KLON Drive Settings

Hi Stm113,

If you were here when Cliff was forced to make that decision, you'd probably understand. If I was him, I would have sent some visitors to the individual who caused all that pain, to ensure it stopped.

Thanks
Pauly
I was around when there were some people who were a pain. Some of them I really think were trying to help make the Axe FX II (at the time) the best it could be, they just maybe went a bad way about it.


I can see 2 sides of this conversation. I mean this is Cliffs project and clearly his passion so he should be The ultimate who says what’s in and not. But it’s also clear that he does listen to his customers and it’s clear there are some units he just doesn’t want to model or include.

In the end he’s given us the best modeling tool ever so we can chase tone to our hearts content so I am grateful.
 
Cliff would add it, but then he'd have to charge $5000-10000 for the drive block download. :)

I'm sure Cliff would echo Bill's words when he said "Kindly remember: the ridiculous hype that offends so many is not of my making." I've used the KTR, which Bill Finnegan (the Klon creator) says sounds exactly like the original. It sounded good, and I liked it. I sold it and bought a RYRA Klone at less than half the KTR's selling price, and it sounds the same to me. I'm not alone in that opinion. If you really want to make a block to simulate it, you're going to need a reference to AB it with. Failing that, you're totally shooting in the dark. Same holds true for getting a block tweaked by someone else (including Cliff, for that matter). Unless you know what a Klon sounds like in your setup, you've got nothing to compare it to and will have no idea if it sounds like a Klon, KTR, or Klone or something totally different.
 
Cliff is like that, not saying it’s a bad or a good thing, I personally think it’s a bit of both. But there are some things he seems dead set against.

1- Klon
2-HM2
3-Separate Poweramp Models
4-Rockman
5-Ada MP1

There are others but these are the ones I recall most through the years.
There is always the chance that there are legal issues... did some litigation happy company get ahold of the Klon rights?

It's funny how I never heard about a Klon until I saw it in this forum and yet I'm GAS'Sing for one too. I don't even know what it is. Is it like Bose or Dyson? Innovation through marketing?
 
There is always the chance that there are legal issues... did some litigation happy company get ahold of the Klon rights?

It's funny how I never heard about a Klon until I saw it in this forum and yet I'm GAS'Sing for one too. I don't even know what it is. Is it like Bose or Dyson? Innovation through marketing?
FWIW, my Dyson does a great job, is easy to use in multiple configurations, and has lasted multiple decades when other brands I've had just die. Sure, they do market their stuff, but the product is good.
 
There is always the chance that there are legal issues... did some litigation happy company get ahold of the Klon rights?

It's funny how I never heard about a Klon until I saw it in this forum and yet I'm GAS'Sing for one too. I don't even know what it is. Is it like Bose or Dyson? Innovation through marketing?

They’re worth trying out. Mine is a derivative, the Tumnus Deluxe. Don’t think any lawyers are involved because there are plenty of clones out there. Pete Thorn did a review and demo of the Tumnus, which is why I bought one. It’s one of the few I’m keeping.
 
I had several real Klons including Gold with Horsie, and Silver with Horsie (see pix) - here are my observations.

1. the clones never really sounded like the real Klons (at least to me)
2. Most people do not know how to use a Klon

When I got my first Klon, I called Bill Finnegan (this is when you were able to order direct from the builder) and we chatted as to the best way to use his pedal. He told me that the pedal was designed to push an amp that was already cooking. For me, the best option in the Axe-Fx to get close to a Klon is actually the TS OD which is my favorite go-to pedal with everything in Axe.



 

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I had several real Klons including Gold with Horsie, and Silver with Horsie (see pix) - here are my observations.

1. the clones never really sounded like the real Klons (at least to me)
2. Most people do not know how to use a Klon

When I got my first Klon, I called Bill Finnegan (this is when you were able to order direct from the builder) and we chatted as to the best way to use his pedal. He told me that the pedal was designed to push an amp that was already cooking. For me, the best option in the Axe-Fx to get close to a Klon is actually the TS OD which is my favorite pedal go-to pedal with everything in Axe.




That’s really interesting. I’d never ever heard of Klon until the Axe forum. Listening to the first video, I started hearing the ‘magic’ - it was indeed very nice. But then in the second I really couldn’t pick much of a difference! Listening to it now just as audio as I type and can’t tell when he switches. I am listening on a phone though…
 
That’s really interesting. I’d never ever heard of Klon until the Axe forum. Listening to the first video, I started hearing the ‘magic’ - it was indeed very nice. But then in the second I really couldn’t pick much of a difference! Listening to it now just as audio as I type and can’t tell when he switches. I am listening on a phone though…
The key here is that both the Klon (real one) and the tube screamer boost the mids -- however, the Klon does not drop the low end as much as the TS -- something that you can easily tweak in the fractal (and I do to taste/guitar/patch, etc). In the mix of a full band, it is really hard to tell them apart.
My favorite way of using the Klon was as a boost pedal. Using the Klon as a boost (no gain) gives you a wonderful clean (but not sterile) forceful tone. I was able to achieve a similar effect with an RC Boost pedal. I have not been able to replicate that effect yet on the Axe. To be honest -- have not put much effort into it ...LOL
 
The key here is that both the Klon (real one) and the tube screamer boost the mids -- however, the Klon does not drop the low end as much as the TS -- something that you can easily tweak in the fractal (and I do to taste/guitar/patch, etc). In the mix of a full band, it is really hard to tell them apart.
My favorite way of using the Klon was as a boost pedal. Using the Klon as a boost (no gain) gives you a wonderful clean (but not sterile) forceful tone. I was able to achieve a similar effect with an RC Boost pedal. I have not been able to replicate that effect yet on the Axe. To be honest -- have not put much effort into it ...LOL
The RCB is my favorite boost in the box!
 
