Yes, they confirmed via an IG DM they used this video…. At this point this video is more useful for people who bought it before the video came out

Yesterday, Jan 30th, 2023, I received a black board pc mounted jacks Klone from TTONE, even though the picture of the one I ordered showed the green board version. (bait & switch fraud) Playing the black board version next to my green board USDREAM2016, which I received two weeks ago, there is a very noticeable difference in both gain AND treble with both controls full up, which is the best way to minimize pot taper variations for evaluation. I am finding WISH to be very unsympathetic to the fact that I was not only sent a very different unit than was shown on the listing, but that it is defective as well. Trouble is, most people receiving these defective black board units won't realize they are not getting a true Klon circuit, because they have no reference, and possibly they are not as advanced as players to be ultra critical about their tone. I am a tech, and sure I can fix this, but why should I have to fix an inferior cheaper unit that was substituted, without my permission, for the one I ordered? So my point is, they can show you the threaded jacks and green pc board, but you may still get a defective black board version, and Wish will tell you that you ordered a Gold Horsie pedal and you received a Gold Horsie pedal, so the seller has fulfilled their obligation. USDREAMS sent me a good one, TTONE sent me a cheap, poorly finished, defective one instead of the green board pedal they showed. To get a refund, Wish is telling me I must send the pedal back to China, at my expense. There will be no money left to refund and I will have spent $40.00 or more for nothing. I don't want a refund, I want the pedal I ordered. This apparently is what you can expect when things go very wrong dealing with WISH companies. When they get it right it is wonderful. Best of luck everyone! :)

@@Rick_Erickson How was it defective? The treble thing came fixed on my black circuit board and I much prefer it over the moskie.

As it turns out, and has already been pointed out here, my unit did not have the pc board error. Apparently they added the missing trace, but it is apparently on the component side of the board. Still, my black board Klone had noticeably less overdrive and less treble "bite" than my green board version. So I did some experimenting. First I read the voltage drop across the clipping diodes and found them to be quite different. on the green board the diodes measured .187V. Pretty low, even for a germanium. The Black board measured .385V one direction and .497V the other. (they are back-to-back so reversing the meter leads reads the other diode. This can be done without removing the diodes, just be sure your pedal is completely disconnected. I happen to have a stash of germanium diodes so i selected some from my stash that were closer to the official Klon reverse engineered schematic value of .35V. Anything between around .25V and .35V should work. The idea was to make two very different sounding pedals match as close as possible. The results were impressive. The green board doesn't sound as harsh and the black board has equal gain and tone to the greenie. While doing that I noticed the battery wires were connected in reverse on my black board, and the in/out jacks had no fiber washers to allow the jacks to be secured without pulling on the body of the jack and possibly damaging them or eventually cracking a solder connection due to the strain on the leads. And regarding the Green board unit, I have read many complaints about the jacks being loose. There is a reason they were not tightened securely which I discovered after taking a 1/2" nut-driver to mine. If you have more than one or two threads extending beyond the jack nut then this will certainly apply to you. The jack-holes are drilled to fit the plastic Cliff/Rean jacks. The stop collar on the threaded bushing fits through these holes, so when you tighten the jacks you are pulling the threaded bushing out of the jack, which destroys it. I had a good LOL when I discovered this. I knew I'd be replacing them with real Switchcraft jacks, I just didn't think it would be so soon. A pair of #11 Switchcraft jacks (or one #11 and one #12B if you have a battery clip) and 3/8" internal tooth star washers and this pedal is ready to Rock! The next piece I expect to replace fairly soon is the foot switch. I see lots of these fail on other pedals. A DPDT Carling would be a good replacement choice. One other minor irritant I found, the disconnect for the battery is on the Output jack, which is opposite nearly every other pedal on the market. If you are swapping the jacks for better ones, it's easy enough to change that on the green board units. On the black boards it would require cutting a trace or two and running a jumper wire to the other jack. I don't plan on using batteries so this is a non-issue to me. So essentially whichever pedal you get, it's bound to have some issues that may or may not need attention right away, depending on if they bother you or not, or if you are strictly using it at home or need it super reliable and the best it can sound for the stage or studio. Any of these are good pedals for the money, but there's really no getting around that you get what you pay for, and $30.00-50.00 is pretty darn cheap for a Klon type build.

See my update below. I am finding that the clipping diode selection in these pedals really is critical to the sound of the pedal. Both my pedals were a bit off from the spec on the published Klon schematic. Swapping diodes for some (selected) old stock 1N34A types I had on hand made a big improvement to both pedals. I'm certain there is no critical selection process at the Wish factories producing these pedals. I predict a side hustle will evolve of "Upgrade & Mod Kits" for these Chinese Klones. In fact I might just jump in on that and offer my own.

Thank you! And yes, I wanted to be honest because I definitely am not even an amateur pedal modding sort of character, and I didn’t want to pretend that I was, just this opportunity to share what I had learned seemed to important to not do the video.

