Vintage Guitar - July 1995 

Product Review: The Centaur Professional Overdrive

By Ken Fischer

     As we all know, a new distortion or overdrive box hits the market at the rate
of one every two-and-a-half hours. The Centaur Overdrive is one of the latest such
units to be introduced. This one, however, is the result of several musicians and
technical people working over four years to design and produce just one product.
The people at Klon, the makers of the Centaur, have been sending me prototypes
during that time, so the unit is not a stranger to me. They finally, after years
of tweaking, placed a production unit in my hands for evaluation.

Construction and Layout:

     The Centaur is housed in a custom sand-cast solid aluminum casing. This casing
immediately sets it apart from the "project box" construction typical of most of
the low-production distortion and overdrive boxes on the market. The folks at Klon
give several reasons for going this rather expensive route. One is that it allows
them to make the box about as rugged as you can get. Another is that custom casting
lets them design for the best possible layout, including a sloping top panel that
makes it very easy to step on the footswitch while making it hard to step on the
top-mounted controls by mistake. Also, the custom casting gives a professional
appearance. The Centaur also has a very effective battery holder cast as part of
the casing. The casting is not painted, but has a gold-toned anodized finish instead,
which cannot chip, crack, or peel. The graphics are silk-screened onto the casing in
oxblood red, and oxblood red knobs complete the classic look. Inside this casting are
top-notch components, including a Carling D.P.D.T. [double-pole/double-throw] footswitch
and "real deal" controls, not the Taiwan junk that's popping up everywhere.
     The circuit components reside on high-quality printed circuit boards. The boards
are epoxy-coated on both sides. The reasons Klon gives for the epoxy coatings are to
keep the circuit from being copied by hobbyists, and to seal the components from any 
kind of possible damage. This means a complete circuit board exchange is the only way
to repair a unit if it has had a parts failure. Klon runs these units through extensive
tests before shipping, and reports a zero failure rate. I don't like sealed circuits
myself, as many products outlast the companies that made them, but I understand their
position on the subject.

Control Layout:

     The Centaur is very straightforward in its layout. The back of the unit contains
the input and output jacks and a 9-volt input jack for a wall-wart. The top panel has
Gain, Treble, and Output controls, plus an "overdrive on" LED indicator. The top also
is home for the footswitch, of course.

The Centaur Under Test:

