Notaklon kit anyone?

[bigtone23]

Saw the release announcement for the JHS Notaklon the other week. Looked like a fun way to get another Klone for about $100. Well, I was a couple hours late to get on the 1st wave of shipments, so mine will show up in a little over a month or so. No biggie.
My thoughts and impetus to order were: it's tonally accurate to a stock Klon, has a mod switch for another flavor, looks like it's built well, is $100, supports a small(er) company and has some simple assembly, which is fun for me. It should compliment my Han-Taun nicely, 3 distinct flavors of Klon in two pedals. These are all wins!
I'm sure this will be the end of my Klone hunt.
Famous last words!
No, really!

[laurie]

Looked seriously at the notaklon kit.

Ended up buying one of these:
https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B0112G0MX0/

It hasn't arrived yet. Will let you know what it is like once I've received it and built it.

[bigtone23]

Looked seriously at the notaklon kit.

Ended up buying one of these:
https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B0112G0MX0/

It hasn't arrived yet. Will let you know what it is like once I've received it and built it.

That's a good deal!
Even if you let it sit for a couple weeks, you will be playing yours long before I will!
Interested in what you think of the kit and it's sound.

[zentropa]

Hadn't really kept up on the klon front, but was kind of curious since JHS is all SMD what their kit would be like. Was kind of surprised that it was an SMD kit. I know there are a number of solder-based klone kits out there.

I have tried to like JHS and was able to block out a lot of the older anti-JHS sentiments over circuit theft, etc. but since owning a number of their pedals, I think I like the idea of what they are trying to do a lot better than what things actually end up being. The Muffuletta and Bonsai are examples of "great idea, but I don't really feel like they do what they say they do" pedals. I hope this one "does the thing"

The Shamrock mod does seem different than most of the standard klone tweaks out there. Having a "fat mod" is fairly standard on many, and a few have a toggle for buffered vs. true bypass, taking from the Klon KTR.

[bigtone23]

Got the kit today!
What a mixed bag of emotions…
It was great to get it after a 3 month wait. Yes!
It was beyond easy to assemble. DIY level 1.
It works! (Assumed)
Compared it to the Han Taun, the JHS is very similar in gain and general tonality. The JHS has more output and the treble control gets brighter/more edgy. The Shamrock mode adds more volume and a mid boost that could make a TS/SD user contemplate a swap. This is great. It has a unique place in the pedal collection.

Took it off the bench and went into the music room to try a bigger amp. All was going great for a few minutes and then it stopped passing signal when on. It powers up and bypass mode passes signal.

Tried other power supplies, cables, guitars, etc… Hmm…
Took it apart, tried it as loose boards, nope.
Reassembled, nope. Frustration.

Poked and prodded the jacks, pots and ribbon cable. Nope.
Tried other isolated power supplies and cables. Nope. Do not see any bad solder joints, odd shorts, etc… It’s SMD, so getting deep isn’t easy.
Disappointed.

Contacted JHS for possible warranty fix.
15 minutes of play time.

[laurie]

Blah. That sucks.

[bigtone23]

All is well again. JHS did a warranty repair on the pedal, it needed a new charge pump. 10 day turnaround from when I dropped it off to the day it arrived on my porch. Works and sounds great, and didn't cost me anything but a trip to the FedEx drop-off at my usual grocery store.
It was a bummer to have it need a repair, but it was a painless process.

[laurie]

Great that it is working properly!