Which King of Tone do you have?

moonlightpedalbuilds

moonlightpedalbuilds

Well-known member
www.pedalpcb.com

Paragon - PedalPCB.com

Compare to Analogman King of Tone
www.pedalpcb.com www.pedalpcb.com
aionfx.com

Theseus Dual Overdrive / Analogman King of Tone

Based on the Analogman King of Tone, a boutique dual-channel drive pedal made up of two modified Marshall Bluesbreaker circuits in series.
aionfx.com aionfx.com

Queen of Bone 2 (King of Tone™ 18v clone) PCB – Rullywow DIY Guitar Pedal PCB Store

rullywow.com rullywow.com

AionFX's does not have the charge pump but has the "High Gain" mode. I've built the QoB2 before and it was quite a pleasant build. I'm looking at the Paragon and Paragon Mini next.
 
I have the Theseus, it's the only KOT pedal I've ever used but so far I'm loving it. It also stacks very well with the Refractor Klon Klone.
 
I’ve built a number of Paragons but I remove the charge pump because I think the circuit sounds and feels better at 9V, a little easier to “push”. but it can still run at 18V with an 18V power supply if need be (there’s no way to step the stock Paragon down to 9V if you wanted to try it.).

I haven’t built the Aion version (it’s pretty new) and don’t really feel the need to, since I already have drill templates and artwork for the Paragon (and I prefer building on PedalPCB boards both for already having values silkscreened on the board and also because I’m not a fan of AionFX’s method of off-board wiring). The big difference is the “higher gain” switch, but that’s not really all that big a deal IMHO - it just shifts the gain range up a notch or two (so it’s a little more clipped when cranked and a little hairier when turned down, but there’s still plenty of overlapping gain between the two modes), it doesn’t make it a fundamentally different pedal by any means. That’s why most KoT buyers tend to do one side “high gain” (usually the right side, so they can use the left side as a clean-boost after it)
 
None of the above, mine's piecemeal-style from some GPCB boards.
That way I can choose what mix of features I want and do my own knob layout.
 
All of the above....hahah, actually I don't have RullyWow's but I do have PCBGuitarMania's (not recommended).
I have the Theseus board and plan to build that but my main overdrive on my board is my modified Paragon. (9v, and all clipping switches exposed, high gain B250k pot). I swap between it and the Paragon Mini which for some reason sounds "slightly" more compressed but in a good way.
 
A clone of the Wampler Pantheon by PCB Guitar Mania. Had the Paragon Mini and didn't like it all that much, the Wampler is way smoother, bigger and rounder if needed with more tonal flexibility. Could live without the additional gain modes and the clipping switch for me is always on soft clipping, but at least those are switchable (on the outside!).
 
I recently finished a couple of paragon boards with some variations on mods suggested in the forum -- 9v/18v switchable, tuned for a bit more low end in one channel, higher value reverse taper drive pots. I plan to donate one of them for the Pedals for Ukraine project.
 
I did my own version with all the controls external, including hi-gain mod. I also used another inverting opamp stage to align the input and output phase as well as give it some more available output.

Easy to understand why this design is so popular. It's extremely versatile and sounds great all the way from clean boost to distortion.

Ubu-Roi-Face.jpg
 
Last edited:
moonlightpedalbuilds said:
www.pedalpcb.com

Paragon - PedalPCB.com

Compare to Analogman King of Tone
www.pedalpcb.com www.pedalpcb.com
aionfx.com

Theseus Dual Overdrive / Analogman King of Tone

Based on the Analogman King of Tone, a boutique dual-channel drive pedal made up of two modified Marshall Bluesbreaker circuits in series.
aionfx.com aionfx.com

Queen of Bone 2 (King of Tone™ 18v clone) PCB – Rullywow DIY Guitar Pedal PCB Store

rullywow.com rullywow.com

AionFX's does not have the charge pump but has the "High Gain" mode. I've built the QoB2 before and it was quite a pleasant build. I'm looking at the Paragon and Paragon Mini next.
Click to expand...
I have The Paragon and a Madbean Aristocrat
 
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jubal81 said:
I did my own version with all the controls external, including hi-gain mod. I also used another inverting opamp stage to align the input and output phase as well as give it some more available output.

Easy to understand why this design is so popular. It's extremely versatile and sounds great all the way from clean boost to distortion.

Ubu-Roi-Face.jpg
Click to expand...

I’m planning on doing this but with just 4 knobs for Gain, Volume, Tone and a Treble/Presence, plus some circuit tweaks.

I like the Paragon Mini a lot but I think I’d be just as happy with a single pedal as well.
 
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Comparing the PedalPCB Paragon Mini and AionFX Theseus I noticed something different. The R16/R30 from Paragon is not in the Theseus. What does it do for this circuit?
 
Of all the Bluesbreaker style pedals I like the Protein Blue best. The KoT has an extreme lack of low end which drives me crazy. (it doesn't overdrive me crazy but nearly...)
 
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