Real KLON vs DIY Clone... Not What I Expected | Gear Corner
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- Опубліковано 21 сер 2024
- #klon #guitarpedals
Let's check out the most hyped of all the hyped pedals, the Klon and let's compare it to my DIY clone...
I really wasn't sure what to expect from it when I built it. After comparing them I'm just seriously surprised to be honest. And while we're at it, let's discuss the idea of pedal clones.
Enjoy Gear Corner!
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Timestamps:
Introduction
0:37 INTRO SONG | feat. the Just A Klone
1:30 What's happening in the video
2:11 Short history of the Klon
3:07 PLAYING | Clean tone
3:20 PLAYING | Klon KTR - Strat
4:17 This is not a hand soldered pedal
6:27 PLAYING | Klon KTR - Les Paul
7:05 But wait, this is not a Klon Centaur!
7:43 PLAYING | Klon KTR - PJD St. John
8:38 The elephant in the room...
10:00 The Klon's tone
10:25 PLAYING | Just A Klone - Strat
11:05 My DIY Klon clone
12:36 PLAYING | Just A Klone - Les Paul
14:27 What's inside the DIY pedal?
14:59 Let's compare the pedals
15:28 ROUND 1 - Strat
15:58 ROUND 2 - Strat
16:21 ROUND 3 - ES-330L
17:05 My thoughts
18:14 PLAYING | Just A Klone w/ effects
19:55 PLAYING | Klon w/ delay
Gear used in this video:
(the Bitly links are Thomann affiliate links)
-Barocsi "Frankenstrat"
-Gibson ES-330L
-Gibson Les Paul CS '58 reissue bit.ly/2FxKvek
-UAFX Golden Reverb: bit.ly/3vS36JN
-Walrus Audio D1 Delay: bit.ly/3G228iP
-Supro Tremolo
-REVV Dynamis 7/40 head: bit.ly/2IxwoId
-Universal Audio OX BOX bit.ly/2IyOeuj
-Two Notes Captor X: bit.ly/33FPfcW
-One Control Agamidae switcher: bit.ly/2YZgiib
-Cordial CRI series cables: bit.ly/2XiVLBR
-Evidence Audio patch cables: bit.ly/2Ixylo1
Other gear I use in my videos:
-Fender Telecaster CS '53 reissue bit.ly/2KFVJld
-Harley Benton Fusion-II Roasted SSP bit.ly/31FVawf
-Gibson Les Paul CM 2015 - heavily modified "Junior"
-Barocsi Troublecaster - Custom built T-style
-Honey Bee Double Trouble: bit.ly/33COaU3
-Kasleder Toxic Twins: bit.ly/2VJRDiO
-Kasleder Time Trap delay: bit.ly/3jQkha6
-Xotic Super Clean: bit.ly/36fsHka
-REVV G2: bit.ly/2NbpV9R
-Walrus Audio Lillian phaser: bit.ly/3czfxB8
-Analogman King of Tone analogman.com
-Tate FX Raise the Dead Ge: tatefx.co.uk
-Dunlop Gypsy Fuzz pedal: bit.ly/2VKw4K0
-J Rockett Archer overdrive: bit.ly/2Ges1z8
-Morgan 1x12 cab Twilight: bit.ly/2KFihDq
-NUX SOS Looper bit.ly/31TMxPx
The speech mic:
-SENNHEISER MKH 416: bit.ly/2w1EAMP
Audio Interface:
-Audient iD44: bit.ly/2Jo73zN
Check out the Thomann Music channel for some wicked guitar videos:
/ musikhausthomann
Cheers,
Kris
Ok so I'm a musician aswell as a electronics engineer and I'm sorry to burst everybodys bubble but if you have the same electronic components and circuit design(and soldering technique) two pedals will sound the same. You listen with your eyes aswell as your ears. Got to be a zillion videos on youtube with comparision videos. If you want to dive deeper into pedals and thei function I can recommend JHS's channel aswell as Wampler's channel(both great youtube channels). Great video as always Kris🤙
The JHS boys recently did a blind test, and one of them (the kid who normally plays bass) was unable to tell an original Klon from a 20$ Chinese copy. In fact, he thought the clone was the real deal.
@@JohannesLabusch those blind tests are a little flawed because Josh can’t see what he’s adjusting. You can get two pedals based on the same circuit to sound close if you set the controls by ear.
Bill Finnegan said he spent a long time tweaking the KTR to sound the same. He also said those particular Ge diodes sound different from others. When he ran out of those he stopped production.
I, too, repaired and modded musician's gear for years. What I found, time and time again, was that I was dealing with folks who could "hear" the color of paint on the headstock of their guitar. If they read in a guitar magazine that mylar capacitors were somehow inferior, they wanted ALL of the mylar caps in their gear replaced with polypropylene or paper-in-oil or whatever was the rage that week. If you're going to work in that biz you have to come to grips with the fact that the "differences" these people "hear" aren't anything you will ever be able to physically hear, and certainly not anything you will ever be able to measure. The best defense against snake oil salesmen is to become one yourself, and I could just never do that. I admire Josh at JHS Pedals for weathering many years in the effects biz without ever falling headlong into the snake oil vat.
