King Of Tone
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Analog Man presents KING OF TONE overdrive pedal

Your own tone!!!

King of Tone Version 4.

Waiting list history and shipping date

Players

Samples and demos

Older version info

Pricing and features

Options

repair info

Get on the waiting list

You don't need ANOTHER overdrive pedal, you just need this one. Ebay will take your castoffs.

Why the long wait and delays?

Here is some info on the KoT Saga

The easiest way to find out the current shipping date is to just Google "King of tone waiting list" and you will see the date in the google results.

This is the story so far

KOT DELAY PAGE kotdelay.htm <--- best to CLICK HERE for waiting list status etc.

Be sure to go to the link above before for status, you can email if your date reached the top but you have not gotten your email yet.

When you reach the top of the waiting list, you can get ONE KOT pedal in any available version with any options. Starting in 2016, we are only allowing four KOT pedals per customer, even if you order one every few years, because too many people are selling them for a profit. After four, your orders will be cancelled. The list is very long at this time, see the KOT delay page (link is above) for the exact length of the list.

Get on the waiting list

Click HERE TO EMAIL analogspam TO GET ON THE LIST. - - You may want to CC yourself to keep the email as a record. If clicking does not work, right click and choose Copy Email Address then you can paste it into an email easily.

Please use this link ONLY to get on the list. If the link does not work for you just send an email to analogspam at aol.com.

If you already emailed and have not reached the top, any more emails to Analogspam will be deleted. You can get on the list again AFTER you reach the top and get your pedal, but not before then.

This email address is automated so we can't answer any questions when you send an email to get on the list. We don't need any phone or mailing address info, just email us from your best email address for us to put on the list, and put your name in the email which may help us find you in the future. You should get an auto reply. Before emailing, it's best to add analogspam@aol.com to your contact list, so you have a better chance of getting the auto reply. No need to prepay or put down a deposit, we will give you ordering info when your pedal is ready to ship.

Please don't ask for status on the list unless you are close to the SHIPPING date on the King of Tone delay page. We just can't afford to spend an hour a day on list administration. Thanks!

*** THE LIST IS VERY LONG. There is a chance that we can never make enough pedals for yours, if you get on the list now. Sorry about that but some parts were discontinued years ago, and we can't find many more NOS parts lately.

For questions about the waiting list, email kingoftonelist@gmail.com please.

Info on older model King Of Tone pedals

Here is some info on the Ver2 and Ver3 pedals. The info below covers the current Ver4 model.

King of Tone pedal info

Hand made in the USA

Analog Man, in collaboration with Jim Weider, have come out with the pedal we have been looking for for many years - the King Of Tone (KoT). There are many overdrive pedals on the market, but none of them have been quite right, preserving the tone of the guitar and adding the right amount of overdrive without compromise. There are some good clean boosts available, but they just don't have enough drive to really give your amp the distortion you often want. There are some newer OD pedals that have a great frequency response, but to me they sound too DRY, a bit sterile and cardboardy. There are also some nice sounding pedals available but their sound is too "saturated", losing the touch and feel of your guitar. That is where the King Of Tone pedal comes in - it has enough warm overdrive but still preserves the tones of your quality guitars and amps. If you are looking for a big change in your sound, or a lot of distortion, this is probably not the pedal for you.

Jim had been using an original TS-808 for well over 20 years, it's now housed in a 1980s TS9 case after Rick Danko stepped on it at a concert that THE BAND played. Jim likes the tone of his TS-808, but has always found it loses some low end and is a bit too heavy in the mids. I also love TS808s and have sold thousands of TS9s with our TS808 mods. But sometimes I have wished for a less compressed, more open and natural sound with more of the guitar's actual tone, or as Jim says "you can hear the note better". A Tube Screamer makes it easier to play and sound good due to the compression and vocal midrange boost, but a master player like Jim would often prefer less coloration to allow his techniques and superb tone to get through.

A good friend of ours suggested the old Marshall Blues breaker pedal might work for Jim, so we found one on ebay and I had it sent to Jim who said it was pretty good. So I got another one on ebay and modified it quickly with some improved parts for a baseline test. I brought it up to Woodstock and Jim's sounded better, I was surprised! Then I opened Jim's up and saw that it was already modified heavily!! I thought he was playing a joke on me, but he just laughed, someone sold it on eBay like that. I tried those mods but didn't like them much, so we totally redid the circuit with different diodes, chips, capacitors, treble trimpots, modes- pretty much everything was changed. And of course the KOT is two pedal circuits in one box. So our KOT pedal is not much like, and does not sound much like a BB pedal anymore. Especially the clean or distortion modes are different, and the higher gain option changes it even more, making it more useful throughout the DRIVE knob range. We used the higher gain KOT circuit as the base for the Prince Of Tone which came out in 2012, and improved the DISTORTION mode also on the POT.

The King Of Tone overdrive was designed to take an amp at reasonable settings, and make it sound like it would sound if it were naturally driven to pure, smooth, tube distortion. It was fine tuned with Jim's 1960s Fender Deluxe Reverb amp to duplicate the sound when his amp is singing, but at lower volume settings - to simulate the natural tube amp distortion of preamp and power tubes. It does the same thing on other amps like Vox, Marshall, etc, making them sing in their own voice. Jim's amp was modified by our good friend the late Cesar Diaz, and is about the best sounding Fender amp I have heard. Later on, I tested the KoT on my own 1966 Deluxe Reverb amp. My amp is stock, and does not sound that great when it's cranked up. It gets loud but not very warm or singing, a little harsh. My amp sounds MUCH better using the KoT for overdrive, then it sounds very close to Jim's amp.

