Since 2015 NEW PEDALS EVERY DAY! Over 3300 REVIEWS!
I use other reviewers vids & then critique from them __ If a pedal appears killer I buy one __ I try it out & update the Post__ If the pedal is SH@T I literally say so!__ I publish the street price a no brainer but few do. __ I save you time finding the best pedals & you get a second opinion. __OVER A MILLION VISTORS__
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This is a special function pedal. I am actually very surprised it is not more popular. Often the only thing missing from some very excellent Overdrives is in order to solo with them they need the amp at a very high gain....as in f-ing loud to get some acoustic feedback.
Everyone including the audience get a buzz when a guitar note goes into dropping the fundamental of the note played and sails into nirvana with the singing of the harmonics of the note...turning the harmonics into a note itself soaring an octave or two higher then the note played.
Well this pedal can do just that. You can enhance the effect by narrowing the mids with the character mode. By widening the mids whole cords are constantly pushing out a punchy honk. Back off the feedback...and the overall tone acts and sounds like a Tube Screamer!
Current Price $99.00 USD
The pedal also acts as a very nice sounding ...flat...clean boost.
.
Boss were very smart to treat this as professionally as they could. Many players are spending more then this pedal just for a great clean boost. Morons like me have been encouraging it. I think of Xotics very nice but a bit pricey
EP Booster..at $109.00 USD.... vs. the
Boss FB-2 as low as $99.00 USD.
MULTI-FUNCTIONAL
-You can get acoustic feedback at very, very low volumes
and never have to overload the front end of your amp
it lets both chords and solo notes easily sing
-You have a very nice Booster to go from your board to your amp.
- it instantly turns all your Overdrives into a soloing devices...you do not 'need' a distortion pedal.
-If you listen carefully there is a slight Klon like tone to the boost when used with a clean sound.
NOTHING'S PERFECT
Great pedal but it has its faults...it appears to be put before the overdrive in pics showing both. But it is preferred to put a Booster pedal at the output of the overdrive...better still just before your amp
.
The biggest concern is that it probably needs to sample the note you wish to sustain...so there is a time lag between hitting a note and when the feedback starts...I note a very short but funny artifact just before it kicks in as well. I have noticed that all notes sustain well but do not always jump up to just playing the overtones? It works fairly well if you use the built in boost generously. I find if stacked with an overdrive that I love the sound of ...it takes over and kills that overdrives distinct sound. If you back off the boost the pedal seems to fall apart. It relies on that boost to smooth the sound out...and perhaps hide some of the glitches and stutters. I find small fret rattles and such seem to make it choke or even squeal. Using it with my big Fuzz pedal worked much better...cranking the boost into something already massively distorted works just fine.
OK...bottom line...It is a great FX...but not a substitute for natural acoustic feedback from your amps speaker.
I will do a first for me. Return it...I wanted a POG anyway and was just deciding on which one.
Let's start with an average amp with a bass knob and a treble knob. Turn up the treble and you get more highs...turn up the bass and you get more lows.
Graphically they would look like a pair of brackets ( (
pushed over to make 2 little hill shape curves. The two brackets would touch each other...in fact they would overlap...if they did not there would be no sound in the middle. If the amp had a mid range knob...there would be 3 such curves overlapping. With 3 curves...you take the hundreds of frequency's that your guitar can make....and move a third of them at once. The group of frequency's is called a band...and with only 3 they each would have a wide 'band width' A graphic EQ simply divides the frequency's into more sections. If you divided it by 5 you might have lows...low mids....high mids...and highs. So we now have 5....so each one would have a narrower 'band width'.
One could go to infinity...but for practical purposes...a Graphic EQ is likely 5 or 6....10 even 31 bands. They all crisscross with the band adjacent to each side of them. For practical purposes each band is on a slider instead of a knob.You can get a graphic shape of your entire boosts just by looking at the curve you make by changing them. On the graph...you will notice that the second slider is on the middle line. Put all the sliders on that line. Turn off the EQ and you will note that it is the same. So you can see if you move a slider up it causes a boost...move it below the line and you can cut. That's it! Not so hard is it .
