Can a pedal be worth over $1000.00???

[Dr. Pants]

The Wrath of Klon. Offer him $125 and post his response here. :)

YES.

[Jupiter]

Originally Posted by Johmo

The Wrath of Klon. Offer him $125 and post his response here. :)

I don't think anything he could write would be able to live up to the genius of that title. . . .

[Enaitz]

Well, I'm not millionaire but I could have bought any of the overdrive pedals on a big store I visited 2 weeks ago. But luckily enough, after trying a dozen overdrive pedals (includding a hand wired Tubescreamer), the one I liked most was the Marshall Bluesbreaker II, which also was the cheapest of them all (54 €). I'm fortunate to have such a bad taste when it comes to overdrive pedals...

X-D

The problem is that there are a lot of people who thinks that the difference between a 150 € overdrive and a 800 € overdrive is valuable the same way as the money difference between them, and they tend to think something like "Am I going to be sound bad when I could sound great just by 500 €?".

I think it's a matter of taste, a Kandinsky may be cheaper than a Velazquez, but if you like the Kandinsky you should buy it. Except if you don't have your own opinion and you need to buy what has the best reviews. Anyway, if you are gonna be happy by buying a 1.000 $ overdrive, well, go for it, I have a friend who bought a Lord of the Rings sword replica for 300 € and I also know of people that needs a 50.000 € Porsche just to be that happy, so I think 1.000 $ is a cheap prize for happiness (I just hope it doesn't matter much for you the laughs at your back when you tell the people about how much you paid for it).

Anyway, this must be a common problem, I can still remember seeing my mother in a big store trying to find a present for Christmas and saying "The one I really really like is this one, but I'm not buying it: It's too cheap!".

X-D

[Piotr]

There was a guy auctioning a Klon here in Europe, I think for 1000 euros. I offered him 99 if I recall correctly, but he refused for some reason... ;)

[TG]

As others have said...if someone pays the price then, literally, it is worth that much.

But if that pedal hadn't been invented before and some company had just made it now to bring out fresh on the market.....then it most certainly would not be selling for megabucks.

[Enaitz]

I've checked eBay, just for curiosity, and found that currently there are a dozen of Klon Centaurs for sale for more than 600 USD, some of them for more than 1000 USD.

I've also checked for finished items, and there are some sales over 600 USD, for example this one was sold for 1225 USD.

Anyway, if I would like to buy one, I'll check this one first.

[JCBurke59]

At least the guy only describes it as 'most sought after'.
He doesn't make any ridiculous claims about its actual sonic performance.

Is it worth that much? Not to me.

He's taking his shot - someone might pay that (or make a high offer that he wouldn't otherwise get if he listed a lower price).

[JesterR]

Oh, again.... This kind of thread appears every couple of month. Do we need to talk about it again?

[11 Gauge]

Originally Posted by JesterR

Oh, again.... This kind of thread appears every couple of month. Do we need to talk about it again?

No, but we will. And I see no end in sight with all of this.

Bottom line is IMO things like that do not represent musician's gear for the sake of it being gear. It is a representation of a trophy/collectible/etc. to be put behind glass, and maybe used on rare occasions when folks come over for the wine and cheese parties.

It's a collector's item, not a player's item.

IMO, even a hard core pro guitarist probably wouldn't throw their $ at that. You see them on the boards of famous pro guitarists, but I contend that it's not the guitarist who is seeking it out - it's a producer/sound guy/guitar tech/etc. - those "staff" that the unknowns don't have.

I couldn't even imagine someone like "an undiscovered Jeff Beck" chasing down a pedal like that on Craigslist. He's got dates to play, and life on the road to deal with. And probably will not blow a good portion of profits from gigs on it, either.

[ruger9]

Originally Posted by soulgeezer

There are six of them, which (I understand) were built by a jackass with an attitude, who claimed to use magic resistors and then proceeded to cover them in Nutella.

To some people (way too many, actually), Nutella = ka-shay, baby! (Which explains a lot about the FB debacle, as well, in my opinion.)

Envy. Yeah, I'm pretty sure it boils down to envy beyond a certain point.

And even after the nutella was removed, and the pedal was traced & cloned, the clones still aren't good enough. Must be the magic resistors only the builder has access to, on this entire planet.

And the envy thing is definitely part of it: until you own one. Then, you fall into one of 2 camps:

A) you realize it's just another OD, and like it or dislike it accordingly, and get on with your life.

B) you feel you must justify all the emotions, waiting, money, and anticipation for said pedal, and go to your death defending it as "THE BEST OD EVER", as tho it's not a matter of opinion.

I fell into Camp A.

And, FWIW, with regards to the "boost thing" the Klon is famous for (not many people think it's great as an OD; it's fame comes from pushing an amp)... I got the Bad Monkey to sound 95% the same. The BM is an 808 circuit, and the Klon is NOT a TS circuit, but the evidence remains I got them to sound extremely similar. Actually preferred the BM.

[ruger9]

Originally Posted by 11 Gauge

I couldn't even imagine someone like "an undiscovered Jeff Beck" chasing down a pedal like that on Craigslist. He's got dates to play, and life on the road to deal with. And probably will not blow a good portion of profits from gigs on it, either.

