Grateful Dead Music Forum

I thought this pedal might be of some interest to folks. The Kingsley Page. Not your average boost. It feels like taking your amp - if it's like mine - standard affair with no internal Garcia magic mods, and Jerrifying it. At least to my ears. I suppose you could classify the Page as an OD pedal, but I'll be using it as a boost - kicking my vintage MXR Micro Amp off my board.

There are many things to love about this pedal - such as a volume knob as well as a gain knob - so you can fatten your tone without making yourself louder when you engage the pedal. You can also sculpt your tone. As I understand it both tone pots are subtractive. Finally - it has 3 voices, but the "Fat Mode" seems to get in the territory of that fat 1978 Jerry tone that I've been chasing.

I scored this one on CL - lucky not to have had to fork out for the retail mail order price. It's not a cheap pedal by any means. But it feels more like a pre-amp and it's high voltage and tube driven.

I'd still like to try an Earth Drive, and possibly a Mac power amp, but between this and the Bogner Blue, I think a simple Vibrolux can get a wide range of great Jerry tones, and be portable.

I'm just not getting to this level of hi fidelity with the Fractal Ultra. The OD and boost effects are not quite at the Bogner and Kingsley level - still stiff and digital.

Here's the manufacturer's write up from his webiste - and hey - it's made right here in Vancouver by some Canadian hoser eh!

The Kingsley Page is a hand-wired tube boost pedal featuring a 12ax7 tube running at high voltage. Suitable for use as a clean or slightly driven boost, the Page also excels at pushing an amp or pedal into overdrive. In addition it produces excellent overdrive and distortion itself when pushed with another boost pedal. The 9VDC power supply (provided) is converted to both 6.3VDC for the tube heaters and 250VDC for the tube plates.

Features
With controls for gain, volume and tone, as well as a 3-way mode switch, the Page is a very versatile boost. The mode switch provides mid-boost, bright boost and fat boost modes, while the tone control rolls off top end as it is rotated counter-clockwise. The gain control allows the first gain stage to push the second gain stage for a mild break-up that sounds very similar to a good tube amp turned up to the point where it just starts to clip, producing a very touch-sensitive clean to overdrive response.

Here's a short soundclip (more noodling - sorry if it offends some - but I find reviews are much better with a soundtrack



Peace

James

When you said it was Made In Canada by a hoser, I was hoping for a Maple Syrup or maybe a Doughnut Jam control, but alas, it was not to be.

I was disappointed, but then I pictured Bob and Doug McKenzie getting loaded and building effects pedals.

I'm using a boxed stratoblaster on all the time to push the preamp tube stage and a full tone fat boost for clean boost.
I just built a lotus pedal Snowjob that sounds pretty good and has a switch to engage a pair of clipping diodes for a little dirt
Next up is a Demeter fat control. I'll post a review when that's finished

Nice James! Are those stock speakers on your vibrolux?

Hey thanks.

I run that Vibrolux through a HT style birch ply 2x12 cab I made myself. It's got 2 orange back JBL D120's, of which I'm the second owner. They were reconed in the early 80's at a JBL dealer in Vancouver. I suppose that makes them K120's.

Here is a second little demo of the Page boost, with super clean low output single coils on my MIJ Alembic clone guitar - a 1981 Aria Pro 2 Rev Sound. I did a two takes, the first with the boost and second without. It's more subtle than with those fat SDS-1's which really saturate with the Page Boost. But the neck pick-up is ever so thin on this guitar, the boost makes a world of difference - but not so much on the neck pick-up.

The big feature of the Page boost is a volume control - so you can fatten up your sound without cranking up the volume when you engage it - or if you are so inclined you can I'm digging this pedal and it's ever so cool when combined with my OD-2 Boss Turbo Overdrive. A pedal I've just come to appreciate even more now that I've discovered dialling up the tone pot on that OD-2 makes it less middy and more transparent and very smooth.

Peace,

James

I'm using a custom made stratoblaster pedal I got on ebay. It does a nice job driving my other pedals, especially my proton envelope filter, and slightly fattens the tone of my strat - voodoo 69 - fender HRDX - JBL K120 rig. I also use a Boss Turbo OD-2 to add a little dirt and further fatten the tone. I had an Earth Drive pedal, but I found that the combination of the stratoblaster and Turbo OD-2 gave me the most Jerry-ish tone to my ears. I got both of those pedals for around $40 a piece on Ebay. Due to budgetary constraints, I sold the Earth Drive to fund getting additional pedals I needed to round out my pedal board. In hindsight I wish I had been more patient and kept it as it is definitely a good quality pedal to have in one's arsenal.

Update on Demeter fat control;
I like it!
I used it in place of the stratoblaster, last before the pre amp, and it allows fairly transparent mid boost.
By that I mean the it's 1 drive pot can dial up any level of mid enhancement without changing the rest of the tone very much.
It seems to affect a narower range than the mid pot on my fender preamp section.
As for the Snowjob pedal, it just didn't do enough of anything well, so its out of the game for now.
I did build a clone of the MXR cae line driver boost.
That is nice. It's not true by pass; the buffer is on at all time when plugged in and the foot switch turns on the boost set by the gain pot The boost is very transparent but does add high end when turned up past 12:00
It's a very nice addition to a barebones rig or if you have to use someone else's gear in a pinch.

I use an Earth Drive for slight grit and an OCD for heavier distortion.
I have an MXR Dist + that I want to like but it is too searing and harsh to see any use ever.

for analogue chain (SMS JG) just a Soul Food by EH
guitar > morley aby > soul food > mobius > sms > lexicon mx200 stereo out > H&K cf200 (ss pa) > L weber ceramic cali (iso cab) & R weber ceramic chicago

also a pod hd pro x for lots of options there, but an axe fx II super plus deluxe thingy soon

I put an EHX soul food out in front of the rest of my board at times set to a very slight OD that is almost an always on sort of thing...and have an OCD kind of in the middle of my chain set to a more normal OD...followed by a Dist+ that the OCD had kicked off the board, except that I ended up with tone suck without it in the chain. The dist+ is set more as a distortion, though I rarely engage it. I also have a Dano TOD in the effects loop of my Qtron+ to fatten up its tone. I guess you could say I'm ODing on ODs.

Oh, yeah, I also have a FET Preamp I built from a BYOC kit after the dirt and before modulation effects that can add up 26 db of gain. Engaging it driving my twin can create a massive wall of sound, especially teamed up with some delay.

I know Jerry didn't use one but I'm wondering if anyone here uses a Rat for leads. The Rat's rep was built on high distortion but in fact it's a versatile and musical pedal that sounds wonderful, to add just a tad of grit. I rely on a pair of Rat digital models for leads with my Line 6 M13, one set at just above unity with the slightest touch of overdrive, the other with a bit more drive. My solo on this recording is using the first model (just above unity/tad of overdrive).

https://soundcloud.com/gratefuljon/than ... e-my-uncle

Jon, That tone has real bite to it. In a good way.

Jon, That tone has real bite to it. In a good way.

I'll second that one.

Peace,

James

I use a Barber Launch Pad first in my chain. There is no grit, just lots of clean boost. It also has a buffer which is close enough for me to having one in the guitar. It is always on, all the pedals after it respond better.

TC Spark boost. awesome boost pedal