We love exploring new pedal companies, and we also love a good Klon-inspired piece of gear. Luckily, today’s pedal checks off both boxes, putting a delicious spin on a classic circuit and sound. The Harby Pedals Centauri Clean Boost/Overdrive brings a wide range of sounds to the table, ranging from simple volume boost to amp breakup to glorious tube-amp overdriven tone for days…let’s jump in and see what makes this...
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Today’s little piece of overdriven glory comes to us from a long ways away – Voronezh, Russia, to be exact. The crew at Blacksoil FX sent their first creation across the pond for us to check out, and what arrived was the excellent Alpha Centauri Overdrive. This little silver bad boy is based on the legendary Klon schematic, so the controls are a cinch to understand, but there’s also an added bonus feature to mix...
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The crew at Harby Pedals put out some really good drive and dirt pedals, there’s just no doubt about that. From the Centauri to the BMF to the Noble Tone, they know what sounds good, and what will push your amp. Today, we’ve got maybe their heaviest pedal yet to explore, the Pi-7C* Modified Distortion Sustainer Fuzz, which takes a classic sound and gives it a wonderful modern update… The Pi-7C* Modified Distortion...
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Not being an engineer, or particularly skilled in the ways of electronics creation, I have never built an effects pedal. I love how they sound and what they can do, but their innerworkings completely baffle me, and I’m not alone. For all of us who want to tinker and experiment a little, without having to do too much actual work, Josh and the JHS Pedals crew have created the NOTAKLÖN, an effects unit based on that certain...
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It’s always a thrill to get gear from a pedal company for the first time, and today’s effects unit is sure to get the commenters talking. Combining a mythical circuit with a familiar-looking enclosure, the Attic Audio Transparent Overdrive brings you the best of both worlds. Designed to be a little tongue-in-cheek, this drive/boost provides incredible tonal punch, along with being an excellent conversation starter…...
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The Norris Fuzz was a surprisingly amazing 2-knob fuzz we saw from Alaskan-made MMK Electrics a few months back, and we’re excited to bring you another super-fun and tonally-powerful pedal from them today. The Red Cream Soda is a wide-ranging overdrive and distortion unit, with eye-catching graphics and bold, tone-shaping sound. Sometimes, three knobs is all you need to completely transform your rig, and that is most certainly...
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The pedals we’ve had the pleasure to peruse from the folks at All-Pedal have ranged in genre quite a bit, but today we’re going with a tried-and-true classic: Overdrive. The Alcmene® Overdrive has one of the most popular and mythical circuits ever created down in its belly, and with a simple control system, it’s a cinch to conjure gorgeous breakup and boost in an instant. Small but mighty, let’s see what this...
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Last month, we continued our steak of reviewing excellent pedals from our friends at NUX, with the amazing Duotime Dual Engine Delay. Today, we’ve got another one from their impressive Verdugo Series of Stomboxes: the Queen of Tone Dual Overdrive. Bringing two different but extremely complimentary drive circuits to the table, this 2-for-1 gives you just about all the overdrive options you could need…and maybe a couple...
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When a huge company like StewMac contacts you and asks if you’d like to demo some gear from them, there’s only one answer: an emphatic YES, PLEASE. Today, we’re going to check out a pedal, yes, but some other guitar-related gear as well, all of which is available on the StewMac website, and all of which can help you greatly improve your tone and unleash your creativity. Lots to get into, let’s do it!! First up,...
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About a month ago, we had the honor of reviewing and demoing a pedal from Harby Pedals called the Centauri Clean Boost/Overdrive, a most excellent Klon-inspired beast that had “it” from the moment we first turned it on. It was with much anticipation that we plugged into another Harby gem for today’s review and demo – the BMF Distortion Sustainer Fuzz. Bringing a classic circuit into the present time, this blue...
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When it comes to the 3-knob Overdrive, you’ve got to make it pretty creative and fun in order to stand out from the hundreds, or thousands, of other similar effects out there. Today’s pedal does just that, with intriguing graphics, a fun outer space backstory and, of course, incredible sound. The Interstellar Audio Machines Octonaut Hyperdrive brings classic, inspired tones to the forefront, creating a perfect addition to...
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Greg Loiacono & Tim Bluhm Marin County, CA / Fairfax, CA The Mother Hips motherhips.com Greg Loiacono Band gregloiacono.com Green Leaf Rustlers Tim Bluhm w/ The Coffis Brothers timbluhm.com How long have you been a musician? How did you get into it in the first place? Greg Loiacono: I started playing guitar at age 11. I wanted to learn as soon as I heard “Purple Haze” for the first time. I stopped for a bit and got back...