.All guitars are naturally mostly a 500Kh instrument with bit of lows and a few highs.
A Metal player would love this setting...all the mids are "SCOOPED"
THE DREADED PARAMETRIC EQ
Yes!!! The dreaded Para....I think it stands for Piranha! Yes folks guitarist hate them. Too bad because they can perform miracles. I set one up for a bass player. One click turned a Fender Jazz into a Fender Precision bass. So in my EQ for dummies way. (the only kind I like) I will knock the mystery out of them. OK....looking at the five band again and note. .
You have ...5 sliders with 5 separate ...BUT FIXED FREQUENCIES....which means those frequencies boost and cut...at a certain point and overlap a bit on the adjacent sides. . You can see that 500 Kh is cut...it is below the center point. graphically it is a U shape. You cannot widen the curve of this U into the shape of a bracket sitting on it's hump ( ..nor can you slide to the right or to the left. You would need more sliders if you wanted for example boost not 500Kh but 525Kh. AT some point after reaching 31 sliders you might get close to hitting the perfect frequency you wanted to boost...but soon it gets stupid...and with a pedal...it gets impractical. So that's all a parametric does different...it has knobs. You can pick the exact frequency you want...then widen to fatten up perhaps a weak area...or make it as narrow as a pin to cut some horrible noise right out of the sound. You take the Jazz bass...you find what frequency...in this case the lower mids and some lows that the P bass has that it does not..boost them ...get the curve wide but not too wide...jiggle the knob a little like tuning in a radio...and soon...presto...you have the exact frequency for a reasonable copy of the Precision bass. You do not get the simplicity and the nice looking graph made by the sliders...but hey...it is magic. A really nice toy is made by some pedal makers. A single band of parametric EQ. You can sweep across the guitars range and find the area that needs a boost..widen or narrow the band...catch the size of the area that you want ...then boost it. Boost the lower mids and fatten up the sound or maybe some upper mids with a few lower highs with it for a bit of honk. A great compromise is this Quasi Parametric with a Graphic too. Get your overall sound with the graphic and use the Para...for boost..or cut in just the right place. A great way to fatten a Strat into a Les Paul!.
MAGIC EQ TIPS
FAT
Boost around 150 Kh...to the 200kh area
TOO MUCH HONK
Drop some at the 1Kh to 2 Kh MUDDY LOWS Cut everything below 100Kh....great for the muting while strumming rapidly in a Metal tune.
PRESENCE
Boost 3Kh
SPARKLE
Boost 8Kh
TURN A HUMBUCKER INTO A SINGLE COIL Cut 200Kh,400Kh and 800Kh Boost 100Kh and 1.6Kh HALF COCKED WAH Boost 800Kh...then curve each side down to zero to make a big hill shape with the sliders. BOOST Move all the sliders up to the top THE WOMAN ALTO SINGING AN AHHHH BEHIND EACH NOTE IN YOUR SOLO I love this one. Put on your distortion and boost IKh on its own right up. Works best on a Humbucker. Get it right and you will blow some one's mind. A ghost in the air!!!
OK...one last thing...very early pedals and still now some pedals like the Pro Co RAT use a filter for a tone control...it is similar to a 'Para' using a band pass filter or a cocked wah..as you turn the knob the freqency booster moves with you. Very effected to boosting the mids....it gives you a nice fat sound.
PICK ONE
TOM'SLINE AEG-3
Graphic EQ
As usual the price of a Mooer with the rebranded Tom'sline name is less ten half. This is really a sweet little EQ...crisp and clean and can fit anywhere on your board.
Current Price $24.00 USD
Current Price $53.00
JOYO JF-11 Graphic EQ
Joyo quality is always reliable...so this will certainly do the job. They usually clone...so there is likely an MXR or a Boss under the hood. At $29.00 USD...definitely worth a thought.
