King of Clone 68 pedals kicks pretty hard!

Kapo_Polenton

Kapo_Polenton

Well-known member
For the 136$ Canadian I spent to get this thing I am very impressed. I know clones are a touchy subject but in this case I was never going to spend 600$ and wait 3 years for the real deal so what the hell. Always wanted to try something in the KOT vein. To my ear this thing has fantastic detail. I thought the JHS Bonsai was my main one and done but I am not so sure now. I hear more definition and slight fullness but still a push to the mids. The clean(er) boost side is fantastic for just that bit more without the bloat and the red side is amazing with my Marshall style amps. Psychodave kind of caught my interest with this one and as usual I end up trying the pedals he has in rotation. Great pedal. It even kicked the koko boost off my board for now. It is almost like a more refined Guvnor but with a little mid push and detail to stand out. Less ratty around the edges.

Anyone have a similar china KOT clone or the real deal? If the real deal is better I can see why it is hyped. Perfect for boosting. I haven't dabbled with the internal switches yet for more gain and what I think is placing the yellow channel before or after the red. (could be wrong about that last part, for now I am leaving them where they are). So many great options nowadays thanks to good ol chinese theft and reverse engineering. No more excuses for bad tone people.
 
Kapo_Polenton said:
For the 136$ Canadian I spent to get this thing I am very impressed. I know clones are a touchy subject but in this case I was never going to spend 600$ and wait 3 years for the real deal so what the hell. Always wanted to try something in the KOT vein. To my ear this thing has fantastic detail. I thought the JHS Bonsai was my main one and done but I am not so sure now. I hear more definition and slight fullness but still a push to the mids. The clean(er) boost side is fantastic for just that bit more without the bloat and the red side is amazing with my Marshall style amps. Psychodave kind of caught my interest with this one and as usual I end up trying the pedals he has in rotation. Great pedal. It even kicked the koko boost off my board for now. It is almost like a more refined Guvnor but with a little mid push and detail to stand out. Less ratty around the edges.

Anyone have a similar china KOT clone or the real deal? If the real deal is better I can see why it is hyped. Perfect for boosting. I haven't dabbled with the internal switches yet for more gain and what I think is placing the yellow channel before or after the red. (could be wrong about that last part, for now I am leaving them where they are). So many great options nowadays thanks to good ol chinese theft and reverse engineering. No more excuses for bad tone people.
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Yeah good ole chinese IP theft. It's great for the guys who worked their entire lives developing stuff just to get ripped off by people with absolutely no sense of innovation who can only copy. But hey, I'm glad the pedal sounds good.
 
japetus said:
Yeah good ole chinese IP theft. It's great for the guys who worked their entire lives developing stuff just to get ripped off by people with absolutely no sense of innovation who can only copy. But hey, I'm glad the pedal sounds good.
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Look at it this way, maybe this might motivate him to get some guys in house and knock these out at a quicker rate and for 350$? Hey, it's rig talk, not ethics talk. We've had enough of that lately :p.
 
I really like mine and it holds up pretty well against my Prince of Tone. And there’s no way in hell I was going to spend several years on a wait list or pay the crazy price used KoTs go for, so I don’t feel particularly guilty about buying a clone. I’ve purchased several other pedals from AnalogMan and love his work, but the situation with the KoT is ridiculous. They’re able to pump out enough of the other pedals to keep up with demand.
 
Kapo_Polenton said:
Look at it this way, maybe this might motivate him to get some guys in house and knock these out at a quicker rate and for 350$? Hey, it's rig talk, not ethics talk. We've had enough of that lately :p.
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You brought it up!! That's it trade embargo with Canada!! I'm gonna plant so many damn maple trees and put you fiends out of business for good!!!!
 
I have one. It’s killer. I wanted a King of Tone but analogman feels it’s better to produce them slowly and I refuse to pay top dollars for one on eBay. Sadly his actions made me look elsewhere. I’ve owned the All Seeing Eye since September. Killer pedal. Best $125 (express shipped) I’ve spent in a long time.