Tube Screamer comparison

Everyone seems to know what a Tube Screamer sounds like, so we can use them to describe how the KoT sounds. Even our modified Tube Screamers and all the boutique TS clones out there are still basically tube screamers, so this info will still apply.

The KoT is one of the few overdrive pedals available that is NOT based on a Tube Screamer circuit. In OD mode, it has a little less drive available than a Tube Screamer. It has quite a bit more volume available than a Tube Screamer and The TONE control has a similar range. The KoT has less compression than a tube screamer, and also does not boost the mids or cut the low end as much. It does not have a large amount of distortion.

Once we had a prototype that Jim liked and used on stage several times, I emailed the circuit to my collaborator in Japan, Ohbayashi san, and he tried several ideas I gave him. CAMTAC Ohbayashi san has a suberb ear for details like capacitor and chip selection and came up with some great ideas for the pedal- a chip and diodes that made it sound even better! The special JRC chip he preferred was designed for audio tone controls, and has a warm yet clear sound. The diodes are more open sounding, for a stronger, clearer, less compressed sound and more volume. All the nuances of your playing and each string of the guitar will come through clearly.

For more info on this pedal in Japanese language, please check out Ohbayashi san's King Of Tone page.

The Version 4 King of Tone was developed in late 2005 due to popular demand for separate controls for each channel of the original 4 knob KoT. The original KoT was one overdrive circuit, with 2 channels, having separate volume controls and internal configurations. Almost all "dual overdrive" pedals available are like this. The Ver4 KoT is actually TWO overdrive pedals in one box, one on each side. Remember that each side is a separate pedal, and they are the same except for how you set the DIP switches. Each side has an on/off switch, LED, and three independant knobs. Each side also has configuration DIP switches and a TREBLE trim pot on the inside. Having two actual overdrive circuits allows you to use both pedals at once, in series (stacking) for even more possible tones and levels of drive!

Each side has it's own Volume, Drive, and Tone control and LED. We use SUPER BRIGHT Yellow and Red LEDs so you can easily tell which channel is selected. In addition, there is a TREBLE INCREASE knob on the inside of the pedal. This is a small knob or trimpot which can be turned by hand or with a pick or small screwdriver. Jim does not need more treble for his Tele, but I found it allowed some superb tones with my '59 reissue Les Paul through my '69 Marshall amp, similar to the sweet yet biting tones of Michael Bloomfield (I believe he used a Fender Twin amp with his famous 1959 sunburst).

DIP switch settings

There is also a four position configuration DIP switch on the inside of the KoT which you can use to choose between Clean, OD, and DISTORTION modes for each side. I designed this switch to allow almost anyone to be able to find the exact sounds they want. This picture shows the factory settings. It is two pairs of two switches, the left two switches are for the red side and the right two for the yellow side. You can set either side to normal OD mode or CLEAN mode by moving it's OD/CLEAN dip switch (switch 1 or 3). You can set either side for additional distortion, with the DIST dip switches (2 and 4). When you turn one of these DIST switches ON you get significantly more and harder distortion, and a little less volume. When the DIST switch is on you can't get the normal OD or CLEAN modes on that side. See the manual for specific information on setting the DIP switches.

The modes are:

1) Normal Overdrive mode (OD mode): This is the standard King Of Tone sound, which Jim likes best- a little less drive available than a tube screamer. Factory DIP switch setting has this mode on the right (red) channel. This mode can get about 4 times louder than a tube screamer if desired. This mode engages SOFT CLIPPING like most overdrive pedals.

2) CLEAN mode : This mode has less drive, can be used for clean boosts or clearer, louder sounds. It's like a clean boost with an overdrive knob. CLEAN MODE is even less compressed than the standard OD mode. The factory DIP switch setting uses this mode on the left (yellow) channel. This mode can get twice as loud as the OD mode. You can think of the clean mode as the OD mode with the overdrive removed, allowing louder, clearer tone. But the drive knob still functions and can add some drive to the sound, and volume as it's turned up. It's a cool sound with the drive knob cranked! This mode has NO CLIPPING, like most boost pedals.

3) DISTORTION mode : This mode has more drive than the standard OD mode- a touch of hard distortion. The sound is more compressed, yet retains the King Of Tone character. This mode can get about twice as loud as a tube screamer. Think of this mode as a cross between a Boss DS-1 distortion and SD-1 overdrive, with more clarity. We recommend most players use the OD and CLEAN modes. While the DIST mode sounds great, and I like to use it on certain occasions, it's not the most popular KOT setting. The DIST mode is better with the HIGHER GAIN option. This mode engages HARD CLIPPING like most distortion pedals and some fuzzes. It's best to turn the OD dip switch down when using the DIST mode, especially with the higher gain option to avoid duplicate clipping (soft and hard clipping together). But try the OD switch both ways when using distortion.

Either side can be set to any of the three modes, with the DIP switches. I recommend setting the right side for most distorted sounds and the left for cleaner, then when used together you get more of a volume boost. But if you want more distortion and compression, you can try it the other way around too.

At low DRIVE settings, or when playing softly, there is not much difference between the three modes- they all clean up very nicely as the clipping does not start until you turn the DRIVE knob up higher. This pedal cleans up a lot better than a Tube Screamer type pedal, if you play softly or turn your guitar down they will not have the underlying fuzziness that most pedals have.

