Pandemic Pedal #006

I had a lot of trouble getting this pedal to work without the whining oscillation from the charge pump. I really liked the sound but some chips got hot. Others were noisy. Finally got it sorted. Used AMANICMAN as a possible brand since I am bipolar.

I spent a lot of time on the look of this pedal. I did not like the way the knobs were not evenly spaced, so I had to wire up the potentiometers so that I could adjust their locations. I also put the LED colors in the wrong order. I really wanted the red on the left but will live with what’s there now.

Note: I’ve been looking into the real King of Tone more and the LEDs are the way they are on the real pedal. I only learned this when going over the DIP settings below.

I also painted the compass on the front twice because I messed up the first one when I did not like the clear coat I used. You can actually see the face go from frowning to smiling. Then again maybe it was a subconscious manifestation of my moods. Who knows? And that nasty brown that can be seen on the inside is the original top coat I tried to burn off. I ended up using epoxy for a finish. I liked the way it got rid of the cracking on my paint job. That is also why it has a v1.5 on the enclosure.

Controls

Each side has the following controls:

V: Volume
D: Drive
T: Tone
Presence: high treble frequency internal trimmer

DIP Switch Settings

From the Analogman site:

There is also a four position configuration DIP switch on the inside of the KoT which you can use to choose between Clean, OD, and DISTORTION modes for each side. I designed this switch to allow almost anyone to be able to find the exact sounds they want. This picture shows the factory settings. It is two pairs of two switches, the left two switches are for the red side and the right two for the yellow side. You can set either side to normal OD mode or CLEAN mode by moving it’s OD/CLEAN dip switch (switch 1 or 3). You can set either side for additional distortion, with the DIST dip switches (2 and 4). When you turn one of these DIST switches ON you get significantly more and harder distortion, and a little less volume. When the DIST switch is on you can’t get the normal OD or CLEAN modes on that side. See the manual for specific information on setting the DIP switches.

The modes are:

Normal Overdrive mode (OD mode): This is the standard King Of Tone sound, which Jim likes best- a little less drive available than a tube screamer. Factory DIP switch setting has this mode on the right (red) channel. This mode can get about 4 times louder than a tube screamer if desired. This mode engages SOFT CLIPPING like most overdrive pedals.
CLEAN mode: This mode has less drive, can be used for clean boosts or clearer, louder sounds. It’s like a clean boost with an overdrive knob. CLEAN MODE is even less compressed than the standard OD mode. The factory DIP switch setting uses this mode on the left (yellow) channel. This mode can get twice as loud as the OD mode. You can think of the clean mode as the OD mode with the overdrive removed, allowing louder, clearer tone. But the drive knob still functions and can add some drive to the sound, and volume as it’s turned up. It’s a cool sound with the drive knob cranked! This mode has NO CLIPPING, like most boost pedals.
DISTORTION mode: This mode has more drive than the standard OD mode- a touch of hard distortion. The sound is more compressed, yet retains the King Of Tone character. This mode can get about twice as loud as a tube screamer. Think of this mode as a cross between a Boss DS-1 distortion and OD-1 overdrive, with more clarity. We recommend most players use the OD and CLEAN modes. While the DIST mode sounds great, and I like to use it on certain occasions, it does not allow the pedal to get it’s absolute BEST tones. You can put an aged single malt Scotch whisky on ice, but it would be a shame to dilute it! The DIST mode is awesome with the HIGHER GAIN option. This mode engages HARD CLIPPING like most distortion pedals and some fuzzes. It’s best to turn the OD dip switch down when using the DIST mode, especially with the higher gain option to avoid duplicate clipping (soft and hard clipping together).

Either side can be set to any of the three modes, with the DIP switches. I recommend setting the right side for most distorted sounds and the left for cleaner, then when used together you get more of a volume boost. But if you want more distortion and compression, you can try it the other way around too.

At low DRIVE settings, or when playing softly, there is not much difference between the three modes- they all clean up very nicely as the clipping does not start until you turn the DRIVE knob up higher. This pedal cleans up a lot better than a Tube Screamer type pedal, if you play softly or turn your guitar down they will not have the underlying fuzziness that most pedals have.