So I am on the gear page and read your post about why channels were loosing views. I wanted to respond but just didn't. I think the loss of views is because the Tube is now over saturated with demo vids and they just come across as commercials. With shows like TPS or Wamplers & JHS, players like more informative videos and stories and dialogue, like you did in this video. Nice vid and a good step in the right direction. Kudos bro and good luck with your channel

You really need to keep the cables off the floor to get the best from the Klon. I have mine running along eight three-inch oak blocks with tinfoil inserts so that the cable sheath doesn't touch the carpet. I also keep the amp facing north so that the core in the output transformer doesn't become distorted due to the earth's polar magnetism. Doing this gives me a MUCH purer midrange from my 59 Std.

As the gain gets higher, the Nordvang sounds essentially identical. I think what sets the Klon apart is its slight (and I mean slight) increase in treble presence in the lower gain settings, giving it that "sparkle" that people claim it has. Making it a phenomenal clean boost.

Always been a fan of your A/B videos, and this is a great one.

No drunk in the bar will tell the difference. lol

Christ, I'm never a Les Paul guy, but that soft orange burst is utterly gorgeous

Brilliant vid, bruh... fab editing and you've obviously done your research regarding the stomp and its history... BRAVO!

Top notch production value

Definitely one of the closest I've heard, well done Nordvang. Also LOL at the Friends theme

I don’t think I have seen all klon videos, but this is the best sounding one I have heard! Great job with the information and great job with the audio quality of the playing examples! You just got a new subscriber!

He’s lucky the Klon didn’t give up and die when he played the Friends theme through it. And the Klon won the battle.

This was the first video of yours I've seen. Really enjoyed it and subscribed. The problem with so many of these A/B or shootout videos is that people don't take the time to set the knobs carefully, and also that they play different riffs or even styles with the different pedals....impossible to make a true direct comparison under those circumstances. But you addressed both of these factors so this video is truly valuable. Thanks!

Dude a lot of the goodness of the tone in this video is the guitar and your excellent playing.

How long before the corksniffers claim that the only way to get a great tone is by running a Klon into a Dumble amp?

In the playing example, there were moments I thought I heard a tiny volume or presence increase when using the klon. But through good headphones it only happened during the very first swap, and maybe because I saw you change to it. They then sounded identical to me. The parts that make up the circuit don’t have more magic in them once you are using quality parts. Thanks again I enjoyed it!

Thank you for this. I have older “rock n roll” ears and with nice headphones there were many times I couldn’t tell the difference, especially with eyes closed. That being said, I’d love to have a Klon if only for its historical significance and impact it has left on the guitar playing community. Keep up the good work!

Nice vid. Enjoyed to learn the history and your playing of course.

Spend 80 bucks on a soul food and get the same tone and side by side them the soul food accually has more clarity..

Livingroomgear what riff are you playing at like 120ish. ? What song is that the first one

I love this video. very plain-spoken and no talking down to less-skilled players about this or that. Very straightforward history and nice playing, too.

Great video man!

i dont know if its my ears or nostalgia but i find a difference in tone between nordvang and centaur which is more roundish and smoother i dont know its just me but the best part was you playing friends theme on these now that i would have never expected LOL good fun and nice review quite honest

This is easily the best vid I've seen on the Klon Phenomenon™. Clear-eyed, skeptical, rigorous, and with a great history lesson too. Thank you!!!

You are such a great guitar player and an excellent communicator. I’ve always enjoyed your videos. Thanks for this one

Your lighting looks incredible in this video. Great video

Great vid! Thank you for this. I think I'll be getting the Nordvang.

The Klon thing has gotten as absurd as the 1959 Les Paul fetishism. It sounds ok, but it’s literally indistinguishable from dozens of similar OD pedals or software patches in a blind listening test.

15 minutes of awesomeness. Great video! The Nordvang sounds killer!

I found a RYRA Klone on eBay for like $120 shipped and it's been my go to drive pedal ever since. I've never played a real Klon before so I can't honestly say if they're truly identical, but I do know that the circuit is identical and handmade by some guy in Texas with top-end components. There's a decent bit of glowing reviews online saying it's identical, but all I can say myself is that it sounds absolutely fantastic. Low gain section is a lovely boost and the higher gain levels (past 1-2 o'clock) are super smooth if you roll off the treble knob and can be VERY snarly if you don't (does 80's metal great). I can highly recommend this pedal if you can find one for a similar price.