CURRENT PRICE $29.00 USD
MAXON GE601
Grahic EQ
Another clone/counterfeit Mogoo pedal...usually a part for part clone at that. The real Maxon only has 2 rivets holding the sliders in place and the colour is a pastel blue instead of a pastel green. One nice thing is they built it into a heavy steal box. I have one. I put it at the end of my pedals before an amplifier. This way when I use a variety of amplifiers instead of changing the EQ on a dozen or more pedals...I can just tweak the Maxon...and in seconds I am ready to play. The store I bought it from did not sell it as a fake.
.
Current Price of the real one $ 159.00 USD.....The clone is $37.00 USD
CALINE CP-24
Graphic EQ
Caline always makes quality stuff.
A 10 band will give you as much EQ as you will ever need.
Current Price $36.00 USD
XIN SOUND EQ 99 Graphic EQ
The new kid on the block...hard to find any video on any of their pedals. The cases are tops. The blah
blah from the company constantly boasts about the quality build and the use of Japanese and German parts.I bought one of there compressors...no top end...worse than average...but the low end was better then most gourmet pedals.
Current Price $40.00 USD
ARTEC SE-PEQ Parametric EQ
This can be the perfect partner to a graphic EQ. You rough out a great sound with a graphic and fine tune it to perfection with single band para.
Artec are a Korean brand. They are a very big company that make some serious guitar amps...and several different lines of pedals.They have been around for years but have never pushed much further then the domestic market. The pedals are easily the build and quality of an MXR or a Boss pedal.
Current Price $48.00 USD
ONE LAST THING
THE GUITAR IS A MID RANGE INSTRUMENT...IF YOU SCOOP THE MIDS OR PUSH THE HIGHS AND LOWS TOO MUCH IT MAY SOUND GREAT AT HOME...OR NOT EVEN TOO BAD WHEN YOU STAND IN FRONT OF YOUR AMP....BUT OUT FRONT THE BASS GUITAR AND THE DRUMMERS CYMBALS WILL OBLITERATE YOUR SOUND!
IF YOU COULD STAND OUT FRONT AND HEAR IT IT WOULD SOUND WEAK AND TINNY
BRAND NEW AND NFG
We all get great pedals online. Some of us do not have an option,some of us can't afford the stores price...and of course there is the convenience of it.
But sooner or later we will get an NFG pedal and need it replaced.
So I will keep a list of the HEROES that come to are rescue.
IN MY OPINION GETTING A NFG PEDAL AND GETTING IT REPLACED IN A TIMELY FASHION MAKES THAT STORE BETTER THEN ONE THAT NEVER SENDS ME A BAD PEDAL...BECAUSE I KNOW CAN BUY FROM THEM IN CONFIDENCE THAT THEY ACTUALLY CARE ABOUT THEIR CUSTOMERS.
So I am starting a list of the HEROES in the STOMP BOX STORES.
AXE AND YOU SHALL RECIEVE Our HERO here is.... SCOTT HAGER
I got a wonky volume knob on my Rainger fuzz. I got a personal letter from Scott apologizing for my troubles. Not a business letter..no formal form letter!
My return pedal arrived on a Tuesday...and my replacement pedal was smiling back at me on my board on Friday! COOL!!! That was fast.
I got a nice a pack of 10-46 strings...my prefered gauge and on of those nice little tuners that clamp on the headstock.
So take some time and check out his sight. It has a lot of the popular stuff but best of all he has the very cool unique and hard to find stuff. I could not find any pedals overpriced. Some of the unique stuff was priced quite cheap.
This was Wampler's biggest selling pedal. Wampler himself says it is not a Plexi but a JMC 800. I own one...so trust me..it is not a distortion either but an overdrive. I would not wish to do a 'real' solo on it.
After a few fruitful years the pedal's sales have tanked.. Why...well they now have ..the Pinnacle..the Euphoria... and the Sovereign.