Correct. It has long been said that seeing is believing, but the opposite has been shown to happen much more often with both eyes and ears. Believing *is* seeing or in this case, hearing.
SpectreSoundStudios recently did a comparison video of the Orange Crush solid state amps with some of the top tube amps. When the listeners knew which was being used, they claimed they could hear the difference, but when they did not know which was being used, they couldn't tell which was the Orange.
@@UncleRalphABQ probably even more so if the gear is actually used in a gig with a band. there is a lot of mythical thinking when it comes to that 4,000 EUR / Dollar guitar or fancy vintage gear when in practicality you could probably play a Harley Benton and through an old line 6 red bean at that live gig and it would sound indistinguishable to the audience.
Kris, one trick for making pedals: just not solder transistors and diodes directly to the pcb, use "sockets". You solder the sockets and you only have to insert the transistor or diode in the holes. This allows you not to fry the components but also let you experiments with another components just swapping them.
Great advice, thanks! That’s what I did with the op amps here. They sit in sockets. 😅
there are tolerances in almost all components (+/- 1-5%), meaning all pedals are slightly different - even ones from the same manufacturer from the same production line
so before people say that the original sounds different than a replica, i would argue 2 original pedals will sound different too
This!
Those differences in most components are so miniscule that TBH they would result in hardly any noticeable difference.
The only components that are such a low tolerance to produce major differences are potentiometers and SOME transistors (especially germanium ones). This can be overcome in the following ways:
1. Pots simply will produce the same sounds at slightly different ranges of travel. This was shown effectively in JHS' Big Muff reissue shootout video.
2. Transistors can be selected based on desirable values, and also biased using trim pots (set and forget variable resistors).
Ultimately, in practice in the modern era, two pedals off of one production line will sound almost exactly the same. We're not in the era of Electro-Harmonix throwing whatever components they happened to have lying around in bins into a Big Muff because it works "well enough" any more!
@@wibblegorm I have two Caline Pure Skys. One has to have the vol knob at noon to reach the same output level as the other at 9 o'clock. Potentiometers. Yup. Most variance. But input high-pass caps can vary enough that one pedal can sound dark and the other super bright (my two copies of the cheapo Rogue Blues Distortion - a bluesbreaker clone).
But those factories aren't testing components at all, I'm guessing. Part of the reason custom pedals cost more is they do test their components. Or some do, at least. I'd hope they all would, but I'm sure some cut corners.
@@AndrewLewisHowe Caline being a budget brand they probably do throw in caps that have a huge percentage tolerance.
I use WIMA box caps on most of my builds (depending on required capacitance, but for filter caps these are what I often use) and the tolerances are tiny - no noticeable difference whatsoever.
In terms of testing components, it's too labour intensive to test them all. You'd be at it forever. This is why it's worth buying good quality with low tolerances... you can trust the consistency of the components.
Again, transistors and some diodes are worth testing, but these are "mojo parts" some are willing to pay a premium for, and each pedal will not contain too many, so it's a lot more worthwhile doing.
I got the Wampler Tumnus de lux on my board. Like that it has three band IQ to tweak, an built in booster. Happy with that.
I've been really happy with my J Rockett Archer. It provides all I need from a klon klone.
you chose some really nice components. that's what's fun about making your own... can put the best of the best inside it
Although I never played one myself, after watching dozens of demos I never liked the tone of Klon pedals. In my opinion the really awesome circuit to enhance a good amp is the Bluesbreaker/Morning Glory. Really wonderful.
Timmy is yummy too
I had three klones( archer, walrus, DIY), I tried to like the pedal but it’s just so danm mid heavy. Believe it or not the pedal that replaced the klone on my board was a used ts mini I payed 50 euros. Great pedal, much better dialed mids!
@@lyricbread I’ll keep my eye on one of those. Tks!
I have a silver Klon, and its nice but I’m not hearing what he is doing here (which sounds great) out of my real Klon. I know, it’s in the fingers, etc, but I’ve been playing since the seventies. I’m not a bad guitarist. I think it has to also do with the amp he’s playing through.
@@lyricbread many different ones. Budda SD series (18 and 45), Laney Lionheart, Soldano SLO, Fender Concert, Tweaker40, and others. My Klon sounds a bit different with each, also I go between Strat and Les Paul.
The vast majority of pedals are "clones" of another existing circuit. If we stuck to the mentality that it's "really not cool" we'd have about 30 mainstream pedals and they'd all be expensive.
It's an absolutely accepted industry practice that most pedal makers have made their actual livelihood. Some add more of their own modifications than others, but they're mostly doing the same stuff.
Harley Benton certainly wouldn't exist if that weren't the case lol
But anyway - whether the clone sounds identical is pretty irrelevant to me. It sounds good, and that's all that matters. Soldering those connections is definitely not a job for the faint of heart! Nice work and nice demo.
