NPD - King Klon

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ThisDyingSoul76

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Picked this up from a local builder today. Got a discount because there are a few chips and scratches in the paint.

It's a shame he's decided to call it quits and shut down his operation. I hope I can get a few other of his builds before they all sell out.

This one, the right side is a part for part Klone, the left side is a part for part King of Tone.

I can't wait to get the chance to play around and see what it can do with my rig.

image.jpg
 
Re: NPD - King Klon

Not sure it's what he claims, but it sounds like a great concept for a pedal. Take the two most revered OD pedals and combine them. You may have stumbled upon a winner. Don't sell this one....keep it.

Well, unless you PM me when it's selling time.
 
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Re: NPD - King Klon

I haven't had a chance to play with it at home yet, but here's a demo clip that the builder put on YouTube and imbedded on his website and in his ads

He told me concept came about when he was asked by a number of people if he'd clone a King of Tone. He decided he didn't want to do 2 identical circuits for the build so he decided to use a Klon Centaur as one of the circuits and offer customers 2 of the most sought after and expensive pedals for less than the cost of either of the originals. He normally sells these for $275.

 
Re: NPD - King Klon

Gearjoneser said:
Not sure it's what he claims, but it sounds like a great concept for a pedal. Take the two most revered OD pedals and combine them. You may have stumbled upon a winner. Don't sell this one....keep it.

Well, unless you PM me when it's selling time.
Click to expand...


Oh I doubt I'll be selling this. He's sold pedals to people all across North America, but his estimate of how many total builds he's done is only around 200 since 2013, that's talking about all the different models he's offered. The first couple years were one off custom builds and stuff for personal use with the bulk of them being done from 2015 on.

I figure if I sold it, my luck would be that someone who is a big deal would probably get their hands on one and rave about them and cause prices to skyrocket. Given how many different pedals I've seen him advertise on kijiji and his website over the past year and his personal account if the number of pedals he's built; I'm guessing each of his pedals are in numbers of 20 or less. With small numbers like that; even locally, where he's sold most of his product, I don't think his pedals will be easy to find on the used market.

It's such a shame he decided to call it quits because his build quality is top notch. I'll post a gut shot when I get a chance. He found for the amount of time it took from his family and how much he was able to sell his pedals for and, not being able to buy parts in batches big enough to keep costs down; not to mention trying to mass produce them on his own kinda took the fun out of it for him. sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do.
 
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Re: NPD - King Klon

Sounds like a cool build.

I'm still waiting for my name it come up on the KoT list. It's been right about a year and I can't wait.
 
Re: NPD - King Klon

It really is sad that he decided to stop building. I finally tried it this morning and it's incredible. I don't know which side I like better but both can be very transparent but also have a nice grit to them. He made a very bold statement that this pedal might possibly replace all other over drives for those who tried it... It really just might replace my zillion other OD's. :omg:

He only had one King Klon left but it's not listed on his webstore anymore and his kijiji ad is gone.

Personally, I had a few other pedals of his on my wish list that I'm hoping will still be there next payday.... Or at least that his parts inventory allows him to build a few more before he shuts down his operation.
 
Re: NPD - King Klon

Is there a reason he stopped building? It sounds like a great concept. BTW, how does everyone feel about cloning pedals? I don't really have an opinion, but I am not really a pedal collector type. Obviously there are cheap Far East clones of pedals, and then there are boutique clones. I know cloning a circuit is legal- but a lot of money changes hands in the pedal world still.
 
Re: NPD - King Klon

Basically said he it was taking too much time from his family to build them but he wasn't making enough money to quit his job and do the pedal company full time while his wife and kids were at school and work. I got the impression that he wasn't enjoying building pedals so much after he started trying to mass produce them.

I'm hoping he at least does occasional one off builds and offers them up but he's definitely no longer trying to build in high quantities.
 
Re: NPD - King Klon

I personally don't see an issue with cloning pedals. The Chinese clones are seldom part for part clones and while they can sound decent there are differences.

The boutique clones often do something different to improve on the design... In the case of this guy's Klon, the only thing changed was the taper of the gain control to make it more gradual. With the KOT, he put mini toggle switches in place of the internal dip switches so people can tweak in real time rather than need to remove the bottom to access them. I think he also added an extra option with the switch for the clipping section but I'm not sure.

Most of his clones are offering a modified design and some of his pedals are based on something but made totally different, like when he
 
Re: NPD - King Klon

PFDarkside said:
Pics of the inside?

Enjoy! KOT is my favorite OD.
Click to expand...

Here's the gut shot. All very clean solder work as I've noted on his TL-808 and seen in examples from his ads and pics by members of his Facebook group.

Centaur on the left, King of Tone (or technically Prince of Tone since it's just one KOT circuit) on the right. The Klon side is buffered, just like the original Klon and the buffer is very good. As good as or better than the buffers in my Visual Sound pedals. The KOT is True Bypass

I notice a trim pot on the KOT in the lower right corner of the PCB. I've asked what that controls and I'm waiting to hear back
image.jpg
 
Re: NPD - King Klon

Wow, that looks just as nice inside! Can we hear it with your rig?
 
Re: NPD - King Klon

the trimpot on the king of tone side is the internal treble pot like on the original
 
Re: NPD - King Klon

Planning to do a quick and dirty vid with it soon. I need a night when my wife isn't home. I love her, but when I'm recording anything she is the very definition of frustration. I can't count how many otherwise flawless takes of a guitar recording she's ruined by interrupting me in the middle of it for some trivial chore that could have waited an hour or 2 before I got to it.

It also stacks real well with my Visual Sound Open Road. Even with whichever King Klon circuit set to only slight grit and low gain on the Open Road the combined sound is so thick that power chords hit like sledge hammer to the stomach.

I have confirmed with the guy that built it, the trim pot is a treble control like on the original.
 
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Re: NPD - King Klon

Mincer said:
Wow, that looks just as nice inside! Can we hear it with your rig?
Click to expand...

Finally got to do a demo with my own rig. I start on my amp's clean channel and move over to the dirty channel and then start stacking both circuits together as well as stacking them with a Visual Sound Open Road.

I figured out during the video that the KoT side needs to have the Mod switch on the Normal setting for transparent OD.

 
Re: NPD - King Klon

No problem. I usually have curious friends anyway, so I do a quick demo to give them an idea.

I'm really floored by these circuits. Even though I would never pay the price of the originals, I can understand why some would.
 
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