The Sonicake Trio Rider is a compact overdrive pedal from Sonicake built on the circuit of the Klon Centaur. Sonicake describes it as a "Modified Klon® Centaur*-style Overdrive" and a "Centaur-style classic overdrive pedal", and its distinguishing feature is a three-way switch offering Silver, Golden and Red voicings, which the maker calls "three legendary overdrive sounds" in one box1. It sits in the same territory as other overdrives, from the transparent Klon style to the mid-pushed designs compared in Boss SD-1 vs Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer, and alongside Sonicake's own dual-mode Blue Skreamer.
A Klon-style overdrive with three voices
The Klon Centaur, designed by Bill Finnegan, is known in the press for its "iconic transparent overdrive tone", as Guitar World put it2, and it has spawned a wide family of copies and variations. gearnews.com, writing about the original pedal's reissue, noted that the Klones "were all variations on Bill's original Klon Siberia design"3. The Trio Rider is Sonicake's entry in that field: the maker calls it a pedal "that combines the three centaur bloodlines", using the Silver, Golden and Red switch to put three voicings where the original had one1.
Sonicake describes the three overdrive sounds of the Trio Rider as "Warm, traditional, sweet, and bountiful"1. As with any Klone, the character comes from the maker's take on the circuit, and the buffered bypass is part of that: Sonicake specifies a "Buffered Bypass Footswitch for preserving the strength and quality of the signal"1, which suits long pedalboard cable runs the same way the original Centaur's buffer did.
The controls: Gain, Tone and the Silver, Golden, Red switch
The pedal keeps its control layout simple, in the manner of the original it is based on41:
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Silver / Golden / Red switch | Selects between the three overdrive voicings4 |
| Gain | Gain adjustment knob for dialling in drive amount4 |
| Tone | "fattening the Bottom End or adding Crystal Clear Sparkles to the Overall Tone", per Sonicake4 |
| Footswitch | Heavy duty metal footswitch with on/off status LED, buffered bypass4 |
Sonicake says that "with traditional tone and gain adjustment knobs, you can get a variety of types of overdrive sounds"4, so the switch sets the voice and the two knobs shape it. The enclosure is described by the maker as "a hard metal casing that is able to withstand wear and tear"1.
Power and practicalities
The Trio Rider runs on a DC 9V center negative supply, which is not included, and draws 19mA1. At that draw it is light on a supply, but there is no battery option listed, so a daisy chain with higher-draw digital pedals is worth checking against your supply's total budget. Its small footprint, 93.5mm deep by 42mm wide and 52mm high at 220g1, makes it an easy fit on a crowded board.
The maker's page lists the product name as QSS-264. Power is DC 9V center negative only, with no battery option given.
What reviewers and players say
Published coverage of the Trio Rider itself is thin. The maker's own page reports 3 reviews, 100% positive4, which is a small sample and comes from the maker's site rather than an independent publication. For context on the design it follows, Guitar World's coverage of the Klon lineage speaks to why the circuit keeps being revisited: players are "seeking to harness Bill Finnegan's iconic transparent overdrive tone"2.
Videos
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intheblues
Euge Valovirta
Questions
Is the Sonicake Trio Rider a Klon clone?
Sonicake describes the Trio Rider as a modified Klon Centaur-style overdrive, so it belongs to the family of pedals players call Klones: circuits based on Bill Finnegan's original design. It is not a Klon Centaur itself, and it adds a three-way Silver, Golden and Red switch that the original does not have, giving three voicings in one box.
Is the Sonicake Trio Rider true bypass?
No. Sonicake specifies buffered bypass, with a buffered bypass footswitch the maker says preserves the strength and quality of the signal. That matches the original Klon Centaur's approach, which was also a buffered pedal rather than a true bypass one.
Does the Sonicake Trio Rider take a battery?
The maker's product page lists power as DC 9V center negative and notes that the adapter is not included, with a current draw of 19mA. No battery option is listed, so plan on a 9V DC center negative supply.
What is the difference between the Silver, Golden and Red modes?
Sonicake says the three-way switch selects between Silver, Golden and Red, which the maker calls three legendary overdrive sounds, and describes the pedal's three overdrive voices overall as warm, traditional, sweet and bountiful. The maker presents the switch as combining the three Centaur bloodlines in one pedal.
Sources (4)
- Sonicake Trio Rider product page, Sonicake
- Wampler gives the Tumnus a germanium diode reissue, Guitar World, 2023-12-08
- Bill Finnegan is selling the original Klon Centaur Overdrive again!, gearnews.com, 2019-02-13
- Sonicake Trio Rider Centaur-style Classic Overdrive Pedal, Sonicake