I disagree. How many TubeScreamers do we need? All the original circuits (EHX, MXR, Boss) are still affordable. It’s when some “boutique” builder takes someone else’s circuit and makes a few changes that they end up costing a lot of money. Should a King of Tone be $230? Why? It’s just a copy of a Marshall Blues Breaker.
You aren’t getting more original circuits with all the clones. Just the same pedals over and over.
Also people get mad at Behringer for making cheap copies, but that’s exactly what every other clone maker does, only they over charge for the same thing.
The Klon was a very original circuit. Now with the Klones what do you get? Just the exact same circuit.
THE KTR HAD A SLIGHTLY BRIGHTER TONE(PROBABLY THE TREBLE KNOB WAS TURNED UP MORE) BUT I PREFERRED THE TONE OF YOUR DIY BUILD MORE! WHERE DID YOU GET THE KIT PLEASE?
Oh and a hot tip here Kris use a soldering station with temperature regulation. And it's a little tougher to solder nowadays since the ROHS regulation started which means it's near impossible to find solder with lead(lowers the melting point) in it which means you need a higher temp/longer heat exposure. Pro tip here is to use fluid resin on your solder joints/components solder joints before applying heat which will help heat transfer and an even heat distribution.
I think really the best part of a hand-soldered pedal with full size components is that you can easilly service it if it has any issue ad you can have fun modding it, while it would be a lot harder with a pcb mounted circuit with micro components.
Very good point. 👍
Good luck servicing an original Klon. 1" of black epoxy going to make that difficult. :)
Oh great!!! now we have to have years of debate on the internet about tone solder!!! 🤣🤣🤣
Does leaded solder sound better than lead-free solder? Does rosin core solder sound better than solid, rosin-free solder? What about the silver quality and content in the solder? Where is the silver from? The U.S., Asia or Mexico? Which has the highest quality silver? Great!!! Now you've started it, Kris! 🤣🤣🤣
Thanks for another great video! Still waiting for you to start Patreon so I can become a patron. 🙂
See you next video!
I remember when I first tried a Klon at a shop in L.A. Even the shop owners thought it was a bit of a joke because of how expensive it was. They liked it, but thought the price was silly. They ordered it more out of curiosity. I tried it through a Matchless, through a couple Fenders, a Marshall, and a Park. It sounded great through all of them. One of the best transparent distortion pedals ever, but certainly overhyped. The klones are just as good.
Yeah sold mine for a huge profit and only costing 250
@@paulcowart3174 I do just fine with a Tube Screamer or any number of Boss overdrives. The shop I went to in L.A. was selling it for around $300, which got a lot of laughs. It was thought of as more of a joke, because the idea of a stomp box costing more than $50 back then was absurd. But there's this whole industry of pretentiously marked up shit. John Mayer is very much a part of that. Not saying it's deliberate on his part, when you've got Mayer and Bonamassa playing this stuff and their Dumbles that cost more than a Ferrari, things have gotten out of hand. One of Mayer's prized Dumbles farted out on him live during a Dead and Co. show. What a lot of players can't get through their head is the magic of a thing called the studio. You can make a Pignose sound like a Dumble if you know what you're doing. It's all witchcraft. Anyhow, plugins are getting better and better and we're at the point where you can't tell the difference. A lot of players simply can't give up tubes, even when they've been fooled by awesome models. They still insist on the fetish of tubes. It's silly.
@@angusorvid8840they're only both extremely expensive due to the scarcity and nobody has been able to make an exact copy. People like what they like! No need to bring so much hate
Funny thing about it not working on the first two attempts. I bought one and it refused to do the Klon thing it was way out on its output. After sitting down with a secamatic and a audio probe there looked like a 560 ohm and a 100K ohm were swapped on the silk screen. After swapping these two parts the think does a Klon thing. The only two things that have the most effect on the distortion part of the cct are those Diode the germanium ones, can't comment if mine are germanium or a schottky substitute. The rest of the parts are way better than what I would get at the local Radio shack equivalent. I have taken old not working electronic things with all the so called mojo parts, replaced a lot of said mojo parts and the electronic thing just works and better than the original spec, Granted these were radios, TV's and hi-fi amplifiers. These days I'm getting too old for trying to explain electronic component selection to Youngins on opamped devices. Fuzzes are fun as they do all the wrong things in the best way I built one with power switching transistors some time ago and that one does its own thing!
haha , that's funny you would say that , because it is what for instance behringer ( and many more pedal brands ) are about , ripp off other's people designs and make a cheap clone , but then again a real klon is about 10.000 dollars these day's ( wich f...king absurd ) so yeah , i am happy with my exh soulfood pedal wich has cost me 80 euro : )
The original Klon was 250 when it first came out and I actually sprung for one and wasn't really impressed
I really liked both of them.
Where’d you get the clone Klon parts? Thomann? Or AliExpress?
Looks like a fun project.
So cool you talked about DIY pedals I been on the fence of getting one. Thanks man, I truly enjoy all your videos!!!!!!!!!!
