Don't like klon sounds

lincolnblue

So I've had an EHX Soul Food for quite a few years now. The more I play it, the more I don't like it. I find it too muddy sounding and, even tweaking the tone control, I just can't enjoy it. 

Seems the klon sound isn't for me so the Timmy search will properly begin I think. My Emma Electronics Onomatopoeia is great...not sure how that compares to a timmy though?

TimmyO

MXR Timmy are easy to find used - think there’s one on here at the mo 

Boromedic

£75 here for the MXR one, it's a great pedal, I'm pretty sure Paul C says it's the same. Why mess round with the copies and the fakes, just buy the real thing?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Jim-Dunlop-MXR-CSP027-Timmy-Overdrive-Pedal-/175156865792?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49286&mkrid=710-127635-2958-0

JCA2550

I love the MXR Timmy and it's indistinguishable from the Original Paul C version, but I wish I'd not flipped the original one I had though. The Soul Food shouldn't sound muddy though have you tried it with the buffer switched on? Klon(e)s are often liked so much because of the buffer.

Winny_Pooh

Klones sound honky to me too

Danny1969

The Klon circuit only suits certain amps. I like it with my Fender HRD but it doesn't play as well with other amps I have. It's also best at low gain settings I find, with another pedal after it for higher gain tones. 

Boromedic

Klon works great into plexi amps for a solo boost, even more so with the gain up a bit. YMMV and all that, but it's definitely magical into that style of circuit.

TTBZ

I really liked my Soul Food as a boost for my Jubilee, to me it did the same sort of thing as a Tubescreamer but a bit clearer/less compressed sounding. Also gave a nice bit of sparkle to the sound on cleanup whereas a TS cleans up poorly.

Cirrus

Boromedic said:

Klon works great into plexi amps for a solo boost, even more so with the gain up a bit. YMMV and all that, but it's definitely magical into that style of circuit.

This. Everything about it from the clean blend to the mid hump & bass tightening to the way the tone knob works shows it's designed to boost something else that's already distorting. Run it like that and it's unbeatable.

Of course, then you have a very expensive pedal that you never used on its own, but hey. More fun than treating it as a clean boost.

monquixote

Klon works best as a shaping tool with something else. As a main drive it's a bit nasal sounding.

ICBM

I dislike them quite strongly - they have a nasty metallic high-mid overtone which really grates on me. I've never tried an original, but I have heard several copies, both straight copies and with added EQ, and they all have it.

I have to say the ludicrous hype is also a major put-off. It's an overdrive pedal, which most people seem to think only sounds great when it's not being used as an overdrive pedal... that pretty much says it all to me.

TheMarlin

I don’t like the Klon for gain. But as a clean boost, it’s ace. Tweaks the sound somehow, sounds better, adds a little bottom end, so that’s how I run mine. Tumnus is the best I’ve tried. Gain via a Timmy, and even then, only edge of breakup

TTBZ

ICBM said:

It's an overdrive pedal, which most people seem to think only sounds great when it's not being used as an overdrive pedal... that pretty much says it all to me.

No different to a Tubescreamer then really, they sound awful (imo) unless being used as a boost for a dirty amp.

monquixote

TTBZ said:

ICBM said:

It's an overdrive pedal, which most people seem to think only sounds great when it's not being used as an overdrive pedal... that pretty much says it all to me.

No different to a Tubescreamer then really, they sound awful (imo) unless being used as a boost for a dirty amp.

Yeah that's how I feel about it.

I think TS pedals are horrible as drives as well.

sweepy

Klon a and their clones always work better when your amp is almost on the edge of breakup in itself to my ears , Everyone’s ears perceive tone differently so if it’s not for you then that’s totally fine, I have that with JCM800”s .cant stand the things, the mid range and overall shrillness hurts my ears  

ICBM

TTBZ said:

No different to a Tubescreamer then really, they sound awful (imo) unless being used as a boost for a dirty amp.

I like Tube Screamers when they're actually adding dirt not volume though - still into a dirty amp, but with the pedal as an overdrive not a boost. They don't have the nasty grating tone either.

tone1

I found all the Klon type pedals (RYRA & Ceriatone) not much good to me at home volumes. They might suit some players but I was left scratching my head in puzzlement as to what all the fuss was about….

Rich210

I think the nocturne atomic brain is better than  a klon as a tone enhancing preamp. The ryra I had added a nice dimension but after getting a mystery brain from these quarters I traded it

earwighoney

ICBM said:

TTBZ said:

No different to a Tubescreamer then really, they sound awful (imo) unless being used as a boost for a dirty amp.

I like Tube Screamers when they're actually adding dirt not volume though - still into a dirty amp, but with the pedal as an overdrive not a boost. They don't have the nasty grating tone either.

Which other overdrives do you like? (Into a clean amp)

I've owned a few OD pedals over the years, never got on with a single one.

Like yourself I also do not really understand the hyperbole for the Klon circuit, does nothing for my ears. 

slacker

The klon circuit works as a mild overdrive into an amp at the point of breakup. If you don't play at volume try a king of tone circuit IMHO great with a clean amp

ThePrettyDamned

I like watching people argue about Klon diodes and which ones sound best, all the while everyone has the gain below half way and the diodes are not even being driven

Drive pedals are funny. Ignore hype, try a few out. Similar circuits can sound quite different - but Klon types are pretty much always clones, so don't bother. Timmy is a nice drive - get the mxr and see if you like it.

I've found myself torn between the Blue Monster and a weird, ultra-cheap (but sort of rare) tubescreamer-with-no-diodes pedal. Both sound great to me and work. No one else seems to have used them or heard of them!