4 Legendary Overdrives | GREAT TONE! 

Klon KTR: 2:13 Analog Man - King of Tone: 3:58 Origin Effects - Revival Drive: 5:29 Vemuram - Jan Ray: 6:50

I like the vemuran as it sounds warmer, creamy with nice bass. The dirty sound is just great!

The editing and playing in this video was damn smooth.. so glad I'm subscribed! I liked the KTR and KoT the best. Im all followed up on the gram and can't wait to see what you decide.. Peace dude!

Really enjoyed watching this, Paul. You captured the sound of the RevivalDRIVE very well including its touch sensitivity and broad frequency range. I'm sure that there are many players out there weighing up their options between some of these pedals and a video like this can only help. I would love to hear you stacking these drives next - or even better, let's hear them all on together!

Vemuram is the warmest and more "organic" to my hears. I will definitely chose that one for myself.

I cant help but fall in love with the jan ray.

Its sad to see a lot of stuff (guitars, gear, amps whatever) one will never be able to afford. But when you listen to it you start to ask yourself, is it really better than my sound? Usually the answer is, not by that much. And you pick up your own gear and simply smile and play. ;-)

Honestly it’s really what speaks to you most. They all sound incredible in their own way.

For the low gain portion, I think I love the clarity the Revival drive gives but for the rest of the use cases the Vemuram is the go-to pedal. Absolutely love the warmth and the depth it has!

Vemuram was by far my favorite for the heavy gain tones, almost like a nicer EVH sound, and even kept the warm creamy crunch on low gain. KOT is amazing for the low gain/clean boost.

That Vemuram is the only one that made my desk vibrate on the low ends. Warm and thick, me likely. The King of Tone was also hella nice. A two year wait list is crazy, but maybe I won't suck at guitar so much in two years time...

3k for a pedal is insane. Thats as much as an entire decent guitar rig

Love all 4 pedals but the Revival Drive is a clear winner for me. Great video Paul

Personally I use a Xotic Super Clean in front of a EHX Soul Food for my overdrive tones. I run into Fender Blackfaces and Marshall Plexi's 99% of the time and this setup is quite flexible and works excellent for types of amps. The Super Clean boost with its easily accessible dip switches is where the magic happens in my view into different amps which in my case are mid boosted vs mid scooped amps - the dip switches let me cut or boost lows, highs, or mids for the amp I am working with. I pretty much use the Soul Food on its own for Rhythm overdrive and the Super Clean set for the amp I using for boosted overdrive tones. It's magical in my view and without the Soul Food I also get awesome clean boosted tones. This was a recent discovery of mine after 35+ years never really being totally happy with any overdrive until now. I get 3 flavors of boost/od this way and it handles basically everything in great ways.

Vemuram all the way ! Didn't know about this pedal. Pricey but seems to worth it. And it seems quite simple to use, which in my opinion is pretty important for a live use. Awesome video, as always :)

I just watched the Pedal Show today talking wiht JHS about all the different types of overdrive/distortion/fuzz etc, and it's an interesting journey, quite useful in deciding which OD to go for. Ultimately though, they decided too many variables, and pick the one you like the sound of with your rig/guitar/speakers/playing style/situation. I do understand why I like the Klon wiht HB's though, hard clipping.

Revival Drive was the standout favourite for me. I have mixed feelings about the King Of Tone. I like the tonality, but not the texture. There are other pedals that take inspiration from the Bluesbreaker that I prefer. The KTR sounded really nice in the low gain clip, but I didn't like it with the drive up. The Vemuram never made a sound that made me think "I need one of those". I did however really like the low end with it engaged (I'm not sure whether it was producing the sound or if it was causing the low end of the amp to overdrive).

I'm totally in love with the Analog Man's King Of Tone after seeing this. I liked the Origin Effects' Revival Drive better with heavier settings.

Love the "Ghost Notes" control on the Revival Drive! I can make it sound exactly like my Marshall #1986( an early January `72). It sounds like a "real amp", which I know is an overused phrase...)

I swear by the Vemuram Jan Ray. It's an amazing pedal that just sounds like another channel on my Two Rock.