These pedals are voiced to do the Van Halen thing....which means modern Metal voicing.
The Sovereign...is in all fairness a very good pedal. It seems to be based on the Plextortion/JCM 800...and then given the flexibility to go 'Modern' with it.
But I digress...today is all about the Plextortion. Well it was not so popular without a reason..it has a meaty rich JCM 800 type sound. It is very responsive and harmonically rich. It is very tight sounding and easy to control...as compared to the JHS Angry Charlie assortment of pedals...that are fatter and ready to take off ...so hold on tight.This pedal is great to use to back up a vocal...a nice balance of great tone but it never pushes the vocal aside.
So...it only recently 'passed away'...so prices are all over the map.Some dealers are asking the usual
$199.00 USD to $240.00 USD price figuring it will take time to get around that it is defunct. Others want $400.00 USD ...and already pushing..."last chance to get a classic"...LOL
Still others are dumping them...I got mine for $138.00USD
It is quickly becoming a favourite...I like how it can take command on an opening riff..yet slide behind the vocals without smothering them on the verse .The sustain is good...the sound rich ...with a full and reasonably tight low end.
Give it a listen...and if you love it...just keep on top of the prices...at $138.00 USD it it is just a small splurge.
Am I crazy to buy a defunct pedal?
Keep in mind that the original Tube Screamer is a defunct pedal.
Those that already owned them could not wait to sell them cheap to get some pedal that we now think is a piece of crap. We now think that those that dumped their ts808 must have been mad!
I've had the pedal for some time...I have the JHS @ which is much heavier sounding. I find taking Wampler in the opposite direct is magic for some tunes .I keep the bass down to the level of the mids and push up the highs. I switch the vintage /modern switch... to modern. It give a faux EVH sound. It is great on riffs. the harmonics leap off the notes and the whole sound cuts with a razor's edge authority.
It all started when Bill Finnegan was told by the sound man to turn down.To 4!!!! Bill's Fender Twin sounded like crap on 4 but great on 7. The short story is he first looked for a pedal...to ad back 'that sound' The ts 808 was the best but not good enough for Bill.
Bill would build one!!!
He spent a couple of years with an MIT grad he new. That got it started but not 'there'. He then found another MIT guy Fred Fenning...he had zero interest in music. So it was designed by Fred doing... and Bill saying yes...or more often NO!
So eventually they got a good one.
< Bill at his Apt
Bill had made 8000 pedals all hand made on a card table in his apartment..doing a 60 hour week and being back ordered by 14 plus weeks...and at $392.00...was still making squat....
Bill said goodbye. THE LEGEND BEGAN.
Fred & Bill's Klon
So after a long absence old Bill and Fred were pulled out of retirement
Yes with 2 years and a few bucks to see them through...they got an exact clone of the original.
Well...sound wise it is!!! Nearly?
The KLON KTR $270.00-$500.00 USD
or more? A few new ones floating around
but most are used.
Bill does have a sense of humour...or maybe not.
After awhile things went pear shaped...and Bill was gone again.
But no! After a kisses and make up....Bill was back to help create the Archer...a nice compact version that does not take up to much real estate on your board.
Bill claims all versions of his pedals sound the same in spite of the hype and myth of the first Klon. He claims what few changes there have been made were for protection of the circuit...and never were part of the audio circuit.
The J Rockett Audio Designs Archer ....Current Price $186.00 USD
Having listen extensively to both the Archer and the Klon...
I find the Klon to be a bit fuller..with softer mids and the Archer tighter with more mids...The KTR
is not quite as tight..but the mids are much the same as the Archer.
In an average room in the real world...that 'bit' would be negligible to the extreme !!!
But if you listen long enough the original has an almost acoustic quality and it's fullness becomes more apparent.
The original Klon is definitely the best.
Ok...next Bill with his 2 Klons & a KTR...the differences seem to be inconsequential.
