Read the full step-by-step instructions and wiring diagrams here: guitargearfinder.com/guides/build-klon-centaur-clone-kit/ Check out the guide to learn more about all of the components used, common problems you might encounter, and best practices when building guitar pedals.
I've just bought this very kit from their Aliexpress store after your video. Did you see they've got a "deluxe" of sorts version, that mimics absolutely *everything* the original had, down to the components' make and models? Of course, that one's way more expensive.
I bought this kit on Wish for $21.74 10 days ago and it showed up today. I received no instruction sheet but found this video. Can't thank you enough for posting this video.
I would also recommend testing the resister values as you're building. Some may be mislabeled or faulty, so checking with a multimeter as you go could save you a big headache later on.
Thanks for the kind words. I was a bit lost when I first started building pedals, so I created this video to help anybody thinking about getting into it. I have a few more tutorials in progress including other clones as well as simple pedals suitable for first-timers.
I have just built my first pedal and although I am not a native English speaker I had no problems following your instructions. It sounds amazing. Thank you
Thank you so much for this tutorial! I got a kit about a month ago and couldnt manage to put it together properly because of the poor instructions. Today i stumbled across your video and it helped show me my errors and i corrected them. You saved me the pain of wasting 50 bucks lol
I don't play well enough to buy a bunch of different pedal but I enjoy watching these types of videos for my son because he is a worship guitarists and uses pedals . this pedals sounds really nice even through what you called a low quality recording.
Amazing video. I know it’s a year old, but this klon pedal is classic and this video could help generations of people. Such a great job with your step by step Klon instructions.
Well, wish i could post a pic, just spent the last few hours watching, re-watching, pouring over your instructions, measuring resistors, making a couple of mistakes (im not finished yet), making my own little progress documentation with pics and everything, and am pretty thankful for this video, your website, your instructions, as well as the fact that my Landtone one came with "improved" instructions from yours (they could definitely improve them more), but its a pretty significant upgrade to your black and white sheet of paper. Anyway, a heap of thanks and will comment once i have mine up and running this week!!
Glad to hear you've found this video and the website helpful. It's also good to hear that they've finally started sending out decent instruction sheets compared to what I received! Enjoy your pedal once you finish it.
After looking at the instructions and realizing that was not gonna happen… I stumbled across this video. Probably one of the best step-by-step tutorials I’ve seen on just about any subject. Took me a couple of days, but that was because this was a first for me and I went incredibly slowly step-by-step. The hardest part for me was really identifying the resistors. While they were “labled“, the writing was really illegible and the brown bands were indistinguishable from the red bands. Anyway I was finally able to sort them out correctly. After installing the battery and plugging into the output jack no light turned on so I was bummed that I had done something wrong, until yeah yeah yeah I saw your step about pressing the toggle switch and voila we had light! Sounds great really excited about this new pedal. Great video.
Thanks for posting this. Along with this video and a couple of how to solder tutorials, I've just learnt how to solder and built my first pedal. It took me a while to complete but it worked first go. Thank you.
I just got mine to work today. Some lessons I learned - watch capacitor orientation. I was building this when I was dead tired, put one of the caps in reverse. Lucky it didn't explode on me. I also assumed that both of the 1072 ICs were oriented the same way, with pin 1 left. Not so. I got the cap desoldered and reinstalled, turned the IC around and it worked! The 7066 IC had been getting very hot, and didn't after these changes. I thought I had a bad chip and ordered replacements off Amazon, but the replacement got hot, too. I did have to repair pin 3 of the 7066 IC after accidently bending it, and on unbending the leg snapped off. Used 22 ga wire to replace the missing part of it. Sounds great, looking forward to messing around with it.
Thank you Aaron for doing all this work. its a great kit, and if i had followed your instructions better i would have built it and it would have worked first time (I got the IC's in the wrong places, and it took me 2.5 hours to troubleshoot). the Wish kit is very comprehensive, down to the pre-cut and tinned wires, and the fully marked resistors and other components.
Thanks for this video. I got the exact same kit from Aliexpress and some of the components were labelled incorrectly. Your guide helped me work it all out and now I have a Klon clone! It sounds absolutely magnificent, too
this is hilarious, looking through effect pedal design videos and had this recommended. i have this exact clone kit sitting in a drawer. just gave me the push to build it. good stuff brother.
Just put mine together, Has a almost identical layout slight revision of the board... The peddle worked on first power up (worked as in passed signal in both modes of operation) first kit build done in decades. Now comes the fault finding! or use it as is, one of my best fails (home built fuzz) not based of anything built on strip board version one instant die-back of each note chord played with nasty distortion kept that one its fun to use the second works fine. So getting back to works even a broken peddle that does something different may be better than the one of the production line that just works as labeled... Have yet to have a real play with it.
to my astounishment everything seems to work like a charm! my first guitar pedal build! Thanks for the great walkthrough, wouldn't have made it without it. i had different looking capacitors for 27N and 2N2 (brown ones, one had something like F57222J written on it for 2N2) and grey 1U capacitors instead of blue
That's great to hear! It's always a nervous time when you try to test a pedal after building it so I'm glad to hear it worked for you. Glad my walkthrough helped.
Awesome tutorial! I got my pedal right the first time after 6 hours of work thanks to this video! Unfortunately, the other day I had my 9v brick power transformer go crazy, so it “fried” my pedal. Does anyone know which part(s) may have been effected? Could I troubleshoot or replace parts? I guess I’m having a hard time finding which parts in the pedal would have bore the brunt of an electrical power surge.
I got 100% finished on my own but it didn’t work.🤬 After multiple attempts at troubleshooting, I finally started looking on line for some answers. I found this tutorial and after watching and reading it was obvious that the supplied, one page instructions had 1 item wired totally wrong. The in/out jacks and power input wiring were each a total guess the way the manufacturer presented it. This video saved the project from being a total waste of time and money. The pedal sounds damn good! Thank you, thank you, thank you. Where do I send your Tip?
