Ehx make klones for $68

[rullywowr]

[jubal81]

OK, might as well get into it ...

There are differences going SMD. However, at such low voltages does it make a difference in what you hear?
Thick or thin film resistors? 1/10 watt resistors - more noise than larger package?
And then there's ceramic caps rather than film. Again, they have a noisier profile.

In an A/B test could you hear the difference? Maybe. Probably not much. However, these things are fodder for guitar forums, so they matter. Honestly, if I had my choice, I'd build my own with the betterest components I can get because that's how I roll. 

[jkokura]

At $68, this is not aimed at the TGP crowd, or even us. What we forget sometimes is that there is a worldwide market that doesn't give two shakes about the newest, latest, or greatest. There is a very small, less than %1, crowd who's ever owned 4 or more different overdrive pedals. Almost all guitarists I know buy pedals and keep them, or use them until they break. These people walk into stores, look at the pedals and say, "hey wow! that SD-1 is only $39 bucks? Let me try that!" Then they grab a random guitar (that is not their own), grab a couple beat up old cables (probably factory defects) and then plug into some solid state amp (that may be similar to what they own) and play for a minute or two. Then they buy that pedal, and will play it whenever and wherever they play.

There is a very, very small crowd of people, and I'm probably one of them, who have played or used more than 3 or 4 overdrives, and is knowledgable about the differences, sonically and electrically, between them. In my circumstance, I know exactly what a klon sounds like, and I use one at certain times. I also know what I do and don't like in many places, and for heaven's sake I have no idea why people like the Rat. But getting back on point.

Around the world, EHX is going to ship a very inexpensive overdrive, and nobody but a few people are going to understand it's a klone. To everyone else, it's just EHX releasing a batch of inexpensive overdrive pedals that they can choose over/beside a Boss or Joyo or Behringer or whathaveyou. They'll sell tonnes them, but very rarely will people be realizing they're buying a klone.

Jacob

[pedalman]

At $68, this is not aimed at the TGP crowd, or even us. What we forget sometimes is that there is a worldwide market that doesn't give two shakes about the newest, latest, or greatest. There is a very small, less than %1, crowd who's ever owned 4 or more different overdrive pedals. Almost all guitarists I know buy pedals and keep them, or use them until they break. These people walk into stores, look at the pedals and say, "hey wow! that SD-1 is only $39 bucks? Let me try that!" Then they grab a random guitar (that is not their own), grab a couple beat up old cables (probably factory defects) and then plug into some solid state amp (that may be similar to what they own) and play for a minute or two. Then they buy that pedal, and will play it whenever and wherever they play.

There is a very, very small crowd of people, and I'm probably one of them, who have played or used more than 3 or 4 overdrives, and is knowledgable about the differences, sonically and electrically, between them. In my circumstance, I know exactly what a klon sounds like, and I use one at certain times. I also know what I do and don't like in many places, and for heaven's sake I have no idea why people like the Rat. But getting back on point.

Around the world, EHX is going to ship a very inexpensive overdrive, and nobody but a few people are going to understand it's a klone. To everyone else, it's just EHX releasing a batch of inexpensive overdrive pedals that they can choose over/beside a Boss or Joyo or Behringer or whathaveyou. They'll sell tonnes them, but very rarely will people be realizing they're buying a klone.

Jacob

^^^ So very true. I once bought a RP100 and thought it was awesome, didn't know any better. Then somebody gave me a Boss flanger. Not the best flanger, but the best way I can describe it is like this

effect control on a multi-effect pedal = 2 slices of pizza
effect control on a real pedal = the rest of the pizza

Never looked at "to good to be true", "cheap", or "multi" ever again when it comes to pedals
Although now days we can really thank You Tube for saving us time and money

[gjcamann]

YAHOO!!
I can quit debugging my kingslayer and just buy one of these 

[pickdropper]

OK, might as well get into it ...

There are differences going SMD. However, at such low voltages does it make a difference in what you hear?
Thick or thin film resistors? 1/10 watt resistors - more noise than larger package?
And then there's ceramic caps rather than film. Again, they have a noisier profile.

In an A/B test could you hear the difference? Maybe. Probably not much. However, these things are fodder for guitar forums, so they matter. Honestly, if I had my choice, I'd build my own with the betterest components I can get because that's how I roll. 