     The Centaur is an overdrive rather than a distortion box. I've covered that ground
before, but for any new Vintage Guitar readers who want to know how I define the two - 
a distortion box is a unit that is capable of providing all the distortion you require
with no help at all from your amplifier. An overdrive box, while capable of a modest 
amount of distortion, is used mainly to help your amplifier create its own distortion.
For example, a Pro-Co Rat is a distortion box, and an Ibanez Tube Screamer is an over-
drive unit. The Centaur is not a massive hard-clip distortion unit, but rather an over-
drive that will help your tube amplifier create its own distortion. With the Gain way up,
the Centaur will create some MODEST amounts of distortion on its own, which is useful for
harmonic enhancement. The guys at Klon state that it has enough distortion to be used as
a distortion box on its own. In fact, I was told that it has "considerable distortion 
with the Gain turned up." I don't agree. What it can do is hit the first gain stage [in
your amp] hard enough to clip it. Since in most amps a volume control follows the first
gain stage, you can clip that stage and your volume control acts as a master volume. 
Used in this manner, the Centaur has a good amount of distortion, but it's part Centaur
and partly the amplifier, and not stand-alone distortion from the Centaur. The Hot Cake
Overdrive I've talked about in the past has noticeably more distortion than the Centaur.
Even with the amount of distortion in a Hot Cake, I put two Cakes in series when I want
serious amounts of stand-alone distortion.
     That item out of the way, this is what a Centaur will do. First, it has a tone-neutral
clean-boost setting. That is, it can boost your guitar's signal cleanly with no change in
its tonal balance. If you like the tone of your guitar and amp just the way they are, but
wish for more of the same, pumped up and more muscular, then the Centaur rates an A+ grade.
     Klon says that some jazz players are even using their box on the clean-boost setting
to beef up their signals. I could see that, with one caveat. The Centaur is not quiet. It
makes more noise than a Hot Cake, Tube Screamer, and even my NKT-275 (the original ones!)
Fuzz Face. People who use boxes with noise-reduction circuits may find it kind of a throw-
back to older days in this regard, but the folks at Klon wanted performance first, and 
that's what this overdrive is all about. I don't find the noise level objectionable. The
folks at Klon rate the noise as minor. I'd rate it moderate by today's standards.
     For my testing I used a variety of guitars and amps. The Centaur worked well with
Strats, Teles, Les Pauls - both the Jr. and adult versions. For amps I used Fender, Vox,
Marshall, my Kendrick 2112, and my trusty Peavey. Tjhe Centaur didn't find a combination
it didn't like, except for a 900-series Marshall. The Centaur doesn't do the '90's metal
sound, but that's another magazine's main thing - VG readers will most likely not care.
The Centaur can't beat a Boss or Marshall box in that arena.
     The Centaur, used as an all-out overdrive, is big, fat, and warm. This thing has tons
of bottom, and a Strat on the neck pickup retains its full throaty sound. The distortion 
it provides is part of the note, rather than a distorted buzz added over it. The Centaur 
seems to become part of your amplifier's tube circuits and doesn't feel or sound like you
are using an outboard device. The Treble control reaches down into the mids and extends
up into the higher frequencies as it moves through its range. This gives many useful tones,
as opposed to just being a simple tone control. The Centaur is refined, but packs a real
wallop when called on to do so. It's a blues/fusion machine, but can really rock out too.
     I know you're going to ask me how it compares to a Hot Cake. They're different. The
Centaur is smoother, more refined, while the Hot Cake has more "trash in its sound. The
Cake, and I'm talking favorite (I have three originals and one of the later versions, my
favorite being one of the originals), has a bit more note separation in chords and a more
aggressive nasty rock sound, but does have some trashiness in it that gives it a raw 
quality I also like. I really like them both. The Centaur does the Texas tones better than
anything. At $239 including shipping [now $279 plus shipping] the Centaur isn't cheap, but
on the other hand, the Centaur sounds better than the less expensive overdrives I've tried.
Klon is a small limited-production company, and once the word is out on this box, production
will not be able to keep up with demand. Klon offers a 48-hour money-back trial period; if
if you don't like the Centaur after using for two days you may return it for a refund. If
you're looking for a natural-sounding overdrive unit, you've got to try this one.