Never built a pedal yet, but with great videos like this it's becoming very tempting to try. I know its going to be a steep learning curve but what good hobby isn't? I look forward to having a go someday.
If a pedal like this seems a bit too much right now, check out my other video '7 Minute Fuzz Pedal' to see an example of a very simple build. A lot of fuzz and drive pedals are surprisingly basic to build.
@@AaronMatthies hell yeah thankyou I will. You make it look too easy haha. I'm sure it tricky, but with enough patience and attention I'm sure I'll have a good go.
Thank you for the video. My clone build had issues and after watching your video and using the pictures on the webpage I was able to resolve the problems! The provided instructions were not good, as you pointed out, and you totally made up for them!!
Thank you making this video, Aaron! My pedal was turning on but I wasn't getting any sound coming through the it. This was because the photo copied wiring diagram from the manufacturer was very difficult to read. Thanks to your video, I was able to check my work and determine that I wired the input jack with the opposite wires. That should do the trick! Appreciate your help greatly.
Tip for young players: The star washer (or lock washer) that comes with the stomp switch is designed to bite into the aluminium case on the underside of the pedal-out of sight. It shouldn't be placed on the top side, which is insulated by the nylon washer. To protect the painted finish, the nylon washer belongs on the top, while the star washer should always go on the bottom for a secure and grounded connection. This setup not only improves the ground connection (reducing potential buzz and noise) but also locks the switch in place by biting into the aluminium, preventing rotation.
Well done video and it looks like a quality kit. I've never done a pedal before, but years ago I used to do Heathkits, and then in grad school I designed my own circuits and boards for digital control in an engine lab. So this should be within my skill level.
Just built the kit. Your detailed guidance really helped with some tricky bits. Latest kit comes with colour photos which is better. Best points from your guidance pdf are: capacitors are a tight fit; orientation and connection of I/O and power connectors and connection of switch. Everything went smoothly so many thanks.
Thanks for the guild. Just built mine, a small problem is the LED will lid up when I plug in the power cable (no guitar cable in output) , or when I connect it to battery with guitar cable in output. the nobes are working fine, any advise will be appricated.
I have the same Problem plus my led starts flashing and the pedal only outputs a knock which strangely is in time with the led blink - I don’t know what is causing this issue and would be very grateful for help!
Thanks heaps for this. I have the exact kit in this vid. (mine is brushed aluminium instead of gold but identical otherwise). I've been kinda holding off on making it so this is a huge help. I'm going to follow this step by step. To a guitarist building your own Klon is like a jedi building his own light sabre - Once you've done it, your skills are complete :-)
Enjoy building your pedal, young Padawan. It can get frustrating at times (especially if it doesn't work perfectly on the first go), but it's definitely worth it.
Great video! I like that you pointed out that the locating tabs on the pots need to be clipped and filed. I have four pre-assembled Klones from China and all of them had the tabs on the pots still. Clipping and filing them will make them sit properly in the chassis and avoid damaging them when securing the nuts, however the board will sit lower in the chassis and the LED height may need to be adjusted. Also, the pre-built green pc board hand wired units that look like this kit have 7/16" holes for the 3/8" jacks. If the jacks are tightened too tight it can literally pull the threaded collar out of the jack. I highly recommend some better quality jacks, like Switchcraft #12B TRS jacks and internal tooth star washers to keep them in place. That may well be the weakest link in the Klones I have found. In fact, the black board pc mounted jack units have their own issues, not the least of which is the jacks do not have support washers to fill the gap between them and the chassis. This can also damage the jacks & chassis if the nuts are secured too tightly. Building a kit like this has the advantage of allowing the builder to address these issues as they are building it. Plus it's a great feeling to put a kit like this together and then play through it. The clear shots of the pc board were a big plus for me. It will help me identify the components in mine for some possible tone-tweaking. Thanks!
Update: I built mine and it was a total success! the pedal works awesome and this video was essential, this was my first pedal build ever, I had a couple of issues and Aaron actually helped me to sort them out. thanks Aaron !!
There's so many to choose from and it depends on what type of effects you want in your rig so it's hard to give recommendations. I have only built a few pedals so far, but it's a lot of fun.
Just finished mine up today. Took three days working an average of an hour a day. Only issue I have is a high pitched hum that gets worse if I turn the treble all the way up and almost goes away if I turn the treble all the way down. I'll have to go back through all my solder joints and make sure I don't have any shorts. Not really sure what else it could be. Thanks for the tutorial! Update: I resoldered the pins for the treble and output pots and the hum is gone! For a clone, this thing sounds awesome! If I turn the gain on my 15 watt tuber up to just where it starts breaking up and then engage the pedal with the gain at max, it sounds richer even than my MXR Super Badass distortion pedal! Very versatile pedal. Thanks again for a great tutorial!
Glad to hear you found the issue. I know how annoying it can be when a pedal doesn't work properly on the first try, so great job getting yours to work.
Good idea. A simple booster or fuzz pedal is a great way to learn the basics and much easier to troubleshoot if it doesn't work properly. Check out my other video '7 minute fuzz' for another simple build. Good luck with your booster build!
The only kits I have been able to find are like $175-$200 so I would probably just buy a clone already built but this video is so very cool and I have some DOA pedals I may want to go through and check solder points etc.
Awesome video.. Thanks so much! I got tripped up with my build at the footswtich like you mentioned. Got that sorted and it now passes signal, but the output is super low! Would you have any ideas why with would be? Had a bit of trouble with the 4001 diodes, so may have overheated them if that matters?
