How close are teh clones???

[photek]

Yeah thats a good point and this is where is get a bit of a grey area, I had a Suhr Riot clone that just didn't capture the magic of the proper one (I am fully aware that there is no magic in pedals btw). The same could be said about the rockbox boiling point, it is immense and no matter how many people tell me it is just another tubescreamer clone I can tell with my actual ears that it sounds better that all the other ones I have had.

I guess it must be down to the quality of parts or construction method / consistency or whatever. I would be very happy if I could pick a Riot up for £30 put it that way.

[timmyo]

It's worth remembering that your average pot has a 20% tolerance on resistance so 2 identical production pedals can need different settings to sound exactly the same anyway. That said, I've used very close clones and I've also used clones that sound "like" rather than "the same as" what they copy.

I think as mentioned above it's as much to do with the builder and how carefully they get the right types and values of components, and of course the best version of the many schematics that are scattered around the various hobby sites.

I agree that Thorpy on eBay is good, as is MadeByMike and Handsomerik.

[timmyo]

Aren't the BB and AC variations on the Tubescreamer theme?

They start with that topology yes but the changes are a bit more involved than your average booteek-emperors-clothes-job. The active dual band tone control makes it sound more different (if you want it to) than a vanilla TS for a start.

[Sir Axeman]