Guitar Shop - April 1996

Drive Those Tubes, Baby - Klon Centaur Overdrive

By Pete Prown

     There are fuzzboxes, distortion boxes, and overdrives. All basically do the same job - 
create some sort of square-wave crunch - but all in different ways. The Klon Centaur belongs
in the last category, and its job in life is to make the tubes in your tube amp work harder
to provide more sonic punch and create a variety of boosted tones, from clean to super-
dirty.
     The unit itself is simple to operate: just plug in some cords to either jack, warm up
your tube amp, and prepare to rock. Controls include Gain (to adjust the amount of over-
drive [distortion]), Treble, and Output. Running the box into the clean channel of a tube
combo amp, the Centaur proved adept at everything from a big, loud, clean boost that retains
the tonal character of your original signal (achieved by turning the Gain all the way down,
and the Output up) to Stevie Ray Vaughan-ish Strat dirt (Gain at half to two-thirds up,
Treble down, and pump the Mid on the amp). The distortion tone varies, depending on the amp
you use - the better the tube amp, the better the crunch quality - but the box naturally
lends itself to the gnarly nature of Texas blues-rock. I tried it with both a Les Paul and
a Strat, and clearly the Fender tones prevailed. Amp-wise, you can see the owner of a 
Matchless or other Class A amp using a Centaur to beef up their tone, though it works fine
with two-channel amps, too. Country and traditional blues players will also dig the unit's
clean boost, which allows for a full-toned volume boost without any dirt whatsoever. Then
again, you may want massive distortion sometimes, and for that, just use the Centaur as the
kicker in your lead channel to push the crunch tones over the top, as many Tube Screamer
fans do. The maker has even heard of people using the Centaur to record direct, although
that was never part of the unit's original [intended] function.
     Construction-wise, the Centaur is built like a Sherman tank (the shell is sandcast
aluminum), and should be able to withstand all sorts of road abuse and Panzer attacks. 
Battery access is simple, thanks to oversized screw-slots on the bottom - you can open
this puppy with a penny or your car keys. The components are of very high quality, too,
including a Carling footswitch, Switchcraft jacks, and custom CTS pots. The solid epoxy
potting compound on the circuit [board] serves two purposes: in surrounds the circuitry
in an impermeable material to keep dust, moisture, and vibration at bay, while also keeping
prying eyes away from Klon's top-secret electronics. Live performers will also appreciate
the unit's tipped-up top for better accessibility, as well as the off-center LED and widely-
spaced knobs that you can adjust with your foot onstage. Some users further report that the
Centaur's low output impedance makes it excellent for using long cords at live gigs, plus
it's virtually transparent when off.
     AC power is also available, but you have to convert the tip of an existing 9-volter
(the Boss PSA-120T [now simply the Boss PSA-120] is recommended) to a Switchcraft #780.
A conventional AC wall-wart jack would be more convenient, but at least Klon sells the
Switchcraft [plugs] for three bucks apiece (according to the designers, they preferred
the more durable #780 to typically flimsy AC barrel plugs). In conclusion, the Centaur
is a meticulously crafted, fat-sounding box that will give any guitarist the "retro"
sound that so many players crave these days. Go stomp one today and see if it satisfies
your ears. While you won't find one at your local axe shack, there's a two-day money-back
guarantee, so feel free to do the mail-order thing with complete peace of mind.

Guitar Player - June 1996

Cool Pedal Alert - Bench Tests

By Joe Gore

     If any stomp box can have a soul, the Centaur Professional Overdrive does. It's a
splendid piece of design with an artful retro flavor. Its rugged, handsomely molded [cast]
metal housing and oxblood-on-bronze color scheme evoke some mythic prewar foundry. Its 
tone is thoroughly naturalistic, with sweet highs, lots of low-end girth, and a bit of
midrange pointiness. Heard in isolation it may seem a bit too spiky, but it's perfect
for helping a single-note solo cut through a loud band without mutilating the guitar's
innate tone. What a contrast with all those high-gain pedals that sound huge in isolation
but disappear onstage!
     The Centaur is aggressive in just the right frequencies, but it's definitely not a
high-gain, power-chord pedal. Its tones are grainy without being raspy - big-toned blues
players will probably love it. The range of the tone control is modest in a good way - 
the minimum-treble sounded lovely with a stock Strat. Construction is superb throughout.
The wiring is macho, though a black epoxy "security shield" obscures much of the circuitry.
The battery holder is cleverly cast into the rugged housing. The Centaur truly feels as if
it could be dropped from a substantial altitude with little damage. Very, very impressive.

