Klone - boutique transparent overdrive

Double Klone

"Bought two boards to fit in one enclosure, my idea to be able to have one cascading into the other or one lower gain and one higher gain, well it certainly works and sounds brill, well pleased

" Crawford Houston - 15 August 2023

Sweet Horse goodness!

"I decided to go with this kit to see what all the hype was about. I did some research on the Klon's history and circuit design. FD once again nailed the design and got the footprint to fit in a lovely size enclosure, it takes up loads less space than the original. I heard that this pedal resembles a tubescreamer in some way. I can hear that but honestly it's much much more.I have read that the buffer is a lovely feature of this pedal, after using it I realised this is something you need in your signal path forever. When you kick this thing on it just sounds super glorious. From blues to heavy stuff it really has you covered. Much like my beloved TS808 kit from FD this one isn't leaving my board." Olli - 25 December 2022

It's a Klone!

"It's a klone. It does the things you want them for perfectly. It's awesome. Took me a few evenings to check over everything, install everything neatly. Messed up with reversing the DC power which added an hour or two for a novice like me to diagnose and fix. But once I sorted that, it just screamed to life and everything works as intended! Had a small issue where I was sent a 39N capacitor over a 390N (a tiny mistake) and Fuzzdog sorted that out impeccably. So I've experienced the support and that also gets 5 stars. If you are absolutely new to soldering electronics, this might be a good 2nd or 3rd project. It's a little fiddly and quite a bit to work through. Loved the whole process though. Highly rewarding and can't say a single negative thing about the actual product. One thing I'd mention is that if you want the True Bypass/Buffered Bypass switch accessible, consider picking up a little switch. I'm going to mod mine for that and having already installed the included switch, it's going to be fiddly removing it." Nay - 25 September 2022

Makes me sound like a professional (when I'm definitely not!)

"Fantastic sounding pedal - as soon as I turned it on and brought the gain up, I heard rich, warm, classic drive sounds. The first thought I had was that it sounded "professional" and played on it for ages. Sounds great as a low gain boost, sounds great with cranked gain, basically sounds great whatever you do with it. Currently running a compressor (FD Engineer's Thumb) into the front and now getting huge sustain and great tones with split humbucker sounds. Excellent quality, packs a lot into a small space but overall a very clean build. Love the fact that it has the magic diodes - I doubt I could tell a difference if they were replaced by something else but it makes me feel good knowing they're inside!" Fabian Reynolds - 13 May 2022

Get on the hypetrain, but get on with a forged ticket.

"First up: the kit is rated as medium/hard- this is to be taken with a grain of salt. I've built six kits now, and this wasn't the hardest. My advice is check all your parts carefully and put them in clearly labelled bags (ie 'resistor 1', 'capacitor 3' etc) and work carefully. If you do that, you'll find it very easy. As for the way it sounds, I really do begin to understand a little bit of the hype. It sounds really, really good. Into a 50 watt silverface Bassman and a 2x10 cab I knew the first instant I heard it that it was going to sound great in a band mix. And if you wind the gain up it'll bite your jacobs off. The buffer really does sound good too, it's true. You should get one." Nick C - 13 April 2021

Cut through all the crazy hype, and you're left with a really good overdrive

"The great thing about building kits is that the reasonable price means you can just evaluate sounds, rather than having to hype yourself up for a huge purchase then be emotionally invested in liking it once the money's gone. So, it's nice that the Klone really does sound good. And it's a lot more versatile than expected - roll up the drive and it has a great thick middy crunch with surprising amounts of character for those expecting a dentist's blues pedal. And it's got a midrange push and low end tuck that's much nicer to my ears than a TS style overdrive, because it's a much broader midrange hump. Then you've also got the almost clean boost or light sparkly drive settings which are great. And it stacks beautifully with other overdrive from pedals or amps. As for the kit, it's great - compact, and the buffer switch is a nice touch for integrating it into your board." Josh - 01 February 2021

Awesome pedal

"Probably the cheapest way to get a slice of that authentic klon tone. Sounds unbelievably good, keep the gain at 9/10 o'clock and adjust the tone and volume to catch your amp just as it's breaking... and suddenly this is the best drive you've ever heard. I wired this as a 'Golden' version (here Golden refers to the original Klon circuit, whereas Silver Pony is a kind of anomalous version with slightly different characteristics that also sounds great). I tried some of the mods out, but honesty I preferred the standard capacitor value for the tone pot and the lower values for C2 and C6. Just don't expect to use this like a standard overdrive!" Ash - 26 October 2020

Mythical!

