Klon VS Durham Sex Drive

[BluesHarp]

I have been singing the praises of the klon now for a while... love it. But I am curious to see how many of you guys have owned both of these 2 pedals and if so, which one you ended up with and why.

No pissing matchs, and lets pretend they both cost $100, and price didnt matter at all. Let the fun begin..

[JZG]

I've owned both, and still have the Sex Drive on my board. It's become one of my top pedals of all time. For my rig, it just works. A lot depends on what you're trying to acheive. The Klon has a lot more gain available, and too my ears, is more TS-like than the Sex Drive. To me, the SD is little more neutral, although it seems to put kind of a high end sheen to your tone. Nothing harsh or brittle. The Klon has more of that midrange hump, but it's very subtle and rounded. Not as "triangular" as your typical TS. Quite frankly, I'm a little put off by the physical size of the Klon and the funky power jack. Those things are important to me, as I like ease of setup and like to keep my board compact and tidy. All that being said, I really like the tone of the Klon...a lot. I know the idea is that money is not a factor, but I will say the Klon is worth what you pay for. For what I'm after though, the SD is the ticket. :AOK

[markom89]

While I don't own my SD anymore, I've told this to many people before... I actually prefer the SD to the klon, since it is both a great clean boost and overdrive AND can act as a compressor. I'm gonna' hopefully get one soon again. It just worked wonderfully w/ all my amps! I miss that pedal very much. I keep the klon because I also really dig what it does....

[BluesHarp]

Anybody else?

[JZG]

Originally Posted by markom89

I actually prefer the SD to the klon, since it is both a great clean boost and overdrive AND can act as a compressor. It just worked wonderfully w/ all my amps!

These are really good points that I forgot to mention. The SD is one of a few pedals that has worked flawlessly with every amp I've thrown it at, and it's relatively quiet too. Also, I have other pedals that can do similar things as the Klon, which is one reason why I no longer have one.

[TD Moyer]

Had a Klon - which I miss - but it didn't play nice with every amp/guitar combo that I had at the time. I'm thinking of getting another to try out as I'm overloaded with gear at the moment and need to give it another try.
The Sexdrive IS on my board at the moment and it DOES seem to play nice with everything. I'm using it as a clean-boost with soft compression. I don't dig it with overdriven sounds so much but when playing clean it is remarkable what it does to your sound...sorta makes it come alive for lack of a better description.

[teXum]

Well, to be honest, I haven't owned both, but I've tried the Klon several times, tried to like it, since everybody is praising it, there's got to be something about it, right? Well, I'm one of those that like to hear the sound of my guitar to come out through the amp, I love low gain pickups, 'cus they tend to bring out the woody sound of the guitar. Now, I've repeatedley found that TS9-type pedals, with their mid-humps, can tend to cover up that "woody" quality.

So, admitedly, the Klon does sound fairly clean, with the gain all the way down. But as soon as you introduce some gain, you also get a fairly significant high-mid bump as well. Some seem to like this with their Klon, some don't.

The SexDrive, on the other hand, is a totally different animal, IMHO, although it makes sense to say they can both do clean boost, I don't really think they are even in the same family. The SD sounds extremely open, when it comes to pedals, in that it doesn't have any mid buildup. What it does do, is add a little bass, but not to far down, making sure the sound stays tight. It also add a little high end, but this seem to be so far up as to not make the pedal sound excessively bright, but rather airy. I guess that's why many describe this high end as a silky sheen.

It also has the "compression" switch, that I personally don't use much to change the sound, but rather the "feel" of the pedal, in that it helps me work with a hard or dead sounding room.

The SD has fairly little gain though, so it works best as a pure clean boost, or to add a little hair on clean tones, but IMHO, this is the "charm" of the pedal, it stays transparent, even with the gain all the way up.

Not really hard to say which one I like the best...

[JZG]

Originally Posted by teXum

Well, to be honest, I haven't owned both, but I've tried the Klon several times, tried to like it, since everybody is praising it, there's got to be something about it, right? Well, I'm one of those that like to hear the sound of my guitar to come out through the amp, I love low gain pickups, 'cus they tend to bring out the woody sound of the guitar. Now, I've repeatedley found that TS9-type pedals, with their mid-humps, can tend to cover up that "woody" quality.

So, admitedly, the Klon does sound fairly clean, with the gain all the way down. But as soon as you introduce some gain, you also get a fairly significant high-mid bump as well. Some seem to like this with their Klon, some don't.

The SexDrive, on the other hand, is a totally different animal, IMHO, although it makes sense to say they can both do clean boost, I don't really think they are even in the same family. The SD sounds extremely open, when it comes to pedals, in that it doesn't have any mid buildup. What it does do, is add a little bass, but not to far down, making sure the sound stays tight. It also add a little high end, but this seem to be so far up as to not make the pedal sound excessively bright, but rather airy. I guess that's why many describe this high end as a silky sheen.

It also has the "compression" switch, that I personally don't use much to change the sound, but rather the "feel" of the pedal, in that it helps me work with a hard or dead sounding room.

The SD has fairly little gain though, so it works best as a pure clean boost, or to add a little hair on clean tones, but IMHO, this is the "charm" of the pedal, it stays transparent, even with the gain all the way up.

Not really hard to say which one I like the best...

Well said. This is EXACTLY how I too hear both pedals.

[BluesHarp]

Excellent review... it has summed up what I too expect.. once I get the SD in I'll see if it stacks like I want it to. I mean to use it as a solo boost after my od's. It'll have jell great while stacking in order to pull the klon off...

Thanks Texum... guys..