Thanks for this video and the webpage. I just finished assembling a kit like this one, and your video and page were a big help. I'm a tech, so I also used a schematic to ring down the circuit. My kit was 100% faithful to the Klon circuit, but there were a couple of flaws that had to be corrected. The silkscreen on my board had the feedback and output resistors swapped, and the zener diode cathode wasn't connected to anything at all, just a through-hole holding it down. I also made a slight mod to the LED connection so that I could remove the board without desoldering the LED leads. It sounds great, thanks again!
I just wanted to say thanks! This past weekend, I successfully finished my Klon pedal, it plays, no hum, sounds great! I do think I have some problems (mainly, my volume knob gets insanely loud), and I overall, I feel like my pedal is more of a fuzz pedal than a Klon. BUT STILL. It sounds clean, it's amazing and I could not have done it without your instructions. Thanks 10000 times!
Nice! I hope you enjoy it. Take your time with soldering and checking your work as you go. It's common to have issues when testing a pedal, so don't let it frustrate you if it doesn't work 100% on the first attempt. Have fun!
The instructions in your build guide gave me what I needed to complete the project. I am specifically referring to the photos with the added numbers clearly showing the solder connections on the power jack, the In and Out jacks and the push button switch. The printed instruction sheet sent with the kit in 2022 is now in color but it is still lacking in clarity. I watched your vid and used your guide throughout the build.
Just got mine together! Thanks for the video and webpage. Wouldn't have been able to do it with the instructions that came with it. Sounds awesome with my SG!
Hi Aaron! I want to thank you for your work. Yesterday I’ve successfuly soldered my first Klon (my second soldering in life so far) using your web instructions. It works and sounds good, so now I’m going to test it. It was a job, but it worths that! Also thanks for the course on pedals - it’s great for starters. After some lessons I started to understand many things. Keep doing! Good luck! Denis
I spent today at work looking on amazon at klones and saw a DIY kit.. Was considering it, but the reviews we're filled with people saying "don't buy if beginner". Was kind of throwing me off of it, but it crossed my mind to check youtube to see if there was someone like you that made your video showing off basically how easy it was and a step by step guide. Tbh, from watching this, it seems like it would be fun to build even if I'm new to the whole pedal building - and the end result sounds nice! :)
On my website, I have a few tutorials that explains pedal building for beginners. One talks about all the equipment and basic steps to building you might find interesting. There are a couple of tutorials walking through building simpler pedals than this one, so if you feel this might be a big much as your first build, check out those other builds. The hardest part for a beginner is soldering, so if you spend some time practicing that skill, you'll find it easier when you try building a pedal. Have fun!
@@AaronMatthies My experience with soldering so far is installing pickups into a few of my guitars, Maybe like 5 or 6 or so pickups total, two of which had the gibson wrap for the ground wire. That guitar being my fav to play. So I've got a small amount of experience, but I'm not like thrown off by it being complex or anything. :P I did check the site out after watching the video though. Will probably go back there too for a refresher later when I actually find a kit to buy and go at it.
@@AaronMatthies So I did get the pedal, it came a couple days ago, and put it together last night. Did a little test recording in Reaper today and threw it up here. Your video was the perfect thing required for someone new to this wanting to get into it. Followed along to the video, and about 6h later I was done. Only thing was the kit I ordered had two different parts. I had two additional ceramic capacitors where you had yellow boxed ones. Also I had to guess where they went for the most part. It was kind of easy to figure out though based off how everything else is named and matched up. That and the blue cylinder capacitors you had, I had about 7 grey ones. Other than that, everything was the same. I can open it up and show you if you're curious, but yeah. This has made me want to get more DIY stuff. It took a long time for the parts to come, but it was worth it imo and it sounds awesome! :)
I have build one of these, being very careful checking values ... but it didn´t work completely. I got some voltage values that looked fine on the op-amp, and the LED turned on and off, but the input shorted when mounting the input jack. I isolated the jack, but it still does not work, so maybe half of the switch is wired wrong. I will check out you website, and see if I can locate the problem.
Hi 🙋🏼♂️ So I also followed your guide exactly and troubleshooted a lot but I can’t seem to fix it. So I can’t post any video reply’s here but when I test my pedal with a ps (which works with my other pedals) and it is turned off than it outputs a knocking sound to my amp. When I turn the pedal on the LED starts flashing after a few seconds - where could I contact you for more help? Would really appreciate it since I’m new to this and I want to learn as much as possible. Thx
Sounds like a tricky problem. The only things I can suggest is to slowly work your way through the circuit using a multimeter to look for any bad connections or shorts and try using an audio probe. I imagine there's a short somewhere, but I don't know enough about electronics to guess where to look. Sorry, I hope you find it. I know it can be frustrating when something like this happens.
This is awesome-best build instruction video I’ve seen. I’m all about doing this... do you have a link to where I can buy this exact kit? Did I miss it in the description? Thanks!!! - Jason
Fantastic tutorial matey, thank you very much for posting this! I managed to get mine together and it's all working fine except the treble control doesn't seem to do anything, I don't suppose you have any ideas what might cause that do you? Checked all the solder joints and they seem fine.
Isn't TH-cam brilliant?! I've got the exact same kit from the same place. I built one of their compressor pedals as my first kit and it works fine. Your video answers the questions I have before starting on the Klon. I agree the instructions are pretty shocking. Thanks for this, I can get going now with a lot more confidence.
Thanks for the help with assembling Aaron!! This would have been a nightmare without your help! Even still, mine has some really weird clipping/phasing going on. Everything looks right except for different a couple of different capacitors they sent (but it was easy to figure out with how they were stamped). Time to search for their tech support! Hahahaha!
