Best budget Klone?

TTBZ

For whatever reason I seem to favour a Klon style pedal as an "always on" pedal - set to work as an almost clean boost it just seems to add a nice bit of thickness and punch to the tone, and doesn't need to be switched off to clean up with the guitar. I had a Soul Food which is my only experience with Klon types, some people reckon it's not the best so I'm wonder what else does a better job for a similar price? The ones I'm looking at are the Mosky Golden Horse (dirt cheap at £16!), Tone City Bad Horse, Caline Pegasus etc. Might just take a punt on the Mosky but anything else to consider?

Can't really be arsed with building one this time round, though the Fuzz Dogs kit does get good reviews! Been looking at a higher end one but not sure if I can justify the cost of a RYRA/Idiot Box/Tumnus etc (though the idiot box one does look especially cool and sound awesome in the demo).

steer

What was wrong with the soul food?

TTBZ

Just fancy trying something else to be honest!

TheMarlin

Tumnus

blowin

My Mosky sounded great but started crackling and popping after a couple of weeks. Maybe buy a couple!

terada

TheMarlin said:

Tumnus

Wiz'd. That pedal has transformed my pedal setup

HoraceB

I have been through a lot of Klons, SoulFood, Arc, Tumnus, Tumnus Deluxe, etc but the one I keep coming back to is the RYRA, I sadly justify this extravagance  because it's a pedal that I use a lot and for me it just seems to have that something that all the others have lacked,  I also like the size, I can adjust with my foot if need be. But to be honest a bat would probably like to hear the difference between some of them.  Haven't tried the Golden Horse, but I have read unreliability and noise issues which for an always-on pedal might be worth considering. 

stickyfiddle

I've had a bunch - Fredric Golden Eagle, Archer, Ryra and Arc. All are very similar, saved for slightly different pot tapers and levels of "rasp" when you turn them up, which you don't do, because Klons are best with the gain only barely over zero.

I currently still have the Arc and the Archer but all are really really similar - the Golden Eagle was honestly every bit as good as any of the others, and cheaper.  Don't overthink it.

darcym

define cheap and the quality/cost trade off you want. 

What's the balance you're trying to strike, eg: I want the best sound I can get for £50, against I want the cheapest pedal possible, againt money is no object, get me a klon.

Soul food is as good as it's going to get in terms of cheap bang for buck, it's a nice pedal, it's based on the klon, it's not a klon.
The Fredric Klone/Golden Eagle is pretty much the cheapest like for like Klon you'll find - and by cheap I don't mean it's a cheap pedal, but if you want an actual klon, from my experience of trying it against my real klons, this is the best value method to get a replica of a klon, but it is £100+ 

There are others that also do this, but they are more expensive, and sometimes make improvements to the klon (you may / may not like) but if you want a real klon for best value possible, the Fredric is the best I've found. 

TTBZ

Sounds like it's worth avoiding the Mosky then! I dunno, I was very impressed with the Caline Orange Burst as a cheap pedal so hoped I could find a good similarly priced Klon alternative. The Fredric one and the Tumnus are more than I wanted to spend but don't mind paying if it's worth it.

Gagaryn

Only one I have tried is the Golden Eagle so nothing to compare it against, but I've not felt the need to try anything else as it's great!

Cookiemonster

I know this won't help but I like the hxfx Klone  I think it sounds a lot better than my old soul food

Hootsmon

NorthernStomps

I can attest to Fredric Effects Golden Eagle/Zombie Klone. 

x-valves4ever

I’ve just bought the RYRA The Klone and it is a really fine pedal, well built, sounds brilliant and I expect it will be reliable. Not the cheapest but there was one for sale on here at £135 yesterday which is a good price against new.....

crunchman

Not sure you will ever get a really dirt cheap Klone that is done properly.  I think the original uses a double ganged pot, plus germanium diodes.  You are not likely to find those kind of components in a cheapo made with surface mount parts.

ChuckManual

One that's always ignored (or, at least, criminally overlooked) is the Tone Bakery Creme Bruleé.

£100 ...and worth every penny.

exocet

https://www.flickr.com/photos/137947485@N03/sets/72157678919158726

breakthemachinefx

I would say agree with the forum members here, you can't go wrong with Fredric Effects, specifically their Zombie Klone. Their own descriptions states " This is an accurate electronic clone, with nothing added or removed from the original effect."

LuttiS

I've got a bad horsey, which has grown into an almost always on pedal... had it for a few years now and not had any problems. I think it sounds great, but having said that, i haven't tried anything to compare it to...

BobTheSalmon

I've been using the Mosky live for a couple of months now, and it has served me very well.

It is my first Klone, so I would be hard pushed to compare it, however it feels somewhere between a TS  and clean boost, both of which I use.

Works really well at the end of my chain, either as an always on Strat pusher or as a "a bit more of everything" solo boost.

Definitely worth checking out - I am GASing on a Creme Brulee though.