I've never been able to hear subtle differences in similar overdrives.

Where did you get that ABY? That thing looks sweet.

It cracks me up to see that barely 2 weeks up, this video has 360 comments. Bill Finnegan's monster will never die. Hat's off to the Living Room Gear Demo dude - he did a great job with this one. And I'm impressed by the Nordvang pedal. I have a gold horsie Klon I bought many years ago, after the obligatory interview with Mr. Finnegan (which I appreciated). It's an outstanding pedal, used as intended. I could sell mine for a pile of cash but I'd miss it, even 'tho nowadays I just as often use other ODs. Depends on what achieves a particular sound and feel. I'll never understand why people get so worked up over the love it/hate it Klon controversy. Half the people who hold a rabid opinion on this topic probably have never even played one.

Short answer is yes, you can replicate them. There are plenty of good examples kicking around, J Rockett, RYRA, etc I've A-Bed a real silver Klon again a Wampler Tumnus and my own hand-made klone and could barely tell the difference, certainly no difference that mattered.

When you have a Klon it tells other people that you’re better than them.

But if your song sucks who cares what pedal you use? 😂 Great video. Very well researched. 👍🏼

It's not really hard to understand. Collectors are generally not great or even good musicians. If they are musicians at all. And as such are not really an authority on anything by hype and capitalising on trends. They just invest in the culture and the mythos surrounding music history. Thats literally it. They invest an already inordinate amount of money for something. Pretend like its really special to justify their investment. Other people invest at a now higher price and are forced to do the same thing this process continues ad-infinitum until we get amps that cost as much as a super overdrive or guitars as much as a 59 les paul. There is nothing really that special about these guitars when compared to modern guitars. Really nothing at all. There may be a specific characteristic about them but nothing that cant and hasn't been replicated a thousand times over for much much less money. It's just what it is. Snake oil and bolstered by people that have already made an over inflated capital investment and want to see a return on that. So tldr; No, this is not and has never been about sound. It's all about money.

Great video and there's no doubt that the Klon Centaur a great sounding pedal, but in the end all of these gear comparison reviews and the extremely irritating tone debate are simply subjective. Most guitarist in a blind test wouldn't know what they are listening to, and the vast majority of people in a venue certainly wouldn't have a clue, and quite frankly, don't give a damn in my experience. I used to use a valve amps and multi-FXs units but I sold them years ago and bought the rack version of the Kemper Profiling Amp, and I have no regrets whatsoever. I wouldn't go back to my old setup these days, the KPA does every thing I want, and it just gets better and better with every free OS release. I also have profiles that use the Klon Centaur and a Timmy overdrive pedal, but they're not my favourites. There are plenty of other classic overdrives, distortions, fuzz, boost and shaper effects that I prefer, and there are so many ways to alter and shape the tone on a KPA. The amp section is very powerful, then there's the EQ and Cab sections, and that's all without even touching the effects section! That means I can replicate a Klon Centaur pedal tone, even without a specific Klon Centaur profile. Pedals sound great through a clean amp with plenty of headroom, one of my favourites is a profile of one of Dave Gilmour's Hiwatt Custom 100 head from The Wall tour. Classic VOX and Fenders are ideal and always sound great. Matchless, Two Rock, Ceriatone, Chandler, Cornell, Friedman, Fuchs, Evil Robot and Divided by 13 amps sound good, as well. I've even got profiles of a Dumble Overdrive Special - an amp I could only previously dream about! There's a reason why Bill Finnegan screen printed the words "kindly remember that the ridiculous hype that offends so many is not of my making", on the front of the KTR. Use your ears and ignore what people say, if you like something then go for it, it doesn't have to be mega expensive to sound good.

What pickups are you using?Fantastic sound brother !

Great review!

Great ear (and video); those 2 pedals sound close to identical. Kudos to Nordvang for creating such a great sounding pedal.

Great video thanks!

they sounded the same at first, but when the gain came up you could tell the centaur still sounds way better

Nice to hear some Kvelertak!

Nice rug man 😜 great video sir

I learned a lot! Thanks!

Great video thank you

They sound exactly the same. Great vid. Thanks for putting this out.

Great video. What is the story behind the Vault Boy switcher? I want one!

would someone who has this pedal tell me if it is noisy? As I found few old germanium diodes, would like to build one. I'm concerned that in might be noisy cause it uses switching device and I like everything to be quite and noise free.

