Update - 3/18/15: The last Klon-KTR pedals were sold today. And, though Finnegan thought it sounded a little better than the TS9s, he still felt it had the aforementioned shortcomings. Within the first year, they’d developed prototypes that were much closer to what Finnegan wanted than a Tube Screamer, and various guitarists in the Boston area encouraged them to go into production so they could buy their own. Taylor GTe Urban Ash: The Premier Guitar Review, 3. That’s right – it’s still possible to obtain great-sounding Klon pedals made by Centaur inventor Bill Finnegan. We have lots of units on hand and orders have been shipped normally. Never mind the fact that the majority of the circuit comes encased in epoxy. Bill prohlásil, že skončil, jinak by ho vražedné pracovní tempo zabilo (vyrobil 8000 kusů). “In other words, you need to use the unit as an overdrive in the literal sense of the term.” The assumption here is that users are pairing the Centaur or KTR with an all-tube amp. Gear forums are regularly aglow with all sorts of comments about Klon. "I only took one picture because that's good enough. Finnegan later partnered with the late Fred Fenning (who tragically passed away in a plane crash in the mid ’90s)—another MIT grad whom Finnegan says was brilliant and very determined. I was working from the assumption that there were a lot of guitar players with really good guitars and really good amps who were looking for an overdrive pedal that—whether it was adding dirt or not itself—wouldn’t mess up what they already had and liked. This is Centaur #001, built by Bill Finnegan in January 1995 and kept (never sold) by him. And the fact that this seemingly mundane, 3-knob stompbox is used by such high-profile players as Jeff Beck, John Mayer, Joe Perry, Nels Cline, and Matt Schofield only compounds matters. However, we spoke to Bill Finnegan two days ago and we will be getting more supply in 3-4 weeks. Each of them has its own particular thing going on, and when I was working on the design of the circuit I was always thinking about how it could be more effective in preserving and accentuating the essence of whatever instrument it was receiving the signal of. It had to be considerably smaller than the Centaur. Tubes or Solid State: All are welcome. The Klon Centaur is a guitar overdrive pedal developed by Bill Finnegan between 1990 and 1994. The introduction of the Klon back in the early to mid ′90s is arguably one of the most significant milestones in the world of overdrive pedals. Bill Finnegan This is the real Instagram page for Klon, the company established in 1994 by Bill Finnegan in order to market original-circuit guitar overdrive units. He’d heard about a guy who was selling two TS9s, and—hoping one of the little green pedals would help make his Twin sound like it was at 6 when it was only at 4—he went to check them out. Finnegan says Fenning deserves a lot of credit for the circuit in both the Centaur and its successor, the KTR. Birth of a Centaur It had to be rugged and reliable. Klon Centaur od Billa Finnegana získaly pověst jednoho z nejlepÅ¡ích efektů vÅ¡ech dob. However, there are very few that can match the tone of an original authentic Klon Centaur (from Bill Finnegan & klon-siberia.com) or a Klon "CLONE" from buildyourowntone.com. What I want people to expect from me and from Klon are designs that are exceptional in the literal sense of the term—designs that are conceptually sound and well executed. Finnegan recalls that, in 1990, guitarists began chasing after out-of-production Ibanez Tube Screamers in droves. From that point on, demand for Centaur pedals grew. #mc_embed_signup{background:#fff; clear:left; font:14px Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; width:100%;} Both the Klon Centaur and Maxon OD-820 are designed to be used primarily with tube amplifiers for best effect. The story of the Klon Centaur is an intriguing one. Here are the most common misconceptions. “The experimental boards have sockets for every component in the circuit, which enables me to listen to any particular component and then swap it out for a substitute while keep everything else the same. Top 5 Klon Myths. In 2008, he began working on a ground-up redesign that had to meet the following criteria: It had to be straightforward to build, so that any good contract manufacturing firm would be able to do the job easily and well. Update - 2/09/16: Klon-KTR is back in stock. Although the Klon Centaur circuit remained pretty much unchanged throughout its production run, Bill Finnegan did tweak a few component values. */, Copyright ©2021. Hooked: Blue October's Will Knaak on Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode", 5. The circuit is designed completely by Bill Finnegan, and nails the sound of a genuine Centaur. What you see is what you get, no … The Klon Centaur is a mythical beast in the world of overdrives that has been lost to history for almost a decade. Indeed, our own Klon Centaur did take approximately 10 weeks to receive. It was used by … Here are the most common misconceptions. Under the username klondirectsales, Finnegan will sell the new run direct as he handmakes them. DIY: How to Adjust Electric-Guitar Intonation. We recently spoke to Klon’s Bill Finnegan about the origins of the Centaur, his new KTR design—which made a (naturally) limited debut in October of 2012—and how an overdrive pedal can fetch more than $1,000 on the used market and inspire such emotionally charged reactions. All Rights Reserved 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: … It immediately became clear that Tube Screamers were not for him. Rig Rundown: God Is an Astronaut [2021], 1. In creating the Klon Centaur, Finnegan was at the forefront of the movement back towards guitar pedals. /* Add your own Mailchimp form style overrides in your site stylesheet or in this style block. “While it wasn’t an easy or pleasant process, we both feel—and now a lot of other people feel, as well—that I achieved my design goal: With careful component selection, the KTR sounds the same as the Centaur.”, Myth No.4: You have to play really loud for the