Indeed, I was tempted to try desoldering and realized what a frustrating task it would be, you’d have to pry it off as you were heating it…. Could be beyond my abilities.

Tempting… I am down to 4 of these now and making some options would be interesting

Tried using a cheap camcorder to see if it was better for the multi shot stuff. As you can see the phone does better

Sorry it took so long, busy time of the year for me with work, was so happy to get the last 5 hour window to finish it out

@@BGBSATX no worries at all, it's a miracle that there is a fix for the issue and even more of a miracle that there is a KZfaq video! 😁 You're a legend!

Nice, yeah that’s what I’ve been hearing. I guess this video is still up because 1) posterity, the TTone store basically told me seeing this video was helpful so I feel like I deserve some credit and 2) in case someone who bought from the before they started fixing them needs to know how to do it.

Yeah, as I mentioned in the video I think they switched distributors/manufacturers. Ultimately the color of the pedal doesn’t matter as much as the color of the PCB and this video is a stop gap to help out anyone who got the wrong one…. The way I see it is if they changed distributors once they can do it again, so the info on the stores is less helpful than I had originally hoped, but ideally anyone who watches the videos on this will understand what they have.

Same. I opened my silver/black board and it was jumped already!

Yep, sounds like you are better at soldering than I am😂, glad it worked! And yeah, like I annoyingly mention in the video, the 10% variance in the pots… it would likely account for what you’re saying IMO, as I understand it otherwise the chips are the same etc, but everything can have some of its own character.

I think the gold and silver models on Wish are exactly the same. Just one is painted gold and the other, silver.

@@KarstenJohansson … the color of the pedal housing has very little to do with what I’m discussing here, it just happens that one is silver and one is gold. If I were going by color I would be more inclined to say that the green PCB boards and the black pcb boards are really different, but it has very little to do with their color so much as how they laid out the circuit, which this video covers, IE one of them messed up the treble circuit. My last videos on the subject “Which wish store has the right Klone…” and “wish Klon clone buying guide” explore all of this much more. In fact I could easily swap the PCB’s from one to another and were it not modded the issue would remain. I really recommend you watch the videos

@@BGBSATX Ohh, I thought all the Wish pedals just used the one board. I have one that I got a long time ago, so by now I forgot what it looks like. Back when I got it, I googled and the only model I found (everywhere) had that same pcb so I just took that for granted that it was the one everyone is using. Well, it is mentioned in the video here, but it didn't click until just now. There is a long audio delay for the first half of the video, so a lot got lost in the xlation. Thx... And yea, I'll watch your earlier vids on this. I'm already subscribed from before, but haven't gone back in time yet.

BTW: Ignore that comment about the delay. I think there was network congestion because I just watched the video again and it streamed properly. When I watched it initially, the audio was way out of sync. First time I've seen KZfaq do that, actually.

Oof, that means that it was also messed up… which means the green ones are also suspect now. Unity around 11 is where it’s supposed to be. I’m pinning this, so people know it’s not just the black ones.

Thanks, my wife made it for me, so any time I am making Klontent I can wear it

I know most of those words but I’m fairly useless when putting them together so I’m just going to pin the comment so anyone else wondering what technically is happening can find it here. Thanks!

@@BGBSATX the capacitor looks like an open circuit to DC, and short circuit as frequency goes up. It lets higher frequencies bypass the resistor - i.e., more treble.

Oops, by "loosening", I meant "removing". 🙂

I wish I knew enough about electronics to even explain it, let alone find a way to point it out in the schematics. I could ask my electrical engineer neighbor to help me out, but honestly I’m not sure how well that video would do, for KZfaqrs with limited time to make videos like myself we always have to balance whether something is worth making when we have a list of other videos that would most likely do better. As far as the power jack- yeah it’s still a cheap Pedal at the end of the day, what can you do 😅😅 As far as what makes the pedal go on… I’d be inclined to blame the makers of the Klone, but being that I don’t use batteries this is not an issue I could ever hope to find on my own. Interesting like you said, just… is it worth worrying about, lol. I have my DOD Gonkulator reissue in front of me, when it’s getting power from the jack it’ll turn on no matter what outlet has a cable, or even no cable but tbh this isn’t something I’ve looked at much with any other pedal.

I’m proud to say that after I released this video the wish store with the problematic Klones started making this mod in them before sending them out. As such this now more applies to people who bought from them before this video came out.

@@BGBSATX Wow that’s awesome! It sounds like your video made an impact on them. 👍🏼

Yeah they started fixing it after the video came out, confirmed they had seen this video in an IG DM

@@BGBSATX Well, then i think a thank you is in order for bringing it to there attention. Thanks!

