Pedal Builder REACTS: Real Analogman King of Tone vs King of Clone by 68 Pedals

[@analogspam]

The diodes you tested are only used for distortion mode, which is rarely used. it’s the yellow diodes that are important to the normal overdrive sound. people hate superbright LEDs blinding them, so we spend extra time making them look good when the pedal is on. hope that helps!

[@TheToneGeek]

Thanks man! Big fan of your work and thank you for the thoughtful reply. I'll pin your comment for others to see as well. 🤙🏻

[@khoerde9897]

Panasonic MA856 diodes...rare item...

[@MC-kw7kb]

while waiting for my name to come up in the waiting list, I have bought this pedal, this helps me decide on the additional mods that I will pick once that I get the chance to buy the official KOT. I hope a mod similar to JHS 4 star mod becomes available from Mike himself.

[@JohnShalamskas]

The LED diffusion helps off-axis brightness and reduces the blinding spot directly above the pedal. It's a nice touch.

[@JohnShalamskas]

@@khoerde9897 1N4148 is a good replacement.

[@johnallen8248]

Sanding the LEDs is key to the King of Tone's tone.

[@fixedgear37]

Funny how clones are just fine when they're expensive and assembled by a boutique builder but they are evil and terrible when they're mass produced. The whole "boutique" pedal market was founded by and is sustained by cloning and using circuits designed by other companies. Now it's "trade dress" we get sad about too.. But as we all know, multiple initials in Sharpie on the inside is what makes a pedal sound the best

[@elvisgeardemos]

People get upset about a pedal clone but nobody cares about the Fluke 87 clone. Nice vid!

[@TheToneGeek]

Haha!! Fair point made LMAO

[@ramencurry6672]

From my experience clones are fine especially if it’s from a reputable company that’s been in business for many years. Most big brand name or boutique pedals don’t use special rare expensive components so it’s easy to create a similar design without sacrificing quality

[@davidstoff]

hi guys u prefer KOT ly-rock or KOT 68 pedals? PLEASE i need your experience!!!

[@vinicioserafini5929]

I loved this and the other video you made about it. I'm in the KOT waiting list since last year, so I made up my mind and bought a 68 Pedals one in the meantime. I'm glad 68 Pedals don't actually counterfeit Analogman's logo and the King of Tone name, I looked at the LY as well, but the counterfeit writings were a dealbreaker.

[@emdblues]

Do you still have it/use it? How does it holds up?

[@vinicioserafini5929]

@@emdblues yes, never had an issue with it. Sounds awesome and it's well build

[@mememememe7147]

Great job thanks

[@levijessegonzalez3629]

holy shit they're identical!

[@TheToneGeek]

:-)

[@paullee9125]

Will you be giving a quick update on the comparison of the yellow diodes for the overdrive sound (re: analog mikes comment?) Thanks for the interesting analysis!

[@TheCleaner6969]

20% tolerances are a large difference. I use a lot of 5% & 1% it's different & the sound is different. Bottom line is there really is no big secret & people that don't know the basics of electronic components just don't understand anything can be replicated but people hear with their eyes & that will never change. We have people matching components today when back in the day they built a circuit around a component & you had 20% tolerances hence making people say this was better then this one.

[@sejuyz]

are you trying to say this is a poor clone?

[@TheCleaner6969]

@@sejuyzNo

[@barry_hue1552]

Do you think that you will be able to do a demonfx duel gun vs duelist comparison?

[@PepeRubio77]

Very nice test.

[@joybuzzer]

I have a King of Drive by DemonFX, and it's very similar. I'm getting 100K/1K ohms when toggling on the left side, but 100K/ .5 ohms toggling on the right side. I cannot figure out why. Is your 68 pedals clone like this or no?

[@danthegeetarman]

Can you do one of these with the joyo king of kings vs real king of tone? That would be interesting since they sound so similar

[@TedSchoenling]

1n4148.. you don't say.. you mean there is no real magic diode? Don't tell the Klon people that

[@uptownphotography]

Very well done video. Great info. Phil NYC / Jersey Shore Area

[@tnoam]

Thank you for this great video. I have the 68pedals KoT clone and I love it. I love it so much that I bought his take on the CE-2. I’d love to hear your opinion on it and how it compares to the real Boss one.

[@TheToneGeek]

On it!

[@tnoam]

@@TheToneGeek Sweet. cant wait

[@tnoam]

@@TheToneGeek anything in the works for the CE-2 vid?