I have no idea how they did it, but you can actually use SMT PPS (film) caps if you want to get funky.  And those are more expensive than standard film caps, so they have extra mojo.  :-)

I'd only bother with caps in the signal path, however.

[Kinki fuzz]

At $68, this is not aimed at the TGP crowd, or even us. What we forget sometimes is that there is a worldwide market that doesn't give two shakes about the newest, latest, or greatest. There is a very small, less than %1, crowd who's ever owned 4 or more different overdrive pedals. Almost all guitarists I know buy pedals and keep them, or use them until they break. These people walk into stores, look at the pedals and say, "hey wow! that SD-1 is only $39 bucks? Let me try that!" Then they grab a random guitar (that is not their own), grab a couple beat up old cables (probably factory defects) and then plug into some solid state amp (that may be similar to what they own) and play for a minute or two. Then they buy that pedal, and will play it whenever and wherever they play.

There is a very, very small crowd of people, and I'm probably one of them, who have played or used more than 3 or 4 overdrives, and is knowledgable about the differences, sonically and electrically, between them. In my circumstance, I know exactly what a klon sounds like, and I use one at certain times. I also know what I do and don't like in many places, and for heaven's sake I have no idea why people like the Rat. But getting back on point.

Around the world, EHX is going to ship a very inexpensive overdrive, and nobody but a few people are going to understand it's a klone. To everyone else, it's just EHX releasing a batch of inexpensive overdrive pedals that they can choose over/beside a Boss or Joyo or Behringer or whathaveyou. They'll sell tonnes them, but very rarely will people be realizing they're buying a klone.

Jacob

Fully agree in everything but your point about the Rat 

[culturejam]

Thick or thin film resistors? 1/10 watt resistors - more noise than larger package?
And then there's ceramic caps rather than film. Again, they have a noisier profile.

At 9V and low current, I don't think humans could hear the noise difference between 1/4-watt and 0805 or any other surface-mount package. The Johnson noise is the same regardless of the physical size, and excess noise is a function of voltage and resistive element type.

Ceramic caps do indeed tend to be more microphonic than other types, and the rated capacitance drops as you near the voltage rating limit. So there's that, but for pedals mostly it's a non-issue. The tolerance is pretty good on the SMD stuff, usually. That's my biggest issue with ceramic.

TL;DR: In pedal applications, between SMD and through-hole there is very little difference in audio output in the human hearing spectrum. But teh mojo is lacking. 

[jubal81]

TL;DR: In pedal applications, between SMD and through-hole there is very little difference in audio output in the human hearing spectrum. But teh mojo is lacking. 

True enough, but we all know the typical TGP poster has superhuman golden ears. I think there'll still be a market for Klones, maybe even more so because people might like the Soul Food and decide they need to 'upgrade.'

[midwayfair]

True enough, but we all know the typical TGP poster has superhuman golden ears.

Are these the same people that can hear 6" cable differences after a buffer and use power conditioning chords on their amps?

[culturejam]

True enough, but we all know the typical TGP poster has superhuman golden ears. I think there'll still be a market for Klones, maybe even more so because people might like the Soul Food and decide they need to 'upgrade.'

Absolutely. I wasn't arguing TGP, I was arguing reality. 

And I'm not saying that there isn't some sort of sonic difference, it's just that I don't believe the vast majority of players would be able to consistently pick out which was which (through-hole vs smd) in blind testing.

[jubal81]

From listening to the demo, it really does nail the Klon sound - dead on from what I can hear on Youtube. Anyone know why people call the Klon 'transparent?' I wouldn't in a million years think to describe it that way. Is it code for 'clean blend?'

[madbean]

I did not particularly like the demo. Could be the gear, or player. Dunno. Hopefully there will be some comparison video directly with the Klon or KTR.

[culturejam]

^^ I thought the demo sounded like shit, if we're speaking plainly. 

I've actually never played a Klon/Klone. I think it's partially because all of demos I've heard make it sound bad, and partially because I reject everything that is the Klon mystique. And if I want a sound that is "like your amp, but more of it", I'll either turn up the volume or add a boost up front.

I have been accused in the past of being a recalcitrant contrarian.

[pedalman]

Its the blue shirt contrasting on the strat. Go back to the forum while audio is playing (sounds better) LOL