Klon KTR Prototype & Development board w/Bill Finnegan
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- Опубліковано 24 вер 2012
- Bill Finnegan shares for the first time the inside of the upcoming Klon KTR pedal, which uses surface mounted components. He also takes the time to share his prototype board that he used to test and swap out individual surface mount components with ease for part selection in development of the KTR.
Okay. I held back a while (7 years) and have to say: this pedal is awesome and I’ll never move it. Thanks for your efforts Bill.
I own and have played through more OD pedals than I'd like to remember, however, my KTR has got to be one of the best, if not THE best OD pedal I've ever owned/played!
Thanks for taking your time and doing it right Mr. Finnegan!
Just got my KTR yesterday. It is the epitome of overdrive. Absolutely amazing.
This should fit perfectly on my pedalboard
i've heard the clips! sounds cool and i like how the power supply mod is no longer an issue! i'll be pulling the trigger on one of these!
You're absolutely right. The parts that break on pedals are mainly the bypass switch, jacks and pots. All of those should be easily replaceable and the way the KTR is designed, you can just plug in a new foot switch that can be mailed to you if there's anything wrong- no soldering needed. Between Taylor and I we've had several hundred pedals and never have we seen a resistor randomly fail and need replaced.
Bill,
Glad to see the new unit is coming out! Been a Klon fan since you started selling them at Cambridge Music back in 95. Looking forward to the KTR!
I think that's a valid want. Something like the Tim (which I used beside my Klon) has a little bit more flexibility in theory due to having two tone knobs (bass/treble). Yet, I've never found myself actually wanting/needing this on the Klon and the single tone knob seems to do the trick. The EQ'ing just seems to pretty much take care of itself and is just generally an extension of the tone of the guitar and amp itself.
A match made in heaven. One of the best tones I've ever heard in my life. The *only* complaint I have vs a 100 watt Two-Rock amp is that it doesn't have that massive low end thump. But otherwise, this is it tone-wise.
Can't wait to try it, Bill. Thanks.
Looking forward to this, I missed out on the Centaur so I really want to get my hands on this.
Each is made in the US. While the PCB is surface mount, for many of the components there is actually quite a bit of hand/manual assembly for each one.
Sounds like a good idea. The FD2 is pretty sweet.
got mine today!!!
Cool! Sounds great. I'm actually playing out of a ac30 heritage series which is like two amp on one combo. I use a a/b box for each channel and I'm looking to use the KTR through my 12ax7channel for dirty clean. I use a fulldrive fulltone on my other channel. God I love the FD2 I can't give it up comp cut toggle is amazing!
Yea, really dig Fender amps overall. I want one of pretty much everything made in the 50's and 60's. Currently playing a 65 Bandmaster personally, and looking out for grabbing a Twin, Showman, Deluxe, Champ, Princeton, and Bassman when I can :)
Yep. I know he prefers to be called in the mornings. He would be the best source to tell you, although I'd recommend waiting a few days just to see if websites naturally start listing them soon anyway.
I have a KTR on my board. Thinking of putting a second one on there.
Oh that's sweet I love the tone of the bassman in the early years also. My drummer actually has a bassman for the late 60s it's pretty sweet and fat. I'm going to look into the fenders I have to say I've never gave fender amps my 100% attention. I've played the twin reverb in the studio and the cleans turned up was mind blowing!
absolutely, jacks, pots and especially switches are those most likely to fail. I've seen your other vid shootout with the three Centaurs in the mean time and it seems that Bill succeeded in reworking the Klon - no audible difference. I think I'll have to rethink my first statement and regrett if I offended anyone.
I've talked to Malekko once or twice about videos, but never got any pedals from them. I don't know if I'll be able to do any guitar-related videos again before the end of the year.
If you're looking for a super cheap Soda Mieser, Devi has kits available on Etsy for like $25 or something like that. They are super easy to make, probably taking less than an hour. Devi never sends us pedals, so we unfortunately don't have any extras that we didn't pay full price for ourselves.
