Kingslayer II dark-sounding

[ahudelson]

In the first 1/3rd to 1/2 of the sweep of the dual-gang gain pot, the tone is definitely dark with the pedal engaged compared to the clean tone with the pedal disengaged.  Once the gain is turned up around 1/2 and beyond, the tone seems to brighten considerably and "matches" the clean tone.  This is in keeping the tone pot in a neutral 12 o'clock position.  Can anyone speak to this?  The pedal is otherwise phenomenal and performs as expected.

[AntKnee]

Did you use pcb mount pots on your build? Wiring them off-board can increase chance of a mistake there. Did you overheat the pot or mess the soldering when installing it?
Have you verified all your components are the correct value?
Post us a picture so we can have a look. Voltages may help, too.

[ahudelson]

I built 2 of these, and they are both identically dark as described.  I verified all components and used pcb mounted pots.  I think the soldering looks pretty good on both of them.  I'm attaching a pic of one of the builds.

[ahudelson]

Does anyone have any assistance to offer??

[midwayfair]

The klon circuit always sounds dark to me. Neutral is really closer to 3:00 on the tone control. I bump up the cutoff of the treble by reducing the 3.9nF cap to 3n3.

[madbean]

In this case I would recommend audio probing a couple of key points. Check pin1 of IC1A. It definitely should not be dark there no matter what the gain pot is set to. Now check lug2 of the Clean portion of the gain pot, then both sides of R11 (in both cases where your "dark" setting is at on the gain pot). You could modify some values in those sections to brighten it up, if you find either area to dull the tone up too much.

Possibly, it just doesn't work well stock with your setup. What kind of guitar and amp are you testing it with?

[ahudelson]

I will use the audioprobe as soon as I can get to it, thanks.  I have used this pedal with a single coil tele through Crate Palomino V16, same tele through Frenzel super deluxe - both inputs, an SSS strat through Gibson gold tone, same strat through 67 Bassman, a 70's SG through the same Gibson & Bassman.  All setups sound dark on the 1st 3rd of clean/dirty rotation of pot - before the dirty part starts to come on.  As soon as the dirty gain picks up, the tone brightens up considerably.  It's not just my ears, I had two other guitar players say the same thing - blind test.  I didn't tell them that's what I thought - they picked up on it.

[madbean]

I just realized I was looking at the sunking schematic when I made my suggestions but I think you get the areas I am discussing.

[ahudelson]

No worries.  I'm also switching the TLC274 to a TL072 as soon as the parts arrive.  I have the oscillation issue with the gain turned all the way down on both builds.  Do you think the TL072 will have any affect on the EQ?  Either way, I'm going to wait to make any value changes until after the IC swap.

[madbean]

Do you mean the TL074? It does sound a bit different but not in a bad way. Personally, I use the TLC2264 in the Kingslayer. I may have an extra for you if you are in the States. But, either is fine. The TLC272 is sometimes problematic due to running it a bit beyond its rails in this circuit. The 074 and 2264 do not have that problem.

[ahudelson]

I did mean TL074.  My apologies.  I wouldn't mind trying the TLC2264 as I'm in the States.  Lemme know and I can send you my address.  Thanks.

[ahudelson]

Could you help me understand a couple things?  Why did you change R11 from 1M to 422K from KS1 to KS2?  Also you deleted R9's 10k off the wiper of the dirt pot and changed it to a 2k coming off terminal 3 of dirt pot.  What did these mods accomplish?