Occasionally I felt I heard a tiny 'growl' on the gold one with the Les Paul...with the Strat...they all sounded exactly the same.
So as of July product is generally available..and the ...Current Price $269.00 USD So...Bill wins! A medium size unit...buffered or by pass...sounding 99% like the Centaur!! APOLOGIES:
I recently met someone I do business with that went very much past basic courtesy to help me out.
A case of it is a small world. I told my new found friend about my Blog and he saw it and as he knows a lot about the Klon he set me straight.
He is a good friend of Bill Finnegan . He said Bill is a great and generous guy that is often too trusting. In short he really did get jerked around by those out to simply cash in on his knowledge.
The reason there is a difference in sound between the Archer and the Klon is that they dismissed him before he could lay claim to his design. They thought they had it nailed. There is a key part that they have substituted for the correct part. They even have randomly used different substitutes. But claim they have sourced and bought the original part.
But...knowing this gives complete cred to Bill's story. I was a total SHIT in poking fun of Bill in this story. So if he wants a kick at my butt. I have it coming.
Bottom line...only Bill.
..has evey detail of what makes a Klon a Klon....the last vid makes a strong argument that the Klon and KTR are virtually the same thing.
REVIEW JULY SNAMM'16
HE'S BACK...Bill is back....in business with revised KTR and news of a new KLON booster pedal He even says that next week he will have a site up...a home made one by the sound of it with a list of dealers.
SOOOO.....you have to check out this...it is a MUST
WHAT DOES IT DO?
The point of it was to add back the harmonics and a very mildly distorted edge that is lost when you can not push an amp to the very edge of break up. In short without turning your amp up it will sound like you did. For example a Fender Twin Reverb on 4 with this pedal sounds identical to turning the amp up to 7 without the pedal.
This has problems in many ways...all amps are different...and the 'sweet spot' on the pedal may be too quiet or too loud regardless of it allowing lower volumes. This pedal could soon disappear as more musicians are running amps clean and wanting a pedal that creates the whole sound... self contained in a pedal. The Overdrive Preamp...concept could soon make the pedal redundant.
Klon pedals have an incredible warmth..and a very smooth singing quality when put through a clean amp. I suspect if stacked with an aggressive overdrive it would fatten and smooth off any overly rough edges. In short it is thing onto itself. It does not have to be useful only using it to give your amp a kick. If set quite low it turns an average amps clean sound into $3000.00 gourmet amps clean sound. And that is alone worth a couple of hundred .
A mature look at the the Klon's...and a 'take no prisoners' vid.
RIGHT OFF I CAN TELL YOU THE CLONES TEND TO BE TIGHTER...OR MORE MIDDY OR HAVE MORE DISTORTION. ELECTRO-HARMONIX SOUL FOOD
Just a tad bit harsher with less definition but quite usable...and $100.00 cheaper.
This has been a runaway success for EH.
Current Price
$79.00 USD
ARC EFFECTS
Many claim this is the one to beat..there are even Klon owners who bought one to take to the gig.
No one wants a real Klon sitting on the floor during a break. LOL
There seems to be a new Klon clone every week...LOL...but the only one that gets the buzz on the chat sites is the ARC.
Except for the 4 pedals that Bill Finnegan was involved with...this is the best I have heard.
at...$200.00 USD you be the judge.
MOGOO KLON CENTAUR
Yes..another Mogoo clone...
they claim to use the exact circuit. BUT...key
parts in the original were covered in epoxy...so expect a similar sound at best.
THIS is the only vid.....and it is sh@t
Current Price $65.00 USD
PROTAITONE KLON CENTAUR
Oddly enough if you buy it as a kit it looks more authentic. The leaping Mustang just doesn't cut it.
Current Price $68.00 USD
Yes they do call it a Klon Centaur...there are no vids. I have dealt with this company...they are self contained...only the owner speaks..some English. A nice guy...but he really can't understand half of what I say.
UPDATE:this is just a recent colour choice...note the correct Centaur is used instead of the plastering goofy horse graphic.