I had it working after i realized the input jack was wired wrong. Tried it out was so excited. Then had to re wire the led and not sure what happened, but plugged it in and one of the black capacitors started smoking and burnt up.... Oh ordered another one for another shot
Thank you! my build today went ok, looks like a capacitor of my was wrong, and the led doesnt turn on. The effect seems mild. Treble knob seems less effective. Probably wont bother trying to fix it. First pedal ever, and havent even touched my soldering iron for 5 or 6 years.
The pcb of this kit has 2 errors (at least). The (-) side of the second from the left 47uF electrolytic capacitor and the (+) of the 12 V diode are not connected anywhere but they should be connected to the ground. The diode is for protection so it won't affect the sound but the 47uF cap affects the bias and thus the sound a bit. They are both easy correct by connecting to nearby ground connections.
With a lot of pcbs you can install the pots so they form a straight line (as in this model) or you can flip the middle pot 180 so they form a little triangle cluster. I can’t tell from looking but could you make the pots into a triangle cluster on this build?
Great, you selflessly shared it with everyone who wants this pedal. Can you tell how different this pedal is from, Ibanez TS 9, or Maxon OD 9, in terms of transparency and midrange. Listening to your demo, I have the impression that she is screaming more than them, and that she has that whistling transparent drive. What is your opinion? 17:05-17:15/ 19:28-19:36
Question: What "Value" resistors and capacitors would I need to build a Klon clone that helps a cleaner amp sustain more? Could I order a kit with those caps etc...?
Nice one!... I’ve built a couple now, and I will say that the addition of nice germanium diodes (D9E) for the clipping stage is an absolute must... the difference is night and day.
I'm sorry for taking more of your time, but two months ago I had fried a copy of this pedal I had made. Finally I got to diagnosing and repairing it. Predictably enough, the ICs, 7660 and both the op-amps were dead, so I replaced them and rewired the whole thing using the diagram. Then I reinforced the solders on the pots that had gone a bit shaky (which is why I usually don't solder pots to the circuit board, and prefer wires). Now it works. Sort of. It has a high pitched whistling sound and doesn't quite sound right, more like a fuzz pedal than an overdrive, even at lower gain settings. Could it be because of a capacitor gone bad? I suspect the polarized electrolytic to be the culprits, but I wonder if anyone could provide an insight into this. I have already eliminated the power supply as the source of the noise, because it persists even when the pedal runs from the battery. Strangely enough, blowing on the circuit seems to modify the pitch of the whistling, makes it become lower. There are no hot parts in the circuit - I checked. And again, thanks for all the good work you're doing.
And yet another test I ran, though I do not recommend anyone do this, I tried touching the backs of each electrolytic capacitor with a grounded screwdriver, kind of a desperate last ditch effort. Two of those caps actually responded by INCREASING the volume of the whistling - two gray electrolytic caps in the lower left side of the board, where a bunch of those are. It's either a dead cap or a bad solder or a bridge, too tired to take the PCB out of the case - unsoldering and desoldering the LED is unpleasant.
Read the full step-by-step instructions and wiring diagrams here: guitargearfinder.com/guides/build-klon-centaur-clone-kit/
Check out the guide to learn more about all of the components used, common problems you might encounter, and best practices when building guitar pedals.
awesome
Great video..Easy to understand you explained everything just right! Made me understand it with ease. Now actually DOING it is another story
I've just bought this very kit from their Aliexpress store after your video. Did you see they've got a "deluxe" of sorts version, that mimics absolutely *everything* the original had, down to the components' make and models? Of course, that one's way more expensive.
@@wmoecke So how does it sound?
I bought this kit on Wish for $21.74 10 days ago and it showed up today. I received no instruction sheet but found this video. Can't thank you enough for posting this video.
Same here... no instruction.
Could you post a link here?
Mine had a picture guide. Was OK, but the input jack wiring was not clear.
I would also recommend testing the resister values as you're building. Some may be mislabeled or faulty, so checking with a multimeter as you go could save you a big headache later on.
not to mention the colors they use today where i swear the REDs are ORANGE and vice-versa.
I know it couldn't be my aging eyesight...
99% of the resistors can be testing without desoldering. right on the pcb.
Good tip👍
Thanks!! My kit didn't have any instructions whatever, not even the black and white drawing. Your page made it workable!
Hands down one of the best videos for assembling a pedal. This got me wanting to try it. Great job! 👍
Thanks for the kind words. I was a bit lost when I first started building pedals, so I created this video to help anybody thinking about getting into it. I have a few more tutorials in progress including other clones as well as simple pedals suitable for first-timers.
Wish I’d seen this before I built mine! 5 hours later....bloody photocopied instructions! Nice video 🤗
Thanks for posting this video up. I used it to double check my work. I had no issues the pedal fired up the first try.
I have just built my first pedal and although I am not a native English speaker I had no problems following your instructions. It sounds amazing. Thank you
Glad it helped! Enjoy your pedal.
Thank you so much for this tutorial! I got a kit about a month ago and couldnt manage to put it together properly because of the poor instructions. Today i stumbled across your video and it helped show me my errors and i corrected them. You saved me the pain of wasting 50 bucks lol
Glad to hear it was helpful. Enjoy your pedal!
I don't play well enough to buy a bunch of different pedal but I enjoy watching these types of videos for my son because he is a worship guitarists and uses pedals . this pedals sounds really nice even through what you called a low quality recording.
I just finished mine today. I'm new to building and got it all working perfect. Stoked!
Nice work! That's quite an achievement to have your pedal working on the first go, so well done. Enjoy your pedal.
Amazing video. I know it’s a year old, but this klon pedal is classic and this video could help generations of people. Such a great job with your step by step Klon instructions.
Well, wish i could post a pic, just spent the last few hours watching, re-watching, pouring over your instructions, measuring resistors, making a couple of mistakes (im not finished yet), making my own little progress documentation with pics and everything, and am pretty thankful for this video, your website, your instructions, as well as the fact that my Landtone one came with "improved" instructions from yours (they could definitely improve them more), but its a pretty significant upgrade to your black and white sheet of paper. Anyway, a heap of thanks and will comment once i have mine up and running this week!!
