What is the deal with the Klon Centaur?

[mrkmas]

I never used one, but they seemed to be popular. I thought they went for around 300 ish new when they were being made. On ebay now you can see them going for 1800? I think they stopped making them but wow that is a huge jump. Not looking to buy one just curious what is the deal with the klon centaur?

 

[Badronald]

I thought they started making them again.

Genius marketing.

 

[Audioholic]

It is the best overdrive you will ever hear In fact it has been know to make you cream right when u hear it. Ha. Nah never tried one but just another myth super hyped up tgp product IMO.

 

[freeballinusa]

I had one of the originals -- very over rated imo don't miss it

 

[JakeAC5253]

I've never used one myself, but I have seen the circuit schematic, and it is undeniably cool. Definitely some cool stuff going on. As for the final tone that comes out, it has never graced my ears, but I know someone fairly reputable on a different site who has built one to spec. They said that with the gain down low the sound was sort of bright and a bit loose, and when you raise the gain the tone gets a little bit fuzzy and quite a bit gonky in the midrange. Definitely didn't sound like your average OD boost pedal, but hey it may tickle someone's ears for $1800. Definitely eager to try one for myself though.

 

[Norton666]

Snake oil . Just another overdrive

 

[reverymike]

I borrowed one once years ago when my band was doing a show with Kings X (this was probably in like 1998 or 99). I put it in front of my '71 Marshall Superlead, and my God, it was a religious experience. As good as it was as I was playing, when I listened back to the video, the tone was just amazing.

Snake oil, maybe. But I thought $300 was ridiculous back then. In retrospect, I probably shoulda bought it when I had the chance.

My point is, my experience with it was before all the crazy hype. And it was GOOD.

 

[tjon]

It adds 5 years to your playing

 

[joepete77]

1800 is fuckin crazy an for the dr or dentist tgp type, but it is a great sounding od. I had an original yrs ago and sold it off as the clone I got was identical in tone . If u want one an don't care about forum cred then just get a good clone for 150 bucks an b done with it.

 

[Shark Diver]

I've never tried one, but would like to. Brad had his at the shop for a while and offered to let me try it, but honestly unless I could take it home for a few days and run it through my gear who knows if it'd work for me.

Bill has been saying he was releasing a new, smaller version for about 2 years at least. He hasn't yet. This is his EBAY text, which while commendable, is really splitting hairs about him selling them. Giving them to someone else to sell is basically selling them. He is not giving them to her thinking she's not selling them. I would imagine it is part of the reason he hasn't released the new version - so the prices would stay elevated. Again, a very good thing he is doing for her, and I don't fault him one bit. If I could try one, and liked it, I would pay the $ for the cause.

"I'm Bill Finnegan, designer/builder of the Centaur, and here is the story on this unit and on some other such units - units with screenprinting that includes the long-discontinued centaur figure - that the above seller will be receiving from me at intervals for however long it takes me to get rid of all of the old castings with that screenprinting that have been kicking around here since I came up with the current (and final) screenprinting.

I have not sold any units with screenprinting that includes the figure since January 2002, and I am not selling this one - I am giving it to the seller, a very close friend of mine who's a single mom and who, through no fault of her own, has had an uphill battle financially since the birth of her child. Over the years since early 2002, I've told people time and again that I would never sell another Centaur unit with screenprinting that includes the figure - screenprinting that I consider to be aesthetically flawed BECAUSE of the figure - and I intend to keep that promise; however many of these units I build with the old castings that have one or the other version of the old screenprinting (there were two centaur figures, the original clunky one from the beginning of production in December 1994 until November 1999, and a revised, somewhat-improved one from November 1999 until January 2002), each and every one of them I will be giving to my friend to help her live to fight another day ."

 

[blackba]

1800 is fuckin crazy an for the dr or dentist tgp type, but it is a great sounding od. I had an original yrs ago and sold it off as the clone I got was identical in tone . If u want one an don't care about forum cred then just get a good clone for 150 bucks an b done with it.