The company now refers to the pedal as the K Drive
They specialize in pedal kits and Loop switchers.
$45.00 USD for a kit.
If you need a loop switcher...check them out. BUT ....
GOT-CHA
One side effect of a Klon...is it tends to define every note. Fret rattle string noise and any minor flubs stand out. So it forces you to really clean up your playing.
In short...it is a special pedal..
So...if you really 'NEED' one...get the best you can afford.
It is a great musical tool.
I say 'NEED"...because for most of us some thing with a bit more crunch like an ts808 is about minimum.
In my world the Exotic BB preamp or Joyo Orange Burst...a Fender sounding overdrive is about as clean as I get. But as a pedal that I can stack...mmmm maybe there is something to it. lol
THE SAME ONLY DIFFERENT or "ME TOO!" PEDALS
KING OF TONE
This pedal has a legion of followers it is made by Analog Man and there is a one and half year waiting list.
I truly think those that have owned the pedal for up to 10 years have no idea of it even having anything to do with a KLON.
I myself have wanted one for some time and with the hours and hours I have listened I never once saw a connection. Why? Simple at very low distortion it does have an uncanny similarity. Even stanger...to my ears it sounds a little better LOL
So...most of you know that every pedal has sweet spot...usually just a bit left or right of 12o'clock on the gain knob...turning the unit back to 8 o'clock and giving it a very careful listen other then to check out the range between 10 and 2 when you first get it ...is not typical.
Most of those that buy a KOT are getting it to be used at a much higher setting then the KLON even
produces. Myself included.
The KOT sells for up to a thousand dollars or more used. Go figure LOL?
Recently Analog Man have had an accurate same spec...hand made version made for them in from China...They are called The Prince of Tone and sell for $138.00 and are just a very tiny, tiny bit thinner sounding.
Because of the pent up demand...both the KOT and the POT are bought by many with the only intent to put it on E bay and quickly make a nice big profit.
So...to try and curb this the new Prince is virtually raffled off. It works like this...every Wednesday...you can put in an order. But...like a slot machine...you get a "try Again" or you get thru with your order. LOL...
OK...my whole point is ...that these are serious pedals...not 'Me Too's' made to cash in on the clone.
So check out the vid...it really is quite uncanny as I really think the similarity is a coincidence.
After the whole comparison I personally am cured. With 10 overdrives on my board the only ones distinct but not on my board were a KLON and a King of Tone.
The KOT at low volumes you get a decent KLON sound...better still the KOT is to my ears is warmer...and at a higher gain I get a whole new pedal. So...I will get the the Prince of Tone ...at $138.00 USD...I can't loose.
Ok....for the record I won the lottery...lol
I have a POT on the way.
LOVE PEDAL KALAMAZOO
There are many many more Gourmet brands that make some variation of it. Love pedals do the Kalamazoo.
It has a sound between a Klon and Tube Screamer. At $225.00 USD...it is a non starter.
Well just when I was going to close this Post for good...not one but 2 little Klon gems showed up...or maybe just one....with 2 paint jobs...LOL
MOVALL FURY MINOTAUR.....or
TONE CITY T9 BAD HORSE
Tone City was started by J. Wong who has designed most of the best Chinese clones...like those by Mooer. He wished to have a free hand in making higher quality more accurate renditions of all the best pedals out there. Add to that to have them hand made as well.
If you are a small company in China...the handmade thing costs a bit more...but going into machine production costs a lot of money. Caline's Sand Storm pedal is a case in point. It is going for $25.00 USD...but they cranked out 1000 of them.
I know that in Britain the Tone City stuff is sold to bricks and mortar stores...and the product has a 2 year replacement warranty. You do not replace a serious handmade pedal...it is designed to be serviced.
The pedal is competitively priced. But if it was machine produced I suspect it could sell for half the price and be as good.
WHY???