Glad to hear you've found this video and the website helpful. It's also good to hear that they've finally started sending out decent instruction sheets compared to what I received! Enjoy your pedal once you finish it.
After looking at the instructions and realizing that was not gonna happen… I stumbled across this video. Probably one of the best step-by-step tutorials I’ve seen on just about any subject. Took me a couple of days, but that was because this was a first for me and I went incredibly slowly step-by-step. The hardest part for me was really identifying the resistors. While they were “labled“, the writing was really illegible and the brown bands were indistinguishable from the red bands. Anyway I was finally able to sort them out correctly.
After installing the battery and plugging into the output jack no light turned on so I was bummed that I had done something wrong, until yeah yeah yeah I saw your step about pressing the toggle switch and voila we had light! Sounds great really excited about this new pedal. Great video.
Mine came with absolutely no intructions and your video helped a lot. THANK YOU!!
Thanks for posting this. Along with this video and a couple of how to solder tutorials, I've just learnt how to solder and built my first pedal. It took me a while to complete but it worked first go. Thank you.
Best setup video I've seen so far! I lost the instructions from my kit so I'm hoping this will work. Thank you!
Thank you for the wiring diagram. Helped with diagnosing non working problem.
I just got mine to work today. Some lessons I learned - watch capacitor orientation. I was building this when I was dead tired, put one of the caps in reverse. Lucky it didn't explode on me. I also assumed that both of the 1072 ICs were oriented the same way, with pin 1 left. Not so. I got the cap desoldered and reinstalled, turned the IC around and it worked! The 7066 IC had been getting very hot, and didn't after these changes. I thought I had a bad chip and ordered replacements off Amazon, but the replacement got hot, too. I did have to repair pin 3 of the 7066 IC after accidently bending it, and on unbending the leg snapped off. Used 22 ga wire to replace the missing part of it.
Sounds great, looking forward to messing around with it.
I’m impressed.Thanks for the spoon fed version!
Just got my kit from AliExpress. No instructions, than goodness for you 🙏
This video and website made my build so easy. Your explanations and tips are spot on, thank you!
Thank you Aaron for doing all this work. its a great kit, and if i had followed your instructions better i would have built it and it would have worked first time (I got the IC's in the wrong places, and it took me 2.5 hours to troubleshoot). the Wish kit is very comprehensive, down to the pre-cut and tinned wires, and the fully marked resistors and other components.
Thanks for this video. I got the exact same kit from Aliexpress and some of the components were labelled incorrectly. Your guide helped me work it all out and now I have a Klon clone! It sounds absolutely magnificent, too
Glad to hear it helped, enjoy your Klon clone!
this is hilarious, looking through effect pedal design videos and had this recommended. i have this exact clone kit sitting in a drawer. just gave me the push to build it. good stuff brother.
Thanks for the video. The information you provided helped me troubleshoot a few errors I made because of the poor instructions. Thanks!
Hey, I just want to thank you for this video (and the website tutorial)! I was able to complete this kit with ZERO problems thanks to your guidance!
Great to hear! I'm glad you found the video and guide helpful. Enjoy your pedal!
Just put mine together, Has a almost identical layout slight revision of the board... The peddle worked on first power up (worked as in passed signal in both modes of operation)
first kit build done in decades. Now comes the fault finding! or use it as is, one of my best fails (home built fuzz) not based of anything built on strip board version one instant die-back of each note chord played with nasty distortion kept that one its fun to use the second works fine. So getting back to works even a broken peddle that does something different may be better than the one of the production line that just works as labeled... Have yet to have a real play with it.
Top notch, grade A instructions! Bravo.
Awesome tutorial 😃👍. I also went through your instructions. They're great too!
I might pull the trigger on one of these 🤔
to my astounishment everything seems to work like a charm! my first guitar pedal build! Thanks for the great walkthrough, wouldn't have made it without it. i had different looking capacitors for 27N and 2N2 (brown ones, one had something like F57222J written on it for 2N2) and grey 1U capacitors instead of blue
That's great to hear! It's always a nervous time when you try to test a pedal after building it so I'm glad to hear it worked for you. Glad my walkthrough helped.
Awesome tutorial! I got my pedal right the first time after 6 hours of work thanks to this video!
Unfortunately, the other day I had my 9v brick power transformer go crazy, so it “fried” my pedal. Does anyone know which part(s) may have been effected? Could I troubleshoot or replace parts? I guess I’m having a hard time finding which parts in the pedal would have bore the brunt of an electrical power surge.
One of the best, wait, the best video for pedals ever posted! Well done and THANK YOU!!!!!!!
working on it now, thankyou so much for the detailed info,without your help I shudder to think where I'd be at. Good on ya Aaron
I got 100% finished on my own but it didn’t work.🤬
After multiple attempts at troubleshooting, I finally started looking on line for some answers. I found this tutorial and after watching and reading it was obvious that the supplied, one page instructions had 1 item wired totally wrong. The in/out jacks and power input wiring were each a total guess the way the manufacturer presented it.
This video saved the project from being a total waste of time and money. The pedal sounds damn good! Thank you, thank you, thank you. Where do I send your Tip?
Never built a pedal yet, but with great videos like this it's becoming very tempting to try. I know its going to be a steep learning curve but what good hobby isn't? I look forward to having a go someday.
If a pedal like this seems a bit too much right now, check out my other video '7 Minute Fuzz Pedal' to see an example of a very simple build. A lot of fuzz and drive pedals are surprisingly basic to build.
@@AaronMatthies hell yeah thankyou I will. You make it look too easy haha. I'm sure it tricky, but with enough patience and attention I'm sure I'll have a good go.