Glad to hear that David, cheers! 🙌
I also started with a fuzz pedal for my first pedal......and the problem was you need to bias the transistor or the first one correctly in order to get sound. In my opinion a fuzz is the worst first pedal to start with, go figure right.....a od pedal would be better. Also dont start with a tremolo, making vactrols from ldr's and selecting the correct ones....or if you go transistor route....even more iffy than the fuzz to bias correctly. Nice job on the klon, did mine on stripboard and layout from schematic.....nightmare on its own haha
I share your approach. I guess the truth is in the middle way: not a pedal that cost an arm, nor a cheap copycat. I recently acquired 2 pedals that are original, manufactured with great care and awesome sounding:
- EP Drive by Very Goid Amp Co. An OD with an independent EP Booster that can be chosen in either order, plus a high and low cut Great performance for a contained price.
- OKKO Diablo GH signature. Great flexibility with all sorts of tweaks. Onboard input voltage, low and mid feeds, separate boost with tone pot, external dip switches for different voicings. From mild crunch to big distortion. Very silent too.
Was looking at those OKKO pedals and was digging them I'm using a RYRA w that EP in front of Working for me and I had an original and wasn't too impressed back then so sold for an insane profit
I use a EHX Soul Food, yet another klone, stacked with a NUX Overdrive(TS9 clone) and it works for pretty much all of my distorsion needs. The real secret for great tone is a BOSS GE-7 at the end of the pedalboard. The BOSS can fix most tone issues just fine. This is what I have used live as I have found my modeling gear to time consuming to set up when I need all the time available for practice instead.
If you’re looking for a klon pedal, the soul food is by far the best option for the price. You can even swap out the silicon diodes for Germania ones fairly easy.
I always enjoy your playing, your opinions, and all of your videos. Thank you!
Klon Klones are my FAVORITE overdrive. Very nice!
Thanks a lot Ryan! 🙏
Built a kit pedal it's not always easy, not all kits have the same level of complexity. The essential skill it is not how to solder ( it is important however ) it is to be able to diagnose the problem. I have had to modify the design in a couple of them, but I built a couple of klons of the KoT, and half have a issue in the tone part of the circuit I cannot figure out. Now I design my own pedals in SMD and through the hole. Through the hole components are fun, and they have an aesthetic. But I prefer SMD, for me it is more satisfactory to design something as close as possible to a finish product. But that is personal. PD: I am an electronic engineer
Money is not a problem! All musicians have plenty of $ to throw around. So we, as musicians, should just go ahead and dish it out. “I” don’t think so!!!!
LoL yeah right ?? I spent 250 on an original and preferred my Analogman modded TS9 at the time
@@paulcowart3174 , I just can’t get into spending all that $. But then again I’m retired and on a fixed income so….
thanks Kris, your style of presenting stuff is very nice. Which DIY kit did you use ? just in case someone (not me of course) is crazy enough to venture down this bumpy road ?
Thanks a lot Marco! 🙏 It’s called guitarelectronics(dot)eu
@@KrisBarocsi very weird, can't reach this web address ....
@@MarcoZaniRovereto sorry, there’s a minus between the two words 😅
@@KrisBarocsi got it, thanks !
You said it all. A good builder and/or company has to have passion for the guitar, for the community and for music in general. Inspiration generates inspiration. That’s what keeps the flame burning. The pedal sounds awesome!! Congrats on being persistent, 3 is the magic number! Hahahaha Cheers, mate!
The circuit is the same, both based on the same schematics. The only difference is the buying public and how we hype everything up thus reflected in that ridiculous price
I like your conclusion about copying... Some companies choose instant success by doing reissues or copies....On the other hand if a specific model is discontinued and there's a fresh copy out there for people who never tried the original product it's not necessary being famous with other's success....at least for me...
Very nice clone,. Superb!
Yeah, Kris! 14:49! IT IS IMPORTANT! Why do they all rely on an exact power-source? Nowadays (I also play with RC-Toys) we have different batteries and Lipos at hand. Sometimes they don't exactly reach 9V or they exceed 9V by far (3S lipos, 12.6V fully charged). I would like more pedal manufacturers focussing on that. A battery is ALWAYS preventing side noise getting into the circuit. But when the voltage goes from 12 to 9V or lower, also the sound changes. They should build pedals accepting a wide range of batteries. Even 8.4V Lipos which are easily delivering 9V if you let them. Most of them have 1500mah or more at hand!
Oh ya, after a long day at work and checking out your post and first music intro got me rocking and BAM! bring on the shred. Wicked, fast and smooth grooves to get me motivated to go pick up my axe to get ready for rehearsal tomorrow. Let's play now! lol
That’s so cool man, thanks! Have an awesome rehearsal! 💪 It’s so good seeing live music being a thing again after all these years of restrictions.
Was watching this on the side, or rather mostly listening and thought the DIY was the KLON until half-way through. I liked the DIY sound better lol...
Ups 😅 I guess that’s not too bad then.