MAKE MORE A/B VIDEOS

Got one last year and it’s absolutely the best pedal I’ve ever had by far.

Love the very special gain of the Klon and its clones. Clean boost? Got a Bad Bob for that😁

Silver Klon sounds great! The price sounds great too for a collectors price point. Hopefully it retains a high collectors value in the future.

Lots of headroom , had one . Now use an SRD Rockman X-100 stereo into (2) British DSL 100's . Good Playing !

Klon has a bit of a scoop in the low-mid and seems to add more upper harmonics, Nordvang sounds a bit more compressed and has more of a midrange growl to it, but it could easily just be part tolerances (especially in the tone control pot). Pretty close close, and both sound great which is more important than sounding identical. I'd say the Nordwang combines the best aspects of the Klon and a Tube Screamer in this demo, ironically. I'd say switching between the Klon and the Nordwang is a bit like switching between the bridge and neck pickups on a Tele.

Do all of the Klon pedals contain the circuit? No matter what the outside looks like? (Silver, gold, as well as horsie or nonhorsie?) just curious, incredible story

Fantastic video man. Very objective!

Can you post or link to that A-B box you've got?

I like that Led Zeppelin Riff you kept playing................ ;)

My main low gain drive source is a Mosky Golden Horse (a Klon Clone for a 100th of the price of an original) with the gain at max, absolutely love it

Great review man love you're flame top Les Paul! But yes an iconic pedal that will only go up in value

I actually built myself a Klon Centaur once, to be honest there was nothing really special about it other than a tone with a prominent midrange to it not unlike a TS-9 Tube Screamer, both the Klon Centaur and the TS-9 pretty much do the exact same thing, the Klon Centaur just has a hotter output, I've got a TS-9 and it works for me.

I like the mid range quality of the TS-9. It helps your guitar to cut through a mix or a live band.

Rich people uy klons. Regular working musicians know there are many afordable options out there. In my opinion the Wampler Tumnus is the best Klon clone.

cool hair,great effects. awesome guitaring

For those with no money get the CKK Lunar Drive ! I have it and sounds AWESOME! This Klon stuff is just waaaaay too expensive!!

great video, congrats

It sure sounds awesome👍

I’m going to be doing a demo of the Emerson Custom Golden Drive which is a “Klon Style” pedal. Keep an eye out for it!

I would like to say the A/B pedal you are using is so unobtrusive that I couldn’t hear when you switched. Most A/Bs will pop a little, but this one is very quiet. What is it?

Your paying and the tone sounds great work all of the pedals.

Great Video. They do sound the same and with some knob twiddling they will sound identical. I had a Klon and didn't like it so I sold it, for a profit. I can get the same tone from my B.Y.O.C. Crown Jewel. I use it for a Zen Drive or Dual Recto tone.

When you added the gain, I can hear the difference. Time to sell my house

Very enjoyable video, thank you. I use a RYYA clone which I'm very happy with. But not owning an original BF one, I can't tell how close it sounds.

I thought he said that the edge of breakup is where you want the amp when using the Klon to reach the full on sweet spot of the amp. The very edge of breakup not being the final exact sweet spot. I have a wish clone coming because it sounds 95% the same to me. Close enough for Rick and roll. I do like this circuit but not as the only overdrive. I think it stacks well from what I've listened to so far. And I think it does nice mojo when using the trebble boost in particular.

At th beginning, to me its feels the nordwang got a different mid, dont know i think the centaur was more scooped, but still close enough. Then i could not tell them apart, just amaizingly close to each other.

No question. One of the best pedals ever. Nice video 🙌

Using the Klon as a clean boost is the ultimate flex.

Sounds kinda like the mystique behind the harmonic percolator from interfax. Its supposed to be a huge secret what the innards actually are cause they were intentionally covered too. There have been "recreations", and i really like the Karma Suture from Catlinbread. A very very mellow fuzz. i dont know if the original as special as rumored but Steve Albini (guy who recorded In Utero, he probably would hate thats what i explain him as cause he has been in many bands and produced many albums but thats all i know and im sorry albini. im just an unsophisticated 90s kid) swears by it, and he says every "recreation" doesnt sound right. But the difference could be his percolator specifically from the other originals but no one really knows. JHS has teased theyre looking into their take on it and may have something for it soon. Other than that, most people use the Land Devices remake, and the guy from JHS even says its better than the original to him.