Thank you for the video. My clone build had issues and after watching your video and using the pictures on the webpage I was able to resolve the problems! The provided instructions were not good, as you pointed out, and you totally made up for them!!
Thanks I'm glad the video and guide helped! Enjoy your pedal.
Thank you making this video, Aaron! My pedal was turning on but I wasn't getting any sound coming through the it. This was because the photo copied wiring diagram from the manufacturer was very difficult to read. Thanks to your video, I was able to check my work and determine that I wired the input jack with the opposite wires. That should do the trick! Appreciate your help greatly.
Glad it helped! That wiring diagram was horrible to use, so I'm glad you solved the issue with my video. Enjoy your pedal and thanks for your comment.
Very nice video.. having your site available is an added bonus
Tip for young players: The star washer (or lock washer) that comes with the stomp switch is designed to bite into the aluminium case on the underside of the pedal-out of sight. It shouldn't be placed on the top side, which is insulated by the nylon washer. To protect the painted finish, the nylon washer belongs on the top, while the star washer should always go on the bottom for a secure and grounded connection. This setup not only improves the ground connection (reducing potential buzz and noise) but also locks the switch in place by biting into the aluminium, preventing rotation.
Well done video and it looks like a quality kit. I've never done a pedal before, but years ago I used to do Heathkits, and then in grad school I designed my own circuits and boards for digital control in an engine lab. So this should be within my skill level.
Ahhhh, Heathkit! I remember them ;)))
Just built the kit. Your detailed guidance really helped with some tricky bits. Latest kit comes with colour photos which is better. Best points from your guidance pdf are: capacitors are a tight fit; orientation and connection of I/O and power connectors and connection of switch. Everything went smoothly so many thanks.
Great to hear! Glad you found the guide helpful. Enjoy your pedal
@@AaronMatthies love the pedal. I forgot to say that without your video and notes I would never have taken it on. So many thanks
Thanks for the guild. Just built mine, a small problem is the LED will lid up when I plug in the power cable (no guitar cable in output) , or when I connect it to battery with guitar cable in output. the nobes are working fine, any advise will be appricated.
I have the same Problem plus my led starts flashing and the pedal only outputs a knock which strangely is in time with the led blink - I don’t know what is causing this issue and would be very grateful for help!
Awesome. I was thinking in building a pedal and then suddenly TH-cam recomended this video
Thanks heaps for this. I have the exact kit in this vid. (mine is brushed aluminium instead of gold but identical otherwise). I've been kinda holding off on making it so this is a huge help. I'm going to follow this step by step. To a guitarist building your own Klon is like a jedi building his own light sabre - Once you've done it, your skills are complete :-)
Enjoy building your pedal, young Padawan. It can get frustrating at times (especially if it doesn't work perfectly on the first go), but it's definitely worth it.
Great video! I like that you pointed out that the locating tabs on the pots need to be clipped and filed. I have four pre-assembled Klones from China and all of them had the tabs on the pots still. Clipping and filing them will make them sit properly in the chassis and avoid damaging them when securing the nuts, however the board will sit lower in the chassis and the LED height may need to be adjusted. Also, the pre-built green pc board hand wired units that look like this kit have 7/16" holes for the 3/8" jacks. If the jacks are tightened too tight it can literally pull the threaded collar out of the jack. I highly recommend some better quality jacks, like Switchcraft #12B TRS jacks and internal tooth star washers to keep them in place. That may well be the weakest link in the Klones I have found. In fact, the black board pc mounted jack units have their own issues, not the least of which is the jacks do not have support washers to fill the gap between them and the chassis. This can also damage the jacks & chassis if the nuts are secured too tightly. Building a kit like this has the advantage of allowing the builder to address these issues as they are building it. Plus it's a great feeling to put a kit like this together and then play through it. The clear shots of the pc board were a big plus for me. It will help me identify the components in mine for some possible tone-tweaking. Thanks!
Thanks for sharing those tips!
Followed this guide and nailed it perfectly the first time. Thanks for putting this together!
Well done, I'm glad it helped. Enjoy your pedal!
Had a blast with the build and the video helped a ton! Two of the wires were swapped to the output jack but other then that this helped a ton. Thanks!
Glad it helped! Enjoy your pedal.
Update: I built mine and it was a total success! the pedal works awesome and this video was essential, this was my first pedal build ever, I had a couple of issues and Aaron actually helped me to sort them out.
thanks Aaron !!
Thanks for sharing, I'm really glad the video helped. Seeing as this was your first pedal build, what pedal are you thinking of building next?
@@AaronMatthies I don't know, any recommendations ?
There's so many to choose from and it depends on what type of effects you want in your rig so it's hard to give recommendations. I have only built a few pedals so far, but it's a lot of fun.
Just finished mine up today. Took three days working an average of an hour a day. Only issue I have is a high pitched hum that gets worse if I turn the treble all the way up and almost goes away if I turn the treble all the way down. I'll have to go back through all my solder joints and make sure I don't have any shorts. Not really sure what else it could be.
Thanks for the tutorial!
Update: I resoldered the pins for the treble and output pots and the hum is gone! For a clone, this thing sounds awesome! If I turn the gain on my 15 watt tuber up to just where it starts breaking up and then engage the pedal with the gain at max, it sounds richer even than my MXR Super Badass distortion pedal! Very versatile pedal. Thanks again for a great tutorial!
Glad to hear you found the issue. I know how annoying it can be when a pedal doesn't work properly on the first try, so great job getting yours to work.
Thanks for this! I followed your web page build guide and it worked perfectly on the first try.
Great to hear! It's rare for a pedal build to work on the first try, so well done!
You make it look so easy. Think I'll start with a treble booster though! Many thanks for the video.
