Analog Man King of Tone

Two stomp swithes..... on - off nothing too complicated.
The adjustment of the pedal's tone is where the tones can really be tweaked. You can spend a day going through all the possibilities, but once you plug it in to "your" board, you'll find that it just does everthing amazingly.

This is where the pedal blew me away. I don't want to repeat too much, so let me describe. There's a song by john mayer called Gravity. if you listen to the opening guitar part, you'll hear that it was recorded using one of his $20,000 dumble overdrive amps. it sounds so warm and clean but with a little breakup in it.
The problem with most pedals is that they can "do" a specific tone, but an overdriven amp dynamically responds to your playing... ie light, soft strumming or picking will give you a pristine sound, but as you increase the attack, the amp starts to break up more and more.
Most of us don't ever get to hear that tone, due to the fact that most of us don't practice with out fender twin amps turned up to 12.

This pedal is the ONLY pedal i've heard that takes your tone and makes it sing. It gives you complete clarity and grit all at one setting.
I play a single coil strat and can have the pedal on almost all the time. I can play the Ramones on the bridge pickup, and then switch it to the neck pickup and bust into a slow blues jam.
This pedal is NOT a Tubescreamer.
a tubescreamer sounds like this pedal would if you took a thick wet blanket and threw it over your amp. everything gets muffled and compressed...... good single tone, but not very versitile.

Having two sides to this pedal gives you the ability to have a clean boost or a second distortion setting. there's a treble boost option or a distortion mode option.
this pedal was created for the ovrdrive setting so I don't think the distortion mode is as transparent, but you get closer to the sound of a boss SD-1. Again, you have two sides and can set any side to any setting.

I like the size of the V4 pedal. It's big enough to feel through boots, but doesn't take your whole pedalboard. I wouldn't recommend a version without tone settings for each side.

so far no issues. it's handmade so I'm sure it will last longer that others mass produced in china.

Mike is great..... always responds to emails.

I play a fender 75 amp with an american strat (lindy fralin pickups)
this pedal makes the guitar and amp so incredibly flexible. I can sit down and just get "lost" in the music. This is an amazing addition.
After waiting two years for my name to come up on the list, i had pretty high expectations. I don't normally write reviews but this is an amazing acomplishment.
I need this on my board.
It has become part of my tone. (at least until I can afford a Dumble Overdrive :-)

This pedal is quite simple to use. Though you do have some controls inside.

Ok, here we go. Two years and $240 later, I'm just not impressed. I sucked it up and waited TWO years for this pedal. I don't even believe it's worth the $240 let alone $400 on Ebay. Is it a good pedal, yes. Is it the best OD pedal I have ever used, not by any means. I actually believe the pedal is a bit sterile sounding. I own better for considerably less money. One thing that did impress me was the volume of the pedal in the "Clean" mode. Worked well for just boosting my distortion channel over the top, but so do about a hundred other pedals. Definitly did not live up to all the hype.

Mike builds solid stuff. Just that simple.

Great Guy!

As I stated earlier, good pedal just not for what you have to do to get one. To me, this pedal would be a good value for $150 bucks and not even in the ballpark of a two year wait. I am pretty bummed about it. I really was hoping for more. One up side was it was easy to get my money back from it! And no I did not sell it for $400 on Ebay. I priced it so low it sold in less then 30 minutes on Ebay.

Very easy to use. Plug it in. Set your Drive, Tone and Volume for each channel. Wail away.

Fender SRV Strat---Fender Blues Deluxe Reissue---'69 Super Reverb---KoT---Keeley TS9 Mod Plus---Keeley Compressor

Very Very Transparent Overdrive. I don't think you will have to tweak that much to pull a good tone from it. In about 5 minutes I had a great sound from it. If you play with a light touch it cleans up great but then dig in and it will set your house on fire. Very responsive and doesn't color your tone like a Tubescreamer or other overdrive pedal. Sometimes color is nice. Then switch on the KoT and forget about your other pedals. I wouldn't lie to you.

