Analog Man King of Tone

After about one year wait I final got my KoT in the mail. There was such a hype around this pedal which was fun but sort of disappointing if it doesn't live up to that hype. I found out that I was on that latter side. I was so hyped up about it that how can any piece of gear live up to. You could buy it for around $250 if I remember correctly and sell it on ebay for over $400 making an instant profit.

Let me be clear this pedal does sound very good and is extremely transparent. I guess the hype was so high and I was looking for it to do something it wasn't capable of doing. In the right setting I think this pedal shines and that setting being in front of an overdriven amp or used as boost to another pedal. It is so clean and transparent to which I believe the reason for the name King of Tone.

It is really two overdrives in one box with the same controls as follows...

Volume, Drive, and Tone x2. with some dip switches on the inside that control the clipping and distortion.

I found myself really blazing this pedal out and it really doesn't saturate too much. It really just adds to your existing tone if you need to sweeten it up a little bit. I have owned numerous Analogman pedals and trust his mods and pedals so much but this I think was a little bit of a let down for me. Not that it would be for someone else who is more into classic rock or clean guitar tones that just want a bit of a push. I play hard rock/ metal and at the time of purchase I was using it for my church band. I already owned several pedals such as a TS9 (from Analogman), SD-1, and an OD-2 from Boss. These seemed to fit my style a bit more so I dumped it.

UTILIZATION

It is like any other pedal with volume and distortion and tone. It came with two sides which was cool and I found myself using both sides at the same time all the time. The dip switches on the inside are kind of a pain to use. I think they would be better suited on the front of the box or on the sides next to the input guitar jacks. But your probably going to set it and forget it anyway.

The manual I didn't even read too much since I'm a guy and we never ask for directions. So that was a moot point. Though I did read a little about the dip switches since this was unique to me and to this pedal.

SOUND QUALITY


The sound was really just enhancing your existing guitar tone. I didn't find it to change or color it at all. So if you are happy with what you sound like and want just a little more, than this will be for you if you can wait long enough to get one.

I used it with a Strat into a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. I had typically been using a Boss OD-2 and I switched it out one day at church for the KoT. To be completely honest I wasn't that found of the pedal. I really liked what my OD-2 was doing and this didn't live up to the hype or sound I was wanting to get. I think this unit is made for adding to other pedals or boosting an overdriven amp. By it self I felt it was pretty weak and sort of dull. So that was my first experiment. Then I ran it with the OD-2 and that is where is lived. But then I had to change my setting a little bit on the OD-2 to compensate for the added effect.

OVERALL OPINION

Quite honestly I did not like this pedal at all. The year wait and the price was just not what I was looking for. Others may rave about it but I think it just lacked in what I was hoping it to do. So I sold it for a profit and called it a day. Since then I have bought many other products from Analogman and most likely will in the future. Currently I have 3 pedals of his on my pedal board. This to me is a miss and I would only recommend it to someone who knows that this pedal is exactly what they are looking for in an OD box. If I would have used it simply as a boost pedal I think I would have liked it more. I guess I was searching for something at the time and didn't find it in the hype.

- Two fully independent pedals in one

- High quality parts, impeccable AM construction

- Three independent modes for each side via internal DIP switches

- Controls for gain, volume and tone, independent to each side

- Beautiful paint job!

UTILIZATION

This one is a little more complicated to use, definitely not your standard OD pedal. It has been compared to the TS9 quite a bit, but the KoT is no tube screamer.

Each side is pretty basic, controls for volume, tone, and gain/drive, pretty much the standard setup for any OD pedals. Each side can be used independently, they can also be stacked. So far, pretty sraightforward and easy.

Here comes the fun part. Opening up the pedal reveals a number of DIP switches. These can be used to set each side between clean boost, OD, and Drive for a very versatile pedal.

SOUND QUALITY

Really an incredible sounding pedal. The overdrive has a very unique quality. It seems to float around your tone without actually taking it over. Nothing I've seen before in any other pedal. It is a very soft and smooth OD, not a whole lot of grit.

On clean boost, it really just adds volume and a tiny bit of grit. The OD setting is pretty light, really just simulating an amp pushed to the edge of breakup. The Drive setting is in the range of a low-mid gain OD. Stacking both sides set to drive sounds pretty magnificent.

To be honest I was a little underwhelmed by the amount of gain on tap. Using both sides set to drive was the only setting where I could get the sizzle I was after. Analogman will mod the KoT for higher gain (on either one or both sides), which I've never tried, but sounds like it would bring it up to perfection.

Overall I thought it was a pretty responsive pedal, not quite as much as say a Honey Bee, but quite a bit more than a Timmy.

OVERALL OPINION

Straight up an excellent OD pedal for low-mid gain settings. Anything higher and you are probably going to want a different pedal, though I would definitely give the high gain mod a chance.

