PSA - Klon for sale

[davetcan]

Originally Posted by NIK0

That's pretty funny...I ordered the Kingsley Jester. Should be getting it in a month. I did try the pedal out in a studio and I must say it blew away my Butler Tubedriver in tone and clean boost. I love the TD but the Jester just has that much more.

I had a hard time choosing between the two, decided on the Jouster by a very narrow margin.

[TubeStack]

Originally Posted by NIK0

but speaking of GAS I hear through the grapevine that there is a new website popping up soon that will exclusivley distribute high end boutique pedals in Canada!

NO MORE CRAZY DUTY FEES and shipping costs AND the extra taxes

Just a rumor but worth looking out for. I heard Pete Cornish pedals will be part of their regular stock along Skreddy and others.

"ROCK THE GASBAH" is the boutique shop...website in construction I hear. Clever name though :)

There's also Scott at www.axeandyoushallreceive.com. Super nice guy, lots of used and new goodies. Been around for a while.

[NIK0]

Originally Posted by nkjanssen

I don't care if you buy one or not. I'm not collecting commissions on them. In fact, if you don't think you want one, I'd suggest you don't buy one. You probably wouldn't like it. Works for me, though.

Well my original question was supposed to prompt a good...call it critical review of your Klon but clearly I didn't realize that you were not on commission (my apologies sir). Look it wasn't meant to twist anyone's panties in a knot, I'm really trying to get your opinion as you are a Klon user (I have been thinking of getting one). Since you are an artist I bet you used a crap load of overdrive pedals before going all out on a Klon and to the advantage of all of us reading this thread thought that this may clarify the pro's of this awesome little unit. There isn't anyone on the planet that purchases a Klon before trying other overdrive pedals that are less expensive first...well I'm sure there is a very small minority but I think we all know what I'm driving at :)

So let me ask you a question that you can answer...

Why does this pedal work for you?

[nkjanssen]

Originally Posted by NIK0

Since you are an artist I bet you used a crap load of overdrive pedals before going all out on a Klon and to the advantage of all of us reading this thread thought that this may clarify the pro's of this awesome little unit...

Why does this pedal work for you?

I've owned a lot of "highly-hyped" pedals. Klon, Zendrive, Honey Bee, KOT, Eternity, Timmy, Tim, etc., etc. After trying them all out in band rehearsals and in live shows, my reaction to the Klon was that it was doing something I really liked. It was just giving a bit more edge or "something" that was helping me to create a bigger, better sound. I don't know how to describe it other than that. I just like what it adds. It's all subjective though. With all of the other pedals I just mentioned, my reaction was that I could definitely understand why someone would like them. All excellent sounding pedals, but none were exactly what I was looking for. So, the Klon is on my board. The others are not. Most have been sold or traded. Unless you have the exact same gear as me and exactly the same tastes as me, you might prefer something else. In fact, I even prefer something else with one of my amps. My Red Snapper works better with my Matchless Cobra than the Klon does. I don't know why. It just does. I prefer the Klon on pretty much everything else, though. I also run a Barber LTD along with the Klon. I love that pedal too. And it's pretty cheap (relatively speaking).

The bottom line is that it's subjective. It works beautifully for me and a lot of others. Whether it works for you is only something you can determine. I wouldn't try to convince you or anyone else of its greatness. The furthest I would go is to say that if you are looking for a low gain overdrive, it's definitely worth checking out. But don't buy used. Buy from Bill.

[NIK0]

Originally Posted by nkjanssen

I've owned a lot of "highly-hyped" pedals. Klon, Zendrive, Honey Bee, KOT, Eternity, Timmy, Tim, etc., etc. After trying them all out in band rehearsals and in live shows, my reaction to the Klon was that it was doing something I really liked. It was just giving a bit more edge or "something" that was helping me to create a bigger, better sound. I don't know how to describe it other than that. I just like what it adds. It's all subjective though. With all of the other pedals I just mentioned, my reaction was that I could definitely understand why someone would like them. All excellent sounding pedals, but none were exactly what I was looking for. So, the Klon is on my board. The others are not. Most have been sold or traded. Unless you have the exact same gear as me and exactly the same tastes as me, you might prefer something else. In fact, I even prefer something else with one of my amps. My Red Snapper works better with my Matchless Cobra than the Klon does. I don't know why. It just does. I prefer the Klon on pretty much everything else, though. I also run a Barber LTD along with the Klon. I love that pedal too. And it's pretty cheap (relatively speaking).