Great sturdy construction. Don't plan on finding out if it will take some abuse. Would gig without backup as Analog Mike's pedals are top notch and dependable.

I have e-mailed Mike various questions and comments and he has been friendly and prompt. When you purchase an Analogman effect you know what kind of service you will be getting.

I play blues guitar and this thing has really helped me put my own stamp on MY tone as opposed to sounding like every other bluesy. Been playing about 18 years and have been to the ends of the gear earth. Get on the list for this one if you are into blues or classic rock. I'm sure there are many other styles you could incorporate this into. It ain't gonna get lost but if it were stolen? I would drive around town till i found them...then beat them with it. I paid a lot more for my pedal but I didn't wait on a list for 2 years to get it and don't regret my purchase at all.

It's easy as pie...two switches and four knobs. Also, there are some switches inside the pedal that I have not messed with. Good sounds are a plenty. The KOT seems to thicken what you start with, so if your tone is decent uneffected, the KOT will take your sound and add the level of drive you prefer w/o the compression and midrange coloration that other drive pedals I've tried seem to add. I don't play metal or modern rock, so this pedal is all I need or will ever need. I was on the waiting list for quite a while and I've had the KOT for a little over a year now. Right out of the box, the KOT became my only drive for studio and performance use.

I use new fender guitars and vintage fender amps (tweed, brown and blackface). Besides the KOT I have an old brown fender reverb box and sometimes I may use a ZVEX fuzz factory. No other effects used or needed. I try to keep my set-up simple. The KOT is not noisy in itself, even running full steam, but if your amp is noisy (due to grounding issues or something similar) the KOT will make that louder...So keep your amp in good order. The KOT effect stays true to your sound. The pedal can be subtle or it can drive your tone to an articulate and clear distortion with good definition between notes in the chords. Again, it's the last drive pedal I'll buy.

I've had it a year and I gig a few times a month. I've also recorded with it. No problems yet. I did loose a screw for the bottom plate but that was my fault, not the pedal's.

I haven't needed customer support, but I've heard good things.

The KOT is great. Buy one if you want one. Is it worth the ebay price? I don't know. I guess it's worth what you're willing to pay. It seemed like I waited almost two years for mine. I got on the waiting list early on. It was worth the wait. Compared to other similar pedals I've owned, the KOT wins out. I sold all others.

Appears simple to use on a superficial level. However, it will take a bit of time and fooling around to get it sounding GREAT with your gear.

Fender CS Strat > Fuzzface > Teese Wah > KoT > Maxon AD999 > Deluxe Reverb & 18 watt Marshall or Fender Twin

This pedal is very transparent and overall has a very hi sound quality. It just sounds better than other overdrives. After a few months I tried to go back to my beloved TS808 and it just sounded like junk next to the KoT. It is a different sounding pedal though, no compression, very much like just playing through a good sounding overdriven amp. YOu can set it up to get some gain out it though when using both channels at the same time. Like a snarling Marshall or something...Hi gain but not metal sounding...More like a nice tube amp sounds before it is about to explode...

Very well designed on the inside. Very rugged construction. This is not made in China or wherever...Hi quality caps and resistors on the inside. Rugged wiring and shortened paths; everything is arranged so that it wires up using the least possible amount of wire. Somebody put thought into this and knew what they were doing.

Analogman offers great customer support. He answers questions honestly and if something goes wrong he'll fix it. His whole marketing scheme for this pedal and selling it for only $235 speaks to his integrity. He could farm out the construction for this pedal to Asia and still charge $350 for it. Instead he makes them one at a time, by hand, himself, and charges a very low price.

This is a great sounding pedal. The voice of your guitar and pickups really come through when using this pedal. Their is no coloration. I think that is why some players do not like it or say it sounds like whatever other cheap pedal they own. If you play this pedal with junk gear, your still going to sound like crap...Sorry. Peerlesstone.com gave the best review for this pedal and convinced me to give it a try. They explained how this pedal puts the tone back into your fingers and the KoT pedal will not flatter inexperienced players who don't have their gear and sound together. My favorite thing about this pedal is its versatility. Once you gain some experience with this pedal you can tweak it extensively for your rig. You can even change out the chips because they are mounted on sockets.