Good idea. A simple booster or fuzz pedal is a great way to learn the basics and much easier to troubleshoot if it doesn't work properly. Check out my other video '7 minute fuzz' for another simple build. Good luck with your booster build!
The only kits I have been able to find are like $175-$200 so I would probably just buy a clone already built but this video is so very cool and I have some DOA pedals I may want to go through and check solder points etc.
Thanks so much for your informative video. With your help, I just put together my first Klon clone! THANX!!!
Followed your guide and it worked perfectly. My first pedal kit. Thank you!
I just built this same pedal and your video and website, helped a lot. Thanks for this!
Great to hear! Enjoy your pedal.
Awesome video.. Thanks so much! I got tripped up with my build at the footswtich like you mentioned. Got that sorted and it now passes signal, but the output is super low! Would you have any ideas why with would be? Had a bit of trouble with the 4001 diodes, so may have overheated them if that matters?
Thanks for this video and the webpage. I just finished assembling a kit like this one, and your video and page were a big help. I'm a tech, so I also used a schematic to ring down the circuit. My kit was 100% faithful to the Klon circuit, but there were a couple of flaws that had to be corrected. The silkscreen on my board had the feedback and output resistors swapped, and the zener diode cathode wasn't connected to anything at all, just a through-hole holding it down. I also made a slight mod to the LED connection so that I could remove the board without desoldering the LED leads. It sounds great, thanks again!
I just wanted to say thanks! This past weekend, I successfully finished my Klon pedal, it plays, no hum, sounds great! I do think I have some problems (mainly, my volume knob gets insanely loud), and I overall, I feel like my pedal is more of a fuzz pedal than a Klon. BUT STILL. It sounds clean, it's amazing and I could not have done it without your instructions. Thanks 10000 times!
Great to hear the video helped! Enjoy your pedal!
I just bought my first pedal kit! thanks for this!
Nice! I hope you enjoy it. Take your time with soldering and checking your work as you go. It's common to have issues when testing a pedal, so don't let it frustrate you if it doesn't work 100% on the first attempt. Have fun!
The instructions in your build guide gave me what I needed to complete the project. I am specifically referring to the photos with the added numbers clearly showing the solder connections on the power jack, the In and Out jacks and the push button switch.
The printed instruction sheet sent with the kit in 2022 is now in color but it is still lacking in clarity. I watched your vid and used your guide throughout the build.
Glad you found my guide and numbered photos helpful! Enjoy your pedal.
One of the few landtone kits that are not garbage
thanks bloke I did one too and I used your guidance, THANKS!
This - along with the step-by-step - is really helpful! I got the courage to try it now, thanks!
I love pedal buid vids... please do more
Just got mine together! Thanks for the video and webpage. Wouldn't have been able to do it with the instructions that came with it. Sounds awesome with my SG!
Glad it helped! The instructions that came with the kit were awful, so I'm glad you found my tutorial useful.
Hi Aaron! I want to thank you for your work. Yesterday I’ve successfuly soldered my first Klon (my second soldering in life so far) using your web instructions. It works and sounds good, so now I’m going to test it. It was a job, but it worths that!
Also thanks for the course on pedals - it’s great for starters. After some lessons I started to understand many things. Keep doing!
Good luck!
Denis
Thank you very much for the kind words and thanks for buying the course and supporting my site!
Great job building your Klon, enjoy it.
I spent today at work looking on amazon at klones and saw a DIY kit.. Was considering it, but the reviews we're filled with people saying "don't buy if beginner". Was kind of throwing me off of it, but it crossed my mind to check youtube to see if there was someone like you that made your video showing off basically how easy it was and a step by step guide. Tbh, from watching this, it seems like it would be fun to build even if I'm new to the whole pedal building - and the end result sounds nice! :)
On my website, I have a few tutorials that explains pedal building for beginners. One talks about all the equipment and basic steps to building you might find interesting. There are a couple of tutorials walking through building simpler pedals than this one, so if you feel this might be a big much as your first build, check out those other builds.
The hardest part for a beginner is soldering, so if you spend some time practicing that skill, you'll find it easier when you try building a pedal. Have fun!
@@AaronMatthies My experience with soldering so far is installing pickups into a few of my guitars, Maybe like 5 or 6 or so pickups total, two of which had the gibson wrap for the ground wire. That guitar being my fav to play.
So I've got a small amount of experience, but I'm not like thrown off by it being complex or anything. :P
I did check the site out after watching the video though. Will probably go back there too for a refresher later when I actually find a kit to buy and go at it.
@@AaronMatthies So I did get the pedal, it came a couple days ago, and put it together last night. Did a little test recording in Reaper today and threw it up here. Your video was the perfect thing required for someone new to this wanting to get into it. Followed along to the video, and about 6h later I was done.
Only thing was the kit I ordered had two different parts. I had two additional ceramic capacitors where you had yellow boxed ones. Also I had to guess where they went for the most part. It was kind of easy to figure out though based off how everything else is named and matched up. That and the blue cylinder capacitors you had, I had about 7 grey ones. Other than that, everything was the same. I can open it up and show you if you're curious, but yeah.
This has made me want to get more DIY stuff. It took a long time for the parts to come, but it was worth it imo and it sounds awesome! :)
I have build one of these, being very careful checking values ... but it didn´t work completely. I got some voltage values that looked fine on the op-amp, and the LED turned on and off,
but the input shorted when mounting the input jack. I isolated the jack, but it still does not work, so maybe half of the switch is wired wrong. I will check out you website, and see if I
can locate the problem.
Hi 🙋🏼♂️
So I also followed your guide exactly and troubleshooted a lot but I can’t seem to fix it.
So I can’t post any video reply’s here but when I test my pedal with a ps (which works with my other pedals)
and it is turned off than it outputs a knocking sound to my amp. When I turn the pedal on the LED starts flashing after a few seconds - where could I contact you for more help? Would really appreciate it since I’m new to this and I want to learn as much as possible.