So which pedals are clones? Which one do you have?

I own a few of the cheaper often hyped in the past ODs and they are nice, but in the end just an Overdrive. I am sure a Klon is nice, but I can't see paying anywhere near $1800 for one. Even $300 would be a stretch.

 

[Vrad]

I've never used one myself, but I have seen the circuit schematic, and it is undeniably cool. Definitely some cool stuff going on. As for the final tone that comes out, it has never graced my ears, but I know someone fairly reputable on a different site who has built one to spec. They said that with the gain down low the sound was sort of bright and a bit loose, and when you raise the gain the tone gets a little bit fuzzy and quite a bit gonky in the midrange. Definitely didn't sound like your average OD boost pedal, but hey it may tickle someone's ears for $1800. Definitely eager to try one for myself though.

That description makes think I'd hate it... LOL!

 

[rupe]

I had an original that I sold off years ago when prices went crazy (along with some original Way Huge pedals and some limited edition Z Vex stuff). I liked it a lot but it certainly wasn't any better than many other offerings out there. It would be a great pedal for <$200 but IMO it was never worth its original price let alone its cork-sniffer inflated collector price. I never tried a clone but if builders are getting close to the original then that would clearly be the way to go for the guitarist who cares more about performance than pedigree.

 

[thiswaythatway]

Overhyped defined.

 

[Gjeven]

I heard one in a local music shop a long time ago when they were "Cheaper" I thought it was a great sounding OD pedal, but back then I didn't think it was worth $300. I definitely don't think its worth $1800, when you can get a great sounding amp for that price.

Plus I really only use OD's as clean boost...so it would be a huge waste

 

[Even Bigger D]

They're the OD of choice for, well, the guy in my sig.

 

[JakeAC5253]

I've never used one myself, but I have seen the circuit schematic, and it is undeniably cool. Definitely some cool stuff going on. As for the final tone that comes out, it has never graced my ears, but I know someone fairly reputable on a different site who has built one to spec. They said that with the gain down low the sound was sort of bright and a bit loose, and when you raise the gain the tone gets a little bit fuzzy and quite a bit gonky in the midrange. Definitely didn't sound like your average OD boost pedal, but hey it may tickle someone's ears for $1800. Definitely eager to try one for myself though.

That description makes think I'd hate it... LOL!

That's what I thought too hah.

If anyone wants to send me their Centaur or Centaur clone in the name of science, I will conduct more than one unbiased shootout between it and three other popular modern day overdrives in high quality clip format. For the good of the board.

 

[Ventura]

Snake oil . Just another overdrive

Agreed.

As soon as something reaches an unprecedented price (or somewhat unattainable price), it makes it even that much more attractive, and the cycle continues.

And furthermore, what's wrong with just driving an amp naturally with good ol' channel volume and master volume

 

[university81]

got to try a silver version through a matchless amp the other day, definitely does something cool to the tone kinda like the way a good compressor does wonders to your clean signal if that makes sense, at low gain kinds of settings i digged it as the gain went up on the pedal not so much

not worth the crazy price , but decent pedal, think you could get something similar out of other pedals to be fair

 

[chumbucket]

I've never used one myself, but I have seen the circuit schematic, and it is undeniably cool. Definitely some cool stuff going on. As for the final tone that comes out, it has never graced my ears, but I know someone fairly reputable on a different site who has built one to spec. They said that with the gain down low the sound was sort of bright and a bit loose, and when you raise the gain the tone gets a little bit fuzzy and quite a bit gonky in the midrange. Definitely didn't sound like your average OD boost pedal, but hey it may tickle someone's ears for $1800. Definitely eager to try one for myself though.

Didn't Bill say that a diode that he was using in the circuit is obsolete and no longer being manufactured? I was under the impression that he bought some surplus ones to make the Klon.
That being said, I wonder what the closest sounding Klone is? I don't feel like wading through a bunch of bullshit TGP posts to find out either.