Centaur or KTR to sound good. What can you tell us about Centaur units that occasionally turn up on eBay with the claim that they are “new, with full warranty”—are they fakes? It had to be a design with no hookup wires whatsoever, and with a modular footswitch assembly so that faulty footswitches could be replaced in a few minutes. When the original Klon Centaur professional overdrive was released in 1994, it was one of the very first boutique overdrive pedals on the market created for the player interested in fine-tuning their tone. “My assistant, John Perotti, and I spent almost two years listening to different surface-mount capacitors in various places in the circuit before I felt this had been achieved.” Lastly, he wanted the new unit to be visually unique—a tall order, given that the unit would be housed in a standard enclosure. The Klon KTR Pedal is a revised edition of the legendary Klon Centaur, and certainly one of the finest overdrive/boost pedals. In fact, the ‘myths’ regarding the Klon Centaurs are often overstated (as said by Bill Finnegan himself), with many people claiming their sound to be ‘magical’. ), that is probably the "hypest" pedals of all. The only Centaurs I build anymore are the ones I build for her, and I don't make or collect a single cent from them. In 1994 Bill Finnegan, following years of painstaking research and development, released on an unsuspecting world what would become the first "transparent" overdrive pedal. Designs that are unique and not to be expected from any other designer, no matter how talented. “This was actually the 19th unit I built—I had orders for 18 and I needed the money to pay a Klon invoice or two, so I numbered those eighteen 002-019 and built this one a week or so later.” Klon LLC, Photo by Nolan Yee. It gradually became clear to Finnegan that the situation was unsustainable. Eventually, the MIT friend bought a house in the suburbs and the distance made it harder to work together. The Klon Centaur in an overdrive guitar pedal designed by Bill Finnegan with the help of 2 MIT Electronic Engineers between 1990 and 1994. “These two photos show my testing jig for Centaur boards, with one of my experimental boards on it,” Bill Finnegan shares. Finnegan says he’s heard this claim about earlier units, later ones, gold ones, and silver ones. Klon clone kits and Klon clone circuit boards are in stock and shipping again. It was characterized for its transparent overdrive, which added gain to the signal without steering-away from the original tone of the guitar. “I'm Bill Finnegan, designer of the original Klon overdrive circuit, designer of the Klon Centaur Professional Overdrive unit incorporating that original circuit, and also the hand-builder of every single … I also had the circuit board redesigned with a ground plane for better grounding—again, no sonic effect except the potential for a little less hum. In the 1980s, Bill Finnegan played in a band where he plugged his Telecaster straight into a Twin Reverb turned up as loud as the soundman would permit. The pedal is known for its ability to add gain without coloring the tone of … According to Klon’s Bill Finnegan, “it’s a much more complex circuit than the typical overdrive/boost circuit. When you were designing the Centaur, did you begin with any assumptions about players who’d be interested in it? Built in small numbers, the Klon since the mid '90s has been continuously backordered, according to the website and owner Bill Finnegan. The story goes like this: Klon designer Bill Finnegan made Klon number #2 first, and kept number one for himself, which he built later. Aclam The Windmiller Preamp Demo - PG Gear Spotlight, 4. Klon Centaur Analysis. What do you want people to see in Klon? I like pretty much everything under the sun in the way of electric guitars, and over the years I’ve owned a bunch of very different ones. Navíc existuje velké množství kopií a „klonů“ těchto Klonů. Aclam The Windmiller Preamp Demo - PG Gear Spotlight, 4. www.klon-siberia.com Privacy Policy | Myth No.1: The Centaur is a slightly tweaked [insert name of extant pedal here] circuit. He recruited a friend who’d just graduated from MIT with an electrical engineering degree. Since then, these pedals have been used by the likes of Joe Bonamassa, Jeff Beck, James Hetfield, Stone Gossard, Noel Gallagher, and many more. */, Copyright ©2021. This is true whether you’re playing through a 4-watt or a 100-watt amp.”. Roughly 8,000 units were produced between 1994 and the early 2000s, and is now a wid… Except for the all-important clipping diodes, it had to have surface-mount components, which take up less space on a board than traditional through-hole components. “You know what it is, if you want the best Klon… A lot of players wanted multi-FX pedals and digital rack units; not boost or overdrive pedals. Finnegan says he typically worked 55–60 hours per week in effort to keep turnaround times as short as possible, though he was hindered by the fact that the circuit was very labor intensive and time consuming. Perhaps the Centaur will never be topped, but this is a good place to look. Summary. He also says it was more expensive to build than most other pedals due to the fact that everything from its cast enclosure to its knobs, pots, and sheet-metal bottom were custom crafted. Therefore, number 2 is actually the first ever Klon Centaur pedal in existence. I like pretty much everything under the sun in the way of electric guitars, and over the years I’ve owned a bunch of very different ones. 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. Neither. All Rights Reserved We recommend moving this block and the preceding CSS link to the HEAD of your HTML file. Rig Rundown: God Is an Astronaut [2021], 1. “You need to have the output knob high enough that the signal hits the front end of your amp harder than your bypassed signal would,” says Finnegan. “It’s always a good thing if your amp is turned up enough to get the harmonic response and distortion that are engendered by tubes clipping and output transformers saturating.

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