You can not get the true sound from UA-cam videos like you experience when you hear a pedal, amp, and guitar in person. Every pedal sounds different with a different guitar and a different amp. The KTR Klon is a pedal that made a very positive impression on me when I purchased one, luckily I got one of the first or second batch Bill started making. The KTR along with my Fulltone Tube Tape Echo are probably the only pedals I own that have gone up in value. LOL 😂 A lot of good players can distinguish tone but most people in the audience at an outdoor concert to a small bar gig can’t tell the difference between a Fender Squire and a original 54- 63 Strat.
What will make a subtle difference in tone between the two Klons are variations in component value tolerances, not the actual components themselves, but the difference will be so subtle as to make it not worth bothering about for all intents and practical purposes.
You have to experiment on bread board instead soldering them.
So with that philosophy there should be no fuzz face clones, or only the Uber expensive pedals? What about strat copies, or plexi copies, or AC30 copies. No covering of all along the watchtower. And why do so many people get pissed at Gibson for trying to enforce their patents? And I won't even bring up the kemper. The bottom line is, this is not a moral issue. It's a legal issue. Interesting video you're a great player..
My “wish” klone is my favorite overdrive I’ve ever had. $50 bucks. Compresses just right stacks great. And has lots of gain, way more than I will ever use..🤷🏻♂️
I've had an original and am using a RYRA Klone now
@@paulcowart3174 honestly if I had the money I’d buy one of those. A black cherry one🤘🏼
@@toddlogan9023 yeah those are cool kinda surprised I went w the boring silver lol but cool graphics too
@@paulcowart3174 they’re all cool looking. Even the surf green
I've owned a real Klon, a KTR and most of the well known Klones. Nothing sounded quite the same as my original. It's s subtle thing but it was there. Having said that I've kind of settled on the RYRA Klone as being a good balance of sounding pretty authetic, being really well built but also being a bit smaller than say the Centura.
Ah glad to hear that cause that's what I'm using now myself I had an original 250 dollar's lol sold for a huge profit almost ten years ago I had an old TS9 that Analogman modded and I preferred it over the Klon....kind of wished I would have stacked them but that wasn't really a thing yet so never tried that but yeah really liking the RYRA
Great vid... Built a few pedals myself and totally agree it isn't as simple as you think it is if you want them to last for more than a couple of shows.... But it is a great way to get access to some great and unnecessarily expensive circuits. My last build was a Jan Ray... now theres a pedal thats dying to be cloned!.... haha.
Also wanted to ask what diodes are in the klone seen here?... they look like silicon. Nothing wrong with that... I had them in my JRAD Silver Archer untill I changed them to D9E's....I have done a side by side with a 'real one' and I cant tell the diff sonically.
I do agree to some extent with your opinion on cloning things, but... And the important part comes always after the "but" :) Now really: the Klon is a very good example. It is rare and very-very expensive. Way more expensive, than what the sum of parts would indicate, even with the experience to build one, hell, even with all the efforts Bill Finnegan put into these. Don't get me wrong, it is a unique pedal also from technical point of view, but after all it is "just" an overdrive. Sounds great, but for many of us even the price of the KTR can simply not be justified. Now what? We don't play it, because if we can't pay it we don't deserve it? So in such cases for me cloning is an option. But as a builder I certainly encourage people to listen to the original and to come up with their own ideas what they would like to see/hear in their own version. Maybe a bit more compression? Maybe a bit more low end? Maybe an added clean blend? When I design my own pedals I often do this, at least for myself I rarely build 1:1 clones. I start with them, but then as I use them I usually discover what I would like to have different about them, and then the modding begins. Which is fun, even though it never ends, but that is another story.
Btw. your Klone is very nicely done ;)
Good job bro. They both sound great.
Hey I got a reply that said congratulations you have been selected for something but when I click on the notification I can’t find the rest of the message. Might just be some scammer trying to bait me or something?
Like the strat with the tele p'up, not something you see everyday. Nice playing too. As far as some of your ethics questions... idk, patents run out in 17 years.
You need a wrist band to be grounded when you work with pc boards to avoid damaging semiconductor components.
I guess you have to learn which part has issues with overheating. You can divert the heat from the wire with a metal tweezer during soldering - it's not a big thing. And you should testing resistors, diodes and capacitors and looking for the right direction. Therefore is nice to have the right measurement instruments, not a simple multimeter for 20 Bucks... For sensible electronic parts you have to use solder with lead (plumbum)...
Now you're talking, making a pedal influenced by an excellent forerunner and then tweaking it to your preference is a notable accomplishment. Seeing that the original is not produced any longer makes it special not only because you some what recreated it but now have added a small new chapter to that legacy and added a new personality to what once was. Flattery is best shown though imitation. Great job, and it sounds fantastic. Not everyone would even consider paying big dollars for the original but would consider a pedal like that at an affordable cost. Sounds like you may have a little dilemma KB, cause I am sure you are going to be asked where to get one of those and how much. Lol Dam that pedal sounds good! Cheers.....
