scored a 5 knob KOTB, any thoughts?

[Dev...in]

Ive wanted to own this pedal for a long time but never have due to circumstance and "necessity" I loved my new dirty blonde so much i decided i had to finally get one. My dirt pedal obsession will hopefully come to an end.... I have a v2 (mk1) dirty little secret that i like allot, how similar are these pedals?

[Mapleneck]

I LOVE mine. I am a 5-knob fan boy I guess! Might be my favorite very dirty pedal ever.

All the 5-knobbers are bright, which is perfect for me. If you play Tele's through a silverface, you might go for a darker pedal (the 8-knobbers, the new 4-knobbers, or a different brand). But I am playing through a tweed and usually humbuckers. So bright is good and can be turned down. Dark pedals are just dark and I can't fix it. Also brighter pedals are more balanced between the bridge and the neck pickup for me. With darker OD's I can't get them balanced for my life. When I get it warm on the bridge it is muddy on the neck, get the neck right and it is piercing bright on the bridge. The KOTB (and the WMB and TBIAC) all switch from bridge to neck effortlessly. Clean up great, get great texture, and chord note clarity is unsurpassed. Cuts through the mix great. Several people told me I played great last week, but I know they were just hearing me better (because I really wasn't playing all that great!). I was slicing through the mix with a very authentic Marshall tone.

I love these pedals! I can't list all the pedals these Menatones have beat out. Most of the losers were TGP darlings and I would get in trouble for saying I like these old Menatones better. It's rig and style dependent, but I am just crazy about the variety of GREAT tones I am getting from this board:

[theGhost]

Never ventured into the KotB, but I REALLY want to now that I've had a Shut Up and Drive, None More Black, and a VOS.

I would gladly trade my VOS for an 7-knob KotB.

btw... Mapleneck, is that a PT-Jr?

[Dev...in]

Yeah man, i cant get enough of the DB you sold me! it works with my 65' bandmaster and my univox, like you said: this pedal is good in all pickup selections, something I find is not true of many, many dirt pedals (without bending over to twist knobs). Great looking board. I like that i can get a full sounding clean and raunchy drive from the same pedal. I agree about the brightness factor, its better to have more treble than you need than not enough.

[big mike]

Killer pedals. It really bends the amp to it's will.
No matter what you're rockin, it's GOING to be a marshall once that switch is kicked in.

[Mapleneck]

Originally Posted by theGhost

Never ventured into the KotB, but I REALLY want to now that I've had a Shut Up and Drive, None More Black, and a VOS.

I would gladly trade my VOS for an 7-knob KotB.

btw... Mapleneck, is that a PT-Jr?

Yes it's a jr.

[Mapleneck]

Originally Posted by R.Robertson

Yeah man, i cant get enough of the DB you sold me! it works with my 65' bandmaster and my univox, like you said: this pedal is good in all pickup selections, something I find is not true of many, many dirt pedals (without bending over to twist knobs). Great looking board. I like that i can get a full sounding clean and raunchy drive from the same pedal. I agree about the brightness factor, its better to have more treble than you need than not enough.

I loved the Dirty Blonde, as well as the two Foxey Brown's I had. To tell you the truth though, my Shut Up and Drive sounds a lot like both of them. I had sold the DB and the FB before I got the SUAD, but to my memory, you could get very close to the tone of both the DB and FB with the SUAD. The SUAD would have a bit more bass though.

I would love to try the NMB.

[Mapleneck]

Originally Posted by big mike

Killer pedals. It really bends the amp to it's will.
No matter what you're rockin, it's GOING to be a marshall once that switch is kicked in.

Very much so.

[Stevil]

love my KotB. it ended my search for marshall in a pedal. i have the 7 knob version.

[Mapleneck]

I would like to hear the difference between the 7 and 5 knob KOTB. I have an 8 and 5 knob WMB and they sound different. I had the battery drawer and the newest version of the Foxey Brown and they were almost identical except the new version had two other tone modes that of course were different.

[theGhost]

Originally Posted by Mapleneck

I loved the Dirty Blonde, as well as the two Foxey Brown's I had. To tell you the truth though, my Shut Up and Drive sounds a lot like both of them. I had sold the DB and the FB before I got the SUAD, but to my memory, you could get very close to the tone of both the DB and FB with the SUAD. The SUAD would have a bit more bass though.

I would love to try the NMB.

While I haven't played those other Menatones, the Shut Up and Drive is EXTREMELY versatile. I can get a low-gain tone that rivals my Barber LTD (they're not identical, but neither is necessarily "better"), and of course anywhere up to scathing lead tone in is there as well. Great pedal!

If you wanna try the NMB, we could probably arrange that. I have it for sale in the Emporium right now simply because it's a whole type of aggressive hi-gain that I don't think I'll ever really utilize, and I'm a "use it or lose it" type of guy. However, it is really good. A guy said he would buy it from me if I still have it "next week" (said that on Sunday, I think), so it may be gone next week, but if you really wanna just try it, maybe we could arrange something. PM me if you're interested. I'd love to hear all your pedals, especially the KotB.

[Mapleneck]

Originally Posted by theGhost

While I haven't played those other Menatones, the Shut Up and Drive is EXTREMELY versatile. I can get a low-gain tone that rivals my Barber LTD (they're not identical, but neither is necessarily "better"), and of course anywhere up to scathing lead tone in is there as well. Great pedal!

If you wanna try the NMB, we could probably arrange that. I have it for sale in the Emporium right now simply because it's a whole type of aggressive hi-gain that I don't think I'll ever really utilize, and I'm a "use it or lose it" type of guy. However, it is really good. A guy said he would buy it from me if I still have it "next week" (said that on Sunday, I think), so it may be gone next week, but if you really wanna just try it, maybe we could arrange something. PM me if you're interested. I'd love to hear all your pedals, especially the KotB.

I have been thinking about your NMB, but I bought seven stinking pedals last month and my budget needs a break. I have some of my pedals for sale right now. Hopefully some of them will move and give me back some breathing room in my guitar toy budget. I over extended slightly, but it was for a good cause! I don't know about borrowing your NMB, as I might not get it back to you before the other guy comes through (where are you located?). Plus if I like it, I'll start hocking my kids shoes to pay for it!! It is one of the few Menatones left for me to try that I have some curiousity about. The other being a Howie.

I don't really have a need for real hi gain pedal myself. I am certainly not a metal player. But I always think of people like Mark Knopfler when he played through a Soldano. At the time he played those, it wasn't the type of amp you would normally associate with Mark's style. Yet he got a great sound out of it. If the NMB is a typical Menatone, then it will clean up enough to have quite a lot of versatility.

The SUAD is very cool. The only thing missing from it is the high end that the 5-knobbers have (wouldn't be a problem for most people). The TBIAC will almost get into that territory when I turn the cut all the way up (which turns down the very high end). That's what the SUAD sounds like. The SUAD also has much less hiss than the 5-knobbers have because the very high end has been lopped off. The SUAD also has a nasally midrange similar to the Foxey and the DB. The SUAD isn't on my board right now, but I got it cheap and I plan to keep it as my grab and go. It is so versatile and sounds so good.