GEAR REVIEW
CERIATONE MINI KLEIN-ULATOR FX LOOP BUFFER PEDAL | Michael Hodge
KEY FEATURES
• Dumbleator-style effects loop
• Solid State Buffer
• Bright 1 & 2 switches
• Pedalboard Friendly
• Built in Malaysia
Let’ s first start with a bit of background to set the tone for this review. One of the most legendary guitar amps in history is the Dumble Overdrive Special. There were only 300 made. Everything Howard Dumble built is legendary, with endless internet groups trying to figure out the magic. Praised by top guitarists, some of his used amps are now selling for over $ 100,000.00. Howard passed away a few years back. He was a believer!
One of the owners of an original Dumble is John Mayer. His iconic guitar playing and tones have inspired the PRS Silver Sky guitar and the new Neural DSP Archetype John Mayer X plugin, which recreates his multi-amp setup in a plugin. He’ s also been seen with a mysterious pedal on his board, called the Box It Later by JHS, which is apparently a recreation of the famous rackmount Dumbleator or pedal version,“ a box later” by Howard Dumble in pedal form.
Enter Malaysia-based Ceriatone Amplifiers. Nik, Lin, and crew are known for making amazing amplifier recreations based on amps like Marshall, Fender, Dumble, and more. With the exchange rate, they are super affordable here in the USA.
One of their products is this one, the Ceriatone Mini Klein-ulator pedal. It’ s a pedalboard-friendly buffered loop that recreates the Dumbleator tube circuit.
It’ s like the pedal version John Mayer is using. The original Dumble tube-driven effects loop buffer was designed to enhance the performance of Dumble amplifiers using passive FX loops. Thus, preserve the amp’ s sound and allow pedals to be in a loop that would adjust impedance, levels, etc. Klein-ulator has been around since about 2008 but is now gaining popularity, primarily among John Mayer fans.
OUT OF THE BOX: Klein-ulator is a simple solid-state effects loop buffer. It comes humbly, packed in a cardboard box with bubble wrap. The build is solid. On top are three knobs. Send, Return, and Recovery. There are two switches, Bright 1 and Bright 2. There is a small LED light, but no foot switch. On the back are In / Out, Send / Return, and a typical 9VDC jack. When the Send knob is
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