DIP switch simple chart

Dip switches are RED OD, RED DIST, YELLOW OD, YELLOW DIST.

both sides clean boost : off off off off

red side OD, yellow side Boost (factory setting) : ON off off off

red side clean boost, yellow side OD : off off ON off

both sides OD : ON off ON off

both sides DIST : off ON off ON

Voltage of King of Tone

Running the KOT at higher voltage will give it some more headroom and clarity, especially in CLEAN BOOST mode. New KOT pedals can be run up to 18V no problem. On older ones, you may have to check, as the electrolytic capacitors determine the maximum safe voltage. There are two of them near the power jack, between the two white TREBLE trimpots, C10 and C11. They are 100uF and will have a voltage listed too, 16V or 25V usually. They are sometimes mounted on the bottom of the board which makes it tough to get to them. Don't exceed the listed voltage on them. We used high voltage caps in the last several years for 18V usage.

Players of the King of Tone

On the left is King of Tone pedal number 1, used by Brad Whitford on Aerosmith's late 2003 and 2004 tours of the USA. Click on the picture for more info. He was still using it when I saw his board in 2006. Other early users of this pedal were Mark Karan, Dave Malone from The Radiators, Steve Kimock, Andy Powell and Ben Granfelt of Wishbone Ash , and Al and Chuck from moe. Also Sid McGinnis was using it on the David Letterman show, and likes running it in front of his wah sometimes for a really cool tone when they play Clapton tunes. I sent Sid several chips to try (he loves tweeking!) and he likes the TS-808's JRC4558D chip in his KoT with his 50s Strats and Teles into his tweed amps. On the right is part of Dave Malone's pedalboard from January 2004, with the King of Tone nestled between his old reliable TS9/808 and Analog Man Clone Chorus. The KoT works great along with a tube screamer for some extra drive and thickness. Click on it for some more pictures of him from the show.

In spring 2004 Noel Gallagher from Oasis got one and is using it a lot along with his mini bicomp and DD-6 with high cut mod. Scott Coney from the George Jones band was lucky to score a used one and it replaced his KLON. John Rzeznik of the Goo Goo Dolls got one in early 2006 and I hope to see it on tour promoting his new CD. John said It's amazing, I love the articulation I still get even though it's distorted (heavy but not metal) and the boost is perfect for solos. Rontrose Heathman (RIP) of the Supersuckers told me he loved his ver2 KoT pedal that he got for Christmas. John Platania has been using his Ver2 KoT pedal with Van Morrison and Chip Taylor among his other projects. Toshihiro Sumitomo of the Japanese band BLUESTONE COMPANY has been using his KoT Ver4 for his awesome slide guitar work on tour along with Chris Duarte. He is also using our AR20DL analog delay and TS808/silver pedals. David Bryson from Counting Crows loves his and got a second one for the studio. Pat Travers has one for studio use, he does not use dirt boxes for live playing though but I gave him a POT to try for that some years later. Rogers Stevens of Blind Melon got a KoT from us in 2007 and says he pretty much left it on all the time since getting it, recording their new album. Shayne Hill from Sawyer Brown used a V2 KoT for three years, then got a Ver4 in late 2007. He wrote: I think I have owned every pedal made Mike, and this KoT Ver4 is far and away my favorite overdrive ever..... period. . Phil Caivano is using his KoT with Monster Magnet, he says it sounds killer with his SUPRO amps and also runs it with our TS9/808/Silver mod. Kenny Wayne Shepherd got one from me on the Experience Hendrix tour and it was steadily on his pedalboard in 2008 and still on it today, plus he's using it in the studio. He used it all over his 2011 album How I Go, Kenny said it sounded awesome through his Tweed Twin reissue and two Dumble amps that he used. I brought Doyle Bramhall II a KoT when I saw Kenny in '08 and Doyle was using it on his Arc Angels tour in 2009.

Luther Dickinson joined the Black Crowes for their 2008 tours and grabbed a KoT before heading overseas for the first legs. He wrote me: Hey! Just got home. We went 'round the world and the King Of Tone sounded great thru every crazy backline amp I had! It saved the day! Thanks, bro! LAD. Rich Robinson of the Black Crowes got one from Jim Weider while at Levon Helm's studion in Woodstock, and used it on a few tracks of their 2009 album. Rich was using it along with just a wah when I saw them play their last live show at the barn on 3/7/09, which was also recorded for the album and maybe a DVD. Here is a picture from Levon's. J Mascis has some KoT pedals that he uses live for his clean (!) tones, with the higher gain option of course. Mick Jones (Foreigner) is using one live with his JCM 900 SL-X, and in the studio, along with his Analog Man chorus.

Marc Ribot got a ver2 KoT in 2008, he's a killer player! I first saw him with Robert Plant and Alison Krauss on the CROSSROADS TV show, strangling leads out of his old 1950s Harmony guitar. He got a Ver4 as a backup in 2009 and said, can't tell you how much I enjoy the analogman pedal. As far as i'm concerned, its the best distortion ever. Marc used the Kot on Plant/Krauss "raising sand", The new Marriane Faithfull and Joe Henry albums, Upcoming Norah Jones, Grace Potter, Jakob Dylan, plus everything he's done with John Zorn. His old VER2 KOT was worn out after hundreds of shows and several repair trips back to our shop, so I traded him a NOS Ver2 for his, which is now in our museum.

