After all, if you can't fit it on your 'board, it doesn't matter how good it sounds! Thus, most klones are either buffered bypass or selectable between buffered and true bypass.įinally, the original had a massive enclosure, so as always, we tend to say that size should be one of the most important considerations. The Centaur stacks pretty well with other pedals, especially at lower gain levels, and so some boutique options that offer utilities for further tweaking EQ, or indeed having two pedals in a single enclosure are good options.įamously, the Centaur had a buffer which some people lionise to the point of building it into a separate pedal. What to look for in a KloneĪs a result, when buying a Klon clone, as long as it's a faithful reproduction of the original circuit, you can purchase based on looks, as modifications like different diodes are likely to have a small impact. Though the original tone control is interesting - an active high pass shelf above 400Hz - modifying the EQ stage doesn't affect the essential character of the circuit as much as you might expect. It's their sum that makes the Centaur so interesting.Īll of this detail serves to point out that most of the magic happens in these filter networks and the gain stage itself. Each of these waveforms - the two filtered and the distorted - are radically different to one another. This applies a low-pass filter to the clean tone, which is then blended back into the distortion sound. The second network is more simple, adding a bit of 'thickness' back into the tone. This is another reason why players running it at lower gain settings find it to be the 'cleanest' boost or drive that they've played.
As gain is increased, a filtered clean signal that runs in parallel is reduced in amplitude, and vice-versa. The first is controlled by the dual-gang gain control. Key to the circuit are two filter networks that amount to a clean blend. Most players, however, value its touch-sensitivity and run it at much lower-gain settings. At the maximum settings on the gain control, it's an almost square-wave distortion, caused by clipping inside the op-amp. There's quite a bit of gain on tap, and that, combined with the hard-clipping diodes means the Centaur can hit distortion territory if required. However, testing by ear, as well as waveform analysis have since showed that, if anything, the effect of these diodes is marginal. (Image credit: Future) Why is the Klon Centaur so good?īill Finnegan claimed that the hard-clipping 1N34A germanium diodes are the signature component of the Centaur's sound. For a budget option, investigate the Mosky Golden Horse, especially if pedalboard space is an issue. Meanwhile, the original Tumnus remains a good-value option for those in search of the authentic article. The Wampler Tumnus Deluxe (opens in new tab) offers an interesting spin on the circuit for non-purists. If you want to get straight to our choices, keep scrolling. If you want to find out more about the original Klon Centaur – and what makes the best Klon clones – head to the bottom of the page. And that’s what we’ll be looking at here. Inspired by the enduring popularity of the design and bottleneck in supply, clones of the circuit, known as 'klones' have become available over the years. This led to the term 'transparent overdrive' – though, it should be noted, that at higher gain settings, the Klon is anything but. Originally produced by Bill Finnegan between about 19, the pedal's unique topology meant that a portion of the guitar's clean signal was always blended back into the distortion sound.
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