"An impressive parts count for a drive pedal! The buffer is almost worth it in itself too. Great quality PCB and great parts. Instructions are straightforward and I appreciate how much you can learn from the schematic when it becomes less about painting by numbers and actually having to find the right parts. I probably won't ever have a real one in my hands, but this lives up to all of the hype. Great work FuzzDog!" Zac - 06 March 2020

Must build.

"Will I ever get to play an original? Probably not. Could I afford an original? Definitely not. An overdrive that cost more than a custom shop guitar or hand-built bespoke amp is a curious thing. Luckily FuzzDog provide a beautifully compact (1590B) kit to allow us to taste the exalted fruit for a smidgen of the cost. And the results are staggering. The crispness and tightness of the overdrive is Hi-Fi in quality (probably down to the circuit operating at 18v), perfect for slide guitar. FuzzDog's customer service is exemplary and i'll only be buying their kits for the foreseeable future." PG - 31 August 2019

Blown away

"Bought this pedal after reading the reviews and am truly blown away by the absolute transparency of this pedal. Great fun to build but the reward on completion was way beyond my expectations. I have a Zendrive 2 built by Hermida himself which until now has been my favourite overdrive, this beats it hands down. I can t sing the praise of Fuzz Dog enough for this, great team, great service and awesome product. Thanks" Dave Atkinson - 14 May 2019

Believe the hype!

"Where to start! The chances of me ever getting my hands on the real thing are slim, but in this kit I ve got a beautiful box of tone that suits a number of occasions. I m still trying to work out how to use it best, but it s shone everywhere I ve put it. I m leaning towards an always on tone sweetener at the moment, just a twist of the gain knob mid set can give it a lovely singing grit that really cuts through the mix. Worth saying that this is the most difficult kit I ve done. Word to the wise take some time to sort the parts (particularly the resistors) before diving in. Of course it goes without saying that the service is impeccable as per usual standards! Amazing speedy turnaround and quality that can t be beaten." Dave T - 17 February 2019

Just something about it

"This pedal is amazing! at low gain levels it gives that perfect boost without being harsh, with the gain dimed it's bliss, and it stacks brilliantly!" Benjamin - 09 October 2017

Just something about it

"This pedal is amazing! at low gain levels it gives that perfect boost without being harsh, with the gain dimed it's bliss, and it stacks brilliantly!" Benjamin - 09 October 2017

Bass switch!

"Good kit, but I would recommend adding a switch to change between the original capacitor and one that doesn't cut bass as much. As the none bass cut cap changes the tone pot quite a lot. I fitted one next to the output jack, I lead down the capacitors a bit so it'll fit. More tones under my belt. I've a/b'd againt a Soul Food, this has nicer tone although the SF had note gain." Pish - 27 July 2017

Great sounding drive, makes everything else sound better!

"This is a really nice kit. Well laid out and easy to make with clear instructions. The drive on its own sounds great but this things stacks brilliantly! Stick it in the front end of any other drive either as a clean boost or with extra gain and it really sings. Not tried the original but I'm well impressed with the klone kit and at the price you really need to try one." Kerrin - 01 May 2017

Oh. Blimey.