Some of this handmade stuff is a bit misleading...it can very easily be a human assembly line with very long tables each assembler soldering their one or 2 pieces into a printed circuit board. It is not one guy doing point to point wiring with separate little pieces of wire.
My point is...that kind of assembly will not make it better then one of Caline's 1000 Sand Storms.
I would call this pedal at least a marginal success. it is definitely in the Klon family and has that familiar mid range boost.
There are a few pedals that are damn close at the $200.00 plus point. They are just as clean but not as full...or as rich. They are damn close. This would be included with them but it is just a bit dirty.
In a tune this could pass for a Klon....the Soul Food can not...and it is even cheaper!
Priced at $64.00 USD
it is well worth giving it a listen.
THE WINNER IS
The KTR is the replacement for the original Klon ...unless you own a vintage single channel amp and wish to use a Klon pedal to act as a booster...which is what the original Klon was designed in the first place to be used for then why buy it???
If like me it is just a nice extra OD to have as an option to use on your board you will have to be rich or nuts to not choose the Bad Horse.
The Movall Fury Minotaur MM-09 Same pedal... $72.00 USD
J. Wong is credited with both
though I think Movall
came first. J. Wong is not likely to freelance now that he has his own company...Tone City
The Minotaur used to be reasonably easy to
find. It was on eBay and Amazon and it showed up on AliExpress...often with bit of a discount.
But now their are only a few of the online
Gourmet Pedal sites that stock it.
I have no idea of the politics...but either it is trying to act
more serious...or it is being phased out.
I suspect that J. Wong was it's prime or
maybe even only designer.
OK...back to the real world.
So how does it really sound....well it does not have that clear transparent and uncanny definition that the Klon...or KTR...have...it is not an Archer or an ARC either.
BUT it has much more so then the Soul Food pedal. So if you see this as more of a secondary pedal...or you want to use the famous fat round mid thing that a Klon can do to stack and fatten up a more aggressive OD...then this is perfect.
Also keep in mind this is so damn this is so damn close on a tune with a band..no one could tell.
I have 12 OD's and the only thing missing is a Vox amp style OD and a Klon. So...with none of my overdrives being over used...lol....and room on my board being less then generous...I am trying to see if I can squeeze one of these in.
With a a nice balance of size...price and sound....this is a great choice.
NOTE: There are only 2 dealers in North America. Music Express Canada is the only one even displaying either pedal. Amazon...eBay and even Reverb do not have them. European and Brit dealers do not have a better price....so in North America...you have a choice of ONE...lol It appears they have at the moment...a monopoly...but the best price in the world...LOL
As to the Movall if you... like me just like the look of it and it is only a few bucks more...then give this some thought. My info is third hand but I've read that the company is a bit shy on service...where as Tone City is evidently busting it's butt to get a great rep.
I think I will get the Bad Name I mean Bad Horse.
Ok...this Klon thing just keeps on growing...and as it does I end up listen over...and over to Klons in all sizes and interpretation. Damned if it has not grown on me. Yes I did the unthinkable...I ordered a Bad Horse. So come back in a couple of weeks for yet another update
THE FINAL WORD...LOL
THE BAD HORSE/MINOTAUR IS CHEAPEST OF THEM ALL AND IT AT LEAST GIVES A NICE IMPERSONATION OF THE KLON. IT DEFINITELY HAS A PRO SOUND EVEN IF ARGUABLY A SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT SOUND. A NICE EXTRA IS THAT IT APPEARS TO BE BUILT LIKE A TANK.
IF IT WAS ANYTHING BUT A KLON YOU WOULD PROBABLY BUY ONE...IT WOULD BE A NO BRAINER.
HERE YOU GO....LISTEN TO THE WHOLE DAMN LOT OF THE HEAVY HITTERS ...PICK ONE ...OR JUST GRAB A CHEAP BAD HORSE!!!
...and yes...the real Klon sounds richer and fuller then the others...not by much...but it is.