These aren't exactly easy to get a hold of. The waiting list has stretched out to several years, and used prices seem to float around $350, which can be a lot to shell over. But if you can afford one, it is highly recommended.

After about one year wait I final got my KoT in the mail. There was such a hype around this pedal which was fun but sort of disappointing if it doesn't live up to that hype. I found out that I was on that latter side. I was so hyped up about it that how can any piece of gear live up to. You could buy it for around $250 if I remember correctly and sell it on ebay for over $400 making an instant profit.

Let me be clear this pedal does sound very good and is extremely transparent. I guess the hype was so high and I was looking for it to do something it wasn't capable of doing. In the right setting I think this pedal shines and that setting being in front of an overdriven amp or used as boost to another pedal. It is so clean and transparent to which I believe the reason for the name King of Tone.

It is really two overdrives in one box with the same controls as follows...

Volume, Drive, and Tone x2. with some dip switches on the inside that control the clipping and distortion.

I found myself really blazing this pedal out and it really doesn't saturate too much. It really just adds to your existing tone if you need to sweeten it up a little bit. I have owned numerous Analogman pedals and trust his mods and pedals so much but this I think was a little bit of a let down for me. Not that it would be for someone else who is more into classic rock or clean guitar tones that just want a bit of a push. I play hard rock/ metal and at the time of purchase I was using it for my church band. I already owned several pedals such as a TS9 (from Analogman), SD-1, and an OD-2 from Boss. These seemed to fit my style a bit more so I dumped it.

UTILIZATION

It is like any other pedal with volume and distortion and tone. It came with two sides which was cool and I found myself using both sides at the same time all the time. The dip switches on the inside are kind of a pain to use. I think they would be better suited on the front of the box or on the sides next to the input guitar jacks. But your probably going to set it and forget it anyway.

The manual I didn't even read too much since I'm a guy and we never ask for directions. So that was a moot point. Though I did read a little about the dip switches since this was unique to me and to this pedal.

SOUND QUALITY

The sound was really just enhancing your existing guitar tone. I didn't find it to change or color it at all. So if you are happy with what you sound like and want just a little more, than this will be for you if you can wait long enough to get one.

I used it with a Strat into a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. I had typically been using a Boss OD-2 and I switched it out one day at church for the KoT. To be completely honest I wasn't that found of the pedal. I really liked what my OD-2 was doing and this didn't live up to the hype or sound I was wanting to get. I think this unit is made for adding to other pedals or boosting an overdriven amp. By it self I felt it was pretty weak and sort of dull. So that was my first experiment. Then I ran it with the OD-2 and that is where is lived. But then I had to change my setting a little bit on the OD-2 to compensate for the added effect.

OVERALL OPINION

Quite honestly I did not like this pedal at all. The year wait and the price was just not what I was looking for. Others may rave about it but I think it just lacked in what I was hoping it to do. So I sold it for a profit and called it a day. Since then I have bought many other products from Analogman and most likely will in the future. Currently I have 3 pedals of his on my pedal board. This to me is a miss and I would only recommend it to someone who knows that this pedal is exactly what they are looking for in an OD box.

Analog Man's King of Tone (version 4) is a distortion and overdrive pedal that I've used with electric guitar. The pedal is designed for use with electric guitar, and I can't really say how well it would work with another type of instrument. The King of Tone is an analog pedal, with 1/4" connections for both input and output, and a 9 volt power jack. It isn't rack mountable as it is a stomp box.

UTILIZATION

The configuration of the Analog Man King of Tone is pretty unique, but isn't hard to understand. The pedal has two channels in one, each with their own parameters. Each of the two channels has parameters for volume, drive, and tone, as well as a foot switch for each. It didn't take me long at all to get accustomed to using the pedal, and I don't think that most users will have any issues at all. A manual shouldn't be necessary...

SOUND QUALITY

While probably not a replacement for any and all overdrive/distortion pedals, for the sound that the Analog Man King of Tone gets, it's probably the best of it's kind. It's got a really warm and milky sort of sound to it, perfect for both lead and rhythm guitar parts. I was an engineer on a session where the guitarist was using this pedal, so I didn't get a long chance to mess around with it, but the end result of the overdrive guitar was killer. He was switching back and forth between the two channels, which can definitely give you pretty varying sounds depending on how you set them. The guitar was a Fender Telecaster and the amp was a Fender Deluxe Reverb.

OVERALL OPINION

Getting your hands on the Analog Man King of Tone pedal will prove to be difficult if you don't want to wait a very long time! There is a long waiting list to get this pedal, as they are handmade from a small company who I guess has found it hard to keep up with the demand! You can most likely find them used, but it will definitely cost you a good amount more than if you were to wait for one, which still wouldn't make it the cheapest pedal in the world. If you want a new one of these, get on the waiting list now as it could literally take a few years to get one!