[@TheToneGeek]

@@tnoam big time YES! My good friend gifted me one and I'm going to talk about it and mod to use with a standard 9V power supply

[@tnoam]

@@TheToneGeek mod it? I use it with 9V....Any way, cant wait!

[@uzieleliud]

Esta es la última actualización del kot?

[@PACK-ge5gu]

Any chance you could do a 68 pedals Thunderdome vs Kingtone Duellist Nice video

[@TheDilligan]

Interesting. So it seems like the 68 Pedals is a perfectly acceptable alternative. It doesn't even seem like build quality is sacrificed. I don't think I even noticed that they artwork was different till this video. The illuminati pyramid and the sun just give off the same vibe.

[@automationtraveler]

Sanding the leds defuses the light emitted. So their not blinding.

[@Justinbpierson]

O-scope is a game changer!

[@lousekoya1803]

New sub here from Quebec !

[@Andrewmest]

Demon fx!!!

[@christopherwiegering]

Hi I have an observation and a question. I own to of these clone. Got one for curiosity and loved it so I then ordered another on ebay and hated it. What is the difference ? in my case one has a terrible noise floor. So the test for me (I know nothing about electronics) is empirical. I engage the overdrive both sides and everything around 3 o clock then I turn my guitar volume all the way down. One makes a tone of noise and the other seems to have a quiet *hissss* type sound which is fairly quiet. Depending on the venue when I do this I can even get radio interference. To me this makes or breaks a pedal. That is why I love brands like EQD. some boutique brands fail this test. Most Wampler pedals are noisy. I was wondering if the REAL KOT performs equally or is this part of a clone defect.

[@PACK-ge5gu]

Sounds like ground issue

[@JohnShalamskas]

Running 18V power to my KoT, gain and volume at maximum, I can hear slight hiss when I enable either channel, and a lot of hiss if I enable both channels at once. I never run both channels at once with everything dimed, though. At more normal settings there is a very slight hiss with both channels enabled. I've never heard any radio interference on the KoT.

[@thedeadxtras9927]

@@JohnShalamskascould be to with quality and length of patch leads inbetween pedals (shielded), isolated power supply, pedal order, certain pedals can create different levels of interference depending on what other pedal they are connected to, so always worth swapping pedals about and seeing what results you get when plugging into others. All about trial and error. Then again it might be none of these factors.

[@MiguelBaptista1981]

Great video. But there is one thing that an oscilloscope can't measure, the quality of the sound. You can make a cello, and an eletrical guitar, and a piano have the exact same response on the oscilloscope. But the quality of each sound is completely different of course, each sounds like their instrument. I've always wondered what tool is used to measure precisely that, if any exists (i'm sure digital tools do, given the current AI in Kempers for example)

[@TheToneGeek]

Good point! And I agree. There is definitely more harmonic things going on. I think that a spectrum analyzer might be able to capture the harmonic peaks from a pulse spike would be good. It could measure the pedal's reaction to the incoming energy. Capacitor selection would be big in this way

[@kenmasters007]

Can you do a prince of tone comparison? Mr. Analog Mike says it's the exactly the same as the KOT

[@ke123321ek]

Yeah I’d like to also see two daisy chained together, vs a KOT with both sides activated

[@terrillmel]

I'm going to be that guy, but what's crazy to me is that when I hear the AB demos, the genuine pedal sounds more open, round, and 3 dimensional. It is a small difference but a huge difference at the same time. Do you guys think I'm crazy? If you agree, what do you think could be making the difference.

[@sejuyz]

you must retake this test blindfolded

[@jmayeromjm]

same result...?

[@jeff1872t]

Great videos, thanks.

[@russellesimonetta3835]

Uhhh, some things to think about,,, a highly competent, player, amp repair and designer of Amps and petals named Lyle sez,,,, carbon file, carbon comp resisters in a petal have no MOJO!!!! For carbon comps or film resister to color sound they only do it at high voltages!! Uhhh,, just stick to metal films. 9v or 18v isn't high voltage!! And ,,, famous pedal designers who cgarge huge money for pedals aren't selling a superior product per say they are selling BRAND!!!

[@djefferson5669]

Literally is a four syllable word

[@luckyrocks1]

No, ALPHA Pots say ALPHA

[@janniswiese]

Ha! First! 😀

[@janniswiese]

Very informative video - as usual! Happy to be a small part of it. And of course I can only underline the hint you gave concerning ethical cloning :)

[@TheToneGeek]

@@janniswiese thank you again!!

[@wedrivebynight]

"The layout is exactly the same." yea bud............."clone"