Analog Man Prince of Tone overdrive
Description
The POT is pretty much the same as half of the King of Tone, with an external MODE switch standard. It is the same as the KOT with HIGHER GAIN option, so you can use the full range of the DRIVE knob and it has a little more drive at the top than a normal gain KOT. The DISTORTION mode is improved though, for a louder, stronger distortion sound. See http://www.kingoftone.com for more info.
Power Jack is standard on the POT –
The TREBLE trimpot is inside, just like the KOT.
There are also two new DIP switches inside! They are a bit subtle at some knob settings and modes:
DIP1 : LO-MID lift switch. The tone from your lower strings will be enhanced a little when DIP switch is ON.
DIP2: TURBO switch- with higher gain settings you’ll hear deeper compression, especially in DIST mode. You will hear a brighter, crunchier sound with this on at higher DRIVE settings when this DIP switch is ON.
The three modes, as on the KOT, are:
1) Normal Overdrive mode (OD mode): This is the standard King Of Tone sound, – a touch drive available than a tube screamer. Can get much louder than a tube screamer. The RED side of KOT has this setting from the factory.
2) CLEAN mode : This mode has less distortion, it can be used for clean boosts or clearer, louder sounds. It’s sort of a cross between a true clean boost and an overdrive. CLEAN MODE is even less compressed and louder than the OD mode. I love this mode with high drive settings too! The YELLOW side of KOT has this setting from the factory.
3) DISTORTION mode : more drive than the standard mode- a touch of hard distortion. The sound is more compressed, yet retains the pedal’s character. Same volume as OD mode.
At low DRIVE settings, or when playing softly, there is not much difference between the three modes, they all can get pretty clean and have the same level at low drive settings. The ability to clean up when playing softly is a very useful feature of this pedal. The Drive knob works like the KOT with HIGHER GAIN OPTION, so you can set it anywhere and get great tones.
The DRIVE knob taper is different than the KOT. It comes up faster and more linear, while KOT has a lot going on from 2:00 to max. So comparison to a KOT with HG option will not be the same at the same knob position unless it’s up all the way, where they are the same.
We are making these by hand in China by the same people who are making our Analog Delay. Though it’s made in China, we use the same parts as the King of Tone – best Japanese chip and capacitors, not cheap Chinese parts. No surface mount parts, NO ROBOTS, everything is vintage style and hand wired for easy maintenance and repairs unlike most Chinese pedals and most USA “boutique” machine-made pedals which are disposable if they have any problems like a pot, jack, or switch that wears out.
POWER SUPPLY: A Standard Boss PSA120 type 9V DC adapter will work fine. Center is negative. The pedal uses only about 6mA of current at 9V. You can get a fuzzier sound if you want, at lower voltages, for example the SAG mode on the pedalpower2. When your battery dies you will notice the pedal will not get nice and clean, the sound will be hairier. Use a good Alkaline battery or a power supply for best results. You can use higher voltage for more headroom, 12V is common, 18V is safe too. Clean boost may be improved the most with higher voltage.
CHIPS: You can also try other standard dual op-amp chips in the Prince of Tone. Just make sure you put it in the right way, with the pin#1 dot on the side with the chip socket cut-out. The TS-808’s JRC4558D chip sounds good in this pedal, especially with single coil guitars and smaller Fender type amps. You can try a high fidelity chip for the CLEAN mode which may work well.
Size
We made our own case for this pedal, it’s lower and a little shorter than our Beano Boost / Orange Squeezer / large SunFace box, and a little bigger than the Astrotone / Peppermint / small Sunface size.
Size is 2.5″ wide x 4.5″ long x 1.5″ tall, not including switch/knobs/jacks.
Buffer option
If you run through some long cables to your amp, or through some tone sucking pedals (volume pedals, etc) you might want to add the optional buffer inside the POT. If you run the POT into a pedal with a good buffer like our ARDX20, then it’s not needed at all. There is no room for a battery with the Buffer option. The buffer will work great at higher voltages like 12V or 18V also. See our BUFFER page for more info.
