Kingtone Duellist v2
KingTone Guitar returns to the channel with the V2 of their most celebrated dual overdrive. Welcome back to Edge of Breakup.
In this episode the KingTone Guitar Duellist V2 takes center stage — featuring the Frank Brothers Arcade Thinline with Lollar The Bird Humbuckers, into the Benson Amps Monarch and Benson 2x12" via the Boss Waza Tube Amp Expander. The KingTone Vibe 1968 joins for the second half.
Jesse Davey (based in Los Angeles, building KingTone pedals by hand in the USA) describes the Duellist's origin: on tour, he would run two overdrive pedals — one for rhythm, one for lead, both together for full-on moments. The Duellist puts both in one box with independent footswitches, plus the ability to stack them in either order and add extensive tonal shaping via dipswitches.
Two channels. String Singer (Side A) is built around Tube Screamer DNA — vocal, mid-forward, singing lead tones from the cleanest of cleans through crunched lead. Heavy Hand (Side B) is built around the Marshall Bluesbreaker — highly dynamic, sensitive to pick attack, blues-to-Marshall breakup territory.
Each channel has Drive, Volume, and Tone controls plus the Fat/Stock/Glass pre-clipping EQ voicing switch unique to KingTone. Fat is the amp-like, full-bodied setting with more low-mid content — cranked tube amp character. Stock is the circuit at its standard voicing. Glass is brighter and more cutting, pulling back low-mid content for a cleaner, more articulate attack. These three voicings dramatically expand the usable tonal range of each channel independently.
The V2 additions over V1: a custom CNC-machined 6061 aluminum enclosure. Side-panel quad dipswitches — Add Warmth to Side A, Symmetrical Clipping for Side A, Add Distortion to Side B, Symmetrical Clipping for Side B — accessible without opening the pedal, adding near-infinite tonal variations when combined with the Fat/Stock/Glass switches and the stacking. A-B/B-A channel order switch on the right side panel (V1 required TRS cables to swap order). TRS FX loop between the two drives still available for inserting effects between the channels. High quality 4558 op-amp chips. Hand-wired. 9V DC or internal battery.
🎛️ KingTone Duellist V2: https://www.kingtoneguitar.com
🎸 Frank Brothers Guitar Company: https://www.frankbrothersguitars.com
🎸 Lollar The Bird: https://www.lollarguitars.com/lollar-pickups
🔊 Benson Amps: https://www.bensonamps.com/guitar-amplifiers
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🎸 Frank Brothers Arcade Thinline | Lollar The Bird Humbuckers (Firebird-Voiced)
🎛️ KingTone Duellist V2 | String Singer (TS) + Heavy Hand (BB) | Fat/Stock/Glass | Quad Dipswitches | A-B/B-A Switch
🎛️ Also: KingTone Vibe 1968
🔊 Benson Amps Monarch | Boss Waza TAE | Benson 2x12"
Recording: Universal Audio Apollo x4 | Lauten Audio LS-208 | Royer R121 & R10 | Sennheiser E906 | Ableton Live 11