Don't pay ebay prices for this pedal; thats just dumb. Get on the waiting list and be patient.

It's pretty straight forward but like anything it takes time to get it to sound how you want it to.

This pedal is as good as it gets but it's way over priced if you try to buy one on Ebay. I have a Barber LTD and a Diamond J-Drive and all three pedals sound EXACTLY IDENTICAL when compared through my '79 Deluxe Reverb at a fairly low volume. The Barber LTD sells for $110. on Ebay while the Analogman sells for $450-$500.
I've read forums where guys own lots of boutique overdrives and they say the Analogman is the best. I can't say that. I think they're either splitting hairs or they play with their at amps at real loud volumes - even then there's probably a very slight difference.

Don't know - just got it.

It's a great pedal but IMO it's not any better than a Barber LTD or a Diamond J-Drive. I actually like the Barber alot because you can change the distortion without it affecting your volume or tone.
The Analogman and Diamond pedals can't do that.
I will actually be selling my Analogman pedal because I have the same sounding pedal but at a fraction of the cost with the Barber LTD.
It seems to me that once overdrive pedals reach a certain quality,
it is impossible to go beyond that quality because that's as good as it can get. All three pedals I have mentioned are fantastic. They sound like your guitar but overdriven.

I just received my version 4, KOT and WOW!! I took me all of about 5 minutes to have two separate kick *** effects set up and ready to gig later that night. The directions are one page back to back and pretty superficial, but unless you've never turned a few knobs before, you figure it out pretty quickly.

I play a G&L ASAT Special Tele >> MORLEY A/B >> Vocalist Live 4 >> KOT >> CRATE Palomino V32 Palomino. The KOT is true Bypass and a very quiet effect. Cleanest sounding OD I've ever played....great for a gutsy Blues sound which is what I'm looking for. SRV, Coco Montoya, Duke Robillard, Tab Benoit, The Kings and Collins, are my inspirations.

Built like a tank as they say....haven't had any problem in the short time I've had it. I've heard good things about Analogman products.

I've dealt with Mike thru Emails....very responsive and informative. No BS

I play Smokin' Roadhouse Blues and some zydeco. Straight ahead rock and roll when necessary. Been playing 30+ years. If stolen, I would hunt the bastard down and steal it back. What I love about it??? They don't call it King of Tone for nuthin'....he ain't kidding...this thing was worth the wait.

This is a King of Tone V4. The manual is minimal which is all that is required. My learning curve was about 15 minutes, however that doesn't mean I won't get a better feel for it as I go. It would be nice to have the internal pots accessible from the outside, but I ended up with everything pretty much back at the factory settings.

I have too many guitars. Or not enough... I have had the pedal for about a week so I should probably hold off but I'm not. The main guitars I have used it with are a Grosh strat, Hamer Newport w/Phatcats, Fender Tele Hot Rod 52, and a Grosh setneck. One of the guys I work with has heard the pedal before and commented that it just sounds like two clean overdrive pedals in one box. On one level that is true. At first I was a little disappointed, especially after a year plus wait. Then I played around some more. I don't use heavy distortion and when I want more overdrive I tend to prefer cascading one pedal into another rather than turning it up more. I play in stereo through a Mesa Express 5/50 and a Savage Rohr 15. The pedal reminds me a little of a Pete Cornish overdrive pedal I had access to for about a week. It took a little while for me to appreciate it. I mean, it doesn't really sound like anything. It sounds like you turned up your amp. So what? Well, nothing except that is what I have been looking for forever. My two favorite overdrive pedals are the Hughes & Kettner Tube Factor and the Reverend Drivetrain II (incredibly good and cheap and gone). The Hughes & Kettner is a great OD that sounds like your amp, although I don't care for it's second channel. The KOT is just as good, the second channel is an extension of the first, although I didn't like the internal distortion setting, and it FEELS right. I have, after a number of years, retired the Reverend, although it will stay on the bench. I am using the KOT followed by the Hughes & Kettner. This is really, really good. I typically play at small room levels and this allows me to get a sound like I am in a big room and turned up. Perhaps not for everyone, but I love it. I had a Hermida Zen drive and, although it is a good pedal, I never understood the buzz. I was concerned that after the long wait I would feel the same way about the KOT. I like it.