Nr . 1 - Jan Ray, 2.- King Of Tone . 3. Klon -Ktr . 4 Revival Drive. Thats only my taste . Thanx ! High quality Video ! All the best ! Edwin Ziberg

1. Origin Effects for overall tone although all the buttons scare me. Also i don't know about it for a daily driver (funny btw) because its so big. You'll need a roadie for your pedal board. 2. Vemuram I just liked it, seemed good with single coil and humbuckers. Also small enough to have on a board and not need a roadie for your pedalboard. 3. KOT, great tone and versatile. probably a good daily driver except you better keep an eye on your pedalboard because every guitarist wants one. 4.KTR great tone Great Video, damn I don't have any of these. Thx

My two favorites were the King of Tone and the KTR, even though the four of them sound great. When dealing with Overdrives I'm always looking for a nice coloration of my tone, and usually wanting them to be just "boosts" that pile up on one another to create a unique tone. For these reasons I usually prefer three-knobs ODs with the simplest technology in it, straight to the point pedals. Careful though I'm not saying by any mean that digital or more complex pedals are bad by definition, these are just my preferences. For these reasons I decided to get rid of my Fulltone OCD for instance, and kept my TS9 which supposedly has less "prestige" in its making. The King of Tone provides an incredible tone though, I don't know what kind of technology is behind it, by it's incredibly suave, that would be my pick if I had to pick just one. Then, if I had to pick two I would love combining the King of Tone with the KTR which matches perfectly my expectations in an OD. I'm a Strat player myself and thus liked the tones you got from the Strat better, but interestingy I felt like the other two pedals sounded better with the Les Paul.

Those shots with the pedal lit in the foreground, with you playing in the blurred background. Fantastic!

I have no doubt that your KLON KTR is quite unique. LOVED that sound

The Revival Drive is the most unreal od ever! I’ve had all the others and still have the Revival. For what I do, it just can’t be beat! Of course, all of these pedals the best of the best.

Paul David’s, you are an extremely inspirational guy, I’ve been with the channel for about a year now, but have already learned a lot. I’m honestly surprised that you aren’t in a band. Well either way, keep on Rockin’ 🎸

I'ld say either the king of tone or the revival drive. The king of tone sounds so nice but I think the revival drive is doing something to your playing, like pushing something extra out

Venuram for me, really nice rounded tone

Legend. I don't need the pedals. I just need your advice through your videos. You inspire me and teach me things from way different perspectives. I am a bluesy 70's and 60's style rock kind of player. You show me things way outside my zone and I now have written two classical songs and one metal. Thank you for your words, and cool videos like this one :)! Have a nice day Paul.

Hello Paul, i loved the video, you are inspiring me to play the guitar everyday. Thankyou so much

1 - Revival Drive 2 - Klon 3 - Jan Ray 4 - KoT

Your channel is always so relaxing. The content always top notch, the skills to back it up. So easy to watch and always a dissapointing moment because it ends. Best guitar based Channel on RU-vid and if you say things I actually believe you without any doubts whatsoever. Always the right mood and clear video's with mad editing skills. I even make myself a cup of tea before I click play hahaha. Superkanaal, professioneel, vleugje humor voor de 'light touch'. Gewoon een parel tussen al het gitaargeweld op RU-vid.

Anything going into that Tone king imperial is gonna sound like butter.

That Vemuram just sounded beautiful all around. Crystalline, creamy, and harmonically rich all at the same time. Really balanced in both settings. The King of Tone and the Klon KTR come tied second for me -- the KoT sounded amazing for clean tones, but the Klon's high gain sound was just punchier and richer. The revival just sounded harsh to me.

I remember 4 years ago watching this video , not knowing anything about pedals / now I have 3 of 4 on my board and feeling nostalgic

King of tone for the win, such great organic and juice sound, now I totally want one

The varying of opinions is so interesting to me but expected. There is no best, just personal tastes. It’s no different than asking what IPA is truly the better one. Personally I like em all but would need to try them with my set up to decide which is the keeper.

Jan Ray was my favorite by a mile

Awesome work Paul! Keep up the good work as always!