Beck is always held up as "proof" that the Klon is "the best." Funny... no Klon on his pedalboard here...

http://gearwhore.tumblr.com/celebrity-pedalboards



Also just wanted to add:

the crux of it is, WHEN THE KLON FIRST CAME OUT, it was one of the very first boutique ODs. It WAS unique, and WAS one of the only alternatives to Boss, Ibanez, MXR,.... but in today's world of amazing boutique ODs, if the Klon had just been released last year, it would get not much more than a *yawn* .... an "honorable mention" at best. Granted, it was one of the pedals that helped start this whole boutique explosion... credit where credit is due... but do we still think the Model-T was THE BEST car ever made?

[Jupiter]

Originally Posted by TG

As others have said...if someone pays the price then, literally, it is worth that much.

I think I must be a communist or something, but I really hate that way of measuring the worth of something.

The selling price of something is not equivalent to the worth of something.

[Mike Eskimo]

Besides fat, Americans also uniquely own the "if it costs more it must be better" mindset.

Yeah, I said it...

[Jagg76]

It depends...does it play the guitar for you? That is the question...? LOL

Insane.

- Jagg

[ruger9]

And the hard-to-get mindset: if it's SO popular I have to WAIT for it... it must be better.

Klon, KOT, Echoczar, Cornish...

Now, I love me some King Of Tone. Stupidly sold my first one, and am now on the list for a 2nd one... 2-year wait. But I'm not under the delusion that it's the "holy grail", as I understand the holy grail DOES NOT EXIST. I just like it. So I'll put my name on the list & wait. I certainly won't pay $450 for a used one.

[Mike Eskimo]

And the hard-to-get mindset: if it's SO popular I have to WAIT for it... it must be better.

+1


"I just got on the Tim/Timmy wait list ! I'm so stoked! I should have it by September !"

Meanwhile they're stacked to the ceiling somewhere...

[Vladimir]

Originally Posted by Mike Eskimo

Besides fat, Americans also uniquely own the "if it costs more it must be better" mindset.

Yeah, I said it...

That's unfair. Other folk also have this privelege too ya know.

@11gauge

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought that any historic pedal could be reproduced by a skilled builder at a much more reasonable cost than what a vintage goes for.

Sent from my iPhone using TDPRI

[11 Gauge]

Originally Posted by Vladimir

@11gauge

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought that any historic pedal could be reproduced by a skilled builder at a much more reasonable cost than what a vintage goes for.

Typically, yes.

The "problem" with the Klon is that it was kind of made "overly complex." It uses a charge pump to give it 18VDC internally, and it uses a "dual ganged" gain potentiomenter.

So that increases the parts count, and there are also a bunch of components with goofy values. A few of them are not a big deal, but let's compare it to "another boutique grail OD" that was mentioned - the Kot:

KoT is primarily two tweaked Marshall Bluesbreakers that fit in one box, and can be accessed individually.

The Bluesbreaker circuit is almost stupid simple for an op amp/clipping diode OD. When you consider that it didn't even have buffered bypass, that means that it has less parts than a Tubescreamer! And - there are only TWO values for capacitors in the signal path - either .01uF or .1uF; another layer of uber-simplicity. So your circuit requirement and bill of materials is a slam dunk.

Next: put two of them in one box, and allow some adjustability with fixed elements - turn the clipping diodes "on or off," and add a little trimpot to the tone circuit to allow more or less top end. Swap out the op amp and handful of diodes with something that you think sounds better, and boom...done.

Finally - take the "design process" that was necessary to come up with the KoT, and compare it to what was done with the KC (do a little research as to what Finnegan commissioned and the amount of time it took), and it also lends clues as to why the KC is more expensive and labor intensive to build (you have to remember that builders don't do it as a charity case - there has to be profit on top of add'l labor).

The truth be told, this is what stopped me from building a Nobels ODR-1 clone with true bypass and all that good stuff, because it has a relatively complex circuit with all kinds of odd-valued components. I'd rather build a V1 BB out of parts that are readily available for cheap, and maybe tweak them, and maybe put two in the same box...

The price of a Klone can come down substantially IF one is willing to accept that it can be modified from the original KC design with no changes in sound. That part has actually already been done, but many diehards swear that there are no or only one or two accurate sounding Klones.

That is the LONG explanation.

[noah330]

Originally Posted by soulgeezer

There are six of them, which (I understand) were built by a jackass with an attitude, who claimed to use magic resistors and then proceeded to cover them in Nutella.

To some people (way too many, actually), Nutella = ka-shay, baby! (Which explains a lot about the FB debacle, as well, in my opinion.)

Are you serious? Bill F. (the builder of the Klon) is a very nice guy. I worked in a store in Boston that was one of the first (if not the first) store to carry them back in 94/95. In all my dealings with him he was never arrogant or a jerk.

In fact, I had an issue with my Klon recently and he emailed me about repairing it within 45 mins of me contacting him.

People will pay a lot for the Klon because it is a cool pedal (nothing like a Tube Screamer) and they don't make them anymore. I paid $239 for mine.

I understand people not liking the fact the pedal is expensive or some folks won't like the way it sounds, but you're out of line slandering the guy.

[Mike Eskimo]

Sonically this crap-box comes really close (did an A/B test 3 yrs ago or so) but seems a tad raspier/not as warm. Still a worthwhile pedal if found cheap. :