I'm actually not as up on my Vox products as I am on my 60's Fenders. We used to have a handwired AC30 reissue in the studio that was pretty great though, and also one of the HW AC15s. Also, check into Morgan amps. They are freaking sweet
Oh cool! Like the bassman or reverbs? The guy I bought my vox off of was friends with the guy who made morgan amps haha that's funny! I've played the dual 40 it's pretty sweet! I like the tube variation. I've had a custom badcat made for me and I keep coming back to the vox for some reason :) I also had a dc30 and I felt like it wasn't as "polished" as the ac30s.
Thanks David,
Could you tell us how we find out which stores are stocking the KTR.? - cheers
I wish the Klons had a big variety tonal adjustment. Don't get me the wrong the klon has a really really amazing tone. I like to adj tone as each record has its own taste of difference. I will get the klon on two weeks and let you know!
The initial batch sold out. More coming sometime soon.
I don't know. Various dealers are getting them in the next week or so from what I've heard on the forums. Guitar Sanctuary in Texas presold 150 of them. Other shops should be getting some too.
Hi David,
Could you tell us how we order the new KTR please - cheers
Great ill keep you in mind. Hey that's fine! I love the journey of different tastes, songs etc...My ears are very open to a wide range of characteristics. Are you a fan of vox products? I'm also really looking into the vox copper panel jmi. Have you heard that beast?
The only problem I have with SMD is the RoHS requirements. Particularly where there are strong vibrations from a loud speaker. I prefer lead solder as I have seen several failures without it.
The KTR is down from what the cost of the prior Centaurs were new (especially when inflation is counted), and definitely down from the used market prices.
Even if a pick and place is used, replacing SMD components really isn't bad even with a $10 radioshack iron. It isn't something you need to do daily, and while we've had hundreds of pedals- we really never see random failure on them due to things on the board- its always jacks, pots and switches that fail. Easy to replace.
I've got no clue which stores are or will be carrying it. I'm sure if you keep an eye out over the next week or two some will start listing it.
David fisher. Which pedal out of the 3 would you pick?
Yep, everyone's chasing the Marshall and Vox stuff, and Fender often gets overlooked for whatever reason. But probably 50-60% of recordings out there are Fender amps...
1:30 I WANT THAT KING KLON!
Thanks David,
I assume Bills number is the same as it has always been ( a 617 area code number - written on a sticker on the Klon I have ?) - again thanks - cheers
So you play the bandmaster with klon? How is that?????
You're entitled to your opinion. I don't know who told you that SMD isn't repairable, but I could replace every component on this with just a soldering iron, magnifier and tweezers. If I had a hot air rework station I could do it even faster. Maybe you should find a hackerspace nearby and take a class on SMD soldering? It isn't that hard. The SMD parts however can actually be more expensive for high spec ones than through hole- so I'm not sure how you say its cheaply made either.
Please where and when will we be able to buy it
I don't know. Bill hasn't released this information yet and hasn't told me.
Guitar Sanctuary is taking preorders for them, but I haven't spoken with Bill about that, and I have no idea how official that is although many people have said they trust them and have placed preorders.
so when is it for sale ,, i thought it would be on market, the only 1 i saw was ebay ,,,
Surface mount components don't mean cheap. Sometimes they are actually higher spec and more expensive. Its how you use it, not the size.
That sounds you got it down. Man I would to sit down with for hours, days, months and work on tone?!?!?
Does he plan to make videos like this every 10 years or so?
I personally don't have any plans of it, and haven't talked to Bill in a few years unfortunately. I really should get in touch.
What else would you like to see? I don't know of anything changing with the KTR.
@@Tibbon Yeah. It seems like the same info in his most recent update too. I would like to see him mass produce them. And maybe.... design some other types of stomp boxes too.
I can't speak for him, but I think mass production attempts hit a lot of difficulties.