Get the king of the bezos drives: moosky golden horse. Its what iexpected: very useful holds up to tumnus and archer
I agree with the idea of cloning 1:1 isn’t cool with existing products - because it’s boring and not fair but since the Klon is unobtanium a lot of people are doing it, like the tumnus, Ryra or Archer (if you ask me they all sound better than the KTR which actually isnt 1:1 to the original) - I had them all, all are slightly different cranked but on a low gain settings nearly identical
I picked up a RYRA and love it I bought a Klon when they first came out but wasn't too impressed at the time Sold years ago for a huge profit Oh yeah I like the DIY better at lower gain settings but both simaliar when cranked
Where is this pedal kit from? It sounds great!
The best thing about clones is making rare pedals affordable
Good video sounds great audio
Thanks 👍
so where is this diy pedal from? i mean did you build it from a kit you have bought from somewhere? or did you buy components and build one based on something you found online? i have listened to the whole video but seemed to have missed this bit somehow.
Nice video! Soldering isn't that difficult, but we learn more from fixing the problems on the assembled board than actually following the diagram and assembling it. It's like a puzzle where you have a lot of things to mess with!
Tip: don't cut the legs of the components too close (after soldering) - that's gonna give you problems - specially on cheap boards.
Respectfully, what problems? Never heard that one before?
Don't buy cheap solder would be my top tip. Spend a lot of money on Kester or somesuch.
I have my Klon built different ktr box Center paint got it during the lockdown from the man himself 250 bucks he seals them on eBay but you have to bid for it and I’ve seen them going for 2000 bucks
Nah a clone is perfectly appropriate in this case when the original is astronomically priced. There is plenty of variety, and no probs with an affordable direct copy.
Great content Kris!
It is a well-known circuit such as the tube-screamer circuit. What circuits do you think the amplifiers you have behind you are based on (mostly copied)? And the designs of the guitars you have behind you as well? These are directly copied from the originals. And the pickups and the circuitry of the electronics of these? ... the same.
Cloning is not always a bad thing, it makes it possible for many of us to have a pedal circuit that costs thousands of dollars "because reasons" (as well as having cheap guitars, like the Harley Benton stuff), or more affordable and great sounding amps ... think again.
Music and sound or frequency is in the either. It does not belong to anyone. We pick it like fruit from a tree. It exists for us all to share. Leo Fender's amps were taken directly from the RCA electrical manual. BB King said if you like someone's lick you steal it and make it your own. It's a collective consciousness created by us all. Just as we share the air we breathe so too do we share the sounds we hear.
I respectfully disagree. If someone wants to sell an original item at a ridiculously obscene price, who’s the real con artist here? THAT’S the REAL “not cool” part.
If someone else can duplicate it at a substantially lower, much fairer price that many more people can afford, I say more power to them.
Hand wired and SMD are the same, the difference comes from tolerances in the components and not from the method the pedal is made, hand wired electronics with high quality components are a lot more serviceable than SMD devices are, it makes sense for tube amps but pedals shouldn't need servicing beyond jacks and switch.
P.S. to not fry components use a heatsink (metal tweezers) between soldering iron and component to soak up the heat ;)
SMD can also be hand soldered. Machines can also do through hole.
Nice, the diodes look like silicon to me though, not that it matters though.
Considering to get the DIY version with close to all mods and some pots to use instead of onboard trim pots, just to have more options than with my current clone.
Circuits are like recipes they can’t be trade marked. All pedals are modified versions of others. As long as you aren’t marketing it stealing the design on the outside the rest is just ingredients.
I'm sorry to correct you on what you said at 14 minutes of the video; On your kit diodes are not germanium but silicium, there reference is 1N4148, it's classical signal diodes in electronic. On the other hand what you showed from the Klon is really germanium diodes
Hey Xavier, I checked on the schematics, these are supposed to be 1N34A germanium diodes. According to google they should look exactly like how mine do. Are you sure these are 1N4148s?
You, Sir, are a scholar and a gentleman....
Very much appreciated! 💛
Ok mate, that first solo - awesome!
Thanks so much!! 🤗
Personally, I prefer the KMH pedal. (KMH: Kris Made it Himself)
🤣🤣🙌
i bought a klon kit for £35.00 form ebay watched several videos that warned about instructions not being clear and they were all true , i,m an electrician and so when assembling the board i tested all the resistors with a meter and had to go onto a website to verify some of the components as some did not match up also some of the resistors supplier were incorrect but i had access to the correct values it was an enjoyable build but took me about 4 hours as i was worried about making mistakes , and when done it actually worked , i could have bought the same kit assembled from ebay for about £15.00 extra , but at least i can say i built it , have no idea how it compares to the original though
For this money, you now can now get completely assembled Chinese clones ... 😬
What PUs are in the strat? Cool video btw
Thanks man! Seymour Antiquities. Two strat pickups and a tele bridge pu. 😜
There appears to be some high end missing in your DIY pedal. It's obvious when you compare side by side with the real one. I know some Klon clones sold on wish there was a severe mistake where they didn't parallel C4 and r5 resistors which are a high-pass network. Maybe there is something going on like with your PCB? Anyway, enjoyed your presentation, and guitar playing. Cheers!
