Building John Mayer's Tone | Klon Centaur

Updated: May 5, 2021

It's no secret that John uses a "no horsie" Klon Centaur Professional Overdrive. While I have built a few of Ceriatone's Centuras, I have a special place in my heart for the Aion Electronics Refractor PCB since it was the first guitar pedal I've built a long time ago. I thought I'd give it a fresh approach this time around using the skills and techniques I've developed over the years. The results is something I'm really proud of.

Ceriatone's Centura documentation assists in figuring out the original Centaur's resistor types (Metal film/Ceramic) in their proper location. The PCB is the fantastic Aion Electronics Refractor PCB. The diodes in this build is 60's NOS Sylvania 1N394 which forward voltage metered out around .38vf. The result is a near 1:1 tone of the original Klon in my opinion :-)

Going with the bigger enclosure, I was able to fit SwitchCraft #111x enclosed jacks at the top which helps save some room on the pedal board and I'm able to swap between the Klon enclosure and the smaller one :-). Because all the mojo of the original Klon is in the ribbon cable, I added this ribbon cable internally between the stomp switch PCB and the main board. Visually speaking, the internals has a lot of cues of the original which I think is neat.

For external esthetics:

Tayda Electronics buffed 125B enclosure

Small Bear Oxblood Davies #1400 knobs

Clear Decal Laser Paper

Transtar Jammin' Clear Coat

Carling Dress Nut

Aion Refractor: https://aionelectronics.com/project/refractor-centaur-overdrive/

Ceriatone Centura Documentation: http://www.ceriatone.com/centura-professional-overdrive/

Gear used in this build:
http://amzn.to/2eFxEfj PCB Holder
http://amzn.to/2upePRL red lead forming tool
http://amzn.to/2un7nrQ 60/40 solder
http://amzn.to/2upj6Ez solder tip cleaning
http://amzn.to/2uMRE6n recommended soldering iron

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