"I bloody love building your kits Lee, and this, along with the Harmonic Percolator, are astounding. It is a really good clean boost for a start, which is very handy. But turn the gain up and it shines, it made my little Fender practice amp sound quite a lot like a valve amp, it's bloody great. So it sounds wicked with a clean tone, and if you have the amp gain up, it drives it into heavy territory, so I can't wait to try it through my Orange amps. Brilliant Lee." Mick Jones. - 17 March 2017

Excellent

"I've built a couple of these. I had an original silver Klon for a while and was able to A/B against the Fuzz Dog one. The latter somehow worked better for me. Which of course was rather fortunate from an economic perspective. Very well laid out and moderately easy to build. I might suggest inserting the diodes from the other side of the board on sockets for those who like to experiment - then you will have access to them after installing everything in the enclosure." Kristian - 27 January 2017

The Centaur Rides

"Well, I bought this kit purely to scratch an itch with a Klon style pedal. I wanted to know what the hype was but I didn't want to spend 2000 on a real one or close to 200 on many of the high end clones, just in the event that it wasn't what I expected. I've been a loyal TS user for years, the TS9 has been my tone for a long time, and almost overnight that's come off the board. This pedal was an easy build and it sounds the business! My tone is so open and articulate. Loads of volume on tap and a surprising amount of gain but it retains the characteristics of my guitar and my playing. WOW... that's all I can say... WOW!" Leigh - 28 October 2016

Best overdrive I've ever played. By far!

"Do I need to add more? it's just amazing. The kit is not the easiest, but it's worth trying it! There are plenty of reviews here that gets into details about its quality, so I'm not going to repeat something already said. Just trust them, they're right." Leo - 20 August 2016

There's just something about it...

"I really don't know if it is because so much has been said about the klon or what, but plug this pedal in and it takes your tone to another level, with out really changing it. Challegin build, rewarding build. Sounds great with both my Strat and LP. Thanks for a great kit!!" Theo - 27 May 2016

continued...

"Oops. Didn't know there was a character limit! Anyway, this isn't really a pedal for producing your core tone. It's for enhancing it. Either an amp or a pedal, it adds oomph for a lead boost or extra dirt. You can push a lightly overdriven amp with it, or stick it in front of a pedal like the BSIAB2 to get a really tight, high gain distortion sound. It's the pedal you didn't know you needed, but when you've got one you don't know how you did without it." John Roberts - 04 November 2015

Very well designed kit. Sounds pants on its own, awesome with something else. A Must-Have pedal.

"I'll be honest, I approached this with a massive dose of scepticism. After building an awful lot of pedals over the last few years, and trying most of the 'booteek' overdrives around, I couldn't see how this was going to be any different. I really only built it to see for myself what all the fuss was about, fully expecting it to be just like all the rest and sit on a shelf in the garage. First off, this kit is the best kit I've built so far - and I've built plenty of them, Fuzz Dog and others! There is a lot of components but the board is well laid out and everything is easy to find. The instructions are clear and the whole process was pretty straight-forward. Wiring up the pots is always my least favourite job, and this kit doesn't have board-mounted pots. However, it does have the switch on board, which massively reduces the amount of wiring. This was a very easy and clean build. In use the buffer is great - never turn it off. The overdrive on its own is fairly meh. Nothing really special, but not offensive. However, stick this in front of something else and you have something awesome. You can set the tone completely neutral so turning the pedal on and off does nothing. Then turn up the level for a clean boost or add extra dirt. The dirt DOES colour the tone slightly. It darkens and thickens it a bit - this seems to be a feature of the original, too. In front of a dirty amp or another overdrive pedal this adds an extra stage of gain, very crisp and very smooth. Lead solos" John Roberts - 04 November 2015

fantastic pedal, great support

"the pedal sounds fantastic and fuzzdog's support is always faster than light! I've done many fuzzdog kits, all great kits. maybe the led-bezel could be better." giorgio - 22 October 2015

The overdrive I've always be looking for

"I've had a fair few overdrives over the years, and always found them too muddy or midrangey. What this one seems to do, is add harmonics and tighten up your sound. It reminds me of a booster slightly driving an AC15, except with the convenience of being able to get that sound at any given volume. Since building it, it hasn't left my pedalboard, is always on, and I've sold 3 of my other overdrives! The kit is brilliantly laid out, making it easy to assemble and fit in the enclosure." Xavier - 23 June 2015

Amazing Kit!

