Klon Klone Shootout - winner is.... (GrindCustoms content)

[PhiloB]

So a guy in town bought 8 Klons and was doing a Shootout.  He had bought a GrindCustoms build off CL (I had built one for an acquaintance who decided to get out of music and sold off all his gear).
So, he advertised it on Facebook and I decided to attend.  I was the only one to attend:)
He had a KTR, Mythical Od, Arc Effects, Soul Food, JHS Soul Food, Hinson Klon, Grind Customs and one other I can't remember currently.
I sat at the back of the room and took notes as he played each one with similar settings (originally we went through all 8 set as a relatively clean boost through a Morgan amp).
I picked 1 and 8 as top.  They were both quite unique from the rest of the pack.  Ultimately 8 won out because I preferred the break up a little better.
Turns out I picked the GrindCustoms Chimarae as best sounding.  KTR was second with the rest paleing in comparison.
All this really means is that:
1. I prefer Rej's Od circuit
2.  There is someone out there willing to buy 8 Klon Klones!
That it might be of interest to some.

BTW, I used the I go off the BYOC thread to pick components and values for the Chimaera.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[cooder]

Woohoo high noon in Klon country....

Could you post the link to the thread where you got the values for your Chimera from or a BOM here as I'm not sure what BYOC thread you're talking about, cheers.
I'm just putting a Chimera together, so would be keen to hear what differences to Rej's standard BOM you had there.
Many thanks!

[PhiloB]

Man, I just did a search on my phone and couldn't find it.  I'll look later this evening.
I believe I went with a d9e germanium diode.  There were a couple of resistor value changes as well. 
I believe the forum thread I referenced had to do with an error in the original Klon Schematic that most people referenced. 
Not sure if 'they' ever worked out the 'correct' values but I was happy with my results.  Hopefully I took notes and can look it up in my notebook at home tonight.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[jubal81]

+1
I greatly prefer the BYOC Silver Pony circuit.

[mremic01]

I never understood the point of these shootouts. Do people who buy all these klones expect them to sound like the Centaur, or are they looking for something that surpasses it? What are we supposed to get out of them?

There's so much BS on The Gear Page about how different klones sound different from each other, but almost all of them are the same circuit. Even many of the PCBs are similarly layed out. A big factor is going to be the clipping diodes.

I used to think matching the gangs on the gain pot mattered, but I've done a few with separate 100k pots, and the settings have to be pretty extreme to hear much of a difference. I've also tried comparing builds with measured gangs that I knew had more resistance on one side than the other and vice versa. I could get them to sound identical with careful selection of diodes. I A/B every one of my klones against my Centaur, and I've found that most of the differences I thought I could hear go away when I can close my eyes and not know which pedal I'm playing through. 

The PCB is always a source of parasitic capacitance, but I can get my Sunking builds sounding just like my repro Centaur PCB builds with careful diode selection.

With the clippers, I've found they tend to fall into two camps. One is sharper and cuts better. These sound like my Centaur and KTR. The other sound broader and bigger, but not as cutting. I really like that sound, but it's noticeably different from the Centaur when you run it against a klone with these diodes in an A/B looper. Yeah, there may be more subtle difference between individual diode pairs, but the majority seem to fall into either the Klon-like or broader-than-Klon catergories.

By the way, what ever happened to that Klone Science thread? The one with the scopes 'n stuff.

[PhiloB]

The shoot out wasn't endorsed by me;) just thought I'd attend seeing as it had one I'd put together.  This guy spent a lot of $ getting these pedals together.  Honestly, I'm not sure what motivated him.  He's selling all but 2 when he's done...so he says.
It's far from a magical od.  That said, I do use one on my board as an always on clean boost with my single coil strat and P90 tele thinline.  Sounds good to me;)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[jimilee]

Someone needs to build a King of Klons I think.

[jubal81]

Someone needs to build a King of Klons I think.

I'm going to get around to it someday. I really need two channels.

[mremic01]

Someone needs to build a King of Klons I think.

I'm going to get around to it someday. I really need two channels.

Don't forget to build one channel on a smaller, boutiquer card table than the other. Best of both worlds. And maybe put the goop on a switch.

[selfdestroyer]

By themselves they are just card tables... but joind... they become the King of Card Tables!

Cody

[mremic01]

By themselves they are just card tables... but joind... they become the King of Card Tables!

Cody

What if you build the King of Card Tables on a card table. That's on top of another card table.

It's card tables all the way down.

[jimilee]

Hell yeah! One side is a card table and the other side is 3 card tables.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk