NEW King Of Tone pedals are worse than OLD ones? | Analogman | Gear Corner

#guitarpedals #kingoftone
Is the Analogman King Of Tone still the same? I've heard people saying they put different parts in the pedal nowadays and it's not the same anymore. Well... let's see about that.
Welcome to Gear Corner, enjoy the video!

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Check out my shirts, hoodies, tone socks and coffee mug and thanks in advance for supporting the channel with your purchase:

** Why the "Includes paid promotion" message? **
According to german laws everyone has to mark their videos as advertisements as soon as there's a single "subject relevant" product, tag or link in it. Even if you didn't get paid for making that video. Sounds confusing and it really doesn't help the viewer to see which is a paid review and which isn't.
--- The line of truth: Is this actually a paid review? No it isn't, I bought both of my King of Tone pedals. But I have affiliate links in the description box so the "includes paid promotion" box needs to be checked.

Timestamps:
0:00 Introduction
0:55 Intro Song
1:49 The specs of the old and new KoT pedals
4:10 The rig in this video
4:43 1st comparison Round | All knobs set the same way
7:20 The differences are...
8:52 2nd comparison round | Tone matching
10:17 Results of the comparisons
10:59 Let's take a look inside the pedals
12:37 Why do I have two of these?
12:56 PLAYING | PJD St John | Insane dynamics
13:58 The story of my pedal
17:58 My suggestion if you want to have a King of Tone

Gear used in this video:
(the Bitly links are Thomann affiliate links)

-Barocsi "Frankenstrat"
-Barocsi Bellflower (DIY offset guitar)

Other gear I use in my videos:

-Gibson Les Paul CM 2015 - heavily modified "Junior"
-Barocsi Troublecaster - Custom built T-style

The speech mic:
Audio Interface:

Check out the Thomann Music channel for some wicked guitar videos:

Cheers,
Kris

[analogspam]

I thought I posted this info but don't see it... We changed the value of the TREBLE trimpot in the last few years to make it easier to dial in. THe factory setting is all the way down, and that's the same no matter the value (0 ohms). But the new one goes up slower, so you can turn it more before it gets too bright, making it easier to dial in. So a newer one needs the trimpot turned more than an old one. Thanks and hope that helps!

[rickjohns]

The tolerance of the components, like pots, etc could be almost 10% above or below the values, and also you might not have the same clipping diodes, as they are obsolete and running out. Mike is pretty secretive (and rightly so) about them, but the replacement diodes that can be used in the circuit are very similar, the difference will be subtle. Both pedals sound fantastic, and alone in a mix would be totally fine. Even comparing two pedals one after the other built at the same time would have subtle differences due to tolerances.

[fraenkiboii]

My 2 cents: The schematic of the KoT is relatively simple. There are no mythical diodes. As long as you get the same OpAmp and you bias it with the same resistor values, two pedals will be identical in sound. If you hear major differences, these will likely come from tolerances in the potentiometers. Most people assume that two 100k pots set at the same visual position will have the same value. More often than not that’s just not the case. These pots can have tolerances up to 10% meaning that in a worst case, two 100k pots both set at 12 o’clock (50% resistance), one could be 45k and the other one 55k. On top of that, the pedal doesn’t have one pot, but four (including the internal trimmer for presence). My point being: I would be surprised if you have two models of the same pedal visually set to the same settings and they sound exactly the same. Even in the same batch.

[BradRabuchin]

I'm a big fan of the KOT pedal and I also have 2, one on my pedal board and one loose for most of my gigs where I'd rather just use 2 or 3 pedals strung together as needed for the situation. The great thing that this pedal does so well is react to your touch and variations in left hand attack and technique as you so well illustrated in your video. It's also a very "natural" sounding pedal and responds well to both single coil and humbucker pickups. I haven't found anything else yet that equals or surpasses the KOT, at least for me.

[er_matze]

great video and advice!!
Fun Fact - just after watching this vid I doublechecked my mailbox and found I got my note a few days ago that I had reached top of the list. So my KOT is in the process of being produced now and will hopefully make it all the way to my house within a few days / weeks. Can't wait to finally receive my KOT :)

[robinmcmillan]

Thanks this was really useful. We must have ordered ours on the same day ! Mine arrived 2 weeks ago and I had just the questions that you answered . My first observation is that the volume control is sensible I find most drive pedals today have way too much volume gain you can really use the full volume range on the KoT.

[josephbenz]

I use my Beano Boost into the red side of my King of Tone more than I stack the Red and Yellow sides. If you don't want to wait, I recommend getting a Prince/Duke of Tone and stacking it with a Beano Boost. THAT is the magical combination to me.

[michael_caz_nyc]

I'd love to hear your opinion on the New MXR Duke of Tone? - It sounds really good, form the videos that I have seen. ( always different in person ). Great job with this.

[fredericadda]

Hi Kris! I would love to have your opinion on the Duke of Tone that MXR just released in collaboration with AnalogMan

[PaulCooksStuff]

Interesting. Even on phone speaker I was thinking the old one had a bit more "air". So I chuckled when you described it as "space" - I wasn't hearing things.

I guess every electrical component has a tolerance. 2%, 5%, 10%. Even identical circuits with same brand components could conceivably have compounding tolerances that need slightly different knob positions to give the same result. It's handy that there's internal knobs for even more tweaking.

[amitreznik]

Hi Kris! from what year your old KOT? and from what year the newer version v4 strated? thank you. love your channel! so helpful and fun to listen to.

[jameswilson]

Both sounds awesome the gold one sounded a little thicker after those knobs in back were adjusted..2thumbs up.

[jframjams]

The newer one sounds more compressed... but honestly they're both awesome and I would be very happy with either. Great chops!

[RobFlaxMusic]

I’m a happy owner of a 2018 pedal and got right back on the waiting list again, for the same reason (and I’m still waiting for the new one). The old one is my go-to, and I practice with it almost every day. (And so far nothing has replaced it in my practice rig… it’s the whole practice rig!)

Refreshing to hear that all’s well, and good to know about adjusting the presence knob for the new one when it arrives.

But why the OD+distortion settings? I love the boost side as an always-on clean sound!

[AndAThirdRPM]

The new gold enclosure one sounds a little brighter when dialed in to the same settings as the old one. I attribute this to the lighter colour shade of the gold paint over the darker purple painted enclosure which provides a darker tone overall, ... the paint bro, ... it's all in the paint.

[mmckinney]

Great video comparison! And nice chops!!

[peterglavanov]

Thanks for the informative and so well done video. I have a 2009 regular KoT and when compare the guts to this from your pics I see a few different components. I am also in the KoT waiting list and it looks like next spring will come my turn for a new one pedal so when I have it I will make similar video comparison between them. Cheers! 🍻

[Guitarslinger]

I got my email today (Yay!) after a little over 5 year wait. They are now $325 w/no options...

[frantisca]

Hi Kris, your old one has more presence and body to my ear, whether you tweak the inner parts or not. The second hand ones are ridiculously overpriced. I had one that I sold for the price I bought it. It is undoubtedly a good pedal, but not better than other double OD’s like the zeta, the honeybee, gladio, or my preferred one: the CmatMods SuperSigna I still consider it is the best double OD ever. My advice: buy what you hear not what you see or read about. Cheers

[cubanopct]

Currently he is shipping Jan 6th, 2018 orders. I got on the waiting list on Nov 2nd, 2021. I have another 3 years, 9 months, and 27 days of waiting.