Which kit did you use to build that?
It sounds great man and if like to build one
did you manage to find that kit, it really sounds incredible
@@MrEgg-gt8wj no I did not find it. And lately I have turned my attention to building kit guitars but whenever I get back into pedals I can check again. For pedals and Amp sounds I have been very happy with my line6 board unit!! It sounds amazing live no matter what guitar I plug into it
So how do feel about harely benton making and selling cheap copies of fender and gibson’s legendary inventions?!
That is a very interesting question and the answer would be a little too long to type it. Let's talk about that in a Comment Time video. 👍
It doesn't matter which Klon or Klone you use if it isn't overdriving the amp.
I have played my klone next to an original Klon a musician friend has and he was shocked at how close they where. For $65 from China, I will stick with my assembled klone.
As for copying it and making a profit, I get where you are coming from, then you should make a video about Harley Benton doing that EXACT same thing.
There are three campsconcerning circuit design,there are the hand wired v pcb camps,who have the same thing in common,they don't know what they are talking about.
The third camp are the circuit designers who understand about inductance and capacitance ,whether a point to point,tag strip ,pcb or a combination of both.none are wrong none are right,if the circuit is designed and laid out properly any variation will work and ALL can be made to sound the same,in fact if all the same components are used only an oscilloscope will tell you the difference,if any.
Well designed pcb circuits tend to be more compact,thgat said i've built tube amps into tiny practice amp enclosures,and the circuit has no hum or hiss at full volume and with the gain all the way up ,though small speakers sound crap the amp would sing into a 12 inch celestion,all to see how small a tag strip with point to point amp could be made,and it was single ended ,so no noise cancelling in the output transformer.
You have to know how components and wires or circuit tracks will react to other circuit components or tracks,component leads and circuit posts act like ariels picking up hum and electrostatic noise especially in high gain environments.
A badly laid out point to point will sound as bad as a badly laid out pcb,i've made rats nest amps that sounded amazing,but given that this can be pure luck.
Thanks great video!
Ok. Where do we get it?
Hey Kris! Can you share the link where you purchased this kit?
Hey, guitar-electronics(dot)eu. Cheers!
I also bought a cintovo from Sweet Water not much difference
Kris, guess who ordered a black KoT yesterday, because he got on top of the waitlist after 4 years, 20 weeks and 6 days 🤩🤩🤩
That is awesome buddy!! Congrats! 🤩 Are you in Europe? Do they ship here too?
@@KrisBarocsi Yep, I’m based in Frankfurt. No, they don’t ship to Germany directly and yes, it’s complicated 😂
@@fraenkiboii yeah that’s what I was thinking. Why tho… 🤷♂️ Good luck!
@@KrisBarocsi afaik it’s due to not being RoHS compliant. Which basically nobody really cares about, except the boiz at German customs. I read somewhere that lots of shipments bounced in Germany, so they (AM) decided to exclude them from shipping destinations. Rest of Europe tho, no idea, I saw Austria, Italy, France …
I think it's just a boost pedal. Thanks.
pedals aside Kris, you can`t clone integrity, and you said it all !👍👍😊
I was thinking about making one of these, but I think I will give it a miss. I take your point Kris, I would probably go through 5 if these to get one that works 😂
It’s easy. Even if your soldering sucks, it should work fine. Made several pedals and no dead ones yet unless you count an led that blew out. Still sounds great. I’m a complete newb. Never soldered before the pedals. Try it. Not rocket science. Very rewarding to have pedals you made on the board.
I'm an amature and I did a klon kit it was dead simple, but an engineer was watching me, he has parts, a Aion board was 12 bucks.
@@timscarrow9151 Basically like painting by numbers with the hardest part finding the right parts on the parts list. I swear they sound better than mass made pedals.
@@BeefNEggs057 We prototyped some others with kicad, I learned how to draw schematics, got to change values and know what they do. But I let the engineer route the ratsnest that was over my head. Got clones of all the classic drive pedals now under 50.00 each.
@@timscarrow9151 Sounds amazing! Nerd paradise haha
They don't want us to know but SMD stands for SMall Details
killer playing
Thanks a lot!
Pedals are like cars and guitars.. humans are nostalgic and forever will be(well for a very long time at least).
Excellent!!!
If Bill had had a choice, he'd have made the ridiculous hype BEFORE he sold the pedals, so HE made the thousands of dollars.
Interesting how you have a Tele bridge pickup and it sounds 100% Strat and 0% Tele.......
Wait, so what you’re saying is that tone is not all in the pickups? 🤯 🤫 what will all the wood haters think of you… 😆
Sorry to sound a bit controversial, but those who say that the SMD version of the circuit board sounds in some way superior to the circuit board in an original Klon most likely have no idea how electronic components operate, as long as the circuits are identical, they will sound practically the same regardless of the component technology whether it is built using SMD (Surface Mount Devices) or standard through-hole mounting components, they all operate in exactly the same way and have practically the same electrical characteristics.