20th Century Guitar - August 1996

Product Review - Klon Centaur Overdrive

By Ray Matuza

     Forget your TS-9, TS-808, or any other vintage mass-produced overdrive that you might
have paid an EXORBITANTLY high price for. From the land of Klon comes the Centaur Overdrive,
ready to put the stomp on these stomp boxes and show them who's king of the overdrive 
universe forever! 
     Slightly larger than a regulation Starfleet Tricorder [?], the unit features a pro-
prietary sandcast aluminum chassis (think Bigsby [vibrato]) finished in satin gold with
way-cool maroon graphics and matching retro-vibe control knobs. With its sculptured sides
and little [cast] fins, it kind of reminds me of a Buck Rogers toy I once saw in an antiques
magazine.
     Standard fare includes input and output jacks both mounted on the back side along with
provisions [an additional jack] for using a 9-volt wall-wart. Flipping this little baby on
its belly reveals a full-size bottom plate which is held in place by two wide-slotted
countersunk screws that can be removed with a coin, for example, should you ever need to
replace the battery during a gig or anywhere else when a screwdriver is not handy. The 
inside reveals a single rectangular circuit board potted with an epoxy compound obviously
[intended] to keep electronic Peeping Toms and their grubby little hands from snooping
around to see what makes this thing tick. Superior-quality components are used throughout,
including close-tolerance resistors and capacitors, Switchcraft jacks and custom-made CTS
pots. Another bit of coolness is the Carling double-pole double-throw footswitch that 
bypasses the Centaur's circuit entirely when the unit is disengaged [this is absolutely
NOT so - refer to FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS], resulting in no signal loss or loading 
[this IS so, and is so as a result of the other NOT being so - refer to . . .]. The 9-volt
battery also sits in its own little compartment, complete with a piece of non-compressible
foam rubber to keep it from flopping around. It seems that no mechanical or electrical
engineering detail was too small to be left [unattended to].
     The sound of this little box is nothing short of incredible. With the Gain control at
minimum and the Treble control set at "unity tone" (about 11 o'clock on my unit), you can 
get a "clean boost" as designer Bill Finnegan calls it, maintaining the tonal qualities of
your rig, but with a bigger, fuller sound. No distortion, totally transparent, period. It
sure made my Strat and '67 Princeton sound huge. Also, at this setting and by increasing
the output of the Centaur a little higher than the straight amp, I could get a nice full
clean solo sound with a more "up front" quality to it. The range of the Gain control 
extends past the "clean boost" mode into a nice edgy sound all the way up to "Balls Out"
overdrive. The most impressive aspect of this is that it maintains an incredible amount
of musicality throughout the range and doesn't sound like an effect, but rather an integral
part of the guitar and amp. Equally impressive is  how the sound cleans up when you back
off the instrument's volume and retains its full tonal spectrum. I've never had an over-
drive unit that doesn't sound like you're coming through a cheesy car radio speaker when
you've backed off the volume. Likewise, the Treble control is very sweet and musical, my
favorite spot being from about 11 o'clock through 2:30, the latter having a nice stinging
punch to it.
     Being the psycho that I am with this kind of stuff, I plugged the Centaur into every
guitar and amp combination I could possibly dig up. In a nutshell, this thing sounded
great with every one. You should hear it with a 335 and a '66 Twin!
     With 4 1/2 years of design time behind it, and built to withstand a nuclear blast,
this thing ain't cheap - $239 including UPS Second Day Air [now $279 plus shipping]. Klon
does, however, offer a two-day approval period and will refund your money (minus shipping)
if you're not satisfied. Anybody who exercises this option should be committed. Anybody
wanna buy my original TS-808?