Steve Rothery of Marillion used his KOT for all his solos on his fantastic 2016 solo album The Ghosts of Pripyat, sometimes into a Jester pedal for heavier sounds, into a Pitcher Dumble clone. He also used our Mini Chorus for most of the cool leslie type sounds on this solo album, and also the recent Marillion album.

Buddy Miller, the other Plant/Krauss electric guitarist, has an awesome Buddy and Julie album called Written in Chalk. Buddy got a KoT in 2009 and said he was taking it on the road along with his Bicomp after he recovered from his heart surgery. I saw Buddy playing with Robert Plant's Band of Joy in NYC in Sept, 2010 and the KoT was on the board, he said he left it on almost all the time. Another Nashville player, Brent Mason, has been seen with his V4 KoT in recording sessions and borrowing Sol Philcox's KoT pedal when he plays out. Sol is a Nashville session player and lead guitarist for Jake Owen. Sol said, I've never known of a pedal to record the way the KOT does. It does something to guitar tones that's just phenomenal. Sol has both sides set to the BOOST mode to push each other and the amp.

And yet ANOTHER awesome Nashville axe-slinger, Bill Hullett, wrote:

You once again have created a pedal that once you hear & try it you'll wonder how you did without it!! The complaint that everyone always has about distortion pedals is that they sound fizzy or buzzy and you tweek and tweek and if you're lucky you find something tolerable at best and you have to weld the knobs down to ever use the thing.... With the King Of Tone you can tweek and tweek and all you get is a boatload of great variances of world class amp style distortion....It sags and breaths just as if the amp were creating it!! and the touch sensitivity of the pedal is light years above anything I've ever plugged into to try and get distortion !!!! Thank You for designing and building this!

Brian Wooten (Trace Adkins band) got one in 2008 and sent in in for the higher gain option in 2009. Yet another Nashville ace, Kenny Greenberg, got his KOT in 2011 and has been using it for recording sessions and live shows (Bob Seger, etc). And of course Homeskoolin's "Uncle Larry", Tom Bukovac in Nashville, has been using his KOT pedals on sessions for years on too many hit albums to count .

Benny Yurco from Grace Potter and the Nocturnals got a KOT in 2011. He showed it off on a Premier Guitar gear video and said "I'm just addicted to it, every time I step on it, it just drives to the next level and century." He got another one for their 2012 stadium tour with Kenny Chesney.

Chris Leuzinger, who played electric guitar on all of Garth Brook's CDs, plus many, many, many, more, bought his own KOT pedal in 2012 after using a friend's. Chris wrote me:

I had a chance to use the pedal on a session this morning. All I can say is where has this pedal been all my life! It's really awesome, what a smooth distortion sound!

Ariel Posen, dubbed by Rolling Stone "a modern-day guitar hero", has been using his KOT a lot for his unique, rootsy sounds.

Chris Masterson who also played guitar w/ Steve Earle and The Dukes bought a KOT in 2011 and has been using it since then including on some of Steve's records.

Mark Ford has some KOT pedals along with Sunfaces, Sun Lions, etc. He said his KOT was on all the time during his 2014 tour.

Jeff Stinco of Simple Plan got a KOT in 2010. The band had another hit in 2020 with a 20 year old song of theirs through the âIâm just a Kidâ challenge on Tik Tok...who would have thought? Jeff told me: "I'm using your king of tone pedal on everything. It's featured all over our next record coming out...whenever it's not the end of the world anymore ;-)"

Here is Sid McGinnis playing with the Jim Weider band. Sid has both channel set to the CLEAN setting. He has the TREBLE trim pot turned up a bit, to keep his 50s strat bright and clean on the bridge/middle pickup position which he uses for noise reduction. He uses the volume control on his strat to either get a REALLY clean sound, or cranked for some drive. He goes to his Boss DS-1/Pro (analog man PRO mod) for even more distortion. His DS1/pro is set for minimum gain so it's still not very distorted. The SIDTONE tweed deluxe clone he made does not have a lot of headroom, so it does not need much gain from pedals. But the King of Tone pedals works great for it. Sid had been using his NKT SUNFACE more often, along with his Fender custom shop low power Tweed Twin amp or his modified bandmaster SID-TONE amps. Here are more pictures of Sid and Jim from June, 2004.

Here is a note from Carl Verheyen, one of the tastiest players ever :

"I've always believed that the guitarists that get a huge distortion sound using nothing but single coil pickups are usually the ones with the most original and identifiable tones. That's because it's harder to find the perfect combination of guitar-pedal-amp that gives you the saturation needed to play freely, and yet still hear all the notes with clarity. The Analogman KoT pedal fits right into that mold, and gives you 2 separate options as well. I also use the Beano pedal for a super tone-full boost. Thanks Mike for having such great ears!" --- Carl Verheyen 2008

Carl emailed me again in mid '09:

"Just a quick note to tell you I am REALLY DIGGING the King of Tone! That pedal gets better with every use and I sure appreciate being on board. You so rock! Thanks again for everything, Carl"

I was reading his excellent July, 2011 column in the back of Guitar Player magazine and was happy to see him mention the KOT in studio use. I thanked him and got this reply : "I also used it all day long yesterday on the new Mission Impossible movie! Great pedal, thanks again...."

Warren DeMartini (Ratt) got a KoT in early 2010 and wrote John Levin (Dokken) turned me on to it and it's smoking hot!!! A few months later, Guitar World magazine did an equipment diagram for Warren and his King of Tone pedal was featured.

