Chuck D. Bones Bass Klon (Kliché Mini (Special Edition))

[Hirti]

Last day and last build report of the year so let's end it with a fun one. I already teased this one here.

Everyone and their mother has built a Klon or several (I know I have). So I was very interested in the Bass Klon mods that got mentioned by Chuck here. I don't play bass very often and when I do it's always into my HX Stomp via headphones. Maybe some of the "magic" of what a Klon does is a bit lost in this case but I really like the sound of this into the HX Stomp. Adds a bit of grit or "oomph" to the bass sound which I really like. It also sounds good on guitar but only on my single coil guitars. On my Les Paul it's a bit too boomy (duh!).

I think the hate on Comic Sans is a bit ridiculous. And I also think that the "Kindly remember" text on the Klon KTRs is very ridiculous. So why not combine these two? UV print on red Tayda enclosure. Since the enclosure is red I obviously also had to use red a red dc jack and a red wire.

 

[DailyDovetails]

Man that thing really fills that box. I’m working on a project with the text in Comic Sans. It is one of the few fonts that is easy to 3d print small due to the rounded ends.

 

[peccary]

Good looking guts. I've built three of these (non bass versions) for friends and always appreciated the clean wiring on them. I've yet to build myself a bass version, though.

If you have the chance please post a demo.

 

[Robert]

Love everything about that!

 

[Mentaltossflycoon]

Good looking guts. I've built three of these for friends and always appreciated the clean wiring on them. I've yet to build myself a bass version, though.

If you have the chance please post a demo.

 

[peccary]

View attachment 64656

Did you build one and ike it? Is it good direct, or does it like an amp/cab?

 

[KR Sound]

I’ve built three of Chuck’s version for friends and it rocks.

Might be cool to have some toggles to cater to both guitar and bass. I’m going to try that.

 

[Mentaltossflycoon]

Did you build one and ike it? Is it good direct, or does it like an amp/cab?

Yes, love it. I've mostly used it through my amp and cab so I can't comment much on the direct sound. It's not a sound that I use a ton but of my lighter bass dirt pedals, Chlon is the one I like with the gain up. I still prefer the CGI N.E.W. Bass OD for the lighter gain stuff which I admittedly use more.

 

[Feral Feline]

I’ve built three of Chuck’s version for friends and it rocks.

Might be cool to have some toggles to cater to both guitar and bass. I’m going to try that.

This is in NO way meant to discourage such an endeavour, just ...

That's a lot of toggles no matter how you switch it up.

• C2 1uF Increase bass feeding into dirty channel & bass bleed
• C3 10uF Increase bass subharmonics in bypass mode
• C4 150nF Increase clean channel bass
• C7 330nF Increase bass when Gain is dimed
• C8 560pF Darken dirty channel slightly
• C9 10uF Increase bass feeding the clipping diodes
• C12 15nF Increase mids when Gain is around noon
• C13 47nF Reduce mid scoop when Gain is at zero
• C15 6.8nF Move Tone range down to include the upper mids
• C16 10uF Increase bass subharmonics when the pedal is engaged
• R7 3K3 Increase clean channel volume
• R14 10K Increase bass bleed
• VOL A10K Improved sweep at lower volume settings

Here's how I've approached it (please let me know of a better way):

Wouldn't need to change the VOL, A10k can stand for bass/guitar.

C3 and C16 both 10µ could be left at the bass value (bypass and output cap respectively, would be a "fuller" sound on guitar)...


That's still 8 caps and 2 resistors to swap out.


R7 could be left at bass value, it's a boost to the clean channel volume. Especially doable if you make the dual-gang pot two separate pots.

C15 could be left at "bass" value, who doesn't want more upper-mids?

R14 bass bleed — could split the diff and leave at 12k (10k bass vs 15k guitar)

Mmm C12 and C13 might be okay with keeping bass values: (increase mids gain noon & reduce mid-scoop gain@0)


C8 is only a slight change, may as well leave that at stock bass value ( or guitar value, obviously I've skewed everything in favour of bass)



That leaves C2, C4, C7, C9 — a 4PDT




Here's some perspective on how others have made a more bass-friendly Klone, nowhere near as extensive as CDB's mods:

GPCB adds a single parallel cap to the clean bleed channel (bass boost). GPCB also has a Ultra boost mod, changing a resistor *(GPCB R26) that doesn't exist on the original Klon circuit, but the GPCB "MKC" (modified Klon circuit) doesn't have the charge-pump and also eliminates the buffered bypass so maybe that resistor is needed.

JohnK from TalkBass does the following, just C2, C7 and R10 (same ref des as PPCB). Oh, and the Op-Amp is swapped out:



The following "Bass Klon Schematic" was sitting on my HD, forgot where I got it.





I've got a few other snippets from around the Internet on how to bassify a Klon, all of which are already better addressed by Chuck D. Bones' mods.


Here's another thought. Get two 1590A-sized Klones and build one guitar and one bass and stick them together in a 1590BB. A toggle on the back between the jacks to maintain a 3-knob face of the pedal. With a master volume, you'd still be switching 4 gangs, so not sure a toggle is going to cut it.


Switching between bass and guitar versions of the Klon circuit seems to be a bit of a bear!


EDIT Sorry Hirti !

 

[KR Sound]

This is in NO way meant to discourage such an endeavour, just ...

That's a lot of toggles no matter how you switch it up.

That's a great summary and I totally appreciate the time you took to write that up. I just started diving into it this morning and came to the same realization and started to look for a 10PDT toggle switch lol.

Those are some great ideas and those final 4 on a 4P might do the trick! I'm definitely going to put this on the list to try out!

 

[jessenator]

I love it when the hype gets a kick in the pants. Well done.

 

[YourGuitarist]

Totally reviving a dead thread, sorry in advance.

With a big enough enclosure, a series of relays could be used to get that pole count, though it's be a bit of a pain. Otherwise you might get more versatility distributing the bass mods across switches to have more granular control. Just have to consider which functions to group.