Let me tell you about the most petty, brilliant, hilarious move in recent pedal history. Josh Scott of JHS Pedals spent years talking about how the Klon Centaur was overhyped and overpriced. Then he built his own version for $99, shipped it in pieces, and told you to put it together yourself. IKEA style. With goop included so you could cover the “magic” diodes yourself.
That’s Wu-Tang energy. That’s Protect Ya Tone.
The Backstory
The Klon Centaur is one of the most mythologized pedals ever made. Original units sell for anywhere between $5,000 and $10,000 on the used market. For an overdrive pedal. The mythology grew so large that players convinced themselves the Klon had some kind of supernatural quality that no other pedal could replicate. JHS decided to call that bluff.
The Notaklön launched in November 2023 and the first batch of 3,000 units sold out immediately. The internet exploded. Every YouTube channel in existence built one on camera. And the verdict? It sounds like a Klon. Because it is a Klon circuit — with JHS’s own Shamrock modification baked in.
What You’re Building
The box arrives like a flat-pack kit (where you at Ikea?). Inside you get a pre-wired circuit board, knobs, jacks, a white enclosure, hardware, and a tube of goop for the diodes. No soldering required. Assembly takes about 10-15 minutes and is genuinely foolproof. You snap it together, dial in your settings, and you’re done.
The white enclosure is clean, simple, and looks sharp on a board. Three knobs — Output, Treble, Gain — plus a slider switch for the Shamrock mod. That’s it. No overthinking, no menu diving, no nonsense.
How It Sounds
This is where the Notaklön earns its spot on your board. At low gain with output cranked it’s one of the finest transparent boosts available at any price. Your tone stays your tone — just bigger, fuller, and more present. Roll the gain up and you get that classic Klon character — harmonically rich overdrive that sits perfectly in a mix without getting muddy or fizzy.
The Shamrock mod slider is the secret weapon. Engage it and you get an additional 4dB of gain with an extra stage of hard clipping. It pushes the pedal into grittier territory — still musical, still controlled, but with more hair on it. Most players end up living in Shamrock mode once they find it.
Touch sensitivity is excellent. The Notaklön responds to your playing dynamics the way a good amp does — dig in and it growls, back off and it cleans up. That’s the characteristic that made the original Klon legendary, and it’s here in full.
From the Bench
I’ve played through enough overdrives to know when something is genuinely transparent versus when it just claims to be. The Notaklön is the real thing. It doesn’t color your tone, it enhances it. Put it in front of a tube amp that’s already singing and stand back.
The build quality post-assembly is solid. The enclosure is durable, the hardware is tight, and the true bypass means zero signal degradation when it’s off. For $119 street price you’re getting boutique-level tone in a pedal you built with your own hands. That’s a flex.
Who Is It For?
Anyone who’s been curious about Klon-style overdrive but refused to pay $5,000 for the real thing. Anyone who wants a great transparent boost. Anyone who wants to say they built their own pedal and actually mean it. If you like your tone clean and dynamic with just enough edge — this is your chamber.
Bottom Line
The Klon Centaur is a great pedal. The Notaklön is also a great pedal. One costs $10,000. One costs $119. Josh Scott made his point. The 36 Chambers co-sign this one without hesitation.
C.R.E.A.G. — Cash Rules Everything Around Gear. And this particular piece of gear rules hard.
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