Pick and place machines are fun to watch build boards. And wave soldering, I mean a big tank of molten solder how cool is that!
My wallet says DIY my ears say eeeeeeeeeeeeee wait that’s my tinnitus.
Can you compare more budget friendly ( under 100€) vs boutique or discontinued fan favorites whos price is out of reach for most hobby players .
12:29, smt components can burn if ya using a big iron. And if ya burn the solder pad you may have ruined the board.
I was a rework/repair tech for avionics computers far to long.
You know, I'm starting to really wonder why we got into using FX pedals on our guitars in the first place, was it to obsess about the supposed sonic superiority of x, y, or z electronic component technologies, and pedals, or was it to actually make music with the things?
Where can i get the exact same diy kit ?
Check out guitarelectronics(dot)eu
Are you able to post a schematic for your DIY pedal?
Hey James, guitar-electronics(dot)eu. 👍
@@KrisBarocsi Thank you, I will go take a look.
Guitarists and tonemeisters are so into woo.
Hand wired pedals are not something I look for. It takes more time to build and produce. Electronically it should the same. Your phone and your computer are SMD and they work just fine. I dunno.
Yes should sound the same. But hand wired requires some skill, soldering SMD is a nightmare and could easily lead to mistakes, through hole PCB boards as used in Kris' unit are really at the end (pinnacle) of the DIY food chain. Building stuff has become retro very quickly. It's a lot of fun when it works, and throughly depressing when it doesn't.
Sounded pretty darn close to me! Well built Kris! I will not attempt building a pedal, too advanced for me right now. 😊
give it a go, it is like painting with numbers, buy a kit all parts will be named or numbered ,check out how to solder videos or how to make pedals
Where can I buy a $50 Klone kit?
I got it at guitar-electronics(dot)eu
Stew Mac
I've always been curious about the Klon but I refuse to pay $300 plus for any pedal. I considered going the DIY route but my soldering skills are subpar. If I want to dabble, my choices are the many Klon homage pedals available out there. Is it wrong? Perhaps... the way I see it... it's all Rock N' Roll!!
I'd look for a used Rockett Pedals Archer/Archer Ikon. Pretty close to an original, compact and solidly built. RYRA Klone and Centura get a bit closer to my ear but might be harder to find and more expensive.
@@Grant_Ferstat Thank you... eBay and Reverb quest begins...
RYRA w an EP boost in front works for me and I've had an original when they first came out
@@paulcowart3174 I like that! I connected my TC Electronics Spark in front of the Electro Harmonix Soul Food and it grew the balls on my Strat. I've never played a real Klon but this already sounds good to me. Will be testing it live this weekend on a gig. Thanks for the tip...
@@thanehtike YES clean boost in front brings out the best of a main overdrive Have fun with it and yeah the Klon is all hype
"...where would we evolve? We would just have clones of stuff that already existed..." Funny to hear a guitarist say that while he's playing mostly classic re-issued guitars.
Haha, touché. 👏
Don’t let the fact that I prefer vintage guitars make you think that I don’t appreciate the evolution of guitar gear though. My cables, patch cables, the amps I like, even the pedals are modern takes on vintage stuff and I much prefer these over the original old designs. When it comes to guitars though, you’re right. I’d rather choose an old piece if I had the money for a vintage one.
@@KrisBarocsi I was just kidding mate. Us guitarists are always saying we seek innovation, but in our hearts, we are the most conservative minded people there are when it comes to gear. For instance: I love my R9 and 57 re-issue Strat (and feel not worthy owning or playing them at times)... but they just have a kind of Mojo, right? Keep on making great videos man!
The JHS video on Klons and Klones clearly show that even the Chinese made Caline Pegasus is indistinguishable from an original hand wired Klon.
My three klones (Mosky, Caline, EHX) all sound different. Different low end (variance likely in the input high-pass cap), different mid-push center freq (variance in the other caps/resistors in the gain stage).
But they ALL sound great, and do the same job. I use mine as a boost pedal for my other ODs. The variance is hardly noticeable in this scenario. Using them on their own you find more variation.
If you swapped out the diodes that came with kit and bought $10 1N23A "ITT" diodes (preferably vintage) you might get closer to The Holy Grail of KLONS. There's a TIGHT harmonic difference in the two UNMATCHED diodes that IMPARTS MAGIC.....not all 1N34A didoes are the SAME. Bill Finnigan's ear in 1994 intuitively put the right diodes together. Bill even had to redesign new KTR circuit do compensate for the fact that no more Magical Mystery DIODES are available.
Josh Scott says it well. Analog circuits are 60 year old technology. It’s not magic. We designed airliners and nuclear power plants and trips to the moon. This isn’t remotely close to that kind of complexity. It’s not magic to duplicate an analog circuit. The diodes aren’t magical. It’s the circuit that’s great and people can duplicate that.
Exactly. The first things on my mind are Fuzz faces and tonebenders. Some changed a cap or a resistor, some not :-)