Tough choice but if it were me I'd go with the Revival (bright and seemingly extremely versatile) and the King of Tone (classic tones and two sides). Seems like that would cover anything. The Klon is classic but simple and the Jan Ray is too warm, or muddy, depending on your viewpoint. Nice problem to have.....

The Guitarist Makes The Biggest Difference

The Revival Drive looks really interesting, it appears to be extremely configurable and sounds very good compared to the other boutique pedals . For overdrive I use this pedal order: 1) AnalogMan SunFace Fuzz with RCA Germanium transistors. It has a very pleasing "cranked amp" sound when I use it with a real tube amp or a model of one. 2) Keeley Oxblood, which can be used just like a Klon but with much more gain and boost capability, a switch for adding more bass, and a switch for modifying the tonal character of the distortion to be smoother than a normal Klon. 3) Source Audio LA Lady for lots of effects - mono or stereo in/out with parallel or series internal signal path, EQ, overdriven power amp effect, multiple fuzzes, Klon, TS, OCD, RAT, etc. 4) AnalogMan King of Tone with both sides set to clean boost and running 18V power for extra headroom. I also swapped out the yellow channel op-amp for a Burr-Brown OPA2134, which has a less raspy overdriven sound than the stock JRC4580 op-amp. I can get the KoT red channel to go deeper into overdrive mode by cranking the output level on any pedal upstream of it. The yellow channel can be deeply overdriven with the same method, including just cranking up the red channel volume pot. The last pedal in the path has the strongest effect on the overall tone, and the KoT does a nice job boosting mids just the right amount for lead tone. But most of the time I am either using no overdrive, or the Sunface, and I use the volume control on the guitar to get the desired tone from the Sunface. The Sunface cleans up pretty well even on humbuckers, if I use less gain on the fuzz control.

You can't go wrong with a Klon. There is something special about these pedals that truly comes out when you live with them for a while. They act to quickly address any tonal issue you might be having at the moment. Whenever I plug into my rig with a new guitar and found a tone thats less then inspiring, it usually just take a tiny tweak on my old Centaur to get it sounding glorious. So many times I've considered cashing in on it, but its truly the one pedal that has always remained on my board, and that says something.

Check out Barber Electronics - Direct Drive. Jetter Pedals - Gold Standard Those two pedals no one is talking about and I used them for years with my rig they were great! The amp I used was Vox AC30. Some new pedals to check out. Love the channel, thank you for the great content! 💥

Everyone talks about the tone, but personally I like the chord progressions you play so much more!! Especially in the middle when you demonstrate the light gain settings

For clean, the King of Tone, overdriven, the KLON

All fine pedals. Thanks for the fine presentation. I have the Jan Ray on my board and truly love it.

Awesome sounds, Paul! Here are my impressions. Drive quality: Light / Heavy - Comment KLON KTR: 8 / 8 - Soft / Crunchy King of Tone: 8 / 6 Soft / Muddy Revival Drive: 10 / 9 - Crisp and Clear / Rocking Jan Ray: 10 / 8 - Warm / Warm and Creamy I would keep Revival Drive for crispy sounds and Jan Ray for creamy sounds. I liked all of these pedals more with the Strat than with the Les Paul. Particularly LP sounded too fizzy through the Revival Drive, which I otherwise liked the best of all. I guess I would also get rid of the LP )))

The king of tne is now on 4 years. I ordered in july 2020 and they are delivering now the units from December 2019.

I think for everyday usage, the King of Tone is a winner. Two channels will give you a lot of flexibility for whatever gig situation you find yourself in. As for studio work, the Revival Drive! I would highly recommend checking out the Behringer Vintage Tube Monster VT-999 overdrive. It's not only one of the most affordable overdrives on the market, it's the cheapest real tube overdrive pedal too ($50 US).

I definitely think if you pick two, the revival drive should be one of them. It is the most unique, very bright and clear but still with great tone, and really expresses the punchiness, the dynamics, and the depth of the guitar better than the other three pedals. For me, my second choice is between the KLON KTR and the Vemuram. The vemuram is a little darker and warmer, and perfect if you’re playing some heavier hard rock/metal and want to go for a full, vintage sound. I think the KLON KTR is better for an all-around, classic overdrive sound. Sounds great, but doesn’t lean so far in any one direction. Also I loved its cleaner drive. (I’m slightly leaning toward the KTR over the vemuram, but I would certainly choose the vemuram over KTR in some situations.) Just my two cents. Also I don’t play guitar lol.