Thx
Sounds like a tricky problem. The only things I can suggest is to slowly work your way through the circuit using a multimeter to look for any bad connections or shorts and try using an audio probe. I imagine there's a short somewhere, but I don't know enough about electronics to guess where to look. Sorry, I hope you find it. I know it can be frustrating when something like this happens.
using that blue tack to hold the board in place looks like a brilliant solution - i'll have to try that
Great video mate, subscribed
This is awesome-best build instruction video I’ve seen. I’m all about doing this... do you have a link to where I can buy this exact kit? Did I miss it in the description? Thanks!!! - Jason
Thanks for your feedback. The link to the same kit is in the guide on my website: guitargearfinder.com/guides/build-klon-centaur-clone-kit/
Fantastic tutorial matey, thank you very much for posting this!
I managed to get mine together and it's all working fine except the treble control doesn't seem to do anything, I don't suppose you have any ideas what might cause that do you? Checked all the solder joints and they seem fine.
What a great video Aaron! You have a really good voice and delivery.
Thanks for the kind words!
Isn't TH-cam brilliant?! I've got the exact same kit from the same place. I built one of their compressor pedals as my first kit and it works fine. Your video answers the questions I have before starting on the Klon. I agree the instructions are pretty shocking. Thanks for this, I can get going now with a lot more confidence.
Thanks for the help with assembling Aaron!! This would have been a nightmare without your help! Even still, mine has some really weird clipping/phasing going on. Everything looks right except for different a couple of different capacitors they sent (but it was easy to figure out with how they were stamped). Time to search for their tech support! Hahahaha!
Great video, thanks for doing this. Gives me the confidence to try this out. Cheers,
Great video ! I will build me one and follow this vid ! Thanks 🙏
Good luck! Check out the guide on my website for more tips and advice on building the pedal.
I had it working after i realized the input jack was wired wrong. Tried it out was so excited. Then had to re wire the led and not sure what happened, but plugged it in and one of the black capacitors started smoking and burnt up.... Oh ordered another one for another shot
Wow this was so helpful, thank you for this
Thank you!
my build today went ok, looks like a capacitor of my was wrong, and the led doesnt turn on. The effect seems mild. Treble knob seems less effective. Probably wont bother trying to fix it. First pedal ever, and havent even touched my soldering iron for 5 or 6 years.
The pcb of this kit has 2 errors (at least). The (-) side of the second from the left 47uF electrolytic capacitor and the (+) of the 12 V diode are not connected anywhere but they should be connected to the ground. The diode is for protection so it won't affect the sound but the 47uF cap affects the bias and thus the sound a bit.
They are both easy correct by connecting to nearby ground connections.
Hi ! Picked up this kit. Where can I add sockets to be able to swap componants to change tonal flavor.
With a lot of pcbs you can install the pots so they form a straight line (as in this model) or you can flip the middle pot 180 so they form a little triangle cluster.
I can’t tell from looking but could you make the pots into a triangle cluster on this build?
Great, you selflessly shared it with everyone who wants this pedal.
Can you tell how different this pedal is from, Ibanez TS 9, or Maxon OD 9, in terms of transparency and midrange.
Listening to your demo, I have the impression that she is screaming more than them, and that she has that whistling transparent drive.
What is your opinion? 17:05-17:15/ 19:28-19:36
Fantastic video. website instructions and wow, what a great pedal. Thank you for your efforts to help others
Fantastic video!
Question: What "Value" resistors and capacitors would I need to build a Klon clone that helps a cleaner amp sustain more? Could I order a kit with those caps etc...?
Is this the same circuit as the original now that the original schematic is available?
Nice one!... I’ve built a couple now, and I will say that the addition of nice germanium diodes (D9E) for the clipping stage is an absolute must... the difference is night and day.
How many do you need? What's the value of you know?
Excellent video as many others have also said. Lots of great tips!
What a wonderful interesting video thoroughly enjoyed it
Wow great video. I love this kinda educational content. And you make it very accessible!
Fantastic video! Thanks for posting, Aaron!
Really good video thanks for that
Just got one...it works,but...it also works,in reverse ..when it's off...
Any idea.?
top-notch video!
I'm sorry for taking more of your time, but two months ago I had fried a copy of this pedal I had made. Finally I got to diagnosing and repairing it.
Predictably enough, the ICs, 7660 and both the op-amps were dead, so I replaced them and rewired the whole thing using the diagram. Then I reinforced the solders on the pots that had gone a bit shaky (which is why I usually don't solder pots to the circuit board, and prefer wires).
Now it works. Sort of. It has a high pitched whistling sound and doesn't quite sound right, more like a fuzz pedal than an overdrive, even at lower gain settings.
Could it be because of a capacitor gone bad? I suspect the polarized electrolytic to be the culprits, but I wonder if anyone could provide an insight into this.
I have already eliminated the power supply as the source of the noise, because it persists even when the pedal runs from the battery. Strangely enough, blowing on the circuit seems to modify the pitch of the whistling, makes it become lower. There are no hot parts in the circuit - I checked.
And again, thanks for all the good work you're doing.
Another possibility is a feedback oscillation loop or a solder bridge. I'll keep looking into it meanwhile.
And yet another test I ran, though I do not recommend anyone do this, I tried touching the backs of each electrolytic capacitor with a grounded screwdriver, kind of a desperate last ditch effort.
Two of those caps actually responded by INCREASING the volume of the whistling - two gray electrolytic caps in the lower left side of the board, where a bunch of those are.
It's either a dead cap or a bad solder or a bridge, too tired to take the PCB out of the case - unsoldering and desoldering the LED is unpleasant.
I just finished building, there is power and signal is getting through but it seems the gain knob is not doing anything :(