It has been a big week already with for fans of the Klon Centaur, with Behringer entering the K-style overdrive pedal market with the Centaur Overdrive – a $69 Klon clone that, surely, cannot be beat on price.
But Mythos Pedals of Nashville, Tennessee might just have upped the ante with a limited edition version of their Mjolnir K-style drive that Zach Broyles swears sounds uncannily like his original.
Released as a Black Friday special, available in gold or silver finishes, with oxblood knobs to nail the look, the 1N34A Mjolnir deploys a pair of vintage 1N34A diodes in the circuit, and having A/B’d this version of the circuit with Broyles own Klon, serial number 1666, they say they can’t tell the difference.
“We were shocked with how much it replicates the sound of Zach’s original unit,” says Mythos. “The amount of gain is the same, voicing, output, it’s all there and tweaked in just the right way.”
This version of the Mjolnir should look familiar. It’s based on the special edition that Mythos Pedals makes for Wildwood Guitars in Louisville, Colorado.
“If you’re looking for the closest sonic replica of those original ‘K’ pedals then look no further,” says Mythos.
The Klon Centaur is all about dynamics and enhancing the relationship between your electric guitar and amp, gussying up your sound with the musical crunch of its magical hard-clipping drive.
Like the originals, Mythos’ 1N34A Mjolnir has a buffered bypass and an internal charge pump. It runs on 9V only. Broyles says the sound of his original has long been a fascination with him.
“I have tweaked this circuit to within an inch of its life to be as close as possible to my personal pedal, because I don’t know why, the one I got sounds really good,” he says Broyles.
What he had never tried before was was using NOS 1N34A diodes. They don’t exactly grow on trees. But lo, a guy got in touch via email, offered him a freezer bag full of them, and thus this limited run was born.
If you haven’t already lost your budgetary discipline and spent it all on one of many Black Friday music deals then you could do worse than head over to Mythos Pedals and back yourself a top-tier K-style pedal from one of the most consistently interesting stompbox brands on the market.
Priced £224, the 1N34A Mjolnir is available now. The big question is: silver or gold? See Mythos Pedals for more details.
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