As for other units, I don't know. I never got the sense he aspired to be MXR or Earthquaker Devices in having dozens of different units.
Sorry, but the only pedal I ever owned that had micro parts inside was a cheap chinese delay I got for less than 20 $ from ebay. I´m a bit surprised to find those tiny parts in such a high priced OD.
good god, i'm glad i have an old klon centaur and not this cheap ktr model. and to be honest even in the ABC comparison it does sound different. not to mention that it probably feels different too.
One of the most cringe inducing comments I've seen. Bravo.
@@ArcDevErik Most people that own an original will probably say that same shit. If you buy a farrari, no way can you say that an old ford is just as good, even if it is.
The new Klon´s inside looks as it has been assambled in China. Its no longer handmade. Boss quality for a Klone price.
( Unrepairable?! What does it mean?) I had hundreds pedals in 15 years and gigged all around Europe... never need to fix a pedal in my life! Does anyone experienced a dislocated resistor so far?
ok, my comment was a bit exaggeratet, but I'm still thinking that pedals made of SMD parts are unrepairable for the usual guy like me who's handy with a soldering iron, but has to give up on small parts like these. and as the SMD parts are put by robotic pick and place machines on the surface board, the pedals are in fact cheaply made (which is the whole purpose of using SMD, besides the size). I wouldn't have a problem with it if the price went down accordingly, but that won't happen, I guess.
There is no difference other than when you need to replace a part that went bad..
out of hundreds of pedals I've acquired over 45 years I may have had three fail.
At one time I had $8000 to spend on "pretty much " what I wanted and I keep going to vox dammit!! Hahahaha
I'm amazed at the KTR haters. Why would Finnegan go to all the trouble to make a poorer quality Klone of his own pedal and then release them in limited quantities? The KTR is not cheap and Chineese. Just because it looks different doesn't mean that it's cheaper. I know that not all dumble amps are "gooped" and that not all of the dumble amps look like each other on the inside. I'm sure you'd think dumbles are cheap too. Yes, sometimes the market skews the value of certain items but it's not bill finnegan doing this. It's all the artists who's records you by that swear by the sound of these pedals that make them what they are.
I have the KTR and have owned an early gold and a silver version too. I love the originals, but have long since sold them. The original Klon was a very usable one of a kind pedal. I keep looking at clones because the KTR just doesn't cut it tone wise or in build quality. It is all surface mount construction on the inside which is short for throw away technology. Bill did this to make the pedals affordable, profitable and easier to make offshore. My pedal has blown the charge pump diode twice and I've managed to replace it on my own. Not an easy task. That and the switch itself are about the only serviceable items in the pedal. The switch is attached via a ribbon cable to the main board. It constantly disconnects after many stomps and travel miles. I see many other manufacturers following the surface mount construction wave these days. I avoid these at all cost, especially the small guys that will most likely not be around when it comes time to replace or service something.
If you call Bill, he also might be able to tell you. But I never asked, so he didn't say.
Studio is always open for booking if you're around Boston :)
But barring that, just shoot me an email at tibbon@gmail.com
One thing to keep in mind is that our sense of tone probably isn't yours. I disagree with Taylor, Taylor disagrees with me, and I disagree with Bill all the time tonally. Taylor loves his Two-Rock amps, and Bill hates them. Bill loves guitars with old strings, and I can't stand them. Tone is definitely an individually journey. What works for me probably won't work for you.
smd stuff fails way too often, and isn't repairable like thru hole components. they don't seem to sound as good imho, probably due to the parasitic capacitance and inductance that seems to be inherent in them. great for home consumer cheap shit, not so great for working musicians where the stuff is subjected to extremes of weather, temperature, etc etc.. i'll stick with my home made one, thanks. wave soldered stuff just fails too much, too easy, and may as well be made by danelectro.
this is nothing but overpriced junk. smd parts that are not reairable, very cheaply made. I feel sorry for the buyers...
I’ll go buy a 5k comic and a fender jaguar