Jimmy Herring sent me a note in early 2011:

Just a quick note to say THANKS for everything! I finally got a little time off and broke out my '73 Super Lead and the KoT pedal. MAN, I grabbed a '63 strat and just cranked it, mostly using the clean boost side of the KoT. It IS ridiculous! I thought that was good till I grabbed the Jerry Jones Baritone Guitar... then I was just plain stunned... I love that pedal! It goes great with an old Marshall!!

Breaking out that old Marshall was key... I had no plans to, but it had been sitting for the better part of 10 years. It needed to be played! I tried it with a variety of OD's but the KoT won! Honestly, I just used the clean boost side, cuz the amp was cranked and had a pretty happening sound without anything in front of it. The KoT was the ticket! It sounded killer with the strat, tele, and the Jerry Jones bari was just over the top! I'm getting another JJ guitar after hearing that!

Gwyn Ashton, a great blues player from Australia in the UK, got a KOT in 2011 when doing some recording in LA. He wrote :

Got the pedal and used it over the weekend.

Fan-fucking-tastic! It's booted everything else off my board, including my Blues Breaker, which I thought nothing would ever do.

Thanks mate!

Gwyn

Brandon "Taz" Niederauer got a KOT in 2017 and has been using it ever since, with a TS9/808/Silver. He stopped by Analog.Man in 2018 and added a CompROSSor and ARDX20 analog delay. What a great player!!! He came back (at least a foot taller!) in early 2021, after playing his KOT, Comp, and TS9/808 for his scorching instrumental rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" prior to the start of the AFC Championship game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills. He and his other guitarist Matt picked up some Sun Face pedals.

Nick Hexum from 311 got a KOT with higher gain RED side in the summer of 2011. He compared it to several of his other OD pedals and it won out. He's using the KoT live every night now and was still using it when he ordered some CompROSSor pedals in late 2013.

John Petrucci of Dream Theater got a few of our pedals in late 2011. John kindly mentioned the KOT pedal in the February, 2012 Guitar Player magazine with him on the cover, and you can see it on top of his rack. John sent me a note:

Hi Mike. Thank you so much for the pedals! The KOT is amazing. Just the right thing to put in front of the Boogie for leads. Doesn't mess with the tone and just really interacts perfectly with the Boogie's gain character. The TS mod is really cool as well although I favor the KOT. Great Mini Bicomp pedal too! Very nice work Mike and again, thanks! JP

John Konesky of Tenacious D got a KOT V4 in 2012 for their upcoming tour. He wrote:

Ho. ly. shit.

There is no better overdrive. This thing is absolutely incredible!!!

Wow wow wow. Simply speechless.

Thank you so so much for sending it. It will be my go-to for sure. I got to hang with him at a D show in CT later that year and they were fabulous!

Dave Hanson has been using the KOT with The Dunwells but it got rained on at Lollapalooza so we needed to fix it up.

Gary Clark Jr. was using a KOT along with his ARDX20 and Astro Tone fuzz on tour in the summer of 2012. Watching from backstage, I noticed that he often ran the Astro Tone into the KOT. He also used the yellow channel of the KOT alone for a nice mild OD sound into his Fender amp. Sometimes Gary used BOTH sides of the KOT with the Astro for mayhem! Listen to some of the live shows he did back then the first few years - his tone was really killer back then!!!

Here is a picture of his pedalboard in June 2012.

Tony Rombula from Godsmack got a KOT in 2012 and was still loving it when he got some more pedals for their new album in 2014. He wrote:

Hey Mike, So far so great! Awesome pedal! Worked great in front of high gain amps for boost and also on my vintage amps as well. Great job on the pedal it really does stand up to its name. Just killer tones. Thanks, Tony

Rob McNelley's KOT was on tour with Bob Seger in early 2013, and he also plays with Delbert McClinton and has recorded with Lady Antebellum (Slim, their normal guitarist, also uses a King Of Tone!), Buddy Guy, Jason Aldean, Sheryl Crow, etc. Rob wrote:

I have three different pedal boards and none of them are complete without a King of Tone pedal. It's become a very important staple to my sound whether it's on stage or in the studio. Truly musical pedal! Congratulations to Rob on Academy of Country Music's guitar player of the year in 2013!!!!

Another amazing Nashville player got his own KOT in early 2013 and later used it on every song on the new Kenny Chesney record in September :

Mike, Forgive me for not realizing how absolutely perfect the King of Tone is for my needs. I Heard Rob McNelley's on a session, borrowed Dan Dugmore's Today, and used it the whole session. It was extremely varied from one song to the next, fast and furious (like all N-ville demos, 6 songs in 3 hours (INSANE !!) and it worked flawlessly. Talk about delivering under pressure,that's where I live though. :-) It's actually the solution to a problem I've struggled with for years and always had to default back to a Nobels od and Turbo rat in tandem. I put it through the paces ,It's flawless, straight up. - Pat Buchanan

Bernard Allison bought a KOT in early 2013 and said "It gives me the clean rich tone on the yellow channel, and adding the red channel gives me that amazing overdrive I've been searching for. Analog Man you're in a class of your own, Excellent handwired work!". He bought another one in 2015 for his second board, then tried both together and wrote : I chained two king of tone pedals together and removed my banzi cold fusion pedal, all i can say is omg!!" Now he's running two KOT pedals on his board, saw a picture of them in late 2022.