For me that KLON sounds the best on all settings. That's the one I would choose if it was me.

Never heard of the Vemuram. But I like that the best. Bit tweedy iso Plexi/Marshall. There's lovely.

In my opinion, the way you had them set up and through my phone speakers: -The revival drive sounds the tightest and most articulate and least forgiving. -The klon ktr sounds the most generic -king of tone sounds the best in my opinion. Very smooth and natural -jam ray sounds the warmest. Quite an interesting sound coming from a strat. I dig it.

Joining this party late: Having played an exceptional gold horsie Klon, it had the general voicing of the KTR, but warmer like the Vemuram but better harmonic separation and overtones and bell like highs on 1 st string, great compression and that was humbucker gtr into a cheap solid state amp. This vid? The KTR sounds most usable ( no surprises in the guitar, amp varieties) but not warm as the old gold klon ( probably the components aren't made anymore). The KOT for a strat into clean sounds like the gold klon I played, the humbucker and KOT in this video was horrible ....clearly VOICED for a strat... the humbucker and the lack of eq shaping in circuit design to accommodate the voltage drop for higher drive basically equated to a huge drop in perceived volume and a guitar player would learn this quite quickly that they were lost in the mix in a live setting... in the studio, the engineer would just shave the ton of low mids and spike the high mids to be heard.... basically completely reshape the eq for the KOT high gain.... my hot take on it... The Vemuram sounds nice with a strat, but quite bloated, but a wet (drive) low roll off on about 150hz? like most Klon which I like. but quite boxy sounding with humbucker....like a silver klon but with gold klon bass roll off BUT boxier tube screamer character.... if that makes sense. The revival drive is a swiss army knife of overdrives - I like that it truly seems to have the extended lows you would expect plugging into an amp, but that said with all the knobs and toggles, in the drive character is basically the same. Just as I heard on Pete Thorn's demo the highs are a little brittle or hyped which is not tube sounding. I think if you used the revival properly in it's settings with a tube, you could get it to compliment your tube amp to make it 'more' of what you like whereas all these other pedals will 'box' in the extended frequencies of the original signal. If your a strat guy. low gain, blues and only this, the Vermuram or KOT is the choice...but that said, the Xotic RC or AC and or the Maxon pedals will deilver. For a versatile pedal with strat or humbucker, the KTR and Revival... for making your tiny apartment sound sound huge, while stacking with other pedals into - the Revival....but maybe it is time to just upgrade your amp?

Been waiting for a video like this for forever!

Hello Paul, first all the pedals sound amazing. I would use them in different types of songs. Bill Finnegan - KLON KTR: This for blues or playing with a little gain Origin Effects - Revival Drive: This for rock, hard rock or hi gain playing Vemuram - Jan Ray: This one and the Gibson Les Poul are the best friends

Wampler Tumnus Deluxe, Cochrane Timmy, Lovepedal Zendrive, BK Butler Tube Driver

Any gigging guitarist will tell you that a pedal that sounds great while playing on your own is usually NOT the pedal that sounds the best in the full mix of your band. A lot of folks would say my tone is thin and harsh until they hear it in a band mix, where it sounds punchy and cuts through the mix. It also depends on the instrumentation of your band. If you're playing with another guitarist, you'll have to distinguish yourself from each other. I currently play in a four piece band with drums, bass and two guitar players... however, the second guitarist also plays saxophone and I also play keyboards. I have certain pedals and sounds that I use when we are playing with two guitars, and different sounds when the other guitarist is playing sax. People just need to understand that what may sound great solo is not necessarily going to cut it on stage or in the studio.

I am on King of Tones waiting list for two years already.... this video just proved why there is such long waiting list again...