Guitar World - October 1996 

Interstellar Overdrive - Klon Centaur

By Chris Gill

     Like the half-man/half-horse creature it's named after, the Klon Centaur is not your
usual beast. By distortion pedal standards, this overdrive unit is somewhat tame, but it's
an especially useful box that's great for use on stage or in the studio. 
     Housed in an oversize, bronze-colored aluminum chassis and made of top-quality
components, the Centaur boasts bullet-proof construction. Features like a back panel 
with two large [machine] screws that can be removed with a coin, a bright LED that 
lets you know when the effect is engaged and a sturdy 9-volt adapter plug are sure 
to be appreciated by gigging musicians. 
     Instead of force-feeding its own sound into a system, the Centaur is designed to
complement any amp and electric guitar setup and works as an almost transparent component.
The pedal can turn a purring amplifier into a roaring brute or boost a guitar's gain and
volume without changing its inherent tone. With the gain control turned fully-counter-
clockwise, the treble at 12 o'clock and the volume set anywhere above the 11 o'clock
position, the Centaur delivers clean boost that's punchy and natural sounding, making
things louder without adding distortion. With the volume turned all the way up, the
pedal significantly increases the volume without driving the amp into uncontrollable
feedback. 
      As you turn up the gain, you get more distortion. The Centaur can boost the signal
considerably, enabling a guitar with wimpy pickups or a weak sounding-amp to sing with
authority. You can also dial in great-sounding overdrive tones at low volumes, making 
the pedal ideal for home recording applications. While the Centaur doesn't deliver
blistering distortion tones, its overdrive raunch is especially satisfying. Chords ring
with rich harmonic overtones and single-note lines sound thick and chunky while retaining
the bite of your pick attack. 
     The pedal's treble control provides subtle-yet-sufficient tone coloration. Turned all
the way up, it can thin the tone of humbucking pickups, making them sound almost like
single-coils. Backed down, the tone becomes sightly fatter and warmer without losing
definition. The tone control won't turn a Strat into a Les Paul or vice versa - it's
designed to preserve and enhance a guitar's sound instead of drastically altering it.
     The Centaur is an excellent, no-nonsense pedal that works with your existing rig
instead of against it. Warm and natural-sounding, it sounds and performs as classy as
it looks.

Blues Review - June/July 1997 

Blues Tools: The Klon Centaur Professional Overdrive

By Steady Rollin' Bob Margolin

     So, how do you get a guitar player to turn down? Put sheet music in front of him.
Touche. But when Muddy (Fender Super Reverb amplifier on nine) Waters hired me to play
guitar in his band in '73, he never asked me to read music. He did tell me to turn down
a few times, though.
     The problem is the "heavy" sound that makes an electric guitar sing or crunch comes
from turning up the amplifier until it distorts. If the amp is powerful, the sound can
get too loud for the circumstances and even hurt your ears. But if you turn down the
volume, you lose the desired distortion and the clean sound is like the guitar on a
Beach Boys record.
     To blues guitar players, their victims, and anyone who's interested: there's a new
solution that allows guitarists to sound as they want, at an appropriate volume. (From
here I'm going to presume you know some guitar stuff.)
     Two years ago, in my only other equipment review, I went nuts over an amp from a
then-new company, Victoria. This brand's success since then [has] justified my enthusiasm.
I use a Victoria myself, but I play all kinds of gigs, from tiny to huge, and sometimes
my Fender Bassman-sized Victoria is too loud at 10 1/2 (out of 12), where I find the 
Tone God blesses my amp. 
     I asked Mark Baier, creator of Victoria Amplifiers, if there was a way that I could 
keep the supreme tone of his amp at a lower volume, and control it instantly and flexibly,
and he turned me on to the Klon  Centaur Overdrive pedal. It's been getting recent raves
in guitar magazines, but I didn't read the reviews of outboard gadgets, presuming I wouldn't
be interested.
     Mark told me the Klon Centaur is designed to do just what I was asking for, and that it
works spectacularly well with his amps and old guitars like mine. He told me to buy one, and 
if I didn't like it, he'd buy it from me. Mark's friends covet his, but they're selling faster
than they can be handmade by the designer, Bill Finnegan. If you want one, order soon.
     The Klon Centaur Overdrive ($239 [now $279] plus shipping) is a sturdy foot pedal with gain,
treble and output controls. With minimum gain and output boosted, it hits the first tube of my
preamp harder, keeping my sound with all its subtleties and dynamics, but bigger. With some gain
kicked in, it works with my rig, sounding like the ultimate way to get distortion - crank the amp -
but with more volume control. I certainly haven't tried every competing device, but I can tell you
the Klon Centaur in my rig sounds right to me, even compared directly to just a great guitar with a
great amp, cranked.
     I didn't dare hope for this: with lots of gain dialed in and some treble backed off, the Klon
Centaur gives me the creamy, voice-like distortion of a cranked tiny vintage amp, like a Fender
Champ (I played one on the Muddy Waters Tribute Band Album), but at any volume my 50-watt 
Victoria can produce. If I back off on the guitar volume, I get a funky, expressive and distinctive 
cleaner sound. It's a thrill to use these cool sounds on a gig, not just in the studio.