Jon Carin has a KOT, along with some other AM pedals, on his keyboard and guitar rig with Roger Waters. He's been working with Pink Floyd and their members' solo projects since the mid 1980's.

Andrew McKeag from The Presidents of the United States of America got a KOT in 2013 and said, "Got the KoT and it RULES! Super into it!:

Imagine Dragons Guitartist Wayne Sermon was using a KOT as his primary OD pedal in fall of 2014 and bought two more, so they would have one for each rig.

I met Anthony Drennan (the Corrs, Genesis) here in CT playing at the Mike and the Mechanics show in 2015. He got a KOT and says it's now his main sound, and he's using it all the time.

Jack Petruzzelli (Fab Faux, Patti Smith) got a KOT and used it on a three-month tour in 2015 with the Patti Smith band, then bought another one for his second pedalboard.

Drew Emmitt from Leftover Salmon got a KOT in 2015 and wrote:

Just wanted to tell you that your King of Tone pedal is the bomb! I have used many overdrive pedals over the years from the real tube to the v-twin, Tube screamer, Blues driver, Boutiques ,etc, etc. This is the smoothest and warmest overdrive I have ever used! I freaking love it! Thanks for building the best overdrive pedal known to mankind! Cheers! Drew

Eric Krasno from NY (Soulive, Lettuce, etc, etc!) got a KOT in 2012 and used it up by 2017 when he needed a new one. He said he's leaving the yellow side on almost all the time.

Chris Frame from Son Volt got a KOT in 2017 and wrote :

Mike, I've been using the King of Tone as my main dirt for the entire Son Volt Notes of Blue tour. It has performed flawlessly. Sounds so good. I like the way it keeps enough of the low end intact and the break up is really sweet. It's an excellent tool. Thanks for doing what you do! In mid 2018 he said: I just did guitar tracks for the next Son Volt record and the King of Tone is all over it. It was the only drive pedal I used. Sounds killer.

Fred Fairbrass and Right Said Fred are playing some big shows in Europe. He ordered his KOT and likes it a lot, so got another one, plus a bunch of our other pedals. Check them out for a fun show!

Lead guitarist Adam Hann from The 1975 uses a KOT on his large pedalboard.

Samantha Fish got a KOT and mentioned it in her VG Magazine interview in 2018.

Charlie Daniels had tried our king of tone on a session in 2018 and contacted us for one. He was able to use it for the last few years of his life. He had sent me a kind note thanking us for the pedal, and mentioned it in the vintage guitar magazine article from early 2019. I asked him about his favorite Les Paul southern rock model, which he was involved with. He told me it was the best Gibson product he had ever owned and I started looking for one back then. I was surprised when I was contacted by his tech in early 2021 to see if we would like some of his pedals back, in thanks for providing the KOT. He had quite an assortment! I am so glad to display these on our favorite customers display area. He even kept the boxes in great shape! rest in peace, Charlie, sorry I never got to take you up on your show invite.

Peter Stroud from Sheryl Crow's band and cofounder of 65amps got a KOT in 2018 and says he loves it with his Marshalls. It was seen on his pedalboard in 2019 front center.

Lee Harris from Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets band got a KOT and BiComp for on his touring board in 2018, and in 2019 he added a Sun Face NKT red dot, and some prototype pedals and an Albatross wah mod for their 2022 tour.

The legendary Uli Jon Roth tried a KOT in 2018 and liked it, so we sent him one and I was able to catch him on tour playing it in spring 2019.

Mason Stoops in LA wrote in 2020 : Your King of Tone pedal was my main overdrive/boost on the most recent Jackson Browne tour - still the best sounding/feeling OD pedal out there. Looking forward to adding your modded GE-7 to the board!

Gordon Kennedy, who plays with Garth Brooks among others, got a KOT and POT in 2021 for the coming Garth tours, both for the stadium shows and some cool dive bar shows. Gordon wrote: "I am using the Friedman Dirty Shirley heads into this Box Of Doom ISO cabs for the stadiums. POT marries up so extremely well with that amp. Again, I can't stress how much more I am loving my setup now that your "yellow side" is there! The Dive Bars will have me playing a small Fender combo amp, probably a Princeton Reverb.

I took my old '65 PR amp to Garth rehearsals last week and the KOT just made that little amp do EVERYTHING required for this gig. I used that same setup the weekend before in a band I'm in called The Petty Junkies (all Tom Petty tunes.) The other guitarist is session ace Jerry McPherson. He came up to me after the show and said it sounded like a small Marshall amp! This was my first outing with the KOT. Won't be my last!

Thanks again for creating such a musical instrument!"

In 2020, Warren Haynes' recording engineer brought a KOT to a session and they liked it so Warren got one of his own, and has used it on slide and on many guest appearances (they can make a backline amp sound great).

Sound Samples

There are some videos and a few mp3 files HERE sorry we are working on more but making pedals is taking priority. Also it sounds so different on each amp that we will need to get several amps together to give you a good idea of the capabilities.

Here's Kenny Wayne Shepherd in early 2012 showing his KOT. : Premier Guitar on Youtube

Here is a video of Buddy Whittington playing with John Mayall's bluesbreakers. He is playing a friend's '52 Tele and Carmen Ghia amp with the red channel of the KoT. He usually uses just an amp's distortion, but playing in small clubs he is often using a Carmen Ghia with the KoT to add a lot of versatility to the amp at lower volumes.

