alivegy
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- 1,176
I don't think I've ever been as happy with a gear purchase as I am with my new Menatone King of the Britains. I play a g&l legacy with fralin blues specials and a steel pole 42 in the bridge into a 65 bassman attenuated with a UA. Previously I had been using an MIAudio Crunchbox, which I still like. I had also experiemented with an A/B setup mixing the crunchbox with a clean tone to get some chime in the distortion, I don't have to do that any more.
This has to be the most versatile, amp-like stompbox I have ever used. The crunchbox sounded like a modded JCM800 cranked and it does that well, but there was no subtely to it at all. Because the crunchbox doesn't react much to different volumes you would always have the clipping fuzz over your signal, even as the notes faded off. I also couldn't find a setting on it that worked well with my neck and bridge pickup, simulatenously. The KOTB just isn't like that, you don't even have to use the gain knob, you can just turn up the signal going into the pedal and that will get you into distortion.
The pedal comes with 3 voicings, two of which model the different inputs of a plexi, and the middle voice is a compromise between the two. None of them sound bad, and each has it's own use, so it's hard to choose one to use at a time. The first voice is like the bass channel of the plexi so it has more of a scooped tone with a bit more lowend, but still plenty of chime. The third voice is the bright channel, and it is bright. There is a lot of treble here especailly with single coils. The middle voice, is a comprosmise between the two and the original voice of some of the older models.
It also has a 3 band eq. The response of the eq on this pedal is one of the things that makes it so special. The eq doesn't just control the overall volume of the bass and treble of the pedal's output, but also controls how much each band is driven into overdrive (like an amp). Turning the bass and mids up while keeping the treble low can get you a woofy (not the bad kind) of lowend but the highend will remain clear, although a bit dark. Cranking the treble gets you a smearing to the highend of the tone that I really like. Finally there is a presence control so that you can tame the highend if it gets to be a bit much. After a lot of experiementing I found that I like to keep the bass and mids at 5oclock with the treble rolled back to the 1oclock position and the presence control almost off. This sounds great with any voicing on the pedal. I get a touch too much lowend if i use the neckpickup and voice 1, but rolling back the lowend tone knob on the legacy fixes that right up.
Yet another thing great about this pedal is the way it responds to other pedals. Want to cut through the band for a solo? Throw a tubescreamer in front of it and wail away. If all that isn't enough it also has it's own boost that works with the distortion on or off. It's a fairly warm boost and it works great to bring out the best tones of the neck pickup on a strat.
So far I've played it through a Heriatge Victory with a g12h30, a stock Fender DRRI and my Bassman with an openback cabinet filled with the Jensen c12n's. It's sounds amazing through all of them. Even people who didn't know that I bought a new pedal were coming up to see what was making all of the beautiful noise.
Finally, how it compares to everything else. I sat in front of a board filled with distortion and overdrive pedals at tonemerchants for over an hour before I brought this thing home. It can do the crunchbox thing, only better, and the crunchbox doesn't have any dynamics to speak of. The OCD was my second favorite after the KOTB and could also get some of the crunchbox tone. The OCD could get close to the KOTB and it also cleaned up well with volume, but I was trying to get away from a single tone control. I can see why people like that pedal so much, it is good. I also tried it with some xotic pedals and a couple pedals made by local gurus. Most of the rest had that "I'm a distortion pedal that wants to be an amp" sterility going on. The KOTB, the OCD and to a lesser extent the crunchbox, don't have that.
So if you have read this far or are skipping to the end, to sum up the KOTB is by far the best distortion pedal I have ever played through, not only because of its sound but also because of it versatility. I'll try and post some clips later.
This has to be the most versatile, amp-like stompbox I have ever used. The crunchbox sounded like a modded JCM800 cranked and it does that well, but there was no subtely to it at all. Because the crunchbox doesn't react much to different volumes you would always have the clipping fuzz over your signal, even as the notes faded off. I also couldn't find a setting on it that worked well with my neck and bridge pickup, simulatenously. The KOTB just isn't like that, you don't even have to use the gain knob, you can just turn up the signal going into the pedal and that will get you into distortion.
The pedal comes with 3 voicings, two of which model the different inputs of a plexi, and the middle voice is a compromise between the two. None of them sound bad, and each has it's own use, so it's hard to choose one to use at a time. The first voice is like the bass channel of the plexi so it has more of a scooped tone with a bit more lowend, but still plenty of chime. The third voice is the bright channel, and it is bright. There is a lot of treble here especailly with single coils. The middle voice, is a comprosmise between the two and the original voice of some of the older models.
It also has a 3 band eq. The response of the eq on this pedal is one of the things that makes it so special. The eq doesn't just control the overall volume of the bass and treble of the pedal's output, but also controls how much each band is driven into overdrive (like an amp). Turning the bass and mids up while keeping the treble low can get you a woofy (not the bad kind) of lowend but the highend will remain clear, although a bit dark. Cranking the treble gets you a smearing to the highend of the tone that I really like. Finally there is a presence control so that you can tame the highend if it gets to be a bit much. After a lot of experiementing I found that I like to keep the bass and mids at 5oclock with the treble rolled back to the 1oclock position and the presence control almost off. This sounds great with any voicing on the pedal. I get a touch too much lowend if i use the neckpickup and voice 1, but rolling back the lowend tone knob on the legacy fixes that right up.
Yet another thing great about this pedal is the way it responds to other pedals. Want to cut through the band for a solo? Throw a tubescreamer in front of it and wail away. If all that isn't enough it also has it's own boost that works with the distortion on or off. It's a fairly warm boost and it works great to bring out the best tones of the neck pickup on a strat.
So far I've played it through a Heriatge Victory with a g12h30, a stock Fender DRRI and my Bassman with an openback cabinet filled with the Jensen c12n's. It's sounds amazing through all of them. Even people who didn't know that I bought a new pedal were coming up to see what was making all of the beautiful noise.
Finally, how it compares to everything else. I sat in front of a board filled with distortion and overdrive pedals at tonemerchants for over an hour before I brought this thing home. It can do the crunchbox thing, only better, and the crunchbox doesn't have any dynamics to speak of. The OCD was my second favorite after the KOTB and could also get some of the crunchbox tone. The OCD could get close to the KOTB and it also cleaned up well with volume, but I was trying to get away from a single tone control. I can see why people like that pedal so much, it is good. I also tried it with some xotic pedals and a couple pedals made by local gurus. Most of the rest had that "I'm a distortion pedal that wants to be an amp" sterility going on. The KOTB, the OCD and to a lesser extent the crunchbox, don't have that.
So if you have read this far or are skipping to the end, to sum up the KOTB is by far the best distortion pedal I have ever played through, not only because of its sound but also because of it versatility. I'll try and post some clips later.
