Electro-Harmonix

TOTAL GUITAR AUGUST 2018
O
f all the boutique pedals
produced in the past 30
years, the Klon Centaur is
probably the most
infamous. Originally produced
by Bill Finnegan between 1994
and 2000, getting your hands on
one of the original units could
set you back over £1,000. As a
result, it’s no surprise that a
number of Centaur clones, or
‘klones’, as they’re now known,
entered the market once the
supply of originals dried up. Bill
briefl y returned with a modern
version, the KTR in 2014.
Defi antly emblazoned with the
caveat/maxim, “kindly
remember that the ridiculous
hype that off ends so many is not
of my making” the KTR was still
costly and hard enough to get
hold of that the klone market is
still booming. Here, we’ve
chosen four of the best to
examine just whether they
stack up...
KLONES
104
B
esides the J Rockett Archer and Soul
Food, the Tumnus is probably the most
popular klone on the market. Unlike the
Soul Food, the Archer and Tumnus are as close
as you can get to the original circuit outside of
a KTR. The pedal is open and rich, with a
charge-pump juiced headroom and a slew of
higher-order harmonic content. Greater
chime is close at hand, thanks to the tone
control, but the real joy is in fi nding the two
magic drive points: pushing a dirty amp into
saturation with the gain low, and articulate
high-gain crunch as the hard-clipping diodes
kick in at hairier settings.
I
n this diminutive enclosure is a full-fat Klon
Centaur, with selectable buffered or
true-bypass switching. Where the original
Klon was relay-bypass only, the KTR made this
switchable, so that players who didn’t like the
Klon buffer could have a true-bypass Centaur.
As a result, the Sugar Drive is perhaps closer to
the KTR, and it certainly delivers the trademark
Klon transparent drive sound. Pushing a dirty
amp, it doesn’t have the pure volume punch of a
Tube Screamer or Timmy-style drive, but it’s
enough of a kick to get some decent saturation.
With the drive dimed, there’s a metallic edge to
the clip that’s vicious, yet still open-voiced.
Wampler
Tumnus
FAUN OVER THIS ONE
MXR Sugar
Drive
SWEET TONES
£132
TH
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FEATURES
SOUND QUALITY
VALUE FOR MONEY
BUILD QUALITY
USABILITY
OVERALL RATING
SUMMARY
FEATURES
SOUND QUALITY
VALUE FOR MONEY
BUILD QUALITY
USABILITY
OVERALL RATING
SUMMARY
£139
TGR308.gear_pedals.indd 104 21/06/2018 12:29