"Managed to assemble this kit in under 3 hours, and what a well thought out kit! Everything fits really well, amazingly neat build to fit in the small case. Had my first play of the pedal today through my tube amp and it sounds incredible! It's a really great sounding overdrive, very responsive and a joy to play with. If you're considering a Klone, get this kit...it's so worth it!" Sam Smith - 05 March 2015

Wish I could do more than 5 stars

"Just finished putting my Klone kit together and HO-LEE-SCHITT. This pedal is absolutely phenomenal. Best overdrive I've had the pleasure of plugging into, bar none. I've never played the real deal before but if it sounds half as good as this, no wonder it's so coveted. The build went real smooth. No hang ups at all really despite the difficulty of the build. Not sure if it's because I'm getting a bit more comfortable each time I build one or what it may be. I am just absolutely blown away so far by the kits I've finished. Keep it up man and you'll find yourself sending plenty more across the pond to my doorstep!" Brandon Borchert - 27 February 2015

Clean and Dirty?

"I purchased this particular OD after a brief discussion with Fuzz Dog HQ. I needed/wanted an OD to give two fender clone amps which I have built a bit of a push, but I didnt want to colour the tone of the amps. This fits the bill exactly. It is a subtle pedal, but pushed my Champ clone into a glorious overdrive at the tap of a switch, same goes for the Deluxe clone. Both amps respond beautifully to this pedal. I do have another home made OD, which is based on a LM308 op-amp, but the subtlety of this OD is just where I want to be. It does make both amps very dynamic and responsive without any harsh clipping, which is another bonus. Also, as a slight aside, the pedal is Hi-Fi quiet, even reducing 50Hz single coil hum to a whisper. In a nutshell: If you want to get Clean boost, no problem; bit of gain, same applies. Boost and gain....oh yes! Do not expect high gain shred with this OD, it is simply not designed for it and will not manage it. This is the perfect pedal to get your pre-amp tubes of choice singing sweetly; I can't imagine being without it.... As ever, the pedal is a piece of cake to put together, due to the excellent design and instructions. An absolute winner as far as I am concerned; Fuzz Dog nails it with this one!" Dave G - 26 January 2015

Nice

"I'd never heard of a klon until recently (sheltered life) and was keen to have a clone as middle aged people like light overdrive. This pedal kit is really well put together - nice circuit board, and nicely fits into the enclosure. During assembly I messed up the arrangement of components - but Lee took the time to help me sort out the problems and get the pedal working. This kind of help inspires confidence in the Poodle Emporium." Antony - 03 January 2014

believe the hype

"I was a little skeptical at first -- putting it in front of a clean amp it adds a bit of thickness and volume, but little more than a clean(ish) boost would. I even wondered whether I'd fried the diodes or made some other cock up. Then I tried it with a mildly driven amp (top boost at 10 o'clock on an AC15). It sounds amazing ... I can safely say that the circuit on which it's based is completely deserving of the hype and praise that's been heaped on it over the years. It's the kind of overdrive sound I've always been looking for, and has banished my Tubescreamer to the shelf forever, I suspect. As ever, a doddle to build thanks to clear instructions and Poodle's email help. But make sure you buy the pre-drilled enclosure on this one--I wouldn't want to attempt to fit the pcb in my own box without a drilling template" James - 17 October 2013

50 and 80 minutes = my new favourite overdrive

"This pedal is very impressive for a bunch of reasons. The first (I'll do this backwards) is the sound. It's an incredible overdrive, very responsive and absolutely transparent, from a clean boost through to beautifully shimmery overdrive. The tone range is extraordinary: from very dull to very bright and further in each direction than you're used to. Volume boost is plenty. And then a bit more. The second reason this is a very impressive package is the design of the PCB. Very tidy and neat, very small for what's actually in there, and as ever super easy to follow instructions. As I found out to my cost it's worth having a few reference sources to hand if you're a newbie, something to help you find resistor codes and capacitor values. Third reason: help from the Poodle. I sent off an email asking for a little guidance, got exactly what I needed super quickly. The whole build took me less than an hour and a half. It would have taken that long to get to a shop to buy an overdrive pedal and back, and it would have cost many times more quids. 50 and 80 minutes = my new favourite overdrive." Steve - 04 October 2013