What's With All The Klon Hoo-Hah

[justFred]

Re: What's With All The Klon Hoo-Hah

Confession: it is an unequaled hand built fine tuned masterpiece. It works with whatever amp it is put in front of, giving more from the tone already present, rather than imposing its own quirks and unnatural equalization curves on the amp. Nothing really comes close so that is why they are worth so much. That hurt.

 

[ThisDyingSoul76]

Re: What's With All The Klon Hoo-Hah

Also depends greatly whether that effect or setting compliments your playing style.

My MP Simble pedal does the Dumble tone better than any pedal I’ve heard. And being a jazzy blues player, that sound is perfect for my playing style.

Same thing with the Klon. Works with my rock/blues playing style beautifully.

As does the Route 808 pedal...an improved version of the Tubescreamer that I love using when I’m in a mood for that sound.

I feel the same way. I don't necessarily see my Klone as integral to my Blues/rock sound. I can easily substitute something else - it will sound different, but I can take it or leave it depending on the sound I'm after, but it does something with my tone that works perfectly.

I'm also a big fan of the Route 808. I've got a couple of TS variants in my collection, but it's my go to TS sound. I used to have a Visual Sound Double Trouble and sold it because 2 TS's side by side wasn't what I wanted anymore. I decided to find 2 separate TS's so I could insert other pedals in between if I even wanted 2 TS's in the signal path. After about 6 months, I found a used Route 808 and realized that was the TS that suited me best. I'm keeping an eye out for a second one now. The other circuits stack well with it, but it's not the same as the Double Trouble.

 

[Silence Kid]

Re: What's With All The Klon Hoo-Hah

Good point, my listening/playing selection are not really affiliated at all with anything remotely "bluesy." I get why the guitar is such a blues-oriented instrument, in fact if I pick up a guitar just to noodle it's almost hard for blues-flavored riffs not to come out automatically. But the guitarists I'm inspired by and music I listen to is quite far from that.

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: What's With All The Klon Hoo-Hah

I feel the same way. I don't necessarily see my Klone as integral to my Blues/rock sound. I can easily substitute something else - it will sound different, but I can take it or leave it depending on the sound I'm after, but it does something with my tone that works perfectly.

I'm also a big fan of the Route 808. I've got a couple of TS variants in my collection, but it's my go to TS sound. I used to have a Visual Sound Double Trouble and sold it because 2 TS's side by side wasn't what I wanted anymore. I decided to find 2 separate TS's so I could insert other pedals in between if I even wanted 2 TS's in the signal path. After about 6 months, I found a used Route 808 and realized that was the TS that suited me best. I'm keeping an eye out for a second one now. The other circuits stack well with it, but it's not the same as the Double Trouble.

There’s several Route 808 pedals on Reverb right now. One for $60.

 

[ThisDyingSoul76]

Re: What's With All The Klon Hoo-Hah

I try to avoid reverb unless I'm after something that's not easily available locally, like the Suhr Riot I bought last night.

Visual Sound stuff does pop up here occasionally - although for how the local dealer says they are good sellers, they sure don't show up used as often as you'd expect.

 

[SFW]

Re: What's With All The Klon Hoo-Hah

If you don’t see the value of the Klon circuit, then it’s not a pedal for you. I have a Klone that I love. It’s like taking your sound and adding more. It sort of melts into your core tone and just adds more of it. Kinda like adding another tube stage to an amp. I think they are excellent with a Marshall style amp. But that’s just my opinion. For whatever that’s worth.


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[Ben1962]

Re: What's With All The Klon Hoo-Hah

I thought the OP asked what the Klon does, not is it worth the price. Specifically, does it have a nice midrange or decay? Do the notes blossom and decay into harmonics? Again, is it used as a stacked OD or a transparent boost? Legitimate questions that have nothing to do with money. There must be something there for really great players wanting one just like a Dumble

 

[Chistopher]

Re: What's With All The Klon Hoo-Hah

I thought the OP asked what the Klon does, not is it worth the price. Specifically, does it have a nice midrange or decay? Do the notes blossom and decay into harmonics? Again, is it used as a stacked OD or a transparent boost? Legitimate questions that have nothing to do with money. There must be something there for really great players wanting one just like a Dumble

1- It's supposed to be transparent, so no change in mids, decay depends on the guitar, but the pedal won't hinder it.

2- Again, depends on the amp and guitar.

3- I've seen it used both ways, most commonly as a subtle overdrive to add "smoke" to a tone, or to boost the signal for solos. It's also used for people who like to stack their distortion sources.

 

[Demanic]

Re: What's With All The Klon Hoo-Hah

Don't ask me. I use a modded Metalzone, into a Keeley Katana for leads.
Yes, I know. About as subtle as an antimatter bomb, but louder when I want to be.

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[ThisDyingSoul76]

Re: What's With All The Klon Hoo-Hah

As was stated before, if you're into really high gain or playing metal, this probably isn't going to be your cup of tea.

I do high gain with it. Primarily as my lead boost for solos. I set it with a slight big of grit, a treble boost then turn up the volume control on the pedal until my amp start to sing.