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Ah, the infamous Klon Centaur. That mythical sound that can be yours for the low, low price range of $2,000-4,000, if you can find one. For those of us who think that staggering amount of cash just might be able to be spent elsewhere, we’ve got the Klone. Surfacing in many forms, colors, configurations and sizes, these homages to the original give the masses that Klon tone, without the hefty price tag. We’ve got another...
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The 200 Series of pedals from Boss really take a ton of sonic options and smash them together into ergonomic, comfortable and pedalboard-friendly enclosures, all without sacrificing any functionality or tone. Following in the footsteps of the DD-200 Digital Delay, we move into dirt territory with the Boss OD-200 Hybrid Drive. This yellow beast gives you 12 drive modes, 15 boost types, series/parallel gain paths and much more, all...
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The Klon. It has achieved mystical, mythical and maniacal status since its release in the early-to-mid 1990’s. While there have been dozens of clones (or Klones, as it were) produced over the years, trying to capture that sound without the $1500+ price tag, few sound as good as the Centura from Ceriatone Amplification. Deciding to further expand on their killer replication, Ceriatone has released a new, dual overdrive pedal,...
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If you happened to have seen our Klone Wars series on YouTube, you may very well be aware of an excellent Klon-inspired beast called the Pegasus Overdrive. Based on the original Golden Professional edition of the Klon, this beaut made by Caline produces some gorgeous vintage-style overdrive and boost sounds, it brings everything we all love about that famous mythical pedal and offers it in an affordable and still true-to-form effects...
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Star Wars. Han Solo. Taun-Tauns. The Klon. Normally, only three of these things have something in common, but the guys at IdiotBox Effects decided enough was enough. Combining some catchy graphics with even catchier tones, the Han-Taun Boost Overdrive smashed these fantastic things together to form a magnificent klone pedal, one that was apparently created in a galaxy far, far away…. The Han-Taun is set up just like the famous...
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Scott Metzger New York City Joe Russo’s Almost Dead WOLF! The Showdown Kids www.scottmetzger.com How long have you been a musician? How did you get into it in the first place? I started playing saxophone in the third grade and I kept that up all through high school. A love of early Metallica led to the guitar when I was about 14-ish. Who have been some of your major musical influences, past or present? Tons of Motown &...
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Have you ever been truly, genuinely and pleasantly surprised by an effects pedal? Recently, we had the chance to check out a pedal from Danelectro’s Billionaire lineup, the Big Spender Spinning Speaker, and it really threw us for a loop (in a good way), so we were super-excited to test out another in this series of effects. The Cash Cow is a simple overdrive pedal (or so it seems) with an easy to use control section and small,...
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After getting the chance to review and demo the M-1 Ram’s Head Fuzz from Buffalo FX, we were looking forward to something a little milder from them, as the M-1 was a real powerhouse (in only the best of ways, mind you). They responded with the Carrera Overdrive, a low-to-mid gain boostable dirt pedal that was designed for clean and edge-of-breakup types of tones. Combining an easy-to-use control layout with impressive circuitry...
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Ever since we had the pleasure of checking out the Gunshot Overdrive from ThorpyFX last year, we’ve been itching to get our hands on another one of their beautiful metallic creations and see what it could do. Well, the day is upon us, friends, as we check out the Peacekeeper Low Gain Overdrive, a clean boost/dirt pedal designed to enhance your tone and give your sound that missing sparkle you’ve been searching for. Volume...
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Joshua Scott Kansas City JHS Pedals www.jhspedals.com Instagram @jhspedals Twitter @jhspedals Facebook @jhspedals How long have you been a musician? How did you get into it in the first place? I got into guitar when I was about 14, I think. I can’t remember the year, but I was young enough to be in junior High. My brother, who is ten years older, had the biggest cassette tape collection on God’s green earth. I was at his apartment,...
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The infamous Klon. We’ve all heard about it, a lot of us have played one or heard it live, and a couple fortunate souls actually own one (not us). For the majority of us gearheads who don’t have $1500+ to spend on one pedal, we look elsewhere to find that signature tone, which brings us to today’s featured pedal: the Klone. There are many of these floating around out in the effects world, and we decided to take a...
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Tim Bluhm San Anselmo, CA The Mother Hips www.motherhips.com/ How long have you been a musician? How did you get into it in the first place? I’ve been singing since I was a kid, in church choirs and in school choruses. I started playing guitar right after high school. In my second year of college I started the Mother Hips with Greg Loiacono and we started getting gigs really quickly. Who have been some of your major musical...
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Neal Casal nealcasal.com Chris Robinson Brotherhood www.chrisrobinsonbrotherhood.com Hard Working Americans www.thehardworkingamericans.com Circles Around The Sun Skiffle Players (with Cass McCombs) Phil Lesh And Friends Gospelbeach How long have you been a musician? How did you get into it in the first place? I started playing guitar in 1981. I was obsessed with the Rolling Stones and the bands I saw in the Gimme Shelter film....
