Origin Effects releases Halcyon Gold Overdrive, a Klon-based pedal

August 8, 2023 · 4 sources

Origin Effects announced the Halcyon Gold Overdrive on August 8, 2023, describing it as "an adaptive overdrive pedal based on the Klon ® Centaur ®"¹. The UK builder said the pedal is the latest to use its proprietary Adaptive Circuitry, which adapts the pedal's voicing to pick attack and volume knob changes¹.

The headline feature is the ADAPT switch. Origin says it lets the pedal's mid-forward voicing fade as the pedal cleans up from the guitar volume knob, gradually reintroducing bass and treble frequencies as the signal falls below the clipping threshold¹. MusicRadar describes the switch as three-position: position O behaves as the original Klon does, boosting the mid-hump as gain increases; position II activates the Adaptive Circuitry; position I is an in-between setting². Origin's release describes the switch without listing positions¹.

A VOICE switch selects between two voicings. The KLN setting is the classic Klon recipe, with an aggressive mid peak and clipping characteristics of vintage diodes recreated with modern parts; the MOD setting has a softer overdrive and a broader mid hump that Origin says pairs well with single coil pickups and clean amp tones¹. The DRY control adjusts the level of the dry signal in the drive tone, and Origin says it changed the dry path's overload characteristics when stacking with other pedals¹. MusicRadar lists Level, Tone and Dry among the controls, plus top-mounted jacks, buffered bypass and 1 MΩ input impedance². Gearnews reports the pedal runs on a 9 V center negative supply and is mains adaptor only³.

Origin gives a US price of $299 ex. tax and says the pedal is built in the UK¹. MusicRadar and Guitar World both report it is available now²⁴.

Origin notes that KLON and CENTAUR are registered trademarks of KLON, LLC, and that it has no affiliation with KLON, LLC¹.