Keeley Manis vs Tumnus ?

[Tomm Williams]

I’ve struggled for quite some time with the tone of a Klon, for some things it’s pure heaven other things not so much. For me it doesn’t work that well on chords but single notes is wonderful.
I guess the primary thing that I object to is the midrange tone I can’t get comfortable with. The Tumnus having a mid knob I thought would cure that but I’m still searching though I must admit, the Tumnus is pretty darn good.
So I’m looking for those who have experienced both the Tumnus and the Keeley Manis. Please offer your thoughts as they compare to each other.

 

[synthpenguin]

I've heard nothing but good things about the Tumnus Deluxe (I'm assuming you were referring to that one since you mentioned a mid knob), so I wouldn't be afraid to just go for that.

But...

Do you want a wider mid boost, or do you want something flatter?

If you want a wider / less obvious mid boost, maybe check out something like the Sarno Earth Drive. A lot of people who like Klons also like that, but its mid boost is much wider, and with the treble all the way open it's very gentle and comes across like more of a gradual low end rolloff. They have a newer mini version which looks cool too.

A Bluesbreaker or clone / variant (Analogman Prince of Tone, MXR Duke of Tone, Browne Carbon, etc) will be a bit more transparent again, but still generally with a mid boost. The Wampler Pantheon is also based on the Bluesbreaker, though, like the Tumnus Deluxe, its tonestack gives you more control, so that might be worth a look too. The overdrive character is different from a Klon with these, but there's a lot of overlap depending on the use case.

If you want something even more transparent, a Boss OD-3 could be good and can be pretty smooth still, or something like the EQD Special Cranker, which is even flatter, MIGHT work depending, again, on the application (it might come across as too "spit-y" and aggressive compared to a Klon at higher gain or more treble-y settings). There are actually some good videos comparing the OD-3 to the Klon iirc

Btw here's a great site that will let you look at and compare the frequency response of most of these pedals: https://rhpfelectronics.com/rhpf-el...edals-in-switzerland/rhpf-nerd-lab/tone-maps/