In 1995 I made three small changes: I added a resistor to give the circuit some protection against a static charge delivered to its input-a change that has no sonic effect. РІР‚СљThe fact is, under the hood theyРІР‚в„ўre all basically the same. Klon Centaur Models: Gold vs Silver - During its 15 years of production, the Klon enclosure and circuit had some variations in color and graphics, but in theory, the minimal variations between the years do not affect the sound:

This PCB is famous for being covered with black epoxy resin (gooped) in order to prevent people from replicating it. However, all the potentiometers, jacks and the battery are wired and hand soldered to the PCB which makes it quite labor intensive. In the parts of the circuit where double side PCB are needed (tracks crossing), there are links (wired bridges) that make the manufacture easier and cheaper. The circuit uses a single layer PCB with standard through-hole components. The op-amp used is simple TL072, proving that for a great sounding guitar pedal no exotic/mojo/expensive parts are needed, just pure and smart electronic design. The development process was based on long listening tests, trying different resistors & caps values and listening to the sound variation, this is why the bill of materials has so many references and tricky values. The circuit is quite original, showing a mix of academic electronic design together with pure experimental/think-out-of-the-box blocks.

The Klon Centaur schematic could be broken down into 5 parts: Input Stage, Op-Amp Gain Stage, Summing Stage, Tone control, Output Stage and Power Supply: Nowadays the original models are highly appreciated, you just need to check eBay to see how high it goes.Р”Сћ.1 The importance of a big fat power supply.Р”Р€.1 Klon Centaur Input Impedance Calculation.

The design process took more than 4 years and the result was a mythic $329 hand build pedal that was running in production for 15 years. The initial idea was to improve the TubeScreamer transient response and the midrange-bass frequencies in order to create a big open sound with a hint of tube clipping: the so-called transparent overdrive. The Klon Centaur in an overdrive guitar pedal designed by Bill Finnegan with the help of 2 MIT Electronic Engineers between 19.

Pedal pcb