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A Fake Klon Review – A complete and utter Klon knock off
Introduction
A few years ago, I put out an article which caused a little stir online! I reviewed a fake Martin guitar (Review Here). Well, today I am going to do it again! I will be reviewing a Replica Klon pedal. This isn’t a clone of the Klon like the Tumnus (Review Here). This is a full-blown fake Klon! A pedal that is trying to sound, feel, and look like the original!
I want to make it clear that I do not advocate these products! Please don’t buy these products and support this kind of manufacturing. However, I found this product on a famous second-hand site and thought I would grab it and give it a go and review! I wanted to see what it was like and how it performed. Also, I was interested to see how close it looks to the original! So why don’t we learn about it and what it is?
The Fake Klon Centaur Pedal
This is a fake Klon Centaur! Before I go into much detail about the specifications of this pedal, I will straight up just say that this pedal is trying to look, sound, and be exactly like the original Klon. The aim of this pedal is to recreate the sound of an amp going into natural overdrive.
The pedal comes in a full metal enclosure, the same as the original. The chicken feet control knobs are a deep red/burgundy colour. With the famous Klon font on all the text. This version doesn’t have the Klon Centaur logo on it like some of the originals do (if you are into Klon’s, read up about the different versions).
Under the hood, the controls are doing a fair amount; however, you can control the whole pedal with only three knobs. So let’s go through what they are.
- Gain: Adjusts how much clipping the signal has. The more you turn it up the more overdriven it will get.
- Treble: Allows you to boost the Treble frequencies of the signal.
- Output: This controls the overall output of the guitar signal.
More on the Fake Klon Centaur
The Klon Centaur circuit is very well documented now; however, it is a very famous circuit and actually rather complicated when you break it down. In its basic form, after the input, the signal gets split into three signal paths. Low frequencies, the Clipping single patch, and a clean. Then at the output, they are all blended back together.
On the top of the pedal is where you will find all the inputs and outputs. On the right-hand side is the input, and on the left-hand side is the output. A bit further to the left, we have the strange Klon power input, which requires an adaptor from your standard 9v jack. This adaptor was included with the pedal.
This pedal is made in China for the lowest cost possible and can be found on most famous Chinese retail sites for a varying cost. I think it is time that we go through some sounds, then go over my thoughts!
The Sounds
For the demo songs, I kept it very traditional. I plugged the Fake Klon Centaur into the front end of my custom RD Amp. For one of the demo songs, I ran the gain low and volume high, and for the second song, I ran the gain a lot higher. This shows you what this pedal can sound like using the two famous settings that Klon’s are most known for. I thought it did fairly well in the sound department.
For the demo sounds, I just plugged the Klon into the front of my Neural Nano Cortex (Review Here) and ran through some sounds with both a clean and crunch amp sound. I did add some delay and reverb inside the Nano Cortex; however, no extra EQ or processing was done on the sounds.
What are my thoughts?
The Design
What is there to talk about as far as design goes! They have ripped off the original Klon completely! This fake Klon looks almost identical to the original (I will speak more on this shortly). The same housing shape, knob colour and even font and font colour on the front of the pedal! It even has the special cable to power the fake Klon! If I ignore that it is a fake pedal then I have to admit that it is a good-looking pedal. Of course it is! It is a Klon Centaur!
What I will say is that this is not the smallest pedal! To put it on a pedalboard it will take up a lot of room! This is helped with the top-loaded jacks and power meaning you can put your other pedals right up against the sides.
"Easily push most amps into a natural overdrive and then using your guitar volume to clean it up."
The Sounds
For sounds? If I am 100% honest, it sounds good! I don’t actually have any complaints about the sounds. It does that clean boost sound that people love so well! However, crank the drive knob up and bring in more clipping and that is where the Klon Centaur circuit really performs! As a pedal for medium to high drive it is killer! I have always found this with the Klon circuit! It is underrated as an actual overdrive pedal.
How does it clean up? Well, it cleans up rather nicely! If you crank up output and gain a bit then rolling off your volume control on your guitar will clean up your sounds! You can really use this pedal as an always-on pedal! Speaking of which, this pedal has a lot of volume! As to be expected from this circuit, but you can really push an amp! Easily push most amps into a natural overdrive and then using your guitar volume to clean it up.
More on the Sounds
I feel this fake Klon has a different mid hump than other Klon circuits I have played. Turning the pedal on, even with the tone at unity, I feel it bumped the mids a lot more than you would expect! In a mix and using it with a band it works lovely! Pushes your sound out of the mix and makes you heard, however, on its own it can take a while to get used to.
The Drawbacks
This section is going to be 80% of this article because I have a lot to say about this pedal and what it stands for. Because not only do I want to talk about the Fake Klon pedal, but also fake products in general. Now, as far as the pedal is concerned, the major issue is that it isn’t real! There is no background, warranty, or talent behind the pedal. It was just created to sell as a fake Klon.
The biggest issue that can come out of this is that people could buy this pedal and then sell it for a lot more! They could claim that it is real and sell it for £5k+. Meaning they make a lot of money and someone thinks they have a genuine Klon but has a very cheap and low-quality knock-off. The only way you would be able to tell that it isn’t a real Klon is if you had a real Klon to compare it to. This is the most worrying part! By the time someone would realise it, it would be too late.
"If I put the whole “fake pedal” thing aside for a few minutes, then I will say that this seems like a good pedal!"
Final Thoughts
Do I think someone could take one of these Replica Klon pedals and sell it as an original and scam someone? Of course, if that person that was buying it didn’t know much. However, I have seen a few Klon’s in real life and I could tell that this pedal was ever so slightly smaller than the original! Also, opening it up, you can tell instantly that it is a fake Klon!
If I put the whole “fake pedal” thing aside for a few minutes, then I will say that this seems like a good pedal! The sounds are great and the jacks and knobs seem to be decent quality!
I think there are so many better options for a Klon than buying a knock-off Klon like this. There are literally 100’s of pedals that have the Klon circuit inside that sound just as good as the original and just as good as this pedal.
Conclusion
Please don’t buy fake or replica items like this! There are so many pedals based around the Klon Centaur circuit! Most of which are better and more affordable than this pedal! You will be supporting an actual business! I would highly recommend that you check out the Wampler Tumnus (Review Here). This is a Klon-based circuit that has been praised for how great it sounds. If that is a bit too expensive, then you can check out the Behringer Klon (Review Here). Both of these pedals are fantastic!
I do have a fun idea for this pedal and that is for JSA Pedals to rip the pedal apart and put a proper hand built Klon Centaur circuit inside the housing! Be interesting to see how much better it gets! I know I will feel better about owning it! So there might be a bit more on that very shortly! Maybe we can add some extra stuff to it like an FX loop or second boost circuit! Make it the ultimate Klon Centaur! See what happens! I have a fun idea for this pedal and that is for JSA Pedals to rip the pedal apart and put a proper hand built Klon Centaur circuit inside the housing! Be interesting to see how much better it gets! I know I will feel better about owning it!
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Fake Klon Centaur Links:
- Wampler Tumnus (Andertons Affiliate)
- Wampler Tumnus (Thomann Affiliate)
- Behringer Zentara (Andertons Affiliate)
- Behringer Zentara (Thomann Affiliate)
- Andertons Affiliate Link
- Thomann Affiliate Link
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