I totally feel for you on this, if you don’t have access to the equipment it’d be a pain. I would consider asking your local guitar tech or guitar center repair etc, they might do it for cheap? But to your question, from what I understand the stores are switching distributors back and forth, USDream2016 used to have the right one and now TTone does, where it used to be the opposite, and now I don’t have a way to tell you which is which at this moment in time without buying them myself… And I’ve done that like 8 times now, I have no more will to do it. Maybe someone on here has bought one recently and can give you a heads up? In the meantime, if you get one with a green PCB it means you’re good if it’s black PCB it means you got the wrong one. I’ve heard if you call them on it quickly they just refund it… I know none of this is terribly helpful but it’s all I got for you at the moment. I have wanted to do deeper dives into how it works on the back end with the stores and distributors (interesting info on the wish Klon clone buying guide) but none of my attempts to reach out have been answered. Also, I think I pissed off TTone (previously CNKlone_) because we had been chatting on IG but they ghosted me after my last video on the subject 😅

@@BGBSATX haha that's funny they ghosted. so all green boards are good to go? go to know

@@levijessegonzalez3629 as with everything else on this subject, it’s subject to change, but those are the facts as I know it right now. Every green PCB I’ve seen was good, every Black PCB wasn’t but now the mod will fix it.

@@BGBSATX thanks for the info

@@BGBSATX I have a USDream2016 Gold Klone on the way right now.....ETA 24 July. I can let you know . If it shows up with the characteristics of the one I have (black board, funky power jack), it will be returned. I kept the ad pics of the exterior of what I bought, but they no longer give a pic of the inside of the pedal. .

Well, first we gotta check the nomenclature, in a Klon Centaur Klone there are three knobs that each do different things…. There’s the gain that’s the OD and it’s a dual gang pot in that it controls both the amount of OD and a wet dry blend of the OD and the dry signal. The output knob is a boost after 10-11 o’clock, before that it’s just a normal volume knob. The treble is a tone knob before 10-11 o’clock after that it boosts… IMO it’s more like a single band EQ in this regard. As far as the 10-11 o’clock vs the 12 o’clock… Even in pedals that work properly there is like a 10% variance in pots that could explain the 12 o’clock to my 10-11 o’clock discrepancy, maybe he got a weird one because I have like a half dozen and that 10-11 o’clock holds up. And of course, maybe someone put the pot tops on slightly wrong on his? If so it would be a simple matter to adjust where they are pointed, and you have to take them off anyways to open up the pedal. Also, in my Klon Clone Wars video where I do the test against an actual Klon Centaur it also is normal’d around 10/11 o’clock. Regardless, I feel pretty good about my ears, and I’m sure he feels good about his ears too, as long as it does actually boost and not just be a tone knob I’d say mission accomplished… the particulars at this level don’t matter as much imo. I really like the idea of doing a switch, if you do it you should make a video, maybe I’ll buy yet another and follow suit, the way the treble knob interacts with the rest of the pedal is definitely affected in more ways than one by how this is layout issue. Not going to say good or bad, just different. Thanks for watching and the interesting comment!

@@BGBSATX thank you for the tutorial! I bought a silver one yesterday off wish. I messaged the seller and he said that the treble issue has been fixed but who knows. When I get the pedal ill test that claim and if its not fixed ill just drill a hole in the case and put a toggle switch on with some washers and nuts and then solder the switch leads to the 2 points that need to be bridged. Should be an easy mod and itll be cool to toggle the mod on and off. Still thinking of a good spot to put the switch though.

@@judebox1185 I wonder if you’re talking to the same guy I have been on IG, apparently he’s with the TTone store, and he saw it too… If I have contributed to helping the industry make this a non-issue for consumers I’d be really proud, lol. But as a player I’m with you, a toggle could be useful, almost would rather they didn’t fix it, lol

@@BGBSATX Yeah lol. I'll update you anyway which could be a few months considering its wish. shipping was 13 euro tho so hopefully that speeds it up a bit. Thanks

@@judebox1185 Hey man, just a general update from me as well… I chatted with the store owners via Instagram and they said the same thing they told you, that they fixed the circuit after seeing my video. Please let me know when you get the pedal, I’d love to know how exactly it was fixed. Or indeed if it was fixed. If it was fixed I’d really like to know if they fixed the actual circuitboard or if they just started adding a glob of solder like I did to everything, they did the way I did it you could still do your switcheroo thing and honestly I love that idea.

Unfortunately without being able to mess with it myself I couldn’t really give you any advice. My litmus test is if it doesn’t sound about the same as your normal clean with the gain at 0 and output and treble at 10-11 o’clock then something is messed up. Using my audio examples in this video should help, but it all comes down to your ears. If they’ve started fixing it…. Then that would be interesting. I’ll ask around, if you get any info it would be of interest I would think.

I got one of these with the black PCB too and this mod did make a difference, particularly at the last 20% of the pot’s taper where you can hear a noticeable treble boost.

It does seem like the company that sells them has started fixing it after seeing this video. It may not be necessary now?

I can’t speak about the new ones, I got mine about a year ago. Still the mod works and if they did change the circuit on the newer models then that’s a cool development :)

If you’re selling it for the original-from-bill-Finnegan price then totally, I’ll buy it.

No accounting for taste

Kind of hard to do now

Someone better at soldering then I might up to use a wire, but just doing the solder puddle worked for me