The 2nd one was my personal favorite, because it has that vintage style, that I like. Great video Paul ^^

For me I like the Vemuram Jan Ray for it's great classic tones and the Revival for it's great versatility and adaptability. The Vemuram sounds best at normal play but I think you can have more fun with the Revival as it has more scope. Wish I could play, ha ha!

Man that Revival Drive... The other ones sound like great pedals. The Revival Drive sounds like a great amp.

Revival all the way, man. The others are too thick and muddy. I like a little breakup, but there is too much coming from the Klon and Vemuram that it drowns out the original sound. The King of Tone walks the line a bit, but the punch from the Revival really pushes it over the edge for me. Not too much thickness, but not too thin either. I think this shows when you use a Les Paul. The Revival gives it that classic rock tone that you want from a Les Paul.

Hi Paul! I see you've already chosen one, but here's my two cents :) If I was in your situation, I'd absolutely go for the Revival. First of all. The sound is really good and I think the pedals that basically have an amp circuit (each component replaced with smaller ones to be able to make them into pedals) have natural, breathing highs and lows like no traditional drive pedals. Second of all. I don't know in what extent you work as a musician, but if you're a full time freelancer with several clients it doesn't hurt to have variations in the drive stage of your pedal board. It surely won't hurt your chances of establishing a relationship with a producer or an artist if you're able to easily whip out the sound of a Twin or Plexi or AC30 when requested. Have you noticed that in sessions no one ever asks "can you do like a *some drive pedal* sound for this pass?". Insted you hear a lot of "for this we need a marshall/fender/vox sound". Third of all. The validity of this point also depends on your needs. If you have fly dates and can't bring an amp, you'll have a much easier time dealing with rental amps with the Revival on your board as opposed to more traditional drives. Or you could just upload a killer impulse into one of those tiny Mooer impulse host pedals, put it after the Revival and tell the FOH guy you just need a DI box. If there's a stereo DI box and enough inputs available, you could patch your mod/delay/reverb in stereo (assuming they come after your drives on you board) and boom, there's your compact stereo rig :) Hope this was a useful read since it's pretty long :D

I would pay the price of a Klon Centaur to have the talent of Paul Davids. Classy playing.

The King of Tone & the Revival Drive have a pop that really adds too the tone.

I think I like the Vemuram more on moderate drive settings and Klon on the high gain. King of Tone was also great. The other with the many knobs didn't click on me that much, maybe because I don't like complicated stuff that much

Take a decent drive pedal with sexy looks, add an eq afterwards = ultimate drive pedal.

I don't normally use pedals, but in your video where you were setting up your pedal board, I heard the Jan Ray and thought, "God damn, that sounds fantastic, I should get one!" And then I saw the price and I wasn't going to pay a few hundred dollars for a pedal. Then I heard that the Jan Ray was a modified Timmy pedal. I looked up videos of the Timmy pedal and that sounded great, so I said, "I'm going to get a Timmy pedal!" At $129, it's a very reasonable price. But then I heard of another Timmy clone, the Caline Pure Sky, so I looked up videos for that and thought, "That sounds great!" So I bought the $30 Pure Sky pedal.

i don't know, now granted im a long time drummer and ive played many styles in many bands, i play some guitar how ever in a live situation, from the audience point of view, i don't think any one would be able to tell one from another. they all sound great but in a live situation there are many pedals that are much cheaper that the audience wouldn't be able to tell the difference. but if you have the money to spend and if it inspires, the price is well worth it. i could never afford top of the line drums but if i could i would get the best. may be the audience wouldn't know the difference but it would definitely inspire me.

I find a more difficult thing for a drive pedal to do well is edge of break-up (low gain) tone with a Les Paul (rather than the more predictable high gain tone in this vid). In particular some pedals have trouble distorting the beefier low end tones of a Les Paul / Humbucker (which tend to be voiced darker than most humbuckers). Overdrive circuits that filter out a good amount of the low end frequencies BEFORE the gain stage, then boost low end frequencies again after the gain stage tend to work nicely with a Les Paul, especially when almost clean (Gritty). Conversely, pedals that do this poorly end up sounding fuzzy and wooly with a Les Paul IMO. Fender / single coils are MUCH more forgiving.

