New Non-BOSS Pedals

[Pepe]

I have no doubts about that! Aria has had very good pedals from the '70s until the mid-'90s - and this black series is in many ways superior to the pedal series that came before.

[chromandre]

I tried a klon the other day and I liked it I guess I never imagined anything could hold its own against an OD-3 so I'll get one as cheap as possible, the real test is at band volume.

[bigtone23]

I tried a klon the other day and I liked it I guess I never imagined anything could hold its own against an OD-3 so I'll get one as cheap as possible, the real test is at band volume.

Yeah, I got on the Klon(e) thing a little later than most. They are really cool, but I do prefer the OD3 as a standalone drive and the Klon for pushing a crunchy amp or getting those edge of breakup tones.
There seems to be a couple types of Klon, the original recipe and a sort of 'fat' version. The fat just has a touch more low end to them and I like them better for standalone drives. For example, the Tumnus is original, the Tumnus Deluxe is fat. Soul Food is original recipe.

I have a JHS Notaklon, which is the original recipe with a switchable Shamrock mode (which adds gain and mids), highly recommended Klone. It's really fantastic for the price, and it takes less than 15 minutes to assemble it. It has a nice, focused clarity to it. Get it on sale and it's under $100. The catch is the footprint, not as big as an original Klon, but not compact, either.

Also have an Idiotbox Han-Taun, which is a fat version, there is just a touch less mids and a touch more low end to it. Also fantastic, if you catch a sale, they can be had for around $100ish. I got mine on a Labor Day sale. Typical sized footprint.

My expensive one is an Origin Halcyon Gold, it's really versatile, has switchable original and fat EQ, an adjustable clean level knob and an adaptive feature for how the cleans sound relative to your volume knob setting. Mine was $150 used and has a typical footprint.

There are lots of sub $100 ones out there. Not sure how they stack up, as I have only played name brand Klones (Wampler, J Rockett, EHX Soul Food).

[laurie]

On the screen-print on the Klon KTR PCB "These are essential" is written next to the diodes. The Klones, especially the DIY kits, often come with way out of spec terrible diodes.

See my notes on my Klone here:
http://www.bossareaforum.com/Forum/view ... 859&p=9318

I also built one for The_Doc with the hand selected diodes - he may be able to weigh in with his thoughts too.