Klon Centaur, has anyone tried one (original or copy)

[visserman]

I was given one by a friend who asked me try it and see what my thoughts were.
It is a cheap copy.

Okay well at first I just plugged into one amp and tried it to enhance my clean sound.
I was struck at the fact I needed to boost the treble at max to hear any difference in my clean sound at all. Kept the gain at zero since I was aiming for a clean boost.

Then I added some gain, and the pedal gave me a much darker distorted sound than what I had anticipated.

Not impressed so far until...................I placed it in front a Rat: The Rat had a slight distorted sound, and I added more gain from the Klon.
The result was a sound which reminded me off the Big Muff. That was a pleasant surprise.

Been using it more ever since, but more as a support pedal to add sparkle and some beef, a bit like how I would use a compressor.
I think in the support role the Klon works well, on its own I need to try it with some other amps to get a better idea.

Anyone of you tried one?

After my trials I did read a little about its history and the hype. I did remember them from the 90s but had never really tried one.

[Pepe]

I have never had a Klon-like pedal. The EHX Soul Food should be a good and affordable model. At least I get that impression by having watched comparison videos lately.

@Laurie: does your DingoTone BSD have some overlap with the Klon sound?

[chromandre]

I haven't tried it yet but if you look at the schematic,
1) the gain knob is also a clean blend knob.
2) the clipping itself seems to be as simple as possible ( vintage distortion plus) but I guess they got it to sound so nice by getting creative with all the filter choices.

[The_Doc]

I have a couple clones (EHX Soul Food and Fredric Fx Golden Eagle). Both are great for gain stacking just as visserman noted but I’m not overly impressed when using them on their own - even into an overdriven amp.

[chromandre]

interesting... I do like stacking gain, my go-to's are OD-3 and EQD speaker cranker but now I'm looking to try a klon

[fuzzbuzzfuzz]

Curious this post came up. I picked up a really well made klone from a used store here in Japan, no brand name or anything like that, immaculate braided wiring in blue/red/white, quite wonderfully made inside, plain Jane unpainted exterior! 

...and so far it has bested anything since, Klone wise*, that I have tried in that regard. Like many though, I have yet to add it on a regular basis to a board. It has a similar vibe to me as a TS, a particular sound that grips, adds sparkle but is a bit "tight" for my liking. That said, since I've switched to Strat type guitars both of those pedal types have come back into rotation and seem to add something to the thinness/flatness of the Strat tone (that I perceive). Best I think is simply as a boost to an already over-driving amp or gain pedal, the tightness prevents flab and both the TS and Klone allow some clean tones to cut through. 

*ircc it was the RYRA clone I tried which was indeed very nice, at a great price but I resisted. There are an amazing amount of recreations and look-alike to the original and the prices are something else! I'd likely try a used J Archer Rocket personally for board space vs build vs price. I found the Soul food to be really flat and dry sounding (just like almost all other small box EHX pedals oddly).

** Nels Cline - best tone for a Klon

[visserman]

Curious this post came up. I picked up a really well made klone from a used store here in Japan, no brand name or anything like that, immaculate braided wiring in blue/red/white, quite wonderfully made inside, plain Jane unpainted exterior! 

...and so far it has bested anything since, Klone wise*, that I have tried in that regard. Like many though, I have yet to add it on a regular basis to a board. It has a similar vibe to me as a TS, a particular sound that grips, adds sparkle but is a bit "tight" for my liking. That said, since I've switched to Strat type guitars both of those pedal types have come back into rotation and seem to add something to the thinness/flatness of the Strat tone (that I perceive). Best I think is simply as a boost to an already over-driving amp or gain pedal, the tightness prevents flab and both the TS and Klone allow some clean tones to cut through. 

*ircc it was the RYRA clone I tried which was indeed very nice, at a great price but I resisted. There are an amazing amount of recreations and look-alike to the original and the prices are something else! I'd likely try a used J Archer Rocket personally for board space vs build vs price. I found the Soul food to be really flat and dry sounding (just like almost all other small box EHX pedals oddly).

** Nels Cline - best tone for a Klon

Yes Nels says it is a great pedal, Jeff Beck used to use one as well. Well so many well-known players, maybe they received one in the 90s to promote the pedal.

As far as TS goes, I disagree there, TS has a more distinct sound. The Klon is good is that sense, when you use it on its own you hardly notice it. You can simply boost your overall level without too much coloration. But then, you can achieve that goal in many other ways too.

[visserman]

interesting... I do like stacking gain, my go-to's are OD-3 and EQD speaker cranker but now I'm looking to try a klon

I will do more tests. Have not tried anything since my last post here. Been doing other things music wise and some videos which needed fine tuning.
Anyway will do some good tests are report back, maybe even a video within a month or so.......
Cheers,
Eddie

[visserman]

Done a few more tests and no other results really:

The pedal on its own in front of a amp does not give a inspiring sound: It does not give you a light cruch a la TS-9 or OD-1 or SD-1

Boosting the treble will give you a boost in your sound but will not add a little bit of crunch.

Adding more gain to your sound will give you more body, which may be good, but it also adds more bass, a lot more than what you may want.

I would not say this pedal is a booster pedal, or does have same sort of function as a Tube Screamer.

The pedal works best as a support pedal for other dist/overdrive pedals: It will give more body to your sound. Adding more body to whatever your sound is seems to be the biggest feature.

The pedal does have a large powerconsumption: 50 mA, which is a lot for a simple boost pedal of this kind.

Worth the hype? Will the original be much better than a copy?

[Luke Drifter]

I had an Arc Effects Klone V1 for a while and quite liked it. The 'clean' boost side of it I quite liked. Never found a use for the Gain knob

https://youtu.be/IagqxGNxxnY

I sold it eventually, as I keep going back to Lauries HZD boost for my clean boost sounds
If I wanted that particular Klon flavour again I would probably check out the J Rockett Rockaway Archer

https://youtu.be/9QJ0MvSco_A