own versions of the Centaur, some apparently more
accurate than others.
Fast-forward to 2012 and Finnegan released the
new, Asian-made version of the Centaur called
the Klon KTR Overdrive. Priced at $269, the KTR
had a long waiting list and the initial run quickly
sold out. To try to distance himself from the hype
of the original, Finnegan had the following phrase
emblazoned on the front of the KTR “Kindly
remember the ridiculous hype that offends so many
is not of my making.” Clever phrases aside, the KTR
suffered from poor quality control and Bill Finnegan
soon pulled it from the market to find a new builder
to work with.
Now that we’ve covered the history and the hype,
let’s get under the hood of the Klon Centaur
and find out what it does. At face value, the Klon
Centaur seems like your average overdrive. It has
three controls: Gain, Treble, and Output. Open up
the Centaur and you can see one item that sets it
apart from other overdrives. Aside from the epoxy
covering a large portion of the circuit board, it uses
a dual-gang pot for distortion generating part of
the circuit. According to Finnegan, the second pot
“optimizes the circuit’s overall tonal response for
whatever the main gain stage is generating in the
way of level and distortion.”
To get a better handle on the technical aspects
of the Centaur, I decided to talk to “Analog Mike”
Piera. He has this to say about the Centaur:
“IT DIFFERS FROM MOST OVERDRIVES IN THE
WAY THE GAIN POT IS ALSO USED TO MIX IN
MORE CLEAN SIGNAL, AND IT WAS ONE OF
THE FIRST PEDALS TO USE A CHARGE PUMP
TO RUN CHIPS AT HIGHER VOLTAGES FOR
MORE INTERNAL HEADROOM.”
20
TONE TALK //
The Klon: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love My Tone