

TINMAN82

Maroon?… right I think you’re talking about Analogman King of Tone whereas I’m talking about the company King of Tone.

I have no further comment then as I’ve never personally tried the Analogman. I gather it’s still a staple of Kenny Wayne Shepherds rig. 

ICBM

TINMAN82 said:

Maroon?… right I think you’re talking about Analogman King of Tone whereas I’m talking about the company King of Tone.

Yes. Well, you have to admit it's an easy mistake to make .

I'd never even heard of the company King Of Tone... !