Jester
Overview
The Kingsley Jester is a hand-wired tube overdrive and boost pedal that uses two 12ax7 tubes running at high voltage. The circuit is point to point wired and features hard-wire by-pass on/off footswitches. The overdrive circuit is designed to capture the essence of the Kingsley Deluxe series overdrive tone in a footpedal format. The circuit is based on the overdrive channels of the Deluxe 32 and ToneBaron amplifiers, with the necessary adjustments made to allow the circuit to drive the front end of other amps.
Features
The overdrive controls are: gain, volume, treble, middle and bass, with a three-way voicing switch that changes the gain range from low to medium to high. Mode 1 is for lower gain sounds and produces the fattest sounds. Mode 2 provides more gain and a more focused sound. Mode 3 is higher gain still with an even tighter sound for better definition at high gain settings.
A separate foot-switchable tube boost function is also included with a boost level control and 3-way mode switch. Mode 1 is the fattest boost while mode 2 has incorporates a tasteful treble boost. Mode 3 is a mid boost. This boost circuit can function with the Jester overdrive circuit or independently as a clean boost. The boost is situated after the overdrive circuit, so that when combined with the overdrive, it acts as a true boost. Effectively this means that the user has four foot-switchable sounds available: by-pass, clean boost, overdrive and boosted overdrive. The boost on its own works great for a clean boost or for pushing the front end of an amp into overdrive.
The Jester uses a 12VAC adapter (which is supplied with the pedal). The tube filaments are DC operated and the 12VAC gets stepped up inside the pedal chassis to supply 250VDC to the tube circuit.
Measurements: 7.5" wide x 6" deep x 1 1/4" high at the front, sloping up to 2 1/4" high at the back. With the tube guard in place the height at the back is 3"
Weight: 3 lbs (1320g)