So the other day I decided to pull out my Klon-type pedals, do some side by side comparisons, and see if my thoughts on them had changed at all.  I figured this would be a good time to do this because I just got the NuX Horseman that I had ordered back in April, and was playing with it to see how I liked it.  So, here they are in my order of preference.

Before I go into the pedals, I should also mention that I always use the Klones in the same way.  With the amp just at the edge of breaking up, I'll have the gain on the pedal set minimally, the treble set in the middle, and the volume set a couple of clicks above unity so that it's pushing the amp a bit.  So it's more like a clean boost I guess.  This is where I believe these pedals really shine.

1. Klon KTR - I paid $300 for it new back in like 2015.  It's the botttom left, red pedal.  I was actually surprised that this one made the #1 spot.  In the past, I always said that it wasn't as good as the some of the copies.  According to Bill Finnegan, this one is supposed to sound just like the Centaurs.  I've never had a Centaur to demo, but when I pulled this one out of the closet the other day, it sounded good.  Really good.  Good enough, in fact, that I think I finally understand the mythos surrounding the original Klons and why so many have sought to create Klones.  I, also, think this may've been the first time I've played the pedal that I didn't go into it with some sort of preconceived bias against it since it's the one that "set the standard" and I could add up the cost of the 4 lesser priced Klones I have and still not have cover the cost of this one. 
   This is a very smooth sounding OD.  It retains the warmth of the amp without really coloring the tone.  This really is what the Klones should aspire to be.
2. Tone Bakery Creme Brulee - I paid $100 for this one a year or so ago.  It's the pale, not really white or yellow pedal in the bottom right.  As far as copies go, this one pretty much nailed it.  It became my go-to klone as soon as I bought it back in 2018.  One of a very small handful of pedals that I've bought, plugged in at the house, and was pretty much taken back by the tones I immediately heard in it.  To my ear, this one will come closer to the KTR sound than any of the others.
3. EHX Soul Food - I paid $60 for this one the day that I saw they were available.  It's the top left pedal that's kind of pale yellow inside the silver pedal-case border.  I had heard rumor maybe 6 years ago that EHX was going to start making a klone and selling it for less than $100.  I didn't pre-order this pedal, but I did order it the day that I looked at the Sweetwater website and saw that it said In Stock.  Until I got the Creme Brulee, it was my go-to klone.  It sounds really good.  I'm not sure that I can put my finger on what the Tone Bakery and Klon pedals have that the EHX is missing, but, played back to back, it's like it has the sound without the sparkle or something.  Still a great sounding pedal, and, if I played out a bunch, this might be the one I used just because you can get it cheaply at any Guitar Center in the country.  The KTR and Creme Brulee aren't as easy to come by.
4. Wampler Tumnus - I pre-ordered this one direct from Wampler for $220 I think.  It's the gold color mini-pedal in the middle on the bottom.  This one hurts me to be listed at the #4 spot for a couple of reasons.  First, I'm a HUGE Narnia fan, so the fact that it's called the Tumnus makes me want to default it to the #1 spot.  Second, I've had the pleasure of exchanging emails with Brian about some things on like 4 different occasions (not trying to name drop here - by my own admission, I don't know the guy and he'd be like "snarf who?" if you mentioned my name to him), and he seems like a stand-up, genuinely nice guy.  I like a LOT of what he does within the pedal community, and am a big fan of him, his company, and the pedals that he makes.  I think his take on the Klon is very similar to the Soul Food.  Only with a touch less sparkle.  Maybe I just got a Monday morning  example of the Tumnus and all the others are outstanding, I don't know.   I really want this one to be so much better than it is.
   I feel like I should quantify the sparkle comment I've made real quick since I've now used it about 2 of the 4 pedals.  Several years ago I would eat at Popeye's fried chicken place up the street from my office about once a week.  I like their spicy chicken strips.  One day I got back to the office, and noticed they had dropped a little packet of something simply called "Sparkle" into my bag.  being curious, I opened it up, saw that it was spices of some sort, and sprinkled it on my chicken.  It was A.Ma.Zing.  I still have no idea what was in that packet, but every time I went through that drive thru from then on, I made sure to request a packet of Sparkle.  All the way up until the day that the lady apologized and told me they no longer carried it.  I still don't know what it was (and changed jobs so haven't been back to Popeyes in years), I just know that it made a pretty good fast food meal transform into something that made me want to lick the inside of the box good.
5. NuX Horseman - I pre-ordered this one and paid $65 for it.  It's the gold colored mini-pedal in the middle on the top.  It's ok.  Notice I didn't say it was good.  I heard about this back the first of this year, and it caught my eye that it has the 2 different Klone-modes to it...gold and silver versions.  So I had to get one and try it out.  Next to the other pedals, it pales pretty quickly.  It's not super smooth, but it's also not really harsh.  At least the gold-mode isn't really harsh.  To my ear, the silver-mode starts to get into that territory.  I don't know that I'll ever use it in silver-mode because of that.  I also got this one because I had been seeing a LOT of NuX stuff on the market lately, and I was really curious about it.  I figured that, since this would be a pedal I'd be interested in, I'd grab it, and use it kind of as my gauge for the rest of the brand.  If this one is any indication, I won't be getting much from them.  It's an overdrive.  In a crowded room where half the folks are drunk and the other half wish they were, it probably sounds as good as the others.  In an environment where you can use a bit of a discerning ear, it's an extremely average pedal.
6. Caline Pegasus - I paid $30 for this one about 6 months ago.  Top right pedal that's brown.  I will occasionally buy the cheap, Chinese pedal copies because sometimes they will surprise you and be a really good sounding pedal.  Sometimes.  This was not one of those times.  To my ear, this one is just a harsh sounding overdrive.  It's a klone that doesn't do the klone thing particularly well.  Truth is, it's harsh enough that, when compared to any of the top 3 pedals in this list, I'm not sure how they manage to call it a klone.  I haven't been able to find those smooth, sweet, transparent tones in it.  Can't say a lot good about the sound of this pedal, but the graphic on the front of a winged centaur (not a pegasus as named, but rather half-centaur, half-pegasus...a pegataur or centasus maybe?) was worth the price of admission.

