Confessions of a Klon Centwhore

[Dave Locher]

When you gotta have a new pedal to instantly get more better at guitar, EHX is usually a perfectly fine toe in the water. If you find true love THEN you can worry about getting the Very Best Version of the mythical pedal. And it is always easy to resell an ElectroHarmonix pedal at a small loss or even break even.
Personally I find the Klon circuit perfectly okay, but not better than a couple other overdrive pedals. Mine sits unused, not because I don't like it but just because I don't like it more then the others.
I myself had a strange year of buying & flipping compressor pedals before I finally decided I don't actually need or want a compressor. But I don't regret it because now I KNOW I don't need or want a compressor pedal. Same with overdrives: I learn of a circuit I didn't know about, I buy & sell a few to see if I like it, and then move on. A few stay, the rest go in the "nope, not for me" category.

[LLL]

Go big (or as close to big as you can afford/save up to) or go home; if you've made up your mind to do something.

You'll save lots of $$$ in the long run.

Experimenting (with what is actually your wallet) is fine as long as there's a goal to accomplish; but at some point, it's time to stop dicking around spending $$$ & getting nowhere, and time to make a call.

[dystrust]

What is it supposed to do anyway?

Is there an example of an iconic song that makes you go "oh, definitely a Klon, couldn't do it any other way"??

The whole point of a Klon is pretty much the opposite of "oh, definitely a Klon, couldn't do it any other way". Instead of layering its own sound over the top of your amp, a Klon acts like adding a channel to your amp with a bit more gain than your base sound. It isn't a purely clean boost; there's a bit of low end roll-off and a subtle mid push that seems to enhance the base sound without getting overly bass-y as a clean boost can. Klons have more gain and volume than you'd ever want, and the mid push increases as you turn the gain up, so it's pretty easy to find the sweet spot for just about any amp. I spent 15-18 years looking for a boost that acts like this before I plugged into a Klone for the first time, and I'll never go back.

[NegativeEase]

The whole point of a Klon is pretty much the opposite of "oh, definitely a Klon, couldn't do it any other way". Instead of layering its own sound over the top of your amp, a Klon acts like adding a channel to your amp with a bit more gain than your base sound. It isn't a purely clean boost; there's a bit of low end roll-off and a subtle mid push that seems to enhance the base sound without getting overly bass-y as a clean boost can. Klons have more gain and volume than you'd ever want, and the mid push increases as you turn the gain up, so it's pretty easy to find the sweet spot for just about any amp. I spent 15-18 years looking for a boost that acts like this before I plugged into a Klone for the first time, and I'll never go back.

Also Klon circuits tend to make the top end and harmonic more intelligible or exaggerated -so it's not a pedal to sit back or hide behind -instead it will bring you out from the mix -even at unity gain.

That means it's extra great for leads, arpeggios, and notey passages -for a rhythm guitarist it's nice for note walking and chordal arpeggios and staying cleanish IMO

[LLL]

I'm sold on the Klon circuit hype.

It's legit.

Does a wonderful job of "EQing" the tone; like it had studio EQ polish. Esp. with Marshall circuits.

[NegativeEase]

I'm sold on the Klon circuit hype.

It's legit.

Does a wonderful job of "EQing" the tone; like it had studio EQ polish. Esp. with Marshall circuits.

Coincidentally, I tracked all day today with a Klon into a Marshall.

Trick for me is boost in the 12 to 2 oclock level with Klon to drive the pre, jack the pre until the speaker cabinet sounds like its bursting with air trying to escape, treble at 4-5, mids at 7-8, lows at 5 and keep presence down below 3-4 when jacking with a Klon and then go back to Klon and add gain to get the needed dirt without the sizzle.

[Mincer]

It actually works really well into a dead clean amp for fusiony stuff, or doing complex chords that still sound good without having battling harmonics.

[NegativeEase]

Hey, I should mention, a Klon variation that a pedal company just put out is based on a prototype I made and let people try -but I'm not telling you anything about it -in hopes someone on this board one day posts something awesome or sh*tty about it.

I've got a few other concept things out there that became products that I'm hoping someone buys and posts about too.

There are literally 10,000 pedal companies, so this isn't a big deal or anything BTW