I liked the color scheme you had going with the KTR. Very white stripe-y. Thanks for video. Have a nice day.

The Jan Ray and KOT are stunning!!!

I must be deaf but I can hardly hear the differences 😂

Now thats the major problem with the cab sims. UA Ox or Torpedo Wos or any ir loader. Always lacks something: moving air!

The Jan Ray was my favorite at first. The others had to much attack when you would strum the treble strings hard. The Jan Ray smoothed that out a lot. When you started messing with the nobs, this muddied the waters a bit because each one has a lot of diversity, which is great. Still, the small footprint of the Jan Ray, which matters on a pedal board, gives it the nod for me.

Wouldnt be surprised if some pedal around 100 bucks sounds just as good or better

Definitely like the revival drive the best just had the most character and really stood out

Try this one: Dolmen effects /Jeanne Reizh. Handmade in Brittany, France

Sadly the Jan Ray is a slightly tweaked rippoff of the Paul C. Timmy. Kind of messed up considering Vemuram claimed it was an original circuit and charged twice was Paul charges for a Timmy

Great demo video! Thank you! :-) Distortion pedals and comparison videos have convinced me that the distortion pedals bottom line comes down to how MUCH the signal is distorted and the overall EQ (typically more...or less, high frequencies). For me, this means many distortion pedals could be satisfactory and the differences would be negligible (to me) in a mix...ESPECIALLY live.

The KTR tone, or any good KLON tone does something to me. It's so, arrgh, so dang good. The other ones sound excellent but a little too much in the BluesBreaker territory, which is not my thing. I, myself, use a NUX horseman, which is a budget Klon clone, but it is definitely close enough and really does the voodoo allright.

If ever you pass in Paris do let me know so i can built and give you a pedal as exchange of thankfulness for all the free lesson you taught me. Ive been following you for so long now.

Revival drive sounds most amp like to me....... I really like the Jan ray too

The KTR you bought....It's a magical unicorn with papers and a bow on it. I'm very happy for you. I don't understand that type of thing other than for pedal collecting ...sitting on a shelf. But good for you, enjoy the best of the unicorns. Sorry, I'll never understand the whole Bill Klon or Analog Man KOT fascination. They create their own supply, demand, and mythology and get rich. Excellent marketing... more power to them. But for every one of these pedals, there is a more affordable alternative that sounds really very good. Not a certified unicorn...but very good.

I would have a hard time deciding. I know that you have a chase bliss mark 2. To hell with decisions, just go with the mark 2.

That Vemuram sounds amazing

Honestly I prefered the clean on its own. But, if I had to pick I'd go with the veraman.

Your editing skills are epic😯

King of Tone with the strat & klon ktr with the Les Paul, WHO'S WITH ME?!

"... daily driver. Get it? No? Not funny?" The moment I decided to LIKE this video :D

all this time i thought i wanted a KOT and now my hearts telling me KTR is what i need.

Preferred the fender tone over les paul. Low-Gain it was KoT and Vemuram. Vemuram for High-Gain though the KTR had a sweet 80's vibe. Vemuram wins over all, I liked the darker tone at low-gain, that was just *Chef Kiss*

I wonder what everyones is listening for. On an overdrive pedal you should look for dymamics and presence in the mix. I think the KLON is the best by fay. The others sound flat, unresponsive and they wont cut the mix.

I like the Vemuram most. It has a great character.

every one has their ups and downs thanks for the comparison

All fine and good, but I'm sticking to my 5e3 clone. We have attenuators for a reason, no? Next step's a variac but I digress. If I want more preamp gain I have a volume boost. If I REALLY need more grind I have my trusty V4 OCD. A dirt box can sound cool, but to me always sounds like a dirt box. The Revival Drive does have me curious but alas, diodes vs. Tubes. I like tubes, as hard to tame as they are.

It really depends on what you’re doing with the overdrive pedal. I would put the KOT or the revival drive on the board simply for the versatility (but only because you’re having to choose one). But the Jan Ray is so warm. If I were you I’d put the revival drive AND the Jan Ray on your board. Oh... and I think the extra $50 you spent on the KTR was probably not worth it. But it’s still a great pedal.