Harby Pedals Centauri Overdrive/Boost/Buffer Effects Pedal

Description

Unleashing Versatility and Clarity with the Harby Pedals Centauri Overdrive/Boost/Buffer Effects Pedal

In 1994, Bill Finnegan made a legendary contribution to the guitar industry: the Klon Centaur overdrive stomp pedal. With a clear, well-articulated sound thats free from synthetic, solid-state distortion and unnecessary heaviness, the Centaur became a favorite among guitarists everywhere, and its popularity hasnt declined since.

Not everyone could get their hands on one, though. Finnegan only built 8,000 units, and these days, they command prices in the neighborhood of $7,000. So naturally, many guitarists opened up Centaurs to study the circuit board schematics in order to copy them and build their own. For years, these guitarists were thwarted by a thick layer of epoxy coating every Centaur circuit board. It wasnt until 2009 that Martin Chittum finally managed to remove the resin from a Centaur and the schematics were revealed.

Like our fellow pedal junkies, we decided to recreate the Centaur to take up less space on your stomp board without sacrificing the originals clarity and sweetness. Using the original circuit board design and parts that Finnegan himself relied on, the Harby Centauri can be used on any pedal board for a huge range of applications. Use it on its own to juice up your output, get a clean boost with the drive knob turned all the way down, or combine it with fuzz and distortion pedals to add a slightly thicker character to their heavy grit. And with its buffered bypass, the Centauri, like the original Klon Centaur, is never truly offits mellow, clear tone can always be relied on in the studio and on-stage.

All that said, wed never claim that the Centauri is a perfect sonic match to any Klon. Finnegan himself said that the sound varied from Centaur to Centaur, due to the nature of the clipping diodes he used. Weve simply attempted to replicate the Centaurs quality and richness through a faithful reconstruction according to Finnegans specifications. The results speak for themselves.

Modernized

The original Centaurs components were attached to the circuit board using through-hole techniques, with pins that go through the circuit board and are soldered on its underside. This process got the job done, but it was expensive and time-consuming. Eventually, Bill Finnegan began producing his pedals using surface-mount technology (SMT), attaching the components directly to the circuit boards face. This is the method we used to design the Harby Centauri.

True to the original

Bill Finnegan once said of his 1N34A germanium clipping diodes that they are the most important factor in how the circuit sounds when its being used to create distortion. As a tribute to his insight, the Centauri uses only 1N34A diodes, with an original forward voltage of 0.35v (15%). Its also built using the original Centaur circuit board layout and features its buffered bypass, rather than the more modern true bypass.

SPECIFICATIONS

• Original Centaur circuit board layout.
• Gold-plated PCB (ENIG).
• Genuine Texas Instruments op-amps (TL072).
• NOS 1N34A germanium clipping diodes with original forward voltage of 0.35v (15%).
• Solid anodized aluminum knobs (volume, drive, and tone controls).
• Neutrik input and output jacks.
• Buffered bypass.
• 9v DC operation using a standard negative center power supply.

Manufacturer:Harby Pedals
Model:CENTAURI
SKU:I747947-N-0-WHXA

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