Analogman King of Tone--worth the wait?

[olectric]

I added myself to Analogman's ever-growing waitlist for his King of Tone pedal on December 1st, 2004. At the time, he was advertising a 2 month wait. I've emailed him recently, and the guy is swamped--he's still making orders from last summer! This must be an immensely popular pedal--I've seen one go on eBay for $ 275--almost $100 more than list. Does anybody own this pedal? If so, how do you like it? If not, what other boutique OD/boost pedals do you suggest?

[harrellab]

olectric,

Actually, I just tried a King of Tone out today. I'm a guitar student in college and one of my professors is big into the boutique stuff and is always bringing in stompboxes for us to try. So today he brought some Analogman stuff. We played the K.O.T. through a Fender Deluxe and it sounded great. He also brought the Analogman compressor which sounded good, but I think I like the Keeley comp. better. I'm sure you'll be happy with the K.O.T. when it arrives. As far as other distortion boxes go, a lot of people like Fulltone's Fulldrive 2 and Distortion Pro units(www.fulltone.com), Xotic effects AC booster(www.prosoundcommunications.com), and Robert Keeley's modded versions of TS9's, DS-1's, BD-2's, RAT's, etc. There are gazillions of distortion pedals out there and they all sound different; some are very transparent, subtle boosts used to drive the front end of your amp, while others are way over the top high-gain things. A lot of people have at least 2 or 3 distortion boxes on their pedalboard since they can be so dramatically different. If you haven't already, try using your dist. pedals with a compressor in front...can "smooth out" a good-sounding pedal that might be a little too "harsh."

[olectric]

harrellab--

i actually haven't tried the fulltone pedals. i've heard them through several other players, and nothing really stands out to me. right now, i've got an old carl martin hot drive n boost that i love. it's great--very tubescreamery and totally transparent. i'm really looking for something that isn't as transparent--have you tried any of menatone's pedals or anything from smart people factory? i've heard great things about those as well as nick greer effects. i honestly think it's going to be august before i get my KOT. :( thanks for the info on Xotic--i'll check them out.

[harrellab]

The only Menatone I've tried is the Red Snapper. If I recall, it was one of those more transparent ones, so it might not be what you're after.

[John Price]

I have both the RC / AC Booster pedals from xotic and love the tonal quality from these pedals! If your looking for a booster try the RC Booster it's very transparent with a mild drive giving you that mild breakup and if your looking for more overdrive try the AC Booster, it has great overdrive with a little more compressed feel! Both have great control on the bass and treble!
the one thing I really like is that when you use these pedals it sounds like I have another channel in my amp! they don't alter the tone of my guitar or amp!

Another great booster pedal would be the Ego Booster by smartpeoplefactory (http://www.smartpeoplefactory.com) this is also a great booster simular to the RC Booster......

[mbrown3]

Definitely more votes for Xotic stuff. The RC is just a great, great pedal all around, the AC is very good too, but you have to real selective with the tone controls. They're not like the typical "on/off" kind of tone controls, they really do color the sound quite a bit and have quite a range. They make a big difference. The Robotalk is cool too, but totally different kind of pedal.