The bottom line is that it's subjective. It works beautifully for me and a lot of others. Whether it works for you is only something you can determine. I wouldn't try to convince you or anyone else of its greatness. The furthest I would go is to say that if you are looking for a low gain overdrive, it's definitely worth checking out. But don't buy used. Buy from Bill.

That was good, thanks for the honest review :) Gives me a good idea of what it sounds like beyond the surface, which is what we all hear when we're in the zone....and it's true, it all comes down to our own interpretation of tone.

Maybe I should give this little bad boy a try...

[davetcan]

Originally Posted by NIK0

Maybe I should give this little bad boy a try...

Let me know how that works out for you.

[NIK0]

Originally Posted by davetcan

Let me know how that works out for you.

Heh...I was being facetious, I got so many pedals that I don't know what to do with em anymore. I still wanna buy you cab my friend :) Just going to settle for your no haggle price.

I believe the Timmy and the Jester will do a great job with my overdrive needs. I would love to have a go with the Klon however just to see what the hype is about.

[davetcan]

Originally Posted by NIK0

Heh...I was being facetious, I got so many pedals that I don't know what to do with em anymore. I still wanna buy you cab my friend :) Just going to settle for your no haggle price.

It's off the market for now, I've fallen in love with it again. I'll let you know if I decide to put it back up for sale.

[mhammer]

About 2 years ago, I got a cold call from Bill Finnegan while I was at home working on something. He had followed some of my posts elsewhere and felt he could trust me, which was kind of humbling in its own way. There was something he was pondering adding to the Klon, without detracting from anything it already did, and he felt I might be able to come up with it. Bill is not an engineering type himself (though neither am I), but he knows tone, and he knows his best customers.

After several conversations, he shipped me a schematic and two bare ungooped boards. One was stock, and the other had every single component socketed so it could be replaced. The soldering job must have taken him days, so his anxiety about getting the semi-breadboard version back intact was entirely justifiable. The two boards allowed me to make instant A/B comparisons, and I built myself a little chassis that would let me select between each board with a stompswitch.

The Klon is, design-wise, a brilliant house of cards. Each tweak of the gain knob changes something like 6-8 parameters, some intentionally, some by fortunate happenstance. The general gist of it is to alter the nature of the "push" as you push harder. Bill is fairly emphatic that the treble control is really more for cut than for boost. And although the circuit does generate some distortion on its own, the distortion is really a pretty minor aspect of what it does. You could probably mimic what it does if you had a splitter, mixer, some EQ boxes, and one particular type of distortion box heavily modded, but the Klon shoves all of that in one package. So, as expensive as it is, viewed from one perspective, it is cost-effective. As for the cost, Bill works out what he needs to charge to make his own overhead needs, and that's what he charges. I suppose there IS a small element of the "If I charged less, people wouldn't take it seriously" strategy, but after hours on the phone with Bill, I can say that it is a VERY small component of his pricing strategy. The other 95% of it is because it's what he lives off of.

In the end, after much experimentation, I was not able to achieve what Bill was interested in. The design is SO interactive, that any little weak or component value change I might suggest ended up having a "butterfly effect" on everything else, which would send me back to the drawing board. Perhaps what he was thinking of might have been possible with some more extensive changes, but that would have meant a board redesign, ordering more boards, and several other things that would simply bump up his overhead more. Plus, there would be no absolute guarantee that what people already liked about the Klon would be perfectly preserved. After about 5-6 months, we agreed to go our separate ways, and I shipped him back the boards. He may have continued to explore it with a consulting engineer, but I have not kept in touch with him to be able to know.

It was a real honour to have been involved in it. I told Bill I felt like I had been asked to re-edit "Gone with the Wind". It was that daunting to tinker with a legend. It was also a reminder that retaining your scruples on-line can also pay dividends, since that was how he decided to approach me. I don't play very loud so, while I could probably have made a copy for myself, it's not a pedal for me, but I can assure everyone reading this that the pedal is sincere, thoughtful, single-minded and unswerving in its purpose. In that way it is a bit like those deliberately specialized Bill sells them to plenty of high-end customers and is disinclined to drop their names.

All I can say is, good pedal, very specialized pedal, good manufacturer, solid product. Buy from Bill, and tell him I said hi....and that I never disclosed anything.