Here is a video of Jim Weider playing it through his Fargen JW40 amp

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Here is a video from Jim Weider's 2009 PULSE album, Squirrels in Paris, using both sides of the KoT for the melody parts (around the one minute mark), and an upcoming Analog Man distortion pedal on the leads around the 3 minute mark. This album was recorded live in the studio with his Fargen head into an old Marshall 4x12 cabinet.

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Here is a clip from Doug Doppler which will be on his GET KILLER TONE dvd series. It's an Ibanez S470 into our KoT Red Side (overdrive setting) with the Drive knob up high and tone at 12:00, through a '59 Bassman reissue. KOT Here Down with the Tone

The next clip has both sides of the KoT on, with both drives up high. Doug played with his fingers and the bar to get some extra gain and grit.

AnalogMan KOT BecKing

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Here is another heavier demo, from John Wesley. John is an American guitarist and singer with several great albums out and is best known for his live guitar work in the fabulous British Prog/Alternative/Metal band Porcupine Tree. Here John demos the KOT, and also shows the Peppermint Fuzz running into it, and running the KOT into his Mini Chorus. He uses his normal dirty Marshall amp with his Paul Reed Smith PRS guitar. He's also using TheGigRig switching system to control the pedals and amps.

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We don't have many clips with an AC30, so I was glad when I got these from Rich Jevons playing his Historic ES-335 into a Heritage AC30 amp. ( All I've seen ). Also check out Sweet little Lady on our Sunface page with the same guitar and amp.

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Alternative, heavy sample:

Check out grandfather for some really cool sounds, totally unlike most on this page. It was recorded by Steve Albini at his studio, a 62 Reissue Strat into an original 1965 Fender Deluxe Reverb (volume on 5). Click on AWOL to hear that song, the KOT yellow side is on for the whole song.

Here are two more clips from Bill Hullett, one of the great Tele players in Nashville. Bill recorded his Tele and KoT through a Hullett tweed deluxe.

Yellow CLEAN channel vs Both sides on. Thanks, Bill!!!

A really fine pedal should sound good when almost anything is plugged in, and into just about any amp.

Here's Tom Wright playing an electric Mandolin through the KOT into a Crate powerblock amp, no tubes! Street Fighting Man, KOT turned on after a few bars.

Jimi's RED HOUSE with more drive.

There is a good review of the pedal for more info on how it works and sounds at Peerless Tone.com

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Setting the knobs

Daniel from thegigrig.com made a cool video of how to set your OD pedal, going into a clean or dirty amp.

PRICE and FEATURES

Price is $325. Sorry we had to raise the price in 2018 due to China trade tarrifs raising the cost of our new parts, and again in 2022 as the obsolete, hard-to-find parts are getting much more expensive too. We had to raise it in 2023 again as costs for everything went way up. We have the Prince of Tone and Duke of Tone now if the price is too high for you.

Optional HIGHER GAIN $10 per side

Optional external mode toggle switch for red side $50

Optional 4 jack version $50

Optional second output jack, not possible with 4-jack option $10

Optional second (output) Power Jack $15

True Bypass, like all of our Analog.Man pedals.

Optional buffer for buffered bypass (no battery room) $45

Can use a 9V battery, or 9V to 18Vdc. Some people really like the sound at 18V.

Can replace two or three pedals- Overdrive, Dist, and Clean boost.

True Bypass ON/OFF Switches, does not alter your sound when OFF.

Separate VOLUME knobs

Separate DRIVE knobs, drive amount is independant of volumes.

Separate TONE knobs

Hi 1 Mega ohm input impedance to keep guitar signal strong and clean

Internal TREBLE knobs, allow dull guitars or amps to shine.

Runs on internal battery or Boss style 9V DC power adaptor

Uses low current, about 6-10mA. Battery should last nearly 100 hours.

Medium size, big sound! Jacks on top for best layout on pedalboards.

Size is 4.75" wide, 3.75" long, and 1.5" tall not including switch etc (about 2 1/8" tall to the switch)

Super bright RED and YELLOW leds, you will know when it's on.

Options - only available on Version 4

Mode toggle switch

We can mount a three position toggle switch on the pedal for external OD/Clean/DIST setting on the red side. Middle is clean position, others depend on how my builders wired up the switch. Set the internal DIP switches OFF for the red side (clean mode) then you can use the toggle to choose OD, Clean, or DIST mode. DIST mode will have the least volume (test with drive knob up high). It is not available on the yellow side or both sides. This is a $50 option.

Four Jack option

If you use a remote switching system, or want a pedal or pedals between the two sides of the KOT, you might want separate inputs and ouputs for each side. We can offer a four jack Ver4 option for $50 on a new pedal or $75 as a mod. You can still use two jacks like the normal KoT and go through both sides. The jacks are "normalized" so when you plug into just the two outer jacks, the signal is routed through both sides just like a normal KOT. This option may not be possible if you have an older KOT, as there may not be room for two more jacks. We have been spreading the jacks further apart on KOT pedals starting in 2015 or so, which allows adding the extra jacks. See the picture to the right and you may get an idea if we can add 2 jacks to yours.

Four Jack explanation

Think of it as two normal pedals side by side and it will make sense. From right to left it's red in, red out, yellow in, yellow out. If you want to use just 2 cables, use the outer jacks and it's like a normal KOT.