The ToneQuest Report - June 2000

Klon Centaur - ToneQuest Review

[Presumably by David Wilson]

     The Klon Centaur Professional Overdrive has been on our list of must-reviews for one reason - 
it delivers what you want from an overdrive without adding any of the telltale " stompbox tone"
that plagues many other units. The extent to which the Centaur succeeds in leaving the tone of 
your guitar, pickups, speakers and amp unaltered throughout the considerable range of its three
simple controls is unique in our experience. In fact, it can be used very effectively by players
who prefer comparatively clean, undistoreted tone with a fuller, rounder feel at moderate volumes.
This "clean-boost" setting simply pumps up the sound of the guitar, adding nothing in the way of 
gain or distortion, and we've observed that with the right settings, the Klon Centaur often succeeds
in compensating for shortcomings that are otherwise inherently evident in some amplifiers that need
a little help.
     Since there are more "overdrive" pedals on the market than most of us will ever be able to 
thoroughly audition, we thought it would be valuable to point you straight to one of the most 
transparent and versatile stompboxes we've ever heard. The bottom line is this: if you're happy 
with the sound of your guitar-and-amp combinations, the Klon Centaur will respectfully preserve 
the results of the work you've devoted to shaping your tone, while providing a very wide range of 
output and gain settings that work as an extension of your amplifier, rather than a tone-altering 
effects device. The beauty of the Klon Centaur is its subtle ability to transparently take you 
where you want to go on a seemingly open-ended first-class ticket, and for this reason, we give it 
our highest recommendation. 
     Bill Finnegan builds every Klon Centaur one at a time, and you'll normally wait 6-8 weeks to 
receive a new unit [now 8-9 weeks to 10-12 weeks, depending on how swamped I am], which sells
for $295 [actually $279 plus shipping]. The Centaur is ruggedly built, and it can run on 9-volt 
battery power or on AC with an available adapter supplied by Klon. Controls are Gain, Treble, 
and Output, and all three have a usable range that far surpasses the usually narrow "sweetspot" 
of most overdrives. How does it sound? Like your guitar, your amp, your speakers, your tubes, 
cranked, a little, or a lot. The Treble control effectively helps compensate for the rolloff of
high frequencies that typically occurs as more Gain is directed to the amp, and at 12 [noon], 
Treble is unaltered from the levels selected for your guitar and amp [this is not always the case - 
the Gain setting will determine where in the Treble control's range the setting yielding the 
original high-frequency response will be]. At 10-12 [o'clock, and above], the Output control 
is operating as a clean boost with the Gain control at [minimum]. Introduce more Gain, and 
the tone quickly takes on an increasingly thick, harmonically rich overdriven tone. The range of 
the Gain control isn't hobbled by the Centaur's circuitry and design. You'll get a very functional 
and pleasing overdriven sound right up the dial, just ballsier with more sustain as you push the 
Gain higher. Dynamically, we've found that a Gain setting of 9 [o'clock] with the Treble and Output 
controls at about 12 [o'clock] delivers a subtle measure of BFT (Big Fat Tone) that cleans up 
rather nicely with a nudge down on the volume of the guitar. The Klon Centaur is not a shred machine, 
and if you need to a acquire tone at the more extreme end of the crunch meter, there are other 
distortion units more suitable for delivering mondo sustain and blast, such as the reissue Tube
Screamers (or an original, but get your wallet out), one of the Fulltone distortion units, or a 
Real Tube by TubeWorks (replace the original tube with a lower-gain 12AU7 for improved tone). 
However, for those of you seeking natural-sounding grit from your amp without the volume required 
to produce it naturally, the Klon is an excellent choice, and as we said, the clean drive setting 
succeeds in beefing up the tone of your gear without adding a bit of distortion - a nice touch.