Don’t forget that there are internal treble pots.
 
psychodave said:
I have one. It’s killer. I wanted a King of Tone but analogman feels it’s better to produce them slowly and I refuse to pay top dollars for one on eBay. Sadly his actions made me look elsewhere. I’ve owned the All Seeing Eye since September. Killer pedal. Best $125 (express shipped) I’ve spent in a long time.

Don’t forget that there are internal treble pots.
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They said the Prince of Tone is identical but made elsewhere.
 
japetus said:
You brought it up!! That's it trade embargo with Canada!! I'm gonna plant so many damn maple trees and put you fiends out of business for good!!!!
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But you forget that maple syrup can only be harvested by french Canadian men.. without them the trees don't produce!! I think it is the songs they sing or the company they keep..

But listen I get it, there is no end to the cloning and intellectual property theft. There isn't one pedal that isn't cloned. Then they go and clone their clones and pump these out for sale at 20$. Hard to keep up if you are a builder.
 
I like my All Seeing Eye a lot. I would gladly have paid a little more for the KoT but that whole situation is ridic. And I need to get in there and tweek those pots, thanks @psychodave .
 
psychodave said:
I have one. It’s killer. I wanted a King of Tone but analogman feels it’s better to produce them slowly and I refuse to pay top dollars for one on eBay. Sadly his actions made me look elsewhere. I’ve owned the All Seeing Eye since September. Killer pedal. Best $125 (express shipped) I’ve spent in a long time.

Don’t forget that there are internal treble pots.
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I almost don't want to screw with the internal pots..might push it too far over the edge. I usually crave more treble but found this one to sit nice with the Marshall mid range. Analog man did a great job with this one ( the original, not my shameful rip off)
 
I have a KOT with the high gain red side. Through the plexi channel on my Smallbox it’s just incredible. The POT stacked with a Soul Food is fantastic as well and no where near as expensive.
 
Kapo_Polenton said:
I almost don't want to screw with the internal pots..might push it too far over the edge. I usually crave more treble but found this one to sit nice with the Marshall mid range. Analog man did a great job with this one ( the original, not my shameful rip off)
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The good think is the internal trim pots are turned off... so its easy to go back to the original sound. I turned mine up less than 1/4, but with the high gain settings a little treble really adds aggression. With my stock JMP I prefer this clone over every other pedal including the Standout. I have another clone from 68 pedals coming in a few weeks.
 
psychodave said:
The good think is the internal trim pots are turned off... so its easy to go back to the original sound. I turned mine up less than 1/4, but with the high gain settings a little treble really adds aggression. With my stock JMP I prefer this clone over every other pedal including the Standout. I have another clone from 68 pedals coming in a few weeks.
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Love my Standout for when I want that super tight Dimeish kind of tones out of my JMP 2203... Dave. Can you tell me more about this 68 All Seeing Eye pedal?

I see it has two separate channels, is one side an OD and one side a boost or are they the exact same circuit on both sides?

I like your description of aggression... which I felt the VFE Merman was a little too smooth and softish in it's attack. It was still very good, just didn't float my boat.

I read on Analogmans site it is not tubescreamer based but I see 4558D chips in it? Anyway you have sparked my curiosity once again dammit!:bash::2thumbsup:
 
That's the one thing I might try Dave thanks. It could use ever so slightly more cut on the low e string when chugging. I will give it a go.

As for the internal switches, see the analog man explanation on their site as this is essentially an exact ripoff. Doesn't come with any instructions.
 
japetus said:
Yeah good ole chinese IP theft. It's great for the guys who worked their entire lives developing stuff just to get ripped off by people with absolutely no sense of innovation who can only copy. But hey, I'm glad the pedal sounds good.
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Weren't the KOT based on the Marshall Bluesbreaker?
 
japetus said:
Yeah good ole chinese IP theft. It's great for the guys who worked their entire lives developing stuff just to get ripped off by people with absolutely no sense of innovation who can only copy. But hey, I'm glad the pedal sounds good.
Click to expand...
This is so common now that it's almost normal and expected.
 
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