 

[Nightburst]

Re: What's With All The Klon Hoo-Hah

I do high gain with it. Primarily as my lead boost for solos. I set it with a slight big of grit, a treble boost then turn up the volume control on the pedal until my amp start to sing.

+1 that's exactly how i use it too. Klon(e)s have a very nice lead tone to them when used this way. And if you need a little more still, you put a TS type after it set to clean boost. They stack really well as long as the klon voice dominates.

 

[LLL]

Re: What's With All The Klon Hoo-Hah

I get that it doesn't "color" your tone. But in that case, there's plenty of clean boosts out there that would do the same thing.

So, there must be something it does to the tone (perhaps not EQ, but adds "grit", etc) that is highly desirable...?

I suppose describing the effect it has would be just as difficult as it would be for me to describe what a true EP3 preamp (TIS58) does to my guitar tone - you'd have to hear it.

YouTube may have the answer...

 

[Rabelais]

Re: What's With All The Klon Hoo-Hah

I own The Silver Tusk by Tree of Life pedals. It’s based on the Centaur. I cannot tell how close it is tho the Klon, but it’s very versatile: it can be used as a fat boost that doesn’t color your tone too much, it can be used as an OD, and even as a distortion pedal if you max out all knobs (the tone knob also adds extra gain). I tried it with a small Marshall DSL 1 combo, to boost a crunchy signal, and I got a lot of harmonic feedback even at low volumes.

 

[Darg1911]

Re: What's With All The Klon Hoo-Hah

The Klon does color the tone. Not much, but even with the gain at 0, used as a "clean boost" there is a little coloration.

The bypass and pedal on levels aren't pefectly matched in this video, but you can still notice that there is some "bloom" that the pedal adds in the beginning of the video when he has the gain at 0.

 

[Jacew]

Re: What's With All The Klon Hoo-Hah

The Klon does color the tone. Not much, but even with the gain at 0, used as a "clean boost" there is a little coloration.

The bypass and pedal on levels aren't pefectly matched in this video, but you can still notice that there is some "bloom" that the pedal adds in the beginning of the video when he has the gain at 0.

Wow... I was very skeptical about Klon and opened that video expecting to hear "yet another OD", but I can't say if I've ever heard better sounding boost/OD in a gear demo. Maybe there is something in it...

 

[Darg1911]

Re: What's With All The Klon Hoo-Hah

$199 or $3,000?

ps. I don't own an Archer Ikon, or an original Klon Centaur.

 

[Securb]

Re: What's With All The Klon Hoo-Hah

They sound pretty much the same to me. I can't speak to the touch sensitivity but for the price difference...damn.

 

[Little Pigbacon]

Re: What's With All The Klon Hoo-Hah

I just watched the video while listening on my Sennheiser HD-280 PRO’s, and the differences between the two pedals were varied. Sometimes I couldn’t hear a difference, but other times the Archer sounded a little thin and weak compared to the Klon. Just sometimes, though; the rest of the time they just sounded really, really close.

 

[ThisDyingSoul76]

Re: What's With All The Klon Hoo-Hah

It adds a little something to the lower mids. Not a big spike like the Tubescreamer does to upper mids, but it's there and it makes the tone sound bigger and warmer.

I also find that unlike a TS, it doesn't cut off loads of high end and low end. It's just the right range of frequencies to really make your tone pop out.

I'm seriously considering putting my Klone last in the gain section and using it as a subtle always on boost and then placing a few other dirt boxes before it as my primary gain sounds when I'm not using the amp's dirty channel.

 

[Darg1911]

Re: What's With All The Klon Hoo-Hah

I just watched the video while listening on my Sennheiser HD-280 PRO’s, and the differences between the two pedals were varied. Sometimes I couldn’t hear a difference, but other times the Archer sounded a little thin and weak compared to the Klon. Just sometimes, though; the rest of the time they just sounded really, really close.

Yeah, I can hear the same with just about any well done demo featuring a reputable "Klone" versus an original Klon. One problem is that a lot of those videos are feeding one pedal into the other. Since Klons and most clones are buffered bypass, the second pedal is getting hit with the buffered output of the first. That's why I posted Andy's video. But still, even with the buffer, I usually cavitate between thinking I hear a subtle difference and then not hearing it. But are the pots set exactly the same? They are set by ear, so how can they be. And the way the player is playing definitely has to be accounted for. No matter how good the player, the impossibility of his/her fretting, picking and strumming precisely the same when switching between the pedals has to be considered. It very well could be the lone variable that accounts for why the two pedals seem to sound the same in one instance and then don't sound exactly the same in the next. There is a demo of an original Silver Centaur and a small builders Klone where I thought I heard even less of a difference. And that demo was running the pedals in series so the buffer of the first was always hitting the second. Go figure. I'm guessing that some could hear the subtle differences between two original Klon Centaurs in a side by side demo.

I have my own opinions on the matter but my point of posting that PGS video is not to claim that the good clones necessarily sound exactly the same as an original and not that the Archer Ikon is the best Klone. I posted it just to ask, rhetorically, if any perceived difference in tone is worth the additional $2800. It may very well be to some folk.