Analogman has a very good rep. Other than that, I have had it a week, what can I say?

Reasonably prompt response, funky website.

God help me, I would not only buy another one, I would wait a year for it. If you want to pay double, you can get one off of Ebay. I do respect him for not doubling his price and production and taking advantage of the buzz.

I am guessing at the price. It's been so long since I ordered it I don't remember.

I just received my version 4 about a month ago. VERY easy to get a good sound. The manual is very easy and straight forward to understand. The only reason that I'm giving this a 9 is that you have to open up the back to switch modes from the standard KOT setting to the distortion mode.

I've had this pedal 1 month and have rehearsed and gigged with it. It sounds superb, and does just what Mike states on his web site: It takes an amp at reasonable settings, and makes it sound like it's cranked at 10. Very very natural sounding. I play a 56 relic strat through a 65 deluxe reverb. My effecs are as follows: analogman mini bi-comp, analogman sunface, sweetsound mojo vibe, liquid chorus/echo, king of tone, analogman sd1 808 silver mod, and a cry baby wah. While the 808 silver mod sounds fantastic, it does sound more effected and not as natural sounding as the KOT, although I use it from time to time. Basically, the KOT is the most natural sounding, smooth, overdrive I've used to date. I love this pedal. The distortion mode is also great. It actually sounds more like a smooth overdrive, not overly compressed.

I've only had this a month, but have used analogman pedals for years and never had a problem to date.

never had the need for follow up.

I'm in a regulary gigging classic rock band, and also play blues/blues rock, in another situation. I've been playing over 40 years. I play 2 strats, an 80's model, and a newly acquired 56 relic that sounds outstanding. I mentioned my affects in the sound quality section. I also have a 65 Super Reverb Riessue, but have been taking the deluxe to the gigs. Something abount the sound and vibe of the deluxe. It this were lost or stolen, I'd get on the list again or try to purchase one off ebay. Again, this pedal sounds great. I general use the standard KOT mode.

There is no doubt that is a transperent pedal. But what makes me dissapointed about this pedal is that it CUTS a little too noticable amount of LOW END.
I mailed Mike about this and asked if something was wrong with the pedal, but he told me that it is suppose to do that and that tube screamers do the same.

What I can't believe is that no one has mentioned this earlier on Harmony Central, or have I missed it?

If this pedal wouldn't cut any low end I'd give it a 10 since it doesn't color the tone, just adds another gain stage.

Here we have a major downside with this pedal.
I'm in a power trio, I play the only guitar and sing at the same time, thus in a different situation that the avarage lead guitarist.

A lead guitarist has all the time in the world to switch around with different pedals and such.

I on the other hand have no time at all to see where I have my pedals and have to stomp a little randomly to switch my pedals.
This is not ever a problem with my other pedals, but the KNOBS on the King of tone turns so easy that any SLIGHTEST TOUCH WILL TURN them.
Often I hear my tone sound top endless and see that I've accidently has turned down the tone knob to zero.. =(

I have nothing else to mention on this pedals reliablity. It is otherwise built as a good pedal should.

Great. I've gotten replys on my mails within 24 hours.

I'm going to save the 10 for Geoffrey Teese (RMC) and Jeffrey Lewis (Matamp) though. Better customer support can't be found on this planet!!

This pedal sound great but that low end cutoff bothers me.
The too easy turning knobs is not accaptable, and the pedal is probably coming off my pedal board soon.

My pedal chain for the moment is:
Guitar --> RMC Picture --> King of Tone --> Peterson Strobostomp --> E-H Memory Man Deluxe --> Amp.