I had several real Klons including Gold with Horsie, and Silver with Horsie (see pix) - here are my observations.

1. the clones never really sounded like the real Klons (at least to me)
2. Most people do not know how to use a Klon

When I got my first Klon, I called Bill Finnegan (this is when you were able to order direct from the builder) and we chatted as to the best way to use his pedal. He told me that the pedal was designed to push an amp that was already cooking. For me, the best option in the Axe-Fx to get close to a Klon is actually the TS OD which is my favorite go-to pedal with everything in Axe.




I was told by a major musician many many years ago to buy a Klon, back when they cost NOTHING.

Ignored that cause it seemed like a boring pedal.

This all being said

Theres saving you a few thousand.
 
Not to necro-bump this but I was fortunate enough to win a Mythic Overdrive. I never win things so I want to keep it. I was curious about trying to incorporate it into my FM9 rig as an “always on” kind of thing. My current rig is L6 Relay Wireless->Digitech Whammy->Digitech Drop-> FM9.

I haven’t plugged in the pedal yet, it just came today and I am recovering from surgery but I’ve heard it said about this pedal that it can add a certain something even when you’re not trying to use it as a boost or a gain device.
 
Not to necro-bump this but I was fortunate enough to win a Mythic Overdrive. I never win things so I want to keep it. I was curious about trying to incorporate it into my FM9 rig as an “always on” kind of thing. My current rig is L6 Relay Wireless->Digitech Whammy->Digitech Drop-> FM9.

I haven’t plugged in the pedal yet, it just came today and I am recovering from surgery but I’ve heard it said about this pedal that it can add a certain something even when you’re not trying to use it as a boost or a gain device.
If you're asking where to put the overdrive, I'd just put it between the Drop and the FM9. Alternatively, you could put it in an input/output loop (in/out 3 for example) and then you can put it wherever you want in your signal chain per preset.
 
If you're asking where to put the overdrive, I'd just put it between the Drop and the FM9. Alternatively, you could put it in an input/output loop (in/out 3 for example) and then you can put it wherever you want in your signal chain per preset.
I’ve thought about the loop that way I can put it anywhere in the chain like you said but also I can remove it from the chain without having to stomp on it.
 
I have always been amazed with guitar players fascination with drive, boost, and distortion pedals...to me anytime you are bypasing or augmenting the amplifier's pre-amp circuit with a drive pedal, you are adding colors that always seemed to my ears to take away from the pure character of the amplfier, but I also understand that if you had a 100 watt Marshall, Hiwatt, Rivera, Fender, etc. that you didn't want to crank up to insane volume levels in order to achieve overdrive and sustain made it become necessary.
That's why I always had a Mesa Boogie, because of the 4-5 pre-amp tube circuits with the lead master and lead drive controls you could dial up whatever overdriven tone you wanted and is also what I would like to see on the FM9. To me any amp that requires a drive pedal is perplexing but I get it...there are legions of fantastic players that swear by them.
It is also fascinating to me that many "purist" tube amplifier players that vow to never use a modeler and continue to trash talk Fractal and Kemper's also use drive and boost pedals with their amplifiers which are the original modelers truth be told.
 
It is also fascinating to me that many "purist" tube amplifier players that vow to never use a modeler and continue to trash talk Fractal and Kemper's also use drive and boost pedals with their amplifiers which are the original modelers truth be told.

I was a purist, making my own amps and proud to say the cable was my only effect. But then I needed tonal variety so I started in on the pedals. So then I’m running through all kinds of circuitry both analog and digital and tubes. And that’s what brought me to FAS. Now it’s all digital.
 
I have always been amazed with guitar players fascination with drive, boost, and distortion pedals...to me anytime you are bypasing or augmenting the amplifier's pre-amp circuit with a drive pedal, you are adding colors that always seemed to my ears to take away from the pure character of the amplfier, but I also understand that if you had a 100 watt Marshall, Hiwatt, Rivera, Fender, etc. that you didn't want to crank up to insane volume levels in order to achieve overdrive and sustain made it become necessary.
That's why I always had a Mesa Boogie, because of the 4-5 pre-amp tube circuits with the lead master and lead drive controls you could dial up whatever overdriven tone you wanted and is also what I would like to see on the FM9. To me any amp that requires a drive pedal is perplexing but I get it...there are legions of fantastic players that swear by them.
It is also fascinating to me that many "purist" tube amplifier players that vow to never use a modeler and continue to trash talk Fractal and Kemper's also use drive and boost pedals with their amplifiers which are the original modelers truth be told.
Some of the recorded tones we grew up with come from amps + pedals.
 
I have always been amazed with guitar players fascination with drive, boost, and distortion pedals...to me anytime you are bypasing or augmenting the amplifier's pre-amp circuit with a drive pedal, you are adding colors that always seemed to my ears to take away from the pure character of the amplfier, but I also understand that if you had a 100 watt Marshall, Hiwatt, Rivera, Fender, etc. that you didn't want to crank up to insane volume levels in order to achieve overdrive and sustain made it become necessary.
That's why I always had a Mesa Boogie, because of the 4-5 pre-amp tube circuits with the lead master and lead drive controls you could dial up whatever overdriven tone you wanted and is also what I would like to see on the FM9. To me any amp that requires a drive pedal is perplexing but I get it...there are legions of fantastic players that swear by them.
It is also fascinating to me that many "purist" tube amplifier players that vow to never use a modeler and continue to trash talk Fractal and Kemper's also use drive and boost pedals with their amplifiers which are the original modelers truth be told.
And many of us enjoy the added color...

Everyone has their own preferences and tastes.
 
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