Higher Gain option

We also have a new HIGHER GAIN option available starting in 2009. It increases the DRIVE knob setting by a few numbers, in any mode. It moves the ENTIRE range higher, what was 12:00 on drive is now about 9:00, etc. With this option, you can no longer get the sounds of the normal gain pedal with it's drive knob turned down low. But almost nobody runs the normal gain drive knob below 11:00 or 12:00. You can still get a fairly clean boost in CLEAN mode with the drive turned down all the way. It does not really change anything else about the sound. You should be able to get the same sound as the normal version, by turning the drive knob down a bit, except for the original settings below 11:00 or so which are no longer available.

We can put the HIGHER GAIN option on either side, or both sides. A lot of people run the DRIVE knob on the OD side up all the way- with this mod you can reach the perfect setting if you wanted it to go up a little higher. Even the CLEAN mode with the higher gain option sounds great with the drive up all the way- cool, responsive distortion without the clipping/limiting/compression of most overdrive pedals. And of course it really helps to make the DISTORTION mode sound bigger and thicker.

I recommend the higher gain option on your OD side for almost everyone. Setting the red side to OD and the yellow to clean boost (our factory setting) will give a louder sound when you kick on the boost - boost after OD increases volume and thickness. Setting the yellow side to OD and the red to boost will add more drive when you kick on the OD - boost before OD adds distortion.

If I recommend the higher gain option, why didn't I make it standard? Because some people have owned or tried the original KOT and want that exact same pedal. Or maybe they don't turn the drive knobs up high for their playing and can save a few dollars. The Higher Gain option is $10 per side extra at time of ordering a new pedal.

We do not have a kit for modifying your own pedal, as it requires complete disassembly of the board and some tricky desoldering. But we can mod your existing Ver4 6 knob KOT with the higher gain option. No charge for the higher gain mod if you send in another pedal to mod, or buy another pedal. Otherwise it's our $40 min bench charge plus S & H, for either or both sides modified.

Buffered bypass option

If you run through some long cables to your amp, or through some tone sucking pedals (volume pedals, etc) after the KOT, you might want to add the optional buffer to the KOT. If you run the KOT into a pedal with a good buffer like our ARDX20, then it's not needed at all. There is no room for a battery with the Buffer option. The buffer will always be active, so when KOT is OFF, it will be a great buffer. I have a buffer in my KOT because it's in the middle of my pedalboard which is a good place for a buffer. I have another buffer in my ARDX20 delay which is last on my pedalboard, just before the volume pedal.

When KOT is on, the KOT output still goes through the buffer to keep it nice and strong, with a low output impedance which stays clear. The buffer will work great at higher voltages, like 12V or 18V also. See our BUFFER page on buyanalogman.com for more info on the buffer. The buffer is added after both sides of the KOT, just before the output jack. If you get the Four Jack option, the buffer will be after the yellow side when used normally (with two cables) or ONLY on the yellow side when using the sides seperately. The Buffer is a $45 option.

Second Output Jack option

We can install an extra output jack on top, unless you get the 4 jack option. It is connected to the normal output jack so the same signal will come out. You can use this to go to a tuner (great with the buffer option, no tone loss!) or another amp or chain of pedals. If you also get the buffer option, we can make the second output buffered or unbuffered, so you can have one buffered and one normal output. Just put a note in the order if you want that (and add both buffer and second output jack options).

Second Power Jack option

A lot of tuners have a second power jack, to allow sending power to another pedal. It's safe to share power with another analog pedal except positive ground (germanium fuzz). I would avoid using a digital pedal or tuner as they draw a lot of power and can cause noise. This option can help clean up the power cables on your board and give you one more without requiring a Y-cable.

The normal power jack will be labeled IN and should be used to go to your power supply, as this IN power jack disconnects the battery when you plug into it. The second power jack is labeled OUT and can go to another pedal.

When you reach the top of the list you can choose any options that are listed on the website ordering page.

Repairs

Any effects pedal can have issues. But since the KoT is two separate pedals in one box, it makes it easy for the player to debug before, or instead of sending it to Analog Man for repair, saving time and money.

It's extremely unlikely for both sides to have an electronic problem (unless you fried both chips or the power section with the wrong power supply) but if one switch is totally dead, it may not send the signal through to the other side.

Switches

Sometimes a new switch just needs to be broken in. If one side is not switching reliably, hit the switch quickly and firmly about ten times to try to get the internals working. If it's an old switch, sometimes it can be made to work fine by touching up the solder joints on the switch. Take time between each lug, so as not to get the switch too hot.

Chips and components

First make sure the IC chips are pressed in their sockets well. Push down with your fingers while gently wiggling it and see if it goes in more.

Also check the resistors with the flat tops and darker colors, GENTLY wiggle each one and see if one is broken. Sometimes people break one when installing a battery. Make sure no resistors are bent over and shorting out to their neighbor or the case.

CHIP SWAP

If one side is still not working, it's probably a dead chip. You can check if one of the KOT chips died by swapping the chips from one side to the other. If the problem moves to the other side, we can send you a new chip and it will be easily and cheaply fixed. Don't worry about higher gain option, either chip will work fine on either side.

First take a picture of how the chips are installed (one is upside down) so that you will put them in the right way. The DOT on the corner of the chip should go on the side of the socket with a cutout (pin1).

Remove a chip carefully, you can use a small flat jeweler's screwdriver under one end to raise it little by little, one side after the other. Try not to bend the legs. You may be able to pull it out with needle nose pliers but be careful not to break it or bend the legs.

To install, make sure the legs are straight, you can straighten them with pliers. Push it in gently with a bit of rocking.

Hope that helps, if not we can fix it up no problem.