JHS Pedals has introduced the Notaklön – an IKEA-style, DIY overdrive pedal that looks to be an ingenious and creative solution for those on the hunt for Klon Centaur tones.
Beloved by some of the biggest players on the planet and heralded for its mythical (if somewhat artificial) elusiveness, the Klon Centaur is one of the most sought-after stompboxes in the world of effects pedals.
Alas, because of both those factors, the Klon is simply far too expensive for the average electric guitar player, with examples on the second-hand market reaching prices upwards of – *checks Reverb* – a whopping $10,000.
That’s an extreme example (there are pedals listed for between $5,000 and $7,000) but still, the point remains: the Klon Centaur is an unobtainable beast.
Sure, there is a whole corner of the market dedicated to Klon clones, but the Notaklön looks to be completely different from its competitors.
Why? Well, not only is there a tone mod for added versatility, you quite literally get to build the pedal yourself. An engaging and hands-on approach to harnessing some of guitar’s most prized tones, with a solderless construction design and added sound options? Shut up and take all of our money.
We say take our money, but JHS Pedals won’t actually be taking too much, because the Notaklön is available for $99. We’re not exaggerating when we say this might be one of our favorite pedal releases of the whole year – and in a year of the Fender Tone Master Pro, Boss RV-200 and Line 6 HX One, that’s saying something.
“You’ve asked me for over a decade to bring the JHS Klon replica back into our pedal lineup,” said brand founder Josh Scott in the announcement video. “And I only have one thing to say to that: make it yourself.
“The Nötaklon is a DIY solderless kit that allows you to build the famous Klon Centaur circuit, that also comes with a mode switch implementing my modifications to the circuit,” he continued. “It’s so easy that a child could do it. Like, a baby human.”
Scott wasn’t joking, either: he got two children (one of whom is his son) involved in the video to piece together the pedal.
Included in the kit is a set of instructions, a tube of Goop (for final circuit-concealment purposes), the enclosure itself, the circuit motherboard, the tools required for assembly and all the bells and whistles required to keep all the bits and pieces together.
In practice, the Notaklön sports a layout identical to the original Klon, with control knobs for Volume, Treble and Gain, as well as a bypass footswitch located on the right of the stompbox. As mentioned, there is also a mode switch that engages the Shamrock mod.
Performance-wise, that mod increases the overall gain by 4dB, offering boost abilities with an increase in mid frequencies and an additional stage of hard-edge clipping. It’s joined by the standard Centaur circuit for those who are solely concerned with the original Klon-a-like tones.
You probably won’t be surprised to hear that the first batch of 3,000 Notaklöns has already sold out – yes, we missed out on it, too – but fear not: more are coming, and they will be shipping in January next year.
To find out more, and to preorder from the next batch of pedals, head over to JHS Pedals.