I don't really play electric guitar.. mostly acoustic . But i like that sound! Great video! cheers.

I could hear a difference with the 2. but there were segments at the start of the changes to another setting. Other segments where both were also virtually indiscernible. Where the differences were more discernible, more at the front end of the changes to any settings, where the Nordvang sounded richer than the original Klon. Both were excellent for their tones. I see where the original Klon's settings are more minutely different from the Nordvang's. To me that's an indicator that the 2 aren't exactly alike, but there has to be some attempts to match them by ear. For the most part that matching was pretty much spot on. For lack of knowing the exact differences, the Nordavng sounded a bit fuller when the differences were more discernible to me. I'd say all in all, they're dead ringers for one another, how much you have to pay for the Nordvang to get the original Klon, is there a Mosky out there or even the EHX Soul Food. Wow, the Nordvang Custom #1 is $ 394.29 on Reverb. Compare that to a Mosky for < $ 30 delivered or even the sub $ 90 EHX Soul Food. And the extra switches and whatever the Nordvang has is just a distraction from the simplicity. Anyone playing isn't going to piddle around with that many extra switches. I can see why they charge as much for it though with that much additional manual adjustment designed into the package. I think even the midpoint of this would be a Wampler Tumnus for $ 150. The more I think about the direction my post is going, bang for the buck, I'd never actually use a $ 3-4K original Klon and I wouldn't ever go $ 395 for a Nordvang. To actually use every day, the Mosky sub $ 30 pedal, Golden or Silver Horse is the best option, the Soul Food a close 2nd and the most I think anyone would go is the Wampler Tumnus for an always on pedal. With the Mosky, you can buy a starter & backup Horse/Centaur for less than the EHX Soul Food MSRP's at.

"Shut up turd we're watching Friends!" -Shelly Marsh

After owning 20 OD pedals, including 4 Klones, I settled on Walrus Voyager.

The Friends theme song is what convinced me of everything you said

Nice video. I've tried a gold centaur worth strabillion$. yes, it was a great overdrive no question, but nothing that I can replicate with a good overdrive and an eq saving the 90% of the price tag. I think that the rarities of the models, the history and the mythology around the pedal are the real factors that make this pedal so expensive. on the other hand, if a good rare historic and mythological overdrive inspires you and let you feel and play better is worth all the money of the world.

Maybe I have to try one. I've never seen a demo where it sounded like anything other than I turned a knob on my amp. It must be a feel thing because I hear no sound improvement or even change...just louder or more gain. To me, a boost or gain pedal has always been to fix something my amp has wrong. This would need a reason, which I don't have, I guess? PS: great video!

I seen a centaur in Minneapolis Minnesota back in 2013 and the only wanted $300 for it I thought it was crazy but now I should have bought it

I got a kit to make a clone of a Centaur. It does sound quite good. I like it very much.

I had a 64 Tremolux stack in late 80's-90's that I used with a digitech distortion. I was ok, but once at a back yard party. I let others use my amp. A guy put a compressor in front of it but seemed to be using it only as a boost. That amp never sounded better.

Klon... the Dumble of pedals...

It’s such an insane amount of money for such a subtle effect

It's interesting that you played the Friends theme. The lower gain settings on these pedals always reminds me of 90's rock like Gin Blossoms who all had a kind of vague low-gain distortion on jangly guitars.

No.1 seems like it has a little bit of low mids/mid push, and is a hair brighter. This Centaur is just a smidge more aggressive around 2.5 kHz -ish. But damn close considering the price difference!

I really like watching your ears go up and down... Nice lecture too! Oh, I forgot... You WAIL! I could listen to you play for days! How do I hear more?

Ive heard on in person through a very nice and powerfull marshall, it was nice but didnt hold up as well in higher volumes. I then heard the guy play 3 other boutique pedals that completely left it for dead! I didnt think it was special at all

Where did you get your vans!?

I try to do a blind listening...and Is very difficult find the original...

An A/B test with the Soul Food sounds completely identical lol

I was gonna say that I heard more bass less treble on the Nordvang, and liked it, but then you changed settings and I could hear 0 difference, and looking, I think your Tone knob was barely barely barely off on some of the settings. So I'd say this is definitely on my to-clone list!

to me the Klon sounded clearer in the A/B test. A little difference that would make THE difference for me. The Klon is great, the other is a bit muddy. Could you match the sound pushing the treble a little?