Klon gear on the Anagram

In 1994 Bill Finnegan started selling a hand-built overdrive from Boston called the Centaur. He built them by hand in small numbers before stopping, and the pedal's reputation and second-hand price have climbed ever since. Klon is the name of his company, and it has inspired a whole category of copies.

Two Anagram blocks draw on it, and both developers say so directly. Nembrini Audio says Clon Minotaur is modelled on the Klon Centaur. Mercuriall Audio says Spearion Overdrive is inspired by it, and that its model includes the germanium clipping diodes. Both are confirmed, and both are free on the Marketplace.

The Centaur's design does a few unusual things. It runs its op-amps at a higher internal voltage than the battery supplies, which gives it headroom. It clips with germanium diodes, which round the edges of the drive. And it mixes a clean path back in with the clipped one, so the pedal adds gain and grit without hollowing out the tone.

That is why players call it transparent. At low gain it acts like a boost that thickens your sound and pushes an amp harder. Turned up, it gives a warm overdrive that still lets the original instrument through.

Bass players took to it because of that clean blend. Many overdrives cut the lows; the Centaur keeps more of them, so the bass stays solid while the upper mids get some hair. It also works well in front of an amp block on guitar, where it tightens and lifts the amp rather than replacing its character.

Try Clon Minotaur first, with the gain low and the output high, in front of your favourite amp block.