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Chuck Garvey Cincinnati, OH moe. www.moe.org Ha Ha The Moose @chukg on Twitter moechukg on Instagram How long have you been a musician? How did you get into it in the first place? I started playing instruments when I was young, just hammering stuff out by ear on acoustic guitar and piano, but started lessons for Tenor saxophone when i was in 5th grade. Played sax for 8-9 years and also started to play more acoustic and electric guitar...
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Caton Sollenberger The Jauntee www.thejauntee.com www.thejauntee.net Find us on Facebook, Twitter, and beyond How long have you been a musician? How did you get into it in the first place? I’ve been playing guitar for a while, since I was about 5 I think. My father always played in rock bands, and my mom is also a musician, so that was certainly a big push for me. At around 8 years old I started taking classical piano lessons...
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Andy Greene Escape Plan Pedals http://www.escapeplanpedals.com How long have you been a musician? How did you get into it in the first place? I’ve played music for pretty much my entire life. I got my first guitar, a miniature steel string acoustic, when I was 5. I learned simplified versions of most of the standard position major chords and a few minor chords and would try to put on concerts for my family. I really got interested in...
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Who loves the famous Klon Centaur? Alright, maybe we all do on some level. But seriously, not many of us lowly guitarists have $1,500-$2,500 to spend on an entire rig, much less on ONE LONE PEDAL. Enter J. Rockett Audio Designs, purveyors of fine quality and excellently-crafted unique pedal creations, to save the day. If you are craving that classic boost/drive taste, but don’t want to sell your car or first born to get it, take...
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The Lumpy’s Tone Shop 7 Series Lemon Drop Overdrive is a fantastic but unusual overdrive. It’s great for what it does but it’s not for everyone. There are so many overdrives out there; it’s very difficult to figure out the difference between each, let alone which to choose. Broadly speaking, the most popular categories of overdrives are (there are definitely other categories but I’ll keep it simple):...
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I have never had the pleasure of playing a real Klon Overdrive. I almost don’t want to, because I think the hype surrounding them is a little ridiculous, and am pretty sure I would be disappointed. That said, there are many, many clones being produced that have generally the same circuit layout and sound, and they cost $1000-2000 less than an original Klon. JC Audio has made one of these clones, and it is honestly one of the...
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Many, many pedal builders have taken the infamous Klon circuit and recreated it, added to it or changed it completely, depending on their tastes. One of the things that makes the Klon circuit so special is that it splits your guitar signal into 3 sections, morphs them and then combines them back together to get it’s unique tone. VFE Pedals has taken that circuit and concept and put it into an impressive klone-like overdrive, the...
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This is the MAD Pedals Panda Drive, a Klon on steroids with a mandarin paint job. This is a special pedal, for its close resemblance to the Klon Centaur but with a flare like wasabi at a sushi bar. Per Mad Pedals tradition this pedal is a custom one of one paint job, No pedal we build will ever be the same. The tone mojo circuit features 1% resistors, 5% capacitors, and special diodes from Europe. All this combines for a creamy smooth...
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On tap today is the Del Mar overdrive – the latest offering from the awesome guys over at Bondi Effects, makers of the well-known Sick As overdrive. So what’s all the hype about? As many know, the Sick As is based loosely around the mystical Klon circuit, and works great as a clean boost/light OD without coloring your signal. Wonderful. The Del Mar takes two equally renowned circuits, the Tubescreamer and Bluesbreaker, and...
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This is the Mad Pedals “Psyger Drive” Psycho overdrive, and it really has a mind of its own. The top knobs from left to right are claimed to be tone on left, Volume on right with gain in the middle, but I have found that both top knobs affect the tone and volume but with their own unique characteristics. This pedal has a custom shop, one of one style paint job, with a clear lacquer to seal the color. As the video...
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The K-Buffer by FoxPedal is built using a classic buffer design as seen in the famous Klon Centaur (yeah, there are unicorns inside). You need a buffer. Really, you do. Every time I hand a musician a buffer pedal, they say “I don’t think I need one of those”… then they try it and say “Wow, I can’t believe my tone was so bad before, now I know!” Bottom line is that your guitar pickups...
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You know about the infamous Klon Drive, right? If you don’t, do some research. It has somehow become the end-all, be-all of drive pedals, and while it only cost about $225 in the ’90’s, today they are rare, and sell for upwards of $2000. Besides being outrageously overpriced, there are now a number of pedal makers who have been able to clone the circuitry and sounds of the Klon, most at about 1/6 of the price of an...
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