Klon Centaur- why? For you Klon fans...

B

BloodRose

Professional Scapegoat
First, I wanted to ask, what makes the Klon Centaur so beloved?? I hear its not a high gain pedal.. What makes it such a grail of a pedal to command the prices they do?? Ive never experienced one.
opinions??

Second, for you fans that cannot afford one. (most of us..) I read in the new Guitar world that Wampler is making a pedal called the Tumnus and it is supposed to deliver a tone very close to a Centaur. The write up says it isnt a high gain pedal, but is extremely smooth and delivers amazing sustain..
 
Re: Klon Centaur- why? For you Klon fans...

the klon wasnt stupid expensive new, its the used prices that are sky high. its a cool overdrive that is "magic" when used to boost an already driven amp as it feels like its part of the amp and not a pedal. its a cool pedal but i didnt love it with my rig. there are tons of klones out there that claim to do the same thing ymmv
 
Re: Klon Centaur- why? For you Klon fans...

Maybe i am very special, but i use it this way.
I play Les Pauls with Fender tube amp and don't not use any pedals. When i play my strat with my LP settings on the amp i put a Klone clone in the signal path and compensate for the gain and mid loss. That works only with a Klone.
Some of the components of the original circuit were selected and are only availiable as NOS.
 
Re: Klon Centaur- why? For you Klon fans...

The Klon is about as transparent as you can get (no pedal is completely transparent).

By transparent, people mean that it doesn't change the tone by imparting its own character on it the way a Metal Zone or Tube Screamer would.

It does have a slight mid bump, but overall, you can tune the pedal with the treble knob do that at unity gain and the drive way down you don't hear any difference with the pedal on or off. Then, you raise the level to push your amp and get more of what you've already got. You can also add in some of the pedal's own dirt if you want but the tone of the guitar and amp stays mostly unchanged.

That's what people love about the Klon.

Personally I don't really give a crap about transparency. I have a few transparent over drives but I don't necessarily use them for their ability to blend into my rig without significantly changing my tone. I just find they sound good... Especially when stacked with other pedals.

I got lucky a while back and found a local guy was building Klones relatively cheap compared to what's out there and sounding just as good or better than most Klones I've heard (I can't say how close it sounds to an original Klon Centaur, but he did his research and sought out every single component used in the original Klon). He made them both as a stand alone unit and as a dual pedal he called King Klon that paired It with a King of Tone. I got one of the last ones he built.
 
Re: Klon Centaur- why? For you Klon fans...

You're not ready to discuss such pedals as the Klon Centaur Professional Overdrive.

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:jester:
 
Re: Klon Centaur- why? For you Klon fans...

A great inexpensive way to experience the "Klon-ish" sound is with the EHX Soul Food. It's not for everybody but I think the ones who end up saying they don't care for the Klon experience expected it to sound like a TS or have tons of gain on tap.
 
Re: Klon Centaur- why? For you Klon fans...

I haven't tried a Klon but I recently tested out an EHX Soul Food. I know it's not exact but very much in the ballpark from what I've been told. For whatever reason, it didn't inspire me. I was test driving several overdrives that day and I wanted to like it, but there was a big "meh" factor to me. That's when I picked the TS808. I couldn't stop playing after plugging back in to it.
 
Re: Klon Centaur- why? For you Klon fans...

I like using a Klon (or a klone) as an overdrive with the gain about 3 o'clock and the tone rolled back a bit. Most people like to use them as a clean boost.

There's nothing really magic about them, it's just a really good circuit that preserves tone and clarity really well.

One of my biggest "Oh, that's why people like them" moments was when I was messing around with a pedal in a store. I didn't know what it was, but it sounded absolutely amazing, come to find out it was a Klone.

My bud who owns a real Klon plays a stock Soul Food on his main gigging board instead of taking out the Klon. If you're wanting to dip your toes into the klone-war, that's a good place to start.
 
Re: Klon Centaur- why? For you Klon fans...

Trying to understand the difference between a transparent overdrive and a clean boost.

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Re: Klon Centaur- why? For you Klon fans...

Demanic said:
Trying to understand the difference between a transparent overdrive and a clean boost.

Sent from my MotoE2(4G-LTE) using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

a clean boost should be just that, same tone just more output. a transparent overdrive should keep the basic tone and add drive as well. the thing is this isnt science and people can call things pretty much whatever they wasnt
 
Re: Klon Centaur- why? For you Klon fans...

Ok, cool, that helps. My Keeley Katana is a great clean boost, plus it adds some grit if you pull the volume knob out. I think Keeley makes a Kline called the Oxblood. If I ever get the inclination, I may get one.

Sent from my MotoE2(4G-LTE) using Tapatalk
 
Klon Centaur- why? For you Klon fans...

Great info here, one additional point is about using a Klon/Klone to push another dirt pedal before hitting the amp, it can be one heck of a "love this tone, but give me MORE" option.

I use a BYOC Silver Pony Klone as my first OD, fairly clean but enough to drive the amp on its own. That goes into my distortion du jour (currently a Plimsoul) which then goes into a Spark Mini clean boost, which I kick in as a solo-level.

When I get my amp's EQ (mainly the mids) dialed in for the guitar at hand, this cascading approach gives me incredible flexibility without really having to look down (I sing lead Vox, so like to minimize tap-dancing!)


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
Last edited:
Re: Klon Centaur- why? For you Klon fans...

I can't link to You Tube from my work PC, but have a look at Dan and Mick on That Pedal Show. They have a video where they compare a gold Klon, silver Klon, both gold and silver J Rockett Archers, a Soul Food, a Tumnus and another Klone whose name escapes me.
 
Re: Klon Centaur- why? For you Klon fans...

Great info on the Klon, Thank you!!! I see the soul food recommended a couple of times... Anyone have experience with the tumnus???
 
Re: Klon Centaur- why? For you Klon fans...

Demanic said:
Ok, cool, that helps. My Keeley Katana is a great clean boost, plus it adds some grit if you pull the volume knob out. I think Keeley makes a Kline called the Oxblood. If I ever get the inclination, I may get one.

Sent from my MotoE2(4G-LTE) using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

The Oxblood isn't really a "klone", but it can be dialed in to get real close. It's far more versatile. My favorite OD/boost at the moment.
 
Re: Klon Centaur- why? For you Klon fans...

I wasn't looking for a Klone when I found the Soul Food but I really liked it so now I use one. Great low gain OD.
 
Re: Klon Centaur- why? For you Klon fans...

I never dug the sound, but I never used a pedal to boost an OD'd amp. I either use OD pedals into a clean amp, or just an overdriven amp, but I don't really use them together.
 
Re: Klon Centaur- why? For you Klon fans...

I think it's largely for the same reason that the tubescreamer is so well loved. Bear with me, the biggest evils to a live rig are bass and treble. Too much bass and your signal gets all woofy and gross, too much treble and your audience's ears start to bleed every time you play a note. The tubescreamer was a perfect fix to both of those problems, trimming some of the bass and treble, while also pushing that sweet midrange that guitar players need to stand out in a mix without overpowering the rest of their band.

The Klon has a similar frequency shape, it doesn't cut as much bass but there is still some light adjustment to keep it tight. Instead of focusing on low mids that the Tubescreamer does, the Klon focuses on the high mids. You want fat and cutting you go for a TS, you want chimey and cutting you go for a Klon. It's a super simplification, and the circuits are not at all alike, but in terms of general EQ structure that's how I see the pedals in a band.
 
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