NOTE: ...after doing the rounds of my competitor Blog sites...they are giving the Tone City BAD HORSE a 10 out of 10. In short if you must pick lint...get an original Klon...otherwise get the BAD HORSE.
I agree.
...everyone of the contenders worth choosing are on the first video ...except the Bad Horse/Minotaur and the real KLON which are on the next.
Note the amp on the first is very neutral but of a decent quality. The amp on the second is thin and scratchy. But you are comparing a pedal that can now fetch up to $3000.00 USD against a $64.00 pedal. I do not hear a $2036.00 USD difference!!! SO THE MINOTAUR/BAD HORSE IS NO JOKE...the damn little thing really holds it's own.
OK...in short the Soul Food is obviously more distorted then all the others...the ARC...the Archer and KTR are excellent and very close in their sound to each other.
Next...we already know that the real Klon sounds the best...yet the Minotaur/Bad Horse does not sound like some cheap amateur joke beside it. In fact it is frighteningly close.
THE WAY I SEE IT >>>THE KLON IS A 10 out of 10...the others contenders are a 9....and the bad horse is an 8.5.
But since in the real world you will not be buying a real KLON
SO...lets then say the best ones are a 10....that makes the BAD HORSE a 9.5
CONCLUSION....YOU WILL HAVE TO BUY A CLONE...HOW MUCH MONEY ARE YOU WILLING TO SPEND TO GET A .5 IMPROVEMENT OVER THE BAD HORSE...LOL
Today I took delivery of a Tone City Bad Horse...the first thing I noticed is that although it looks like a standard mini pedal...it easily weighs 3 times as much. the weight of it really feels substantial in your hand. It comes with a rubber pad for the base...and a velcro one too. No more tearing off pads or feet to get the velcro on. A really nice touch.
Well...how does it sound. I played around with it for a bit. As a distortion pedal ...well ok no big deal.
BUT!!!!
I set the gain at 1 o'clock...the tone wide open for full treble...and the volume at unity.
WOW...no noticeable distortion...but a clean sound that you have to hear to believe. I have only heard this good of a clean sound from Gourmet amps in the $2000.00 plus range.
I have 12 other great OD's..and ....I have never spent hours just playing a clean sound in my life.
Later I stacked that clean sound in front of a few overdrives...and it fatten them up big time.
Definitely a KEEPER....and a bargain at that!!!
So how does it stack up to a Klon???
Actually I don't care. LOL
I couldn't be happier. I have lots of OD's but nothing to go to clean.
As thrilled as I am...I would not want to have to pay the big bucks for this kind of sound.
So...for me...this gets 10 Out of 10.
RYRA 'THE KLONE'
Klon clone
Just when I thought it was safe. This one is so close to the original that not even the maker can tell the difference. If you do not believe me just ask him!
.........LOL
You can get either the classic gold one or the classic silver one...the difference is supltle but you can hear see it. The paint job!!!! Whoa!
Actually you can get any of a dozen paint jobs...lol.
MORE TO COME !!!
I quite love my Bad Horse...the only very disappointing feature is that it does not come in silver with red knobs...or is that in gold with red knobs.
Oh well!
It has been enough years in the waiting.
Yes ...2017 should bring a whole new choice of ...
Made in China $35.00 USD Klons.
You will see them here first.
So stay tuned.
JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT IT WAS SAFE LOL
So what did I want with the Klon. Actually I wanted that true sound of the Fender twin Reverb on 7.
LOL. The Klon sounds nothing like that!!!! It was designed to solve the problem of running a Twin on 4 and making it sound like on 7.
But along comes the BJF Bear Foot Model G+.
It claims to be a 50's Gibson Amp clone. Maybe ...maybe not.
The point is you can get a REAL amp sound giving you a sound not unlike the late 60's Fenders
Clean enough to transfer that tune you wrote on your Martin to an OD pedal.
Not only f. ing awsome but NO ONE DOES ANYTHING LIKE IT!!!
For me it makes the Klon sound like some esoteric junk!!!!
