Behringer Centaur

The Behringer Centaur, sold as the Centaur Overdrive, is an analog overdrive and booster pedal launched by Behringer in November 2024 as a budget copy of the Klon Centaur, priced at $69¹. RockBoard's PedalPedia describes it as a "Legendary Transparent Boost Overdrive with Huge Dynamic Range, Gain on Tap and Soft Clipping Diodes Inspired by Germanium Characteristics"². Like the original, it is aimed at players who want a boost or low to mid-gain drive that leaves the core tone of the guitar and amp largely intact, rather than a heavy distortion.

The pedal had a short and eventful life. Klon Centaur designer Bill Finnegan called it "a blatant counterfeit"³. Behringer pulled the Centaur Overdrive in light of the legal action and rebranded it as the Centara Overdrive with updated artwork³. Listings were taken down, and the $69 pedal soon turned up on the second-hand market for up to $2,000¹.

A transparent boost and overdrive

The Klon Centaur that the Behringer pedal copies was designed, in the words of one technical analysis, "to improve the TubeScreamer transient response and the midrange-bass frequencies in order to create a big open sound with a hint of tube clipping, the so-called transparent overdrive"⁹. That design goal is what players mean when they call a drive "transparent": the pedal pushes the amp without stacking a strong midrange hump or heavy clipping on top of the signal.

Guitar.com reported that the Behringer pedal's "high headroom and high-quality Germanium diodes" allow it to respond well to picking dynamics, so a lighter touch stays cleaner and digging in pushes the drive harder¹⁰. Guitar World's take on the Klon circuit family applies here too: it is "great as a boost or for low to mid-gain drive sounds"¹¹. The enclosure is much smaller than the original Klon Centaur, which Guitar.com noted is good news on a crowded pedalboard¹⁰.

The controls

The pedal keeps the original's three-knob layout, with input and output jacks situated on top of the enclosure rather than the sides⁷.

GuitarPlayer's buying guide highlighted the "three-knob control with that dual-gang gain pot that enables smooth movement from clean boost to transparent overdrive"⁸. The dual-gang gain pot is the feature the original Klon was known for: two potentiometer sections on one shaft, sweeping the clean and clipped paths together so the transition from boost to overdrive is gradual rather than abrupt.

Power: 9V, 100mA, with 18V internal headroom

The Centaur runs on 9V DC, center negative, and draws 100mA². That current draw is on the high side for a simple analog overdrive, so it is worth checking that a pedalboard power supply has enough current available on the socket it occupies.

Inside, the pedal follows the original's approach of running its circuitry at a higher voltage than what comes in. GuitarPlayer noted "the 18V internal headroom (stepped up from 9VDC in)" as a key part of why the pedal sounds rich⁸. The original Klon Centaur used an internal charge pump that boosts 9V to 18V, giving significant headroom while still running from an ordinary 9V adapter¹³. That headroom is what keeps the clean boost path from compressing or clipping on its own.

Based on the Klon Centaur

The Klon Centaur was released in 1995 by designer Bill Finnegan, built in a custom cast enclosure that became one of the most recognizable shapes in effects¹⁴. Production of the original hand-wired unit ceased in 2012, when Finnegan moved to the more affordable, more mass-manufacturable Klon KTR, which uses the same original Centaur circuit¹⁵. The KTR was later followed by a reissue under the original Centaur name¹⁶.

Original Centaurs have become collectors' items. Gearnews reported that an original hand-wired "horsie" Centaur commands prices "well north of $5,000 on the used market"¹⁷, and JHS Pedals notes examples selling for as much as $8,000¹⁸. That market is what made a $69 clone attractive, and also what made Klon protective of the design's name and look.

The Klon lawsuit and the rename to Centara

The Behringer Centaur did not just copy the circuit. Guitar.com reported that it shipped "with no Behringer branding on the faceplate unlike the firm's usual releases," using "the same gold metal casing, centaur logo, and prominent 'CENTAUR' wordmark in identical font and colour" as the original¹⁹. Guitar World likewise noted that "the Behringer logo was also nowhere to be seen on the stompbox"¹.

The suit also took aim at Behringer's promotion of the pedal. It alleged that the company was deliberately misleading buyers by using the name and likeness of Klon founder Bill Finnegan in its promotional materials without consent²⁰. It further pointed to a promotional YouTube video that "extensively discusses" the original Centaur while "deceptively and continuously" displaying Behringer's pedal in a way that suggests an official connection¹⁹.

The consequences for the pedal were immediate. Listings were taken down, and the $69 pedal soon found itself on the second-hand market for up to $2,000 as droves of players rushed to order it¹. Behringer then pulled the pedal in light of the legal action and rebranded it as the Centara Overdrive, with updated artwork³.

The original Klon Centaur, meanwhile, has its own history. Designer Bill Finnegan reissued it twice, first as the Klon KTR, and later under the original name, sold directly from him¹⁶. The original pedal was built in a custom cast enclosure, part of what has made this clone mythical and legendary among players²¹.

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