What are your thoughts?  Tried any good Klon-type pedals that just really stood out to you?  I've heard really good things about the J Rockett Archer, but haven't gotten my hands on one of those yet.  I've also heard there are some really good ones from back before the recent onslaught...the Aluminum Falcon, the JHS copy that they no longer make, the MXR Sugar Drive (although I think this one may be one of the recent ones), and others.  Some day I'll have to make it a point to pick some of these up and give them a shot as well.

I don't use my pedal board as often as I could these days.  Truth is that I often find myself just running straight into the amp I'm using.  That means that sometimes I get a pretty clean tone, especially at the house, because you can't really turn up loud enough to get good overdrive on some amps.  However, I do use it occasionally.  Used it last weekend in fact.  Ran my guitar through the board and then straight to my mixer to do some recording.

Now the board itself is pretty small.  I saw some of those ads for the Holeyboards that Chemistry Design Werks makes, and really liked them.  So, being the cheap dude that I can be sometimes, I headed down to the local Home Depot and picked up a couple of 2'x4'x3/4" boards.  The first board I made was about 18"x36".  Painted it surf green, and then loaded it down with pedals.  That one lasted until the first time I moved it.  That's when I realized that it was just too big and unwieldy.  That's when I made the next one.  Didn't paint it or anything, it's just a piece of raw wood.  This second one is about 10"x15" and seems to be about the perfect size for what I need.  Like the Holeyboards, I've got it drilled up so that the pedals attach with zip ties.  Unlike the Holeyboards, I don't have room for a power supply on it so I use a TrueTone One Spot with it.

I actually had disassembled it for about 6 months, but recently put a board back together for what I wanted.  Here's the path.  Guitar > TU2 tuner > Wampler Tumnus > TS9 TubeScreamer > GarageTone Axle Grease Delay > Danelectro Big Spender Spinning Speaker > Mooer Acoustikar > whatever amp I happen to be using.  Now here's why.

I've got the TU2 tuner for a couple of reasons.  First, everyone seems to be using a Snark or some other clip on tuner.  I do too.  But, when you're playing out, sometimes the clip-on is a bit awkward, and, the tuner, when turned on, will immediately silence the guitar.  Who hasn't been in a situation when you wanted to be able to do that for some reason.  In my head, between the guitar volume and the pedal, that solves that problem.  Plus, it tunes accurately and is bright enough that you can see it in most cases.

From there, signal goes to the the Tumnus.  It's pretty much an always-on pedal.  I use it as that magical boost.  In my head, it just makes whatever amp I'm using sound a bit better as it hits it a little harder and adds a bit of sparkle (how's that for a one of those meaningless guitar player adjectives).  Like I said, it's almost always on.  At the moment, it's the Tumnus because I'm a huge Chronicles of Narnia fan, but it just as often is my Soul Food.  To my ear, using them as just a boost, they do about the same thing.

From there, it's into the Tube Screamer.  I use a TS9 just because it was the least expensive Tube Screamer that the store had when I bought.  I kind of like the Tube Screamer sound...mid boost and all.  I use it to get a little overdrive when I'm not quite getting as much as I want.  It doesn't really add a lot of drive.  It mostly just pushes the amp a bit more.

From that, it goes to the Axle Grease delay.  These were made by Virtual Sound (now Truetone) several years ago.  The GarageTone pedals were budget-priced and great pedals for the money.  For a simple delay (I have it set for just a touch of slapback), this pedal is the best bang for the buck (imho).  I wish they hadn't discontinued this line.

Then to the Danelectro Spinning Speaker.  It's supposed to do the Leslie thing.  Mrs Snarf got it for me for Christmas, and it's been a ton of fun.  It replaced the tremolo pedal I had been using.  This is another one of those pedals that, bang for the buck, you just have to try.  It's a great little pedal.

From there, to the Mooer Acoustikar.  This pedal does a good job of simulating an acoustic.  I've got it set on the piezo setting rather than the unplugged acoustic sound just because, in a worship setting especially, you're always plugged in using the piezo.  Got this one used off of Reverb, and, for what I paid, it does the job well.

Now there are a whole bunch of other pedals in the closet, but these are the ones that currently make me happy.  The others will eventually get rotated out I'm sure.  Just not at the moment.  Maybe I'll do a more thorough review of the pedals later.

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